What does it take to become a Travian Tournament champion? This guy knows it for certain. Meet Daniil dliskov, aka Hakuna Matata, the World Wonder builder and the mastermind behind the victorious coalition in the Travian Tournament 2023. In this interview Daniil shares his journey, the importance of teamwork, his thoughts about the game and what led to the triumph of their coalition.
➡️ Can you share a bit about your background and how long you’ve been playing Travian: Legends? How do you spend your time when you’re not playing Travian: Legends?
⬅️ Daniil, 28, work in IT-technology. Live in Saint-Petersburg. In my free time from work and playing Travian: Legends time I enjoy reading and watching series. During summer I also love going somewhere out of the city. I started playing Travian in 2009, mostly x1 speed gameworlds, then joined the very first Tournament. During the second Tournament I had a short break from the game, but starting with third I am a permanent participant of the Travian Tournament.
➡️ Can you tell us about your team or alliance? How important was teamwork in securing your win?
⬅️ Our team is multilingual. It’s a fully united group now but speaking of origin it’s easier to introduce them by “language”. One part is “Russian-speaking”, and it consists of two coalitions WM (Winter&Mafia) and TS (Toy Story), as well as a small alliance PoweR (still talking in skype 😊). Most of the players and alliance coordinators have played together for quite a long time already, that’s not our first Tournament in the same group. What is interesting though is that for the first time ever this Tournament went through smoothly with minimal number of internal conflicts and dramas (quite usual thing for the Tournament coalitions), good coordination and full commitment.
The second part is “English-speaking.” That part appeared during the Tournament 2022, when a couple of Russian-speaking alliances (including the one where I belong) played in a big diverse coalition which didn’t know each other well. Just as it usually happens, such a big and new to each other group experienced all usual Tournament conflicts, issues, and personal “sad stories”. Nevertheless, every cloud has a silver lining, and despite all we really enjoyed our communication with the alliance SPQR and their leader orion981. That’s why, when we started to form Tournament coalition for the 2023 round, I invited them to join us, and it was a great decision. Also, right before the Tournament teams G&V and CRL also joined our group.
➡️ This Tournament must have had some intense moments. Can you share one that was particularly memorable or challenging?
⬅️ If we talk about “challenging” moments of the last Tournament, for me personally it was our def-coordination. Lots of sleepless nights spent in the game, countless scouting operations to catch reals and cut the fakes, meticulous calculations, gathering defenses. That’s why I would like to say a big thank you to all who participated in that: coordinators, scout account players, defenders and all those who reported all their attacks in time, giving us time to calculate and make decisions.
➡️ What changes or evolutions in the game have you found most interesting over the years you’ve played?
⬅️ Most interesting changes for me is arriving of 2 new tribes – Egyptians and Huns – into the game and changing in oasis farming mechanics. From more recent updates I would like to mention Trade routes rework.
As for what I would like to see in the future in the game, I’d really like to see some new functionalities whatever it means and improving alliance bonuses system.
➡️ Are there any Tournament conditions that you think could be improved?
⬅️ As for the Tournament, it would be nice to try one with an already existing special feature “Keep Tribe on conquer” with second village tribe selection.
The Tournament is not an ideal playground, we all know that. I would like to see some actions against shady tactics that players use. What I am looking forward to seeing are improvements in fight with so-called “ousels” – players who settle a worthy cropper or an important spot next to construction plans, zero their spawn making it the only village and therefore blocking it for the others till the end of the game. This is a non-competitive move that makes the game less fun for the others. Another big issue of the Tournament is fake ratings. Year by year we see that it happens at the end of the game round: “friendly fights” to get prizes/medals.
It would also be nice to see knowledge base improvements specifically for Tournament-critical articles. Like Construction plans. Yes, for most gameworlds it’s good enough: +- 1 spot in Construction plans coordinates doesn’t look that crucial, but for Tournament it is one of the key points. In the strategy game exact game knowledge is often what defines whether you win or lose.
And yet, Tournament is still the game I am looking forward to and waiting for each year.
Once again, congratulations to all our coalition on the VICTORY! See you next round!
