Difference between alpha tribes and everyone else?

[IDNeon]

I've been watching a lot of "Big Raid" videos such as by Skism, or "largest alpha tribes" such as the video on DVS....

The biggest difference I see between them (or any large/strong tribe) and any other tribe, even large active tribes (such as in Skism's "The Biggest Raid" on YouTube)...

Is Alphas have hundreds of plant-x and dozens if not hundreds of Auto-Turrets.

Why is there such a difference? Why do so few tribes invest in the level of defenses that Alpha tribes invest in?  More than location I think the turreting makes all the difference.  It is such a tremendous force multiplier in any defense, including war-Brontos/war-Quetz or any other platformed dinos to support your dinos or move to where they are needed to add force.

Any ideas on why the difference?  I especially don't find it hard to lay down plant-x.

[Fishman2323]

Simple....People like to tame and don't like to grind the materials needed to make that difference.  They don't think about the defenses.  It should be gathering dinos, base/pen, defenses, then good tames.  Have to have areas to keep your tames safe.

[IDNeon]

4 minutes ago, Fishman2323 said:

Simple....People like to tame and don't like to grind the materials needed to make that difference.  They don't think about the defenses.  It should be gathering dinos, base/pen, defenses, then good tames.  Have to have areas to keep your tames safe.

Yeah there is definitely a grind, but that's the point of a tribe, to divide the work?  We are taming pretty fine and still got guys grinding as well...I get there's a difference in activity level that helps Alphas, but what isn't different is the concept.

You're totally right, most tribes completely neglect their defences, or perhaps they don't understand what it takes to actually defend?

For instance it takes 6-9 plant turrets to back off a Giga.  Plant-x are so cheap but I see so many bases where they have maybe 6, maybe 10 for the whole perimeter/center.

It's very weak when it's so easy to build more!

I built and laid 40 on the SIDE the other day while farming metal...so while focusing 100% on grinding, in the little down times I was able to make and place 40 plant-x...and I plan to place maybe another 40 today...anyone can do it.

I work 12 hour days 4 days a week so this is gaming I do when I only have a few hours to play, so I get things like that done...any one playing more than a couple hours a day on average should be able to do more than me.  So I encourage them to do so!

[Fishman2323]

Totally agree.  We have a tribe of 3 people and have over 200 plant X around our base.  A simple dung beetle and you are golden.

[Hornedfrog85]

Yeh turrets and p x are essential to base defence. Any smart can get around them but if it looks like a pain in the bottom then most tribes will be put off by just that. Also organised tribes are best we are a 5 man tribe and we get more done in a day then the alpha tribe of 30! Because we work well and have one mind set. You need team players to make the tribe work.

[Justmakingareport]

Simple. Every time ive set but a single turret (providing i wasnt found within the week and raided while offline) My every structure was wiped by exploiting alpha tribes.

[Hornedfrog85]

8 minutes ago, Justmakingareport said:

Simple. Every time ive set but a single turret (providing i wasnt found within the week and raided while offline) My every structure was wiped by exploiting alpha tribes.

Thats because you need more than one 

[Justmakingareport]

11 minutes ago, Hornedfrog85 said:

Thats because you need more than one 

Go play a server solo no tribe/help at all from start. You will understand it better.

[Hornedfrog85]

Just now, Justmakingareport said:

Go play a server solo no tribe/help at all from start. You will understand it better.

I dont need to im happy with my tribe. I know solo is tough but its possible loke ive said there is a YouTube player who solos and he at the time of his video haven't been successfully raided. He has some really good ideas you should watch he shows you round his base and has a video of him being attacked by a tribe of 12. Cant remember his channel though!  

[DmpTrkDrvr]

I've never planted a single x species..  have a pvp base but won't tell where as its a secret.. I usually play pve but tried pvp about 3 weeks ago I'm well hidden and have no walls, no plants, just 7 dinos and a well hidden base..  Of course while writing this I'm probably being raiDED L O L but I don't build on the ground.

It seems to eliminate a bunch of casual attackers from seeing my base as a good target, also to destroy my base you'd need a magic flying Giga as quetzal can't damage my structures. This situation probably wouldn't be effective with a large tribe but I'm a solo player so it's quite effective for me.. 

[D4u2s0t]

Not all tribes are big enough.  When we played official, we were essentially a 2 man crew doing all the work.  Bullets and turrets were out of the question with everything else we needed to do.  After it took me a few hours to make a few hundred bullets, and we used them in seconds, kinda decided we were going to have to go other routes.  

[IDNeon]

3 minutes ago, D4u2s0t said:

Not all tribes are big enough.  When we played official, we were essentially a 2 man crew doing all the work.  Bullets and turrets were out of the question with everything else we needed to do.  After it took me a few hours to make a few hundred bullets, and we used them in seconds, kinda decided we were going to have to go other routes.  

Sure but a doed and a beaver/mammoth and you can build TONS of farm plots.

[D4u2s0t]

4 minutes ago, IDNeon said:

Sure but a doed and a beaver/mammoth and you can build TONS of farm plots.

Yep, plant turrets will be much easier for smaller tribes, especially for those that have work and whatnot.  

[IDNeon]

7 minutes ago, D4u2s0t said:

Yep, plant turrets will be much easier for smaller tribes, especially for those that have work and whatnot.  

Well yeah but the point there is, why aren't they spamming them like an Alpha tribe does?  Even remotely similar at least? like 40-100 plant-x for your base?

[D4u2s0t]

Just now, IDNeon said:

Well yeah but the point there is, why aren't they spamming them like an Alpha tribe does?  Even remotely similar at least? like 40-100 plant-x for your base?

For the same reason you don't have 10 battle gigas, a dozen decked out quetzals and a fleet of attack brontos.  Time.  

[IDNeon]

1 minute ago, D4u2s0t said:

For the same reason you don't have 10 battle gigas, a dozen decked out quetzals and a fleet of attack brontos.  Time.  

Eh, with 6 members even those don't seem too hard to achieve, we could grab 4 Gigas pretty easy...

But again as 1 person I could easily handle 100 plant-x.  And I don't play more than a few hours a day.

[D4u2s0t]

22 minutes ago, IDNeon said:

Eh, with 6 members even those don't seem too hard to achieve, we could grab 4 Gigas pretty easy...

But again as 1 person I could easily handle 100 plant-x.  And I don't play more than a few hours a day.

Do you have 100 plant-x turrets? 

[IDNeon]

5 minutes ago, D4u2s0t said:

Do you have 100 plant-x turrets? 

Yes, with our doed/mammoth (both mid-level) I can build around 40 an hour, maybe faster, I mean this is really passive.

The most time consuming part is placing them, which you can make really easy for yourself with terraces.

1 dung beetle supplies that many, but needs constant feeding to keep up with plant growth (not so many for maintaining plant-x) so having several would be better.

 

This is OfficialServer.  Plant-x are stupid easy.  each Doed run (you know run out grab some quick stone) makes 10-12 large crop plots.  (Again mid-level doed...)

 

The only thing I wish I had is a damn diry ape to grab fiber.  But a metal sickle is fine.

[Isihogg]

Just now, Lemko said:

Obligatory post to get to 30 to vote.....also being alpha eventually just gets boring.

Lol, and less active tribes can't always put the time in to make a ton of turrets.

[Orion]

16 hours ago, IDNeon said:

I've been watching a lot of "Big Raid" videos such as by Skism, or "largest alpha tribes" such as the video on DVS....

The biggest difference I see between them (or any large/strong tribe) and any other tribe, even large active tribes (such as in Skism's "The Biggest Raid" on YouTube)...

Is Alphas have hundreds of plant-x and dozens if not hundreds of Auto-Turrets.

Why is there such a difference? Why do so few tribes invest in the level of defenses that Alpha tribes invest in?  More than location I think the turreting makes all the difference.  It is such a tremendous force multiplier in any defense, including war-Brontos/war-Quetz or any other platformed dinos to support your dinos or move to where they are needed to add force.

Any ideas on why the difference?  I especially don't find it hard to lay down plant-x.

The biggest differences between Tribes who end up Alpha and others (my tribe and I are Alpha on Xbox-NA-Official 403) are;
1.) Number of Tribe Members / Dedication of Members (Generally 6-10 dedicated members is a godsend.)
2.) Defense / Base Layout & structure design
3.) Taming and Statting of Tames.
 

1.) is self explanatory.
2.) As you said, the number of Plant X and Auto Turrets play a key role in it. Tribes need to understand you want defenses before you want good battle tames. You essentially just want to invest in harvest and carry tames until you have a good base / defense set up, else you're just going to lose tames... constantly.
3.) Once defended well, the taming of animals is crucial. Not a lot of people, especially on Xbox, understand that Perfect Taming is all you want as an Alpha (116+). Then you have to properly upgrade your tames stats based on what you want it to be. For some reason I see a lot of tribes putting around 180% movement on perfect Arge tames, when 125% is fine, you want mostly Melee Damage and some Health. Another mistake I see Tribes make is with Quetzals, they also invest in Movement Speed and Stamina which is a complete waste, Quetzal's regen stamina mid-air when you dismount, and the only stats they should get is Health (to about 15-20k) and Carry Weight and some melee damage.

However, being an Alpha tribe gets horribly boring. Right now my tribe has zero competition on 403 due to having ~15 Gigas, ~8 Lv.200+ Quetzals and way too many turrets.