An interview with: The Last Daughter [YARR!]

The Last Daughter [YARR!] will be a familiar name to some, but not to others. 

Some players may remember her from the old Faction Play days in ELVES. Others may know her from a high-profile troll hole conflict, recent tournament work with YARR, or also recently the winner of a player-led Underworld hunting event where she killed over one million Underworld troops in around 40 days.

We talked about how she found Illyriad during COVID, why she prefers a compact military account, what she has learned from small-scale fighting, and why troll holes need fixing.

Let’s start with the basics. Where in the world are you based, and how long have you played Illyriad?

I'm based on the west coast of the USA, and have played this game since 2020.

How did you first discover Illyriad, and what attracted you to it?

I first started playing during COVID. Since my job went remote during the pandemic, I was looking for something to pass time at home. I found the game on Steam but quickly realized it was easier to play from browser.

When I started, I was looking for something to do in the game and quickly got recruited for Jejune's experiment for a new way to play the game: Faction Play. Back then, faction play was a novel way to play the game and had a lot of player interest. The community drive to do something unique and fresh is what got me hooked, and I was a member of ELVES for many years.

After faction play lost momentum, what pulled you back in?

After faction play lost steam, I drifted into a period of semi activity until a troll hole player started attacking me in 2025.

I couldn't convince him to stop, so I turned to the game's public areas for help, and the resulting conflict gained some notoriety among the game as a case study in why the troll hole mechanic is so powerful and flawed. Because of the help I received, I was able to launch a counter attack, which was having some success up until the conflict abruptly ended with the ban of the troll hole player's account. I suspect that was due to multiaccounting.

Who was the troll-holer, and why did it start?

It was Sinclair / Dinas, and the grudge was not complicated at all. He literally just decided one day to attack me. I wish it was more nuanced than that. It was simply "you seem like a decent opponent, therefore I'm going to try to destroy you".

After that, I ended up leaving ELVES, who unfortunately are very inactive these days, and have become way more active as a tournament participant.

You have definitely made your mark in tournaments since joining YARR. What has that part of the game been like for you?

I had not participated in seasonal tournaments in any significant capacity up until joining YARR.

Recently, I won a player-run tournament revolving around hunting the Underworld faction in game. I killed over one million Underworld troops in around 40 days.

What do you think you are most known for amongst other players?

I would say that some people probably know me because of the troll hole conflict and the public discussion around it. More recently, I think I'm probably more associated with being a military player and tournament participant.

That leads neatly into playstyle. How would you describe your account and what you most enjoy doing in game?

I would definitely say I am a military player. My account is set up all on 5 food and plains in order to bolster the effectiveness of military sov and defensive ability. My goal has never been to make tons of towns or be a trader. I'm content with a 9 town account and don't have the resources or drive to go bigger.

That being said, I'm not someone who has fought in "real" wars. Faction Play was intended to provide continuous small scale, medium stakes engagements, and for many years I warred in the faction play system against alliances like ORCS and KELTS. My more recent fights have been different but still on a small scale.

I would say that I'm very adept at small scale military strategy, including local defense using the elite division mechanic. My approach to any fight is to prioritize attrition to slowly wear down an attacking force so that I can strategically strike back with massed attackers at the right moments.

Is military play typically your style in other games too?

It depends. I am definitely someone who likes to try different things in different games. I do tend to prefer a "tall" approach vs "wide" in real time or turn based strategy games though.

You seem quite content at 9 towns, but do you ever get tempted to push beyond that?

Yes, it's always in the back of my mind. It would require a lot of building and restructuring of my towns, though. They're mostly 5 food so I'd need to build food sov or move a couple of them.

We earlier spoke about your win in the demon invasion tournament - congratulations on that by the way. Did you learn anything from that which you now apply more generally?

Definitely commander training. I've fine tuned my understanding of how many and what type of troop can effectively kill various sized demon armies, which I can apply to training new commanders very quickly. 

What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?

I'm not really sure I'm that surprising unfortunately! I guess here are a few facts about me that might be fun to know:

1. All of my towns are named after songs or albums I enjoy and that fit a general theme. If anyone can guess what all of them reference, I'll give you a prize!

2. I have never done a quest or an official trade in a hub.

3. During the demon invasion tournament, I accidentally attacked a legion of Underworld on buildings with a single army of elite divisions and lost multiple pieces of the red brutality essence gear.

4. Due to server lag I once sent two groups of diplomats on a mission with less than 5 seconds between sending.

And where does the name come from?

It's from the race information on the starting page when you're logged out of the game. Each race has a creation myth and in the Elven one, the four races were created by four daughters and the Elf daughter was the Last Daughter.

You also shared a few useful tips and tricks. Which ones stand out most?

Underworld forces do give exp, actually quite a lot. However, in game they display as 0 exp because of how the game is coded, tying gold upkeep to exp. I have the breakdown of what each unit gives if anyone wants it.

I have three foreign offices in one of my towns. Despite them saying they give a 200% boost to the diplo visibility mechanic, it's actually a 600% boost. Part of why I was so good at killing the Underworld was that I can see the army size of most of High Hills, and a bit of Clarien.

You can receive the fortune teller message about the racial crafted weapon mystery with only 289 days of crafting research done, possibly even less.

The best quality of life choice you can make when building your account is to put a city right next to a trade hub. It is incredibly valuable to be able to retrieve and store goods within a few minutes from a hub since caravans can be added and taken quickly.

I also thought of one piece of advice to share: the "Fertile Orchard" tile in game says it has no production sovereignty bonuses, but when you build a brewer's yard on it, it gives +1% to beer production per sov level.

You say that, and yet you've never done an official trade in a hub. How come?

Nothing like roleplay, I just simply am not a seller of goods. I tend to buy what I need and directly barter anything I gather.

As a gamer more generally, what are two or three games you'd recommend to people who enjoy Illyriad?

I don't play a lot of other multiplayer games, but a few games that have stuck with me that might appeal to Illy players are:

Songs of Conquest: This is a turn based strategy game that has a slow, exploratory feel with lots of factions and characters to interact with, as well as some city building.

The Civilization series: Maybe a more well known choice, but still worthwhile. My personal favorite is Civ V, but they're all a lot of fun to dive deep into empire building with.

Valheim: I played this one with my friends for a ton of time. It's a third person co-op survival game, if you want it to be, that has incredible building mechanics that might appeal to Illyriad players wanting to branch out into different genres than strategy.

I have almost 500 hours in Valheim. Most of that is building in peaceful mode.

Is there a player or alliance you admire, and why?

Nelsifer Muledwun in DLord is an absolute powerhouse of a player. The largest hit in the history of the game speaks for itself, but he's also someone with a strong sense of morality, who will stand up for the things in the game he believes in. I respect what he's done for his alliance and the game a lot.

If you could change one thing about Illyriad or its community, what would it be?

I know I've already discussed troll holes and my history with them, but I do genuinely think they are an unintended byproduct of the way the map was generated and, due to the intense amount of effort needed to even start to deal with them, they are an unbalanced mechanic that needs to be fixed in some way.

There should be a meaningful advantage to settling in them, but they should also not be completely unsiegable. I like the idea of allowing armies to siege them with the addition of an attrition mechanic that kills a couple of the troops of the army regularly due to the treacherous terrain.

What is your current goal in game?

I'm working on establishing a crafting city currently, hopefully to make gear for my troops so I don't have to buy it.

And what message would you like to put out to the Illyriad community?

I'll just shout out YARR for winning the recent tournament. Roads gave us quite a scare but we managed to pull through.

Finally, who would you be interested in reading an interview with?

Maybe one of the really big players in score, Ellania or Mars, since they have so much investment in the game.

And if I had the chance to ask them something, it would be: why did you do it, and what motivated you to choose that playstyle?

Huge thanks to The Last Daughter [YARR!] for taking part in Voices of Illyriad.

You can find The Last Daughter in-game here: The Last Daughter’s Illyriad profile.

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