It is a strategy game.
Welcome to the alliance. We have put together some general information to help new players.
CONTENTS
Starting Up Guide
Maximum Efficiency
Building Tips 101: What NOT to Build
Money Management 101
[TINYURLS]
Might Guide
Wildernesses
Barbarian Camps
Ultimate Guide
[STARTING UP GUIDE]
(what you should be doing if you haven't done already)
Step One: Archers
Archers are the best, most cost effective unit in the game. To get archers, follow this path: Level 4 Sawmill, Level 4 Alchemy Lab, Level 4 Logging, Level 4 Barracks (up the racks while your lvl 4 logging is researching). WITH THESE REQUIREMENTS REACHED, you will unlock Level 1 Fletching in the lab. Research this, and archers are yours.
Step 2: Barracks BARRACKS BARRAAAACCCKKKKSSS!
Build at LEAST 8 barracks to start off (you'll want over 10 eventually). One should be level 4 for unlocking archers; the others can all be level 1. Trust me; the more barracks you have, the faster your troops train by FAR.
Step 3: Knight's Hall
Please don't be one of those people who underrates the Knight's Hall! Get this building up and running and leveled to between 3-5 ASAP! Make sure to appoint at LEAST 16 knights (Four will be assigned to four roles in first city; Four in second city; Three for third city (you don't need an alchemy lab in your third city); few idle knights for combat).
Step 4: Second City
I prefer building all my cities in different (but neighboring) provinces. This gives you triple market access, which is very nice considering some provinces' resource prices are far more expensive than others. This will also give you triple access to barbarian camps, wildernesses, and player-farms (so you're not all clustered in one place).
Of course, the advantage to having cities clustered together that most people argue for is "FASTER SUPPORT AND RESOURCE TRANSPORT TIMES!" I say "BAH HUMBUG!" to them. That's what the Relief Station is for. You get that puppy up to around level 5 and transport times between your own cities (and allies) will be a thing of the past.
Once your second city is up, get your Knight's Hall up and running in that city as well. Then train a few scouts in your first city and Reassign them to your second city ONE AT A TIME with a knight attached. This will move your knights to your second city very fast (as scouts are the fastest unit). Then assign them roles as you see fit.
Next get your alchemy lab up and running in your second city so you can research TWO techs at a time. This is invaluable, as research winds up taking longer than buildings to upgrade.
[MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY]
For Maximum Efficiency, always make sure that every building that can be doing something IS doing something. Here's a list of everything that can be going on simultaneously:
*Building Upgrade
*Researching a Tech (found in alchemy lab)
*Training troops (found in barracks)
*Building wall/field defenses (found on wall)
*Farming (attacking level 1 wildernesses or barb camps IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH TROOPS)
Although attempting to be in a state of maximum efficiency is impossible at all times (time and resource constraints), the more often you're in this state, the faster your might will grow.
[BUILDING TIPS 101: WHAT NOT TO BUILD]
Here are a few buildings you should NOT build until we're all out of beginner protection and lose our mists...and even then...
Storehouse: this is a building for people who get farmed repeatedly. We will not be farmed; we will be doing the farming.
Watchtower: very important once mist is lifted. While we're all smugly hidden, though, nobody's gonna be attacking us, so don't waste your time when you can be improving resource fields or barracks.
Wall: you should only upgrade your wall if you're deathly low on resource fields and need to upgrade the castle for additional fields; however, you should be okay by simply upgrading the fields you currently posses as that's more beneficial in the long run anyway. Otherwise, you won't have the resources to build the Wall/Field defenses that matter at this point in the game.
Workshop: Since the workshop is only necessary for the wall, this one goes hand in hand with Wall.
Embassy: you all have a level 1 embassy to join up. That's PLENTY for now. Higher levels of embassy will only allow more of your allies to reinforce your cities with support, and none of us will be under attack anytime soon.
Tavern: never build this piece of junk. Compared to the potential time deductions you get for having an extra high-level barracks later in the game, a few free Happiness points are worthless. Just TRUST me on this one. As your Captain, I would not be trying to lead you astray. Taverns SUUUUCK!
[MONEY MANAGEMENT 101]
Gold is the only resource not protected by the storehouse, meaning if you've got it, anyone who attacks you is gonna get it. Here are some tips to using gold very efficiently:
Do NOT accept your Title quest awards until you need gold. I'm currently only level 13 or 14 with enough quest awards waiting for me to get to around 20. Saving your quest rewards until you need them is like having a super secret stash of gold that NO one can ever take.
Secondly, set your Tax Rate equal to 10. This should put your happiness down to 90. Whenever your happiness reaches 90, Levy your people for gold. To Levy, click your castle and choose "Increase Gold." You'll lose 20 Happiness points but they slowly increase back to 90 over time. Once, when I was desperate for fast gold, I had to levy my people every fifteen minutes till happiness dropped below 40. That is NOT safe to do, so I don't recommend it.
Why is levying for large chunks of gold at a time more useful than taxing? Glad you asked! Taxing takes foorrrreeeeeveerrrrrr. That tiny, pathetic little trickle of gold will do you no good if you're online and in need of gold RIGHT NOW to start that next research project or buy that great deal on Wood at the market. Also, levying means you'll get a large sum immediately, which you can then SPEND immediately. If you tax your people over time and you are attacked while offline, all the gold you accumulated from taxing will be gone before you can spend it.
Whichever you choose, taxing or levying, I recommend you build between 6 and 9 cottages and level them up quickly. More and higher level cottages increase tax rate over time and/or increase the amount gained from levying.
[TINYURLS]
1.) Go to tinyurl.com in a new tab.
2.) Start a building or research project.
3.) Click "build with help"
4.) When the notification box pops up, right click on the "so-and-so needs help..." and choose "Copy Link Location."
5.) Don't bother publishing the notification for lower level stuff.
6.) Paste the "link location" into the appropriate slot on tinyurl.com.
7.) A tinyurl will pop up. Copy all but the http:// part (so only the tinyurl and everything after that portion).
8.) Paste in alliance chat. VOILA!
You will receive one minute or one percent of total time off for each click, whichever is higher.
[MIGHT GUIDE]
Barracks~
Level 1---------->10 might
Level 2---------->20 might
Level 3---------->40 might
Level 4---------->80 might
Level 5---------->160 might
Level 6---------->320 might
Level 7---------->680 might
Level 8---------->1280 might
Level 9---------->2560 might
Level 10--------->5120 might
Tavern~
Level 1--------->30 might
Level 2--------->60 might
Level 3--------->120might
Level 4--------->340 might
Level 5--------->480 might
Level 6--------->960 might
Level 7--------->1920 might
Level 8--------->3840 might
Level 9--------->7280 might
Level 10-------->15360 might
Workshop~
Level 1---------->20 might
Level 2---------->40 might
Level 3---------->80 might
Level 4---------->160 might
Level 5---------->320 might
Level 6---------->640 might
Level 7---------->1280 might
Level 8---------->2560 might
Level 9---------->5120 might
Level 10--------->10240 might
Cottages~
Level 1----------->10 might
Level 2----------->20 might
Level 3----------->40 might
Level 4----------->80 might
Level 5----------->160 might
Level 6----------->320 might
Level 7----------->640 might
Level 8----------->1280 might
Level 9----------->2560 might
Level 10---------->5120 might
Fields~
Level 1---------->5 might
Level 2---------->10 might
Level 3---------->20 might
Level 4---------->40 might
Level 5---------->80 might
Level 6---------->160 might
Level 7---------->320 might
Level 8---------->640 might
Level 9---------->1280 might
Level 10--------->2560 might
[WILDERNESSES]
Wilderness lvl.1
50- Supply Troops 50- Militia
Wilderness lvl.2
100- Supply Troops 100- Militia
50- Scouts 50- Pikemen
Wilderness lvl.3
200- Supply Troops 200- Militia 100- Scout
100- Pikemen 50- Swordsman
Wilderness lvl.4
500- Supply Troops 500- Militia 200- Scout
200- Pikemen 100- Swordsman 50- Archer
Wilderness lvl.5
1000- Supply Troops 1000-Militia 500- Scout
500- Pikemen 200- Swordsman
100- Archer 50- Cavalry
Wilderness lvl.6
1500- Supply Troops 1500- Militia 1000- Scout
1000- Pikemen 500- Swordsman
200- Archer 100- Cavalry
Wilderness lvl.7
3000- Supply Troops 3000- Militia 1500-Scouts
1500-Pikemen 1000-Sworsdman 500- Archer
200- Cavalry 50- Heavy Cavalry
Wilderness lvl.8
6000- Supply Troops 6000- Militia 3000- Scouts
3000- Pikemen 1500- Swordsman 1000-Archer
500- Cavalry 100- Heavy Cavalry 50- Ballista
Wilderness lvl.9
12000- Supply Troops 12000- Militia 6000- Scouts
6000- Pikemen 3000- Swordsman 1500- Archer
1000- Cavalry 200- Heavy Cavalry
100- Ballista 50- Battering Ram
Wilderness lvl.10
25000- Supply Troops 25000- Militia 12000- Scouts
12000- Pikemen 6000- Swordsman 3000- Archer
1500- Cavalry 400- Heavy Cavalry 200- Ballista
[BARBARIAN CAMPS & FLETCHING]
To all of you that are new to the game, here are a few guidelines for attacking barbs...
level 4,5,6,7, need high levels of fletching so make sure you have the right level of fletching. for nearly everyone this should work with no losses if followed correctly but a few something like 1 in 40 will have some sort of loss as the barb camps do have a random loss feature.
level one 300 archers
level two 900 archers
level three 2700 archers
level four 8100 archers with level 7 fletching or 6500 archers with level 8 fletching...
level five 15000 archers with level 8 fletching..
level six 33000 archers with level 8 fletching 22000 archers with level 9 fletching ..
level seven 46000 archers with level 9 fletching.
Just in case you are one of the unlucky ones that will get losses no matter how many archers you send, leave levels 4,5,6,7,until you can afford to lose 2 to 3 thousand archers.
[ULTIMATE GUIDE]
Militiamen are 1 might
Pikesmen are 2
Swordsmen are 3
ARchers are 4
I wont go into the other units because they arent going to be the ones you usually
mass up.
Food upkeep per unit per hour:
Militiamen: 3
Pikesmen: 6
Swordsmen: 7
ARchers: 9
At the beginning of the game militamen are the easiest and fastest way to build
might because they are cheapest might/resource unit.
Once you get your resources going archers have the best might/food upkeep value
Values for food vs might
Militiamen 3:1
Pikesmen: 3:1
Swordsmen 2.33:1
Archers 2.25:1
From that list you can see that archers give you the most might for food upkeep.
My typical army consists of Archers, Militiamen, and Swordsmen. The reasoning behind
this is swordsmen are the best defensive and offensive combo unit in the game
for the amount of resources spent. My ratio is about 5 militia per 1 archer and
swordsmen.