NEW PLAYERS - START FAST & GROW QUICKLY

RESOURCES

There are two things that limit growth in this game - the first is lack of resources and the second is the time it takes to progress.  I will begin with resources - specifically how to increase production of them and create a steady flow of these essential goods into your city.

First, follow the recommended quests. I tried to do this as much as possible during my first week and only stopped following the recommended quests once they prompted me to upgrade my castle to level 5. The reason being, once you upgrade your castle to level 5 you immediately lose your beginner's protection. There are so many more important things to do during that first week that I do not recommend leaving beginner's protection early.

In between quests I focused my attention on my resource fields. With a level 4 castle I had 22 resource fields. They consisted of 4 farms, 7 sawmills, 6 quarries, and 5 mines. This combination served me well enough initially but as you progress, your resource needs change.  Whatever the combination of your resource fields in your first city, you should set a goal for reaching level 9 in all of them as soon as possible.

While leveling-up your fields, utilize every other way to increase production. The first thing you should do is to appoint your highest level knight to be Steward of your city. You receive a one percent increase in production of resources for each level your knight has reached so even a level 1 knight will earn you an increase. If you have won or purchased any of the "Train with" items, apply them to your Steward.  This is an easy way to immediately see a considerable increase in production of resources.

Another way of increasing production is to research fertilizer, logging, stoneworking, and smelting. Every level of research in these areas represents a 10% increase in production of the corresponding resource.

Still another method is to conquer the highest level Wilds you can.  Each castle level allows you to conquer and hold a Wild.  Depending on what your needs are, conquer the Wilds that will benefit you the most.  There is a 5% increase in resource production for each level of the Wild you have conquered.  So a level 1 Wild will earn you a 5% increase in production and a level 10 Wild will earn a 50% increase.  The following is a list of Wild types and resource production increases:

Grasslands & Lakes - Increase production of food

Hills - Increase production of stone

Mountains - Increase production of ore

Woods - Increase production of wood

Bogs - Cannot be attacked and provide no benefit 

Attacking other players and Pictish camps is the most obvious method of attaining resources.  Pictish camps can be attacked even while under beginner's protection but as they only yield about the same amount of resources it takes to replace the troops you lose, they are not a good source of regular resources.  

Once you are out of beginner's protection, you will be able to attack other players.  New players should cut their teeth by attacking inactive players with no alliances. Most of these inactive players will have little to no might but may still yield a small fortune in resources and gold.  From there, move on to active players who have not joined an alliance.  Allied players are your last target.  Unless diplomacy has been set to hostile with a target's alliance, you may want to check with a leader before attacking.

Finally, there is a chance of winning resources in Chance and the far less appealing option of purchasing them from the Shop.  There are various resource production bonuses available with 24 hour and 7 day options along with actual resources in 40K, 250K, and 500K increments.


TIME

Along with lack of resources, time is a major constraint to growth in this game.  Simply put, training, researching, and building all take time and the time they take only increases with each new level.  Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to speed things up.

You can decrease the time it takes to train and build by researching Geometry and Giant's Strength.  Research of Geometry increases the speed of training by 10% per level and Giant's Strength does the same for construction times.  Leveling-up these two technologies will save you hours, if not days, of time.  What's more, your technologies carry over from city to city so your second and eventually your third and fourth cities will go up that much faster.

Appointing knights to be your city's Marshal, Alchemist, and Foreman is another way to speed things up.  For every level reached by the knights appointed to these posts, you will receive a 0.5% increase in speed.  Responsibilities of each post are as follows:

Marshal - training speed, attack and life of defenders

Alchemist -  research speed

Foreman - construction and defense building speed

TIP:  Make it a habit of appointing your highest level knight to the appropriate position just before training, researching, and building.  This will save you an enormous amount of waiting time.  You can change this knight back to Steward as soon as you have begun the training, researching, or building and you will not lose the time savings.  

Of course, if you really want something done quick you can always buy or try your luck at winning a speed up.  There are speed ups available to buy from the Shop or win from Chance ranging from 1 minute to 24 hours. 




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