A Newbie Guide by an Actual Newbie

[ThorianB]

After reading several guides heres, i found many things i dont agree with in the current ones. alot of guides seem to focus on the goal of the end game in mind. And alot of players write guides for noobs and havent been noobs for very long time. The tactics that work with older players starting new accounts etc arent always that effective with noobs. So here is a guide on what to do as a noob from a noobish player to help prevent from getting slaughtered.( make sure you read all so you understand the why behind the whats):

1) Pick the right server. New servers are best. servers 102, 105,106 are newish servers. you want newer servers because their is less people to slaughter you out of protection.

2) pick the right spot. Granted this isnt all up to you. But scout the land around you. If you have several people with decent size towns and highish prestige . If your spot is bad you have two options:1) restart 2) use a city teleporter scroll ( you get 2 as a noob in your packages). I would try option 1 first( using the restart button in game). IF you still land in a bad spot you can tele before you come out of protection.

3) follow the quest. They will be a big help. In many cases you will end up with some buildings and techs for free or nearly free and free is important to a noob.

4) Buildings:

Inn- level 1
Feasting Hall- level 4-5
Marketplace- level 1-3
Warehouse - level 3-4 min set to 100% food
academy - level 6
Townhall- level 4
Walls- level 5
Forge stable workshop - upgrade as needed for techs and buildings
Embassy -level 3
Beacon tower- level 5
Rally spot -level 1-3
Relief Station- level 1
Cottages- start with 6 to level 5 add more as you need later in protection
Barracks-4 at least to level 4, try for 4 to level 6
Resource fields( with level 4 townhall): 8 lumber to level 8, 5 stone to level 7, 5 iron to level 7,
4 food to level 7. NOTE: you can switch food and iron to 5 food and 4 iron if iron is really cheap.


5) Techs:
Resources techs = level 4 or 5( recommand 5 for at least lumbering and stone)
Metal casting - level 3
Informatics- level 5
Military Science- level 5
Military tradition - level 1( higher if you have time and can afford)
Iron working- level 4, 5 if you can
Logistics - level 3
Compass- level 1( for the quest bonus)
Horseback riding- level 1( for quest bonus)
archery- level 5 minimium, try hard for level 6
Stockpile- level 1( quest bonus)

6) Offense- focus on archers about 100 of each of the other troops. The only other troops you should trian alot of are scouts. 200 at least starting. with 1k archers out of protection min.

7)Defense- this is where your earlier production comes into play. If you follow the production i laid out in the guide once you reach 60k lumber 30k stone and 15k iron you will be able to build archer towers continiously for the last 2-3 days of protection. The end result is 1.5k archer towers or more( i managed nearly 2k but i play alot). archery level 5-6 will give you the added range on both towers and archers. This will greatly increase you chances of surivial.

8) heros: for mayor you want high politics and low level( 65 of better on a level 1 i would go 68 or better myself on a level 1 for every level above that add 1) BUT you also want decent intelligence at least in the 40s though 50s or 60s would be really sweet. In any case try to get any cheap hero starting out because a small boost is beter than nothing you can replace later with a better hero. For scouts you want a high intelligence hero at least 68 at level 1, For attacks you will want several heros with attacks above 68 at level 1 and decent intelligence. DONT level your heros at first. let them build xp but dont upgrade them. You will have to pay them more and right now you need the gold for other things.

Starting Tips:
1) Do the quest they are very important in the beginning
2) focus on production and cottages but dont over do them so you dont have any materials left for quest.
3) get academy upgraded enough to get archery level 3 early on
4) get walls to level 3 early on. This is a good one to train while your offline.
5) start building archer towers within the first 72 hours. start out with the first 10 ( you will get 50) then another 50 ( will give you 200 total), then do as many at a time as you can afford without hindering building and tech training( note: upgrades on things like walls, townhall and academy will give you resources back)
6) get 1-2 barracks up to level 4 train some scouts and archers. With about 300 archers you should be able to take a level 3 valley with no or little losses. Take 2 stone( desert) and 2 wood( forest) valleys.
7)If you do it right 2-3 days before protection ends you will be producing alot more wood then you are using in comparison to iron and stone. Wood typically goes for more than everything else( except in rare instances where market is flooded with it). sell your wood and buy iron and stone which are typically much cheaper. You will end up with an = amount of stone or iron and some extra gold to boot. this extra gold is very important as you need it to get your techs up.
8)Focus on defense. namely archer towers. You dont typically need alot of archers to attack a level 1-2 NPC or raid an inactive player( assuming he has been inactive for a bit and raided before). archer towers are a good deteriant.In most cases the attacker will suffer losses( unless he is alot more advanced that you tech wise). Combine this with low or no resources and its not benefitial to hit you.
9) Remember what you build now can be tore down later when its no longer needed ( click the circle with line through it on the building portreit in the upgrade window), Later you will probably want to change your production and what not around. For now you want to focus on survival and being self sufficent.
10) Join a decent size alliance if you can, this will help discourag SOME attackers)
11) always be building something and try to always train something. build troops and ATs( archer towers) as materials allow.
12) if you have to buy a little bit of resources in the beginning thats fine. you should be able to sell off some of your lumber the last few days ( i was doing over 200k a day lumber on the market) which will really help with the tech training in the last few days( like archery level 6)

JOOP tips( Just Out Of Protection):

1)Keep your gates closed.
2)When in an alliance make sure the garrison allied troops is checked in embassy
3) 1.5k or 2k archer towers wont save you against someones that really wants to raid you bad enough.However when combined with other factors( some of which are listed in the guide) it makes a strong suggesstion that its not a good idea to raid you.
4)If you dont have transporters by now build some
5)Make sure your resources are kept low. put any excess on transporters and send to a level 1 valley somewhere. send a group of archers with them( a few hundred). Max sure you have max valleys you can control so you plunder and not capture. Set the distance for how much time you plan on being gone divided by 2. This will cost you food and its more efficent to only do this with gold( in other words try to use all your resources up and sell the rest). This combined with archer towers will help deter attackers.
6) Always keep at least 100 traps( 500 is ideal). This forces the engagement to start at 5000 range. end result you towers will shoot sooner instead of later( apparently if you only have towers the engagement doesnt start until the attacker physically attacks the tower meaning some of their troops such as warriors are already in range. if they use archers and warriors and the archers attack first then warriors make it to the towers because the towers go after most valuable attackers first. someone correct me if i understood this wrong)
7) dont attack players in an alliance even if they are obviously inactive. alliancemates still get the war reports and theirs no sense in drawing unnecessary attention to yourself while building up your defenses.
8) look for players targets that are/have: A) village or town, village is best. B) not in an alliance C) low prestige D) watch prestige levels to see if they rise and how fast. ( keep a little note pad of name, cords, date/time, pres level.)
9) get your archery skill max as soon as you can as well as iron working,miltary science, construction and medicine
10) always be building troops or archer towers or both( both perferred)
11) keep your loyalty high( above 75) and your grievence low.
12)remember your loyalty is 100% - tax rate. loyalty= to % of max population.So 20% tax rate on a max population of 10k will give you 80% loyalty max and 8000 people max.


My OOP( Out Of Protection) results with doing the above:

Production:25k food( after what troops eat)75k lumber, 40k stone, 30k iron,2000ish gold( at 20% tax rate- heros)

2k archer towers
2k archers 250 scouts 100 of the rest from transporters below EXCEPT calvary and cataphracts.
48k Prestiege

[Lord Ken Deathmarr]

Umm, I will read more. But just two things I wanted to point out that you should delete. One, you said pick the right server. Is there really a right or wrong server? The only difference may be in getting medals. Second, what's the point of telling us to garrison a city if the gates are closed. Say open gates for garrison, not close. And I'm pretty sure it's hard to build a lot of archers and other troops if you only have 1-2 barracks, change that to 4-5 barracks. And never attack inactive people? They're inactive, it's a low chance that they'll be on again. And never attack an alliance? Bad advice, then how do you help your alliance wars? Really go back and read through this guide. And why join an alliance if you're not going to attack one? And why not upgrade heroes? Don't you want them to help you in attacking valleys and players?


TIP:Work on grammar.

[dustino]

Umm, I will read more. But just two things I wanted to point out that you should delete. One, you said pick the right server. Is there really a right or wrong server? The only difference may be in getting medals. Second, what's the point of telling us to garrison a city if the gates are closed. Say open gates for garrison, not close. And I'm pretty sure it's hard to build a lot of archers and other troops if you only have 1-2 barracks, change that to 4-5 barracks. And never attack inactive people? They're inactive, it's a low chance that they'll be on again. And never attack an alliance? Bad advice, then how do you help your alliance wars? Really go back and read through this guide. And why join an alliance if you're not going to attack one? And why not upgrade heroes? Don't you want them to help you in attacking valleys and players?


TIP:Work on grammar.

I prefer my 20 barracks to your 3-5

[ThorianB]

Umm, I will read more. But just two things I wanted to point out that you should delete. One, you said pick the right server. Is there really a right or wrong server? The only difference may be in getting medals. Second, what's the point of telling us to garrison a city if the gates are closed. Say open gates for garrison, not close. And I'm pretty sure it's hard to build a lot of archers and other troops if you only have 1-2 barracks, change that to 4-5 barracks. And never attack inactive people? They're inactive, it's a low chance that they'll be on again. And never attack an alliance? Bad advice, then how do you help your alliance wars? Really go back and read through this guide. And why join an alliance if you're not going to attack one? And why not upgrade heroes? Don't you want them to help you in attacking valleys and players?


TIP:Work on grammar.

1) yes the right server. You see server does make a difference. Lets say your choice is an older server or a newer server. The older server is going to have alot of people that have high level cities on it with lots of troops. archer towers are really quite effective but can be ovewhelmed with large armies which are alot more abundant on a older server. On a new server not alot of people are really high level yet, which means less large armies which means less people to take out your archer towers. the inactives and low defense towns will get most of the attention because they are the best bang for the buck so yes being on a new server makes a big difference because you have a more level playing field.

2) i said dont attack inactives in an alliance. the reason for this is because anyone in alliance can read the war reports. war reports draw attention to your name. and given that you will probably be attacking players within 20 miles its not very hard to get your cords. that inactive may of only been inactive for a few days for a reason they couldnt control therefore no vacation mode( a friend of mine had his modem go out and it took several days to get it repaired for example) . You dont want unnecessary attention.

3)you want 1-2 barracks starting out to level 4 so you can start up archers and take a few valleys to help production. If you check the building list i recommend at least 4 barracks at level 6 before you get out of protection.

4) Garrisoning is for when you have enough backup from alliance mates. you want embassy to level 3 so you can at least garrison 3 armies. This is not your main defense. That would be archer towers. Leaving allow garrison checked does no harm their is no purpose in switching it back and forth( why make more work for yourself then is necessary?) Then you have the option to garrison troops if you need to be reinforced and its available. Otherwise gates stay closed and you let the archer towers handle it.

5) you shouldnt be participating in alliance wars out of protection( this is a noob guide remember). Your not going to have: A) high enough techs B) enough troops C) high enough buildings/resources to efficently replace losses D) enough defense to keep from getting repeatedly plundered constantly. again your drawing attention to yourself by participating. Thats fine if you been playing a month not so much if you been playing a week. This guide is about surivival as a noob not about the end game. Which as i read your guides yours is focused on.

6) I already stated why you dont attack people in an alliance, it draws attention. you dont want your name plastered all over war reports.

7) you dont need upgraded heros in the beginning. Its a waste of gold. What you need to spend gold on is techs not hero salary. Remember noobs cant go out and pillage cities 2-3 times an hour like players who are built up. Its much wiser to spend your gold on techs in the beggining not hero salaries. Once you start attacking npc cities and inactive players and start acquiring larger amounts of gold at a time then upgrade. But as a noob your only gold income is quest, taxes, resource sales. quest give a limited amount taxes only give a marginal amount an hour, and you need most /all the resources you make.

8) yes i know the spelling and grammar arent that great. I didnt proof read it and correct errors. If i was writing an official guide i might put that much effort into it. I might even add the sections and pretty color coding too.


Remember this guide is for noobs by someone that is a noob. As Lord Ken as made it plainly clear, Older players may know better game mechanics and have more experience, but they also think on the level of an older player. They tend to focus more on the end result instead of what is needed now. For instance Ken didnt understand how servers make a difference except for medals this is typical older player thinking. As being on a server with 6-10 level 8 and above players towns with 100k pres in a 20 mil radius might not be a big deal to them. However to a noob that has " Im dead " written all over it. Now put a noob on the server im on where there is only 1 player that is above level 7 town in 20 miles and thats alot more comforting. Also to note on the server i am playing i am in the top 1500 and a noob( started out in the 20 thousands). if i could and did move my city to an older server this would probably drop to rank 5000 or greater. would you rather, as a noob, be in the top 1500 on a new server or rank 5000 plus on an old server. Ill opt for the 1500 on a new server, less people to stomp me.

[mikyo]

umm lol i dont touch noob if they dont mess with me any or if i see they have 4mil resouce of something lol

[Lord Ken Deathmarr]

Not everyone I attacked has drawn attention.

[WN1 Hit]

lol you dont touch them if they raid you? If they come in my house ill kill them

[Baltezar]

Obviously, when you say "right server", you mean "stay away from Baltezar"
Whenever a n00b moves in right next to me and mails me somthing like (actual example):
Im gona eat your village.

I (insert violent verb here) them until they (insert synonym for "ask for mercy while crying and planning to quit" here).

And that is why the right server matters.

[jake6709]

I prefer my 20 barracks to your 3-5

He is talking about like when you very first start. and this is for people who play kinda rarely it seems like 1 hour per day or so. 20 barracks is good about a few weeks after your out of bp but once you start getting really good hero's and leveling them up 20 barracks is too much. Once you are able to make archers in the 20s range 20 barracks will be a nightmare. Right now I have around 12 barracks per city and I make archers every 09s

You can easily have upwards of 100k prestige before coming out of protection. I had around 60k not knowing what I was doing.

To be honest I didn't read all of your guide but I did skim over it and i see a few flaws in logic. Granted this is while your still in bp or just out of bp.

feasting hall right off the bat should be at least 3 but I'd suggest a min of 4 but then leveled up off and on as you progress more. If you do actually choose a "good" server meaning one that just started you and your fellow players will be on an even playing field for the most part so where you land doesn't matter at all. and the second you can go ahead and get out of bp because you do not need that whole 7 days to build up. The only reason for keeping a town hall lv 4 would be to build more prestige quicker than others. Thats all. and that is you limiting yourself and your overall capabilities. Every one should play to their play style Figure out what buildings / techs you need and do it. build them up as needed if none are needed then pick one at random and level it up. if you can keep building and building until you can't any more. keep researching until you can't any more.

As for warehouse and embassy. Since you are on a newer server or pretty even with every one else then your embassy and warehouse comes down to a few factors. Are you in a heavily populated are where a lot of people are getting hit and a lot of wars going on in your immediate vicinity? if so then yes build an embassy don't forget to check the box to allow reinforcements. and yes build a warehouse. don't set it to 100% food all the time for whatever reason. If you have one or very few cities you will need at least a few resources left in that city to help you rebuild.

As for 1k archers coming out of BP? Maybe I am remembering wrong but I had quite a bit more than that right when I got out of bp. Archers will be your primary troop so build plenty of them.

As for wall reinforcements you want 500-1000 traps 500 or so abatis. 250 or so def trebs 150 or so logs and the rest towers. You should constantly be building on your wall for protection and for the prestige gain if that matters to you.

Resource fields... build them as you need them go a little half and half on iron and wood some stone and some food. you don't have to stop at lv 8 go ahead and level them to 9 if you need to. This is very early in the game mind you. Once you get 3 to 4 cities.. your 4th should be a lv 10 npc. 3rd if you can. then by this time you should be working toward 100% resource production meaning 40 in your lv 10 npc's like all 40 being wood or iron or food if you need it at that time. I personally do not waste scripts on handmade cities I only use them on lv 10 npc's so your lv 9 cities just 37 wood or iron and get your valley's as high as they can go. but what about resource production caps. Thats why you have trans to move resources from city to city to stay under the caps. if you have 4 cities making them all wood would be an idiotic move. even 3 wood 1 iron I'd think it would be but thats me. but at least then you could move all the wood to the iron town. You use just about as much iron as you do wood and iron is harder to make and eventually will be worth more so evening out your iron and wood production seems like the best course of action.

Don't level your hero's? the gold lost vs gained isnt that much so this is just a per person type deal. If you play an hour a day then yeah I'd agree if its more then you can easily cover the cost.

barracks overall you want a min of 10 starting out. The rest pretty much cottages to build up your pop so you can do a gold making trick that every one should know by now. where you raise your loyalty to 100 then you raise tax to 99 or 100. and keep using disaster relief every 15 to 20 mins. To those of you who say npc farming is better. Yes I agree but until you get to that point this is a good stop gap measure and will allow you to build gold up pretty easily its just a pain doing it every 15 / 20 mins. have a timer or something to help you out. I would also suggest doing this even when you start farming npc's once you get 2 cities hitting lv 4 or 5's then you won't need to do this as often. or at all.

As for attacking people. this is up to you. and how you want to play. if you only play for an hour or so a day I'd suggest you never attack any one unless you want to be wiped out early. but hey with 1 hour a day your gone any way just as soon as some one realizes it. As for not attacking any one in an alliance. Early on and even later in the game single people make an alliance so if they are in an alliance check it if its 1 or 2 people and you think you can take them on then by all means hit away. Just realize they may have a few bigger friends in other alliances.

Your production seems a bit low. if thats what you had out of bp then you seriously messed up some where. i remember having 200k or so wood and 150k or so iron production per town out of protection. and thats even low it can be more. 2k archers is nothing. you should have a lot more than that. Like I said 10 barracks min.

Another quick tip. Work on your hero's often the sooner you get good hero's the better off you will be down the line. Early on high int heros are good but not needed later on. high pol hero's are good early and later on same with high attack hero's. You want at least 1 good pol hero per town and 1 really good attack hero min. what do I mean by good. Work on +65 or higher hero's later on when you have gold to spare work on getting +69 or higher hero's

[WN1 Hit]

for the newbies second city it will be good though