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[Guide] Beginner's Guide v1.01

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Introduction to the Beginner's Guide

This guide is meant as an introduction for the beginning of the game for new players, not a guide on the most efficient and fastest ways to start the game. It will tell you what you need to know, what to focus on, and how to lay a foundation for expanding and progressing through the game. Also, this guide will alert you to common pitfalls for newer players and ways to avoid them. This guide uses a lot less pictures than my other guides, because there is a lot of information I'm trying to get across. It can be a bit much, but take it slow and you and your city will flourish.

Forge of Empires can be very confusing when you first start. There's a lot to get used to, a lot to do, and it can be hard to understand how to play strategically. One of the hardest things to pick up is the abbreviations. Almost everything, from resources to ages to strategies are abbreviated by players discussing the game. It can take a little bit to get used to all of the abbreviations, but soon you will find yourself using them with ease! I'll be using both the full terms and their abbreviations in this guide so you can become used to them, and you can find more about them in Part 8: Abbreviations/FAQ.

Alright! Let's get start— Wait! What if you're already further along than what I discuss? Are you stuck?! Trust me: you're fine. Try to use some of the strategies I discuss in this guide to improve your city based on where you are. In most cases, it is easier to fix what you have rather than start over completely.

—Ok. Now we can get started. This guide is broken up into several sections, which are linked to below. I would recommend reading them in order if you are a newer player. This guide assumes that you are near the end of the Bronze Age (BA) or the early Iron Age (IA), but it has tips that can help anyone at any point in the game.

Part 1: The Basics
Part 2: The City
Part 3: Fighting and Negotiating
Part 4: Guilds
Part 5: Events
Part 6: Great Buildings
Part 7: Progression
Part 8: Abbreviations/FAQ
Part 9: Author's Note
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 1: The Basics
Resources
There's some things that you will notice right at the beginning of the game. There's several resources that you can get by collecting buildings' productions, completing quests, and other actions. The two main ones are coins and supplies, and these are used to construct buildings, train troops, and produce goods. Make sure to always have some on hand! The other important resource is Forge Points (FP), which regenerate at the rate of one per hour. Forge Points (FP) allow you to research technologies or contribute to Great Buildings (GB), see Part 2: The City for more information on this.

Besides coins, supplies, and Forge Points (FP), there are two other resources that you will use the most. The first is goods. Goods are produced in goods buildings by using coins and supplies, and goods can be used to progress through the ages, negotiate, and more. There are five different types of goods per age, and each is produced through a different building. On the Continent Map (cMap), the player gets 2 goods deposits per age. These goods deposits boost the production of goods that the player gets through a goods building. For example, instead of getting only 4 goods for a 24 hour production, the player gets 20 goods in the same time when they have a deposit for that good. It is always better to produce only the goods that you have boosts for and trade for the others.

The last important resource is the hardest to get and the easiest to spend. Diamonds. These are Forge of Empires' premium currency that can either be bought with real-life money or slowly accumulated over time through playing the game. Spend these wisely and carefully. It is a long process to get more, especially at the beginning of the game.

Gameplay
Besides the resources, there are four main parts of gameplay: Research, the Continent Map (cMap), and Guilds. There are also quests, but those are so important they get their own section further down in this part.

Research is pretty straightforward — you use resources, mainly Forge Points (FP), coins, supplies, and goods, to progress through various ages and unlock new buildings and features of the game. Once you take the first technology of a new age, you "age-up" to that new age, and quests (see below) and other areas of the game will start requiring resources from that new age. However, be careful not to progress too fast. This is one of the biggest areas where new players mess up. Progressing too fast can cause you to end up in a higher age, but end up without any ability to fight, produce enough resources, or to be successful. Far too many players end up leaving the game because they went too far too fast and couldn't keep up. See Part 7: Progression for more on this.

The Continent Map (cMap) lets you gain expansions, goods deposits, and more. Also, progressing on the Continent map is often needed for completing Story Quests (see below). The Continent Map (cMap) is made up of provinces that are in turn made up of sectors. Each sector can be individually fought or negotiated. Once all sectors in a province are taken, the province and its rewards belong to you. After taking a province, you often have to scout another province by paying an amount of coins and waiting some length of time.

Guilds are groups of players that help each other build their cities, trade, and level Great Buildings (GB), among other things. Guilds unlock Guild Expeditions (GE), Guild Versus Guild (GvG), and Guild Battlegrounds (GBG). Much more will be explained about guilds in Part 4: Guilds

Quests
Quests are a very important part of gameplay. There are several types of quests, which are broken down into three tabs on the browser version of the game: the Story, Daily, and Event tabs, as shown in the screenshot below.
W8KrzA9.png

Event Quests are occasional. Every so often, there is an event in-game where you can complete a series of quests to get a special event currency that you can use to play some sort of minigame. Rewards usually include some type of upgradeable event building, and these buildings are among the most powerful in the game. Be sure to play events as much as possible when you can, and try to get the highest possible level of the building. Your city will thank you!

Daily Quests are unlocked in the Iron Age (IA), and as the name implies, you get a quest each day. The player can choose between two groups of rewards that they want, and if they complete the quest before the 24 hour timer ends, they can get a reward. Usually, rewards can be resources, buildings, or items the player can use to help their city. It's a good idea to complete Daily Quests when you can.

The largest, and more important, group of quests are found under the Story tab. There are several kinds of quests that can appear in this tab, including Story Quests, Bonus Quests, Side Quests, and Recurring Quests (RQ). Each is explained in more detail below.
  • Story Quests
    • The "main" quests of the game, Story Quests guide the player through the ages, research, and Continent Map (cMap). Story Quests can give pretty good rewards, including higher age troops (see my guide about that [here]). However, eventually the player will reach a point where they can't complete story quests until they move up in age. Unlike the other Story Tab quest types, the Story Quests can not be aborted (skipped).
  • Side Quests
    • Side quests are quests that pertain to a certain age, technology being researched, or Continent Map (cMap) progress. They can be aborted (skipped). However, some can give decent rewards.
  • Recurring Quests (RQ)
    • Recurring Quests (RQ) are just what they sound like - a series of quests that loop infinitely once they are completed or aborted (skipped). These quests only appear once all side quests are completed or skipped. Recurring Quests (RQ) can give many types of rewards, and some strategies for the game are built around completing these quests as often as possible.
  • Bonus Quests
    • Bonus Quests are short questlines that can give the player some rewards for specific areas on the Continent Map (cMap). Bonus Questlines take up a Recurring Quest (RQ) slot. There are only 3 Bonus Questlines in the game: the Early Middle Ages (EMA), Colonial Age (CA), and Industrial Age (InA) questlines. These questlines are triggered by certain provinces being taken on the Continent Map (cMap). Note that the Industrial Age (InA) questline can not be completed until the player is actually in the Industrial Age (InA).

Quests can sometimes be used to get rewards quickly. One of the common Recurring Quest (RQ) is called the Unbirthday Quest, and asks the player to pay a certain amount of coins and supplies to complete it. This one can be completed over and over, and the player can get lots of goods and Forge Points (FP) from it. However, this strategy can be time consuming, is only sustainable with a Chateau Frontenac (CF), and will be explained more thoroughly in a more advanced guide I will be writing up later.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 2: The City
Building Types
There are several main types of buildings in the game, each explained below in depth.
  • Residential
    • Residential buildings provide coins and population and need road access. Population is needed to build production, goods, and military buildings. However, the greater population you have, the greater the demand is for happiness. The more happiness you have, the more resources your citizens will produce.
  • Production
    • Production buildings provide supplies and need road access, and they can be set to 5-minute, 15-minute, 1-hour, 4-hour, 8-hour, and 24-hour production times. The longer the time, the more supplies you will receive per production, however the shorter production times are more efficient (more supplies for the time it takes to produce them). You need population to construct these buildings.
  • Goods
    • Goods buildings produce goods by the player paying an amount of coins and supplies, need road access, and can be set to 4-hour, 8-hour, 24-hour, and 48-hour production times. As mentioned in Part 1: The Basics, you get goods deposits from the Continent Map (cMap) that boost your production of goods massively. Produce only the goods that you have deposits for and trade for the rest. Otherwise, you are wasting space with non-boosted goods buildings.
  • Cultural
    • Cultural buildings provide happiness and need road access. Cultural buildings are more efficient in terms of happiness per tile than decorations, so when possible use Cultural buildings instead.
  • Decoration
    • Decorations provide happiness and do not need road access. While decorations, or decos as they are sometimes called, are less efficient than cultural buildings, decorations tend to be much smaller and easy to fit into a city.
  • Military
    • Military buildings let the player train troops by paying a certain amount of coins and supplies, and need road access. The player gets 2 free troop slots per military building where they can train troops. 2 more slots can be unlocked by paying some coins and supplies. 1 more slot can be unlocked using diamonds, but this is not worth the cost. To learn more about using these troops to fight, see Part 3: Negotiating and Fighting.
  • Roads
    • Most buildings need road access, which means that they need to be touching a road that touches the Town Hall (TH). Roads can provide happiness. However, it is generally a good idea to use as few roads as possible, but I'll explain more on that later in this part.
  • Great Buildings (GB)
    • Great Buildings (GB) can be leveled to become more powerful. See Part 6: Great Buildings for more on building and leveling them.

There are also variations of the basic buildings, usually found in events. For example, the player can get special production buildings that provide different resources depending on the production time, or special residential buildings that provide more than just coins. These event buildings are very powerful and you should try to get as many as possible. See Part 5: Events for more on events and how to play them.


City Strategies
There are several strategies that can help you maximize your city's efficiency and help you grow in the game.

The first one is to use the least amount of roads as possible. The more roads you have, the more space is taken up by a tile that produces nothing. You want every tile to be producing the most resources possible. So how do you reduce roads? Try building your city in a "comb" pattern. Move your Town Hall (TH) to a corner, and have one long road coming off of it in one direction, with other roads coming off of that road (see screenshot below). Also, try to have buildings only touch a road on one side of them, as shown in the screenshot below.
j00Nfrq.png

See the long road running from top-right to the lower-left and the roads coming off of it running to the lower-right?

Additionally, you will want to use as many buildings from your age as possible. Generally, the buildings from your current age will be more efficient than those from a previous age. What's efficiency in this game? Efficiency is the amount of resources that a building produces per tile of space that it takes up. The more resources, the better.

You get more space for your city through placing 4 tile by 4 tile expansions that are either bought or received as rewards. It is generally best to build your city in a giant square-ish shape. Having a bunch of offshoots will make it hard to place buildings and design your city. Try to plan what you will place in an expansion; once you place it, you can not change its position.

Off-Grid Buildings
There are several buildings around the city that can not be moved, but do not interfere with the grid of expansions where you can place buildings. These special buildings are explained below, from left to right. Note that there are more that appear at much higher ages (Arctic Future (AF) and higher), but those will be left out of this guide since it is for newer players.
  • Antiques Dealer
    • Unlocked in the Early Middle Ages (EMA), the player can sell buildings and items from their inventory for Trade Coins and Gems that can be used to purchase other buildings and items for sale or for auction
  • Friends Tavern
    • This lets the player's friends "sit" at their table, which gives the player Tavern Silver. This silver can be used to upgrade the tavern (more seats, more silver, etc.) or to buy boosts that can help the player (coin, military, or construction boosts, just to name a few)
  • Harbor
    • The Harbor lets the player participate in Cultural Settlements once the player has unlocked them via "Plowing" in the Iron Age (IA). To learn more about Cultural Settlements, check out my guide on them [here]!
  • Guild Expeditions (GE) Ship
    • This lets the player access the Guild Expeditions (GE) when the player is both in a guild and at least in the Iron Age (IA). To learn more about the Guild Expeditions (GE), see Part 4: Guilds.
  • Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) Shrine
    • This lets the player access the Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) once the player is both in a guild and has unlocked them via "Military Tactics" in the Iron Age (IA). To learn more about the Guild Battlegrounds (GBG), see Part 4: Guilds.

Social Actions
The game becomes a lot easier with the support of other players. Once you unlock the social bar in the Bronze Age, you can aid other players and they can return the favor.

Aiding someone means that one of their buildings is either motivated or polished. A motivated building produces more resources, and a polished building provides more happiness. Either way, a motivated or polished building is not able to be plundered (once you unlock Military Tactics, you are open to being plundered).

Additionally, you can sit in your friends' taverns. By doing so, you may be able to get Forge Points (FP) and your friend receives some Tavern Silver (TS). Your friend can use this Tavern Silver to upgrade their Tavern and buy boosts. Your friends can sit in your tavern and help you to do the same.

Generally, it is a good idea to have friends who are active and aid/tavern sit daily or close to daily, and you should try to do the same when you can. You can have a maximum of 140 friends, but you can only send friend requests until you have 80 friends. Past that, someone has to send you a request.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 3: Negotiating & Fighting

Some of the main tasks of the game involve either negotiating (spending goods in a puzzle) or fighting (either auto- or manually battling enemy units) to complete quests, take sectors on the Continent Map (cMap), or to complete certain actions in minigames (for example, see Part 4: Guilds). Since fighting is more involved, negotiating will be explained first.

Negotiating
When you negotiate, you have to match a specific good or resource to one of five slots. You have three turns to do so (except in Guild Expeditions (GE) where you can buy a boost in the tavern to give you another turn), and the number (2-10) and amount (1+) of resources you have to choose between differ depending on the difficulty of the negotiation.

Once you choose a resource for each of the slots, you can pay them and each slot will either turn green (you got the right resource in the right slot), yellow (you got the right resource, but it is in the wrong slot), or red (you got the wrong resource). Then, you can choose more resources for the remaining slots, and this continues until either all the slots are green or until you run out of turns.

Negotiating has some strategies that can help you succeed more often than not, which you can find in this guide written by Ozyman Tremble Weaklings (now a deleted user).

Note that on the Continent Map (cMap), the "negotiations" are much simpler, and involve the user paying a predetermined amount of goods to take a sector. There's no actual minigame involved.

Since negotiating involves goods, you will probably need to trade with other players to get the goods you need. When trading, it is common to trade 1:1 (equal offers and needs) when trading for goods that are of the same age you are offering. When you want goods up one age from the ones you are offering, it is common to offer a 2:1 trade, or giving twice as many goods as your need. When trading down an age, it is common to offer a 1:2 trade, or receiving twice as many goods as your offer.

Fighting
Other than negotiations, the player usually has the option to fight. Fighting takes one of two forms: auto-battling and manually fighting. With either option, the player chooses up to 8 units to fight against some number of enemy units. The player can increase the health and damage of their own units by building and leveling certain Great Buildings (GB, see Part 6: Great Buildings), activating a Tavern Boost (see Part 2: The City), placing buildings that give boosts, or using items from the player's inventory. Whenever possible, use the full 8 units so that you have the best chance of winning.

There are five unit types: fast, light, heavy, ranged, and artillery, that can be trained in military buildings. Each has boosts against other unit types and possibly boosts depending on the terrain. Try to fight using units that have boosts against the enemy units if possible, so that you have a better chance of winning.

Additionally, there are several types of special units that can be trained in special military buildings that can be gained as rewards from Events (see Part 5: Events) or Daily Quests (see Part 1: The Basics). Rogues ignore the first hit they take and instead transform into another unit in your army (if there are no non-rogue units remaining, it just dies). Flag-bearers give your units a non-stackable 12% attack and defense bonus. Color Guards give your units a non-stackable extra hit point. Finally, Champions boost your other units when the champion dies. The most useful of these are rogues, since they essentially absorb hits from the enemy for free. Rogues are commonly used in combinations such as 1 normal unit + 7 rogues, where the normal unit is held back so all the rogues transform. However, it can be tricky to obtain rogues early in the game.

Auto-battling is the fastest method of fighting, and it involves the player just clicking a button and having the game's AI fight for them, returning the result of the battle immediately. Auto-battling is an easy way to lose units when you aren't careful or when you have only small boosts. In that case, I would recommend manually fighting (see below).

Manually battling involves the player themself controlling their units and fighting against the enemy's AI. The player's units will always start on the left side of the screen, with the enemy units on the right. The fighting is turn-based, and units can both move and attack in the same turn. Certain tiles have different terrain, which can boost your (and your enemy's) units. However, certain terrain types also reduce your units' movement. See the image below for an example battlefield.
U1uoQCe.png

The only real way to get good at manually fighting is in-game practice, so the more you do it, the better you will be, however some strategies can help you out. Keep your units out of range of your enemy's units if possible so that you can attack first (mouse over enemy units to see their range, see screenshot below).
8rdy9oV.png

The red-tinted tiles around my unit are the range of where I can attack. The red-tinted tiles around the enemy unit are where it can attack. The idea is to stay just outside of the enemy unit's range so that you can move inside of the range on your next turn to deal damage to the enemy without taking damage first.

Also, try to take out one enemy unit at a time, and keep trying to move towards the ranged enemy units to take them out as early as possible. Use the terrain to your advantage: place your units where they have an attack or defense boost so that they either deal more damage or take less.

Once again, the best way to get good at fighting is by lots of practice. Over time, you will get better and better.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 4: Guilds

From social activities, trading and support, unlocking interesting and important features, and more, guilds are one of the most central parts of the game. However, there are both good and bad guilds. Some guilds focus more on experienced players, while others are more open to new players that want to learn.

It is important to find a guild where you fit in, whether that means in terms of similar players, activity (how much you play the game), or finding somewhere where you feel like your city can grow. Try to look for guilds advertising for new members in the global chat, or post that you are looking to join a guild (include your experience, activity, etc) to see if any will invite you. Not joining a good guild can stunt your city's growth or make it harder on you to succeed.

Some things to look for in a guild to join include active swap or 1.9 threads (these will be explained in a subsequent guide), active trade threads, the fact that the guild unlocks levels of the Guild Expedition (GE) weekly, and that the guild participates in the Guild Battlegrounds (GBG).

Guilds can be leveled through collecting Guild Power by competing in the Guild Expedition (GE), Guild Battlegrounds (GBG), Guild Versus Guild (GVG, but only for PC players), and through the collections of some special buildings. The higher the guild is leveled, the more boosts the players receive, including extra daily Forge Points (FP) from their Town Hall (TH), reduced healing/training time for units, and reduced building costs of buildings.

Guild Expedition (GE)
The Guild Expedition, more commonly referred to as GE, is a great place for you to get rewards and to help out your guild at the same time. Each season lasts one week total, with it starting on Tuesdays and ending on Mondays. It is split into four different levels, with there being 16 encounters in each level. Each encounter can either be fought or negotiated, and the player can receive a small reward after each encounter. The player gets 8 attempts at a time (they recharge one per hour) to complete encounters. Each try at an encounter costs one attempt. See the screenshot below for the Guild Expedition (GE) map.
b76Yw0J.png

As the player completes more encounters, they progressively get harder. However, the rewards also increase. In fact, the Guild Expedition (GE) is one of the best places to gain diamonds as a reward. See the chart below to see the average yearly diamond gain from the Guild Expedition (GE).
Levels CompletedWeekly Diamond Gain (avg.)Yearly Diamond Gain (avg.)
Level 1
~8​
~420​
Levels 1-2
~24​
~1240​
Levels 1-3
~60​
~3120​
Levels 1-4
~150​
~7800​

Each attempt a player makes to solve an encounter, whether they win or lose, contributes some amount of points to the guild's progress bar (at the top of the screen). As the bar fills up, the guild will get higher and higher amounts of crowns, which level up the guild. Additionally, the Guild Expedition (GE) is cross-world. If the guild has at least three members, a competition between 8 guilds chosen from all worlds (based on size of the guild) runs during the expedition season. This competition is won by having the highest percentage of encounters completed per member. The top placing guilds receive a bonus to the guild power they collect during the expedition.

The player can build the Great Building (GB) called the Temple of Relics (ToR) to have the possibility of getting extra rewards from the Guild Expeditions (GE) in the form of Relics that can appear around the expedition map.

To unlock levels after level 1 (level 1 is free), guild goods from the treasury will have to be used. Most guilds require some sort of donation to the treasury, whether from building an Observatory or Arc or just straight donating goods. If your guild does not (or cannot) open higher levels of GE, it is probably a good idea to find a new guild that can.

Guild Battlegrounds (GBG)
Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) are where guilds on the same world can directly compete with one another. Each season lasts a total of two weeks, starting on a Thursday and ending on the Monday after the next. To participate, the player must be in a guild and have unlocked the technology "Military Tactics" in the Iron Age (IA). Note that to do this opens the player up to being plundered by other players, so it is a good idea to avoid researching this technology until the player is ready.

The Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) map is an island with 4 rings or sectors. Between 5-8 guilds compete in each season, and their base is placed somewhere on the outer fourth ring. Each sector costs a certain amount of advances to be taken (which can be fought or negotiated), from which the guild can move on to others. Each advance has a chance of giving the player a reward, which can range from Forge Points (FP) to fragments of upgrades for Guild Battleground (GBG) exclusive special buildings.

Each sector gives a certain amount of Victory Points every hour, with the innermost ring's sectors giving the most. The guild with the highest number of Victory Points at the end of the season wins, and they get the most rewards (everyone gets something, though, as long as the guild participates). See the map below to see an example screenshot of what the map could look like in the middle of a season.
fjyy4e1.png

The guilds themselves are split into 5 different leagues: Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The higher the league, the better the rewards are, but the more advances needed to take a sector. Depending on where the guild places at the end of the season, they can be moved up or down between the leagues.

Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) can be hard for newer players to get involved in since with each advance, something called attrition increases. The higher the attrition, the harder the battles or the more expensive the negotiations are. This means that often new players can only do a couple of advances per day. However, once the player builds up goods production or attack strength, the Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) can be a great source of Forge Points (FP) and diamonds.

Guild Versus Guild (GvG)
Guild Versus Guild (GvG) is for PC players only, unfortunately. While I won't be explaining it in this guide, since it is pretty complicated to explain all here in one section, there are other guides on this forum that help explain it. Check out this guide for more information on it. The guide is a little dated, and the pictures don't work anymore, but you can still understand it. Be warned though, it is complex.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 5: Events

Events are one of the best places where you can get new buildings and items to help you build your city more efficiently. Events happen often in the game, and they usually last a little less than a month. Events consist of a questline, where the player gets an event currency, and a minigame, where the player can spend that event currency. Generally, the events are themed around a single, upgradeable main building that the player can get upgrades for during the event.

The questline is broken down into two sections: the rush quests and the daily quests. The rush quests come first, and the player can complete these as fast as they want. However, the daily quests are unlocked at a rate of one per day, and once the player catches up to the current daily quest, they will have to wait for the next one to unlock. Each quest rewards some amount of the event's currency. Also, every so many quests there is a milestone reward, usually of an upgrade for the event's main building or for a large amount of the event's currency.

The event currency can be spent in the event's minigame, which can vary greatly. Some of the games tend to be strategy based (for example, playing a clicker-style game) or random based (choosing random boxes to open for rewards). In the minigame, there is usually something called a daily special, where a certain item or building can be won that day from the event. Since you get a limited amount of event currency over the total event, players usually wait for a daily special that they want to appear before spending their currency so they have a better chance of winning it.

As I stated earlier, event buildings are extremely powerful. Besides Great Buildings (GB), and buildings from Cultural Settlements, event buildings are the most powerful. Do your best to complete events as much as you can, which will help your city become more and more powerful.

In addition, many of the event's quests involve common requests, and there's so tricks to completing them easier. The list below goes over some of the easy ways to complete common quests.
  • Gain some amount of happiness - Build and delete roads. They are cheap and you don't have to make extra space in your city.
  • Gather some amount of goods - Make two trades, so that when both are taken, you haven't lost any goods. For example, offer 50 marble for 50 wine, then offer 50 wine for 50 marble. Ask someone to take them (probably in your guild) and that will count towards gathering goods. This is also known as making a "circle trade."
  • Gather some amount of coins/supplies - Either wait for your productions to be available for collection, or build and delete buildings. The coins and supplies you get when selling a building count towards these quests.
  • Defeat some number of units - You don't have to win a battle for this to count. Try manually fighting a battle, killing a few units, and then surrendering. Of course, if you can finish the battle you can do that as well.
  • Gain some amount of population - Build and then sell a production, goods, or military building. The population that you "get back" from selling the building counts towards these quests.
  • Win some number of battles - If you have not unlocked Military Tactics yet, the only battles open to you will be in the Guild Expeditions (GE) or the Continent Map (cMap). Pick the ones you think will be the easiest, and manually fight if you have to.

Events can be difficult when you first start out if you aren't prepared. There are resources that you can use to help prepare yourself for them, but I can't link them here because of forum rules. However, at your own risk you can search for the questlines for the events which are posted on third-party websites. Just do your best to complete the events as much as possible, and soon you'll be able to complete them easily enough.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 6: Great Buildings

Great Buildings (GB) are a main building type, and unlike all the other basic building types, these can be leveled using Forge Points (FP) to become even more powerful.

To build a Great Building, the player has to first gather a set of 9 unique blueprints (BP) from either aiding other players, getting blueprints (BP) as a reward from quests or events, or by contributing to other players' Great Buildings (GB). Then, the player has to pay a certain amount of goods (based on the Great Building's (GB) age) to construct the building. However, a newly built Great Building (GB) produces nothing — it is at level 0. To start producing resources, a certain amount of Forge Points (FP) must be contributed to the Great Building (GB) by either the player or other players until it is at level 1.

Commonly, players in higher eras sell goods to other players for Forge Points (FP), enabling goods to be acquired at any age. Generally, the buyer will pay the seller Forge Points (FP) in the form of Great Building (GB) contributions. Once paid, the buyer posts their trades and the seller takes them, giving the buyer the goods they need. Some guilds offer free or discounted costs on goods, so be sure to ask around for the best price.

Great Buildings (GB) provide a multitude of resources or boosts, depending on the specific building. The different boosts are explained in the chart below. Note that the abbreviations aren't explained, it would clutter it up too much. If you need to know what an abbreviation means, check the list in Part 8: Abbreviations/FAQ.
No Age​
Observatory (3x3):
  • Gives Guild Goods and contributes to the Support Pool
  • Many guilds require the OBS to be built to help with treasury goods and GvG, so it is a common GB to see in especially pre-Arc cities.
Oracle of Delphi (3x3):
  • Gives Happiness and Supplies
  • Partly useful early on, it does not contribute much to the player's city and can be deleted once it is no longer needed. It is a common target for snipers in the Iron Age, as most players by that point still do not know how to invest their FP well.
Temple of Relics (6x6):
  • Chance to get Relics in GE
  • Since most active guilds require GE participation, this can help the player pick up some more rewards. Relics are a very nice prize in GE, and this GB should be built as soon as possible. However, it does not need to be leveled high to be useful.
Bronze Age​
Statue of Zeus (2x3):
  • Attack and Defense Boosts for Attacking Armies
  • An extremely useful GB for most cities, this boosts the stats of military units, enabling the player to fight more easily and lose less units.
Tower of Babel (4x4):
  • Goods, Population
  • The population can be very helpful early on, and can take the place of some houses while also producing goods. However, its usefulness declines in later eras.
Iron Age​
Colosseum (6x7):
  • Happiness, Medals
  • Don’t build this. Friends don't let friends build the Colosseum.
Lighthouse of Alexandria (4x4):
  • Goods, Supply Boost (x40)
  • Very useful to gain more supplies and goods.
Early Middle Ages​
Cathedral of Aachen (4x6):
  • Attack and Defense Boost for Attacking Armies, Coins
  • Similar to the Statue of Zeus, this is one of the three main military boost GB, and is extremely useful for fighters.
Hagia Sophia (7x6):
  • Forge Points, Happiness
  • While greatly debated, this GB is mostly useful towards the end of the game. It’s size is a put-off for earlier eras.
Galata Tower (3x3):
  • Gives Goods and a chance to repel plunder attempts
  • This Great Building is pretty useful for early players, since it gives a decent amount of goods, is small, and reduces plunder.
High Middle Ages​
Notre Dame (4x6):
  • Happiness, Supplies
  • Like the Colosseum, just don’t build it. It is not worth the space it takes up.
St. Mark's Basilica (6x6):
  • Coin Boost (x90), Goods
  • Useful for those looking to make a few more coins and goods. While not necessary, many players find it helpful to their cities.
Late Middle Ages​
Castel del Monte (5x5):
  • Attack and Defense Boost for Attacking Armies, Forge Points
  • The third main military boost GB, the CdM is very useful for players due to the military boost combined with the FP.
Saint Basil's Cathedral (5x5):
  • Coins, Attack and Defense Boost for Defending Armies, Support Pool
  • While not too useful for the player, it can boost a player’s defense and support the guild at the same time.
Colonial Age​
Deal Castle (7x7):
  • Attack and Defense Boost for Defending Armies, Medals
  • While some enjoy DC, this building is too big and the boosts too weak to be useful for most players.
Frauenkirche of Dresden (5x5):
  • Goods, Happiness
  • This building is useful for some, but for the most part it depends on a player’s style on whether or not this will be beneficial.
Industrial Age​
Capitol (7x5):
  • Population, Supplies
  • Some build the Capitol to boost population, but with the increase of population-giving event buildings and the Capitol's size, its usefulness has declined.
Royal Albert Hall (7x6):
  • Goods, Supply Boost (x75)
  • The RAH can help players who want more supplies and goods, but its size makes it less favorable.
Progressive Era​
Alcatraz (10x7):
  • Unit Production, Happiness
  • While large, this is an incredibly useful GB for fighters. The Traz gives players unattached units based off the barracks they have in their city. This allows players to build up large stocks of units, helpful for fighting in any aspect of the game.
Chateau Frontenac (5x6):
  • Coins, Quest Reward Boost
  • Another very useful GB, the CF lets the player gain more resources from completing quests. This GB is the basis for questing strategies and can be used to generate large amounts of goods and FP.
Modern Era​
Atomium (7x6):
  • Guild Goods, Happiness
  • Not a very useful GB to the player, but some build it to help out the guild.
Space Needle (6x5):
  • Coins, Happiness
  • Not very useful in the slightest.
Postmodern Era​
Cape Canaveral (4x5):
  • Forge Points
  • This GB is wonderful to have, allowing the player to get more FP daily.
The Habitat (7x6):
  • Coins, Population
  • Essentially one big house, this GB is generally overlooked. If one needs population, the Innovation Tower (see below) would usually be better as it is smaller and provides FP.
Contemporary Era​
Innovation Tower (6x6):
  • Forge Points, Population
  • The most common population GB, if one is low on population this GB is useful, and the FP are nice to have. However, due to the increase in population-giving event buildings, this GB is becoming less of a necessity. If it is built, make sure to have the happiness to support it.
Lotus Temple (6x6):
  • Coins, Happiness
  • This GB is pretty useless; the coins and happiness are generally not needed by the time someone would have the space to dedicate to this GB.
Tomorrow Era​
Truce Tower (6x5):
  • Aid Goods, Supplies
  • This GB is useful for those who want to get higher era goods slowly over time, and give them the possibility to trade them down. The DT is especially useful because the player can choose which era of goods they want by aiding players of that age. However, the DT’s usefulness declines in higher eras.
Voyager V1 (4x7):
  • Plunder Goods (x3), Supplies
  • This is not the most useful GB; goods buildings are generally more efficient than the plunder goods.
The Future​
Rain Forest Project (6x6):
  • Aid Blueprints Boost, Goods
  • This GB increases the odds of getting a BP from aiding. This makes the RFP useful for those looking for prints (but the Arc is more efficient, see below). This GB, therefore, has the niche use of being useful for getting prints for new GB after an era is released (by aiding players who just advanced).
The Arc (7x5):
  • Contribution Bonus, Guild Goods
  • Probably the single most popular GB in the game, the Arc lets the player receive higher rewards from contributing to GB. This GB is the basis for many swap methods and is required in some guilds. It is definitely a must-have for most players.
Arctic Future​
Arctic Orangery (7x7):
  • Critical Hit Chance, Forge Points
  • This GB is very useful for fighters, as it gives a chance for units to do 150% damage against same-age units. The FP production also makes this GB desirable.
Gaea Statue (6x4):
  • Happiness, Medals
  • Just don’t build this one.
Seed Vault (5x6):
  • Helping Hands, Supplies
  • This is one of the handful of GB with the chance to give diamonds. This GB is nice to have for those that have many people they aid; each aid has a chance of giving a reward.
Oceanic Future​
Atlantis Museum (6x7):
  • Double Plunder, Goods
  • This GB is a must-have for frequent plunderers, as it gives a chance for the player to double the plundered resources.
The Blue Galaxy (7x5):
  • Double Collection, Medals
  • This GB is useful for collecting high-yield buildings, as it gives chance that the building’s production is doubled, with some restrictions, such as it can not double the collection of a military building or Great Building.
The Kraken (5x5):
  • First Strike, Forge Points
  • A useful GB for fighters, this GB gives a chance to kill one of the enemy units at the start of a battle. Combined with the Forge Points, this GB becomes very nice to have.
Virtual Future​
Himeji Castle (6x6):
  • Spoils of War, Supplies
  • This GB gives the player the chance to receive rewards after battles. While not necessary, this GB is good to have if you are a fighter.
Terracotta Army (4x6):
  • Attack and Defense Boost for Attacking and Defending Armies
  • For fighters, this is a very nice GB to have as it increases their attack boost.
Space Age: Mars​
Star Gazer (5x5):
  • Previous Era Goods
  • For negotiators, this building can be useful to have to assist in the production of previous era goods. Goods sellers may also find this useful if they want to camp in an era and sell goods from the previous age, augmenting their production of previous era goods.
The Virgo Project (5x5):
  • Coins, Missile Launch
  • While this GB gives a chance to kill half of the enemy units at the start of a battle, the small chance for this happening and the amount of attempts makes this GB not that useful except for those fighting against troops with very high boosts.
Space Age: Asteroid Belt​
Space Carrier (7x4):
  • Special Goods (Medals if in an age below AF), Diplomatic Gifts
  • This is the HC of negotiating, and also is useful for those moving through ages that require special goods.
Space Age: Venus​
Flying Island (4x6)
  • Mysterious Shards (basically random prizes in settlements every so often)
  • This isn't the most useful GB. It looks nice, but it doesn't do too much. If you have the space and want it, go for it. But otherwise, you won't really be affected much.
Space Age: Jupiter Moon​
A.I. Core (5x5)
  • Guild Goods, Algorithmic Core (boosts special goods productions)
  • This building is extremely useful if you are in AF or higher, as you can accelerate your special goods production. However, in ages lower than AF, it has little use.
Space Age: Titan​
???
 
Last edited:

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 7: Progression

This section is going to cover when and how to move up ages in the game. One of the main aspects of the game is the progression through the ages, which unlocks new units, buildings, and extra expansions. Usually, the biggest reason players advance in age is to get more expansions to build a bigger city. There are two general types of strategies for progressing: camping or tech racing.

Camping is exactly what it sounds like. You find an age that you like, and you stay there for a while. Camping lets you work on leveling your Great Buildings (GB) and building up resources. The only problem is that you progress really slowly through the game's ages if you just camp.

Tech racing is exactly the opposite of camping. Instead of taking the technology tree slowly, you rush through it as fast as you can, making sure that you produce everything you need from one age before moving to the next. While this sounds similar to the mistake some players make in progressing too fast, when done correctly tech racing can allow you to "jump over" multiple ages so you can get to one that you like.

One of the biggest tips I always give to newer players is to slow down progression through the ages. Plan your progression, don't just move up in an age because you can. Make sure you are prepared and ready, as some quests and areas of the game become more difficult as you progress through the ages.

So when should you move up in age? As a general marker of when you could move up, you should be able to complete most reasonable Daily Quests before moving up (some ask for extremely high production related quests that you don't need to try and complete every time). Also, you should try to be able to finish all 64 encounters of the Guild Expedition (GE) weekly before moving up.

When you age up, you should replace the previous-aged buildings with those of your new age. However, event/special buildings remain at the age they were when you placed them. To make them the current age (and to produce resources for the current age), you have to use either One-Up or Renovation (Reno) Kits. One-Up Kits increase the building's age up one (but not higher than your current age), and Renovation (Reno) Kits increase the building's age to your current age. When you have a lot of event buildings, you may have to plan ahead of when you are going to advance in age so that you can collect enough kits to upgrade your event buildings to your current age.

Now, what specific day of the week should you advance in age? Surprisingly, there's an answer to that question. In both the Guild Expedition (GE) and Guild Battlegrounds (GBG, see Part 4: Guilds for more information), aging up while they are running will not change the difficulty of the challenges you face. In fact, you can age up during either one and face armies from the age you just left, letting you fight with the units from your current age — a huge advantage! The best day to age up, therefore, is the day where both of these "events" are running. This day falls on the Thursday that the Guild Battlegrounds (GBG) season begins. This will also give you time to prepare and build up goods and units for your new age.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 8: Abbreviations/FAQ
Abbreviations
This game has a lot of abbreviations that are used to describe buildings, gameplay elements, and more. A list of the common ones can be found in the spoiler below. There are quite a few, so don't be overwhelmed the first time looking it over! You'll quickly become used to the abbreviations as you play through the game.
Resources/City
  • FP - Forge Points
  • TS - Tavern Silver (used in Friends Tavern)
  • AD - Antiques Dealer
  • TC - Trade Coins (used in Antiques Dealer)
  • TH - Town Hall
Ages
  • BA -Bronze Age
  • IA - Iron Age
  • EMA - Early Middle Ages
  • HMA - High Middle Ages
  • LMA - Late Middle Ages
  • CA - Colonial Age
  • InA - Industrial Age
  • PE - Progressive Era
  • ME - Modern Era
  • PME - Postmodern Era
  • CE - Contemporary Era
  • TE - Tomorrow Era
  • FE - The Future (or Future Era)
  • AF - Arctic Future
  • OF - Oceanic Future
  • VF - Virtual Future
  • SAM - Space Age: Mars
  • SAAB - Space Age: Asteroid Belt
  • SAV - Space Age: Venus
  • SAJM - Space Age: Jupiter Moons
  • SAT - Space Age: Titan
GB - Great Building(s)
  • Obs - Observatory
  • OoD/Oracle - Oracle of Delphi
  • GT - Galata Tower
  • ToR - Temple of Relics
  • SoZ/Zeus - Statue of Zeus
  • ToB - Tower of Babel
  • Colo - Colosseum
  • LoA - Lighthouse of Alexandria
  • CoA - Cathedral of Aachen
  • HS - Hagia Sophia
  • ND - Notre Dame
  • SMB - Saint Mark's Basilica
  • CdM - Castel del Monte
  • SBC - Saint Basil's Cathedral
  • DC - Deal Castle
  • FoD - Frauenkirche of Dresden
  • Capitol - Capitol
  • RAH - Royal Albert Hall
  • CF - Chateau Frontenac
  • Traz - Alcatraz
  • SN - Space Needle
  • Atomium - Atomium
  • CC/Cape - Cape Canaveral
  • Habitat - Habitat
  • IT - Innovation Tower
  • LT - Lotus Temple
  • VV 1/Voyager - Voyager V1
  • TT - Truce Tower
  • RFP - Rain Forest Project
  • Arc - The Arc
  • Gaea Statue - Gaea Statue
  • AO - Arctic Orangery
  • SV - Seed Vault
  • AM - Atlantis Museum
  • BG - Blue Galaxy
  • Kraken - Kraken
  • HC - Himeji Castle
  • TA - Terracotta Army
  • VP - Virgo Project
  • SG - Star Gazer
  • SC - Space Carrier
  • FI - Flying Island
  • AI Core/AIC - AI Core
Guilds
  • GE - Guild Expedition
    • GE 64 - Completing all levels and encounters during the season
    • FotA/Face - Face of the Ancient (reward building)
    • GotSG/Gate - Gate of the Sun God (reward building)
    • TS/Square - Tribal Square (reward building)
    • SSW - Sacred Sky Watch (reward building)
    • FoY - Fountain of Youth (reward building)
    • TF - Terrace Farm (reward building)
  • GBG - Guild Battlegrounds
    • SoH - Statue of Honor (reward building)
    • RtV - Road to Victory (reward building)
    • SC - Siege Camps (used in the Guild Battlegrounds)
    • VP - Victory Points (used in the Guild Battlegrounds)
    • LP - League Points (used in the Guild Battlegrounds)

FAQ
There's quite a few questions that new players often have at the start of the game. I hope to answer some of those here.

Q: Are there any more guides where I can get information on this game?
A: Absolutely! I've written some other guides (see links in Part 9: Author's Note) and I plan on writing more. Also, there's many guides that have been written in this forum's guide section. Some of the most interesting ones for new players include Glarg's guide for getting Great Buildings (GB) quickly [here] and Ozyman Tremble Weaklings' guide to negotiating in the Guild Expedition (GE), [here]. There's many more guides, but it might be hard to understand them when you are just starting out.

Q: Is this game pay to win? It seems like I have to pay diamonds for everything!
A: Not a bit. You can do everything in the game without spending anything. The only tradeoff is you might have to be more patient.

Q: Quests, events, or some other section of the game, is asking for way too many resources, and I can't keep up!
A: Slow down your progression through the ages! Spend time building up your resources, and you'll be fine. Also, continue to try and complete events as much as possible. Getting event buildings will help you produce more resources.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 9: Author's Note
As a small note, please do not message me asking if your city is good, or how to improve it, or anything like that. If you have a question or comment about actual guide content, that's fine. I don't have the time to walk a bunch of players through the game individually. Sorry!

Also, note that I'll be diving much more into depth about much of what was discussed in this guide in subsequent guides. Those will be linked here once I write them. For now, here is a list of the other guides I have written:

For my own reference and just for fun, in the spoiler below you can find a list of all the changes to the guide.
  • Beginner's Guide v1.01
    • Finally added SAJM info
    • Updated Abbreviations Chart
    • Updated GB Chart
    • Organizational improvements
    • Made the GB Chart easier to edit on my end
  • Beginner's Guide v1.00
    • First version of guide
    • New formatting setup!
    • An introduction to the game in general
    • Basic Strategies

Please note: This is a public guide, but do not plagiarize it nor claim any parts of it as your own. This includes the guide format, pictures, charts, strategies, or any other information without first obtaining permission from the author. Thank you for your understanding.

Finally, thanks for reading, and any feedback or comments are appreciated. Should anyone have a technique they want to share with the community that was not mentioned, it would be greatly appreciated.

-UBER​
 
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Deleted User - 20002583

None of your image files are opening for me. Is it possible they aren't saved on your project server? I've tried several methods of opening. Thank you for this guide.
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
None of your image files are opening for me. Is it possible they aren't saved on your project server? I've tried several methods of opening. Thank you for this guide.
The images work fine for me. How are you trying to "open" them. Just click on the spoiler and the image should be there.
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Huh. I don't know. The images show up fine on all the devices I've tested them on. Could be a browser setting perhaps? I've been using Imgur for a long time to put the images into my guides, and I've never had anyone comment on the images being broken before now.
 

CommanderCool1234

Active Member
Huh. I don't know. The images show up fine on all the devices I've tested them on. Could be a browser setting perhaps? I've been using Imgur for a long time to put the images into my guides, and I've never had anyone comment on the images being broken before now.
Well @chelid said it to, and it only seems to happen with guides. Great guide btw!
 
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