Re-balancing & What it Means for My Guide

After careful thought, I've decided to leave my guide like it is in regards to the re-balancing update. It affects much of my information about troops, what is (now was as it could have changed) the best, and their respective cost. I've decided upon this course due to several reasons. Mainly, since I no longer play I am not out their testing it out first-hand. That has been what my guide has been in the past. My first hand experiences being passed on.  Secondly, even if I was to try and figure all the units out again and run all the numbers, I've been told by several old friends that still play that there are many new spells, the hero worlds effects were merged into the game and it has become in some aspects a whole new game. To me, that makes it impossible to try and figure it out without playing for which I do not have to time for. I regret that my guide will not be complete in ever aspect as that was my goal when I started. I'm happy to see however how useful my review and opinion on the new hero's have been. It is still by far the most popular post in my guide.

With all of this said, I am not done with this guide yet. I still have yet to write about the WW Age. Many people have been asking about that so I will get to it sometime soon I hope. Hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have good New Year's. Thank you for all your support and your participation and views. It is a great encouragement!

~Maciver

Important Announcement

It has just come to my attention that Grepolis units have been updated. Apparently this happened some time ago but because I no longer play I was unaware of it. Therefore, it looks as if most of my opinions on the units because of their cost in resources & favor aren't true anymore as some of them have been changed. Mainly, myth units have gotten a lot cheaper but more powerful for the most part. I'm disappointed that my guide isn't up to date and will try my best to get it there. I don't know how since I'm not playing any more, but I will try. Otherwise the information that I have up right now will do you no good.

~Mac

Support Template for Forum

The below Support Template is all ready for copying directly into your forum.


The title of the thread should follow the format [b]OXX/CityName/Status[/b], where:
- OXX is the Ocean (ex: O54)
- Status is one of the following: CS Incoming, Attacks Inbound, Spy Attemtps, ...

Please use this template when posting for support.  If you don't provide us with the basic intel, we cannot adequately support you.  PM me if you have any questions.
_____________________________________________________________________________

[b]City Attacked:
City Wall:
God:
Support Type Needed:

Attackers Name:
Attackers City:
Number of attacks:
Attack(s) arrival: [/b]


[u]Use this template if you see that attacks include a CS[/u]

[b]City Attacked:
City Wall:
God:
Support Type Needed:

Attackers Name:
Attackers CS City:
CS Landing time:
Attack(s) arrival:
First six Enemy Support Times:[/b]


~ A BIG thanks to Forseti for coming up with this Support Template!

Forum Format for Recording Intel - Option #1

Unfortunately, not much remains of this idea as we replaced it with Option #2, (click here) but here is a picture of part of it. We made two tabs called Off. and Def. Both contained a thread set up like you see in the picture below with a thread dedicated to each ocean (or if not much activity in a few, we'd group them together)

Off. Tab

In each thread we post anything that had to do with us attacking, spying, or casting spells on enemy cities in that specific ocean. This way, we could see what had been hit, when, and what was currently there (or what the wall lvl was at that time) while not having to dig through a ton of random reports from different oceans to find what we were looking for. 

Def. Tab

Just like the Off. tab, we posted anything that had to do with our cities getting attacked, spied on, or spells cast on them. This is the the MOST important out of either of them, maybe even the most vital tab out of the whole forum. From here we would record what enemy city had attacked, with what, and the TT of the attack (to figure out when they had launched it and thus was online). Thus, it eventually gave us a clear picture as to what the enemy had, where it all was, and where to strike when we knew they were sleeping and kill their offense.

To pull this Option off, you'll need at least 2 people that can be dedicated to making sure all the intel is processed before the reports delete themselves. (generally have several days before this happens). Stealing an idea from Option #2, it would work best if they would edit each post and write Processed at the bottom of each report. Then, all the info should go into grepointel.com so that the maps will have the current intel and it should be placed in some sort of format at the top of each thread so that it is readily available to all. It takes a lot of work, but it making killing the enemy and knowing what is incoming (so you can counter it correctly) very easy in the future.

Creating a Forum Format

One of the most important aspects of a well run alliance. It can make or break an alliance in the midst of a major war. Communication is what matters most. If the forums aren't set up in a way that is understandable and user friendly, people are a whole lot less likely to work together and work as a team. Team work is the only way wars are won in Grepolis. No one person has ever won a war completely single-handed-ly. Below is the set-up that I've used and was taught since I started playing and it has seemed to have been effective and user friendly to most players. (from the feedback that we've received)

Important to Note: Tabs shared with other alliances cannot have threads moved to or from them by either party.

SUPPORT - Anything having to do with being attacked and the reports from such. Threads here have a city name that is under attack and current info about it (what ocean, name of city under attack - how  many attacks, CS launched, under siege) i.e. O54 - XYZ - CS Lands at 20:35:01. Also, at the top and marked important is the thread for posting attacks on your tripwires in other people's cities. This shows participation and that you have indeed taken steps to help secure your island.

General (Gen.) - Announcements & a list of leaders and who to contact when went here. Nice to have an area that was uncluttered so that there could be no missing it.

Offense - Threads under this tab have an enemy city name in the title along with a landing time or where in the process the claimant is. (what ocean - spying, clearing, CS launched, CS landed) i.e. O54 - XYZ - CS Lands at 20:35:01. Also kept a thread marked important at the top for putting random reports of attacking the enemy.

Intel - Click here & here to read my guides to recording intel on the forum. Depends on how you want to organize it as to how many tabs you have for it and such.

Guides - Leaders are generally the ones that post here, posting links to guides or templates for specific forum posts. (For posting in the support tab or for announcing that your CS is launched at an enemy city)

The Pub - Anything and everything that didn't go in any of the other tabs. May members used this area for joke telling (in a thread devoted to it) and for fantasy football. I mainly view this tab as a HUGE distraction, but I can see that a place to let down can be good for morale and so people don't burn out by being constantly overwhelmed by just pure grepolis.

Archive (Arch.)- After a while, in the alliances I was in, we found that we needed a thread devoted to any old post as we liked to safe the information in them. Who did what, who helped and with what. Also helped to show who was the most active and a team player. Since there isn't a limit that I know of as to how many threads can be under this thread, we dumped most anything that was outdated in here.

Leaders (Ldrs) - Hidden - Where what we called the "council" met and discussed the pressed matters that was currently facing the alliance. We had a thread in here that was devoted to Recruiting and if any leader had a suggestion or a recommendation it should be put there with anything that we knew about the player in question and we would all discuss it. Here was also where we discussed our next move as alliance and prospective allies and enemies. If we ever had a spy in this area we would have been royally messed up, so only a chosen few were ever aloud access. (before my retirement, we spent more type in the skype leadership room talking than we did here as it was faster and much smoother)

Leaders Archive (Ldrs Arch.) - Hidden - Like Archive, anything from the Leadership tab went here after it was outdated. But only those that could see that tab could see this one. Being able to go back and look at old stuff was a huge benefit on several different occasions.

World Wonders (W.W.) - Hidden until about 2 months before - Before WW age rolls around, the leaders got together 2-3 months before and decided on the 7 islands that we would used for building our WW's on. This tab, which was released for everyone in the alliance to see about 2 months before WW age starts gives them all heads up, information as to what we need where, and instructions as to what to do with their own cities in preperation. (Build you market up in each and build Merchant in many of them) The aspects of this tab change over time, but the idea behind it stays primarily the same.

WW Islands - (Made after the one above and released at the same time as it or close to it) - Here we had a thread devoted to each island with a link to each at the top of each thread. Anything to do with an island was put under its specific thread. Whether that be trips going off, requests for resources from players (to build up their walls and such) or for reports of attacks on them. Announcements as to what WW/s to send resources to where Mass Mailed out, but they were also edited in to the title for each island (send, hold, accelerate, done!) This proved to be quite effective and in the last WW race our alliance very quickly pulled ahead of our opponents. It proved quite capable of dealing with 160 players all helping and sending to the WW's. Would definitely use the same thing again if I ever played again.

----------------
Targets (Or known as Ops) - This thread constantly "changed". To the regular member it might like the same one, but we generally had 2 or 3 that were hidden and that we were working on behind the scenes only to be released when we were ready to launch the Op. This/these tabs had all the information that we had on the target cities and what our goal was and in what time frame. This is where team work was formed and how it played. If no one stepped up to provide a CS for a city then we went on to the next one. We always tried to have a plan before attacking a city so as not to just attack it, but to make sure we gained something by our losses. Did we gain the city? Even if they broke the siege we put on it, what was the ratio of our loses to theirs? Did we take out all of their LS in that area?
----------------

In the past there have been people that have complained that there is to many tabs and to much to read, and in-as-much as that might be true in some cases, if you are fairly active, and just keep up on what is in your area or what is marked as important, it isn't that bad as some make it out to be.

It Delos, because of how many oceans we covered (9 to be exact), we split the Offense tab into 2 tabs. West & East. And then in the description specified which oceans that included. Then, there was a thread for each ocean that that area covered. Anything that had to do with that ocean and offense went there. It lost a bit of the teamwork, but because we were so spread out we had to just PM or skype those who were close and might be able to help and just form our own little groups on our own if we were going to go after a big target.

This is no wise the "best" set up, but it is what we found to work for us and we made several changes in set-up over time as we found some things that worked better than what we had or vice-versa.

Building Up Your 1st City - Army & Navy

Right off the bat you are faced with many choices. One of the most important ones is how what you build troop wise. I've seen many players take the approach of just building and farming their villages until they reach 3,000 or more points. Oh how badly can turn out. The most successful players are those that start building up their army right away and use any spare resources to build more troops. You can use these troops to take more farming villages or/and to go farm the smaller players on your island to even further increase your resource production.


As I like to do, I don't build any defensive troops besides the ones needed or I get from doing the tutorial quests. I go all offensive. As quick as possible, I try to build up my academy to get horsemen. These are the fastest and largest resource carrying unit. While I don't build all horsemen, the time it take to get to them and research them in the academy I usually have a good size slinger force (200-300 at least) to accompany them in farming attacks.

As my city gets built up, I try to keep a large offense force in the field and if attacked always dodge, enact militia, and use my resources up so that they get absolutely nothing. Depending on how my neighbors behave I usually push to get CS and Conquest researched ASAP. The faster you get your second city, the more of an edge you get over everyone else that doesn't have a second one yet.

Navy - I don't normally build up my navy until I research LS. The only BR's I have until after I have my second city is those that I get from completing the tutorial. I generally build up my LS forces to about 15 or 20 by the time I'm CS ready. Beyond that, I amount I build is different each time as it depends on how much population and resources I have available and how aggressive surrounding people are and how much I or my alliance members are being attacked.

Trade - What is the Benefit?

Trade, what is it? Trade is the transaction between 2 players, between 2 of your own cities, or between one of your cities and a farming village on the same island as the city selected.

--- Trading with your farming villages can help balance out a resource deficiency. i.e. your on a - rock island so you trade 2000 wood for 2500 rock. To trade with a farming village, your market needs to be on level 5.

--- Trading with other players can help when doing bigger projects, such as trying to build up a LS nuke or stock your cave with silver. But, unless during the first month of a world, I try to stay away from trading with those outside my alliance at our allies. To trade with someone else, your market needs to be at level 10 or higher.

--- Trading between 2 of you cities is a good way to mass produce an army. I like to cast Call of the Ocean or Population Growth on my city  when I'm ready to do a lot of building, then, once I've used all the resources up in the city, send the max amount so that I can put the speed-up spell to good use. Later in the game this is the main way of "trading" as you should have enough cities to be self-proficient and have more than enough resources to put 100 LS in the queue in 3 different cities in one day. I recommend building up your market in each city to at least 15, in many of my safe cities they are at level 30 so that I can send the maximum amount of resources each time. (this is more efficient and gets more there in a shorter amount of time)

Trading is also used to a high extent to help boost front line cities that are constantly being used for either offense or defense as they are almost constantly rebuilding. Sending resources from your safe cities to your front line should be a daily occurrence. If you are aggressive like you should be, you'll need it to keep up with the rebuilding that you will be doing. Cities that are dedicated to building LTS are great cities for sending resources from once they have all their defense built and sent out as they won't have anything to build unless the LTS dies.

In the World Wonder Era your entire alliance will be sending everything they can to the WW's in order to get them built first. It is especially important at this time to have your market on lvl 30 and have the special building Merchant built in about half of your cities to help you send even more at a time.

---------------------------

To see just how much trade plays a part in the game, lets look at what will happen if you aren't trading and moving resources around to where you need them.

--- If you can only send 5000 at a time, and your TT to the city your sending to is 4 hrs, it'll take you 20 hours to get 20,000 of ONE type of resource there. On the flip side, if you are able to send 10,000 at a time with the same TT, it'll only take you 8 hours. You decide what is most efficient and effective.

--- When WW Age rolls around, sending 5,000 at a time isn't going to help very much. But, if you are able to send 22,500 (that is with your market at lvl 30 and Merchant built) that is quadrupling your sending power and cutting the potential TT by over 4 times. If you are able to send 22,500 2x a day, that starts adding up pretty quick. Especially if half or more of your cities are doing it.

--- You lose a LS nuke on your front line. You spend the next 30 days using that city's resources to rebuild it. On the other hand, if you had first filled the warehouse, cast CotO, and then kept filling the warehouse up ,(be careful you don't waste any by overfilling at any time...) you could potentially get more than 100 LS in the queue building at half of the normal build time (or almost at 80% off the normal if you use a 30% less build time spell from a quest)

As you can see for yourself, trading has the power to turn the potential build time of a LS from +30 days to about 2 or less weeks (no gold involved) or to significantly help you alliance in the WW race. Many people don't realize the importance of trading and thus some of their true potential is lost as they are constantly having to stop and wait for a month for nukes to rebuild.

Defending Yourself Effectively - Advanced

Part #1 of "Defending Yourself Effectively" covered the basics of defending, and those can apply throughout the whole span of a world. What will be taught below will be things that you normally won't see until the 2nd or 3rd month in a world and on-wards.

1. What's the purpose of this incoming attack?

• Once at the 2-3 month point, there is a whole new way of thinking when it comes to attacks.
• They can be used as fakes or to test your online times. Other times they are to catch your LS in harbor while your supposedly sleeping
• Ask yourself the question of "why now?" Did they break your cave and are coming to wipe out your troops? Is it a fake or a probe?
• Is it a CS TT? If there is just the one CS, perhaps it is a fake CS (1 sw, 1 LS, 1 ST, 1 CS) to distract me, or its just a person who doesn't know what their doing... 
• Check the points of the attacking player, and then of the attacking city. If it is a 2000 point city, the attack will be pretty small and nothing much to worry about.

2. What do I have in range to counter it?

• By this time you should have a fair number of BR's and a city or two strictly devoted to DLU's.  Find what you can get there in time if need be.
• Check your alliance's intel for knowledge about the attacking city. Has this city attacked someone else before? This can really help you on deciding on what to do.
• If the attack ends up being a LS nuke, what are the TT of my LS nukes to that city to chase it home and kill it?

3. How do I respond?

• As a general rule of thumb, I normally dodge attacks that aren't a CS but have a TT of over 5 hours.  This TT puts them in the class of a 2nd line city, so not one that I'm willing to take a large risk to try and kill off as they are far enough away that I'll have long time to prepare for their arrival.
• Be mindful, are other people under heavy attack near your city? In that case, the attack might be to try and get you to worry more about defending yourself than the person that is really being attacked. This is a common tactic as it does add confusion and just 5 decoy's like this can easily steal defense from the main targets where they are really needed.
• Can I cast wisdom on the attack? Sometimes this just ends up being a waste of time as it isn't a big attack, but, it then allows to you more precisely determine what your doing to do about the attack. Dodge it or try and destroy it.

4. If it is one of my frontline cities that is attacked, is it prepared to withstand an assault?

• An attack of slingers hitting a wall of 2000 swordmen behind a lvl 25 wall will be slaughtered, so when possible, stack your defense, you are stronger, and will kill more for less loss on your part.
• Much discernment is needed when it comes to determining if you need more than you already have stationed in a frontline city. A common tactic is to fire off a small attack at random cities to suck up valuable LTS in preparation for a large attack in another area.
• Make sure your wall is up to lvl 25 and you have a tower built if you are attacked frequently
• If the attacked city is one that has offense built in it (which is the kind of city that people go after most frequently) make sure the troops or the LS will be away when the attack hits. (Support or attack one of your other cities, or send them to a friends city till its safe to return them)

5. Myth - The more aggressive you are, theoretically, the more you'll be attacked...

• This isn't always true, and it serves to deter a surprising number of people from really getting out there and being aggressive. I found that the more I attacked others, the less I got attacked myself. Being aggressive shows the enemy that your active and are willing to fight and after testing the waters for a while, they'll leave you alone for the most part.
• Leaders look for the players that are aggressive and that are go-getters. If you just sit around waiting for the enemy to come to you, you won't end up helping your alliance out much. 

6. How can I efficiently keep the enemy from attacking me?

• Its fairly simple. Keep track of their offensive cites (OLU or LS nukes) and try to pick them off with your own. To be safe, you'll need to send in LS nukes ahead of your OLU nukes as they might set up a BR wall before you get there. Best time to do this is when their sleeping if you know that, but with the attack alarm this isn't very likely anymore. :( If you can get their offense with yours, the ratio of loss will be a whole lot less, and will be MUCH cheaper for you in theory as offensive units have horrible defensive stats. So remember...

Don't Panic!

 & 

The Most Efficient Defense is a Strong Offense!

Defending Yourself Effectively - Beginner Level

Defending yourself.... something you will need to learn, and learn quickly in grepolis. As soon as the beginners protection comes off, people begin "farming" the other players on their island for resources and bp's. As the attacker, it can be a great way to boost your own production and bps, especially if the defender doesn't know what their doing. But, in this guide I will show you what to do, when, and how so that you can severely discourage the attacker from coming back, and if they do, knowing full well that you are ready, waiting, and aware of what to do.

1. Don't Panic!

• When attacked, first check the landing time of the attack.
• Then, see what you have available by that time to defend. In the early stages of the game, people are generally looking for cheap and easy resources, or bp's, so, try to give them neither.
• Call out your militia and use up your resources so that they are under the amount that can be stolen.
• If in an alliance, let them know by posting, not in a demanding way, just informative, that you are under attack.
• If you have any defense (see my unit guide for definitions of those) try and dodge for the first attack, This will let you see what your up against. You won't lose anything, and they won't gain anything while you will gain valuable intel as to their strength and what you need to prepare for.
• If, after this first attack they come back again, and you know you can wipe them out with the defense you dodged with on the first attack, stick around and defend (but only if by using the simulator you know you can win) There is no point in losing everything to only kill half of them. If it is that bad, ask your alliance for help and just whittle them down by using your militia and building your wall up.
• By killing off someone's entire offense, you take away their ability to farm others on your island for a day or two until they can rebuild. If you have an offense, now might be a good time to hit them back.

2. Make A Game Plan!

• Even if you're not frequently attacked, it is always a good idea to have a plan in mind and know instantly what your going to do. Whether you are going to dodge or stay and defend.
• Strategy plays into this part. Are you building up your defense first or your offense? As I've stated elsewhere, my choice is offense. You can dodge and then chase the enemy home and retaliate, hopefully catching their offense at home. How you react depends on how you've prepared

3. Stick To It!

• If you have a plan, stick to it!
• If you have a team member on the island, work together. Perhaps agree on both attacking the bothersome player, or building defense to help protect against the threat.

4. Listen To The Advice Of Others!

• Especially if your new to the game, ask those that have played a while (such as your leaders hopefully)
• Leaders are especially interested in the players that aren't afraid to ask questions to help improve their game. They want people like you and are normally more than glad to help you along.

5. Counter The Enemy

• If you see that the attacker likes to build slingers, and you have decided on a defensive stance, you should build swordsmen as they have the strongest defense against slingers. By countering what he likes to bring to the fight, you will soon drain the desire to fight out of him and they'll find someone else to pick on.

6. Count The Cost

• Defending efficiently is all about numbers. Did it cost me the defender, or the attacker more resources? If he likes to attack with hoplites, what counters them the best for the lowest cost (the answer is archers)
• A good way to gain a resource advantage is to call out the militia, you lose nothing but 1.5 hours worth of resources and it is an instant defense so it doesn't take time to build up after losing it. A defender who keeps calling out the militia on me and using up their resources so that I get absolutely nothing will soon discourage me from attacking and I'll go elsewhere.

For more information, (Click here) to read the advanced portion of the "Defending Yourself Effectively" guide.

Leadership - Part 1

Good leadership is one of the key parts of Grepolis. No alliance can do well without one. It is natural to the human race to designate a leader/leaders or take control to give something a specific direction. Here in grepolis it is even more important. There is inter-alliance matters, such as organizing offense & defense, calming disputes, or just giving the alliance general direction. Outside of the alliance there is plenty of things to do as well. Diplomacy with other neighboring alliances, recruiting, and most importantly making friends.

Leading an alliance isn't something for amateurs, some people can manage fairly well in their first world, but generally the rule of thumb for most is to play an entire world through before trying to lead an alliance. Communication IN & BETWEEN alliances are what make and break a game. If you don't know how to work together and communicate, perhaps you shouldn't be leading then as more than likely, it won't end good for you or your alliance.

Since my retirement from the game, I've taken a communications class in college. Boy, do I wish I had known a lot of what I learned in that class when I was playing. Mainly,

• don't assume or stereotype
• Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
• listen 2 times as much as you speak
• treat everyone as important
• NEVER "yell" or "chastise" a member on your forums - always due that via PM or Skype
• don't just have one leader, have an odd numbered group of them that are on equal terms (3 or 5)
• treat ALL with honor and respect even if you can't stand them
• and most of all, keep in mind that the world is watching. One thing said wrong can change the world. Allies can be lost and enemies can be made very quickly if your not careful

To lead an alliance, you need to organize it. I would suggest right off to start with your forums. Click (here) to read my guide on forum structure and the different methods we've used and have found to work well.

As a leader, you are put on a pedestal. You are held to a much higher standard than the general members. Because this game is played by people from across the world, language can provide a large barrier. Even the differences in language between the U.S. and the U.K. can work together to form a very confusing conversation. If your not sure what something means or it doesn't make sense, don't just assume and keep going with the conversation. Stop and ask. If people see you are willing to take the time and learn so that they can work better with you, the more they will want to work with you, the leader.

External Forums - I highly suggest just staying away from these as a leader. They are a huge pitfall and can quickly turn from jesting to full out insults that can goad you as a leader to do something or say something that you wouldn't normally do or say to "save face" or to look good just so that you have something to come back at them with on the external forums.

Planting Spies - While it is one of the most looked down aspects of the game, it is still a reality. It happens, and there is no getting away from it. Personally, I would suggest employing them. War is war, and you are trying to give your alliance the edge. Many people consider this "dishonorable", but, the fact is, others will do it whether you use them or not. Spies are an alliances biggest threat, and I've seen one than more alliance brought to its knees by the fact that we had 3 or 4 spies in their alliance.

The best way to combat willing spies is to be kind to everyone in your alliance, ask always for their opinion and suggestions, and follow the general feeling. When you start bucking that and going your own way, people will start becoming discontent and some will quickly start hiring themselves out to other alliances as spies.

True, there are those spies that intentionally try to join your alliance for the sole purpose of spying, and the only way to fight this is to be super careful with your recruiting by checking everyone over on grepostats to see what alliances they have been in.

Another thing to watch for is burning out. If you have a heavy load on your shoulders, and you are doing more than half of the work in the leadership, something needs to change. This can sometimes come from people going into VM for a while or other things, but it is the 2nd greatest killer of an alliance. A great leader that was doing a super good job burned them-self out and ended up quitting. Without realizing it, you just gave your enemy a major victory. They couldn't have wished for more. That is even better than rimming you. So be careful, and if one person gets loaded down, try to redistribute the load so that no one or two people are bearing the load or making all the decisions.

For more on Leadership, (Click here) for the 2nd part

Christmas Break is coming... :)

Well, Christmas break is right around the corner. Yes, I know its been a VERY long time since I've posted anything, but, I still have all the notes that I took and a whole lot of pictures I took when I still played. So, I REALLY hope to get a lot more guides up during that time off from college. I have a lot of drafts started, I just have to finalize them and publish them. Just want to say thank you for all the views. I check daily and there are about 40-90 views a day! That's pretty good for a guide about grepolis! :)

To all my viewers...

I just want to apologize for the lack of uploads in the past week or so. Been very busy and not much downtime. Hopefully that will change soon and I'll be able to post more regularly. Thank you for your patience.

~Mac

The Importance of Claiming Territory

Claiming an ocean/s as your territory from the beginning can be extremely vital to the survival of your alliance. I've participated in many wars that started over the disagreement of terms of where the "boundary line" was. Claiming an entire ocean is a whole lot easier to do then to try and draw lines on a map to claim a certain area. That can get super messy, where as claiming an ocean is very straight forward as you have the map grid-lines to go by. Also, the game some how determines what ocean a city is in (apparently based on where the island is in relation to the ocean boundary line). In this case, you have two options. You go by a visible line. (the ocean line), or you go by what the server says as to what ocean a city is on (even though it might clearly be on the other side of the line). Make sure that it is very clear to all parties involved, and that everyone agrees to what kind of deciding factor your using (option 1 or 2)

Claiming Core Oceans - The is the most important part. Claiming your core ocean is like declaring where you, and only you can have cities. If other alliances have cities in that ocean, you should first use diplomacy to try and trade cities (perhaps you have some cities in their core ocean/s). If this doesn't work, you'll have to take them by force. If you've read my guide on "The Strategical Importance of Cities" (click here), you'll know that even 1 city in your core ocean = "safe zone" can have a devastating effect in the long run.

Keeping Your Cities in Potential Enemy Territory While Getting Them Out of Yours - The same effect happens when you have some cities in an enemy's "safe zone" as when they have some in yours. During the territory claiming, try your best to get them to give up all of their cities in your territory while trying to keep some in their territory. This can be tricky, but the benefits can be enormous as it can give you the advantage from the very beginning if a war breaks out. But, if the terms you agree on are 1 for 1, then this plan will not work unless you have more in their territory then they do in yours.

Below is a picture of the world Delos. My alliance is in Blue, our allies in Green, and our soon to be enemies in Yellow. As you can see, we didn't always stick to the straight ocean borders as we felt that that would get to messy as we split some oceans diagonally, so we just drew a line across it. (there was a little room for flexibility here unfortunately) As can also be seen, we didn't have our core oceans clean of everyone else. Luckily, we later merged with our allies (and their allies, which aren't shown here) and won the world together, but if this had not happened, we would have been in a world of hurt. As it is, we had 5 fronts to try and hold and at first, our war with Yellow did not go to well as we never forced them to give back their cities in our core oceans during the time we were at peace. Thus, we had many cities constantly threatened when this could have been avoided by taking actions against it by claiming sovereignty of our oceans months before.

Academy Research

Though this part of my guide might not agree with other guides you will find about Grepolis, it is my personal preference and opinion. So far, it has worked great, and I haven't regretted it one bit.

What NOT to Research

As you can see in the above picture, 6 researches are in red. Of all researches, these are NOT worth researching. See the list below to see why.

• Diplomacy - You shouldn't need the extra 20% for keeping your farming villages from revolting, as it is a bad idea to loot them down below 80 morale to begin with (you can't trade with them if its below 80)
• Espionage - 10% faster? Seriously, just send it sooner!
• Crane - Builds buildings 10% faster.... While this sounds great, and I actually build this in my first city in a world to get it started, it isn't worth building in any other cities as they should already be fully or partially built when you take them over. So just a waste of research points
• Meteorology - Some say this +10% speed effects all land units, but I've also heard that many others say it doesn't effect myth units. So officially, I can't say it works on all land units, but generally you shouldn't need this as you aren't normally sending troops over an island, but much more likely to be sending them via transports and LS escort. Another waste of research points
• Democracy - Extending the time of an enemy conquest in your city by 10% is pretty pathetic. The only time I EVER recommend researching this is in ALL WW island cities. But I'll get more into that in my WW guide.
• Trireme - The biggest waste of resources ever made. Its attack is worse than a LS, its defense worse than a BR, and it costs just as much population as a LS and BR together. Your much better off just building 50 LS and 50 BR then 50 triremes. Oh, and did I mention that a Trireme costs 120 more resources then a LS and a BR? And to make it even worse, a Trireme is just a little faster than HALF the speed of a BR. So not only is it weak on off. and def., it's expensive, AND its slow!!! The biggest waste of research points you could ever find! So don't even think about it....

CS Launch City

The picture above shows what my CS launch cities typically look like. Some might differ a bit as I don't feel like resetting some pre-existing researches that aren't to much in the way. (such as Archers, Chariots, Catapults) Generally, my CS launch cities double as some of my LOU nukes as I don't really see a need to make a specialized city just to launch a CS from. I'd rather be able to have 3-4 cities able to launch CS's, thus giving me many more timing options then just having one city.

LOU or LDU City

Just like the picture of what my CS launch city most probably would look like, here is what one of my LOU or LDU cities would look like. The yellowed out researches are those that are optional based on what your building there. (i.e. a horseman nuke, or a slinger nuke with 20 catapults) If you are building a LDU city, you apparently won't be needing the Horseman and Catapult research, but if you have it, it always gives you the option of quickly re-purposing the city without wasting much time.

LS or BR City

Just like the other, the shaded red researches are ones you don't need. The shaded yellow researches are ones you might want if your wanting it to be able to switched over to a LOU or LDU city fairly quickly. Otherwise, their not really needed. As with the LOU and LDU set up, this on is capable of switching between LS and BR without any waiting. Just put it into the queue line!

All in all, picking out what your going to research shouldn't to difficult as long as you have a plan and stick to it.

An Introduction and Overview of Hero's

An Introduction to Hero's

Heroes are just like regular units in many respects, but there are a few features that set them apart:

• Heroes are not recruited in a building
• Heroes are not paid for with resources, but with either "Coins of War" or "Coins of Wisdom " which can be obtained by completing Island Quests.
• Each hero has one special skill that can be found in his or her description, each skill will impact the game in a particular way.
• By investing "Coins of War" or "Coins of Wisdom", heroes can reach new levels (up to level 20), this will improve their base values and special skills
• Heroes are not lost if you restart on a world.
• Heroes don‘t die. Following a defeat they are merely wounded and regain their strength over time. (18hrs divided by the speed of the world)
• Heroes are not tied to the population of cities.
• Heroes can be assigned to towns, but there can be no more than one hero in one city at the same time.
• Heroes cannot be used to support other cities or players. They can be used only for your own attacks or in your own towns. They will also not stay when conquering a town.
• After an attack commenced, the hero will immediately return to his home town without travel time.
• Only 1 Hero can be assigned to a city at any time (credit to Hassan al-Sabbah for this)
• Heroes that affect attack strength must be sent along on the attack to gain the benefit (credit to Hassan al-Sabbah for this)
• Heroes can not be trained/upgraded while in transit (either between cities or on an attack (credit to Hassan al-Sabbah for this)
• DO NOT spend gold to open new slots, you can easily open all 11 slots by reaching culture level 11 (credit to k-arch2 for this)

(I'm assuming that you followed the tutorial and have already assigned Andromeda to your city)

1. Start off by doing quests to gain  Coins of Wisdom
2. Once you have 12, upgrade Andromeda (you are given her when you start) - This will increase the amount of resources you get which will be a big help.
3. Now, take a look at the complete list of hero's and read all of their starting abilities. (found by clicking on the face of the hero currently assigned to your city) Once you've decided which ability would be best for you right now, start saving up to purchase it.  

Personally, I intend on going for Chiron. (base ability is -22% of the cost and recruitment time for hoplites - fully upgraded ability is -60% of the cost and recruitment time for hoplites = hoplites in that city become 2x cheaper and 2x faster build time than slingers!)

After your first one, its really up to you, which one you get next. But make sure you're positive you want it as it takes a lot to get one.

Below is a list of the hero's, their pictures, stats, and my opinions on them and what 5 I intend on getting first based off their abilities.

Hero's of War

Atalanta - Great asset to have in making attacks go a lot faster without having to have a speed spell from a quest. We will definitely see many of these paired up with CS attacks to make them go faster and to hide the CS amongst other attacks by "altering" the TT. Well worth the coins to buy and upgrade her. Definitely on my "To get" list. (#4 on it)

Heracles - From the start, we can see this hero will be popular. Many of the noobs will jump at the chance to use his ability. Sure, "stealing" favor (without really stealing it) is cool, but the minimum of 50 bp's is a draw back for sure. It might act as an incentive to be more aggressive and "farm for bp's", but the benefit isn't great enough to warrant the better, more experienced players to acquire this hero. So in my opinion, a complete waste of time, coins, and effort to acquire Heracles.

Leonidas - Turtle soup anyone? Among those that are more defensive minded, he will be their favorite hero and the nemisis of all the aggressive players in the world. While its uncertain by the wording whether or not his bonus applies to ships in the harbor as well, it leans toward the probability that it does. Sadly enough, turtles just became even more powerful. Added with the def. bonus of a lvl 25 wall + Tower, cities with a maxed out Leonidas in them become fortresses that will defy whole armies. Unless I'm surround by over-whelming enemies and on the defensive, I probably wouldn't get Leonidas. Not because he isn't useful, but I could used those coins on someone else as long as I don't need him.

Urephon - While his ability toward myth units is very powerful and useful if you have one or more, it isn't of much use if you don't have one, or you have a pegasus nuke. Sadly, he isn't fast like a pegasus. So, if your relying on your pegasus's speed to save you, pairing Urephon up with them is impossible. This is so sad, but its the way it is. After doing some more research, he is also a tad bit slower than manties and harpies. Thus, these units must conform to his speed when traveling with him. Perhaps this is a good thing for those defending sieges, as it would take the super speed out of harpies, thus giving more time to get LDU into a besieged city. Because of his slower speed, and my love for pegasus, I probably won't buy him unless I got some spare coin laying around, or I'm sending my pegasus to a city to stay for an extended period of time.

Zuretha - One of my favorite hero's as it'll make a great addition to a massive LS nuke. Same speed as LS so it won't slow down the travel time any, but will slow a BR nuke down, but this isn't to important as as soon as a hero supports a town, it will turn around and return home. So, it order to use it with a BR nuke, you must re-assign Zuretha (takes 3 hours) to the city in which your BR's will be showing up. This will take some calculations to make sure Zuretha shows up at the right time so that her bonus can be useful and that the BR's get to use it (i.e. the BR's show up before and a LS nuke takes them out before Zuretha is assigned to the city and gives them the defensive bonus.) She is definitely on my "to get" list. (#3 on it)

Hero's of Wisdom

Andromeda - The first hero that you'll get. Her ability is a very nice one. At max, she's like a constant "happiness" spell that is cast on your city. I would suggest that as soon as you max the resource buildings in one of you cities that you assign her there and then leave her there. It takes 3 hours to re-assign, so that would be 3 hours of lost resources. Since she is given you at the beginning, you don't really have a choice, so she'll always be there for you to use.

Chiron - My absolute favorite hero. With his ability, hoplite nukes become so easy to rebuild, and 2x cheaper than a slinger nuke. You'll definitely be seeing more hoplite nukes being built by me as they are much more affordable now. I absolutely recommend getting this one! At the top of my "to get" list. (#1 on it)

Ferkyon - Similar to an Accelerated Recruitment quest spell, Ferkyon increases the recruitment speed of all land units. Will be great when paired with Population Growth (spell) and will help get slinger and horsemen nukes rebuilt in no time. Will be of more use once you have 8 or more cities and have specialized nukes. Ranked #5 on my "to get" list.

Helen - As Greek history goes, Helen causes nothing but problems. Same is true here. Unless you spend lots of gold to get the Phoenician Merchant to visit your cities frequently, her ability is pretty useless. Personally, I won't ever buy her, not even if I have spare coins laying around.

Orpheus - By far, the most popular hero of all once people found out his ability. At level 1, he has a 33% of doubling a culture point that is gained by city festival, olypmic games, victory prepossession, or theater play. At level 20, he has a 90% chance of doubling a earned culture point. After asking around, I've found out that he only has to be assigned to the city at the time the event finishes. As such, you could possibly move him between towns, doubling or tripling his bonus. From all accounts, an absolutely wonderful hero to have. Ranked #2 on my "to get" list.

Terylea - Though at first glance, she doesn't look to impressive, look again. At level 1 alone she increases silver production by 44%. At lvl 20 it is 120%. I'll definitely be acquiring her down the road some time and putting her in a + silver city. On a speed 2 world, and max mines, that comes to 1874 silver per HOUR. You could increase that further by casting Happiness on the city she is assigned to. Though I was only going to 5, she is ranked #6 on my "to get" list.

Conclusion

I hope that this introduction and overview of the hero's helped clear up some questions and gave you some direction in your search for guidance as in what ones to go after first. Overall, I'me very pleased with the addition of Hero's. There are a few useless ones compared to the others, but they came up with some great abilities. Abilities that will make grepolis a lot more unique in the type of strategies displayed and used.

Sniping

Contrary to most ideas, sniping isn't as hard as people make it out to be. But its effect is immense. It could make or break an alliance in some cases. Throughout this post, I'll try to explain the finer points about sniping and hope to do it in a way that is easy to understand and will hopefully help make it easier for you in the future.

There are 4 types of Snipes. (listed in proper order)

• BR snipe
• DLU snipe
• LS snipe
• OLU snipe

Before the CS Lands

Sniping with BR's

The idea behind this is fairly simple. Your goal is to try and get a batch of BR (100 or so, 300 is preferable) as support, between the last attack before the CS and the CS attack itself. Depending on your opponent, you could have anywhere from a minute in-between to 2 seconds between to try and sneak that BR snipe in. But, here is a little trick. Assuming you have some intel on your enemy, check the city names of the incoming attacks, then compare them to what you know. It might just be that the enemy has sent in all their LS nukes first and then all their OLU nukes following and before the CS. If you know this to be true, or are willing to take the chance, stick those BR's in before the last 2-3 attacks before the CS. But I would only do this if I was positive of what they were (aren't LS nukes). If this is the case, you'll take out 2-3 OLU nukes, the escorts + transports and the CS. But if your unsure about the last attack or two before the CS, just play it safe and go for the CS itself.

Sniping with DLU's

While not as devistating to an opponent as a BR snipe, it is much more likely to succeed. Reason being, with a BR nuke, you only have the research bonus, tower, and Captain. But with DLU's, you have the wall, (possible 141.9% extra) plus the tower AND phalanx, and Commander possible. This kind of snipe doesn't kill the enemy's CS, but their CS will bounce if they fail to clear it of land troops. To use this method effectively, you want to support your attacked city with your DLU between the last attack and the CS. Landing your DLU's before the last attack could prove a disaster as generally when someone attempts a conquest, the LS nukes hit first and the OLU nukes follow with the CS bringing up the rear. Defensively sniping with a pegasus nuke would also fall under this sniping classification. 

After the CS Lands

Sniping with LS

Out of the 2 offensive sniping options, sniping with LS is by far, the safer of the two. Reason being, any wall that is left after the enemy clears the land troops will then defend the enemy troops that are escorting the CS if it lands. If the enemy is smart, they will refrain from using catapults so as to give their troops the highest defense possible once they get into the city. (sometimes its necessary to knock some of the wall down as the city is to stacked to take it on a full strength, but you must weigh this out yourself) So, with the enemy being able to use your walls against you, the easiest way to combat this in an offensive snipe is to use LS. They must be timed with 1-5 seconds of the CS landing or the chances of success against a very good opponent start to drop quickly as enemy support should be landing close behind the CS. In the case where the CS bounces because you used a BR or DLU snipe before hand, your own LS snipe will just visit your city and return home doing no damage. HOWEVER, if it is a fellow member that attempts a LS snipe and you bounced the CS by one of the methods above, be fore-warned that their LS snipe will hit you as if they attacked you. So be very careful when dealing with LS snipes. Personally, I prefer to do the LS snipes myself as if the CS bounces I have nothing to worry about as my LS won't hurt me or any support in my city.

Sniping with OLU

Out of the 4 opinions, this one is the most risky. It is common for a CS to have a large land troops escort. Some are built for clearing last second DLU snipes (offensive units with the CS), others, for defending against returning OLU snipes. (defensive units with the CS) If it is OLU with the CS, your job is pretty easy (assuming you have a good number of OLU's and your attack hits before any other support comes in). But, on the other hand, if it is DLU's that came with the CS (and you didn't or couldn't DLU snipe the CS) your in for a world of hurt and possibly losing your city without putting up a major fight as, with the defense behind your wall, they now have the advantage and it is more probable that they will beat you (if in large numbers) then that you will clear them out and kill the CS. Below is an example of a successful OLU snipe. Unfortunately, it was on one of my fellow member's CS that got sniped.

Below is a guide that explains the ins & outs of timing your snipes properly and how to do them. Practice till you have it down.... it is worth knowing well.

COLONY SHIP SNIPING GUIDE

Credit to JamboCaz on SomeServerSomewhere

Advanced Guide to Defending Yourself from Colony Ship Attacks
This guide will help you keep your cities safe from enemy capture. It assumes you are familiar with the basics of attack, support, dodge etc.

REMEMBER

1	Don’t Panic – Stay Calm – You will work better
2	Never underestimate your enemy, always send everything you can to defend your city – never think it’s easy.
3	Use this guide but also post in the forums, people are always there to offer great advice – there is always more to learn.
4	Even if you can’t save yourself someone else probably can. Make your posts in forum informative and clear. This way even if you can’t save yourself, someone with more experience CAN save you if they have all the information they need. Post BBcodes for your city under attack, post the date and time stating timezone, tell them what you have done and are planning to do about it. Sometimes trying to defend 3 different ways increases the chances you will save your city. There are normally posting templates for you in the forums to follow.

Methods of Defending
There are 3 ways to defeat a Colony Ship we only want to use numbers 1 and 2 as 3 is a last resort.

1 Support	Land defensive troops (GDU Ground Defensive Units) as close to the Colony Ship landing time as possible, (Cancelling all defence that lands after that time) killing the troops, ships, the CS or all. Remember to activate Militia at the last second to help the snipe.
2 Attack	Land attacks on or as close to the Colony Ship landing time as possible, killing the troops, the ships, the Colony Ship or all.
3 Attack	1 and 2 have failed, you and the rest of the alliance who are in range send Light Ships or Manticores to kill troops, ships or all. Sometime you have to decide if the units lost breaking the siege is worth the cost for the city.

Always try 1 and 2 incase one of them fails.

Methods 1 and 2 – Sending From Other Cities
sniping a Colony Ship from a city that is not under Colony Ship attack, is just like sending a normal support and attacks. The same as you would when taking a city.
Plan to send as much defence and attacks as you can so you have more chance of getting a good time – 1 second before the Colony Ship is perfect for defence – 1 second after for attack.

Methods 1 and 2 – Sending From The City Under Colony ship Attack
It is vital that you learn this method – IT WORKS!
We all know how frustrating the Anti-Timer in the game can be. The Anti-timer is what gives the your attacks a random element – it means your attacks can land either a few seconds before or after the time you aim for.
This method of sniping from the same city, avoids the Anti-Timer, making this VITAL to learn.
When on the front line, never take all 8 farms on your island, only take 5 or 6 or 7 based on the size of your troops. See the table below to plan the number of Farms to take.

Farm Village	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Farm Space	0	6	10	40	100	300	600	1000

To use this method you must have defence or attack troops in the city. Keep these troops safe while the clearing attacks come in, dodge with them or store in a nearby safe city. Just keep them safe while the clearing attacks happen before the Colony Ship arrives.

To do the snipe you will send an attack to a farm village on your island, attacking these avoids the anti-timer, which means you can get your timings perfect. With practise you will always land your troops 1 second before or after.

Do the maths needed (see notes below) and cancel the attack through the Command Overview at the right second. Your troops will land back in the city and snipe the Colony Ship. You must cancel by changing cities and using the Command Overview, errors can happen when cancelling elsewhere. This is a game bug. (I think this has been fixed, I will edit once I have checked this out)

Examples
Example 1 – Attack Snipe using troops from the same city Colony Ship is attacking

I have a Colony Ship landing in my city.

I have a slinger nuke in this city, this will be an attack snipe.

I have all the clearing attack(s) hitting my city, starting 2 mins before the Colony ship arrival.

My slinger nuke must land 1 second after the Colony Ship lands.

My slingers must be out of the city 2 mins before and back 1 second after.

I do the maths (see notes) – I decide roughly 4mins is safe to attack farm.

From now, I will look at the countdown to attack (found at the top)

To land back in 1 second before the Colony Ship attack, I line up my attack on the farm and hover over the countdown at the top of the screen . When the Colony ship is exactly 4mins 1 second away I hit attack.

Because the Colony Ship is 4mins 1 second out, I want my slingers total journey to be 4mins 2 seconds – this means I can cancel my journey after 2mins 1 second.

When Doing an attack snipe, remember and crush your Wall as much as possible to make it easier for your troops.

Example 2 – Support Snipe using troops from the same city Colony Ship is attacking

I have a Colony Ship landing in my city.

I have a defence troops in this city, this will be a support snipe.

I have all the clearing attack(s) hitting my city, starting 4 mins before the Colony ship arrival.

My defence troops must must land 1 second before the Colony Ship lands.

My Defence troops must be out of the city 4 mins before and back 1 second before that.

I do the maths (see notes) – I decide roughly 6mins is safe to attack farm.

From now, I will look at the countdown to attack (see below)

To land back in 1 second before or after the Colony Ship attackI have to launch on an odd number so I decide 6 mins 1 second, I line up my attack on the farm and hover over the countdown at the top of the screen . When the Colony ship is exactly 6mins 1 second away I hit attack.

Because the Colony Ship is 6mins 1 second out, I want my slingers total journey to be 6mins exactly – this means I can cancel my journey after 3mins.

Depending on how you have been attacked you may have minutes between your clearing, colony Ship and enemy additional support arrival times. This gives you the chance to practise 10 second before or after to give yourself some breathing space to push buttons and not get distracted by a cat or gurgling radiator.

Sample	Times
Attack Farm 9.01 till CS	Attack Farm 8.01 till CS
Defence Snipe – Cancel 4:30	Defence Snipe – Cancel 4:00
Attack Snipe – Cancel 4:31	Attack Snipe – Cancel 4:01
- – -	- – -
Attack Farm 7.01 till CS	Attack Farm 6.01 till CS
Defence Snipe – Cancel 3:30	Defence Snipe – Cancel 3:00
Attack Snipe – Cancel 3:31	Attack Snipe – Cancel 3:01
- – -	- – -
Attack Farm 5.01 till CS	Attack Farm 4.01 till CS
Defence Snipe – Cancel 2:30	Defence Snipe – Cancel 2:00
Attack Snipe – Cancel 2:31	Attack Snipe – Cancel 2:01
- – -	- – -
Attack Farm 3.01 till CS	Attack Farm 2.01 till CS
Defence Snipe – Cancel 1:30	Defence Snipe – Cancel 1:00
Attack Snipe – Cancel 1:31	Attack Snipe – Cancel 1:01

Recalling troops from nearby cities 

While your enemy is clearing your citiy, you can arrange another snipe.

Store Biremes or Light Ships at a nearby safe city.

Note the travel times to that city.

When the Colony Ship si the correct distance away, recall biremes to land 1 second before or Light Ships 1 second after.

Tip to deter attackers Chase Light Ships home 

My biggest piece of advice, which is easy BP and makes you a horrible target for the enemy, is to chase Light ships home.

If a player attacks youand your have Light Ships in that city or a city of roughly equal distance away (if you clusteer cities correctly you will have lots) then chasing Light Ship home is a great trick. if they nuke you with 250 Light Ships then you only have to chase home with 50 Light Ships to kill them all! Loverly BP.

Just before you are attacked, send your Light ship out of the City. Cancel he attack so the Light Ship returns a a few seconds after you have been hit (practise this). The moment your Light Ships return, send them to attack the city that just hit you. Your Light Ships will follow the enemy home, just a few seconds behind, this is very hard for the enemy to doge.

If you have no Light Ships in that city, try and judge the times from another city.

This shows great skill, gets you great BP and makes you a bad target.

~ Sniping Guide can be found here