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