New Player Guide- ver 2

[Guest]

Here's my version 2 of a new player guide. I used Word to format but the forums don't support the formats when copying in. Please excuse my current layout/format with that in mind. I hope this can be stickied should it prove useful.

Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North
Beginner’s Guide version 2 (6/13/12)
Author: Samo

Version 1 (5/21/12):
- Basic comparisons to Kabam’s new player guide
- Light debates with Kabam’s new player guide
- Author was a newbie

Version 2 (6/13/12):
- New organization- use Ctrl + F on your keyboard to search section headings such as “G.”
- Dramatically updated all sections content.
- Kabam’s original guide is at bottom as reference, not in body of guide.

References:
- Ricardo Kabam- New Player Guide
- Alliance management and players on world Lancelot21 from A New Beginning (now Dragonslayers), Relentless, and Roughneckz.

Table of Contents
I. Intro
II. Strategy
III. City Layout (what you should build)
IV. Economy (attack or turtle styles)
V. Walls vs Recruiting Troops
VI. Pict Camps & A Second City
VII. How to Feed My Troops?
VIII. Beginner Protection Ends: What now?!?
IX. Buying Gems
X. Final Thoughts
XI. Kabam’s original New Player Guide


I. Intro
Hey, my name is Samo and I play on the Lancelot21 world. I have played for almost a month now, as a beginner and as a player of four weeks with a might achievement of 2.3 million. Hindsight is very valuable, so here is mine. Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North (KoC:BftN) is a simpler version of Kabam’s browser equivalent Kingdoms of Camelot (KoC). I used to play Evony, a web browser game that is very similar to KoC:BftN and Kabam’s browser game KoC. Evony had a 10 city potential for players, so being limited to two is much easier. I have read the New Player Guide on these forums and the many in-game mails that Kabam sends as you progress your first seven days. Read those first so you understand the game mechanics and user interfaces. Hopefully this guide will give you a further head start.

This guide revolves around the fact that a new player has seven days before beginning protection ends. Any player on the map can attack your city once beginning status ends. Beginner protection status can also be lifted by leveling your Castle to level 5 which could be sooner than the seven days automatically given. Though I mention some intermediate topics, I only intended this guide to be from a beginner’s perspective as of version 2.


II. Strategy
Having a game plan is important in KoC:BftN. I will call this plan a strategy. Do you want to be the hunter or the hunted? A strategy can help you reach your goals. Ultimately, I want to have fun playing and so I chose the hunter route. That doesn’t mean being the hunted doesn’t have its advantages, such as in alliance spy warfare.

1. Join an alliance
This is your first priority because being in an alliance can help you obtain resources, advice, and support when under attack after your beginning protection ends. Aim for an alliance that meets your play style- aggressive or defensive. From an aggressive player’s stance, imagine being in an alliance that doesn’t want to attack any alliance for fear of retaliation. From a defensive player’s stance, there’s nothing like being in one of the top twenty alliances and being asked to sacrifice all of your troops for the alliance’s war right when you end your beginner’s protection.
Your acceptance to an alliance generally means working with others. Expect leadership to have a few ground rules to abide by for the protection of all members within. If you can’t be a team player and aren’t civil maybe a pirate’s life is for you? Or maybe you could start your own alliance where anarchy rules? Alliance warfare in itself is a game. You could be under attack constantly in a great war, have your Wilds constantly stolen to annoy you, or you could gain vast amounts of resources in raids. Being in alliance has many rewards or challenges. Expect a new element to the game by owning or being in an alliance.

2. Build your economy first
Get your resource fields to level 5 or 6 ASAP and/or choose from four other options discussed in other sections. Always have troops recruiting in the Barrack queues after your economy is started.

3. Follow quests
You gain resources via quest rewards for building specific things. Quests will guide you to build all the necessary buildings while rewarding you with resources to help you to continue to build that next needed building. Don’t use quest rewards of resources to build troops unless it is a quest!

4. Always have something building, researching or recruiting (troops)!

5. Cottage vs Barrack mix
The idea is that you have 20 or so spaces to create a Cottage/Barrack mix. Sure you have the deconstruct feature, but why not plan ahead? Deconstructing buildings makes you lose time, time that could be used to upgrade other buildings.

Common concerns new players face
- What should I build in my city?
- Attack or turtle (be defensive) first?
- Should I build wall defenses?
- Should I attack Pict camps?
- How do I get my second city deed? Should I just buy the second city deed?
- How can I feed all my troops after the first 7 days? I want zillions of troops!
- Should I purchase Gems to help my game play?

My guide has been organized to follow these 5 strategies and answer common player concerns/questions.

[Samo]

New Player Guide (cont)

III. City Layout (what you should build)
My city layout with level after the first week is shown below. This was my goal prior to lifting my beginner status.

Embassy 2
An Embassy allows you to join an alliance! An Embassy also allows alliance members to reinforce your city. Each level increase allows additional reinforcement, up to 10 different armies. The reinforcer’s rally point limits the troop count sent.

Castle 5
Upgrade to level 5 once ready to end beginner’s protection. Each level of your castle allows 3 additional field locations to appear on the resource fields’ screen. You also adjust your tax rate within the castle to adjust gold income vs idle population. See more on this topic later in the Economy section.

Walls 5
Allows defense units to be built to protect your city and aid unhidden troops in defending your city. See the Walls vs Recruiting Troops section of this guide for a more thorough discussion.

Resource Fields 5 or 6
Equal distribution of Farms (Food), Sawmills (Wood), Quarries (Stone), and Mines (Ore) seems to be best the first week. Resource fields use up idle population which in turn decreases the amount of population available when you go to recruit troops or build wall defenses.

Cottages: Eight at level 5
Cottages increase your available population limit. Higher population results in higher taxes paid. Higher taxes equates to higher gold income for you.

Alchemy Lab 7
An Alchemy Lab may be the single most important building next to the Knight’s Hall. You want to have your research queue going always! Research will allow you to do many things BETTER. Finally all that gold you may have will become useful here.

Workshop 5
Where else can you develop the plans for your walls? A Workshop is needed for wall upgrading and some research requirements.

Blacksmith 5
I need weapons for the troops! A Blacksmith allows specific research and building requirements to be met.

Stable 5
Ummm, where will the horses sleep? A Stable is needed to recruit horse type troops and for the relief station to be built.

Round Tower 7
Is there a princess in the Round Tower? Not yet. A Round Tower is needed to increase your chances to obtain crests. Think higher the level the better.

Scout Tower 5
A Scout Tower is used to gain information on a Pict camp, wild, or player when scouting. A Scout Tower level 5 coupled with Eagle Eye research level 5 will get you basic info needed to make an informed decision.

Store House 5
Store Houses protect the four basic resources and do not protect gold. Store houses protect 100k of each of the four basic resources per building level. Research can further increase the Store House’s protection ability.

Relief Station 5
A Relief Station provides relief in the march time between your cities and allies. A level 5 Relief Station will allow you to get to yourself and allies close to 50% faster, with a 10% decrease in march time per level. A level 10 Relief Station will not allow troops to magically appear at your other city or ally- seek out the math on this march time relief calculation in a more advanced guide.

Knight Hall 5
Each level of Knight Hall allows two additional Knights to join your forces. Knights allow march and reinforce via the Rally Point. Knights are also important in reducing time to do things such as research and recruitment, and/or increase resource production and the life of defending troops. Use the Assign feature in the Knight Hall to place a Knight in one of four available positions to get this reduction bonus.

Positions:

Steward- 1% increase in resource production per level.
Marshall- .5% reduction in recruitment times and .5% increase in attack and life of defending troops in city.
Alchemist- .5% reduction in research times.
Foreman- .5% reduction in construction times for buildings and wall defenses.

Rally Point 5
Each level allows you to send one additional army and increases the troop limit per army. Example: Rally Point 5 equals 50k troops can be marched five times. Remember you need a Knight to send an army out via march or reinforce.

Barracks- Twelve in total with one at level 8
You want troops being queued always in the Barrack! More aggressive players may want fewer Cottages and more Barracks. Having more Barracks reduces the time it takes to recruit troops. Higher level Barracks allow more advanced troops to be recruited.


IV. Economy (attack or turtle styles)
“Economy is king.” How many times have you heard this in a game? Buildings, research, troop recruitment, and wall defenses require the four basic types of resources: food, wood, stone, and ore. Research specifically requires an additional fifth resource called gold. The resource requirements for building, recruiting, and researching varies per item you are working with, but my experience shows having an even distribution of the five resources will help you during your first seven days. Without a basic economy it will be difficult to get started.

There are five options I will discuss to jump start your economy and help the resources flow in: build resource fields and upgrade, join an alliance and mooch off members willing to help you, complete quests, upgrade your Knights and gain Wilds, and attack inactive players not in an alliance.

Resource Fields and Cottages
Build and upgrade resource fields. Hmm Samo, seems like a no brainer. How many of each of the four should you build? For my first city I found an even distribution of all four to be best. I recommend only upgrading to level 5 or 6 because resource fields require workers. Workers draw down your available population needed to recruit troops. I’ll discuss population in the next paragraph. Cottages allow you to obtain gold and raise your population limit. The amount of Cottages you want to build depends on your play style. Aggressive players want many Barracks so they will sacrifice by having fewer Cottages.

Population has three components: Population, idle population, and population limit. You can see this when you click on the resource count bar. Cottages raise the population limit, or the maximum amount of people that may reside in your city. Each city has a happiness and tax rate. Adding happiness plus the tax rate will result in 100%. So if you set a tax rate of 5% then happiness will be 95%. As you change the tax rate happiness changes slowly as a result to match the 100% total, and the final happiness value times the population limit will result in population. Tax rate and resource field usage affect your idle population. As you recruit troops or build wall defenses idle population lowers. Over time population and idle population increase depending on what you do. Here’s an example calculation:
Cottages were built and upgraded resulting in a population limit of 10,000. Your tax rate is 5% thus reducing your population to 9,500 (10,000 population limit times 95% happiness). Your idle population would be 9,500 also were it not for the fact that you built an even distribution of fields and upgraded to level 5 or 6 resulting in a worker usage of 3,000. Your idle population would then show as 6,500 (9,500 population minus 3,000 workers using idle population). You then recruit 3,000 militiamen (a 1 population for 1 militiaman ratio) and see your idle population drop to 3,500 (6,500 idle population minus 3,000 troop recruitment). Next, you go to your Castle and change your tax rate to 0%. You would then see population slowly increase to the 10,000 population limit (10,000 population limit times 100%). Your idle population would also slowly increase to 7,000 (population limit 10,000 times 100% happiness equals 10,000 population, and 10,000 population minus 3,000 workers being used equals 7,000 idle population).

Join an Alliance
If you joined an alliance where many players are willing to send you resources then kudos to you! You just jump started your economy without needing high level resource fields. Keep in mind that all of those excess resources not being used to build, upgrade, research, or recruit will require protection via a store house, troops, and/or wall defenses once beginner status ends.

Quests
Completing quests helps your economy due to quest rewards. You could always ignore quests by why not get a nice resource reward to help you build the next needed thing?

Knights and Wilds
Knights reside in the Knight Hall. Knights aid in reducing the time it takes to do things such as research and attack others. Knights can also increase your resource production and/or your troops’ life when defending the city. Higher level Knights can further add bonuses depending on their position assignment. You can increase a Knight’s level by attacking players, Pict camps, or Wilds. From the Economy perspective, assign your highest level Knight to the appropriate position to increase resource production (Stewart). Look in your Castle tab to see a Knight’s particular bonus on resource production.
Wilds are those locations outside your city that aren’t Flats (empty land), a Player (city), or a Pict camp. There are four Wild types and each type gives a % increase bonus to your resource production. Wilds vary in level from 1 to 10 and resource bonuses increase as the level increases. Wilds can be protected by Picts or other Players who want to reside there. You must defeat protected Wilds so that you can occupy and gain the particular resource bonus. Look in your Castle tab to see Wild bonuses in affect. Taking another Player’s Wild is called Wild stealing. Leaving troops at a Wild will help defend the Wild from other Players, but cost food to feed the defending troops.

[Samo]

New Player Guide (cont)

Inactive Non-alliance Players
Are you a more aggressive player who is tired of hearing “economy is king?” By attacking other players who are inactive and not in an alliance you can help boost your economy. Most alliances agree with this tactic because you won’t start any wars not pre-approved by alliance management. See the “Beginner Protection Ends: What now?!?” section for a more thorough discussion on this tactic.


V. Walls vs Recruiting Troops
Many ask whether they should get defensive wall units with a vast army, or just build an army. Since being in three alliances and trolling forums many advocate the latter- get a vast army only. The argument is that a player with many defensive units will inflate their might larger than their real capability. Defensive wall units net 18 might per unit once built and are tier 1 or 2 in nature (as of this guide version). Troops can be tier 1, 2, or 3. Tier 3 troops can rip apart tier 1 and 2 defensive wall units and net 24 might per unit. When matching 1 for 1 during battle the defensive player will lose more defensive units in the fight than the tier 3 troop player, resulting in more might lost by the defensive player than the attacker.

I’m an advocate of both wall defenses and an army. Using a second city for food loss avoidance, reinforce ability, and the unhide feature in the Castle overview a Player can increase its defensive army’s ability by having thorny wall defenses to fight with the defending army. See the “How to Feed My Troops” section if you’re wondering at this point how to feed a defending army, or an attacking one for that matter. This tactic won’t work well if you keep your troops hidden. So, build wall defenses once you have some sort of a decent army or know you are safe during the building phase. Additionally, ask around in your alliance for their thoughts on a decent sized army.


VI. Pict Camps & A Second City
Correct me if I'm wrong- A recent "upgrade" in May 2012 to the game made the ratio of troops loss to resource gain pretty equal. Farming Pict camps used to be profitable at the start of KoC:BftN until this update occurred. Most Players agree that the upgrade made Pict camp attacks only useful to gain crests. 100 crests will help a player obtain a second city deed. I would add that many Players still hit Pict camps to find the “right” mix of troops to attack a specific level Pict camp to net at least some resources with an acceptable troop loss, and level their Knights in the process. Leveling Knights can also be done through attacking Players, Flats and Wilds.

Alliance members and the forums alike have stated a determined player can find 100 crests, with at least a level 7 Round Tower, within 4,000 to 10,000 attacks (the official results are still being tallied). Most admit that level 7 Pict camps have the best crest drop to troop loss ratio (this sentence is priceless in value already). If you’re bored, you could sit around using math to determine how much time and troops it would take to reach this “determined” player goal. Ooo, and also how much resources it would take to recruit those troops. And you must wait 1 hour to attack a Pict camp before the chance resets…By the way, attacking Players can also net you a crest. See the “Buying Gems” section for my take on the second city topic.


VII. How to Feed My Troops?
Troops don’t desert when your city has no food! New players commonly think their troops will desert without food due to other browser games’ mechanics. With that nugget of info a flash of gleaming hope appears. Once you have a second city OR an ally with a city they aren’t using for resource generation you can send your troops to that alternate city. Yes, the troops will ravage the food supply in the hosting city forcing that city to be unable to build or recruit troops. However, your troops will remain waiting to be recalled for the next battle! Ok, you go work out how to use this technique now using many players.

“Thanks, Samo (someone thinks sarcastically). You just alerted the community and Kabam to this great work around. In time it will be nerfed by making troops desert when no food is present (insert crying).” If this tactic was ever to be updated to oblivion the game would have to have an additional avenue placed to assist with troop food needs, such as a market or allow Picts to have more food plundered than attacking troops lost. Or maybe many would just quit like in Evony…or join in new worlds as they’re created over and over with small army fights…or let your imagination run wild.


VIII. Beginner Protection Ends: What now?!?
You must be ready to end your beginner’s protection. How exciting! Are you having fun? If not, find another great i-app or android app. Seriously, games are supposed to be fun!

Remember the five strategies outlined at the beginning? Well, strategies change as goals change. Here are my new strategies after beginner’s protection ended.

1. Always have something building, researching or recruiting (troops)!
By constantly building, researching or recruiting you will continue to increase your might or aid in might production. A larger might may help you join a better alliance, make you less appealing for attack, and make you feel mightier. This includes your second city.

2. Build a vast army to attack and/or defensive units
Hey, turtling is a part of the game at times.

3. Use the army to get resources.
Attacking others with a good economy can be a good way of getting resources. See my discussion below for more on this strategy.

4. Consider getting a second city now.
I mentioned how to get crests necessary for a second city deed above. I’ve added a “Buying Gems” section to discuss the game’s possible bonuses to help you get a second city.

Changes in Strategy
You’ll notice I stopped emphasizing having an alliance at this point. Perhaps you’re ready to start your own alliance, lead through some capacity with your current alliance, or maybe you want to be a lone pirate? Don’t let me stop your ambitions now (laughs manically)! Quests will also always be there, nagging at you to be completed. But there are wars to be fought, walls to be crashed, troops to be killed…

Inactive Non-alliance Players Attack Strategy
The fifth option to gaining resources is to attack players who are 1) inactive and 2) not in an alliance. In new worlds unaligned inactive players can be bountiful. This strategy involves using bookmarks, scouting, attacks with 1 troop and Knight, and some time.
I started by making a circle outside my city. I scouted players’ not in alliances by using the “scout” option or by sending 1 troop once a scout report came back showing crazy troop counts. The next day I would check these same cities to see if their might increased. If not, then I could safely feel the player “might” be inactive and I created a bookmark. I then attack these inactive unaligned players for whatever is there to be had. Obviously higher level players might have had more time to invest in their economy and might net you more booty. As time progresses I increase my circle radius around my city to find more prospective targets. Keep in mind to watch Players who have might because a Player who you think is inactive today might not be so tomorrow.

A quick discussion about bookmarks:
Bookmarks have three icons that can be selected to alert the Player. These three icons are the star, swords, and dove with twig. I use the start icon to alert me to ally or other important Player locations. I use the swords icon to remind me to attack them for resources or for alliance warfare. I use the dove with twig icon to alert me to Players I shouldn’t attack. Bookmarks are great when you use the bookmark options on the map. However, bookmarks don’t show these nifty three icons when you select a city you’ve bookmarked already.

[Samo]

New Player Guide (cont)

IX. Buying Gems
Buying Gems can be a contentious issue for many Players. Many I have talked with are dead set against buying Gems for real life money. But secretly they have a level 200 Knight assigned to some great purpose…If you think using real life currency to buy in-game items or currency is just wrong then please feel free to skip this section, or note that my description of Gem items might be useful to you should you win some from a Quest reward or Merlin’s chance game.
Buying Gems from Kabam is a great way to support the company in refining KoC:BftN. Gems can also save you time in accomplishing your goals. Yes, the game was designed to have long wait times as you progress. Can you make a great game with no money? A Player’s time is a precious commodity, and so is the Player’s real life money. I’d only advocate spending real life money for Gems (insert game currency) if I decided KoC: BftN (insert any game name) was the game I wanted to invest time and money in. World of Warcraft comes to mind for more expensive monthly fees…

Here’s the dollar vs Gems exchange rate as of the latest version’s date. Feel free to convert dollars to your local currency.
100 Gems $9.99
240 Gems $19.99
375 Gems $29.95
665 Gems $49.99
1600 Gems $99.99
50 Gems $4.99

As you can see, buying more Gems will net you more Gems for your money. The items section I will discuss next also has this mindset in play- the more time reduced the fewer Gems it will cost you. My list of items is not comprehensive.

Misc
Miscellaneous items are other items that can’t be classed in one area of the game.

Magical Token- cost: 5 Gems. A Token is used to randomly select a prize on the Merlin’s chance game. It is important to note that a player receives one Magical Token per 24 hour period. If a Player saves 6 Magical Tokens then the Premium Merlin game can be played for higher Gem worth items.

Divine Inspiration- cost: 100 Gems. This item allows the Player to construct a level 10 building from an existing level 9 building.

Second City Deed- cost: 225 Gems. The 2nd city deed allows a Player to construct a second city. You could go crest hunting for 100 crests and get a second city deed. See my discussions in previous sections and below.

Portal of Refuge- cost: 30 Gems. This Portal can be used to teleport a Player’s city to a new random location on the map.

Portal of Order- cost: 90 Gems. Want to be near your alliance friends? Then this item will get you as close as the nearest available Flat.

Merlin’s Cloak- cost: 90 Gems. Did you choose a name that just annoys you now? Use this item to change your Player in-game name.

Speed Up
Speed up items allow a player to reduce the time it takes to do a task in game, such as research, recruit, build, upgrade, or attack. These item types have a suffix of Hourglass. Most Players suggest using speed ups to reduce attack times during a critical moment.

Squire- cost: 1 Gem. Task time reduced by 1 minute.

Knight- cost: 5 Gems. Shaves off 15 minutes from task time.

Guinevere’s- cost: 10 Gems. Good bye 1 hour from task time.

Morgana’s- cost: 20 Gems. Adios 2.5 hours from your task time.

Arthur’s- cost: 50 Gems. Task time lowered by 8 hours.

Merlin’s- cost: 80 Gems. Thank you, Merlin, for taking 15 hours off my task time.

Divine- cost: 120 Gems. You must be desperate for time to need this 24 hour reduction from task time.

Combat
Many Players agree that combat type items are the best place to spend your Gems, besides getting a second city deed. Combat items can help level your Knight, increase troops life or attack, and aid in defending your city.

Training with Kay- cost: 8 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 1,000. As your Knight increase level it takes more experience to gain the next levels. Expect a 1-2 level increase at lower levels.

Training with Galahad- cost: 30 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 10,000. Expect a 5-10 level increase at lower levels.

Training with Arthur- cost: 100 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 50,000. Expect 30-40 level jump at lower levels.

12H Dove of Peace- cost: 30 Gems. Got a Player who’s owning your city? Use this item to stop attacks on your city for 12 hours.

Blood Frenzy- cost: 60 Gems. Increase troop attack by 20% for 7 days. This item works for March selections which are attacks on other Player cities.

Blood Lust- cost: 10 Gems. Same as Blood Frenzy but lasts 24 hours.

Stoneskin- cost: 60 Gems. Increases defending troops life by 20% for 7 days. Turtles rejoice!

Barkskin- cost: 10 Gems. Same as Stoneskin but last 24 hours. Do your troops look fashionable in stone or bark?

Resources
Resource type items either give you resources directly in the city selected or allow you to increase resource production in the selected city for X time. Personally, I’d read the “Economy” section of the guide to get my own resources and build up my Steward Knight’s level. The Gem cost for resources can be steep vs you producing/earning/stealing your own. You should note that Merlin’s chance game can award 20,000 resource items, though not shown in the shop, as well as those shown below.

5 different items for 40,000 resources- cost: 10 Gems. You get 40,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

5 different items for 250,000 resources- cost: 55 Gems. You get 250,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

5 different items for 500,000 resources- cost: 95 Gems. You get 500,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

4 different items for 24 hour boost to resource production- cost: 8 Gems. You get a % boost for 24 hours to the selected resource shown on the item.

4 different items for 7 days boost to resource production- cost: 50 Gems. You get a % boost for 7 days to the selected resource shown on the item.

100% production boost to Gold for 24 hours- cost: 45 Gems.

100% production boost to Gold for 7 days- cost: 280 Gems.

Chests
The chest section of the shop allows a Player to obtain multiple items within a specific category for a set Gem price. If you are serious about spending Gems then consider chests for multiple item power.

Mystery Crest- cost: 25 Gems. The Player receives a random number of crests or a second city deed. This chest is like player Merlin’s Premium chance game.

2nd City Package- cost: 425 Gems. You are guaranteed a 2nd city deed as well as some other helpful items.

Speed Up- cost: 325 Gems. Expect to receive an assortment of speed ups. Nice if you are serious about attacking.

Gaia’s Bounty- cost 120 Gems. A Player gets a few assorted resource items.

Resource Surplus- cost 270 Gems. A Player gets even more assorted resource items.

Divine Ascension- cost 400 Gems. Expect to get 5 Divine Inspirations. It’s like getting 5 for the price of 4.

Magical Restoration- cost 450 Gems. An interesting chest in that you get many different types of items to help after you’ve been reduced to rubble in warfare.

Start Up- cost: 350 Gems. A decent chest for new Players (did you read my “Economy” section?).

Merlin’s Tokens- cost: 225. A Player gets 50 Merlin’s Tokens. Woot!

Get Me Out of Here!- cost: 100 Gems. A Player receives 3 Portals of Refuge and 2 Portals of Order. Can you say cost savings?

Knight’s Boost- cost: 290 Gems. A Player gets 3 Training with Galahad and 2 Training with Arthur items. I saved the best for last.
Second City

From a second city perspective I prefer to just take advantage of Kabam’s special in-game offers as they come. I don’t want to spend most of my time trying to calculate how many troops I’ll need, in how much time, and how I can make this all happen in my two hours available per day. One such in-game promotion occurred two weeks ago, and the Kabam offer stated for ANY Gem purchase the Player would be awarded a second city deed. I searched through the offer page and saw a 50 Gem for $5 transaction and said to myself, “hmmm the second city deed costs 225 Gems, and I can get one for $5 with 50 Gems…” Math or Economic geniuses rejoice.


X. Final Thoughts
How does a new player get ready for sustaining a massive army of troops? Do they build mainly farms for food production (lol don’t do it)? Do they plan to later steal food from other weaker players, once an army is amassed? This is my second stab/attack at a beginner's guide for this community. I hope it provides some food for thought, and maybe a way to conserve food for troop recruitment and other building. A wise man once said, “Why should I give you a fish, when I can teach you to fish for yourself for life?” Ok enough food references (time for pie!).

I hope future updates to the game include a market, increased rewards from attacking Pict camps besides crests, and allow the three icons shown in bookmarks to appear over a city that I’ve bookmarked. These suggestions add new elements of play that exist in other comparable browser games such as Evony.
Feel free to send me an in-game mail for advice or to recommend changes to the guide. If you send me an attack instead I’m sure I’ll note your sentiments! I hope this guide helps you in your goals. Try comparing my guide to Kabam’s guide shown at the end and then formulate an opinion on my worthiness.

Thank you for reading! Happy Hunting!

[Samo]

New Player Guide (cont)

XI. Kabam’s original New Player Guide
>> Completing Quests
Follow the Quests System. It will guide you to specific tasks that must be accomplished. Be sure to read over the quests carefully and don't forget to collect the rewards after completing each task. Morgause will be always there to help you with a recommended quest to get you on the right track. She will inform you when a task is completed and will reward you when you're successful. If you're ever unsure of what to do next, check in with her!

>> Constructing Buildings
Buildings are an essential component to any successful city. Constructing and upgrading a variety of buildings will help your city grow and thrive by providing different bonuses and resources. Each construction task takes a certain amount of time to complete and requires a certain amount of resources to initiate. These requirements can be found when clicking on the building type you wish to construct or upgrade.

>> Researching Technologies
The Alchemy Lab is where you research new technologies. New technologies can boost resource production, increase troops power and give you the ability to train highly skilled troops. Make sure to read the requirements for each technology before you start researching them. Requirements can be found clicking on the technology you wish to research or upgrade.

>> Training Troops
Train troops in the Barracks. The Quests System helps you in training troops organically with your resources and technologies. Stronger troops require a higher Barracks level. Remember that troops you've trained will consume food resources, so keep them well-fed!

>> Tips to Get You Started:
When it comes to constructing a building, researching technologies, or training troops, only one timer of each type can be active at any one time. Plan out your strategy and be sure to keep a timer started at all times to make the most of your time!
If you're looking for players to chat with or join your Alliance, participate in World Chat!
Keep a close eye on your Gold and Resource consumption! If you want to construct new buildings, make sure you're producing enough Resources to meet the requirements.
The physical layout of buildings in your city does not have any effect on their usefulness, place them wherever you like.
Having second thoughts about a building? You can always deconstruct it and build something else.

[mmgrcfd]

Wow bro this is the best guide anyone would possibly need. You pointed our alot of things that new players will need. It will prove to help alot of people i believe. Good work.

[Unregistered]

Very well done. Props to you, Samo.

[fabzxno]

Great guide!! There is a lot of information here for both new players and experienced players!

[weebgyxg]

I to would like to give you big ol slap on the back. Thanks man. I refer all new member to this post. As a matter of fact with 1 day left in protection mode I started over and am doing so much better now. First time through I focued on troops. Big mistake.

[Unregistered]

How do you assign troops to defend your city?

I am beginner and would like to know how I can defend my city when attacked?

IX. Buying Gems
Buying Gems can be a contentious issue for many Players. Many I have talked with are dead set against buying Gems for real life money. But secretly they have a level 200 Knight assigned to some great purpose…If you think using real life currency to buy in-game items or currency is just wrong then please feel free to skip this section, or note that my description of Gem items might be useful to you should you win some from a Quest reward or Merlin’s chance game.
Buying Gems from Kabam is a great way to support the company in refining KoC:BftN. Gems can also save you time in accomplishing your goals. Yes, the game was designed to have long wait times as you progress. Can you make a great game with no money? A Player’s time is a precious commodity, and so is the Player’s real life money. I’d only advocate spending real life money for Gems (insert game currency) if I decided KoC: BftN (insert any game name) was the game I wanted to invest time and money in. World of Warcraft comes to mind for more expensive monthly fees…

Here’s the dollar vs Gems exchange rate as of the latest version’s date. Feel free to convert dollars to your local currency.
100 Gems $9.99
240 Gems $19.99
375 Gems $29.95
665 Gems $49.99
1600 Gems $99.99
50 Gems $4.99

As you can see, buying more Gems will net you more Gems for your money. The items section I will discuss next also has this mindset in play- the more time reduced the fewer Gems it will cost you. My list of items is not comprehensive.

Misc
Miscellaneous items are other items that can’t be classed in one area of the game.

Magical Token- cost: 5 Gems. A Token is used to randomly select a prize on the Merlin’s chance game. It is important to note that a player receives one Magical Token per 24 hour period. If a Player saves 6 Magical Tokens then the Premium Merlin game can be played for higher Gem worth items.

Divine Inspiration- cost: 100 Gems. This item allows the Player to construct a level 10 building from an existing level 9 building.

Second City Deed- cost: 225 Gems. The 2nd city deed allows a Player to construct a second city. You could go crest hunting for 100 crests and get a second city deed. See my discussions in previous sections and below.

Portal of Refuge- cost: 30 Gems. This Portal can be used to teleport a Player’s city to a new random location on the map.

Portal of Order- cost: 90 Gems. Want to be near your alliance friends? Then this item will get you as close as the nearest available Flat.

Merlin’s Cloak- cost: 90 Gems. Did you choose a name that just annoys you now? Use this item to change your Player in-game name.

Speed Up
Speed up items allow a player to reduce the time it takes to do a task in game, such as research, recruit, build, upgrade, or attack. These item types have a suffix of Hourglass. Most Players suggest using speed ups to reduce attack times during a critical moment.

Squire- cost: 1 Gem. Task time reduced by 1 minute.

Knight- cost: 5 Gems. Shaves off 15 minutes from task time.

Guinevere’s- cost: 10 Gems. Good bye 1 hour from task time.

Morgana’s- cost: 20 Gems. Adios 2.5 hours from your task time.

Arthur’s- cost: 50 Gems. Task time lowered by 8 hours.

Merlin’s- cost: 80 Gems. Thank you, Merlin, for taking 15 hours off my task time.

Divine- cost: 120 Gems. You must be desperate for time to need this 24 hour reduction from task time.

Combat
Many Players agree that combat type items are the best place to spend your Gems, besides getting a second city deed. Combat items can help level your Knight, increase troops life or attack, and aid in defending your city.

Training with Kay- cost: 8 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 1,000. As your Knight increase level it takes more experience to gain the next levels. Expect a 1-2 level increase at lower levels.

Training with Galahad- cost: 30 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 10,000. Expect a 5-10 level increase at lower levels.

Training with Arthur- cost: 100 Gems. Increase your Knight’s experience by 50,000. Expect 30-40 level jump at lower levels.

12H Dove of Peace- cost: 30 Gems. Got a Player who’s owning your city? Use this item to stop attacks on your city for 12 hours.

Blood Frenzy- cost: 60 Gems. Increase troop attack by 20% for 7 days. This item works for March selections which are attacks on other Player cities.

Blood Lust- cost: 10 Gems. Same as Blood Frenzy but lasts 24 hours.

Stoneskin- cost: 60 Gems. Increases defending troops life by 20% for 7 days. Turtles rejoice!

Barkskin- cost: 10 Gems. Same as Stoneskin but last 24 hours. Do your troops look fashionable in stone or bark?

Resources
Resource type items either give you resources directly in the city selected or allow you to increase resource production in the selected city for X time. Personally, I’d read the “Economy” section of the guide to get my own resources and build up my Steward Knight’s level. The Gem cost for resources can be steep vs you producing/earning/stealing your own. You should note that Merlin’s chance game can award 20,000 resource items, though not shown in the shop, as well as those shown below.

5 different items for 40,000 resources- cost: 10 Gems. You get 40,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

5 different items for 250,000 resources- cost: 55 Gems. You get 250,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

5 different items for 500,000 resources- cost: 95 Gems. You get 500,000 of the selected resource shown on the item.

4 different items for 24 hour boost to resource production- cost: 8 Gems. You get a % boost for 24 hours to the selected resource shown on the item.

4 different items for 7 days boost to resource production- cost: 50 Gems. You get a % boost for 7 days to the selected resource shown on the item.

100% production boost to Gold for 24 hours- cost: 45 Gems.

100% production boost to Gold for 7 days- cost: 280 Gems.

Chests
The chest section of the shop allows a Player to obtain multiple items within a specific category for a set Gem price. If you are serious about spending Gems then consider chests for multiple item power.

Mystery Crest- cost: 25 Gems. The Player receives a random number of crests or a second city deed. This chest is like player Merlin’s Premium chance game.

2nd City Package- cost: 425 Gems. You are guaranteed a 2nd city deed as well as some other helpful items.

Speed Up- cost: 325 Gems. Expect to receive an assortment of speed ups. Nice if you are serious about attacking.

Gaia’s Bounty- cost 120 Gems. A Player gets a few assorted resource items.

Resource Surplus- cost 270 Gems. A Player gets even more assorted resource items.

Divine Ascension- cost 400 Gems. Expect to get 5 Divine Inspirations. It’s like getting 5 for the price of 4.

Magical Restoration- cost 450 Gems. An interesting chest in that you get many different types of items to help after you’ve been reduced to rubble in warfare.

Start Up- cost: 350 Gems. A decent chest for new Players (did you read my “Economy” section?).

Merlin’s Tokens- cost: 225. A Player gets 50 Merlin’s Tokens. Woot!

Get Me Out of Here!- cost: 100 Gems. A Player receives 3 Portals of Refuge and 2 Portals of Order. Can you say cost savings?

Knight’s Boost- cost: 290 Gems. A Player gets 3 Training with Galahad and 2 Training with Arthur items. I saved the best for last.
Second City

From a second city perspective I prefer to just take advantage of Kabam’s special in-game offers as they come. I don’t want to spend most of my time trying to calculate how many troops I’ll need, in how much time, and how I can make this all happen in my two hours available per day. One such in-game promotion occurred two weeks ago, and the Kabam offer stated for ANY Gem purchase the Player would be awarded a second city deed. I searched through the offer page and saw a 50 Gem for $5 transaction and said to myself, “hmmm the second city deed costs 225 Gems, and I can get one for $5 with 50 Gems…” Math or Economic geniuses rejoice.


X. Final Thoughts
How does a new player get ready for sustaining a massive army of troops? Do they build mainly farms for food production (lol don’t do it)? Do they plan to later steal food from other weaker players, once an army is amassed? This is my second stab/attack at a beginner's guide for this community. I hope it provides some food for thought, and maybe a way to conserve food for troop recruitment and other building. A wise man once said, “Why should I give you a fish, when I can teach you to fish for yourself for life?” Ok enough food references (time for pie!).

I hope future updates to the game include a market, increased rewards from attacking Pict camps besides crests, and allow the three icons shown in bookmarks to appear over a city that I’ve bookmarked. These suggestions add new elements of play that exist in other comparable browser games such as Evony.
Feel free to send me an in-game mail for advice or to recommend changes to the guide. If you send me an attack instead I’m sure I’ll note your sentiments! I hope this guide helps you in your goals. Try comparing my guide to Kabam’s guide shown at the end and then formulate an opinion on my worthiness.

Thank you for reading! Happy Hunting!

[weebgyxg]

It's pretty simple, don't. Keep your troops hidden (95% of players do this). Try to use your gold as soon as you can. Use your resources up so they don't exceed your storehouse limit. Wall defenses are a waste of resources. Better to put those resources into upgrading fields, storehouse and other buildings. Join an alliance and give away what you can't use. If you don't have excess good that someone can take they'll move on and attack someone else.

I am beginner and would like to know how I can defend my city when attacked?

[Samo]

Arcane Empire

Thank you to all who have replied. I appreciate the props.

I wanted to state that this guide is relevant to Kabam's Arcane Empire. I enjoy the different graphics and atmosphere that Arcane Empire provides.

[Guest]

Very nice beginner's guide Samo. It certainly gets people going with how to play the game, paving the way for more advanced strategies later. Well done.

[Guest]

Lets be the agressor!

Samo, come on over to Guinevere 18. I've noticed a few glaring omissions and or mistakes in your thread. (1.) You can build troops and upgrade in your troop city. All you have to do is transfer food over from your food city. You will have to transfer a large sum and que up training right away, but you can que up to the total number of barracks you have. Which brings me to my second point. (2.) You need more barracks and less cottages. A very active player has 4 cottages and 1 resource field of each kind. If you have only one embassy in your troop city that frees up a spot for another barracks. Also, i suggest buying your second city from the get go and not building a round tower. You cant demolish the round tower and once you obtain your second city it is worthless. there is another barracks. (Keep in mind that for every barracks you have it increases your training time by 10%.) Once all of your research is completed you can demolish your alchemy labs in both cities, freeing up 2 more spots for barracks. Some players even demolish both their storehouses to free up spots. Now lets talk about resources. (3.) I know you were wondering how to get resources after you demolish all your resource fields and abandon your wilds. This is how its done, one word FARMING. Farm, Farm, Farm.......Attack other players for there resources. Most players are defensive and they hide their troops. Send one wagon to any player above 500K might and if the report comes back with any resources. Then send 1500 wagons and clear them out!!!!! I farm Millions in resources every day. So, much in fact that i send it to other friends. Who in turn use some of it and send some back when i need it. Which brings me to my fourth point. (4) Your store house will only protect up to 1.7 mil at level 9 and level 9 research, so you need to keep your resources below protection limit. This is done two ways, one is to keep your training Ques full for all your barracks. Two find a might Hugging friend and use them as a bank. (5) ALLIANCES: top alliances have the most resources floating around so if you want to get them you have to attack them. Find a alliance that will let you do this, these players will be set up to take hit and won't care about retaliation. Actually if your a success full farmer you should be getting attacked up to like 100 times a day. My personal best for being attacked in one day is 900 times. (6) WILD FLIPPING, this act is frowned upon by most alliances, but is a great way to hurt people with out spending any might. You can capture most peoples wilds with 1 wagon and it costs them a lot more to retake it once you have abandoned it. It makes for some real juicy hate mail also. ALWAYS FUNNY!!! (7) Wall defenses, don't build them and if you do set your highest level knight as Marshal. Defending troops with out a Marshall have a knight rank of zero. A high level attacking knight will decimate your wall without a marshal. Players that are set up to take a hit never build wall and always hide their troops. They can get hit all day long and never lose might. Their resources are qued up or shipped out so they rarely get farmed. If you like to ruffle peoples feathers this is the set up for YOU!! Want to join a Waring alliance come to Guineve 18 and request to join Top100Killers. Or Message LordBleekZero (the most hated player in Cameltown) and I can walk you through it.

[weebgyxg]

I am beginner and would like to know how I can defend my city when attacked?

Sir I wouldn't. You're a beginner don't even try. Keep all resources below protection limit. Don't worry about the gold or join an alliance and see if one of the higher might players can hold it (or ship it out to someone in your alliance when an attack is incoming). If you are attacked and they get nothing they will not bother coming back. Your protection limit can be found by tapping on the black bar at the top of your city. Upgrading shrinkpowder and storehouse increases protection limit.

Having said that....

If you see an attack coming in and feel like fighting. First ship out your gold because by the time you look in the watchtower it may be too late. Then check your watchtower, tap on incoming attack and have a look. If you think you can take him then go for it. Tap on castle/ overview/ unhide troops/ set your highest to marshal and wait.