Excerpts from the In-Game Guide
First steps In the beginning you will first and foremost need one thing: Resources. The lumber station produces wood, the clay pit clay and the iron mine iron. The more you upgrade these buildings, the more they produce. In the first couple of days it is very recommended to focus on resource production. Besides producing resources you should also try to protect your resources from plunderers. They could just assault you and steal the resources, which took you plenty of time to build up. You should do something to guard yourself against this possibility. Expanding your hiding place is one possibility. The bigger it is the more resources can be hidden, invisible to enemy troops. You should use this possibility especially when strong players are in your neighbourhood. When you have taken care of your basic resource production, you can start trading and producing troops. In the barracks (requires headquarters of level 3) you can produce spear fighters. They are not too well suited for an attack, but they offer you the possibility to plunder the resources of very weak players. If you prefer a little trading, you should build a market (requires headquarters level 3 and warehouse level 2). Here you can see what resources your neighbouring villages are offering for exchange and you can perhaps get rid of your own excess resources for something more valuable. Of course you can also create your own offers. But remember that with a market of level 1 you only have one merchant available. You should also try to join a tribe or establish your own one. A tribe can protect you from enemy plundering and assure a better exchange of resources. And you might make friends, too... Restart in a late phase of the game If you are joining a world that has been going on for some time, you should adjust your strategy. Of course it is still important to secure a good resource production. And you should protect yourself from plundering by your neighbours. Construct a wall, upgrade your hiding place and produce a couple of defensive units. Sometimes a nice message to you attackers can make a big difference also. Once you have managed to increase the size of your village you can try to get some resources by plundering other players. Plundered resources will help you develop your village even faster. There are a few major differences to the usual progress, which you usually do not perform: Do not make the mistake to concentrate solely on the development of your first nobleman. It may seem logical, since after all you want to rule several villages. But this is a potentially fatal mistake. Much stronger players that play for a long time in this world with will try to secure villages in your area of the map, to establish a strong second base here for the further course of the game. If you invest all your resources in buildings and a strong offence, you are easy to conquer for these players! They have the possibility to take all your possessions without even suffering great losses. Once you are attacked, it is usually too late already. The only strategy against this is to take many defensive precautionary measures, such as producing many spear- and swordsmen. You should not be an attractive and cheap target at the same time for these players. If they suffer a great loss in an attack, they will usually leave you alone. In this situation morale can can be a great help for you. The attacking troops could be weakened by up to 70%! This security phase will cost you time, but the defensive troops are not useless. They will help you a great deal in the future. If you have a good defence consisting of at least 1200 spearmen and 1200 swordmen, you can start creating a nobleman and putting together offensive troops. You will probably be able to tell by the surrounding villages, that it was well worth it... Battle system The battle system on Tribal Wars is fairly complex. The best way to understand it is to gather experience in many fights. The simulator will help you -*test*-('") different tactics. However, a couple of important aspects of battle are described here. Morale The purpose of the morale is to protect active small players from the attacks of very strong players. If a very strong player attacks a very weak player, his troops fight with a lower level of efficiency, because many of his warriors refuse to follow these dishonourable commands, or simply underestimate the strength of the enemy. Scout The scouts' task is to gather information about your enemies' villages. They are produced in your stables. To spy on an enemy, attack him with any number of scouts. During battle the attacking scouts will try to gather information about the village. On the other hand the enemies' scouts will try to capture the attacking scouts. The higher the ratio between defending and attacking scouts, the more scouts will be captured. If the attacker has half as many scouts as the defender, the chances that scouts survive are about 50 %. But only very few scouts would survive. If the attacker has about the same amount of scouts, the chances that scouts survive are about 100% and about two thirds of the attacking scouts survive. The defender cannot loose any scouts. As long as at least one scout returns, you will receive a report about the strength of your enemie's army. This information will also be provided on any attack where at least 50% of the defending troops are killed. If at least 50% of the scouts survive, you get a report of your enemy's resources. If 70% of the scouts survive and the scouts have been skilled to at least level 2, you also get information about his buildings and the level they have been upgraded to. If 90% of the scouts survive and the scouts have been skilled to level 3, you get to find out how many units of the defending village are stationed in other villages or in transit. Reports Reports inform you about all the events that happen to you village. Both military and economic news is reported. When you receive a report, this symbol () appears in the menu bar at the top of your screen.. You start in "All Reports", where you can see an overview of all reports you have received. Next to this overview you can also choose the categories battle reports, trade reports, support reports and miscellaneous reports. These menus contain all reports of the respective category. Reports sporting "New" have not been read yet. Once you have read them you should delete them so you do not get drowned in reports. To delete, select the reports you want to delete and click "Delete". Category Attacks: In the Attack reports you can review the battles your village have been involved in. At the top you can see who has been fighting who and which side won. Beneath this you can see a bar showing you the luck rating of the attacker. A red bar means misfortune, a green bar represents luck. Maximum misfortune and maximum luck are both 25%t. That means that the troops of the attacker have become at most 25% weaker or stronger. Further down you can find your troops involved in the battle and your losses. the attacker only receives a complete battle report if he had at least 50% of the fighting strength of the defending troops or if any scouts survived. Otherwise he only gets the message "None of your troops have made it back home alive" without any information about the number of troops of the enemy. Should you loose as a defender, you will still receive a complete report. If rams, catapults or even a nobleman were engaged in battle, you will also get information about the damage and/or the loyalty decrease that you have caused. Category Support: You will receive a support report if troops arrive at your village for support, or if your troops arrive to support another village. Here you can see which villages have supported each other and how many troops are now in other villages. Category Trade: Trade reports inform you about resource transports of your village. Accepted offers shows you which of your offers were accepted on the market or which offers you accepted yourself. Category Miscellaneous Miscellaneous reports contain all reports which could not be classified into one of the other categories. Examples are the Disbandment of your tribe or invitations to a tribe. Buildings Village Headquarters: In the village headquarters you can construct new buildings or upgrade existing ones. The higher the level of your headquarters, the faster the constructions will be finished. As soon as your village headquarters is upgraded to level 15, you will be able to demolish buildings. Barracks: In the barracks you can recruit infantry. The higher its level the faster the recruitment of troops will be finished. Stable: In the stable you can recruit cavalry. The higher its level the faster the recruitment will be finished. Workshop: In the workshop you can produce rams and catapults. The higher its level the faster the recruitment will be finished. Academy: In the academy you can educate noblemen. They will help you conquer other villages. Smithy: In the smithy you can research and improve weapons. Upgrading the smithy allows the research of better weapons and decreases the research time.The total number of researches is limited. To make room for another research you can revoke research levels, but be careful, resources will not be refunded. Rally point: On the rally point your fighters meet. Here you can command your armies. Market On the market you can trade with other players. Timber camp: Outside of your village in the dark forests your lumberjacks cut massive trees to produce wood in the timber camp, which is needed for buildings and weapons. The higher its level the more wood is produced. Clay pit: In the clay pit your workers extract clay, which is important for new buildings. The higher its level the more clay is produced. Iron mine: In the iron mine your workers dig the war-crucial iron. The higher its level the more iron is produced. Farm: The farm supplies your workers and troops with food. Without extending your farm your village cannot grow. The higher its level the more villagers can be supplied. Warehouse: The warehouse stores your resources. The higher its level the more resources can be stored. Hiding place: Resources in your hiding place cannot be plundered by your enemies. The bigger it is, the more it can hold. There is no place to hide your troops though. Even your enemies' scouts cannot spot your hidden resources. Wall: The wall defends your village against your enemies' troops. The higher its level the better the basic defense of your village. It also increases the defensive strength of your troops. Points You receive points for the completion of buildings. As soon as the building is finished, your points and place in the ranking are newly calculated (sometimes the recalculation can be delayed, to reduce server load). No points are awarded for research or the recruitment of units.
First steps In the beginning you will first and foremost need one thing: Resources. The lumber station produces wood, the clay pit clay and the iron mine iron. The more you upgrade these buildings, the more they produce. In the first couple of days it is very recommended to focus on resource production. Besides producing resources you should also try to protect your resources from plunderers. They could just assault you and steal the resources, which took you plenty of time to build up. You should do something to guard yourself against this possibility. Expanding your hiding place is one possibility. The bigger it is the more resources can be hidden, invisible to enemy troops. You should use this possibility especially when strong players are in your neighbourhood. When you have taken care of your basic resource production, you can start trading and producing troops. In the barracks (requires headquarters of level 3) you can produce spear fighters. They are not too well suited for an attack, but they offer you the possibility to plunder the resources of very weak players. If you prefer a little trading, you should build a market (requires headquarters level 3 and warehouse level 2). Here you can see what resources your neighbouring villages are offering for exchange and you can perhaps get rid of your own excess resources for something more valuable. Of course you can also create your own offers. But remember that with a market of level 1 you only have one merchant available. You should also try to join a tribe or establish your own one. A tribe can protect you from enemy plundering and assure a better exchange of resources. And you might make friends, too... Restart in a late phase of the game If you are joining a world that has been going on for some time, you should adjust your strategy. Of course it is still important to secure a good resource production. And you should protect yourself from plundering by your neighbours. Construct a wall, upgrade your hiding place and produce a couple of defensive units. Sometimes a nice message to you attackers can make a big difference also. Once you have managed to increase the size of your village you can try to get some resources by plundering other players. Plundered resources will help you develop your village even faster. There are a few major differences to the usual progress, which you usually do not perform: Do not make the mistake to concentrate solely on the development of your first nobleman. It may seem logical, since after all you want to rule several villages. But this is a potentially fatal mistake. Much stronger players that play for a long time in this world with will try to secure villages in your area of the map, to establish a strong second base here for the further course of the game. If you invest all your resources in buildings and a strong offence, you are easy to conquer for these players! They have the possibility to take all your possessions without even suffering great losses. Once you are attacked, it is usually too late already. The only strategy against this is to take many defensive precautionary measures, such as producing many spear- and swordsmen. You should not be an attractive and cheap target at the same time for these players. If they suffer a great loss in an attack, they will usually leave you alone. In this situation morale can can be a great help for you. The attacking troops could be weakened by up to 70%! This security phase will cost you time, but the defensive troops are not useless. They will help you a great deal in the future. If you have a good defence consisting of at least 1200 spearmen and 1200 swordmen, you can start creating a nobleman and putting together offensive troops. You will probably be able to tell by the surrounding villages, that it was well worth it... Battle system The battle system on Tribal Wars is fairly complex. The best way to understand it is to gather experience in many fights. The simulator will help you -*test*-('") different tactics. However, a couple of important aspects of battle are described here. Morale The purpose of the morale is to protect active small players from the attacks of very strong players. If a very strong player attacks a very weak player, his troops fight with a lower level of efficiency, because many of his warriors refuse to follow these dishonourable commands, or simply underestimate the strength of the enemy. Scout The scouts' task is to gather information about your enemies' villages. They are produced in your stables. To spy on an enemy, attack him with any number of scouts. During battle the attacking scouts will try to gather information about the village. On the other hand the enemies' scouts will try to capture the attacking scouts. The higher the ratio between defending and attacking scouts, the more scouts will be captured. If the attacker has half as many scouts as the defender, the chances that scouts survive are about 50 %. But only very few scouts would survive. If the attacker has about the same amount of scouts, the chances that scouts survive are about 100% and about two thirds of the attacking scouts survive. The defender cannot loose any scouts. As long as at least one scout returns, you will receive a report about the strength of your enemie's army. This information will also be provided on any attack where at least 50% of the defending troops are killed. If at least 50% of the scouts survive, you get a report of your enemy's resources. If 70% of the scouts survive and the scouts have been skilled to at least level 2, you also get information about his buildings and the level they have been upgraded to. If 90% of the scouts survive and the scouts have been skilled to level 3, you get to find out how many units of the defending village are stationed in other villages or in transit. Reports Reports inform you about all the events that happen to you village. Both military and economic news is reported. When you receive a report, this symbol () appears in the menu bar at the top of your screen.. You start in "All Reports", where you can see an overview of all reports you have received. Next to this overview you can also choose the categories battle reports, trade reports, support reports and miscellaneous reports. These menus contain all reports of the respective category. Reports sporting "New" have not been read yet. Once you have read them you should delete them so you do not get drowned in reports. To delete, select the reports you want to delete and click "Delete". Category Attacks: In the Attack reports you can review the battles your village have been involved in. At the top you can see who has been fighting who and which side won. Beneath this you can see a bar showing you the luck rating of the attacker. A red bar means misfortune, a green bar represents luck. Maximum misfortune and maximum luck are both 25%t. That means that the troops of the attacker have become at most 25% weaker or stronger. Further down you can find your troops involved in the battle and your losses. the attacker only receives a complete battle report if he had at least 50% of the fighting strength of the defending troops or if any scouts survived. Otherwise he only gets the message "None of your troops have made it back home alive" without any information about the number of troops of the enemy. Should you loose as a defender, you will still receive a complete report. If rams, catapults or even a nobleman were engaged in battle, you will also get information about the damage and/or the loyalty decrease that you have caused. Category Support: You will receive a support report if troops arrive at your village for support, or if your troops arrive to support another village. Here you can see which villages have supported each other and how many troops are now in other villages. Category Trade: Trade reports inform you about resource transports of your village. Accepted offers shows you which of your offers were accepted on the market or which offers you accepted yourself. Category Miscellaneous Miscellaneous reports contain all reports which could not be classified into one of the other categories. Examples are the Disbandment of your tribe or invitations to a tribe. Buildings Village Headquarters: In the village headquarters you can construct new buildings or upgrade existing ones. The higher the level of your headquarters, the faster the constructions will be finished. As soon as your village headquarters is upgraded to level 15, you will be able to demolish buildings. Barracks: In the barracks you can recruit infantry. The higher its level the faster the recruitment of troops will be finished. Stable: In the stable you can recruit cavalry. The higher its level the faster the recruitment will be finished. Workshop: In the workshop you can produce rams and catapults. The higher its level the faster the recruitment will be finished. Academy: In the academy you can educate noblemen. They will help you conquer other villages. Smithy: In the smithy you can research and improve weapons. Upgrading the smithy allows the research of better weapons and decreases the research time.The total number of researches is limited. To make room for another research you can revoke research levels, but be careful, resources will not be refunded. Rally point: On the rally point your fighters meet. Here you can command your armies. Market On the market you can trade with other players. Timber camp: Outside of your village in the dark forests your lumberjacks cut massive trees to produce wood in the timber camp, which is needed for buildings and weapons. The higher its level the more wood is produced. Clay pit: In the clay pit your workers extract clay, which is important for new buildings. The higher its level the more clay is produced. Iron mine: In the iron mine your workers dig the war-crucial iron. The higher its level the more iron is produced. Farm: The farm supplies your workers and troops with food. Without extending your farm your village cannot grow. The higher its level the more villagers can be supplied. Warehouse: The warehouse stores your resources. The higher its level the more resources can be stored. Hiding place: Resources in your hiding place cannot be plundered by your enemies. The bigger it is, the more it can hold. There is no place to hide your troops though. Even your enemies' scouts cannot spot your hidden resources. Wall: The wall defends your village against your enemies' troops. The higher its level the better the basic defense of your village. It also increases the defensive strength of your troops. Points You receive points for the completion of buildings. As soon as the building is finished, your points and place in the ranking are newly calculated (sometimes the recalculation can be delayed, to reduce server load). No points are awarded for research or the recruitment of units.