Beginner’s Guide – Early Game Guide

 

    Well begun is half done. Having a good strategy for your early-game development is a cornerstone that grants you an edge over other players.

I. Your Objectives in the Early Game

    Though the core feature of this game is to work together with your Alliance members to conquer the world, a good start will help you build a foundation for your resource needs and develop faster than everyone else. In this article, I will clarify the early-game objectives for you. These objectives are ensuring your units can capture level 5 resource tiles at a low cost, leveling up your Palace to level 7 in the fastest way possible, and building Encampments (which will significantly increase the Forces available to a single Officer). After you finish these objectives, the early-game stage is pretty much over.

    Today, I will teach you how to quickly complete all the early-game objectives within the 48-hour New Player Protection period.

II. New Player Protection Period

    After creating a character on a new server, you will be under New Player Protection for 48 hours. During the protection period, you can enjoy several bonuses while exploring the map and developing your strength. For example, it costs 15 Stamina to take actions for normal players, but it only costs 8 Stamina for new players to do the same thing. Normal players need 5 minutes to capture a Land, while new players only need 1 minute and 30 seconds. Normal players can have 80% of their Conscript resources refunded when an Officer retreats, while new players can have 100% of the reserves refunded. These bonuses greatly lower the time and cost it takes to transition through the early game. Be sure to take advantage of the New Player Protection period. You can use this chance to get familiar with the game, capture more high-level resource tiles, increase your resource Productions, and develop your City.

III. Expansion Route

1. The Basics of Linked Lands and Paved Ways

    You can capture one land tile if you or your Alliance members have a Land linked to a resource tile for. If you don’t have a Linked Land, you will have to pave the way for your passage.

    See the example down below.

     If a player wants to capture resource tile #3, they will have to pave ways to resource tile #1 first. After capturing resource tile #1, the player can capture resource tile #2 and then to tile #3.

2. Leveling Up the Initial Officers

    Empty tiles, level 1 Lands, and level 2 Lands are poorly defended, so you can easily take them. But these low-level tiles have low resource Production. You should only capture them if you need to level up your initial Officers or pave ways. Capturing a resource tile gives you Officer EXP to level up your Officers. When your Officers are at about level 5, they can capture level 3 tiles for you.

3. Make Use of the Recon Feature

    Garrison at tiles above Lv.3 are usually strong. You are supposed to Recon tiles before occupying them, so you can know about their Garrison Troop Types and Lineups. Then, you should adjust your Troop Types to counter your enemies (Counter Relationship: Cavalry → Shield → Bow → Spear → Cavalry). However, if your main troop’s Shield troop type is all S while Spear troop type is all C, then don’t try to shift your troop type to challenge an S-Calvary Garrison. Just pick another land.

4. Unit Morale

    Your units lose some Morale after traveling for a specific distance. Morale determines how much damage your units can deal in combat. When your units stop moving, they will slowly recover Morale. If you send your units back to the City or an allied Camp, they will fully recover their Morale. This is why you should prioritize resource tiles nearby your City in the early game. Do not travel too far to capture tiles. You can capture tiles far away from your City after you have developed enough strength because you will then have the power to crush their Garrison units. Alternatively, you may command your units to travel to the target resource tile and let them rest to recover Morale before attacking.

5. Abandon Low-level Lands When You Should

    There is a number limit (determined by Fame) to how many tiles you can capture. When you are exceeding this limit, it is best to abandon useless and low-level resource tiles.

6. The Recommended Forces For Capturing Lands

    When you are capturing resource tiles, you must pay attention to the Counter Relationship between different Troop Types. Try to bring as many Forces with you to lower the losses you suffer from capturing tiles. A level 4 tile has 5400 Garrison Forces. It is recommended that you try to capture such a tile with a powerful lineup at 2500+ Forces or with a normal lineup at 3000+ Forces. A level 5 tile has 9000 Garrison Forces. It is recommended that you try to capture such a tile with a powerful lineup at 4500+ Forces or with a normal lineup at 6000+ Forces plus another team at 3000 Forces just in case things go south.

7. Blitz

    When the number of your tiles is at max, you are prevented from capturing more higher-level tiles. In such a situation, you should try to quickly level up your Officers by Blitzing low-level resource tiles so your Officers’ Stamina doesn’t go to waste.

8. Other Notes

    Other than your main lineup, you can develop one to two teams with slightly lower power serving as your secondary forces. These secondary forces can help you finish off a weak tile, pave ways, farm, or intercept Wood Oxen. You should use your main lineup to capture the highest-level resource tile within your current power capability to quickly level up and strengthen your main force. The main lineup is so important that you must use their Stamina wisely.

IV. How To Upgrade Your City

    1. You have a limited number of tiles and a limited amount of resources in the early game. To quickly level up your Palace to level 7, you must strictly follow the requirements of the Main Quests. You should stick to Main Quests and only take Side Quests if they are “Join Alliance” quests. After you join an Alliance, you can enjoy the Resource Production bonus. As for the other Side Quests, you don’t really have to worry about them unless your Palace is at level 7.

    2. Among the four types of resources, Stone is only used for upgrading your City and Food is only used for conscripting soldiers. If you find yourself lacking a specific type of resource, you should try to capture more lands associated with that resource.

V. I Ran Out Of Resources, What Now?

1. [Farm] (becomes available at Fame 3500)

    Select a resource tile that you have captured and send an idle team (with a Commander at 1 Force) to it. Then, spend 3 Tomes to start Farming. It takes 10 minutes to Farm one time. After this 10-minute duration, you will get the resource associated with that resource tile. For example, you will get Stone by Farming at a Stone resource tile. Farming at a higher-level resource tile will reward you more resources. It is recommended that you Farm at the highest-level resource tile associated with the resource that you lack the most.

2. [Wood Ox] (becomes available at Fame 4000)

    Defeating a Wood Ox rewards you with a lot of resources and Reserves. Wood Oxen refresh at 08:00 AM, 02:00 PM, and 08:00 PM every day.

3. [Trial] (becomes available at Main Quest chapter 7)

    Trials refresh at midnight every day. They will give you random resources. Completing a more difficult Trial rewards more resources.

4. [Trade] (becomes available at Palace level 5 and after you have unlocked Market)

    When you lack one specific resource but have plenty of other resources, you may access the Trade feature at the Administration menu. The Trade feature works as a conversion system where you can trade the resources you have for other resources but less.

5. Eliminate Bandits

    When your server reaches a specific Conquest milestone, Bandits will start appearing on the map. You can spend 1 Tome to fight these Bandits. It costs Forces to fight Bandits and it only rewards a midget amount of random resources, so it is not recommended that you fight Bandits for resources in the early game. Most players fight Bandits because they need Forge Materials to craft Gears in the mid and late game.

VI. Inherit and Learn Tactics

    1. Different Officers can Inherit different Tactics. However, once you Inherit the Tactic from an Officer, that Officer will disappear. So choose wisely when you Inherit a Tactic from your Officer.

    2. Your deployed Officers can Learn Tactics, which is an important feature for you to empower your units. You may take advantage of the 100% Tactic Points refund under New Player Protection and try out the various synergies of Tactics.

    3. Tactic Points are rare to come by in the early game, so it is recommended that you balance out the Tactic upgrade progress for all your Officers.

※ Regarding the usage of early-game Officers and Tactics, we will write another guide specifically covering this part of the gameplay, so stay tuned for more guides to early-game lineups.

    That’s about it for this guide. I hope the lineups we introduced today can help you transition through the early game with ease. And good luck out there on the battlefield!