Kingdom Composition

Here is an example for Kingdom Composition. I assume there are 50 players.

King: Gaul (Phalanx + Druidrider)

-5 Defensive Gauls (Phalanx + Druidrider and Heduans on Capitol)

-4 Support Romans (Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris  + Catapults and possibility for Pretorians or Scouts on Villages AND / or Imperians on Capitol)

-4 Support Attack Teutons (Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams + Catapults = These build forces on each Village and may also build Spearmen in some of them or may also convert to different Setups like Main Attack Teutons)

-2 Main Attack Teutons (Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams + Catapults = Focuses on Main Army)

2x Duke: Gaul (Phalanx + Druidrider and possibly Heduans once outside Treasuries)

-2x5 Defensive Gauls (Phalanx + Druidrider and Heduans on Capitol)

-2x4 Support Romans (Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris + Catapults and possibility for Pretorians or Scouts on Villages AND / or Imperians on Capitol)

-2x4 support Attack Teutons (Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams + Catapults = These build forces on each Village and may also build Spearmen in some of them, or may also conver to different Setups like Main Attack Teuton)

-2x3 Main Attack Teutons (Cubmen + Teutonic Knight + Rams + Catapults = Focuses on Main Army)

Utilizing all the Strategies mentioned (and not mentioned) earlier.

30/50 Players are capable of Defense (if counting King, Duke, Defensive Gauls and Support Romans - And 12 Support Teutons can help with Spearmen if necessary for maximum of 42/50)

32/50 Players are capable of Attacking (if counting Support Romans, Support Teutons and Main Teutons and with Heduans from Defensive Gauls and Dukes making it maximum of 49/50)

On top of King and Dukes: 15 Defensive Gauls, 12 Support Attack Romans, 12 Support Attack Teutons, 8 Main Attack Teutons.

Crop Priority:

1. Main Attack Teutons

2. Support Attack Teutons

3. Support Romans

4. Dukes / King / Defensive Gauls (should not need to explain why)

Sending Resorces: Limit on Sending Resources between the team members is not an issue, because all accounts are needed to develop to their fullest, so Sending Recorces is seen as secondary. Focused from Support Positions to Main Attackers for developing their Crop Capitals.

Kingdom Stance: In this kind of Composition, the Kingdom Stance can be seen more as Defensive so, that the Support Romans are used primarily on supporting the Defensive Gauls, Dukes and Kings on their Defensive Tasks. Usually it means, that the opposing attack is first Defended, and any remaining Legionaires + Cavalry can be used to Counter Attack the aggressoor with the Teutons and possible Heduans.

Few Reasons for Kings and Dukes to have low crop Treasuries:

1. King starts with one.

2. Most of the times you should divide your Defenses anyway, and at least defend as much as to destroy the first attacking army (the clearer) to never make attacking your key locations "free".

3. You can use large Granary Capacity, NPC Trade, Merchants and selling of Stolen Goods to momentarily support large number of Reinforcing Troops even without having a Crop Capitol.

4. King and Duke position should be Defensive, and Crop Positions should be reserved for large Offensive Armies.

5. Your Governors will take all the Crop Locations as early as possibly to start developing them. Kings and Dukes will usually only settle later and favor rushing for a City.

6. Coherency, you want your Treasuries to actually connect.

Arguments i have heard on favor of why you NEED to have a 15 Crop on King and Dukes:

1. If you dont, you lose the Offensive Capability (?). What they mean with this, is probably that you can develop those capitals faster through Tributes and thus, having a large army that is being produced faster at double the cost than if you wouldnt. And this is seen so crucial, that sacrifices for this can be seen as mandatory. But in reality, the opponent who do not do this and plan their composition differently, can have more overall Offensive Strength. This all follows the "all eggs in one basket" type of thinking which is extremely popular in this game to the point, it is seen as the only option. In fact, this mindset can be  used to your own advantage when you are planning on Attack and Defense. The thought process behind this is very simple, you focus all of your teams effort to gain several large armies as soon as possible, and then you smash them against a single location while using fakes on others. Currently, the public sees this as a pinnacle of Strategy that can be used in this game, even to a point where it can be said to be the only option that is Acceptable.

2. If you dont, you are not able to support Reinforcing Troops. This most likely means, that all of your defense should be gathered in one spot only, following the thought process above. The problem is, how can you know which location it is ? (which gets me to point number 3)

3. To give your enemy "Only One Target to Attack", which in my opinion only makes it easy for them to fake this location and attack other locations without losing any troops, playing against the opponents hand instead.

4. You can help Governors to store their troops. Again, if you plan your Composition wisely, you have no need for this as everyone will go for their maximum capacity anyway. Which is btw more the less you use an option for Great Barrackses and Great Stables. This is a choise within the game, which somehow have become the "only option that is acceptable". According to Public opinion, any King who do not use the given Strategies, is so horrible that they destroy the game for their Governors. (15 crops as Treasuries even the Borders would not connect, and using all effort to produce singular, large armies)

None of these arguments make much sense to me, and they are very heavily defended to the point they start to seem holy (as in, you cannot argue against them and if you do, you are going to be attacked in some way). This behavior itself is very strange and seems to dictate the thought process of these people, making them completely fixated on this thing as in, makinig them biased and one sided. Whats more, the people behind this kind of thinking are seen as the Top Minds in this game and this follows all back to the Moderation. Denying this will most likely make you a target of a crusade, which clarifies to me even more that you should not believe these people but find your own way instead.

We know we are right, and you are wrong, and you HAVE to believe us or we will FORCE you to believe, not seen to understand or accept the reasons for any opposing arguments. If you still wont agree with them, you are accused of spreading "Misinformation". So there really is only one way and everyone saying otherwise must be silenced. It is almost as if for some reason, they NEED everyone to think like they want. This is a similar thing that happens with Mass Media all the time. There is only one Truth that is being marketed, and everyone voicing different opinion will be attacked and ultimately silenced. Why this happens in this game, is probably for the same reasons. The Ruling Elite will market their truth to you, and then you are welcome to serve under them. Make any opposition, and you will be struckt down as they control the Moderation. Basically, you might become a Rebel very fast. So what you are reading here is the Alternative Truth that is being Denied by the Public making anyone who believes it a Crazy person who lives in a Fantasy World.

How i see it, the main purpose of Strategy in this game is to hit the opponent by avoiding their defenses, and catch the opponents attacks with whatever are the means you are comfortable on achieving this. So them needing everyone to think like they want might relate to this very question. How to Attack and Defend succesfully ? 

Whats more, if someone is actually stronger in this game, these people have the pattern to accuse them of Cheating, Abusing or other similar thing. A thing they do not accuse any weaker teams for, cheating or not cheating. So everyone not recognizing what they claim is Crazy, and when someone is actually stronger than them they are Cheating. To me it seems like they have decided on something.

These people are really something. But to trade your life for a Video Game. They really must be. So if this is the level of the people here, i think you will do just fine. I would advise to Ignore these people and find your own Truth you are comfortable with. You will notice them when you arrive, as they will most likely have the need to contact you. But in my opinion, you should instead seek to contact the ones who wont.

All of these things are a sign, that they can be troubled as a human beings to begin with, and have a need to force their truth on others. If you wont notice this kind of thing, then its probably good for you.

Spies Among the Governors

If there is a reason to suspect an Infiltrator among the Governors that could forward the Attack Coordinates to the opponent, one way to circle around this is to give the attack coordiniates on abstract manner.

For example, every Governor is instructed to have target(s), the number of Attacks or Troops they should use and how many Fake Attacks should they make, but let them choose the villages they attack or fake themselves. In this way, the Infiltrator will have the same information as their team, without the knowledge which attack is fake and more interestingly, you wont know either until the Reports come in. 

There really isnt that much difference what villages are being targeted. The Attack Pattern is what makes the difference. You can even generate pre made attack patterns which the Governors are supposed to know or at least have a solid list representing their role in each. If these patterns are made in abstract manner, it doesnt really matter do the opponent know that they are going to be hit with "Delta 1" or "Roomsweeper", or what it is.

This can also make the attacks more interesting for the Governors, as they can affect what villages they are going to attack themelves giving them an option of choise rather than just being told what to do. So, on top of neglecting the usefulness of Infiltrators, it can actually make the game more fun for your Governors.

Still, at least the main attackers with the bigger armies should be trustworthy persons if there is a need for pinpoint accuracy on the plan. Giving them separate instructions in private and the general pattern in public, if any. But sometimes you dont have this luxury, especially if your Kingdom is made from unknown Governors that are recruited within the game. The ideal scenario would of course be, that each of your Governors are trustworthy, and there would be no need for this. But still, even then allowing them to choose their targets might be fun.

For example, a Support Roman might get this kind of Instruction: 

Target Opposing Governor A or B - 4 Attacks Each and 4 Fakes Each

It does not even matter, if a second Governor (but not three) is given the same targets A and B, or will they hit the same villages twice as long as they are insructed to target different fields (causing potentially the loss of 8+8 = 16 Resource Fields in that villlage). If these attacks are from Teuton, they probably cannot choose the targets for Catapults in the first place (which doesnt mean they should not have them).

These attacks are a distraction (that can still cause damage) anyway, and are only meant to support the main attack.

As for the Main Attackers, they may be instructed to hit fakes to either Treasuries, Crop Capitols or Supports or all of them, and then choose the main attack from one of the target types, or from pre arranged targets. These instructions are also given in private.

This is chaotic, and the result may not be optimal. But so is defending this. The best part is, the Infiltrators are forced to possibly attack their own Team without gaining any information as a benefit, or be caught as one (that is alway either "idle" or does not follow instructions - so no need to have him/her on your team = You just found a new Farm).

One way to do this, is to arrange the Main Attacker and the Support Attackers as pairs so, that the Support Attackers forwards their reals and fakes to the Main Attacker they are partnered with, who then chooses their targets. In this way, they know to support the fakes with fakes, and choose the real target(s) within the reals but none else than these two actually know and even then, the Support does not hold the information what the Main Attacker have chosen. On top of that, the Main Attacker might have given separate instructions to Attack (and/or Fake) or choose a target from either Capitols or Treasuries.

Basically all attacks should always target (with either Fakes or Reals) Support Villages (some of them), Capitols (all or some of them) and Treasuries (all of them). 

Changing Mechanics

I see there are talk about changing the core mechanics within the game and adding account wide Research Trees and Expert Citizens in similar way than in Civilization.

If so, similar thing can be arranged to Heroes too. For example, enabling the players to choose Perks each 10 level and capping them at level 100 for to tal of 10 Perks from the categories Warrior / Rogue / Merchant for, having to choose between 2 - 3 choise that neglect each other. If the player wants to have a level 10 Warrior skill, then all Perks must be chosen from the same category but if the player would so choose, the Hero might advance in all categories but excell in none.

This is just a Suggestion, as it seems that the Developers are already thinking a similar thing.

Warrior Perks would affect combat or troops.

Rogue Perks would affect utility, raiding or travel.

Merchant Perks would affect resources.

If there indeed will be any major changes to the game mechanics, i can tell an effective way to utilize them in this blog. 

Multi Account Abuse

My suggestion to tackle the Multi Account issue would be to make a separate servers with an Entry Fee for those who want to play through confirmed accounts. Each bank account could be used to purchase one Entry Fee with small sum like 2 - 3 euros that give you for example, 200 gold at start to play with.

This could greatly reduce the use of Multi Accounts on said server, as they are mainly done because it is easy, wont cost anything and has no real drawbacks.

Another idea regarding this is, that there could also be Annual Championship servers for both, 1x and 3x speed that only allows those players to join that have generated Prestige through a server type mentioned above (with Entry Fee). Each team could only enlist a limited amount of players, so having multiple accounts would not bring benefits, as every team would need to be pre listed with limited amount of players. Having such Championship aspects, would also greatly improve the competative and fair elements of the game. 

I suspect there would be many teams who would want to compete in the Annual Travian Kingdom Championships and thus, wanting to promote fair play within the Entry Fee (Elite) servers.

A solution for "Boosted Hammers" (if i even understand the concept) can be, to just make it so that you cannot attack your own team mates. This way, you would also suffer some consequences when you transfer the Treasures from one Treasury to another. Making the decision less desireable. You would have to first kick your Duke out, and then attack their Treasury and only then, take that Duke back to reopen their Treasury. This would also temporarily close all of their Treasuries, and you could not do that with the King as in, Kings Treasures could not be moved which is entirely realistic for no King would ever just to give their Treasures away. Another solution would just be to make a separate mechanism for transfering the Treasures. For example, with use of Marketplace. And then, make it so that your own team mates cannot be attacked.

Then, some people might of course make separate Kingdoms which they recycle the Treasures upon. But this kind of behavior is more clear, and you can immediately notice when someone is doing this.

You could still ask your friends to produce inactives on random positions on the map and raid them, but so could your opponents (to raid them).

Either way, it is always better to just have more players, than fill your slots with inactives.

(In my understanding, "Boosted Hammers" mean that you ask your friends to create accounts they wont use, and then raid them. Possibly even using Menhir to get them near your position)

Then again, if the idea above would be conducted. Each of these accounts would need to pay the Entry Fee. Making this far less redirable than with free accounts on the server.

Using Scouts

In this chapter i share my thoughts about using Scouts, or defending against them. In the way i am thinking this game, i try to minimize the amount of Scouts i produce. This is a matter of playstyle and i am not necessarily suggesting you do this, but will still type it down here for everyone to see.

My game style emphasizes strongly on understanding the character of the opponent and on that, my intuition about the choises they are about to make. Thus i wont need the scouting information to make the choises to begin with, and i dont believe the opponent will gain much on having it either. This is why on my composition, there is next to no scouts as i aim to maximize the offensive strength without sacrificing on the defense.

If i can produce next to twice as many troops that can be used on offense than the opponent, i want them to know it. This is part of my Diplomacy and deterrence against enemy aggression. I want them to know, that if they attack my Kingdom, they will not compete on winning the server anymore. This is why i first aim to destroy their Infrastructure, Crop Capitals, ability to produce armies and so on (when others go for the Treasures immediately). To me, the Treasures are at first a tool that enables me to destroy their Kingdom without losses on attacking troops (the fact that they posses and value them over anything else).

This wont mean i wont use them, i just wont specialize in them like everyone else. I value troops instead and it is the gamestyle that suits me the best. When others want Scouts, i want Troops. I am using information as a weapon, but wont need much of it to make my decisions. 

When others are aiming to affect the Troops in the game, i am aiming to affect the one who controls the Troops.This is my play style, and it suits me.

This is a bit like Rock Paper Scissors where i am using Rock and Paper only, and want everyone to know it. The opponent have one Rock, one Paper and one Scissors while you have one Rock, one Paper and one that can be either a Rock or Paper.

This is very advanced, and there might not be many people in existence who can reliably do this in practice. What it basically means, is that you need to be a real Psychic like Rasputin. It also means, that you must be able to rely on what you cannot see.

There is also another aspect to this, which is to build your composition so solid, that the opponent has a hard time choosing what to do even they would know everything you have and you would not theirs. Its because of this foundation, that you can have less Scouts and having more Troops strengthens this foundation even further.

Kingdom Wars

In this section, i muse about Kingdom vs Kingdom wars.

Early Game: There is a certain focus on attacking Oasises, and at least some of the Governors should always aim for Fast Catapults.

Mid Game: This is the phase where the smaller armies come in handy as you aim to destroy your opponents infrastructure, and thus their growth for the future. The main goal is to take down the Crop Capitals when they are building them, not allowing them to ever finish those larger armies they want to have.

Late Game: There is an opportunity to destroy developed capitals and some of the infrastructure just when the World Wonder phase have started, by constantly faking them and attacking the Capitals and Cities instead.

Tips for the Night Truce

  In this section, i will gather tips to be used in servers with Night Truce.

1. The Clubmen: Clubmen are especially strong in Night Truce servers, as if you attack so that they are back within the limits of the Night Truce, they cannot be sniped by enemy Cavalry. 

2. The Night Auction: People tend to go Offline during the night and there are usualy a smaller number of players already. For Auctions, this means that you can find great deals during the Night Truce and even sell them back with profit, gaining many times more in silver than what you bought them with. So do not be shy to buy an item you wont need if you find it cheap, you can sell it back with profits. If you are short on silver, and i bet you are, this is also the time to find the items you need.

3. The Oasises: Remember to attack Oasises, you can do this within the Night Truce.

Defensive Gauls and Heduans

The Heduans can be used in a similar way than Roman Legionaires from the Support role mentioned before. They are a versatile unit that offers a lot of utility, and can be used to clear Robber Hideouts, Attack Oasises or even to attack any Support Villages with Catapults OR to be used on defend of any location, especially with Clubmen because of the possible Cavalry Snipes.

A Defensive Gaul approach with Support element might look like this:

Capital: Phalanxes + Heduans + Some Catapults

Any City: Phalanxes + Druidriders

Any Village: Phalanxes + Druidriders

The first Village, which can be upgraded to a City might use a small number of Theutates Thunder for raiding Inactives that is farther away. None of the Cities use Great Barracks or Great Stables either, and the Heduans are only produced in the Capitol.

Needless to say, that if the Gaul player can manage it, they will aim to take any available 5 Clay spots to them in the same way than Roman player will aim to have a 5 Iron. Possibly even as a Capital or at least as a City.

This way, the player will have one utility / attack / defene army to play with (Heduans) and a lots of defensive troops (like any other Defensive Gaul).

Needless to say, this setup might want to have the Horse Helmet to lower the time that is needed to produce the Heduans.

So, when the Attack players attack with their Clubmens and bigger armies, Support Romans and Brute Force Teutons attack with their large number of smaller armies, and the Defensive players attack with one Heduan + Catapult army, all players can take part of a Kingdom Wide Attack making it all the more stronger when comparing to a Kingdom, that only uses Attack Players to attack with one army for each.

Brute Force Teutons (Support)

If a Teuton player uses their Resources to build troops in capital in means to produce one large army as fast as possible using Barracks, Stables, Great Barracks and Great Stables. Resourcewise, this means that they could produce twice the amount of troops in the same time from four different locations. So this setup at least doubles (or more) the amount of troops you can produce with the same resources and time that is being used, making the armies way more Expendable. I am not saying you should not produce the biggest single army in the server, i am just saying that there might not much sense for EVERY attack player in the team to aim for that. The approach for one larger hammer should be left for those with the 15 Crop Locations with best Percentages to produce armies that might need to be preserved for the late game. So they might not be that expendable you would need in a mid game war against another Kingdom. This is the reason why it is good to have these kind of Brute Force Teutons that have higher amount of Troop Producion and whose armies are more Expendable.

The setup looks like this:

Capital: Clubmen (or Axemen) + Teutonic Knight + Rams + Catapults

Any City: Clubmen + Teutonic Knight + Rams + Catapults

Any Village: Clubmen + Teutonic Knight + Rams and / or Catapults

Axemen may be produced to generate a slower produced hammer, and dump all Iron to them. If resource distribution is not a problem, then produce Clubmen instead. This type of setup will aim to producce lots of disposable and relatively hard hitting armies, so will launch lots of attacks and fake attacks very often. The randomly hitting Catapults wont matter that much, as they will still wreck havoc to be a nuisance. Capital will not be a City, nor will any City use Great Barrackses or Great Stables. The production of Infrastructure may vary, as may the effort that is used on developing the Capital. There are defenitely more than one ways to play this kind of Teuton but what is common in them, is that they produce Clubmen in all of their villages and use them actively through the game.

This setup will be able to pump out absurd of number of offensive troops very fast, and if you know how to use them as a team, these smaller armies can be effective. The Capitol Armies are usually used as clearers when launching smalle attacks to less important location like Cities or in some cases even less important Capitols.

These are the players who can support attacks from Support Roman on the opposing Support Villages (Knocking the Wall, attempt to clear any possible defenses + causing random mayhem with Catapult waves), and even possible help them to threaten Cities and / or support the bigger attacks on Capitals (for example, made by these same players from their Capital). Brute Force Teutons except to lose their Clubmen, so they are constantly producing more.

For this reason, it is a good idea to have as many Brute Force Teutons than there are Support Romans in the team and even possibly arrange them as pairs. (so the Teuton players can be issued a Roman support if necessary)

Also, if some of the Support Roman positions are converted to something else (like defensive or offensive) it might be a good idea to convert same amount of Brute Force (Support) Teutons to other positions as well. Ideally, Brut Force Teutons and Support Romans form a combo that acts as a pair.

Alternative, a more Hybrid Setup might look like this:

Capital: Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams + Catapults

Any City: Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams or Catapults 

Villages: Spearmen

Some of the Villages: Supports the Capital and has no Troop Production of their own, or at least does this earlier and then switches to produce Spearmen instead.

This setup is especially valuable, if the opponent have lots of Romans that you suppose play Offensive.

Support Romans

In this chapter i muse about Support Roman position, on how and why to utilize them.

This is not a popular view among the players, but in my opinion you CAN produce attack armies from each of your villages the same way a defensive player does. Especially if you play Roman and especially if there are not enough Crop Locations available.

If your team have these kind of players, they can generate armies in all of their villages each instead of one larger army and paying x3 premum for Great Barracks and Great Stables. These armies can hit multiple locations for each player, and fake as many, and you wont need much Catapults to tune level 10 fields down in each wave not making them Catapult heavy either. Basically each attack threatens to reduce 8 (2x4) lvl 10 fields from one support village. What this means, is that you can produce more attack units than in one Crop Capital, and that if the opponent divides their defenses for Support Villages they have less defensive troops available to defend their Crop Capitals or Treasuries. The best part is, they will never know where you are actually going to hit, so more available targets makes it harder for them to guess. This can be a whole new pattern to them, not usually encountered. Additionally, these armies are good to hit any Oasises with in the early game, especially the ones with 0% defensive bonusess (crop oasises). 

If you are low on Catapults and wont have high Rally Point, you might as well gun down four of the Level 5 Resource boosting structures like Grain Mill and Granary in a single wave attack. You wont need many Catapults for this and will most likely not have to upgrade them, enabling you to have more Legionaires. So it is not necesarily good to go for Level 20 Rally Point and 80 or so Catapults in each of your Villages. Sometimes even Level 1 Rally Point and 20 or so Catapults is enough to be Threatening.

Again, people might say suppor villages wont matter, but any damage on them do end up hurting you eventually and you will lose lots of production you otherwise would not, especially if this is done on a larger scale. These support players can also have a crop capital (usually 9) where they produce a bigger army slow and steady without the help of Great Barracks or Great Stable (because of the higher cost in resources which is distributed to support armies instead). But every now and then they are ready to launch many smaller armies, which wont take a lot of time to produce so they are easily replaceable and do cause a lot of damage when left undefended. And if these kind of players are Romans, these troops are most likely Legionaires and eventually Equites Imperatoris or Cesaris, which can be used defensively in the same way than any other defensive player does. But the utility Legionaires bring is unmatched.

This is a different style of approaching the game and team aspect, offering different utility than what people are used to. I suspect, that no one does this and there are "reasons for it", but personally i see no reason not to and will never downplay an utility this kind of approach gives to you as a team. This support position is also one to produce Scouts if necessary. Just specialize one of the villages to Scout production instead.

The options what to do with this kind of setup is very numerous. You can also just fake the Treasuries from some of the Main Attack players Crop Capitols, divide the army and hit the support cities with a wave of Clubmen + Ram instead. So the real attacks are the support attacks and no real target might be hit at all. This way, if they defend those support attacks with lets say few thousand trooops each, it still wont matter as the Rams and Clubmen + possible Catapults will clear them, and the Legionaries + Catapults will further hit their infrastructure. Having as much as 100 Support Villages being reduced in one wave will hurt and as you didnt lose much of your troops, or if you did, they are easily replaceable which means, you can lauch a second wave soon or just fake them and hit the real targets instead. Or then again, continue to use your Legionaires on Defensive purposes.

These kind of attacks look really bad when you start to recieve them, especially when combined with fakes and reals from crop capitals. Instead of several locations, you can hit hundreds and most of them are real. The best part is, that you will still have the same amount of bigger armies (if maybe generally a bit smaller ones) than the opponent who do not utilize this strategy, but on top of them you have lots of 3 000 + Legionaires + (any possibe Cavalry) + some tens of Catapults type of armies too.

It wont hurt, to have even 10 or more of these players, who can either support the defense with heckton of Legionaires, or even turn them into numerous armies and fake attacks when needed. In fact, in my opinion its best to have 1/3 of Defensive (Gaul), 1/3 of this kind of Hybrid (Roman) and 1/3 of Offensive (Teuton) Governors. 

When Romans are used like this, they offer a lot of Utility and Legionaires for their defensive and offensive properties are the unit that makes them really shine.

Usual build may look like this: 

Capital: Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris + Catapult + (possibly Ram)

Any City: Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris + Catapult (at least the first vilage, possibly more)

Any Village: Legionaires + Catapult 

One of the Villages: Scouts (Optional)

Support Romans will usually fill all the empty spots within the Kingdom Borders, and usually upgrade their possible cities within them. It is also possible to play a Support Roman having only one capital and only cities, all within the Kingdom Borders. When the crop consumption starts to get too much on the negative and there is no one to defend, just attack.

If necessary, any of the Villages can also produce Pretorians instead. And should the player be able to acquire a nice Crop Capital, produce Imperians in there. The important part is to pump Legionaires in each of the Villages and support them with Catapults, being able to Attack and Defend from all locations if necessary. In my opinion, this is the type of Utility that Romans are made to be used for making it easily the most versatile of the Tribes and an important part of any Kingdom.

When necessary, the Support Roman position can be converted to these, or similar variations depending on the situation around the Kingdom.

Capital: Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris + Catapult + (Possible Ram)

Any City: Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris + Catapult

Any Village: Pretorians

(If there are lots of Teotons around)

Capital: Imperians + Equites Imperatoris / Equites Cesaris + Catapult + (Possible Ram)

Any City: Legionaires + Equites Imperatoris / Equities Cesaris + Catapult

Any Village: Legionaires + Equites Cesaris + Catapult

One village: Equites Legati

(When needed some extra Punch and Utility. In this setup, some or all of the Villages might not even produce Troops, but be pure Support instead)

Diplomacy Guide

Here i have gathered some Tips for what you can achieve with chat alone. I know many of the Largest Kingdoms dont use this feature at all, but it is still part of the game and is especially useful in smaller servers where you can use it to trade information and conduct Diplomacy, and begin to be more aware of the situation on your World. In this, it helps if you are Duke or King yourself, but you may as well talk to other players as a Governor too. This lets you also notice many abnormalities around you, or even guess which ones are multi-accounts or not. As a rule of thumb, i always mark any players as Targets that do not answer in chat. To me, it means the same as being Grey/Inactive on their Status. If you can enforce it, their only function is to act as Farms.

When utilized right, chat in the game can be a powerful tool that wont cost you anything, but can produce you great benefits or harm. Depending on how you use it. In some cases even, winning of the server can be determined by which Kingdom could better utilize the chat feature in game. (Recruiting, Gaining Allies, Intimidating, Sharing Information and so on)

With the use of chat feature, you can even start alone, and end up with the largest Kingdom on your server, uniting with another large Kingdom later on. This is all achieved with only typing to other players and thus affecting on what they choose to do. Assimilating another Kingdom or gaining them as an Ally, is always more benefical than wasting your effort in Fighting Them.

Again, this is probably only true in Regional Servers, and in them i suppose 1x servers are the best places to use Diplomacy. For what i gather, COM servers and especially 3x servers are ruled by Kingdoms who do not utilize this feature at all, so the usefulness of it in there is on decline. These servers are usually formed by pre-generated Kingdoms who have conducted all this type of actions already. They might also have similar kind of methods to affect other people, but they usually tend to do it outside the actual game. In Regional Servers, you might very well be able to compete against smaller pre-arranged teams with only random people you gather across the map. So basically with use of Diplomacy, anyone can win even their Kingdom would start from nothing. 

So, if you like the thought of Diplomacy in the game, i would recommend playing on 1x Regional Servers. The worst kind of servers for this might very well be the 3x COM servers.

TIP 1: Message girls, do it a lot. They like when you talk to them in-game, and might very well want to Coordinate Attacks with you. There are plenty of them around and for some reason most of the men wont talk to them.

TIP 2: Ask random Governors from opposing Kingdoms how they are doing. Some of the times, they end up telling useful Knowledge of their Kingdom or Situation. Dont be shy to share yours, thats what they might be looking for as well. You can also straight up ask even Kings whatever you want, and most of the time they want to be helpful. Remember that people love to be important and the attention you give matters to them. This way, you can also gain informants in many Kingdoms, and form a lasting relationship with them that benefits both. If you become well established as an Informant, they might start coming to you to better know what is happening in their World. For obvious reasons, this kind of position is very advantageous for you. Ever better, if they start asking you what to do.

TIP 3: When trying to Recruit Governors, do not straight up ask do they want to join your Kingdom. Instead, its better to ask have they thought about Joining a Kingdom yet. This way you make them think about joining yours, but do not offend them if they are part of some pre-arranged Kingdom already.

TIP 4: If you see someone that was earlier a part of a Kingdom not being so anymore, ask what happened. This is also true, if you notice any abnormalities within the map. Especially, if a Kingdom gets denounced, you should really know what led to this to become aware of any possible forces that are causing such Disturbances.

TIP 5: Dont be afraid to just chat random stuff with those who are willing. In this way, you might find interesting people within the game who make the time pass more soundly for you both. You might also gain useful in game information even you would not be actively looking for it as many people like to tell what they are doing, what kind of exploits they just had and so on. They might very well start to even post Reports to you, even they would be a part of another Kingdom. This is especially true if they are on a Mind Set, that they are guiding or teaching you in the game. This kind of relationships might sometimes even affect at their reluctance on attacking you even your Kingdoms would go into war with eachother.

So all in all, i would say In Game Chat, is one of the most powerful and interesting features in the game. And like it or not, Diplomacy is a real part of this game and those who can better utilize it will gain a tremendous Advantage. These Kingdoms who can, tend to usually be larger than others as they have been able to recruit a lot more members than the most. So the least any Kingdom will have to do is to ask people to join theirs, but all of the more successful Kingdoms must have some kind of system or Strategy revolvng around Diplomacy, regardless do they use in-game chat feature or not. People is what makes the Kingdoms, and with Diplomacy, you aim to affect them. 

As for darker side of this feature. In this Thread i accept any Ridicule, as it is a legit Strategy you can use on Diplomatic Sabotage.

These tactics are also sometimes utilized by infiltrators. Basically you join an opposing Kingdom, and start flooding them with unneccessary stuff and blame them for everything. If they are nice people, they might even take you seriously and keep you undermining their morale, or start to fullfill your ridiculous requests. Infiltrating and Spying on a Kingdom thought, is another topic. (which can be done in game, or out of game)

Morale is a very important thing in this game, and undermining it can even destroy a Kingdom from within. It can also cause people to stop playing, or become inactive as their interest on the game will drop. 

There are many people in Travian, who conduct this kind of Sabotage on its different forms. So as a living part of this game, every player should at least be aware that it happens. If for no other reason, at least to be a harder target for them. 

(Affecting the Troops is the Player - Affecting the Player, affects the Troops itself)

Another similar strategy is Intimidation. In Game, it can be utilized to gain a serious advantage. Basically, any Assimilation of Smaller Kingdoms are usually made by Intimidating them from a Position of Power. This will usually result on their decision to join you, and to become part of this Power they were Intimidated with.

How to subtly do this, is another topic as well.