All Teuton Kingdom Build (Fast Catapult Rush)

 I thought about All Teuton Kingdom:

1 KING: Plays defensively, produces mainly Spearmen. Participate on early rush by developing Rams early.

2 DUKES: Defensively, Spearmen and Paladin. Take participate on early rush by developing Rams. Later changes the first village to produce Spearmen and Paladin, and stops producing Rams, so dont spend heavily on them and dont ugprade them. The King does the same.

16 MAIN ATTACK TEUTONS: Take the best Crop Capitals and focuse on them. Take participate on rush by developing Rams early. Later attempt to prouce large Ram Hammers.

32 SUPPORT TEUTON: Participate in early rush by developing Clubmen + Catapults as given in Resource Heavy Starting Guide and attempting to rush some kingdom together so, that very soon after the Server have started 19 Ram Armies and the Catapult Armies attacking 38 locations 19 of them Fakes and 19 Clubmen with Rams and Catapult Waves. You can start to repeat this if they cannot hold the 50 Cubmen armies the Kingdom have. This is done in the main villages, all of them are later turned into cities and continue producing Clubmen + Catapult/Ram adding Teutonic Knights before Cities. If the opponent is also a Large Kingdom with 50 or so members, target the opposing Kingdom Governor Capitals with the First Village City Armies right from the beginning. (do city after second village, which takes any possible crop location.

Later when the towns have Breweries, keep doing Catapults. It doesnt matter, still do Catapults in each village you can and aim to Bombard any opposing villages with fakes and Catapult Armies. Support Teutons are suppposed to make at least Infantry in each of their Locatioins, so can and should produce army in each village, and should be able to produce Catapults or Rams in each of their Villages if possible, always focusing on their Capital armies which might as well have Rams too. 

If the situation after the Rush looks like you might need it, transform at least Half of the Support Teutons to produce Spearmen + Paladin instead. Still, this rush is based on having Clubmen Catapult armies as fast as possible and only then deciding what to do. It is to maximise the amount of Attacking Armies in certain point at start of the server in either first week or at start of the second week of the Start Server. All of these armies should at least have accomplished the 1000 Troops Quest. In 3x Servers, you can accomplish this in within 48 Hours of Start and the Attacks could start in second day if necessary. After possible losses to first Robber Hideouts, each player should have at least 1 000 Troops, possibly more. Remember to Mine the Oasis with all members you can and change crop to resources in the beginning on building infrastructure for the Catapult Rush.

It is possible, to make a slower approach and build 250 or so Spearmen in Oasises that can be used to defend Clubmen from counter attacks. But other than that focus on Clubmen. You want to have an Oasis if possible any way, so might as well do Spears on them from every village and leave them there until needed but at the start you have Clubmen, that you only call away sometimes to attack a Robber Hideout with Hero but after the first day, there are plenty of clubmen and might be good to replace Clubmen in Oasis with at least partially from Spearmen and still continue use of the Clubmen army. I might except even as high as 200 Clubmen lost  before the first attack with Catapults. (in which phase you should have at lest 200 Spearmen too) 

This means, that in Defense you have at least 200 x50 Spearmen too. 

Of course you can do this with having other Tribes, especially Romans. For example some of the Support Teutons can be Support Romans, and produce Legionaire armies instead. This would open a possibility to specialize on Infantry Defense later on to support Spearmen in defense if needed, already having at least two (City + Capital) attacking Legionaire + Cavalry + Catapult based armies that attack together with Ram Hammers. Other than that, they might be able to produce the Infantry Defensive type Infantry unit in each of their Support Villages.

Defensive Strategies

Why would i give them to You ?

Especially if you do not ask for them.

Use of Menhir

This article is about how many people a Kingom should Menhir at the start.

My opinion is: As many as there are places left in the first 3 Treasuries that are made as Cities. Given, that there are people available to be Menhired.

This relates to contradicting opinions, where many people see others spots than 4446 locations unavailable to use on Menhir. But how i see things, it is always adviceable to Menhir as many people as possible, even t would mean no Robber Camps at all in the first 1 to 3 waves. New members generate a lot of Treasury to the King and Dukes with Robber Hideouts alone. At start, i would even say the amount that is gained from Robber Hideouts easily tops the amount that is gained from Robber Camps.

What this basically means, you will start to play with 10+ more Governors than the opponent who restricts the amount of people they can Menhir. I do value 10+ Governors way more than first few waves of Robber Camps. Only later on, they become more important but then you have opened new Treasuries that enables plenty of them to spawn.

This is a sensitive topic for people, and the public opinion defends heavily on not Menhir on anything else than 4446. My opinion as usually, differs from them. So what i say, is that there is no need to restrict the Menhir until you have more Treasuries later on.

The only qualities i see why early Menhir should be restricted because of the Robber Camps is selfishness and individual greed (to gain more Stolen Goods as a Governor). I am certain, that playing with less Governors to gain more Robber Camps in the early game does not hold any benefit for the Team. 

The arguments that was used to defend only Menhiring on 4446 was that more Robber Camps early on results as more heavy hitters later on. I see this as redundant when you compare it to around 10 new Governors. (which can grow to become these so called Heavy Hitters too).

If they argument, that you can Menhir them after you open the fourth Treasury, i think it is too late then and the time to Menhir Governors is as fast as possible for them to start developing their Governace from the start.

So, Menhiring more people in first few days, will surely result as a stronger Kingdom. Given, if those people that you Menhir are active and know what they are doing. As in, amount to anything.

If we would calculate how much those first waves of Robber Camps would actually affect the growth of the Governors, i would think there are lots other factors that can affect it more. So the effect itself at this point, should be a minor one and when this is calculated, the loss of Troops when attacking them should be taken into account too (and the Hero Damage and Exp that is not gained).

Describing Troops

The Troops do not need much explaining, but i will still do it for fun.

Legionaries: This is the mainstay unit for Romans and in my opinion, one of the best units in the game. For sure, it is the most versatile. There are many players who produce them first, but then change to either Imperans or Pretorians. I would advice to keep making them. They are fantastic, as they alone give you the position to truly play Support / Hybrid. Letting you both, Attack and Defense when neccessary. Their combined statistics are also very high for what they are, a cheap unit that you can produce without researching anything.

Pretorians: These are good in theory, but i speak against them. As i suggest to make Defensive players Gauls to use Phalanx + Druider, the Team should already have solid Infantry Defense, and without massed Legionaires, you cannot really play the Hybrid position that is needed. I would still say, that if you really need to go with these, maybe one Roman for both Dukes and King (meaning 3) could switch for full Defense instead of playing Support and specialize solely on these. But id rather have that one extra Attacker at my disposal when needed. At most, i can see why to do this if there are lots of Teutons on some possibly aggressive and dangerous Kingdom that spawns near.

Imperians: These suffer from the same problem than Pretorians. Making them means you are not making Legionaires and in my opinion if you want to play full Offense, go Teutons instead. Still, being able to produce Pretorians and Imperians when neccessary enables the versatility that makes the Romans, letting you easily to switch to full Defense or full Offense when the need for more of either arises. (For example, because of the varieties on where your Kingdom spawns: The neighboring Kingdoms, availability of Crop and so on)

Equites Legati: Wont say Scouts are great in my play style, but if i would make some i would first focus on Teuton Scouts and then Roman. Not a fan though. You need some, especally in the early and mid, but not a fan of massing them. I would rather let others do that, and work my way around it.

Equites Imperatoris: These can be solid if you sruggle for Iron as a Resource. They have also higher Infantry Defene than Csari (40 for Crop) which is acually decent as if you chooe to do Legionaires, they are lacking in this aspect. On top of that, they take less Irono as a Resource and do not require that much Infrastructure. So as Equites Cesari might be idea for Capitols, Equites Imperatoris migh be ideal for City. For villages, i would most likely to stick with producing only Infantry and a small number of unupgraded (more or less) Catapults.

Equites Cesaris: These are the way to go, especially if you go Hybrid, as they can defend to some extend too. Legionaires + Equites Cesaris are solid together. Especially behind the wall or attacking weaker defended targets.

Ram / Catapult: Not much to say, with Romans people tend to favor Catapults. Still, your main army might as well have few Rams too. As a Support player, you will most likely be attacking Support Villages or at most, a City, so wont really need that much of either. In this playstyle, these are seen as a Supporting unit that are meant mainly on knocking at Support Villages Wall and / or to detstroy level 10, or at most level 12 Resource Fields.

Clubmen: These are superb units and everyone knows what they are for. They are mass produced and expendable. The best attack unit in the game. And the way Kingdoms is built (use of Menhir), especially in Night Truce (cannot attack villages at Night) makes them even stronger.

Axemen: These are solid, but only lose because there are Clubmen available. The only use i see for them is if the Capital that produces them is far away and you fear for Cavalry Snipes. Or, if you struggle to use all your Iron.

Spearmen: This is a fantastic unit, but it fails to deliver as in my opinion, Teutons are meant to be played Offensively, and Paladins suck as their counter part (in my opinion). Gauls deliver more solid defensive approach, so should stick to them in that regard and you have two solid anti cavalry units for Defensive Purposes already (Phalanx + Legionaires), so there is no real need. At most, you could make them to mine Oasises, or use one of your Villages to specialze on Spears in case you need to protect your Clubmen against enemy Cavalry Snipes.

Paladin: I do not like this unit. It only produces 50 defense for a crop, is expensive and have little utility for me. Yes, it is faster on raids than Clubmen. But you arent really in a hurry as Gauls can produce Theutates Thunder if necessary. In my opinion, Clubmen will raid just fine.

Teutonic Knight: You produce this because its the counterpart for Clubmen. After you have the Brewery, it begins to be really good for its price. On top of that, it is very easy and cheap to Research for a high end unit. I like them.

Rams: The legendary Teutonic Rams. Use them. These are basically meant for the capitol armies.

Catapults: The cheapest Catapults within any Tribe. These are especially good in the Brute Force approach, where each village produces their own army and then launches them against opposing Support Villages possibly combining them with the Romans. It doesnt really matter if you cannot target with them because of the Breweries, they will still hurt, and you wont need much of them. For main army, go Ram heavy. For secondary armies, go Catapults and Rams. One way to do this, is to make a City (a 7 or even a 9 crop if you may) where you produce Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Rams and specialize on Rams in there, and then go Clubmen + Teutonic Knights + Catapults on four to five Villages. The larger army from the City hits first, and the supporting Villages follow. Later on, make a second city and more support villages. Combined with the Main Army, you have three hit squads that can hurt any minor target and may even be used to threaten less important Capitols but at large, are meant to threaten Cities.

Phalanx: The mainstay unit for Gauls. Absolutely fantastic for what it is. On each Tribe, the best unit is the first to produce.

Swordmen: Little reason to do them. If i need to find a reason, maybe to clear the Robber Hideouts after they have attacked your Phalanxes and Druidriders. Or even before that.

Theutates Thunder: Its good to have one location that produces small number of them, or have one larger Gaul player who specializes one location for Theutates Thunder and relies heavily on Raiding Inactives. The main use i see for them is raiding the more distant locations, giving the team more utility. The seconodary role i would suggest, is to hit Oasises that are farther away. I would not go producing fast hit squads with lots of these. If we can protect our Clubmen from attempts like these, so can the opponents if they know what they are doing. And if they wont, we wont need cheap tricks like this to topple them when necessary.

Druidrider: A solid pair for Phalanx, and a mainstay of any Defensive Gaul. Druidriders are what generates the Anti Infantry force within the approach i am representing here. Massing them at every opportunity is a must in this Strategy. The relatively low Infantry Defense for Legionaires (35) and Phalanxes (40) are the reason why you need the Druidriders (57.5), them being the second strongest in this regard after Pretorians, which you do not want to do because you want to have Legaionaires.

Heduans: Heduans have a specialized role, and are only produced on the Capitol. As mentioned before, they are the ones that can support any Support attacks against the opponent, and can attempt to protect the Clubmen from the Cavalry Snipes. This versatility makes them a good addition for the concept, so you shouldnt go without them. The only ones who dont need them, is the Dukes and the King.

Rams: There is no place for them in this composition.

Catapults: Are only produced as small amounts in the Capitols with Heduans.

Hero Equipment

In here, i will give my thoughts about Hero Equipment. The Equipments are listed according to their relevative usefulness (in my opinion).

Teuton Right Hand: Clubmen. Especially on 3x servers it is probably the best Item in game. 

Roman Right Hand: This depends a lot on what you choose to produce. But i would say Legionaires, or then Imperians or Equites Cesaris are a good choise.

Gaul Right Hand: This is easy, Phalanx. And Heduan as secondary choise.

Map: I really like this one, especially as an offensive player. This is my main go to in the Left Hand items. If enough offensive players have this, you can launch attacks in rapid succession. Combined with good planning, it becomes extremely powerful.

Horn: This is mandatory. Always attempt to get one. You cannot avoid fighting the Robber Hideouts, unless you are a King of course. For most part, the Tier 1 versioin holds great value for its cost and is even approachable for those who do not invest heavily on buying items.

Standard: This is very useful for Defensive Gauls, especially if they aim to protect Crop Capitals farther away with Heduans from Cavalry Snipes. I would advice to always seek this one if you are playing Defensive and your Kingdom have spread wide.

Spy Glass: This is utility. Importance of this scales up if you are a Duke or King, but is always nice to have. The usefulness of this will be reduced in the 3x servers (if it wont scale up to 3x effectivenes).

Shield: This is nice if you find it relatively cheap, or if you have lots of Silver to spend in the beginning. Usefulness of this item will scale down rapidly as the game continues. I see this as a powerful item to have at start, especially if you use the Resource approach, but would seek to replace it quickly with a Horn or a Map.

Pouch: This is something i would only get from discount, and even then am not impressed.

Pennant: I really do not see the use of this. At most in some extreme cases where you have a crop capital far away.

Helmet of Infantry / Cavalry: Usefulness of this scales up from the mid game onwards. But at early game, Helmet of Culture or Health are the way to go. I would still say, getting this sooner or later is mandatory, especially if you play offensive and want to gather a large army. Whats best, you can usually get them very cheap in the early to mid game and if you do, you should probably get it as a backup. I have found these with as cheap as 500 Silver or so. For that price, even the lower quality versions are a bargain.

Helmet of Culture: This is the one you want at the beginning, and its usefullness scales down later. If you have the Silver, always aim to get one as fast as possible and then change it to Helmet of Infantry or Cavalry.

Helmet of Health: This is solid, and good throughout the game. I would always get one if i find it with a reasonable price but you usually do not. For this reason, i would avoid and stick with Helmet of Infantry or Cavalry which are usually sold at much cheaper price. Stll, Helmet of Health can be a good alternative for Support and Defensive players who specialize on producing Troops in each Village, but not for Attack players who want to build a larger Army on their Capitol and need that time reduction.

Armor of Health: Basically a stronger version of Helmet of Health. This is always good, and its usefulness will scale up later on, when the damage reduction and attack power benefits that you get from other piece of Armor are not that important anymore. I would say that overall, this is the best option. 

Scale Armor: This is good early on when you do lots of Adventures. If you like to use your Levels for Attack Power, this might be the best choise in the beginning. As the game progresses, in my opinion Scale loses to Armor of Health with small margin. If you find it early or mid game, go for it but with Tier 3, i would suggest to look for Armor of Health.

Chainmail Armor: This is the go to, if you go for the Resource Route in the early game. It gives you Damage Reduction and Attack Power both, which you desperately need. Later on, it is best to be replaced with either Scale Armor or Armor of Health. The best part is, that you will find these relatively cheap as the Resource Route is not popular, meaning everyone wants the Scale Armor or Armor of Health for their Health Gain benefits.

Breast-Plate Armor: This is only viable in the early game, and even then only if you get it cheap. It is only useful if you go for the Resource Route, and even then there is a better alternative (Chainmail Armor). If by some miracle you wont find yourself a Weapon and wont have a Shield, this is a solid option on Tier 1 when going Resources.

Shoes of Awareness: Needles to say, always get this if you can. And as fast as you can. But if you only plan to use the Silver from the Starting Package, you most certainly can not afford this. This is the item most sought after for many, and in 1x i would argue it is the best item you can have as it affects directly on the amount of Experience you gain.

Shoes of Endurance: This is solid, especially if your Kingdom is positioned far away from others, you are a Main Attacker and combine it with a Map. For a Main Attacker, Shoes of Endurance + Map is almost a must. I suppose the reason why you find this cheap, is because everyone favors the Shoes of Awareness which of course are better, if not for the Team Strategies in mid to late game you need this with. And of course, the players who can afford the Shoes of Awareness, can usually afford these both. You might also think, that why use them as they give away what attack is real or fake. Or do they o.O ?

Spurs: This is something you only buy in the beginning because it is cheap and you cannot afford anything else.

Boots of the Chicken: You get this free, and you can basically acquire it free, so everyone has one.

Bucket: This is excellent. Similar to Ointment, but way better and you can never have too many of them. Between the Scrolls and a Bucket, always go for the Bucket. From all of the Consumables, you want the Artwork and the Bucket the most.

Artwork: This is really good, and again an item that you cannot have too many. If you have the Silver, always get them but if you dont, you are probably better of with saving to the likes of Scale Armor, Armor of Health, Helmet or Weapon.

Book of Wisdom: A very solid item. Always get it if you can find it cheap, but i do not think it is worth the price it might go for after the early game. I have seen these go routinely for 1k or 1.5k Silver. I usually get mine around 150 or so in the early game and store them for later use. Getting them cheap fast is usually one of my early priorities. (To get all of the equipment slots filled, and then few books).

Scrolls: Needless to say they are fantastic. Its basically free exp for your Hero, so always get them if you can afford it, but i would still value them way less than Armor of Health, Bucket, Artwork and so.

Ointment: This is valuable, and always useful. Alwys get them if you can get them relatively cheap, you cannot have enough of them. They are usually cheap in the early game, but become very expensive fast in which case, they are hardly worth the price any more.

Tablet (or the one that gives loyalty): Not a fan, but i guess its nice to have as a backup, so might as well get some if you can afford it. But again, i would prioritize other items that are generally more useful.

Bandages: This is only viable in 1x server, and even then it scales down when the game goes on. Probably not worth of spendinig Silver on, especially if you are on a Budget and seem to get enough of them from Adventures already. But still, if you find a cheap deal in the early game, that is when they are actually worth it.

Cages: The same goes with Cages than with Bandages. It is good in the early game, and its usefulness will highly scale down as the game continues. In 1x Servers, it is nice to have some Crocodiles in the early game. In 3x servers, this becomes no more than a Gimmick, and is never worth the price as the number of Troops start to build up fast. Nevertheless, you will always see someone that is interested on these or the Bandages in both kind of Servers.

I would rank the items to top 5 as follows:

1. Shoes of Awareness: The utility this item gives is unmatched.

2. Club of Clubmen: This is by far the best weapon, as Clubmen are the unit with the lowest Build Time. On 3x Servers, this is easily the most valuable item you can have. If you play Offensive and are Teuton, you NEED to have this.

3. Armor of Health: This is the armor that is best overall. Good in the early game and only gets better at time.

4. Helmet of Infantry: At the early game, the MVP is the Culture, but if we look at the big picture, i value faster Troop Production way more, and like the Infantry version more than Cavalry.

5. Bucket/Artwork: Both of these are fantastic one time boosts. Well deserved to be in the Top 5.

Ideal Equipment: (in my opinion)

Main Attack Teuton: Club of Clubmen, Map (and Natar + Spy Glass), Armor (Health), Helmet of Infantry, Shoes of Endurance

Support Attack Teuton: Club of Clubmen, Map (and Natar + Spy Glass), Armor (Health), Helmet of Infantry, Shoes of Endurance

Support Roman: Sword of the Legionaire, Map (and Natar + Spy Glass), Armor (Health), Helmet of Infantry or Cavalry, Shoes of Endurance

Defensive Gaul: Spear of Phalanx/Druidrider, Standard (and Natar + Spy Glass), Armor (Health), Helmet of Cavalry or Infantry

Gaul as Duke/King: Spear of Phalanx/Druidrider, Spy Glass (and Natar if Duke), Armor (Health), Helmet of Cavalry or Infantry

These are the items you should aim at the minimum. The Armor of Health is not a priority, its more important to just have an Armor than dumping large sums of Silver for Armor of Health. Weapon of Choise, Helmet of Infantry, Map and Shoes of Endurance: These are the items to prioritize instead.

As a team, you should make a coordinated effort to get these items and for example, attempt to acquire the lower class items early on for some, and later for the rest of them. Dont outbid your own Team and dont acquire two of the same item for one player, even it would mean a better version. It is more crucial that each can acquire these. After all of your members have one, only then begin to upgrade the ones that need it the most.

Those players who use lots of Silver, they of course will acquire Artwork, Buckets, Shoes of Awareness, Helmet of Culture, Horn of Natar and so on. But those that wont, should aim for the basic set and only go with such as Horn of Natar, if they happen to find it cheap and even then, never outbid a Team mate who wont have one already.

As for player specialization. It is better for some of the Defensive Gauls to specialize on Helmet of Cavalry than Infantry, as many in your team want that already even they would go for the Spear of Phalanx instead of the Heduan. This can also be changed later on, first going with Helmet of Cavalry and then switching to Infantry if it becomes more widely available. For a Defensive Gaul, it would be reasonable to go for Helmet of Culture Tier 1, Helmet of Cavalry tier 2 and then possibly seek for Helmet tier 3 if any. It might also be better for acquiring the necessary items, that some Romans go for Lance of Cearis + Helmet of Cavalry (or Imperian + Infantry) too, taking a more offensive role, especially if paired with Imperians. This way, these players will find their items more easily, but this again, is not a priority you should break the Coherency of your Team for.

So to organize this, the King should make a list, and each player should report after acquiring an item to keep track, who needs what for their full set and the players should be encouraged to acquire the items they need. The ones who need the Map and Shoes of Endurance last, are the ones who need the stronger versions: The ones that find their Crop Capitol far away in the Outskirts. These players should only start to seek one after tier 2 items are released, and are in no big hurry for the Club of Clubmen either and again, some of them may even decide to go for Axemen instead which are then somewhat preserved for the late game if possible.

In my experience, many of the players prioritize different items such as Ointment, Buckets and Artwork making items like Helmet of Infantry and Shoes of Endurance widely available. They are also very cheap early on, so it should be relatively easy to grab one. The Club of Clubmen however, is an entire different story. You can only hope there are not much Teutons on the server so it might be unlikely that all your Teutons are ever going to have one. Luckily, almost all others of the mentioned items are not seen as the top ones, so the competition should not be that harsh, enabling you to possibly dominate the market on them and then acquiring the necessary and most useful items for your Composition. The hardest bargain should be the Club, and then i would say the Map.

And again, always have some lookout for the Night Auction. This is when you can usually find them cheap. Especially on the Night Truce, which in my opinion is the only reasonable way to play this game.

Ideal Setup for those with Low on Silver:

Right Hand: Any Weapon (not necessarily of own Tribe). Preferably the Weapon of Choise

Left Hand: Spy Glass, or any other cheap one. Preferably Horn of the Natars and later a Map or Standard

Helmet: Any Helmet that you get cheap. Most likely Helmet of Infantry or Cavalry in Tier 1

Armor: Any armor you happen to get cheap

Shoes: Spurs at Tier 1, Possibly try to find Shoes of Endurance cheap

Consumables: Book of Wisdom and possibly cheap Ointment at start

Ideal Setup for those with enough Silver:

Right Hand: Weapon of Choise

Left Hand: Horn of Natars Tier 1, Map / Standard Tier 2 or 3 (and a Spy Glass to spare)

Helmet: Helmet of Culture Tier 1, Helmet of Infantry or Cavalry from Tier 2 or 3

Armor: Either Scale Armor of Armor of Health

Shoes: Shoes of Awareness Tier 1 and possibly Shoes of Endurance from Tier 2 or 3

Consumables: Boook of Wisdom and Ointment at start. Artwork and Bucket. If Duke or King maybe a few set of Cages at start

Thoughts about Attack Patterns

In this section, i will give some thoughts on different Attack Patterns.

On Support Attacks (using other than capital armies), it is sometimes good to send fakes also against a single City, instead of targeting only support villages. This will draw attention towards the City, and is hard to ignore. Why a single City and not many of them ? Because if you fake many of them you should fake them all and attack many of them.

On Main Attacks (using capital armies), it is adviceable to always fake Treasuries, and more often than not, not hit them. (But hit the Governors Capitals instead, as each Governor Capital you destroy is one less Hammer that is being used against you.)

On mixing Support and Main Attacks. The patterns of course, are usually good to be mixed, but sometimes it is better to just hit with the exact same patter they were hit before. This is usually the one they except the least.

When conducting Fakes, sometimes mix in some Fakes that have less Troops than others, which might possibly be seen by the opponent who recieves those attacks. This confuses them as it differs from what they are used to. You can do this to real attacks too, mixing some Fakes with them which some of them the opponent will see as Fakes. All kind of confusing patterns, that might or might not be a mistake, will affect the process when the opponent plan their Defenses and sometimes even have a long lasting effect that keeps them on their toes, making them second guess about their understanding on what you do.

There are some Psychological Tricks you can use too, like saying to their King/Queen that you are not going after his/her Treasures, then only fake it being true to your word. They rarely believe what you say and even they would not Answer, they will Read it. At best, this is mixed in with some talk about Honor between the Kings. Because they wont have it, they will never suspect you would.

Resource Heavy Starting Guide

This style is a lot better in 3x than in 1x, but it is still viable in 1x also. It is about maxing out your Resource and Troop production in the beginning, and is best achieve with Teuton.

The key is to pump all your Hero Levels to Resources, and then pump the cheapest unit (Clubmen) as fast as you can to gain the Troop Production Quests and put them to mine an Oasis. For Hero, it is crucial to get a Weapon and possibly an Armor or Shield that grants you Attack Power as fast as you can. Do not worry if you do not get your Tribes weapon, any weapon will do as long as it gives you Attack Power. But of course, Club of Clubmen would be preferable. For this, you will most likely need the Starter Pack that costs 60 Gold to buy which i highly recommend to buy every single time.

For Hero, start doing Adventures until you gain the second Adventure Quests, and then stop. Continue putting all of your Levels to Resources. In 3x, you will gain over 4.5k of Resource production in the first day, and in the second day you might be hitting as high as 6k+. This will gain you a tremendous advantage to build infra, especially if you can use an Oasis that gives you two bonuses. In 3x, this means +750 +750 = +1.5k as fast as you hit 250 Clubmen to mine it (and then it is possible to change for Spearmen to fill that 250 in there) and you can except around +1.5k from your Hero too. The good part of Hero Resource Production is also, that you can change it any time and boost the Production of the Resource you currently need.

After you have accumulated enough Adventures and your Hero is at low health, use your Book of Wisdom that was gained from the Starter Pack to change all Levels to Attack Power, attack a Robber Hideout alone, Resurrect your Hero for the First Time (and gain that discounted timer and cost) and then do all those Adventures you have saved. This way, you should only take something like 5 damage on each (especially if you have an armor that reduces the incoming damage). After you have completed all your Adventures and pumped all new Levels to Attack Strength, attack a second Robber Hideout with troops and after clearing it, change all of your Levels back to Resources with the second Book of Wisdom that you gained from an early Adventure. Later on, when your Infrastructure is up and running, use a third Book to change your Levels to something else than Resources (usually Attack Power and / or Offense). If you get enough Books, you can do this again later as i believe you will gain a fixed Bucket in one of your Adventures. If not, then you can even save all of your new Adventures until Tier 2 equipment is available. At this point, you should have switched from Resources to Attack Power and either Offense or Defense already. So the number of Books you need in this setup is usually either 3 or 5, depending do you switch to Attack Power and back to Resource once (First Revive) or twice (with Bucket).

This is a solid way to start, especially on the 3x where the Crop Production is 3x but the Consumption is still 1x, the Oasis Production is 3x and the Hero Resource Production is 3x (But the Attack Power is only something like 1.3x when compared to 1x servers).

This also enables you to utilize addtional tactics, like early Timing Attacks (Fast Catapults for Example), as you tend to build your Infrastructure faster and have more Resources (and Crop). Keep in mind, that it is good to use one or two of the NPC Trades you gain from the Starting Package so that you can change your early Crop to other Resources and thus, never stop developing your Infrasturcture because of lack in Resources.

The fastest Catapult you can achieve with this in 3x, are proably somewhere between Day 2 or 3. If enough players do this at once, you can except a massed Clubmen + Catapult (or Legionaires + Catapult) timing attack within this time frame. On top of having Catapults, these players will possibly have more developed Infrastructure and higher Resorce Production also.

I will recommend this style to all Positions (Support, Defense and Attack), especially on 3x Servers. The amount of Infrastructure and Resource Production you can have at the start is Cumulative to the future, and will add up. Especially when you can change your Hero Level distribution anytime with enough Book of Wisdoms. For this reason, it might be a good idea to buy some in the Auction too, as sometimes they sell at 140 or so Silver from the start, and only later bid for the higher prices.

The drawback in this style is, that you will lose more Clubmen on the Robber Hideouts than the ones thriving on Attack Power. But the bright side is, you also gain more Income, can train more Troops and thus, also gain the Resources from the Troop Production Quests faster. This will most likely result on a larger initial army than the opposing side early on when you are ready to conduct your Timing Attacks.

So needless to say, this build is really powerful and can topple entire Kingdoms right from the start. This also helps you to establish Dominance on your Quarter of the Map early on.

Timing Attacks

 In here i will mention some obvious Timing Attacks:

1. Just after someone hits 200 population, especially if it is an opposing Treasury.

2. Just after completing an amount of Fast Catapults.

3. Just after the opposing Kingdom have started defending their World Wonder, Faking it and attacking other Targets.

4. Or any arbitrary time frame where opponent is seen as building Infrastructure, and you rush for higher amount of Troops.

The Governors that are best used on 1. and 2. are especially the Support Teutons, letting the Main Attack ones to build Infrastructure for later use instead. Especially 2. can be Devastating if all of them follow a Build Order to gain Catapults before the opponent. More so, if conducted together with Support Romans (12 + 12 = 24 armies with Catapults that will be ready to attack very soon after the server starts). 2. is also good when used to Subjugate nearby Kingdoms by either Threatening them or Attacking them with massed early Catapults.

Again, there is little need for Scouts in these Timing Attacks. Just Overpower them with superior number of upgraded Troops within a Knowledge of how to use them efficiently. Also, if the opponent sees your first Catapults that you build on Timing Attack number 2, it is already too late for them and might even turn on your favor on resulting in a Peaceful Unification (TM) with your neighbor.