Castle

Castle Improvements are a vital part of any efficient strategy.

File:Castle.png

A castle with Masonries.

They are not as important (if used at all) when playing a speed-dependent strategy. They are used extensively by explorers and converters, while attackers use them to a lesser degree.

Investment

You invest resources in your castle. Each resource type is worth a different amount of points:

• 1 Gem = 12 points (this is the only usage for gems)
• 1 Lumber/Ore = 2 points
• 1 Platinum = 1 point

As per the formulas, it takes exponentially more points to reach a higher bonus. Therefore, it is wise to build as many Diamond Mines as possible early on. Most players stop building Diamond Mines by day 25 of the round. Depending on your speed, strategy, and play style, players often have between 300 and 800 Diamond Mines.

However, Diamond Mines are not always the best building choice. See racial differences.

Racial Differences

The general approach is that races without units whose OP or DP is dependent on a certain land type should use exclusively DMs for investing in castle.

For all races except Sylvan and Icekin, Diamond Mines are the most efficient way to invest in your castle.

Despite having a unit that depends on a building, Dark Elves are often seen with DMs.

Sylvan players usually use lumber from lumberyards and Icekin players use ore from ore mines.

Goblins have a +20% bonus to improvements, meaning every 1 point invested counts as 1.2 points for Goblins.

There is debate as to whether Gnome are better off with Diamond Mines or more Ore Mines. Since Rockapults reach maximum DP at only 40% mountains (compared to 60% mountains for Icekin's FrostMages) and those 40% are easily designated for ore mines and homes, many players find room for DMs.

Castle Parts

There are six parts of the castle into which the player can invest resources.

Part	Bonus	Max	Comments
Science	Platinum Production	20%	Useful if you have a good population. Otherwise, resources are better spent on Keep.
Keep	Maximum Population	30%	Always invest in Keep. It is the most beneficial improvement in nearly all cases. See Population.
Spires	Wizard Strength Magic Damage Reduction Mana Production	60%	Makes your wizards (and Arch Mages) stronger and reduces damage taken by black-ops. Boosts mana production. Not commonly used other than dominions which specialize in magic and black-ops.
Forges	Offensive Power	30%	Often used, especially by races with inefficient or costly offensive units.
Walls	Defensive Power	30%	Practically always used, especially by races with inefficient or costly defensive units.
Harbor	Food Production Boat Production Boat Protection	60%	Often underrated improvement. By increasing food production, you need fewer Farms which saves land for other buildings.

Formulas

The formula is different for Science and Keep, Forges and Walls, and Towers and Harbor.

• MAX: replaced by the maximum for the improvement (see above).
• POINTS: the amount of points you have invested in this part of your castle.
• LAND: your land size.

The formula for Science and Keep is:

MAX*(1-e^(-1*POINTS/(4000*LAND+15000)))

The formula for Forges and Walls is:

MAX*(1-e^(-1*POINTS/(7500*LAND+15000)))

The formula for Towers and Harbor is:

MAX*(1-e^(-1*POINTS/(5000*LAND+15000)))

See Also

• Masonry

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References

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