Editing The Complete Newbie Guide

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.  

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.  

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.  

    * '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).  

    * '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).  

    * A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).  

    * An army.  

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.  

See [[Attack Guide]]

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.