The Game Interface

The map is the main screen through which Grepolis is played. A player has an isometric view of their island and the local area. The player can scroll the map to look around, or use the (X,Y) coordinate system to move to a distant part of the map. The map is also the main way to keep your ever-growing empire working.

The 2.0 Map Interface

As you can see from the image above, most of the screen is given to the map view. Through the sidebars and tool bar at the top of the screen, a player can access all of the information that is needed for them to play the game.

On the left sidebar, a player will see the mini-map, which advisors are active, the main links for various tasks, and the game clock. The right sidebar contains the god which is being worshipped in that city, and the units which are currently in that city (including support troops). Finally, the top toolbar shows the city name, attack notifications, buttons to switch between cities, movement indicators and also resources in the city.

Left Sidebar

The left sidebar contains the mini-map, shows you which advisors are currently active, and also provides links to a number of game settings.

The Mini-Map

The mini-map show's a smaller version of your local area in the ocean. Cities appear as colored dots and reflect the state of affairs between your cities and other cities. The ocean number appears in the upper left corner of the mini-map and if you hover the mouse over the mini-map, in the lower left corner a magnifying glass will appear. If clicked, this will replace the main map with an expanded version of the mini-map.

Beneath the mini-map you will find the (X,Y) coordinate system, and 4 buttons. By entering values between 000-999 in either the X or the Y boxes, you can view any place in the world. There are 4 buttons next to the map coordinates. The table below explains their functions.

Button	Name	Description
	Jump to These Coordinates	Takes the map to the coordinates entered in the (X,Y) boxes.
	Save This Location	Saves the current (X,Y) coordinates.
	Color Assignments	Provides a legend detailing which colors are assigned and for what purpose.
	Jump to Current City	Takes the map back to the currently selected city.

Advisors

Just below the mini-map is a place which lets a player know which advisors are currently active. If the portrait is greyed out, then the advisor is not active. Clicking on any of the images will bring up the premium window. This will allow a player to choose which advisors to activate, or whether to extend their use beyond the regular 14 days.

Scroll Links

These two images provide an idea of what the scroll will look like. The image on the left is what will appear when a player is not in an alliance. The image on the right is what players in an alliance will see. From this scroll a player can quickly access the City Overview, messages and reports, alliance forums, the rankings list, the game settings, player profile, and the external game forums. For many players this is the heart of the Grepolis interface.

Game Clock

The game clock will automatically be set to GMT+1 (UTC+1) which is the timezone in which the servers are located. This setting can be changed under Settings, however, many players prefer to keep the clock on the default timezone.

Top Toolbar

The top toolbar gives a player various information through the use of icons. A player will see the name of the city currently selected, any incoming attacks, how many trades are taking place, and what resources are held in the warehouse for that city.

City Name Scroll

This scroll is located just above the mini-map and the left sidebar. Many players tend to pick a theme to use when naming their cities, and others prefer to use a system which allows them to know which cities are in which oceans. By double-clicking on this scroll, a player can rename the current city. A single click will open up the City List and allow you to quickly select a different city without scrolling through all of them.

Attack Notice

Image	Description
	This is the default state of the attack icon.
	When you have an incoming attack on any of your cities, the icon will appear like this and flash with the orange light behind it. It will also tell you how many attacks are coming.
	When you are being attacked, not only will the notice light up, but this icon will appear in the lower right of the screen to let you know that there is an attack coming.

City Scrolling

This set of icons allows you to move through your cities and oversee your cities. It's a simple scrolling method which is used and it goes through the cities in alphabetical order. The first icon allows a player to open up the city overview, the same as the link on the left sidebar. The tablet opens up your notepad, and the all-seeing eye pyramid gives access to the various advisor overviews.

Movements and Orders

This set of icons contains information about all troop movements, recruitments, and trades. By hovering the mouse over each icon, a player can see a drop-down list of the times left for recruiting orders, attack count-downs, and remaining time before trades are completed.

Resources and Population

This shows how much of each resource are currently stored in the warehouse. You are also shown how much free population you have left.

Right Sidebar

The right sidebar provides information about the god currently being worshipped in the city and also a count of the total troops in the city.

Olympian and Favor

The upper right corner of the sidebar gives a portrait of the god being worshipped in the selected city. Around the portrait is the favor meter. The higher the favor, the more the blue line will wrap around the portrait. The amount of favor a player has will be given to the right of the portrait.

By clicking on the image of the lightening bolt, you will be shown a list of the spells that can be cast on that city. All spells for all gods being worshipped will be available. You will only be able to cast spells if you have enough favor.

Land Troops

Underneath the portrait of the worshipped god, is displayed the troop indicator. This panel can be expanded to show all available troop types in the city as shown by clicking on the arrow under the bottom row. Troops shown here are also inclusive of support troops currently stationed in the city.

Naval Troops

Just like the land troops, this section shows all of the current naval units within the city. The panel can also be expanded to show the available types which can be made within the city. Support troops are also included in the numbers.

Map Details

There are a number of details which appear on the map, most of which are specific to the island on which your city is located.

Island Details

In the center of each island, there is an icon which describes the fertility of the island's resources. There will be one resource which is more abundant than the others, and one resource which is more scarce than the others. Adapting your build strategy to these changes in resources will help to improve your ability to get your city up to speed quickly.

• For instance, if you have a +silver and -wood island, having Poseidon as your worshipped god and taking over the villages which trade for wood will be helpful in the early stages of the game.

Icon	More	Less
	Wood	Stone
	Wood	Silver
	Stone	Wood
	Stone	Silver
	Silver	Wood
	Silver	Stone

City Details

Image	Description
	This is one of your cities.
	This city belongs to a member of your alliance.
	This city belongs to a member of an alliance which has a pact with your alliance.
	This city is owned by a member of an enemy alliance.
	The owner of this city is not part of any alliance.
	This is an abandoned city and belongs to no one. It will shrink daily until it disappears completely.

• It is also possible to assign colors to players and/or alliances so that only you see them in this new color. You can do this by clicking on a city, select Info and next to the player's name/alliance there is a little colored box. It is there that you can select a new color for them.

City Options

When you click on a city controlled by another player, you will be given 7 options to chose from. These options include peaceful actions, and hostile actions.

• Note: Abandoned cities will only allow you 5 of these options.

Option	Description
	Provides information about the current owner and alliance of the city.
	Opens the City Overview of the city. This replaces the Info Button if you control the city.
	This allows you send troops and/or ships to help another player defend their city.
	This will open up the attack window and allow you to determin what troops to send when attacking the city.
	When you have a market built you will be able to trade with other cities. Not available for Ghosts.
	Once you have a temple built you can enact spells provided you have enough favor. Not available for Ghosts.
	After you have built a cave you can use this to send spies provided you have enough silver.
	This will center the map over the city you are looking at.

The island view is easily moved and you can drag and drop it to get a better view. It allows you to move your map around to see neighbouring islands. It is quite easy to use as long as the distances are not too great.

World Map

"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero

Wish to see

World Map

in a wider view? Clicking on the small compass changes the main view to that of the world map. From here you can see who is on neighbouring islands and plan your world domination. You can move around the map by dragging and dropping the picture.

If you wish to get a closer view of any island that interests you or to see a city better just double click and it will alter the picture to a close up view. Here you can call up the context menu for each city just as on your own island.

When you are in the 'World Map' view, cities are displayed only as coloured dots.

The world is divided into 100 oceans, the world is essentially a big grid, here is how the oceans are arranged:

Right at the start of the game you are given a choice as to which direction you start in, these are:

-NW (Yellow on the map above)

-SW (Green on the map above)

-NE (Red on the map above)

- SE (Purple on the map above)

Which direction you choose to start in has no effect on you game play, however if you are joining late in a world then you may select a direction where lots of people have chosen and so will find it very hard to grow, if this happens i would recommend 'Restarting'; you can do this in your 'Settings' menu.