Section One: Grepolis Basics

Please Note This is a guide written by figtree2 for the International, United States, and Beta servers. Copying, reproducing, and/or publishing any information from this guide without the consent of the owner is strictly prohibited. Introduction from the Author: Hello everyone, I have decided to create this guide for you after seeing how many guides are now becoming outdated with the passing of time. It disappoints me that nobody has produced and published new guides in such a long time. I decided to take the torch and carry on the legacy of the guide craftsmen. This first section of my guide is about the basics of Grepolis. This will hopefully be one of many guides to come. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me on any one of the forums for the three servers listed above. I hope you find all the information in this article useful. Sincerely, Figtree2

Section One: Grepolis Basics

This section is about the basics of Grepolis. In this guide, you will find information that is crucial to your success. If you are a new player, please read through and refer to this guide as a tool to help you succeed. I wish you the best of luck on the battlefield.

Introduction to Grepolis

Grepolis is a war game set in Ancient Greece where you battle other players and build up your empire. The main concepts of Grepolis are wisdom and strength. A person with both wisdom and strength will succeed and prosper. Every decision in the game is important. Multiple mistakes could cause you to lose your city. This guide is designed to help you grow and prosper in Grepolis. Let’s start with the most important things in the game… Resources and troops. Without one, your empire will easily fall to an invading force.

Resources can be gained by several methods. The primary and most important way is through your resource production buildings. The Timber Camp will supply your polis with wood, the Quarry with stone, the Silver Mine with silver coins, and the Temple with favor. Secondary methods include attacking (looting resources/favor from another player), demanding resources from battle point villages, trading through the Marketplace, and casting spells on your city. Without resources, you can’t build troops to protect your city from attackers.

Troops are very important in Grepolis. Troops allow you to defend your city and your precious building materials. They also allow you to conquer your enemies. Troops can be trained in both the Barracks and the Harbor. Land troops are trained in the barracks, naval troops in the harbor, and mythical units in the barracks with the exception of the Hydra. We will go over how to use each regular unit and each mythical unit later on.

World Settings

The world settings are very important factors in gameplay. They determine resource production, training times, travel times, and the time required to conquer a city.

World Speed
World Speed is the single most important setting in the world. World speed will affect resource/favor production, troop training times, building/research times, and the time required to conquer a city. The formulas to find the values for each of these may be found below.

• Resources/Favor = Base*World Speed
• Troop Training Times = Base/World Speed
• Building/Research Times = Base/World Speed
• Conquest = 24 hours/World Speed
• Revolt = 12 hours standard; 8 hours on rare occasions

Unit Speed
Unit Speed affects travel times. The travel time decreases as the unit speed increases.

Trade Speed
Trade Speed affects how fast merchants travel to other cities. Higher trading speeds results in faster trading times.

Night Bonus
The Night Bonus is setting that doubles defensive values during certain hours. This setting may be either enabled or disabled on worlds.

Beginners Protection
Beginners Protection is a setting that allows players to build and train troops without the risk of being harmed. This generally lasts for 2-7 days.

Battle System
Grepolis has two very different systems for conquering cities. Some worlds may have revolt enabled while others use conquest. These systems will be explained in detail later in the section.

Morale
Morale weakens an attacking player's strength by a certain percentage if he/she is much stronger than another player.

Alliance Cap
The Alliance Cap determines how many people may be in an alliance.

Revolt Vs Conquest

In Grepolis, the two forms used to conquer cities are revolt and conquest. One is very different from the other. Below is an explanation of how each system works.

Revolt

The revolt system is purely about using your offense. You will not have to hold any cities in order to take them.

How Revolt Works
1. Select Revolt attack and send your attack (land units).
2. If you win the attack, a 12 hour timer will start in which you must wait (blue revolt period). During this time period, you should be clearing the city of any defense that lands.
3. Once that timer has expired, another 12 hour timer will begin (red revolt period) in which you may land your Colony Ship.
4. Keep continually clearing the city of defense. Launch the Colony Ship as an attack. If the attack containing the Colony Ship is successful (must have at least 1 fighting naval vessel and 1 land troop survive), city ownership will be automatically transferred to you. Note that the Colony Ship must land before this timer expires.

Conquest

The conquest system involves attacking a city with a Colony Ship and holding it for a certain amount of time. Both offense and defense are involved.

How Conquest Works
1. Clear the target city of all defense.
2. Send a Colony Ship as an attack. You should have attacks landing before the Colony Ship arrives and supports landing directly after.
3. Defend the city from attacks for a specified amount of time (displayed in the countdown timer). If your Colony Ship is alive once the timer expires, city ownership will be transferred to you. Note you must have at least 1 fighting naval vessel and 1 land troop at all times.

Note: The time to complete a conquest is 24 hours divided by world speed.

BB Codes

BB Coding is the language that Grepolis uses to display items such as reports and awards. You will see the below menu in-game. Each option will have its code listed below and a description if necessary (left to right).

Bold
[b]Text[/b]

Italics
[i]Text[/i]

Underline
[u]Text[/u]

Strikethrough
[s]Text[/s]

Center
[center]Text[/center]

Quote
[quote=Author]Text[/quote]
Author is the player you are quoting. Change that to the name of whomever you want to quote and then enter their statement where text is written.

URL
[url]Insert Link Here[/url]

Player Name
[player]Insert name here[/player]

Player Name
[player]Insert name here[/player]

Alliance Name
[ally]Insert name here[/ally]

Town Name
[town]Insert town ID number here[/town] or [town]Insert town name here[/town]

• The first method is the safer route as only a limited number of names can be listed due to multiple players using the same town name.

Size
[size=1]Text[/size]
You may adjust the number after size= to be as large as needed.

Image
[img]Image URL here[/img]

Color
[color=#FF0000]Text[/color]
You may change the value after color= to any color you desire.

Reports
[report]Report ID here[/report]
The report ID value is unique for each report created. This is used to display reports in private messages and on your alliance's forum.

Awards
[award]Award ID[/award]
Use the selection tool to select which awards you want to display and then copy and paste the code for usage.

Islands
[island]Island ID Number[/island]

Table
Use the tool to create a table with the number of columns and rows you need. Then you may fill in the information.

Font
Use the tool to select one of three font choices.

Reservation
[reservation]Reservation ID Number[/reservation]

Spoilers
[spoiler=Spoiler][/spoiler]
'Spoiler' may be changed to whatever you want the visible text to be for your spoiler.

Greposcore
[score]Player Name[/score]

Getting Started

This portion deals with some of the basic aspects of Grepolis that will help you with getting started.

Island Resources

Each island produces certain resources at larger and smaller rates. This influences what you will build for the units (city specializations will be talked about in later lessons).

+Silver, -Wood (Hoplite Nuke)

+Wood, -Silver (Bireme Fleet)

+Stone, -Silver (Slinger Nuke)

+Silver, -Stone (Horsemen Nuke)

+Stone, -Wood (Chariot Nuke)

+Wood, -Stone (Light Ship Nuke)

+Wood, -Silver (Pegasus Fort)

+Silver, -Wood (Cerberus Fort)

+Wood, -Stone (Manticore Fort)

Buildings

Below is a basic overview of each building.

Senate
The Senate is a building used to construct and demolish other buildings (you can demolish the senate). Upgrading the Senate will unlock more buildings as well as decrease the construction time for other buildings.

Agora
The Agora is a special building that can't be upgraded or demolished. You may perform different events to earn culture points in the Agora as well as simulate battles. You can also view the troops defending the city as well as the ones stationed outside, in other cities.

Farm
The Farm is a building that is used to increase the population of your polis. Upgrading this will allow you construct more buildings and more troops. You may also activate the militia in the farm.

Warehouse
The Warehouse is the building that stores your resources. Upgrading this will allow you to store more resources in your city.

Timber Camp
The Timber Camp is the resource building that supplies your polis with wood.

Quarry
The Quarry is the resource building that supplies your polis with stone.

Silver Mine
The Silver Mine is the resource building that supplies your polis with silver.

Barracks
The Barracks is the building in which you may train land units and most mythical units. Increasing its level will unlock new units and decrease their training times.

Academy
The Academy is a building used to complete researches. Increasing its level will unlock more researches and give you more research points.

Marketplace
The Marketplace is the building in which you conduct your trade with others. Increase its level to trade more resources at the same time.

Cave
The Cave is a building in which you store silver to use for hiring spies as well as defense against enemy spies.

Temple
The Temple is the building that produces favor. Increasing its level will give you more favor per hour. Favor production is the square root of all your temple levels for that god.

Wall
The Wall provides defense against enemy invaders, however it can be used against you if you are under conquest. The wall shows an overview of all units you have lost.

Theater
The Theater is a left-tier special building that allows you to perform Theater Plays which takes 5 days to complete and gives a single culture point.

Thermal Baths
The Thermal Baths is a left-tier special building that increases your polis's population by 10%.

Library
The Library is a left-tier special building that gives you 12 additional research points upon its completion.

Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is a left-tier special building that increases the speed of your navy by 15%.

Tower
The Tower is a right-tier special building that increases the defensive strength of your troops by 10%.

Divine Statue
The Divine Statue is a right-tier special building that increases your favor production for that city.

Oracle
The Oracle is a right-tier special building that allows you to uncover who has spied on you and prepare for attacks.

Merchant's Shop
The Merchant's Shop is a right-tier special building that increases the trading capacity of the Marketplace by 50%.

Necessary Buildings

There are several key buildings in Grepolis. The first few are your resource production buildings. The Farm and the Warehouse both do not cost any population to upgrade. The cave storage goes from 9000 to unlimited when upgraded from level 9 to 10.

• Timber Camp

• Quarry

• Silver Mine

• Warehouse

• Farm

• Cave

• Wall

Build wall on Revolt worlds only.

Researches

Below is an overview of all researches.

Levels 1-3

The following technologies are unlocked for research upon the construction of the academy.

Slinger

The technology 'Slinger' allows for Slingers to be trained in the barracks

Archer

The technology 'Archer' allows for Archers to be trained in the barracks

City Guard

The technology 'City Guard' provides your city with five more militia per farm level (up to the cap).

Levels 4-6

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 4.

Hoplite

The technology 'Hoplite' allows for Hoplites to be trained in the barracks

Meteorology

The technology 'Meteorology' makes all troops recruited in the barracks move 10% faster

Levels 7-9

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 7.

Espionage

The technology 'Espionage' gives a 20% bonus to all dispatched spies from that city. The bonus is applied to the amount of silver sent with the spy.

Villagers' Loyalty

The technology 'Villagers' Loyalty' allows you to collect 115% more resources from battle point villages, however this doubles the cooldown times.

Ceramics

The technology 'Ceramics' allows your warehouse to store 2500 more resources.

Levels 10-12

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 10.

Horsemen

The technology 'Horsemen' allows for Horsemen to be trained in the barracks.

Architecture

The technology 'Architecture' reduces the resource costs for new buildings by 15%.

Trainer

The technology 'Trainer' decreases the time it takes to train new troops by 10%.

Levels 13-15

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 13.

Bireme

The technology 'Bireme' allows for Biremes to be built in the harbor.

Crane

The technology 'Crane' reduces the construction time for buildings by 15%.

Shipwright

The technology 'Shipwright' reduces the construction time for new naval units by 10%.

Colony Ship

The technology 'Colony Ships' allows for Colony Ships to be built in the harbor.

Levels 16-18

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 16.

Chariots

The technology 'Chariots' allows for Chariots to be trained in the barracks.

Light Ship

The technology 'Light Ship' allows for Light Ships to be constructed in the harbor.

Conscription

The technology 'Conscription' decreases the resource costs of new land troops by 10%.

Levels 19-21

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 19.

Fire Ship

The technology 'Fire Ship' allows for Fire Ships to be constructed in the harbor.

Catapult

The technology 'Catapult' allows for Catapults to be constructed in the barracks.

Cryptography

The technology 'Cryptography' decreases the amount of silver you lose from enemy spies by 10%.

Democracy

The technology 'Democracy' increases the amount of time it takes to complete a conquest by 10%. This research is NOT on revolt worlds.

Levels 22-24

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 22.

Fast Transport Ships

The technology 'Fast Transport Ships' allows for the construction of Fast Transport Ships in the harbor.

Plow

The technology 'Plow' provides your city with 200 more population.

Bunks

The technology 'Bunks' allows your transport ships to hold 6 additional POPULATION, NOT UNITS. If a unit takes 4 population, it will take up that amount on the transport ship.

Levels 25-27

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 25.

Trireme

The technology 'Trireme' allows for Triremes to be constructed in the harbor.

Phalanx

The technology 'Phalanx' increases your land troops strength by 10%.

Breakthrough

The technology 'Breakthrough' allows you to send a Breakthrough Attack in which more of your transport ships reach the shore, but your navy's fighting power is reduced by 50%.

Mathematics

The technology 'Mathematics' reduces the building costs for new ships by 10%.

Levels 28-30

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 28.

Battering Ram

The technology 'Battering Ram' increases the fighting power of your navy by 10%.

Cartography

The technology 'Cartography' increases the speed of your navy by 10%.

Conquest

The technology 'Conquest' allows you to take over enemy cities by either the Conquest method or the Revolt method depending on the world.

Levels 31-33

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 31.

Stone Hail

The technology 'Stone Hail' allows you to randomly hit a building in the city (excluding the special buildings) and damage it in addition to damaging the walls. The chance of hitting a building is increased by 10% per catapult.

Temple Looting

The technology 'Temple Looting' allows you to loot 5 favor per mythical unit except for Hydras (as they do not loot any resources).

Divine Selection

The technology 'Divine Selection' increases the fighting power of your mythical units by 10%.

Levels 34-36

The following technologies are unlocked for research once the academy reaches level 34.

Battle Experience

The technology 'Battle Experience' gives you battle points worth 10% of the units you lost.

Strong Wine

The technology 'Strong Wine' reduces the duration of Olympic Games and City Festivals by 15%.

Set Sail

The technology 'Set Sail' increases the speed of colony ships by 10%.

Necessary Researches

You should have the following researches in ALL of your cities regardless of the specialization.

• City Guard: +5 militia per farm level

• Ceramics: +2500 Warehouse storage

• Colony Ship: Allows the building of a Colony Ship

• Plow: +200 population

• Conquest: Allows you to conquer enemy cities

• Battle Experience: You get battle points, worth 10% of the units you lost. (You can always use more BP)

19/144 research points are used by these. Colony Ship and Conquest both do not require research points.

Gods & Spells

In Grepolis, there are currently 6 gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Athena, and Artemis. This section will give a basic overview of each god's spells. Each god has 4 spells, a total of 24 spells, in the game.

Zeus

Zeus' spells include: Divine Sign, Lightning Bolt, Favorable Wind, and Zeus' Rage.

Divine Sign
The city you selected will receive a chariot.

Lightning Bolt
Damages a random building in the target city by one level.

Favorable Wind
Your attacking naval troops gain 10% strength.

Zeus' Rage
Destroys 10-30% of the attacking land troops.

Poseidon

Poseidon's spells include: Kingly Gift, Call of the Ocean, Sea Storm, and Earthquake.

Kingly Gift
The city you selected will receive 800 wood.

Call of the Ocean
Ship construction times are accelerated by 100% for 12 hours (divided by world speed).

Sea Storm
10-30% of the attacking ships are destroyed.

Earthquake
Damages the city wall by 1-3 levels.

Hades

Hades' spells include: Plague, Return from the Underworld, Treasures of the Underworld, and Helmet of Invisibility.

Plague
The base resource production is decreased by 50% for 12 hours (divided by world speed).

Return from the Underworld
If you lose land units in an attack, 10% of them will be returned.

Treasures of the Underworld
The selected city will receive 500 silver coins.

Helmet of Invisibility
Your attack will be hidden for 10% of its journey.

Hera

Hera's spells include: Wedding, Happiness, Population Growth, and Desire.

Wedding
The city you selected will receive 200 stone, 200 wood, and 200 silver coins.

Happiness
The base resource production is increased by 50% for 12 hours (divided by world speed).

Population Growth
Land unit recruitments are accelerated by 100% for 12 hours (divided by world speed).

Desire
The attacking land and naval forces fight with 10% less strength.

Athena

Athena's spells include: Patroness, Wisdom, City Protection, and Heroic Power.

Patroness
The city you selected will 5 random land units (swordsmen, archers, hoplites, and/or slingers).

Wisdom
You will receive a spy report on an attack.

City Protection
The selected city will be protected from spells for 12 hours (divided by world speed).

Heroic Power
The attacking land units will receive a 10% strength boost.

Artemis

Artemis' spells include: Nature's Gift, Aim of the Huntress, Illusion, and Purification.

Nature's Gift
The city you selected will receive 650 stone.

Aim of the Huntress
Attacking ranged units will receive a 15% boost in strength.

Illusion
Sends out a fake attack on the selected city.

Purification
Removes all spells and effects (except city protection) from a city or attack.

Expansion

One of the most important aspects in Grepolis is expansion. Expansion allows for you grow and eventually conquer the world. The number of cities you have is dependent on the number of culture levels you have. Cultural levels require an increasing amount of culture points. Firstly, let's start with how to gain culture points.

Culture Points

There are currently 4 methods in Grepolis that are used to gain culture points: City Festivals, Olympic Games, Victory Processions, and Theatre Plays. All of these methods provide 1 culture point and may be found in the agora.

City Festivals
City Festivals involve spending 15000 wood, 18000 stone, and 15000 silver coins. They last for 24 hours (divided by world speed). This is the most commonly used method for culture points that involves spending resources.

Olympic Games
Olympic Games cost 50 gold each. They last for 24 hours (divided by world speed). This is the only method to gain culture points by spending gold.

Victory Processions
One of the most common ways of gaining culture points is by performing Victory Processions. Victory Processions cost 300 battle points and lasts for 8 hours (divided by world speed).

Theatre Plays
Theatre Plays is the least common method for gaining culture points as it takes an excessive amount of time compared to the other methods. Theatre Plays cost 10000 wood, 12000 stone, and 10000 silver coins. It takes 5 days (divided by world speed) to complete a Theatre Play.

Culture Levels

Culture Levels require a certain number of culture points. The required amount increases by 3 with each additional level. The second slot is given for free. The third slot requires 3 culture points, the fourth requires 6, and fifth requires 9, and so on.

The number of culture levels is equal to the number of cities you may have. A player with 100 culture levels may have 100 cities.

Geographics

In order to expand, you need to obtain more culture levels. You also need to take into consideration where your cities are located. If you are in a high risk area, you should convert to defensive. If your cities are in a low risk area, you should go offensive while also building some extra defensive cities. Make sure to avoid spacing out your cities too much.

• Build cities in the rear to stack the frontline cities.

• Build defensive cities in your core/your alliance's core. Defensive cities in the center should be able to support any city your core in about 4 hours.

• Build offensive cities in the corners of your core. This will prevent enemy forces from entering. All borders (north, south, west, and east) will be covered. If enemies launch an attack on an offensive city, defensive cities in the center of the core will be able to quickly support.

Alliances

Alliances are an important part of the game. As a new player or a returning player, you need to make a good impression. When sending an application, either through the system or to a recruitment officer, do not use the standard application mail. This almost always results in an automatic rejection. Create a custom mail where you note your previous experience (could be other games) and things about you (you work well in a team, you are highly active, etc..). This will get you in an alliance.

Alliance forums usually consist of an announcements, a general, a offense, a defense, an off topic, and a couple other sections. It is important that you participate in the discussion. You may be kicked out of the alliance for not using the forums often.

Also, participate in offensive operations and aid people when they are in need. This will make you look good in front of leaders and your fellow alliance-mates.

Combat

This section deals with the combat area in Grepolis.

Basics of Fighting

The basics of fighting in Grepolis involve wisdom and strategy.

In order to become successful, you must only attack when it will benefit you or your alliance in some way. Needlessly attacking and losing troops will only help the enemy. One way to quickly rebuild lost troops is by looting a smaller city of its resources. An easy target will result in low losses and a decent amount of loot (given the city hasn't already been ransacked).

You must also know what troops to attack with and when to do so. Attacking and defending with the wrong troops can be costly in certain situations. Knowledge can conquer numbers 2 out of 3 times.

The below sections will help aid you by providing different tactics and information about troops.

Battle Points

Battle points may be earned in both defensive and offensive battles. Battle points are equal to the amount of population you killed. Each unit provides the same amount of Battle Points as it took population to build it. If you were to kill a chariot, you would earn 4 battle points. A colony ship would provide 170 Battle Points. Defensive Battle points are split among all parties that are defending the city.

Battle Point Villages

Battle point villages involve you attacking a Bandit Camp. Battle point villages are important because they give you another source of resources. You can also recruit troops from higher level battle point villages. It is important that you have both offensive and defensive troops in your first city so you can attack the Bandit Camp and gain rewards while also defending your city against other players. Battle point villages cost battle points to build. With each level, the cost increases. However, you are able to demand more resources and units.

Units Overview

This section provides a basic overview of all the units.

Basic Troop Builds

This lesson is about the basic troops and what each one is used for. To be a successful player, you have to use a mixture of troops (not necessarily in one city though). There are four types of troops: defensive, offensive, balanced, and non-fighting. Balanced troops may be used for both defensive and offensive purposes.

Defensive

• Swordsmen (Land)

• Archers (Land)

• Biremes (Naval)

• Fireships (Naval)

Offensive

• Light Ships (Naval)

• Slingers (Land)

• Horsemen (Land)

• Catapult (Land)

Balanced

• Hoplites (Land)

• Chariot (Land)

• Trireme (Naval)

Chariots and Triremes are primarily used in conquest.

Non-Fighting

There are 3 units in the game that do NOT fight in battles and MUST be escorted at ALL TIMES.

• Transport Ship (Naval)

• Fast Transport Ship (Naval)

• Colony Ship (Naval)

Mythical Troop Builds

This lesson pertains to the mythical units and what each is used for. There are 4 types of Mythical Units: Offensive, Balanced, Defensive, and Favor Looting.

Offensive

• Harpy (Flying)

• Manticore (Flying)

• Cyclops (Land)

• Erinys (Land)

• Griffin (Flying)

Balanced

• Minotaur (Land)

• Hydra (Naval)

• Medusa (Land)

Defensive

• Centaur (Land)

• Pegasus (Flying)

• Cerberus (Land)

• Calydonian Boar (Land)

Favor Looting

The divine envoy should be the main unit used for favor looting. Others may be used, but nothing trumps the Divine Envoy. Harpies may be substituted if Divine Envoys aren't available at the time.

Troop Vulnerabilities

This lesson deals with which troops are vulnerable to what. This will determine the type of troop to send in your attacks. Make sure you pay attention to each type of troop in the city before deciding what to attack with. In most cases, cities will be as balanced as possible in defense.

Vulnerable to Blunt

For units vulnerable to blunt weapons, send units like Horsemen or Griffins.

• Archer

• Manticore

• Erinys

• Divine Envoy

• Catapult

Vulnerable to Sharp

For units vulnerable to sharp weapons, send units like Hoplites or Manticore.

• Swordsmen

• Horsemen

• Chariot

• Minotaur

• Cyclops

• Pegasus

• Cerberus

• Erinys

• Divine Envoy

• Catapult

Vulnerable to Distance

For units vulnerable to distance, send units like Slingers or Harpies.

• Slinger

• Hoplite

• Harpy

• Medusa

• Centaur

• Pegasus

• Griffin

• Calydonian Boar

• Divine Envoy

• Catapult

Combat Tactics

The following sections contain some helpful defensive and offensive tactics. Please note that this is simply a basic explanation of how each tactic works. No situation in Grepolis will go 100% as planned so changes may have to made in the moment in order to make some tactics work.

Defensive Tactics

This lesson will teach you a few defensive tactics that you can use in-case of an attack.

Wall/Tower

The wall is very important in Revolt worlds. Your wall should be kept at level 25 at all times on Revolt worlds. The wall protects your troops by increasing their defensive values. The higher the level, the greater the protection. In addition to the wall, have a tower. In Conquest worlds, this tactic does not apply as your alliance mates need to attack your city to kill the enemy CS.

Dodging

This tactic should be used if you do not have enough militia and/or defensive units left to defend your city. First, send out all your units (either as support for a city or in the form of an attack on enemy city). Next, use up all your resources by building, training troops, and/or placing offers in the marketplace. The attacker is now deprived of battle points and resources.

Militia

Militia is a very important defensive tool. Militia allows you to defend the city if you do not have enough troops to do so. Militia can be activated in the farm. If you are using Militia, send out what little troops you may have so they do get killed when the attack lands.

• TIP: If you have a long-range attack incoming, activate militia ahead of time so you can summon them again if additional attacks are launched.

Tripwires

Tripwires can provide important information about a city’s status. A tripwire consists of 1-4 defensive units that are sent to another city as support. If an attack hits the city, you will be aware. This is important because it could be a sign that an alliance member is under siege. This tactic can be used for both defensive and offensive purposes.

Sniping

Sniping is a tactic that can be used by the defender to eliminate an enemy Colony Ship. There are several steps involved with sniping colony ships. This tactic involves timing defense/offense to arrive either 1 second before or after a CS does. Remember that that there is a 10 second +/- anti-timer in the game. Please take that into account when timing snipes.

Destruction by Spell

This should be the first way to attempt to destroy the colony ship and other troops. There are 3 steps involved with this.

1. Cast Wisdom on all the attacks (Up to 3) depending on how much favor you have.
2. Cast Seastorm on attacks that contain colony ships
3. Cast Zeus' Rage on any land attacks

• If this fails, use either of the below methods.

Destruction by Offense

One way to destroy the CS is by attacking directly after the CS lands. There should be as many attacks as possible to make sure the CS dies. If there are multiple CSs or you aren't sure which is the CS, try to launch attacks for each one.

1. Last Clearing attack arrives at 00:00:01
2. CS arrives at 00:00:02
3. Your attack (or your allies) MUST arrive at 00:00:03

• Note that this tactic can't be used on revolt worlds!

Destruction by Defense

Another way to destroy an enemy CS is by landing defensive troops before the CS lands. If you have many more attacks incoming that include CSs, try to land defensive troops before each CS attack arrives.

1. Last clearing attack arrives at 00:00:01
2. Your defense (or allies troops) MUST land at 00:00:01 also
3. CS arrives at 00:00:02

• Note that the first order sent will always arrive first. The incoming attack will land before any support arriving at the same time.

Offensive Tactics

When attacking, make sure to send war ships with your transports. Otherwise, all your land troops will drown when the transports hit the defenses.

Also note, do not have pure offense in your first city. Your first city CAN be conquered.

Mass Operations

Doing a mass operation with other players will give you more strength (especially if you specialize in a certain area). Mass operations usually consist of 20+ attacks. It is recommended to attack with both land and naval forces so the enemy city’s defenses are crippled. Make sure that all attacks are close together, giving the enemy little to no time to recover. This tactic can be used to conquer several cities if executed correctly.

Decoys

Especially when conquering an enemy city, it is important to confuse the defending player by sending decoy attacks. This tactic can be used to protect your Colony Ship. First, send naval attacks before launching the Colony Ship (these can be full light ship nukes). These attacks should land right before the Colony Ship. Also send a few/several small attacks (1-20 light ships per attack) that will land directly before or right after the Colony Ship. This will confuse the defending player. The player will most likely use a negative spell on the last few attacks before realizing that your Colony Ship is in one of the earlier attacks.

• For Conquest Worlds: Make sure a tiny amount of support lands after the last decoy attack so it doesn’t give away your Colony Ship.

Bolting/Quaking Cities

This is a tactic used to damage enemy cities by the use of the spells Lightning Bolt and Earthquake. This tactic can be very effective if done by an entire alliance. The goal is to damage cities and make your enemies devote resources to rebuilding. This can allow your alliance to conquer some cities depending on how severe and widespread the damage is. Quaking is mainly used to soften enemy defenses before mass operations occur.

Note: Don't use Earthquake on Conquest worlds unless the defender has a wall.

Harbor Checks

Harbor checks are an offensive tactic used to see whether or not a city has troops in its harbor. This can be useful to see whether or not an ally is under conquest if you have suspicions. This tactic involves sending 1-20 light ships or biremes as an attack to the city in question. If the ship(s) dies, you know that the harbor has ships in it. You will also find out whether or not the city is under conquest (displayed in the report header). After this is done, attacks may be planned and launched depending on the outcome of the harbor check.

Spying

Spying is a tactic used by a player to gain knowledge about what units are in a city as well as what level buildings are at. This is done by sending more silver with a spy than the cave of the defender has stored in it.

Cave Functions

The cave protects your city from spies while also allowing you to spy on other cities. Keep your silver level at 200,000 minimum so enemy spies can’t get through easily. You can constantly add silver to your cave which will further protect your city from spies. You can use silver stored in your cave to spy on other cities. The more silver you send with your spy, the better the chance of getting a report. Just remember to resupply your cave with silver.

Battle Simulation

Simulation of battles is very important to being a successful player. If you do not have enough troops to make an attack worthwhile, it is best not to attack. You may simulate battles in the Agora in the simulator tab. There you can enter units, wall level, morale, luck, and any spells/effects that may be active during the battle.

Example: You have 10 slingers and the defender has 2600 Defensive units (about a full DLU Nuke). It would not be worthwhile to attack because you would lose more units than you are killing.

Try as much as possible to NEVER give the enemy more battle points than what you are receiving. The only exceptions to this are conquests. This includes clearing a player to conquer him/her and clearing an alliance mate or yourself to prevent city losses.

Abbreviations/Grepolis Lingo

There are many abbreviations and terms in Grepolis that you may not understand. Below are many commonly used abbreviations along with their definitions.

General

• Def- Defense

• Off- Offense

• Def City- City with only defensive units

• Off City- City with only offensive units

• Farm- Could either mean a farming village or a city being attacked for resources.

• Res- Resources

• Spell- An act that uses divine favor from one of gods.

• Bolt- Zeus’s lightning bolt

• Quake- Poseidon’s Earthquake

• BP- Either beginners protection or battle points

• ABP- Battle points gained from attacking

• DBP- Battle points gained from defending

• Wall Spy- Checking the wall before an attack and then after to see how many units you have killed (in the case that none of your units survived).

Units

• LS- Light ships

• FS- Fire ships

• BR/Birs- Biremes

• TR/Trirs- Triremes

• TS/Trans/Transport- Transport ship

• FTS- Fast Transport Ship

• CS- Colony Ship

• Swords- Swordsmen

• Hops- Hoplites

• Archs- Archers

• Cats- Catapults

• Chars- Chariots

• Slings- Slingers

• Horses- Horsemen

• Manti- Manticore

• Harps- Harpies

• Envoys- Divine Envoys

• Boars- Calydonian Boars

Alliances

• Ally - An alliance you mutually co-operate with.

• NAP - Non Aggression Pact, an alliance you mutually agree not to attack.

• Enemy - An alliance you are at war with.

• Spy - A player who joins an enemy alliance to secretly gather intelligence.

• MM/mass mail - A mail sent to multiple players.

• Leaders - The founders and leaders of an alliance.

• MRA - Mass Recruiting Alliance, an alliance that invites lots of players irrespective of their experience or points.

• Ceasefire - When two alliances agree to stop a war for a time.

Battle System

• Siege - Long lasting attack; a conquest

• Clear - Kill all troops defending a city.

• Clearing Attack - An attack designed to clear a city. Also abbreviated to CW.

• Decoy - An attack consisting of a single unit to scare or deceive an enemy.

• Scout/Spy - Act of performing espionage of another city.

• Timed Attacks - Multiple attacks that arrive in close proximity of one another.

• Dodge - Temporarily move units out of a city to evade an incoming attack.

• Timed Supports - Units that arrive as support for a conquest

• Rim - The edge of the world where conquered players are sent.

• Rimmed - Sending someone to the rim by conquering their last city.

• Nuke - An attack or a city consisting of one type of unit

• Fort - A defensive city generally using a mythical unit and one or more regular land units to balance.

• Turtle - A player with several defensive cities on one island and who is thus very difficult to conquer.