A City is Made up of its Buildings

Buildings make a city. What would Paris be without the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower? Who would know London without the Tower and the Tower Bridge? That is why nobody knows Washington; there are no buildings of any significance to be found there. In Grepolis, the buildings define the city. Not because a city has landmarks to remember, but because the use of the buildings give away its purpose.

What is this Trip Doing in my City?

This trip probably isn't the one you were thinking of when reading the post title. When playing Grepolis, units are stationed in the cities of your alliance to act as a warning system. Is the owner of the city absent at the time an attack occurs, then the players that have provided the units can raise the problem in the alliance forum. And because these units trip up the enemy's sneak attacks, they are called trips.

It's a Matter of Time

Time is of an essence. This is true for the time you spend playing Grepolis as much as for real life. But in Grepolis, time is the reason why some people win and some don't. It's not how much time you spend in the game that makes you a winner; it is time wisely spent and intelligently communicated to other players.

Trading for Gold

If I were a rich man. Tevye's complaint in Fiddler on the roof applies to most Grepolis players. Life would be so much easier if there was gold to spend. But the credit card just shakes its head when you try to buy it from Grepolis. Time to hit the gold market in one or more of the Grepolis worlds. The old system of each player on his own has been replaced by a central ocean exchange. London, eat your heart out; the real trades are all happening here.

The Ideal City

There is no such thing as an ideal city. Depending on what kind of world you play, ideal might mean totally different things. In a revolt world and in Hyperborea, for example, walls should be at the maximal level of 25 to keep your defending units safe. In a conquest world walls would be at level 0 to prevent a conqueror to hide behind them. This post is more the opening of a discussion than a definite guide to a perfect city.

The Template for Offense in Revolt Worlds Explained

For all communication between players of an alliance or of several alliances, the use of the alliance forum is paramount. The forum offers the freedom of putting into writing whatever comes to mind; it is the players who decide what they take on board and what not. When it comes to defense and offense matters, though, fast reading is required. That is where templates come into the game. A template makes every post look the same and therefore easy to absorb.

The Template for Defense in Revolt Worlds Explained

When playing Grepolis, being part of an alliance is the intention of the game. Alliances have a forum where all the communication happens. Messaging is avoided as players would just get swamped when the alliance is large enough and when things start to heat up. One of the main points of alliance cooperation is the defense their own cities and the taking of enemy cities. To facilitate communication, alliances use templates.

Getting Loads of Resources with some Help from a Hero

The production of enough resources can be a problem. They are needed to build and level up buildings in the city, do research in the academy, and recruit units in the barracks and in the harbor. The conventional way to get resources is from the timber camp, the quarry and the silver mine. That covers wood, stone and silver with a regular running income. Demanding or looting from farming villages is also a possibility, if there are villages on the island. And there might be the possibility to steal resources from other cities; these can be ghost cities or ones that were abandoned by their owner. But what would help is a real boost to all this, villages or no villages, ghosts or no ghosts.

Basic Hero Information

Grepolis heroes are a law unto themselves. They do things only heroes can do, obviously. But for us mere mortal players, this can be a bit baffling. My post here is a heroic effort to make sense of the hero thing. I will try to explain why certain things are as they are in the hope to give you the tools to answer questions. These questions will arise sooner or later. Try to memorize the principle to give you an edge under pressure. 

War Heroes Listed by Use, Benefit and Price

Grepolis has its heroes sorted in alphabetical order. It's a happy mix of war and peace heroes and not very helpful if you are looking for something specific. There are a lot of heroes these days and they often overlap. This post offers various lists that which help deciding on the right one. There are two kinds of heroes, and war heroes with a sword, peace heroes with a scroll in their hands. This post is about war heroes.

Peace Heroes Listed by Use, Benefit and Price

Grepolis has the heroes sorted in alphabetical order. And my goodness, there are a lot of heroes by now. There are so many, they often overlap. I decided to make various lists that help with deciding which one is the right one; or if you have one on offer, to check quickly if there are better options. Heroes come in two families, peace heroes with a scroll in their hands, and war heroes with a sword. This post is about peace heroes.

What to Play, Conquest or Revolt World?

Grepolis offers two kinds of worlds to play in. One type is the revolt world, the other is the conquest (or siege) world type. The difference between these worlds lies in the different ways of how players can conquer a city. This difference has an influence on both the strategy and the tactics in the game.

You Have Been Revolted

The title of this post reflects a player's worst nightmare when playing in a revolt world. The following is a step by step guide in case your city is being put into revolt. It will help you to do everything you can to keep your city. The start is to call for help. It also explains why information is key for other players to know what they should send your way.

Getting the BBCodes (right)

BBCodes are there to make life easier for Grepolis players. They provide a shortcut to player profiles, alliance profiles and city information windows. With a simple click, Grepolis players can access these things when the writer of a message or a post in the forum uses BBCode in his forum posts and his messages. How do I get BBCode? And what more can I do with it?

Beginners' Starter Guide to Grepolis

This is a beginner's guide for players who start out in any of the worlds of Grepolis. It gives you the first ideas of what you can and should do and how to do it. It will help you getting your first steps behind you easily and helps you understand what the adviser quests are trying to teach you. To get your head around all of this, Grepolis gives you several days of beginner's protection.

Farming Villages in Hyperborea

Grepolis's eternal world of Hyperborea has islands with farming villages as well as those without. When Grepolis places your first city, you will always land on one with farming villages because they help you gain resources and in consequence grow much faster than you would without. This is a little guide on what farming villages do for you, how you get them, control them, and some special tricks you might want to know about when dealing with them.

Building your First City

Building your first city in a Grepolis world is easy, difficult, straightforward, complicated, logical and baffling all at the same time. The following post therefore contains just a few 'must have' items that you really need. The list of 'would be nice' items is intended to get your brain in gear. There is no set strategy that is best. The only thing that is certain is that the city will be a defensive-offensive hybrid to get you going. And what is said for the first city doesn't necessarily apply to the second.

Ranking the Best Sea Units

This is an overview of all sea units you can get in Grepolis. I compare and rank their power in attack and defense. The attack and defense power is shown in points as per population (i.e. if a light ship uses 10 population, its attack power has been divided by 10). Sea units are highly specialized; always take a second look before rushing into something. Please note that this post includes the new unit Siren from Beta.

The Grepolis Academy

The Grepolis Academy is where research is done. Research possibilities include land and sea units, city improvements, and improvements for al kinds of units. The academy has nothing to do with heroes; anything concerning them is dealt with in the hero pop up window. Each city in Grepolis comes with its own academy. Each city has to do its own research. Transfer of knowledge isn't a Grepolis concept.

Mushrooming Cities

When your alliance is hard pressed by your enemies, then it is time to apply the mushroom principle. Every alliance, no matter how large it is, has a backyard in what they consider their ocean or their area of influence. That backyard is full of little ghost cities and empty landing points. Go for them and scatter cities like mushrooms. Your enemies'  backyard suddenly isn't theirs anymore.

Playing with Heroes

Heroes are like other units in Grepolis, only completely different. Having said that, it isn't rocket science to get your head around heroes and what they can and can't do. They all have some serious boosting advantages, so getting them is a huge plus in your game, no matter what kind of game you intend to play.

Grepolis for Sim, Tycoon, and Other Players

I've noticed that many players in any world in Grepolis are strangely silent in alliance forums. They tend to be non-supportive of their fellow alliance members. I know, this isn't a case of ill will, but of not understanding the aim of this game. Players who play Sim products or Tycoon games or other solitary games best read this post to get their heads around what it is all about. Others may read it too, it won't hurt you.

Mythical Units and their Use

In all its worlds, Grepolis gives you the possibility to recruit mythical units. They are directly linked to a god, i.e. the god of the city they are recruited. All gods allow the recruiting of Divine Envoys. Each god has two mythical units that are unique to them. The god worshiped in a city determines the mythical unit types you can recruit in it's barracks. To recruit mythicals, you need resources of wood, stone, and silver; as an added ingredient you need divine favor.

Aegean Battleships

Aegean Battleships is one of Grepolis's games within the game. It runs for 14 days. The game in its main feature is based on the children's game Battleships. The original game version allows one player to name a grid to take a shot at, then the opponent takes a shot in turn. In this game, it is only the Grepolis player shooting. In a second part to the Aegean battleships, the player uses certain points to move a ship to a destination.

Ranking the Best Defending Land Units for Effectiveness Against Distance Weapons

Grepolis allows only one one weapon type per unit to attack with for each of the land and sea units (the exceptions are to be found in the list of sea units in my post about attacking units). All land units and most sea units have at least one defense point per unit against any kind of attacker. I am showing rankings for all land units against blunt, sharp, and distance weapons. In this post I'm ranking the effectiveness against distance weapons. Please note that this post includes the new unit Satyr from Beta.

Ranking the Best Defending Land Units for Effectiveness Against Sharp Weapons

Grepolis offers only one way or rather one weapon type to attack with for each land and sea unit (the exceptions are to be found in the list of sea units in my post about attacking units). All land units and most sea units have at least some defense points against any kind of attacker. I have drawn up rankings for all land units against blunt, sharp, and distance weapons. In this post I'm dealing with sharp weapons. Please note that this post contains the new unit Satyr from Beta.

Ranking the Best Defending Land Units for Effectiveness Against Blunt Weapons

In Grepolis, each unit has only one way or rather one weapon type to attack with (exceptions can be found in the list of sea units in my post about attacking units). They all (or at least most of them) have some defense points against attackers. I'm going to give rankings for all land units against blunt, sharp, and distance weapons starting off with blunt weapons attackers in this post. Please note that this post includes the new unit Satyr from Beta.

Ranking the Best Attacking Units for Effectiveness

This article gives an overview over all attacking units you can get in Grepolis. Some of them are so weak, you can't really call them attacking units. The lists below compare their attacking power according to their weapon of choice, blunt, sharp, or distance. Please not that this post includes the new units Satyr and Siren from Beta.

My Grepolis Blog

My Grepolis blog is aimed mainly at existing players from all worlds in Grepolis. If you aren't playing yet, go and have a look. We are having a lot of fun there. Grepolis is a strategic multi player game that happens in real time. If you aren't playing yet, don't get put off the game because my articles look bewildering to someone not in the game.