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.

At a first glance, it might look annoying to have to do your research over and over again for each city. On the other hand, it allows you to vary the research done from city to city. In that way, you can specialize a city to be defensive or offensive, or to hold and deploy a nuke of some kind (land, sea, or mythical units, you name it).

The academy offers a great number of possible research topics; only part of those can be researched due to academy point limitations. Each level built in the academy gives the player 4 research points. Each research uses up an amount of points. Planning ahead helps you to get the city on the right track. If you should have made a mistake or had a change of heart at a later time, you can un-research a topic and reuse the points. The resources you invested are lost, though. And un-researching costs you one culture point.

Following the Grepolis logic used in the academy, I will give short insights and explanations for each of the researches possible. Open the academy in your city to follow me on this. I will start with the top left icon of the slinger followed by the one beneath it with the archer; I'll follow this up column by column ending with the bottom right icon. Academes in different worlds look different and offer a few different research topics. I will mark each of my titles with letters telling you if it applies to your world.

H applies to the eternal world of Hyperborea.

R applies to the newer revolt worlds.

C applies to the newer conquest worlds.

+ is applied to must have researches.

- is applied to don't touch researches.

If no + or - are shown, the decision is yours and usually dependent on what is going on in the city.

1st column, 1st icon: Slinger - H, R, C, +

This first paragraph applies to H only: Slingers are needed on all islands with farming villages to conquer the first four and the seventh village cheaply.

This second paragraph applies to R and C only: Slingers are needed on the first island to combat the bandits cheaply.

In all other circumstances, slingers are a very cheap unit with a short recruiting time. They are often used in slinger nukes to attack enemy cities. In defense, slingers are totally useless and should be evacuated if your city comes under attack.

1st column, 2nd icon: Archer / H, R, C, +

Archers are a defensive unit. They are cheap and fast to recruit. Don't use them to attacks, though, they are not built for that.

1st column, 3rd icon: Militia / H, R, C, +

Militia is the cheapest defense in the game because it is free of charge once you have done the research. Militia is activated in your city screen by clicking on the farm building. The number of militia is dependent on your farm level; they don't need recruiting, they just pop up with your click on the button. Militia are not included in the population count (i.e. they count as 0). In reverse, when they are killed they don't generate population for later use. Militia give 0 battle points to the enemy, but what they kill goes into your account of battle points.

2nd column, 1st icon: Hoplites / H, R, C, +

Hoplites are useful in attack and you can do worse in defense. In your first city and for players who like to sit the fence between offensive and defensive playing, hoplites are a cheap option with a fast recruiting time.

2nd column, 2nd icon: Diplomacy / H

This increases the amount of resources you can collect from the farming villages on an island by 15%. If you are an avid gatherer, this might make sense once the villages have been fattened up a bit.

2nd column, 2nd icon: Meteorology / R, C

2nd column, 3rd icon: Meteorology / H

Meteorology speeds up all units that are recruited in the barracks; that means land and mythical units. It is pointless for units that walk (they only walk on the island they were recruited on, otherwise they use ships). It works on your flying Harpy, Pegasus, Griffin and Manticore nukes when flying over land and over water.

3rd column, 1st icon: Espionage / H, R, C, -

Makes your spies 20 % stronger. That means, if you send out a spy with 1,000 silver, he will have 1,200 to spend in the enemy city. If you have the research points lying about and intend to go into a spying contest you can indulge yourself; I would classify this research as useless.

3rd column, 2nd icon: Villagers' loyalty / R, C

This research is optional and only useful on islands with farming villages, not on rocky islands. The amount of resources you get from the villages increases by 115 %. At the same time, the 4 timers that define the waiting time until you can collect again double in time (e.g. 4 hours become 8 hours). That makes a net gain of 15 %.

3rd column, 2nd icon: Booty / H

This research is optional and only useful on islands with farming villages, not on rocky islands. The amount of resources you get from the villages increases by 15 %. In addition, the 4 timers that define your waiting time to the next resource demand become 8 timers with additional timing options (e.g. the longest waiting time was 4 hours, now there is an additional one for 8 hours). The 8 hour timer is ideal before going off to work.

3rd column, 3rd icon: Ceramics / H, R, C, +

You must have this research. It boosts your warehouse's content holding capacity by 2,500 resources.

4th column, 1st icon: Horsemen / H, R, C

Horsemen are excellent looters and form a good attacking force. On the same island they have a speed advantage. In defense they are quite good when distance or blunt weapons are thrown at your city. They are completely useless against hoplites and chariots.

4th column, 2nd icon: Architecture / H, R, C

This research is optional. If you are constantly short of resources, this is a way to help your city along. The removal will use up one culture point, though, once you've built everything you need. It can be useful if you have enemies that take a childish pleasure in taking down your walls.

4th column, 3rd icon: Trainer / H, R, C

This research is optional. Makes recruiting land units and mythological units (without Hydra) 10 % faster. It has to be seriously considered when building nukes or in cities that are often attacked and are losing land units in the process.

5th column, 1at icon: Biremes / H,R,C, +

Biremes are an excellent defense against sea attacks. They are however useless in attacks. Every city needs them.

5th column, 2nd icon: Crane/ H,R,C

This research is optional. If you want to hurry your city along, this helps speeding things up by 15 %. You will lose one culture points to remove it, though, once you've built everything you need. It can be useful if you have enemies that take a childish pleasure in taking down your walls.

5th column, 3rd icon: Shipwright / H, R, C

This research is optional. Makes recruiting sea units and Hydra 10 % faster. It has to be seriously considered in cities with bireme, light ship or Hydra nukes. 

5th column, 4th icon: Colony ship / H, R, C, +

You need a colony ship to get your next city. Don't research it in cities that will never send out a colony ship (e.g. a city with a bireme nuke). Please note that in revolt and conquest worlds, you need to have researched conquest (10th column, 3rd icon) to conquer a city. You can use your colony ship to found a new city at any time.

6th column, 1st icon: Chariots / H, R, C

This research is optional. Chariots can be useful as they can double up as offense and defense units. Om both accounts, they are much better than hoplites, but also take more time to recruit and are quite expensive. You  could consider a chariot nuke to use both in offense and for the defense of other cities.

6th column, 2nd icon: Light ships / H, R, C, +

Light ships are a necessity in any attack that goes over sea. You can't really launch an attack to another island without them. If you send out transport ships in an attack with no light ships in attendance, a single bireme or even light ship in the enemy harbor will sink your whole fleet and whole army before they reach the harbor wall. Only dispense with them in an exclusively defensive city.

6th column, 3rd icon: Conscription / H, R, C

This research is optional. It reduces the cost for land units and mythological units (without Hydra) by 10 %. This research should be seriously considered in cities with nukes made up of land or mythical units.

7th column, 1st icon: Fire Ships / H, R, C

This research is optional. Fire ships are for defense only, they can't attack. They are useless against slow and fast transport ships, colony ships and Hydra. They sink everything else on a one to one basis. They only come into action once all other sea units stationed in the harbor have died. They are extremely slow movers. I don't normally use them, but they serve a purpose if you want to aggravate an enemy with light ship nukes. They can be used as trips in cities as they are the last thing to go in the harbor.

7th column, 2nd icon: Catapults / H, R, C

This research is optional. Catapults take down the walls of enemy cities a few levels at a time. They have to be attended by sufficient attacking land units or they just crumble to dust. I personally don't use them a lot as I like high walls and prefer to spend a few more units in my attacks. If the conquered city is in a contested area, I then have the advantage of moving my support behind walls, too.

7th column, 3rd icon: Cryptography / H, R, C, -

In my opinion, this research is totally useless and a waste of your research points and resources. Cryptography gives you a 10 % bonus against spies. If a spy comes to your city, his 1,000 silver will only take out 900 in your cave.

8th column, 1st icon: Fast Transport / H, R, C, +

Fast transport ships allow you to send out land units faster to other islands. They are faster than light ships and therefore don't slow down the latter in an attack. Slow transport on the other side slow light ships down.

8th column, 2nd icon: Plow / H, R, C, +

This research is essential. It's a must have in every city with no exceptions. This research gives you 200 more population in the city. This happens as soon as the research is done.

8th column, 3rd icon: Bunks / H, R, C, +

This research increases the loading capacity of transport ships. Slow transport ships load 26 instead of 20 (population equivalent) land units, fast transport ships 16 instead of 10. Only skip this research in cities where you have no  transport ships.

9th column, 1st icon: Triremes / H, R, C

Triremes are units for people sitting the fence between offence and defense. Use a lot of population to build but have decent attack and defensive power. They are a good sea unit when a city is often attacked but needs to be offensive as well. They can be the answer when taking a city where you expect immediate attacks.

9th column, 2nd icon: Phalanx / H, R, C, +

Phalanx has to be researched in every city. It affects all land and mythical units in a city (except Hydra), no matter where they came from or who sent them. Boosts the fighting ability of your land and mythical units (excluding Hydra) by 10 %. This increases power values of units in attack and defense.

9th column, 3rd icon: Breakthrough / H, R, C, -

Breakthrough helps land units getting on shore even when there are loads of biremes in a harbor. The downside is that ships and hydra lose half their fighting power.

For Hyperborea: This research is totally useless. Don't bother with it.

For world wonder worlds: Even in the last stages of the game where you might have to get through thousands of biremes, it's debatable if it helps in any way.

For Olympus worlds: This research is totally useless. You face thousands of biremes in a temple harbor, but they have to be totally cleared anyhow.

9th column, 4th icon: Mathematics / H, R, C

This research is optional. It reduces the cost for sea units and Hydra by 10 %. This research should be seriously considered in cities with nukes made up of sea units.

10th column, 1st icon: Battering ram / H, R, C +

Battering ram has to be researched in every city. It affects all sea and Hydra in a city, no matter where they came from or who sent them. Boosts the fighting ability of your sea units and Hydra) by 10 %. This increases power values of units in attack and defense.

10th column, 2nd icon: Cartography / H, R, C

This research is optional. It makes your sea units and Hydra move 10 % faster. I usually research it if I have enough points. When building sea or Hydra nukes, it makes a lot of sense to speed them up.

10th column, 3rd icon: Conquest / R, C +

You need this research to revolt and conquer a city. Like all researches, this one is city specific, you have to research it in every city you want to use to conquer.

11th column, 1st icon: Stone Hail / R, C

For starters, stone hail should only be researched if you have catapults. The research allows catapults to hit other in buildings in a city in addition to the wall. The chance of hitting a building increases by 10 % for each catapult included in the attack. The damage will be determined by a Grepolis randomizer.

11th column, 2nd icon: Temple looting / R, C

This research allows mythical units (with exception of the Hydra) to loot divine favor; one unit can steal 5 favor. It should be researched in the cities where you have mythical units as nukes or at least dedicated to collecting favor for nukes in other cities.

11th column, 3rd icon: Divine selection / R, C

This research gives all mythical units 10 % more power in attack and defense. Must be researched in all cities with mythical nukes or cities that have a lot of mythicals or tend to receive them as support from other cities. For example, cities with god Athena tend to attract Pegasus support when you call for it. The upgrade is applicable to all units stationed in the city, no matter where they come from or who sent them. 

12th column, 1st icon: Battle experience / R, C -

This research is not really useful. It gives you 10 % of your lost units as battle points. But when you need battle points the most (beginning, one or few cities), you don't really lose that many units. When you start splashing out you units you're either well established with many cities or  you are in trouble defending your cities; the latter usually means you've got slots to spare for new cities.

12th column, 2nd icon: Strong wine / R, C -

This research shortens the time of city festivals and Olympic games by 15 %. Nobody can be that desperate. Totally useless, these few minutes won't hurt while you wait.

12th column, 3rd icon: Set sail / R, C -

This research increases the speed of a colony ship by 10 %. It's not a really useful boost, they are slow, boost or not.