Here's a draft of the first part of the guide (suggestions welcome):
A Definitive Guide to Tribal Wars 2
This guide is an in-depth survey of the tactics, decisions, and strategies that are necessary to play Tribal Wars at a high level. New players should be aware that this is not a step-by-step walkthrough or an explanation of basic game features: the in-game quests and the wiki are sufficient for these purposes. Instead, this guide seeks to provide a logical and mathematical framework for approaching the higher-level strategic decisions that cause trouble for many players, even those with extensive experience. The guide starts with early-game topics, proceeds chronologically to decision-making with multiple villages, and concludes with late game strategies and topics that are not associated with a particular game stage.
1. About the Author
Before you read my guide, I would like to assure you that I know what I’m talking about. I have played the game since not long after the release of Tribal Wars 1: my first village was on World 10, and I was also active on worlds 12, 13, 32, and several others. I have never played at a “professional” level, and I believe that spending hours a day on Tribal Wars (or any game) is wasteful and unhealthy, but I have enough experience controlling accounts with 100+ villages to discuss the late-game stage. I will not provide personal details, but I assure you that I have a strong background in writing and mathematics. I play casually on the Castel del Monte world under another name.
2. The Early Game
When you join the game, the first thing you will notice is Tribal Wars 2’s very useful tutorial. The second thing you will notice is the game’s extensive, obtrusive, and tacky micro-transaction system, but I’ll save that topic for later. For the first few days, there’s no reason not to follow the tutorial quests – the rewards are worthwhile and help to make the early game less tedious. Next, your first priority should be to recruit troops and expand the barracks. In case you hold the misguided belief that resource production buildings are a better investment, consider these points:
- Upgrading the Timber camp from Level 9 to Level 10 costs a total of 1275 resources, and the upgrade increases timber production by 32/hour. Your initial investment will be returned in about 40 hours.
- One Spearman costs 100 resources, and has a carrying capacity of 25. If you send your Spearman on an average of four successful raids per day, he will recoup the initial investment every 24 hours.
- Resource production buildings become worse investments at higher levels. For example, the Level 15 and 20 Timber Camp upgrades return the investment in 70 and 122 hours respectively. Troops do not become worse investments as you recruit more of them. Yes, you do have to send them farther away to raid, but 4 farming trips/day allows three hours of travel time anyway.
- Tribal Wars is a war game, and upgrading buildings is far less interesting than attacking other players. If you don’t want to build troops, maybe you should go play Farmville instead.
3. Your Neighbors
You should be familiar with all the players within seven or eight tiles of your village, even those outside your province. Remember: the 50% combat penalty for out-of-province attacks can be negated by the Statue’s level 5 technology (or the associated micro-transaction). Familiarize yourself with the “Compare” tab under the Player Profile. This tab ostensibly shows off the player’s “achievements”, but what it actually does is provide an incredible source of intelligence on their experience, activity, and play style. These are the most important early “achievements”:
- “Stolen Goods” shows you how many resources a player has acquired through raids (commonly known as “farming”). The screen will only show you the other player’s percentage completion of the achievement, but the numerical value can be easily determined. For example, the 25-milestone (35 total) threshold is 100,000 resources, so someone with 35 milestone points and 47% completion has taken about 47,000 resources. The 40-milestone (75 total) threshold is 1,000,000 resources. A player’s resource intake through farming is a good indicator of their ability and the threat they will pose to you later on.
- “Way of the Soldier” shows you exactly how many infantry units the player has recruited, assuming they have recruited at least 500 (otherwise the achievement does not appear). The achievement doesn’t tell you how many of those troops are still alive, but you can make a good estimate by subtracting a portion of the player’s “defeated enemies” score. For reference, the 10-milestone threshold is 2500 units.
- “Way of the Rider” shows the number of mounted troops recruited. If a player has a high “Way of the Rider” score, they are playing offensively (a defensive player will not recruit many heavy cavalry in the early game).
Analyzing this information can give you a much better sense of your neighbors than their points will. You should be prepared to take the villages of players with poor scores in the above categories, and to defend yourself against players with higher scores. Of course, your neighbors can see your own “achievements” and “enemies defeated” numbers as well. Unless you have evidence to the contrary, assume that your neighbors will make correct deductions and decisions in every situation. After all, it is better to be surprised by their incompetence than by their skill.
4. Recruiting the Right Troops
When choosing whether to recruit offensive or defensive troops, ask yourself this question: Will I have to defend myself against an attack from a player with noblemen before I get my second village? There is no need to worry about attacks from players who do not have noblemen. With the introduction of the Hospital, it is no longer cost-efficient for anyone to attack an active player unless they intend to take his village (fighting 100-300 troops every six hours is more expensive than the value of most hauls).
Therefore, you have the option to neglect defensive troops and buildings entirely in your first village. If you are confident in your ability to out-perform your neighbors, just build offense and aim to get an academy before them. By the time your neighbors are in a position to attack you with noblemen, you will have already used your offensive troops to take another high-value village (preferably one belonging to a threat). In most cases, this strategy is optimal because it allows you to take a much more valuable second village than you’d be able to conquer if you built defense.
However, an all-offense strategy is very risky if you are not very active or you’re near another player who can execute the strategy better than you. In this case, it is preferable to adopt a defensive strategy. The aim of such a strategy is to defend against an attack from your dominant neighbor, who you should assume is building only offense and will attack you as soon as he has an academy. Don’t prepare a half-assed defense: if you cannot successfully defend against your theoretically all-offense neighbor’s attack, your defensive troops will have served no purpose whatsoever. However, your defense does not have to be ready until your neighbor has noblemen (or many catapults): if you are attacked before that, just move your troops (except for those covered by the hospital) outside the village and spend your resources – their attack will gain nothing. This means that you do not need to complete your Wall until your neighbor is on the verge of an Academy.
