Version 1.0 (updated August 19, 2010) Recently, many people have been posting threads about builds. To try to put these questions in one place and unclog the forums, I will highlight the main focuses on a strong and dependable build. FOR PROS: I didn't leave you guys out this time! Take a look at the "Interesting Builds section! (IB08) Table of Contents - to skip to the section, type control F and the code next to it I. Planning the Build (PtB01) II. Key Concepts and General Guidelines (KCaGG02) III. In-Depth: Ally Dependency (IDAD03) IV. Boobs (B04) V. Efficient (Safe) Builds (ESF05) VI. Final Tips (FT06) VII. General Questions (GQ07) VIII. Interesting Builds (IB08) IX. Conclusion (C09) X. Version/Updates (VU10) I. Planning the Build (PtB01) Before you blindly spend your gold on whatever building seems convenient, think about your future build for a minute. The key to a balanced and well-planned build is imagination. For every person, there is a certain build which suits him or her best. What build suits you? While your troops are regenerating, think about your final build for a moment. Pretend you have all the gold in the world and that you have maxed plunder bonus and compile a complete kingdom using the following buildings (remember to consider plunder bonus!): note: because plunder bonus varies due to target size, amount of pots used,...etc., I will put the approximate profit per hit. It's imaginary! It just serves as a guideline Subterranean Factory Statistics (to allies): 21,600 attack/14,400 defense Plunder Bonus: approximately 324k profit per building War Aviary Statistics (to allies): 19,700 attack/19,700 defense Plunder Bonus: approximately 324k profit per building note: fully unloading troops with an aviary will allow you 26 hits instead of 24; however, it takes 10 minutes longer to fully regen than the other attack towers Summoning Circle Statistics (to allies): 16,400 attack/21,600 defense Plunder Bonus: approximately 324k profit per building (5% plunder bonus added) Defense Tower Statistics (to allies): 40,500 defense Plunder Bonus: 0 note: walls never lose any defense, regardless of troop count Spy Defense Tower Statistics (to allies): 20,250 spy defense Plunder Bonus: 0 note: walls never lose any defense, regardless of troop count Guild Statistics (to allies): 13,500 spy attack/13,500 spy defense Plunder Bonus: approximately 432k profit per building Calculate your attack/defense/spy attack/spy defense as well as your plunder. What do you like about this build? Does this build have enough plunder bonus for a steady income? Now that you have a basic build in mind, let's see if we can improve it. II. Key Concepts and General Guidelines (KCaGG02) I should have made the title "General Guidelines and Key Concepts" considering I'm going to put the general guidelines first. Anyways... General Guidelines One of the biggest factors which can influence a build is whether or not a kingdom is in war. In war, walls are extremely important to a build. While your opponent is attacking you and taking away your troops, walls ensure you constant defense because THEY DO NOT DECREASE IN POWER FROM LOSS IN TROOPS. Bottom line (war build): If you are under heavy attack, make some defense towers. It makes it that much harder for your opponent to breach your castle walls. ALWAYS have at least one spy defense tower. One spy tower means that a heavy attack build or a noob with 5,400 spy attack can't participate in stripping you. Fun Fact: Corinthian's first clan, Lightning Hammers, was a war clan who's requirements were to have at least two defense towers and one spy defense tower Out of war, money is the main objective. This means that you should use as few towers as possible. Obviously, if you're a notorious farmer, you should throw up a few towers, but keep the amount as low as possible to maximize cash-flow. Bottom line (money-making build): In war, build towers. In peace, don't. Maximize plunder bonus and build as many guilds as possible, considering they dish out the highest plunder bonus. Key Concepts Here are some build types and concepts: --Standard Builds-- Attack Build This is the most standard and common build in the game. Before the updates to aviaries and summoning circles, over half the builds in KaW were attack builds. The concept is simple: throw up a bunch of subterranean factories and maybe some aviaries. Cover up defense and spy defense holes with towers and throw up a guild to participate in strips. -Not as ally dependent as mixed builds Pros: -Attack builds decimate towerless kingdoms -The growth rate is quick Cons: -Defense may be an issue. Throw up a few defense towers. -The spy department is obviously lacking. You may consider going mixed build if you like to scout/assassinate/steal. Otherwise, throw up a few spy defense towers. -Attack builds are the easiest strip targets. MAKE SURE TO PUT UP SPY DEFENSE TOWERS DURING WAR! -Easily countered by turtles. Not much of a disadvantage. Just target someone else. -Attack towers lose more strength per hit than any other build. Mixed Builds Another standard build. I consider mixed builds to have enough guilds to assassinate/steal/scout effectively and enough troops to not be completely ally dependent. The concept: guilds provide high plunder whole attack buildings take down the target. Pros: -Assassinating/stealing/scouting more readily available than to attack builds -Higher plunder than attack builds and extra income from stealing -Very rapid growth rate -Lose less strength per hit Cons: -Low defense. Fix with defense towers. -More ally dependent than attack builds -Spies can still be pinned. Spy defense towers still necessary during war. note: some mixed builds are more heavily spy orientated while others place a large emphasis on troops. If you need another small source of income or help taking down another kingdom, build more spies. However, if you want raw power, consider adding a bit more subterranean factories. Spy Builds 24 spy guilds. Good stuff. The last standard build I will go over. Introduced by mccc, the spy build started the game as a test. It is now one of the most popular builds today. Concept: Do I really need to explain this? Pros: -Unable to be stripped -Not ally dependent -It is tedious to deal with a spy. Most choose to ignore spy builds. -Unseen when attacking Cons: -Slow growth when building towards a spy build. I recommend utilizing Hansel build (explained later) before transitioning into a spy build. -No leaderboard potential. Spy builds aren't usually permanent. Most people eventually switch out of them. --Uncommon Builds-- Turtle Builds After the update, turtles have actually become quite standard, although still not as popular as the builds mentioned above. Go ahead and get mad at me for calling this uncommon. I'm too lazy to move it up a section. Concept: impenetrable defenses. Pros: -Turtles are not very appealing targets -It takes more effort than it's worth to pin a turtle build. Most will ignore you. -Turtles are awesome -Not very troop dependent Cons -Slow growth. Sacrifice towers for summoning circles. -Low attack. Get a lot of allies. -Ally dependent Potburners I haven't seen one of these builds around recently. It seems like a lot of fun to try. Get enough defense towers so you have over 518,400 defense. Get one attack tower and one guild. Spend the rest on spy defense towers. Concept: essentially a turtle. The purpose of this build is to attack and spy enemies to burn pots and help strips. Pros -Frickin annoying to opponents -No one will attack you Cons -Little to no growth If I missed any concepts, feel free to remind me! III. In-Depth: Ally Dependency (IDAD03) Probably one of the least considered factors in a build is the ally dependency. People who fail to forsee this do not have builds which use allies to their full advantage. Allies have two uses: plunder bonus and bonus to statistics. This section will teach you how to use allies to their full advantage in a build. Plunder Bonus I will not explain how plunder bonus works considering this is a kingdom build FAQ. I just want to remind everyone that every single build which has an attack building should have a stat-worthless ally. A stat-worthless ally is an ally which has low stats but cost an unreasonably high amount of gold. This ally will be the foundation of your plunder bonus because it will never be bought. Bonus to Statistics Remember: ONLY FOCUS ON ALLIES FOR STATS AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR BUILD. Read http://forum.kingdomsatwar.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10689 for more details. Ally bonuses are a major factor to consider while making a build. Obviously, you want to get the highest ally stats possible, but remember, the more ally dependent you are, the less troop dependent you will be. Ally dependency vs. troop dependency is a personal preference. If you are ally dependent, you barely lose any strength per attack, since troops are irrelevant. However, ally dependent builds can be stripped of their power and they cost a lot more than troop dependent builds. If you learn anything from this section, try to remember this: keep the troops per build as low as possible. I will show you why. Take a standard Hansel build (explained later) with the stats (to allies) of 19,700/19,700/310,500/310,500. Let's say this build has 20 million attack bonus from allies (giving the build a 400,000 boost to attack stat to allies). Now take a pure sub build (518,400/345,600). Let's pretend this build has no allies. At full troops, the sub build obviously is stronger because it has 518,400 attack (to allies) vs. the Hansel build's 419,700 attack (to allies). Let's pretend they're both at half troops. With half troops, the power of the sub build is halved. It becomes 269,200. Now the Hansel build is ally dependent, so the 400,000 attack does not decrease. The 19,700 attack from troops is decreased to 9,850. This means that the Hansel build has 409,850 attack which easily defeats the sub factory. Now let's pretend both builds are out of troops. The sub build is at 0 attack. Meanwhile, the ally-dependent Hansel build will still be sitting with 400,000 troops. This is the power of allies, and eventually, transitioning to an ally-dependent build is the smartest choice (unless you're concerned with leaderboards). IV. Boobies (B04) I liek boobies V. Efficient (Safe) Builds (ESB05) In this section, I will name the most common builds that one can transition in and out of easily. The Hansel Build The Hansel build may require an OSF until ally-dependency kicks in. It is a build with 1 aviary (for the 26 hits) and 23 guilds. This build achieves the highest plunder in the game but is highly ally-dependent. Attack-Build Hunter This build does not need an OSF. The objective of this build is to get enough attack to successfully defeat an attack build (due to their low defense). Spend the rest in guilds for a plunder bonus addition. If you're a farmer, add some towers. VI. Final Tips (FT06) This section is for spewing out random tips that were not mentioned above. +if a build is difficult to attain, try aiming for the transition builds for extra money before switching to the final build +remember, one of the biggest sources of money is through the trading of allies (for those considering low plunder builds) +DO NOT turtle up if only one person is farming you. That is not cost-effective. Only turtle up in war +I can't stress this enough. Always have a stat-worthless ally. +USE ITEMS!! Even as a noob, getting 8 defense items will cause many to avoid attacking you. Very cost-effective. VII. General Questions (GQ07) This section is dedicated to answering questions by the readers. If you have a question, ask and maybe I'll feature it in this section. DO NOT ASK "is this build good"? VIII. Interesting Builds (IB08) This is a fun section. Post a build you think is creative below. Put it in this format: Build Name: [be creative] Stats (to allies): Plunder Bonus: Purpose: [give an explanation of why someone would use this build] Your build might be picked by the judges and featured in this section! Post any build you think might be interesting, but here are my challenges to you: Make a build which effectively uses level 1 tier 1 buildings More to come! (You may suggest it below) Judges: none other than our moderators! (tmh and Benny) Interesting Builds: Soon to come! IX. Conclusion (C09) I hope you enjoyed reading this and you had fun with this guide! Remember: KaW is a game; have fun! X. Version/Updates (VU10) August 19, 2010: Version 1.0 released!
SUPPORT!!!! STICKY ASAP!!!!! And here's a creative build I thought of (similar thought process as emeth) Build name: Hackzor noob!!! Buildings: 5-10 war caths (lvl 3) 5-10 Guilds (lvl 3) Why choose this build? This build utilizes high ally bonuses to make it compete with other bc players. Although the buildings I listed are just suggestions, you can use any tier 1s/2s with guilds in combination. So why would you make your stats suck on purpose? The reason behind this is you will become a much weaker target! There are 2 pros to being a weaker target, well 4 depending on your goals. 1. Since you're stats are those of a noob, if a max build were to win an attack against you, he would make very little plunder. The reason is the new plunder is based on building stat comparison, ally bonus are irrelevevant. Therefore they will make very little profit attacking you, and since they will win very little due to your ally bonus you will rarely be attacked. 2. If you attack build complete people, unless they have good ally bonus you will make large amounts of plunder since they will be super strong compared to your building stats. You need buildings however, since they still add a cap. 3. You can merc in non strongest lb clans and you'll win almost every attack against non lc players. Also you'll make good money (since their stats are similar to you. 4. Finally you get to laugh when bc people hit u and lose 5 times in a row and call u a hacking noob LOL Cons you should have atleast a 30m attack and defense bonus before using this build (40-50m+ and you won't need potions. Also all your buildings will be destroyed so you'll Need to pay 25b to get bc again. Also if you were to be stripped you would lose everything and essentially be a noob again lol, however it would be a good idea to have about 100b banked in pots to get a few mill bonus and bc again if you were stripped. Although this build is crazy ally dependant (about as much as a hansel build) I'm sure anyone on the ally lb could pull it off hope you like lol and awesome guide blumpy!!!
@Cowlegend999: I like it, and thanks! I actually haven't had permission from Benny or tmh to make them judges, but the interesting builds section should be ready soon.
I also make mine called the cow build hey blumpy do u want me to help be a judge? Bump for this awesome guide
Nice thread blumpy! Read the whole thing! May I suggest something? Uhmm Why don't you put the ally plunder that each building gives? I need to know it ASAP