The art of war overview

As you have already realized, "Empire" is a war game. One of the essence of the game is to fully understand, prepare and to master yourself and other members of your alliance in the "Art of war". This will give you much more enjoyable gameplay. Depending on your alliance size & strength, the server you are playing in and other in-game relationships between alliances, war can be "planned" (e.g. your alliance declare war on another alliance, or start attacks without any notice) or "unplanned" (other alliance declare war on your alliance, or started attacks without any notice). Sometimes there is a "planned" war which is priorly agreed between two alliances, in order to "train" the players, have some extra fun or for other reasons. This type of war is usually limited by time, and might have some "ease rules" to both sides making this war less "painful" and "expensive" (spending much less resources or rubies) as "normal" wars are.

Code of conduct for different war types

As described earlier, there are some common types of war. Each of them has its own "code of conduct" which is actually a list of rules, that apply on the actions you may do (or don't) according to a "fair play". What I mean by this, is that it will be common to judge your actions as "bullying" if your alliance doesn't follow those guidelines:

Code of conduct for different war types

Action	Type of war
	Agreed war	Normal war	Full war
Attack focus on 1 player
Attacks on neighbors (distance <= 50) unless in retaliation
Attacks on players more than 10 levels below Legendary +150 are not to hit under 150
Attacks on alliance assets (e.g. towers)
Attacks in storm islands
Using cleaner attacks
Using fire commanders
Sabotage
Capturing resource villages in kingdoms
Capturing active players outposts

Personal perpetration

Each and every member of the alliance should make the most efforts to make his account "ready to war" since war can break out at any time. There are several things that you can do in order to be more ready when war comes right into your alliance doorstep. Here are some of them:

Groom your watch towers

A "Watch tower" will give you and earlier alert on incoming attacks (+100% when maxed to level 10). It will hive you more precise information about the attack's formation. The (big) advantage is that you (and others in your alliance) will see the "Attack horn" earlier, giving them sufficient time to send their support in time. This might make a huge difference in the ability to defend properly (!) Usually, during a "surprise war" other players will tend to attack those players that does not have a "Watch tower" (or do have one which is not maxed). Therefore, its essential to have a "Watch tower" in any castle and outpost, in all kingdoms, and to do most efforts to its maximum level.

As the "Watch tower" is a ruby building, which will cost you 37,500 rubies to maximize all the way to level 10, you should prioritize "investing" your precious rubies on that.

Having suitable amount of defenders

In wartime, there is a need to have enough defenders to be able to defend your castles and outposts, but also to support other members of your alliance when they are attacked. A "suitable" amount would be %50 of your troops in any castle and outpost. Tend to "spread" your ruby defenders (that you win in events) between all your castles and outposts, so you can have a stronger defense everywhere (stronger defenders having a priority on the wall).

Commanders and castellans

To have better chances of winning a war, stronger commanders & castellans can make a huge difference. When playing the game during "peace times" have in mind that you always need to acquire new commanders & castellans sets, improve those that you already have (by upgrading their equipment pieces) and embed them with appropriate gems.

Having some special commanders will also help you during wartime:

• A "Late detect commander" will help you launch "surprise" attacks on targets, that will trigger their "Attack horn" very late, making them unable to get alliance support, hence making those attacks more efficient.
• A "Fast support commander" will let you send support to other players in your alliance when they are under attack, and let your defenders make it in time.
• A "Fire commander" will let you send more fatal attacks that will can override any "Fire castellan" and make much more fire damage to your opponents if they do not have one.

Your castellans should have a good "early detect" bonus. This with a proper "Watch tower" will give you enough time to detect an incoming attack and to have others support your castle or outpost. A good "courtyard" bonus will help in case of massive attack.

Reduce lost of units when defending

For every "Dwelling" or "Town house" you have, you can attach a "units lost build item blue print" which will give you -5% on "units lost after an attack on your castle" (when maxed to level 4). You may have a maximum of three on those per castle which will give you a total bonus of -15%. Another option is to upgrade your "Military hospital" which will give you its maximum bonus of -25% lose of defenders when it is at level 8.

Alliance preparation

Alliance treasury

"Alliance treasury" holds resources for the alliance that is used for permanent and temporary bonuses. It is recommended that all players of the alliance are regularly donating resources, so permanent bonuses can be upgraded to maximum, and in addition, temporary bonuses could be activated during wartime. Normally, players should donate wood & stone (and sometimes also kingdom resources that can be used to other things) but there is no need for them to donate coins & rubies, since those can be achieved separately (as alliance rewards) in some events. Having the "Alliance treasury" with enough resources is essential not just in wartime, but also during peace periods for activating other bonuses for events (e.g. "glory bonus"). This is one of the basic alliance preparation tasks.

Permanent upgrades

Permanent upgrades are bonuses that you can upgrade, using alliance funds. Once your alliance have maximized them, they will remain in effect permanently. Here are the most important ones:

• Support: Travel speed (maximum +390%)
  Will allow support for other players to travel faster, so better chances that you can support an incoming attack in time. Note: During wartime, alliance should also use an additional temporary bonus to increase travel time by +300% which will last for 1 hour.

• Attack travel speed (maximum +100%)
  Will allow any attacks to travel faster (this bonus is not just for wartimes, but also will help alliance players during events).

• Donation bonus (maximum +160%)
  On every donation players are making to the alliance, there is a % bonus. For example: when a player is donating 100 resources to the alliance funds, the alliance will actually get 160 (when this bonus is maxed).

Alliance safe house (called also: "bird")

In wartimes the alliance should have at least one account which is in "protection mode". This allows players to send their attackers to this account, during the time they are offline, making them invulnerable. The "safe house" account should have castles in all kingdoms. Sometimes, when a war starts, some players are not willing to participate due to various reasons. Some of them will move to "sister alliance" or to your "academy" during the wartime (if you have one) or go into "protection mode".

Different time zone coverage

Having players from different countries and continents (e.g. living in different time zones) is a good idea for every alliance. You get to know people from other countries, which makes the alliance more diverse, and your time in-game more fun. This has also a huge benefit during wartimes: you may have players online while others are sleeping. This idea is very good for international servers, but you may find such tactics also in specific servers (people speaking the server language, while living in another country).

Key holders (aka K.H)

Key holders are usually very experienced players, that plays the game for years, and have a good knowledge in setting up defense (usually, those will be also the leaders in the alliance you play in). Those people are fully trustable by other players in the alliance. In many cases, players would like to share their credentials with those "key holders" so they can set up a good defense formation when the players are absence.

Note: in many cases, there is a common fraud that could lead to serious damages, when hackers are trying to get other players credentials. If you are playing with an alliance that has "key holders" and you get a message from someone asking for "your keys" - NEVER REPLY TO SUCH A MESSAGE !!! Those hackers are pretending to be one of your friends or leaders in your alliance (using a name which is very similar to the real person name). If you do decide that you want to share your credentials with a "key holder" always WRITE A NEW MESSAGE, picking his name from the players list in your alliance.

Way of contact outside the game

Medium and big size alliances always have a good way to contact between the members outside the game. This allows players no notify others that are not online about incoming attacks, but also to plan war maneuvers in a more easy and safe way. Any technology that is acceptable on the alliance members will work: Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom, Telegram etc.

The conduct of war

Planning ahead

In case your alliance is the one that is going to start a war, a good planning should be done in advance:

• Mapping targets - Know the other alliance major players, leaders and other assets they own (e.g. towers, trading metropolis or capital). Check if they are players with no "Watch tower" in castles or outposts (or a low-level one). Those are the best targets if you are planning a "war by surprise"
• Define the war goals and objectives - Decide between yourself what is the war's purpose, what achievements you would define as "successful" and in which terms you are willing to end that war. If you plan to capture some assets, ask yourself the question: "could you hold them at wartime, and after war is over?"
• Make sure that you have enough players in your alliance that are "ready for war". Players are willing to fight and help the alliance win the war, and also that they are well prepared for it

Mass attacks

Those are attacks that usually being planned and executed by one of the alliance leaders or by a war marshal. The objective is to attack a specific target(s) in a specific time and coordinate all attacks on that target to hit at the same time. Planning and executing successful "Mass  attack" is one of the key strategies during wartime. Usually it is used against the players with most amount of defenders, but also against the other alliance assets (e.g. towers, trading metropolis or capital) if one of the war objectives is to capture such.

Executing a "Mass attack" can be done in two ways:

• Using the internal system for coordinated attacks mechanism
• Using an external system (managed by any war marshal)

Executing a "Mass attack" with the internal mechanism is done in the following way:

• Click on the "bookmark place" on the target's icons on the map
• Choose the "alliance bookmarks" tab
• Select "bookmark place for coordinated attack"
• Set the time & date 
• Click on attackers: a windows with all alliance members list will show
• Select all names that you want to participate in that attack (or use the checkbox for "all members")
• When you approve your selectness. All members will be notified, and you will see a small "coordinated attack" icon next to the target on the map

Executing a "Mass attack" with an external system is done in the following way:

• Creating a list of players that are ready (willing) to participate in the mass attack
• Creating a list of targets based on the importance on the other side and the number of players that are available to attack (usually 3-5 players v.s. one target is good enough)
• Assign each player one or more targets according to the number of his full armies available
• Using an external countdown timer (e.g. www.timeanddate.com) and sharing the link to that timer with all attackers. They should launch with a "slow down" option, so every attack will hit its target when the timer countdown is exactly 0 (zero)

Cleaner attacks

Those are attacks with minimal number of soldiers (32 for players in level 70) attacking a target without tools & with weak commander. The main objectives of such an attack are:

• Harassment on the other side - Having the other side (both in player & alliance level) "Attack horn" busy (or with high number of attacks that are confusing, difficult to track & manage)
• Cleaning (wasting) tools from the defender's wall, making further full attacks on the same target somehow more successful if all the defender's tools are "wasted"
• Making your opponent spend more rubies on ruby tools. For very long wars this might be a leverage for your side

To send a "Cleaner attack" you need to fill all waves with 1 soldier on all three flanks, without tools and having the total number of attackers not greater than 32. This way every wave will "waste" tools on all flanks of the defender's wall. Since your aim is to lose the battle anyhow, you should use your weakest & cheapest soldiers (you may do it with defenders too). If you need to have those "Cleaner attacks" very fast, you may use a fast commander (e.g. travel speed=80) with 32 wolves (travel speed=80). A good idea is to prepare a template for "Cleaner attacks" that can be used immediately. 

The "Cleaner attacks" when combined with full attacks within a "Mass attack" can be very useful:

• Defender & alliance will see much more attacks on their "Attack horn" which might confuse them, and make them more difficult to track & manage all attacks at once
• Defender will not be able to remove all tools from his walls against a "Cleaner attack" if it is shortly followed by a full attack. This will force him to lose tools
• Players that does not have full armies, can still participate in "Mass attacks" helping others with their full attacks and contributing the effort

Defending as asset

If during the war you managed to occupy a tower, trading metropolis or a capital, you should first make sure that it will be owned by your strongest player (with a super strong castellan). Then, you need to have many defenders constantly on this asset to prevent it from being re-occupied by the other side. For this, each of the alliance players need to send at least 500-1,000 defenders to this asset every 12 hours. Only by keeping an enormous number of defenders there you will have a good chances to keep it.