Age Of Empires Ii Guide
Matt Dreher
No one can tell you how to spend your money, but having this as my #1 Tip lets you go in with your eyes wide open, clearly acknowledging Spending and its relevance to your gaming experience.
An Alliance can add a whole new dynamic to Empires and Puzzles, as you strive to compete in Wars and Quests, giving your all to obtain the best loot and rewards for you and your buddies.
What an honest piece of work you put here, sir.
I would have liked to learn some of these tips when I started 3 and half years ago. Luckily, I never gave a 5-star as food, but I have made another mistakes, like chasing heroes (I still damn you, Heimdall).
If I could give one more tip is the most valuable currency on E&P is patience. I remember I spent all my saved gems 6 months after I started playing because I chased Mother North. Of course I did not get her and it was the first time I got frustrated by the game. A couple of days ago I pulled her from the portal, with a nice sweater as a second outfit.
P.S. On the Yellow Ninja page I left you a challenge, to rank all the ninjas from Mika to Ruby. However I learnt earlier today there are 5 more coming, hence I will throw the challenge when they are available.
In your opinion what is the best troop for each color? I have 1 purple cyclopes, 1 green cyclops and the rest 4* season 1 troops. Which ETS (Epic troop summon is the best. I am leaning towards magic but not really sure. As always love the posts.
As always, insightful, engaging and honest. I am pay to play but always spend within my budget. It is an aspect that one must not lose sight of. Thanks for sharing, and always look forward to your reviews with anticipation. You are unequivocally a guru of empires and puzzles. Best, RM14
Great post, as always, and full of tips that are 100% solid. Also all the other posts are more good info, like set a budget, dont chase, there will be another great hero in next event. I am pretty advanced and would love to hear your comments on HA (grind troops not just retrain 5*?), Alchemy Lab, and Hunters Lodge. Thanks again, happy holidays.
You can run 2 lanes in the Hero Academy and Troops are often the second option for me. (The first is still retraining Legendaries, tho this may change in future as the effort seems futile & we have the Soul Exchange now).
For those of us without any experience at all, it would be nice for a little basic guide in the best way to level up your heroes, what to look for when selecting your tea. & basic tips and tricks like upgrading farms and mines etc.
Just have it as a pin so people can refer to it.
Where to hoard food/ iron will always depend on your play style, micro transaction budget, roster, and options ( gems , completed buildings, researched levels, recruits, ingredients, battle items, etc. )
Thank you so much for all of this. Incredibly kind of you.
I have been doing my own research, and have come across the You Tube channels and the wiki site.
I was just a little frustrated at how in the dark I was after the walkthrough and before I was able to join an alliance.
Thank you so much for this.
I have been doing some of my own research and did come across the YouTube vids.
I was just a bit fustrated at being blind in between finishing the walkthrough and joining an alliance
But thanks so much for all the info.
This is a HOW TO guide on starting the mobile (only) game Empires and Puzzles (don't install until you read below), which is my new obsession. If you aren't interested in playing a game where you match three to five gems to battle for land, then this post isn't for you! But if you DO want to play this highly addicting game (that even BETHANY enjoys playing), then read on!
(Disclaimer: I'm not an expert at the game, but I did notice many things I messed up and wish I could do over. Many of these things have been learned through advice from guildies, especially Cno. Thanks for your help!)
(EDIT - for 2022, I'm updating many of my tips pages, including this! Just watch for an EDIT message. This is hardly a NEW obsession anymore, so I'm going back through and making updates as needed. I'm guessing not much on this blog post will change, but some of the tips will. And I'll be adding a bunch more for the new year! So check them out!)
You match three+ of a kind to 'battle' your enemies. You also have a town with a stronghold that allows you to make more powerful attacks. You keep upgrading and getting heroes that do more cool stuff as you go along. It's a game of patience, though, as it takes longer and longer to upgrade buildings (minutes, then hours, then days). You can play entirely free! If you want to develop faster, you can spend money, but there are monthly promotions, so don't spend unless you're getting a deal. Free play is good enough for me, though!
DO NOT INSTALL WITHOUT SOMEONE GIVING YOU A LINK!! Players can give links and using one gives you 10 days of VIP access, which is REALLY useful! Post on your favorite social media asking friends for their link. It helps them, too, but they can only use three invites (I think). If you can't find anyone, use mine. If you play, feel free to post your link in the comments below. As you're installing, read the next section.
After the game installs, you go through a short tutorial. You must do as they prompt, but keep in mind, they are NOT showing you strategy. What they make you do is NOT good strategy, but just how to play the game. Pay attention to the mechanics, only. Once it's done, read the next section. I'm assuming you've done that to continue.
Do NOT spend Gems (those blue gems that allow you to skip things) yet. These are incredibly valuable and the game makes it seem like you can just throw them away. DO NOT WASTE THEM. You need to save 300 of them to summon heroes. NEVER EVER use them to do a daily summon. ONLY use them to get guaranteed 3 stars or higher.
Do NOT train with heroes you want to keep. If you use a hero to train, that hero disappears forever. So there are two types of heroes: those you upgrade, and those you sacrifice to those you upgrade. You NEED smaller guys in the future, so once you upgrade someone, do NOT sacrifice them away! Also, I suggest saving special 'Trainer' heroes to use when you get 4- or 5-star heroes. You WILL get these in about a week or so (depending on how much you play), so BE PATIENT!
At first, you don't do a lot besides go through the campaign and upgrade your town. I might do some strategy tips later, but for now, I'll just go over the basics. If you ever wonder about what something does in game, there are often little ?s to click on that will tell you everything.
What Buildings To Upgrade
First off, everyone has the same exact buildings in the game that open up as your SH gets higher level. If a building is available, just build it. Location doesn't really matter, as you can move them. You aren't choosing one over another. This is true for a very long time until Advanced Buildings.
Buildings can't be upgraded above your stronghold (SH) level. So here's what you do for a while (until you learn how the game works better and can decide for yourself). Upgrade your farms first to match your SH level because food is the most important resource at first. Then upgrade your mines to match your SH level. Then upgrade your ore storage enough to upgrade your SH. When you click UPGRADE on a building, it will tell you how much you need. If you click on food or ore on your screen, it will tell you your current max capacity. This is not the same as a farm or mine's max capacity. That's how much it will hold until you start losing it. I was always running out of food, so I didn't often update my food storage at these early levels. If you play less often, you will want your food storage upgraded to your SH.
Once this is all done, then you can consider upgrading other buildings. Here's what you might consider, depending on your space:
Training Grounds - You need a level 2 until you hit SH level 4. Then you need a second Training Grounds, one at 2 and one at 4. This is how you'll get your training heroes. You'll probably get your actual heroes from the daily summons, since you can get rares once in a while (three stars). If you want 4 star or 5 star guys, you have to pay some gems.
Forge - You make battle gear here. Minor Healing Potions (level 1) are well worth it and you can take 20 into battle with you. I usually bring those, Antidotes, Minor Mana Potions, and Arrows. They grow in cost, so use cheap stuff first. Try to avoid using the freebies of higher power stuff they give you. It's really too potent right now for you (until you're level 10+). Eventually have two forges. One at level 1 for Minor Heal Potions, and the other to get other stuff (level 4 should be fine until SH level 10).
(EDIT - If you're finding that you need to use battle items (even the low level ones), you have probably gone too far in the campaign. You need to play these lower levels over and over (called 'farming') to get more power. This will be something you always do throughout the game. And never NEVER use the 75 gems to continue a level! Replay it when you're higher level. Gems are far too valuable. Also, don't go too crazy making these low level items. Often the same resources will be used for the high end items and you'll be sad when you run out of those starting around level 40 or so.)
Storage - Build multiples of these instead of upgrading them fully. Upgrade as needed, but upgrading from 7 to 8 is WAY more expensive than 6 to 7, and the increase is nearly the same. Add storage as you need.
Watchtower - This produces food and ore, but much slower. Also, this can get raided by other players (see Raids below). Consider upgrading to about half of your SH level, but it's up to you. As you upgrade, it becomes more expensive to skip raid enemies (also see below). So upgrade with caution!
(EDIT - The amount that can be raided is how much that is in the Watchtower when you log off. If you clear out your Watchtower right before you close the game, raids will take nothing from you. I used to clear out my Watchtower first thing when I logged on, which can be a good habit if you ever forget when you log off, but now I'm in the habit of collecting right before I log off.)
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