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You're not behind. The game is designed to make you feel that way.
This page takes 3 minutes to read. It'll save you months of scattered investment and hundreds of dollars spent on the wrong things.
This page takes 3 minutes to read. It'll save you months of scattered investment and hundreds of dollars spent on the wrong things.
You joined a server months behind. Everyone above you has compounding — research stacking, troops trained, heroes levelled. Their 1% daily gain adds more power than yours, because their base is bigger.
That's not a skill gap. That's maths.
When you feel weakest, the game offers a shield. A speed-up. A deal. The timing is not a coincidence. It created the problem, then sells the solution.
You can't outgrind someone ahead. You can't outspend a whale. Time and money — someone has more of both.
But you can fight smarter. That's this guide.
Everything is a multiplier on a base. Thin base = thin results. Here's how to build something worth multiplying.
Pick one faction — Fighters, Riders, or Shooters. Fill every formation with them. Research bonuses, hero passives, faction bonuses all multiply the same troop type. Mixed troops = half your army gets no multiplier.
Single highest-impact decision. Zero cost.
FREE — DO THIS TODAYSame faction as your troops. Fighter ATK, Fighter DEF, Fighter Damage — go deep in one tree. Every point stacks on the same base and compounds every battle.
Deep research in one faction beats shallow research in three, even if the second player has higher Watchtower.
COMPOUNDS DAILYHeroes are front and centre in every screen, every offer. Powerful, but only if the base is solid underneath.
A great hero on scattered troops with shallow research is a turbocharger on a bicycle. Looks impressive. Doesn't win.
BUILD ON A STRONG BASEGreat heroes on thin base = thin results. Strong base with decent heroes wins.
Find your bracket below, then click to see what you should be focusing on.
Primary focus: Set all formations to one faction (free), start Fighter research, build core heroes (Guy, Tristan, Francis).
Don't worry about: 3rd faction skills, expensive equipment, alliance war depth.
Next milestone: WT11 unlocks T5. Get your core trio to 3★ by then.
Primary focus: Deep Fighter research (ATK → Damage → DEF). Keep all 4 formations pure. Star-up core trio to 4★.
This is the power-scaling phase. Research gap starts to compound visibly. Stay deep in Fighter while others spread across factions.
Next milestone: WT22 unlocks T8 — the inflection point. Push hard to get there early.
Primary focus: T8 + T9 unlocks. Star-up to 5★. Start Rider/Shooter research for WT coverage. Begin skill book optimization (Passive > Active).
This is the inflection zone. T8→T10 adds as much CP as T1→T7 combined. Make sure you're positioned here before others catch up.
Next milestone: WT28 unlocks T10. Get there by WT26 if possible.
Primary focus: Max active skills (Lv.30), passive skills (+30%), equipment (Lv.80+). Hit WT30 to unlock Industrial Age.
This is end-game before the fork. Before WT30, pure faction focus wins. After WT30, you need secondary faction depth.
Next milestone: WT30 unlocks Industrial system. Plan your secondary faction early (by WT25) so you're not scrambling post-30.
Primary focus: Secondary faction depth. Meta-hero acquisition (Quinn, Megan, Corleone). Industrial Camp upgrades. Prepare for S3 (territory conquest).
This is where the meta shifts. Single-faction research plateaus. New power sources (Industrial, meta heroes) yield bigger returns.
Next milestone: S3 hits your server — territory conquest becomes the game. Start building relationships with strong alliances now.
At every bracket, the priority is identical: Troops (concentration) → Research (investment) → Heroes (multiplicative). Concentrate troops 1st (free), invest in faction research 2nd (compounding), optimise heroes 3rd (expensive but multiplicative).
Food + Wood only. Build your faction foundation, lock formations to 100% Fighter, start Research Center early. Alliance Hall and camp prereqs begin — don't neglect them.
Iron + Power now required. Research order: ATK → Damage → DEF. Star core trio to 4★. Alliance Hall is your gatekeeper at almost every level from here.
T8 adds more CP than T1–T7 combined. Push WT22 as early as possible. Costs scale to 100M–600M per resource per level. Hoard before pushing.
T10 at WT28. Each level costs 860M–1.3B per resource. Time pushes to events. WT30 unlocks Industrial Age. Plan secondary faction before you arrive.
The Progression Guide maps every level from WT1 to WT30 — every prerequisite building, every upgrade cost, and what triggers each troop tier unlock. If you're planning a specific push, the numbers are there. View the WT1→WT30 cost guide →
The Watchtower controls hero level caps, building unlocks, world map access, survivor slots, radar missions, and troop tier availability. It's not the only thing that matters — it's the thing everything else gates behind.
Before upgrading anything, ask: "Does this help me reach the next Watchtower level?" If not, it's probably not your highest-return move right now.
The game's UI encourages breadth — red dots on every building, notifications for entertainment structures, decorative upgrades. These scatter your attention. The compounding actually happens when you optimize Watchtower prerequisites 1st, then everything else.
The habit: Before logging off, check: are both construction queues running? Is research active? Every idle hour is compounding time lost. This one habit adds up to days of advantage over a season.
The trap: Upgrading everything evenly feels productive but spreads construction time across buildings that don't gate your progression. Depth-first on Watchtower, breadth later.
If heroes won't level past a cap, your Watchtower is the bottleneck. Each WT level raises the hero level cap. Heroes can't outgrow your Watchtower — so push it first.
Your alliance is a 20–30% power multiplier, free. Active alliances pull ahead of passive ones. 30 members helping daily beats 3 whales + 27 ghosts.
Each ally who taps help cuts 2–3% off build time. Request on all building upgrades — it adds up to 20–30% faster progression. After unlocking Radar, relocate near your alliance for faster reinforcements.
Activity = free construction speed. 30 helpers beats 3 whales + 27 ghosts.
Scouting takes 10 seconds. Losing troops takes days to heal.
Season 2 starts now, but S3 (Industrial upgrades) and S4 (coordinated rallies) reward alliances that built relationships early.
S3 rewards: Alliance events drop Precision Parts — the bottleneck resource for Industrial upgrades. Members of active alliances get 3–5x more.
S4 rewards: Cryolite cannot be passively farmed — rallies give thousands per kill. Alliances doing coordinated rally chains outpace solo players 10:1.
S5/S6: Territory control and faction conquest are purely alliance-based. You cannot compete solo. Build those relationships now.
The game is designed to consume your entire day. Every mechanic (notifications, red dots, energy timers, help requests) creates reasons to check in. The counter is deliberate play: decide when, play focused, then close. Your real-life time is the scarcest resource.
15–20 minutes, twice daily (morning + evening) is enough for most C2P players.
Two focused sessions beat six scattered check-ins. Batch your play, extract max value, then close the app. The game has no answer for a player who controls their own schedule.
Survivor dialogues: Tap every survivor with an exclamation mark. Each dialogue choice rewards rubies + speed-ups. Takes 10 seconds, repeats daily.
Free daily recruit: Radio Station gives one free recruit every day. Stack these — free resources compound.
Alliance help taps: Tap allies' help requests when you see them. You get small rewards; they get faster builds. Free relationship investment.
These small sources don't look like much individually. Over a season (90 days), they add up to the equivalent of a small spending budget.
Notifications are timed to disrupt your day. "Always something to check" is intentional design. Batch your sessions, play deliberately, then close. You control the schedule — the game doesn't.
Every server has a competitive landscape. Most players think they're fighting everyone. They're not. Here's who's actually on the field:
Concentration doesn't make you whale-proof. Nothing does. But it makes you spiky enough that players in your bracket — scattered, unfocused, a couple months ahead — would rather hit someone else.
You're an urchin. Soft inside, covered in pointy bits. Big fish don't notice. Your size learns to avoid. Over time, the urchin grows fangs.
5 guides on this site. Here's the order that makes the most sense:
You don't need to read them all at once. Each guide stands alone. But the 1st 3 (this page, Troops, Heroes) give you 80% of what you need for better decisions immediately.
The game has no answer for a player who knows the system and plays with patience. You're already ahead just by being here.