What to build?

by VorteX and Acwder

Constructing different buildings (there are 14) is one of the basic actions in Alliances At War, and one of the first you will perform. Perfecting your build strategy and customizing it for every possible situation may well give you the advantage you need against your many enemies. Every building is vulnerable to aggressive destruction in some way, though a building type like homes tends to be targeted more frequently than other types. To aid you we have compiled a couple of standard builds used by most players and alliances.

Growth build

This is an ideal build for growing safely.

• 30% Homes (45% if Mori Hai, 15% if Balrog, 0% if Dwarf)
• 7% Farms (11% if Uruk Hai, 0% if Spirit)
• 25% Academies *
• 3% Guilds
• 6% Yards
• 29% Mines

* Running more academies than you have land to support is wasteful. Generally speaking you wont need to run any academies below 2000 acres. Above 2000, try to run mage level 20; above 2500, try to run mage level 25. When your tribe is really big or really small, it is often a good idea to build churches and guardhouses instead.

Research Build

A crucial part of Alliances At War is research. Research is most effective when the whole alliance gathers it. The ideal research build maximizes the amount of Labs. Use the same build as for growth, but build Labs instead of Mines/Yards.

• 30% Labs *

* If you run more than 30% labs the extra labs will produce less than 1 research point per tick.
* Maintaining Labs increases the decay rate of science after you have invested your research points. Either demolish all labs or keep running a lot of labs as alliance.

War builds

Alliances At War is a war game, and therefore it is natural that some alliances go head–to–head in a war brimming with action and fun. But what should a tribe build in times of war?

There are 3 war builds: Thief, Mage and Attacker. Each has its own uses, and each has its own building strategy.

Attacker

• 30% Homes (Same exceptions as above)
• 8% Farms (Same exceptions as above)
• 20% Weaponries
• 25% Academies (or maximum allowed if you are below 2450 acres)
• 17% Guilds

Note: If you are being targeted by mages, demolish some guilds and/or weaponries and convert them to churches (or get a higher mage level). The guilds are useful to be self–sustainable. If you're being targetted by thieves, build Guard Houses. Either way, it is recommended to start off offensively to be able to kill other tribes more effectively. After all, offense is the best defense.

Mage

• 30% Homes (Same exceptions as above)
• 7% Farms (Same exceptions as above)
• 25% Academies (Or maximum % possible if smaller than 2450 land)
• 38% Guilds

If you are dealing with a high mage level enemy, run more Academies and less Guilds. If you are dealing with a low mage level enemy, run less Academies and more Guilds for more fire power. Templars need not run any academies if they use Mystics instead (at least 25 mystics per acre you own).

Thief

• 30% Homes (Same exceptions as above)
• 7% Farms (Same exceptions as above)
• 20% Churches
• 4% Guilds
• 39% Hideouts

If you are under heavy assault by mages, it is advisable to demolish some Hideouts and build more Churches and/or Academies.

Turtle build

• 33% Homes (Same exceptions as above)
• 7% Farms (Same exceptions as above)
• 25% Guard Houses
• 25% Churches
• 4% Guilds
• 3% Bastions
• 3% Hideouts

Remember to use Thieves Trap and cast Seal of Deflection. It is optional to build additional Homes, like we did. Think of these extra homes as cannon fodder. You may consider building Walls or Bastions instead of Guard Houses if the alliance attacking you is not using thievery, and vice versa for mages and churches. You only need walls at all if the enemy has dangerous attackers.

Last updated: January 2013