Tips for New Players II

Guide to harvesting

Research Needed
Step 1: Click on an empty plot in your city and build a library.

Step 2: When you have enough research points available, move your mouse over the green Research button on the menu, then select the "Available to Research" side button. Research Haggling.


Buildings Needed
Step 1: When your Haggling research is finished and when you have enough resources to do so, click on an empty plot in your city and build a Marketplace.

Step 2: Once built, click on the Marketplace. Click on the Production seal in the upper right-hand corner. If you have completed the tutorial and the gift caravan from the King has arrived, then you have the needed resources to make some caravans. Under Production Orders, type in the number of caravans you wish to make and click on the Make button. You can have up to a total of 5 caravans until you upgrade your marketplace and do further Trade research.

If you didn't complete the tutorial, then you need 10 gold and 1 horse to make each caravan. The gold will be produced from taxes. To make a horse, click on your Paddock. Upgrade it to level 1. When the upgrade is finished, click on the Production seal in the upper right-hand corner. Under Production Orders, type in the number of horses you wish to make and click on the Make button.


Harvesting Resources
Depending on the browser or device you use to play the game, you may be using the old World Map or the new World Map. Some symbols are different between them. On the old map, the symbol for a caravan is the donkey that you see under your Marketplace's production orders page . On the new map, it's a wagon .

Step 1: Click on the World Map icon in the menu bar. Click on the tower icon in the center of the compass to make sure the map is centered on your town.

Step 2: It's easier to see resources if you turn off the terrain on the map. On the old map, you can turn off Terrain by clicking on the Option tab, clicking to remove the check mark next to Terrain on the list, and then clicking on the Option tab to close it. On the new map, look for Terrain under Graphics at the bottom of the map and click on the box next to it to remove the Terrain graphics.

You may wish to remove more of the map graphics by removing the check marks, but you'll need to leave the Resources checked. I'd strongly advise you leave the Moving Units and Encampments checked as well so you can see if another caravan is about to arrive at the resource or if an army is encamped on the spot. (Your caravan will die if you send it to a square with an army encamped on it.)

Step 3: Look for food , gold , wood , clay , iron , and stone icons. They will have a white circle background. If someone is already harvesting a resource, you will see a caravan right next to the resource--on the same square--and it isn't moving. Use the arrows on the compass to move around the World Map to find a resource. The further from your town, the longer it will take for your caravan to get to the resource.

Step 4: When you have found a resource, click on that square. A menu will come up with a graphic of the resource, an "Abandoned ______" description, and the option to Harvest Resources. On the new map, a caravan wagon icon will appear below the resource icon if a caravan is already harvesting that resource. To harvest the resource, click on the "Harvest Resource" option.

Step 5: You will be taken to the Send Harvesting Mission page. Type in the number of caravans you wish to send to that resource and click on Send. The caravan will go to the spot, harvest the resources, and return without further instructions from you. Your caravan will stay on the resource square until it's finished harvesting as much as it can, until interrupted by another player's caravan or replaced by one of your own caravans, or you send a messenger to recall it (once you've researched and made a Messenger). Once your caravan returns home, it will stay there unless you send it back out.


Things to Consider
1. Your caravans will start off able to carry 200 of a resource with a harvesting speed of 200 resources an hour. The caravan will take several minutes to reach the resource square, then an hour for each caravan you send to complete its harvesting, then the return time.

If you have several resources nearby, sending out 1 caravan to 5 resource squares will get those resources back to your town faster than if you send 5 caravans to 1 resource square. This is because each caravan you send harvests in a row rather than all at once. As in, if one caravan takes an hour to harvest, then if you send 5 caravans, they will take 5 hours harvesting before they return.

2. If you're in a crowded area, you may accidentally send your caravan to a resource square where another player's caravan arrived first (even if no one was there when you sent yours). You will get a message that you "rudely interrupted" a certain player's caravans from a certain town. We call this "bumping" another person's caravan. The majority of players try to avoid purposely bumping someone else's caravans, but it happens all the time in crowded spots. No one will comment on it unless the bump looks deliberate. It never hurts for a new player to send a message saying, "I'm sorry" if it happens, though, so do so if you wish to.

3. Currently, if your caravan passes over or by an army your caravan is not harmed. If there is an army occupying the resource square (this looks like several tents set up on the spot ), your caravans will die when they reach the square. Don't send caravans to that square.

4. Each resource can have up to 3500 of the resource. You can repeatedly harvest it until it's gone. Every six hours (at 0:00, 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00 game time), there is a chance that a new resource will appear at that empty spot or on another spawn square that currently has NPCs on it. Spawn squares can be empty, have resources to harvest, or have a Non-Playable Character animal or faction encampment (these have a purple circle behind them). Resources will remain on a spot through the spawn times unless completely harvested and empty before the re-spawn.

According to GM StormCrow, every 6 hours, the system checks how many spawn squares are in each region and how many resources are still remaining in that region. (A region is like Middle Kingdom or Norweld.) It then rolls a random number (up to the total number of spawn squares in the region). If the number is higher than the current number of resources, then more resources are seeded in the region. (I assume enough are added to make the total number of resources equal to the number rolled.)

Basically, regions that have their resources harvested heavily will also be the ones that have new resources more frequently appearing. In less harvested regions, the new resources are spawned less frequently, so you end up traveling further and further from your city to find resources to harvest. This is why Teleporting your capital to a less crowded region to avoid frequent bumping of your caravans isn't necessarily a good idea.

5. Caravans have a color. On the new map, there's a colored circle around the caravan as it moves and a colored square window when it's harvesting. Your caravans are blue , the caravans of your allies (if you're in an alliance) are green , caravans of players neutral toward you are yellow , and the caravans of players you're at war with are red . On the old map, your caravan's circle color is green, your allies are blue, neutral is yellow (and white?), and enemy is red.

6. One way to "claim" a spot once your first caravan arrives is to send a caravan to replace it before the first one starts home. Or you can send enough caravans to harvest everything on the square and hope no one bumps you. When you send a caravan out to harvest, it's travel time appears under the Movements side button of the Trade Overview menu.


Rules
There are no rules. But the following is good advice.

1. Don't send your caravans to a spot where someone else is already harvesting. Doing this on purpose and repeatedly will make your neighbors not like you.

2. The possible exception is for the resource squares that are within 2 or 3 squares distance from your city. These are generally viewed as "yours" if you want that resource. You still might want to avoid bumping your allies, though.

3. Some players will bump anyone who isn't an ally off of resources within a 10 or 20 square distance from their city (as long as the other player isn't closer to the resource). They can get their replacement caravan there more quickly than you if you choose to bump them back. If you wish, you can bump back if the bump was obviously deliberate. This tends to make things worse between the two players as each tries to get the other person to respect their caravan rights. Personally, I just find an unoccupied resource if I'm bumped. If you're uncertain if repeated bumps were deliberate, you can message the player and ask nicely if there's a problem. Usually, it's an accident or the problem can be quickly resolved.

4. A few players will place an army on a resource square to occupy it until their caravans are finished harvesting. If another player accidentally sends their caravan to the spot (since the army wasn't on the spot on the map at the time) and their caravan is killed, most players will consider this a hostile act. It probably won't result in a war, though. This is one way players deal with having their caravans repeatedly and deliberately bumped from resources near their city.

5. If a resource is on a square that another player has claimed with sovereignty, then you harvest there at your own risk. Most players don't care, but a few do. You can always send the player an in game mail and ask if it's okay to harvest on that square.

To players with sovereignty: if it really bothers you to have players harvest on your sovereignty, you can send your own caravan to bump them off. It's even more effective to send a scout to see who the caravans belong to and to send the player an in game mail asking them to stop harvesting there.

To players claiming sovereignty: If you wish to claim sovereignty (or increase the level of sovereignty) on a square that has resources for harvest, check to make sure no caravans are there. If there are, use your own caravan to bump the other player's caravan off or your army will kill their caravans. When you send your army to that square, your own caravans won't be harmed. Personally, I try to claim sovereignty when there are no resources on the spot, and I also don't leave the army there longer than 10 minutes.


I'm sure not everyone will agree with my "rules," so feel free to add your own opinion to this thread.


Advanced Tips

Move your mouse over the Research menu button and click on the Research Tree side button. Click on the Trade seal. Move your mouse over the research squares to learn more about the possible research paths.

If you wish to have more caravans:
Haggling - when you finish this research, you can build a marketplace and then up to 5 caravans.

Bartering - if you have researched Haggling and have a level 5 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 5 more caravans (for a total of 10 caravans).

Trading - if you have researched Haggling and Bartering and have a level 10 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 10 more caravans (for a total of 20 caravans).

Merchantilism - if you have researched Haggling, Bartering, and Trading and have a level 15 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 10 more caravans (for a total of 30 caravans).

Cartels - if you have researched Haggling, Bartering, Trading, and Merchantilism and have a level 17 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 10 more caravans (for a total of 40 caravans).

Commerce - if you have researched Haggling, Bartering, Trading, Merchantilism, and Cartels and have a level 18 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 15 more caravans (for a total of 55 caravans).

Enterprise - if you have researched Haggling, Bartering, Trading, Merchantilism, Cartels, and Commerce and have a level 20 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows you to build 15 more caravans (for a total of 70 caravans).


If you want your caravans to hold more:
Improved Loading - if you have researched Haggling and have a level 3 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to each hold 300 resources (rather than 200).

Reinforced Cartwheels - if you have researched Haggling and Improved Loading and have a level 7 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to each hold 600 resources.

Baggage Train - if you have researched Haggling, Improved Loading, and Reinforced Cartwheels and have a level 12 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to each hold 1,000 resources.

Juggernaut - if you have researched Haggling, Improved Loading, Reinforced Cartwheels, and Baggage Train and have a level 17 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to each hold 1,500 resources.

Caravanserai - if you have researched Haggling, Bartering, Trading, Merchantilism, and Cartels and have a level 20 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to each hold 3,000 resources.


If you want your caravans to load faster when harvesting:
Chain Gang - if you have researched Haggling and have a level 4 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to harvest at 210 resources per hour (rather than 200).

Goods Pallet - if you have researched Haggling and Chain Gang and have a level 8 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to harvest at 230 resources per hour.

Loading Platform - if you have researched Haggling, Chain Gang, and Goods Pallet and have a level 13 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to harvest at 260 resources per hour.

Conveyor System - if you have researched Haggling, Chain Gang, Goods Pallet, and Loading Platform and have a level 18 marketplace, you can research this technology which allows your caravans to harvest at 300 resources per hour.



If you want to buy or sell something on the market or send resources to another city, you may see the distance but not how long it'll take for your caravans to travel that distance. Your caravans travel at 20 plus the-level-of-your-marketplace squares per hour. So a player with a level 2 marketplace will have caravans that travel 22 squares per hour. If the distance is 220 squares, they will take 10 hours to travel there and 10 hours to travel back. A player with a level 20 marketplace will have caravans that travel 40 squares per hour. They will take 5 hours 30 minutes hours to travel a distance of 220 squares and 5 hours 30 minutes to travel back.

The map is 2000 squares by 2000 squares in size, so if your city is near the center of the map and someone on the edge of the map buys your goods on the market, it could take nearly 4 days round trip for a new player or 2 days for a player with a level 20 marketplace. If your city is near the edge of the map, it could take up to 9 days for a new player or almost 6 days for for a player with a level 20 marketplace.

If you want to know how long it will take any unit to travel between two squares, this calculator will be helpful.