Defensive Gaul Guide

    This is being posted anonymously at the request of the author.


    A guide on how to be an okay defensive Gaul (by a self-proclaimed ‘okay defensive Gaul’.




    FAQ:


    Does this guide require the purchase of gold? No. This account setup can work with only the gold gained from the auction house. However, a small amount of gold makes this a lot more streamlined and allows for faster development (especially of the capital).


    Does this guide require a lot of time? No. This is a low-maintenance strategy. However, the more time invested, the better the results should turn out.


    Is this a one-size fits all guide? No. Lots of people disagree with my play style. I have taken on board various pieces of advice over the past 2-3 years, and this is what I would call my perfect setup. It works.


    Introduction


    This guide shows how to setup an account capable of training (and feeding) many troops by mid-game. The aim of the account is to have a lot of defensive troops ready to defend the WW. If you want early-game action, then this probably is not the guide for you. However, if you wish to play the whole round and do not mind a quiet start, then this is worth at least considering.


    Basics


    This guide relies on trade routes; therefore, Gold Club is needed (costs 100 gold, which can be made by selling ointments, cages, etc. at the start). Each village (other than the capital) should have a level 8 or higher trade office, because it makes moving resources (for resource pushes or building smaller villages) much easier.


    Rough timescales


    Day 90: V3 should be mostly 24/7 with Phalanxes, and Capital should be training Phalanxes whilst buildings are queued.


    Day 130: Capital should have fields at level 16 (or 17, depending on gold use) and have Phalanxes and Druidriders 24/7. V3 is still 24/7, and V4 is close to, or 24/7 with Druidriders. V6 is on the way to being 24/7 (although resources may still be focused on building smaller villages including 15/9cs). Can easily have 50k+ troops in wheat.


    Day 150: Capital, V3, V4 and V6 are all 24/7 with troops. V4 is now training Phalanxes with Druidriders. Trade routes are mostly feeding defence; however, troops are being fed into the Capital to make feeding easier.


    Account overview


    V1 (spawn): feeder for capital and hosts parties (chiefed around day 60 by an alliance member)


    V2 (9c capital): Phalanx and Druidrider anvil


    V3: Phalanx anvil


    V4: Druidrider anvil*


    V5: V3 feeder


    V6: Phalanx anvil


    V7: 15c


    V8: V4 feeder


    V9: V3 feeder


    V10: V5 feeder


    V11: 9c (or 15c)


    V12: 15c (or 9c)


    All future villages feed one of the three non-capital defence villages.

    Detailed overview


    V1 (Spawn): used for partying and supplying resources to V2. This village eventually is chiefed by a local alliance member because it is a fair distance from your capital. Around 2,000 Phalanxes and roughly 300 Druidriders are trained here to meet alliance requirements for defence.


    V2 (9c cap 150%): The capital is an important part of this account building guide. It is used to train Phalanxes and Druidriders but also to feed the troops trained in your other villages when crop consumption becomes high. Lumber and clay fields should be around level 15, and iron around 13 (by Day 100). Crop tiles should be 14 by Day 100 (with all three oases occupied), then be pushed to 16 or 17 by Day 120.


    V3: 4536 because iron is not too important for a Gaul. Take one with +50% clay and wheat oases if possible. Village should have two warehouses and two granaries. At barracks level 16, start training troops with resources left over after queuing the next two levels, and slowly start upgrading in the forge.


    V4: Similar to V3, however with a 5436 and stable instead of barracks. *At around day 130, start pushing the barracks to level 20, then have both Phalanxes and Druidriders training 24/7.


    V5: Similar to V2, however without the barracks. Get a trade office to level 10-13, and storage only needs to be 80k.


    V6: Found a 15c village (with at least 50% wheat bonus). Crop should not be an issue at this stage, so the fields can be developed at a speed that suits you. Guides on how to efficiently develop a cropper can be found in the appendix (Appendix 2). I like four granaries in a 15c and a level 13 trade office.


    V7: Similar to V2.


    Villages 8-10: Similar to V4. Type of village varies depending on what resources are low. Take a 3446 with iron/wheat oases if low on iron, etc.


    Villages 11+12: Choose one of these as a 15c and one as a 9c.


    Villages 13+: Similar to V8-10.


    Handy tips and tricks (have in a separate post)


    Culture Points: If you want lots of Culture Points, then you can be smart and setup trade routess so that there are enough resources at 12pm to host one in a few villages. E.g. if production is 1500 for each resource, then have no trade routes going from 6am-12pm. You may also build a level 20 academy and embassy in two-three villages.


    Fast Trade Route building: On a Windows PC using Chrome, use Ctrl+Left Click on the ‘Save’ button once you have filled all the relevant fields. This will open a new tab and keep all the filled fields the same. All you need to do is change the time of the trade route (I usually do every three hours, starting at 00:00), then do Ctr+Left Click on the ‘Save’ button again (and repeat until done). This can allow a village’s trade routes to be completed quickly.


    Acknowledgments


    I wish to remain anonymous, as this is a guide I am actively using. So thank you to the forum staff for posting on my behalf.


    Thanks to my first alliance who took me under their wing and showed me the ropes, and to my second alliance who taught me how to cut waves. I also thank those who have bought me gold. Without it, I would not have been able to ‘perfect’ this guide (however, finding numerous gladiator helmets does help).


    Thanks for reading. Please leave any feedback, I am always looking to improve my game, and all suggestions will be considered. If you use this, I would love to know how you get on!


    Appendices


    Appendix one: the guide I always use for village one simming (ignore the TT stuff). Better ones are out there if you ask around (I do not know them, sadly, but please link them in the comments).


    wbb.forum.travian.com/thread/7…tart-game-guide/?pageNo=1


    Appendix two: a guide on how to build a cropper


    cropcalcT44x3.html

    Decent guide for the non-gold/lower activity players. A thing to note is that if you're in a decent team, you can look to send some of the phalanx off as standing defense to your allies, which means less feeding/more res to queue/build with.

    Actually this looks more like a task list which is very easy to execute. Best guides are often the simplest and this certainly looks like one.


    Though I'd like to make a few changes. Just my personal preferences. I'd merge the Druidrider village with a phalanx village. Stable is required for Trade offices, so the added infrastructure is not an issue. But this way, we can avoid the cost of an extra L 20 Smithy and certainly the extra tournament square. Trade routes could be managed to feed the same villages instead of two and after setting them everything would be the same. On another issue, when we'll send hero with the troops form this village, the added defense bonus will affect both kind of troops instead of just phalanxes or Druids.


    To take one more step, I think we can generalize this guide for all the tribes. For Romans or Teutons, you have to look for iron or wood villages instead of clay. I think that is the basic.


    When compared to other defensive units, Praets need more resources and training time. Though they provide 100 defense points per crop, their defensive points are misplaced; which makes them less efficient compared to Phalanx or Spearman. Though praets are effective against club hammer, If you ask me, I'd advice to stick with Gaul or Teuton if you want to play defense.


    For high defense value against cavalry, spearman is very effective against Roman hammers and I consider them the best defensive unit in game. As a Teuton, you can just stick to Spears if you want, they are much better than Paladins. Also Teuton spies only consume 1 crop, even when you send them as reinforcement. For this reason, a Teuton may train a lot of spies and reinforce them as standing sentry to interested allies.


    This is a low activity and low/non gold guide. So I'll avoid raiding part. But still, when it comes to train cavalry, I think we should discuss a little more.


    Romans don't have good, defensive cavalry. And as I mentioned, Spears are much better than Paladins. So I guess, if a Teuton decides to stick with spear only, that is kind of fine. When it comes to a Gaul, Druids are the best defensive cavalry in game (I am not counting the Egyptians). Druids are really fast and very good for quick response and best suited for sniping. So, even though Phalanxes are very well balanced and excellent defensive troops, Druids are almost a "must have" option for Gauls.


    To give a better idea, here is a rough comparison :


    Druids have a basic speed which is 2.28 times faster than Phalanxes and to get Tournament Square benefit they only need 75 minutes compared to 171 minutes of phalanxes. Paladins have a basic speed which is 1.42 times faster than Spears. To get tournament square benefit, Paladins need 2 hours compared to 171 minutes of Spears.


    For a standard distance, lets say 50 fields, with a level 10 tournament square (assuming we are considering small defensive accounts hence the low level of TS) :


    Druids need only 131 minutes, Paladins need 210; both Phalanxes and Spears need 300 minutes. As you can see, Druids are much faster but Paladins are not so much. Still, if you have enough resources and you want some faster troops, Paladin is always an option. (Note: Though they'll never be as good as druids, once you start raiding, you'll find Paladin slightly more useful.)

    Why you call Praets imbalance but Druids not? Druids are more imbalanced than Praets. If you find Praets imbalanced, mix in Legos if you are on your own. In an ally, you would just get spears and the Praet/Spear combo would be best ignoring speed ofc.

    Asif wrote:


    When compared to other defensive units, Praets need more resources and training time. Though they provide 100 defense points per crop, their defensive points are misplaced; which makes them less efficient compared to Phalanx or Spearman. Though praets are effective against club hammer, If you ask me, I'd advice to stick with Gaul or Teuton if you want to play defense.

    Sorry bro, I am not the "know it all" guy; so mistakes might happen on my part and I humbly apologize for them. But I don't think I said Praets are imbalanced, please quote me and refresh my memory. The things I said about Praets are :



    1. They provide 100 points for per crop.
    2. They are effective against club hammer.


    3. They need more time and resources to train.
    4. Their defensive points are misplaced (most points are on infantry def)


    2 pros and 2 cons. Based on that, I gave my personal opinion (If you ask me, I'd advice). Anyone can differ and most welcome. Except club hammer, every hammer is cavalry heavy and that is why I consider cavalry def more important. Praets have more points on infantry def, which is why I commented that the points are misplaced.



    And the reasons I think Druids are useful :

    Asif wrote:

    Druids are really fast and very good for quick response and best suited for sniping.

    I don't think you can do that with Praets.



    I hope to discuss more about Phalanx, Praets and Preats+Lego combo later, when I can manage some time. I hope experienced players would give their opinions and make that interesting.