XYRALITY GmbH is a German game development company which has been active since 2012. The company specializes in Strategy MMO games with Lords & Knights, Crazy Tribes, and Celtic Tribes being its mostly popular games. Most of XYRALITY’s games make it to top 100 lists in several countries and its top 3 games have all earned over a million downloads from the Google Play Store alone. With each of the company’s releases receiving largely positive reviews on both Android and iOS platforms, it’s no surprise to see every game they release become a success on whichever platform it becomes released on.
Fortress Kings – Castle MMO is XYRALITY’s iOS exclusive medieval strategy MMO game that has continuously been picking up since its initial release. Although there are various Strategy MMO games in the market, you can most likely find what you are looking for in the genre when you play Fortress Kings . The game also offers a unique element of competitiveness in that each player aims to moving in closer to the center of the map and to do so, must continuously become more powerful to defeat other players occupying more favorable spots. As you progress further and get closer to the center of the map, rewards become greater but so does the challenge of staying there.
There’s certainly a lot to take in in Fortress Kings and compared to the usual base-building strategy MMO games you may have played in the past, the amount of details and customization options available as you progress in the game is a lot more than the usual. Similar to most Strategy MMOs, though, there is a virtual assistant to guide you each step of the way. While you build each of the initial structures and establish your camp, be sure to take note of some details you will need to understand to progress faster.
Always remember that while there will be idle times at some point in the game, your overall progress and rise to power will be based on the time and dedication you put into the game and how active you are when you go online. You will always be able to grow your fort regardless of what you do in Fortress Kings but if you want to progress as fast as possible, win more battles, and move fast to the inner zone, then our Fortress Kings beginner’s guide, including tips, cheats and strategies, can set you up to become a formidable castle lord and dominate the world.
1. Complete Tasks To Make Progress
Practically every base-building strategy game starts with the creation of each basic structure necessary for the growth of your empire. Some structures will be requisites to others and later on, when you begin to upgrade available structures one by one, some will require others to meet a certain upgrade requirement. As confusing as it may become, the task displayed at the lower left side of your screen will be your main guide in determining which one is of top priority.
Clicking on the task at hand will take you straight to the structure or area where you can accomplish the feat, though in some cases, the task displayed may not be immediately achievable. In such cases, be sure to click on the assistant instead and browse through the list of tasks you need to accomplish to progress your castle’s growth as well as become stronger. You should be able to select some of the other tasks in line and continue to move forward as far as construction, upgrade, or research is involved.
2. Always Multitask To Progress Efficiently
On top of simply following tasks to accomplish, your work within the castle grounds will soon revolve around building and upgrading structures, training troops, and conducting research. At this point in the game, you should always be conscious of being able to efficiently run your fortress. This would mean that you should aim to leave no structure idle and as you wait for one structure to finish construction or upgrade, you continue to recruit soldiers as well as conduct city and military research one after another.
Depending on your VIP level and whether or not you activated the boost it provides, structure building and upgrades can become instantly finished for free. Be sure to take note of the time it becomes free to instantly finish and only proceed to moving to the other tasks once there is an inevitable waiting time. Take note as well that you won’t be able to conduct research, train troops or perform tasks specific to some structures, if they are in the process of being upgraded. Likewise, upgrades won’t be possible as well if the structure is busy with an activity.
Unlike most strategy games that have loosely similar game mechanics, research in Fortress Kings are split between two structures: the University for City Researches, and the Military Academy for Military Researches.
The university, which becomes available to build first, holds city researches and centers around boosts for structural performance within your kingdom which can impact your game play in a variety of ways. Take note that researches can either fall within production, development, or military aspect of your kingdom. Be sure to read through each available item here and consider the time required to complete each research before deciding on which one to prioritize. As some of the initial levels of research here can be completed instantly, perform those researches first. For the rest, it can depend on the time you can invest in the game as well as your preferences and play style.
The military academy will be responsible for conducting researches on the various troops and units your kingdom can produce. As your castle progresses, so should the troops you recruit and train. There are 4 types of units you can consecutively recruit: infantry, artillery, cavalry, and special units. As each one has its own strengths, you should aim to have a growing number of each type for the battles ahead. There are various types of units that can be unlocked and enhanced following research in the military academy. For efficiency and better performance in battle, focus on one type of unit for each category first and exclusively train those unit types.
3. Don’t Hesitate To Use Boosts And Make The Most Out Of It
There’s hardly any guarantee for any player to be able to play and consistently invest as much time in Fortress Kings on a daily basis. The truth is, you will most definitely have days where you can put more hours into it over other days. If you know for certain and have prepared to play the game for longer than usual hours, or more frequently in a particular day, be sure to consume the available boosters you have which can exponentially increase your efficiency and make the most out of each of it.
One of the most common boosters in strategy MMO games, which is also available in Fortress Kings, is the additional builder. As you can normally only have one builder, which means you can only build or upgrade structures one at a time, having a second builder essentially doubles efficiency as far as constructions are concerned. The higher your castle level grows, the longer it will take for such constructions to finish, and an extra hand or two will be very much helpful to have to grow your castle fast.
Even at the starting VIP level, tons of boosts can be acquired once you activate the VIP buff. Like the extra builder, this buff will be active for 24 hours and though all of the boosts it provides are beneficial, the most significant one is the free finish boost. This, combined with the extra builder activation will definitely jumpstart your castle’s growth and tremendously boost your kingdom’s rise to power.
As both boosts will either cost difficult to acquire consumable items or gold, which is the premium currency, it is important to use them only when you are certain that you will make the most out of each. Likewise, using both at the same time will also be very much advisable especially when you are ready to dedicate a lot of time on the game for a particular day.
In addition to these boosts, more common time accelerators will flood your inventory as you complete tasks and quests. These consumables take some minutes off of construction time and will be key to maximizing your overall growth and productivity. Be sure to use these items to cut down construction times when all builders are busy. Likewise, also consider to cut down time down to making instant completions free.
All these boosts used at the right time can make the difference between being a very competitive player in the game or expending valuable resources and missing out on opportunities to get ahead of the pack. As such strategically planning ahead before deciding to spend items or gold on these features is very important especially at the start of your game. You can’t be a hoarder and wind up not using these items until it’s too late but you should also use each one as carefully as you can.
4. Join An Alliance As Soon As You Can
Alliances, guilds, factions, and similar player groupings are staple mechanics in MMO games but most especially for strategy games like Fortress Kings, being a part of one is a necessity and should be entered into once you are able to do so. If you have never played other MMO games or strategy games with an alliance function before, then you should know that being a part of one has loads of benefits at the cost of a little resource contribution as well as some participation and activity.
The most notable benefit, and perhaps the most significant, is having fellow members help you out in your pending constructions and upgrades as each assist will lessen the time it takes to complete constructions and upgrades. Each activity you do and every bit of contribution you make rewards you with alliance points on top of the succeeding strength boost your alliance can unlock for each member once a research finishes. Alliance points can, in turn, be traded in for a variety of useful items at the alliance market.
Later on in the game, depending on the activeness of your alliance, you can strategize as a group and make progress as far as moving to better zones and becoming more powerful are concerned. For this, as well as every other benefit you can receive from an alliance, be sure to choose one that is active, as may be indicated by the number of members before you apply for one. Keep in mind that a lot of benefits later on will not be evident even if you browse through the different menus and information detailed in the alliance window. Be sure to take an active role in the alliance you are a part of and engage in chats with your fellow members. As fellow alliance members will potentially be the closest friends you can have in-game, feel free to ask for assistance when you need to and also provide advise to some newer members who may need them.
5. Study The Skill Tree And Distribute Points Accordingly
At a glance, you may notice how your Keep seems to be of utmost importance in contrast with the rest of the structures within your palace. Although each structure has its own indispensible purpose and value, your keep is a fundamental structure where the rest of the building’s upgrade levels depend on. Beyond that, each level you gain leads to earning a skill point which can be distributed based on your needs or preferences and this can be done at your keep.
Whenever you see a “medal” icon floating above your keep, it means that you still have undistributed skill points which you should immediately attend to as each point you assign leads to a boost or an ability which can further increase your productivity and growth. Categorically, points may be assigned under wealth, progress, attack, or defense and while each one is practically equally important, some are more valuable in some stages of the game over the others.
For starters, bank first on the wealth and progress skill tree as activating attack and defense skills and buffs won’t be of much help if you won’t have wealth to support your production and progress to boost its speed. Be sure to read through all the skills available and aim to get to some skill tree nodes even if it means sacrificing a node just to open the way to it.
Be sure to remember activating skills once you unlock them as these will help boost your growth and performance as well. Take not of cool down periods after the activation of abilities and if you find that one is more useful for you than others, feel free to allocate additional skill points to improve on those abilities.
6. Accomplish Quests At The Tavern
There is a Brew Barn at the tavern where you can consume some beverage items to provide a buff to specific units for a limited amount of time. While this function on its own may not entice you to pay a visit to the tavern on a regular basis, the quests that it holds should be more than enough reason to do so.
On top of the various activities you need to engage in that should well enough push your multitasking skills to the limit, the tavern holds quests for your palace as well as for your alliance which you ought to accomplish each day. You can do 1 of each at a time and each quest holds unique completion times that very much determines the rewards you can get out of any of them. There are no special requirements to initiate any quest. You simply need to highlight one, view the rewards, and click on the “start” button at the bottom of the screen. A notification icon will pop up above the tavern once a quest has been completed so be sure to check on it from time to time and try to accomplish all available quests before the daily reset time.
7. Occupy Resource Spots With Just Enough Troops
Regardless of how efficient you are as far as production of resources are concerned, you will always need more to keep up with your castle’s numerous need for its growth and development. While you will also earn a lot of supply chests as you accomplish tasks and quests, it would be best to save them when you are out of options.
What you should do to gather additional basic resources is to attack, capture, and harvest resources from resource spots across the map. Take note that these resource spots have varying defensive strengths as indicated by their number and you would want to be sure that you have a stronger army for the attack to capture them. Before you can even begin to start capturing resource spots and make them provinces of your kingdom, you should have well more than enough troops to ensure that you leave a bigger portion of your army at home. Likewise, choose to target spots that are much closer to your castle to send and retrieve stationed troops when you need to do so at a faster rate.
8. Prepare Well Before Launching An Attack
Taking on NPCs scattered across the world map is nothing compared to attacking other players. On top of hidden surprises and potential retaliations, what you should consider to be the biggest threat when you choose to attack another player goes well beyond what that player does next. It’s highly unlikely that you will find a player in Fortress Kings who do not belong to any of the numerous guilds. As such, you may experience vengeance not just from the player himself but also from his fellow alliance members who may attack you and your fellow alliance members back. This is why a lot of preparation should be made prior to choosing to attack any other player.
First and foremost, always send a spy to an enemy camp before you decide if you should attack or not. Spies won’t always successfully give you details and may instead make information about your camp available to the enemy but then again, you should still choose to obtain more information on an enemy as even a lower level player may have a stronger army than you.
When you do decide to attack, be ready for potential counterattacks later on as that is what typically happens in MMO strategy games unless you are lucky enough to attack an inactive player, or perhaps one that got kicked out of an alliance. Your priority should also consider your defenses as well as protection of resources which may be plundered. For defensive purposes, you will notice that some of your units are more suitable for it and it would be best to choose to leave them in your castle at all times. As far as resources go, don’t consume supply boxes in excess of what you need.
Relative to this, be sure to also keep your castle walls upgraded. Depending on how active your alliance is, you can seek help from them when you are threatened with an incoming attack. If your alliance already has a fortification under its control, you can always move your castle there through the use of the Traveling Permission.
9. Always Check Your Inventory
Time accelerators and supply chests may very well be the typical items you will more commonly utilize from your inventory but there may be a variety of other items that you can consume to speed up your progress or help you in some other way.
Be sure to constantly check on what you have as some items, like gold, VIP points, or even lucky coins are better used sooner than later. There are other items you may want to look at as well like tokens that contain boosters for your productivity as we mentioned earlier. Again, for supply chests, only choose to consume them when you desperately need additional resources and conquering provinces for extra harvests are impossible if not too challenging.
And that is all we have for now on our Fortress Kings beginner’s guide. We hope you picked up some tips and strategies you found useful in an attempt to become a dominant force in the game and we likewise hope you enjoyed reading through our guide. With the vast content and deep details compressed into this addictive strategy game, it is very much possible that there are still some tips and strategies for beginners we have not mentioned. If you know additional tips or tricks, don’t hesitate to share them with us as well as our readers through the comment section!