Resources spent badly in week one show up a month later. The good news is that there is very little you actually need to know, because almost every early feature hangs off a single number. Below are the unlock conditions exactly as Century Games states them, and what each one means for the order you should build in.
The Town Center gates nearly everything
| What unlocks | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Alliance | Town Center Lv. 7 |
| Mysterious Badge as a Daily Mission reward | The day after Town Center Lv. 15 |
| Pets | Server age + Town Center Lv. 18 |
| Mastery Forging (Forgehammers) | Town Center Lv. 20 |
The day after reaching Town Center Lv. 15
— Mysterious Badge FAQ
Upon reaching Lv. 20 Town Center, a new “Mastery Forging” button will appear. Tap it to use the Forgehammers on Hero Gear.
— Forgehammer FAQ
So the plan for week one is simply: keep the Town Center moving. Prerequisite buildings are worth levelling because they let the Town Center go up, not because they are goals in themselves. Forgehammers are the clearest example of why this matters — players hoard them for days wondering why nothing happens, when the button they are looking for does not exist below Lv. 20.
Join an alliance the moment you hit Lv. 7
You can unlock the Alliance feature when your Town Center level reaches 7 or above.
— Alliance unlock FAQ
Construction help, alliance gifts, alliance tech and the Alliance Shop — which is where Teleporters and cheap resources come from — are all locked behind membership. There is no version of this game where staying unaligned is the stronger play. Find an active alliance the same session you unlock the feature.
Gold has exactly two sources
The main source of gold are from residents and Rebel Suppression idle rewards. The higher the level reached in Rebel Suppression, the higher the idle income. Residents provides fixed gold income.
— Gold FAQ
Read that carefully, because it tells you what to do when gold runs dry. Residents pay a fixed rate, so there is no lever there. Idle income scales with how far you have pushed Rebel Suppression — which means a gold shortage is almost always a sign that your Rebel Suppression progress has fallen behind. Pulling hero levelling forward to break through a stuck stage pays for itself, because every stage you clear raises the passive rate permanently.
The fog lifts on Monument milestones, not on a schedule
You can enter the Plains after unlocking [Banner Raised High] in the Monument, Alliance Iron will become available as well. Fertile Land can be entered after unlocking [Grand Conquest].
— Fog FAQ
New players routinely wait for the map to open on its own. It does not. Plains — and with it Alliance Iron — arrives when your kingdom clears Banner Raised High, and Fertile Land when it clears Grand Conquest. Both are Monument milestones, so the map opening is something your server does together.
Skins pay out whether you equip them or not
The stat bonuses will be stacked without equipping the skins. You may find the info in Avatar - Skins - Bonus Details. However, there is a limit to the bonuses. Once the limit is reached, the exceeding stats will not take effect.
— Skin bonus FAQ
Avatar frames, march skins and castle skins all contribute from your collection, so there is no equip decision to agonise over — owning them is enough. The one thing to note is the cap: once a stat is maxed, further sources of that same stat are wasted.
Don't spend Gems in week one
Early Gems look useful everywhere and are needed almost nowhere. Nearly everything you would buy in week one arrives free within a fortnight. If you do intend to buy a card, check your Backpack for a voucher first:
Go to the Top-up Center (tap the Gems on the home page) and select “Weekly Card/Monthly Card.” When you have this voucher in your Backpack, you will straightaway get a discount on your first purchase.
— Monthly Card Voucher FAQ
If you are weighing a purchase, put the real price and the real Gem count into the 💎 calculator above and compare on cost per Gem. Store banners advertise numbers like “+300%” against inconsistent baselines, so they cannot be compared against each other directly.