Table of Contents

I've been playing LoU for about 2 years now under the name sleepmonster.  I've been very fortunate to be a part of some really good alliances in world 20, 38 and 69.  I learned a lot of strategies from playing the game and from other great players.  If you want to play with me, here's my link:  http://www.lordofultima.com/ref/2371748513

The goal of the game is to get 8 level ten places, one of each virtue.  You should aim to grow your empire, contribute to palaces, protect your cities and removing threats on your continent.  Read the entries below:

Beginner's Strategies 

• LoU Third Party Tools
• Your First City in LoU
• Your Second City in LoU
• Subsequent Cities 
• First 7 Days Tutorial
• Noobies FAQ
• Resource city
• Pure Gold City and Gold/Resource Cities
• Gold City/Hub

Intermediate

• Food City
• Berserker Castle
• Mage Castle
• Settling Strategies and Palaces
• Level 10 Palace City Layout
• Palace Hubs
• Locking Palaces (outdated)
• Dungeons and Bosses
• Setting Ministers

Advanced

• System of Hubs for Palace Donation
• Other Millitary Cities
• Recruitment Times
• PvP Strategies
• OFFENSE

• Scout
• Plunder
• Assault
• Siege
• Setting up attacks
• Navy

DEFENSE

• Defense against scouts
• Defense against plunders
• Defense against assaults
• Defense against siege, siege weapons, and baron sieges 
• Navy defense 

• Forcing Palace Enlightenment
• Continent invasion

Game Mechanics 

I didn't have to write this before, but since EA replaced the LoU Wiki with the useless forum, I have no place of reference for game mechanics.  Most of the content in this section is plagerized from the old LoU Wiki.  I only make updates to reflect changes to the game.

• Alliances
• Cities
• Faith
• Funds and Ministers
• Natural Resources 
• Player titles
• Rankings
• Research
• Shrines and moongates
• Trade
• Purified Resources
• Boss raids ( abbreviated version of dungeons and bosses)
• Dungeons (abbreviated version of dungeons and bosses)
• Morale
• Night protection
• Recruiting
• Buildings
• City shapes
• Units
• PvP Basics Mechanics 

Assault

Purpose:

1. Kill troops.  The main and most important purpose of an assault is to kill troops in the target castle.  An assault deals 5 times the damage as a siege wave.  In an attack to take control of or destroy the castle, an assault is usually sent a second before a siege to significantly reduce or eliminate defenses in the city.
2. Gain fame and purified resources.  The second and related reason to send an assault is to get purified resources and gain fame points from killing the troops in the target castle.  Every time you kill a player's units (also applies for lawless cities,) you gain fame points.  The amount of fame points you gain is equal to the recruiting cost of the unit killed.  For example, a ranger costs 150 wood to recruit.  If you kill one ranger, you get 150 fame points.  For each 4000 fame points you get in a single attack, you also get 1 of each type of purified resources.
3. Loot resources.  An assault also plunders resources of the target castle.  Similar to a plunder command, an assault can also loot resources from the target castle.  So, all the reasons to plunder a city also applies to assault.  However, a non-castled city cannot be assaulted, but can be plundered.  

Example:  Here is an example of an assault report.  I had previous scouted and saw that this castle has mages at home.  Score!  Mages are really good at attacking, but bad at defending, especially against knights.  I sent this assault solely for the purpose of killing the mages.  I sent one single scout with the knights and got all the castle information.  I also looted resources as a bonus.

Plunder

Plundering is used to loot resources from other cities. There are several reasons to plunder:

To gain resources faster than raiding dungeons.  In the early stage of the game,  dungeons are few and far apart.  Sometimes it's faster and more profitable to plunder neighbors, and lawless cities.  These cities are sometimes referred to as "farm."  Dungeon adds a 2 hour round trip to a raid.  There are also dungeon monsters that kill your troops and lower your profit.     Your ideal targets are

• Defenseless cities of an inactive player or lawless cities, you can steal resources without any losses. 
• Cities of players without an alliance.  They may have some troops, but they won't get any support from anyone else.  Their cities maybe weakly protected, and you don't countered from an upset alliance.  
• Cities of players in a much smaller alliances than yours.  If the cities have a lot of resources, you may still want to take the risk of a counter.

 Be careful of plundering a big alliance.  It can escalate into an all out war.  

To suppress growth of a neighbor.  If you have enemies around you, it's your best interest to slow their growth as much as possible.  Plundering their resources can disrupt their building and recruitment queue and ultimately slow their growth.  This can also be used as a tactic to prevent a continental invasion by another alliance.

To starve troops inside a sieged castle.  When a castle is under siege, all the troops (including  support troops from other cities) consume food from the sieged city, not where they came from.  Some battles can involve millions of troops and consume 100k+ food/hr.  The castle under seige also cannot make request for resources.  So emptying out the food supply can starve out a lot of troops.

Example:  Here's an example of a plunder report.  This is one of my easy target that I plundered over and over again for resources.

Scouts

Scout Attacks

Scouting reveals the following information about a city or castle:

• Amount and type of defending troops
• Amount of goods that can be plundered, including goods that in building or recruiting queues.  Goods in hideout are not revealed.
• Fortification information including type and level of walls, towers, and traps
• Building information including type and level of all buildings

Purpose of scouting

Before you send an attack (plunder, siege, or assault) you want to send scouts to find out if you will have a successful attack or not.  Scouts are relatively cheap to recruit, and they don't engage in battle with other unit types.

• You want to know the type of defending troops, depending what's in the castle you would know what to send. Look at the stats of each unit to see what their weaknesses are.  For example:

• If the defending troops are rangers, then you would send knights to attack.  Knights cut through rangers like a hot knife through butter.
• If the defending troops are guardians, you would send mages or warlocks
• If the defending troops are templars, you would send beserkers

• You want to know the TS of the defending castle/city.  You need more power to have a successful attack.
• Walls and towers provide additional defenses, knowing what type of towers and/or traps are in the city can affect your outcome
• Building types and levels are also important for the same reason.

After you gather all information, you can plug them into a combat calculator to determine battle outcome.

In a scouting attack, only scouts may participate.

• If the defending city has no scouts, all information is revealed.
• If all your attacking scouts die, no information is revealed. 
• If any scouts survive, the amount and type of all defending troops are visible.  You won't know if the troops in the defending city are from that city or sent from another city.  The report will show as if all defending troops are from the defending city.  (In the defense report, supporting players and cities where the troops came from are also revealed)
• If the number of surviving attacking scouts is higher than the number of surviving defending scouts the attacker will know the amount of goods that can be plundered.
• If the number of surviving attacking scouts is twice that of the number of surviving defending scouts the amount and level of fortification is revealed
• If surviving attacking scouts is four times the surviving defending scouts the amount and level of all buildings is revealed.

Super Scout

You can send scouts with your plundering, siege, or assault command and achieve the same results and if you send scouts alone.  If the defending city has no scout, you can send just 1 scout with your plunder, siege, or assault and acquire all information.

Pseudo Scout

If you have no scouts, you can send any type of unit to a castle or city in a plunder, siege or assault (sieges and assaults only apply to castles.)  If any troop survive, you will get the amount and type of all defending troops.  Sometimes, I would send a minimum TS of zerks to a city and castle and see what i get.

Example:  In this example, I gained information on units, resources, and defense structures, but failed to gain information on buildings.

General PvP Notes

General Notes

Strategies will only help you gain an edge if your opponent is about equal in military power.  If you have one castle and they have ten, chances are, you will loose.  You can look at the ranking list to see how many offensive/defensive TS other people have.  The names are not revealed, you can see where you stand on a continent.  Pick your target carefully.  As the saying goes: if you can't beat them, join them. :)

Time Commitment

Lord of Ultima requires a lot of time commitment, especially if you are going military or PvP.  Many of these strategies requires you to be online when the attack hits, so you can move troops around, send support, recall sieges, send reinforcements, etc...  If you don't have time to spend on the game, I would recommend not to play PvP.  You may also ask someone you trust to sub for you when you are away.

Join an alliance

It would be very difficult to fight by yourself.  Coordinated PvP is much more effective than being a lone ranger.  You will be fighting on a different level.  Join an alliance and get help from your peers, preferably the #1 or #2 alliance on your continent. Win or loose, it will be a lot more fun.

Ministers

To play PvP effectively, you must have ministers to schedule attacks, schedule defense, auto recruit, notify your alliance of incoming attacks, etc.  Sometimes, seconds are crucial in PvP.  You also don't want to stay up late to schedule an attacks that lands at 10 am.

More on ministers

Offense vs. Defense

• Offensive Troop Types:  Scouts, Berserkers, Knights, Mages, Warlocks, Catapults, Rams, War Galleons
• Defensive Troop Types: City Guards, Rangers, Crossbows, Guardians, Templars, Paladins, Ballistas, Sloops
• Special Troop Types: Frigates (used to carry troops) and Barons (to conquer a castle)

For stats, see the post on Units

Should you recruit more offensive or defensive troop?  The answer is both.  But how many of each type depends on the type of player you are and the continent you're in.  If you are on a safe continent (a continent that is primarily dominated by your alliance without any non-allied castles,) you may want to recruit mostly offensive troops.  Offensive troops such as zerks and knights are also much better at raiding dungeons then their counterparts: rangers and xbows.

If you are on a hostile continent, you may want to recruit more defensive troops.  You will get attacked, since most alliance will want to eliminate threats and take the entire continent for themselves.  Offensive troops will drop like flies when attacked.  Their defensive stats are generally very low.

More about offensive and defensive strategies.

Military Builds

Refrain from building a rainbow castle!  A rainbow castle is one that has every single unit type in it.  You will get laughed at attacking with a rainbow army.  Imagine Bay to Breaker in San Francisco.  :)

Jokes aside, your focus should be on maximizing recruiting speed and barrack space.  There are a few exceptions.  For example:

1. Very early stage of the game when you can't really afford to build an entire military castle. You may want to mix resources and military and castle it for a free title advancement.
2. Self-fed castle.  This is a castle that has mixed food and military.  Generally only for people who play without ministers. 
3. You may want to put a trinsic temple in an offensive castle to conquer a castle.
4. Troops/Frigate castles.  For intercontinental purposes.

It's also recommended not to mix offensive and defensive troops in the same castle.  When you send an attack, it's much better to attack with one group of 100k TS, than ten groups with 10k TS each.  You cannot combine units from different castles for offense, but you can for defense.  Again, there are exceptions to the mixed troop rule, for example:

1. Very early stage of the game, when you can't afford building an entire castle for offense and another for defense.  You need different types of troops for different purposes, but you only have one castle.  
2. For raiding, some players like to mix beserkers and guardians because guardians can carry 1.5x loot than beserkers.

More on military builds and layouts.

Attitudes

Keep in mind that this is only a game.  The person on the other side is a real human being.  Have fun and don't be a jerk.  If you have something to say, send them a polite message.  Hate mail gets reposed on alliance forum to get laughed at.  

Units

Picture	Name	Unit Type	Attack Type	Description	Resource Cost	Requirement
	City Guard	Infantry	None	Enforcers of law and order, these stalwart fighters are trained to deal with any threat within a city’s walls.	100 wood	City Guard House Level 1
	Berserker	Infantry	Infantry Attack	Fearsome warriors driven by a thirst for blood and glory. It is said the war cry of the Berserker makes brave men weep and women swoon.	150 iron	Training Ground Level 1
	Ranger	Infantry	Infantry Attack	Skilled bowmen whose keen eyes and deadly arrows rain misery on infantry units. A key element of any army and especially useful for defending Castles.	160 wood	Training Ground Level 4
	Guardian	Infantry	Infantry Attack	Defensive soldiers trained to unhorse mounted units using their deadly pikes.	140 iron 40 gold	Training Ground Level 10
	Scout	Cavalry	Cavalry Attack	Sneaky, cunning and brave, Scouts provide commanders vital intelligence on enemy cities. Use larger groups of Scouts to obtain more detailed reports.	40 iron 120 gold	Stable Level 1
	Crossbowman	Cavalry	Cavalry Attack	A ranged unit capable of wreaking havoc against enemy cavalry, Crossbowmen strike fear into the heart of almost any foe.	150 wood 200 gold	Stable Level 5
	Knight	Cavalry	Cavalry Attack	Heavily armed and armored, Knights excel at attacking enemy cities. Once victorious, they are capable looters, being able to carry a large amount of booty.	250 iron 100 gold	Stable Level 10
	Mage	Caster	Magic Attack	Wielders of arcane might, a Mage’s spells are potent enough to trouble almost any warrior. Be sure to protect them from enemy reprisals, however.	50 iron 150 gold	Moonglow Tower Level 1
	Warlock	Caster	Magic Attack	These mounted masters of magic spread terror and wonder in equal measure. While expensive to recruit, their devastating attacks can turn the tide of any conflict.	100 iron 350 gold	Moonglow Tower Level 7
	Templar	Blessed	Infantry Attack	Famed for their sturdy shields and unshakeable code of honor, Templars are capable warriors even able to redirect magical attacks back at their enemies.	90 iron 100 gold	Trinsic Temple Level 1
	Paladin	Blessed	Cavalry Attack	You can recognize the holy banners of the paladins even from afar. Loyal to the end, they are capable of protecting whole armies against their magical arch-enemies.	200 iron 160 gold	Trinsic Temple Level 6
	Baron	Blessed	Infantry Attack	Whilst sieging an enemy city, a Baron must be present for the Claim of Power to progress and to successfully conquer the city. They are also vital when founding a new city.	50,000 iron 100,000 gold	Trinsic Temple Level 10 & Title
	Ram	Artillery	Artillery Attack	Heavy, slow and powerful, no city gate can withstand a Ram’s brute force for long.	500 wood 300 iron	Workshop Level 1
	Ballista	Artillery	Artillery Attack	Ballistae are powerful weapons against any unit that tries to besiege the city. Also devastating when used in the battlefield against enemy units.	400 wood 600 iron	Workshop Level 6
	Catapult	Artillery	Artillery Attack	Potent offensive weapons best used to besiege enemy cities.	300 wood 200 iron 600 stone	Workshop Level 10
	Sloop	Ship	Artillery Attack	Small but potent ship armed with powerful defensive artillery. Used to escort larger ships on forays against enemy coastal cities.	6,000 wood 4,000 iron 2,000 gold	Shipyard Level 1
	Frigate	Ship	Artillery Attack	Allows troop transport by sea. Its artillery, while not the largest ever seen, can deal additional damage during an assault or siege.	15,000 wood 5,000 iron 5,000 gold	Shipyard Level 6
	War Galleon	Ship	Artillery Attack	The mightiest ship to sail the seas. Imposing, beautiful and oddly graceful, these vessels are a danger to any enemy. They are especially effective against buildings and defensive structures.	30,000 wood 10,000 iron 20,000 gold	Shipyard Level 10

PLAYER UNITS´ STATS

Name	Attack	Artillery Damage (Type)	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Troop Slots	Food Usage per Day	Prod Speed (in sec)	Walk Speed min/Field	Burden	Unit Transport Capacity	Attack /Space	Def Inf /Space	Def Cav /Space	Def Mage /Space	Def Art /Space	Food /Day /Space
Cityguard	10	-	10	10	10	10	0	2	50	-	-	-	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Berserker	50	-	15	12	10	15	1	6	200	20	10	-	50	15	12	10	15	6
Ranger	30	-	40	10	25	15	1	3	250	20	10	-	30	40	10	25	15	3
Guardian	10	-	30	50	20	15	1	3	300	20	20	-	10	30	50	20	15	3
Scout	10	-	10	10	10	10	2	5	300	8	-	-	5	5	5	5	5	2½
Crossbowman	40	-	40	90	30	40	2	10	600	10	15	-	20	20	45	15	20	5
Knight	90	-	40	30	20	40	2	25	500	10	15	-	45	20	15	10	20	12½
Mage	70	-	15	10	30	15	1	5	600	20	5	-	70	15	10	30	15	5
Warlock	120	-	30	20	50	40	2	20	1300	10	10	-	60	15	10	25	20	10
Templar	25	-	20	30	50	15	1	3	350	20	10	-	25	20	30	50	15	3
Paladin	60	-	50	20	90	40	2	15	700	10	20	-	30	25	10	45	20	7½
Baron	10	-	100	50	20	10	1	100	60000	40	-	-	10	100	50	20	10	100
Ram	50	250 (Def Structure)	20	20	20	50	10	50	2500	30	-	-	5	2	2	2	5	5
Ballista	50	-	200	100	200	400	10	25	3500	30	-	-	5	20	10	20	40	2½
Catapult	150	250 (Buildings)	100	100	200	50	10	50	4000	30	-	-	15	10	10	20	5	5
Sloop	1200	-	4500	4500	2000	6000	100	300	25,000	5	1500	-	12	45	45	20	60	3
Frigate	3000	-	4000	4000	2000	2000	100	500	40,000	5	1000	500	30	40	40	20	20	5
War Galleon	12000	4000 (Def Structure) 4000 (Buildings)	5000	5000	2500	6000	400	2500	80,000	5	3000	-	30	12½	12½	6¼	15	6¼

DUNGEON MONSTERS´ STATS

Icon	Name	Dungeon Type	Attack	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Heads	Loot	Walk Speed min/Field
	Skeleton	Hill	50	16	16	10	16	1	25	10
	Ghoul	Hill	75	30	30	15	30	1	33	10
	Gargoyle	Hill	200	80	80	40	80	4	135	20
	Daemon	Hill	500	200	200	100	200	10	340	20
	Orc	Mountain	60	12	22	22	22	1	30	10
	Troglodyte	Mountain	90	16	33	33	33	1	40	10
	Ettin	Mountain	180	37	75	75	75	3	120	20
	Minotaur	Mountain	400	75	150	150	150	6	250	20
	Giant Spider	Forest	55	16	6	16	16	1	25	10
	Thief	Forest	80	28	14	28	28	1	33	10
	Centaur	Forest	110	40	20	40	40	2	70	20
	Troll	Forest	450	160	80	160	160	8	290	20
	Pirate Dhow	Sea	150	60	60	60	30	3	75	20
	Pirate Sloop	Sea	500	200	200	200	100	10	250	20
	Pirate Frigate	Sea	1250	500	500	500	250	25	650	30
	Pirate War Galleon	Sea	2500	1000	1000	1000	500	50	1400	30

EPIC CREATURE STATS

MOLOCH

Powerful and cunning, Molochs range Caledonia’s many hills, eager to lock horns with even the mightiest of foe.

Level	Creature Type	Attack	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Heads	Loot	Walk Speed min/Field
1	Hill	2500	625	625	420	625	20	500	20
2	Hill	15,000	3750	3750	2500	3750	20	3000	20
3	Hill	100,000	25,000	25,000	17,000	25,000	20	20,000	20
4	Hill	200,000	50,000	50,000	33,000	50,000	20	40,000	20
5	Hill	500,000	125,000	125,000	83,000	125,000	20	100,000	20
6	Hill	750,000	187,500	187,500	125,000	187,500	20	150,000	20
7	Hill	1,000,000	250,000	250,000	170,000	250,000	20	200,000	20
8	Hill	1,500,000	375,000	375,000	250,000	375,000	20	300,000	20
9	Hill	2,250,000	562,500	562,500	375,000	562,500	20	450,000	20
10	Hill	3,000,000	750,000	750,000	500,000	750,000	20	600,000	20

HYDRA

Many-headed monstrosities who roam Caledonia’s mountains, eager to feed on any unfortunate enough to cross their path.

Level	Creature Type	Attack	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Heads	Loot	Walk Speed min/Field
1	Mountain	2500	420	625	625	625	20	500	20
2	Mountain	15,000	2500	3750	3750	3750	20	3000	20
3	Mountain	100,000	17,000	25,000	25000	25,000	20	20,000	20
4	Mountain	200,000	33,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	20	40,000	20
5	Mountain	500,000	83,000	125,000	125,000	125,000	20	100,000	20
6	Mountain	750,000	125,000	187,500	187,500	187,500	20	150,000	20
7	Mountain	1,000,000	170,000	250,000	250,000	250,000	20	200,000	20
8	Mountain	1,500,000	250,000	375,000	375,000	375,000	20	300,000	20
9	Mountain	2,250,000	375,000	562,500	562,500	562,500	20	450,000	20
10	Mountain	3,000,000	500,000	750,000	750,000	750,000	20	600,000	20

DRAGON

Powerful, dangerous and highly intelligent, Dragons command respect from all but the most foolhardy.

Level	Creature Type	Attack	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Heads	Loot	Walk Speed min/Field
1	Forest	2500	625	420	625	625	20	500	20
2	Forest	15,000	3750	2500	3750	3750	20	3000	20
3	Forest	100,000	25,000	17,000	25,000	25,000	20	36,000	20
4	Forest	200,000	50,000	33,000	50,000	50,000	20	40,000	20
5	Forest	500,000	125,000	83,000	125,000	125,000	20	100,000	20
6	Forest	750,000	187,500	125,000	187,500	187,500	20	150,000	20
7	Forest	1,000,000	250,000	170,000	250,000	250,000	20	200,000	20
8	Forest	1,500,000	375,000	250,000	375,000	375,000	20	300,000	20
9	Forest	2,250,000	562,500	375,000	562,500	562,500	20	450,000	20
10	Forest	3,000,000	750,000	500,000	750,000	750,000	20	600,000	20

OCTOPUS

Vicious titans of the seas, these most mighty creatures are thought by sailors to be fallen gods, doomed to roam the ocean.

Level	Creature Type	Attack	Def Inf	Def Cav	Def Mage	Def Art	Heads	Loot	Walk Speed min/Field
1	Sea	2500	625	625	625	420	20	500	0
2	Sea	15,000	3750	3750	3750	2500	20	3000	0
3	Sea	100,000	25,000	25,000	25,000	17,000	20	20,000	0
4	Sea	200,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	33,000	20	40,000	0
5	Sea	500,000	125,000	125,000	125,000	83,000	20	100,000	0
6	Sea	750,000	187,500	187,500	187,500	125,000	20	150,000	0
7	Sea	1,000,000	250,000	250,000	250,000	170,000	20	200,000	0
8	Sea	1,500,000	375,000	375,000	375,000	250,000	20	300,000	0
9	Sea	2,250,000	562,500	562,500	562,500	375,000	20	450,000	0
10	Sea	3,000,000	750,000	750,000	750,000	500,000	20	600,000	0