Forge of Empires: Build a City

Excellent game mechanics that allow for a variety of strategies to follow. It is very possible to play this game for free, just at a slower pace. The designers are constantly tweaking the game and adding new player friendly features. The best part of this game is the freedom from becoming a farm for the wallet warriors, aka the whales. I have tried dozens of games but this one keeps me the most engaged over time. When I read the 1 and 2 star reviews I get the sense that those players are looking for a very different game geared towards rapid development and little need for careful resource development and usage. Proceeding slowly and taking the advice of the advanced players in a guild can provide a very rewarding game experience. A number of bad reviews cite problems with plundering. There are a few strategies that you can use to avoid being plundered. The simplest techniques are to collect resources regularly and construct buildings that can’t be plundered. Once you gather a resource, you can’t lose it! I don’t keep a defensive army and don’t waste precious space on defensive buildings. I rarely get plundered and usually only lose an inconsequential amount of one resource. I’ve been in too many games where you can protect only a small fraction of what you collect and lose every other resource you farm, mine, or discover. As I mentioned above, by exploring membership in a variety of guilds you can find a number of players who generously support your efforts with trades and useful game info.

I’ve been playing now for about 9 months; I started when my boyfriend recommended it, to get some free diamonds. I’m hooked. I have not found any need to buy diamonds, I collect quite a few from GE and Wishing wells as well as quests and my Crow’s Nest (best event building ever!). I never have issues completing event quests, without spending any money, and have maxed out all event buildings with ease. I would recommend for anyone. Tips for new players: don’t rush through your tech tree and climb eras too quickly, take your time to collect bps for great buildings and really level them up. Also look at the rewards of the great buildings, not all are necessary, and you don’t want to invest in a building that in a couple of eras is useless (oracle of Delphi I’m looking at you). Neighborhoods change frequently, occasionally I have people that attack my city daily, but with regular pick ups they can’t steal too much from me. Most weeks are quiet on that front. At first I stayed away from pvp and gvg however they are now some of my favorite aspects of the game. Rearranging my city is like a puzzle to put together and I enjoy the process of reworking my city to free up some space. A good guild is so important, and they all have different approaches. I started in a guild that didn’t do gvg, but as I became interested in that aspect I found a guild that would be supporting that approach. Don’t be afraid to look for a guild that backs your play style. In short, this is a game that is easy to start but can become as challenging as you want it to be.

Was having fun, enjoying the game until about two weeks in. I kept having this little robber icon pop up every time I was trying to collect enough supplies to add more buildings. It’s been 4 days and I’ve not gotten enough to do what I want to do. Went to the forums and found out that the robber icon is other players PLUNDERING MY SUPPLIES. Tried to figure out how to just play on my own with no interaction with other players and all I could find was rude people basically saying “stop whining.” “How hard is it to collect on time?” When you have a life where you have to work and take care of others? Pretty dang hard actually. I’m not looking for something this complex and confusing. If someone chooses NOT to join a guild, that means their level of game play is going to be low and letting other people steal their resources is not going to make them want to play more. It’s going to make them angry and delete the game. Like I just did. I am so tired of these games that do crap like this to try to get you ‘motivated’ to play more or spend money to get to a higher level, where it won’t effect you as much, faster. I’m trying to relax and unwind. Not spend hours looking through forums and the help section just to find out there’s no help for it. I don’t want to interact with other players. Why isn’t their an option to just play by yourself at your own pace? I love the basic idea of the game. Wish there was a version for single player though.