11. Battles of Gaugamela and Constantinople

Example Time Zones
Server Time = 23:00 - 1:00
Pacific Time = 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Mountain Time = 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Central Time = 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Eastern Time = 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
German Time = 12:00 am - 2:00 am
Romanian Time = 1:00 am - 3:00 am
Vietnamese Time = 6:00 am - 8:00 am
Australian Time = 10:00 am - 12:00 am

Server Time = 19:00 - 21:00
Pacific Time = 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Mountain Time = 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Central Time = 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Eastern Time = 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
German Time = 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Romanian Time = 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Vietnamese Time = 2:00 am - 4:00 am
Australian Time = 6:00 am - 8:00 am

Who can participate?  Only a Top 10 Ranked Alliance can participate in either of these two battles.  To check Alliance Rank, go to your Monarch picture, select Ranking, then Alliance Power Ranking.  Even if your alliance participates, it doesn't mean every player can participate.  There are only 20 slots available, so only 20 players from each alliance get to be picked for battle.  Not only that, but you have to have been in the alliance at least 72 hours and you have to have a Keep level of 15 or higher.  If you don't meet these two qualifications, you cannot even be picked for battle at all as one of the 20.

How to Participate in the Battles.  In order to earn rewards, players who have been picked for the battlefield must go to the Event Center, select the battle that is taking place, select Enter Battlefield, and stay in the battlefield until the battle is over.  IF YOU LEAVE THE BATTLEFIELD YOU LOSE ALL REWARDS AND YOU WILL ALSO HAVE TO HEAL ALL OF YOUR TROOPS THAT YOU LOSE.  SO DO NOT LEAVE THE BATTLEFIELD.  You can shut off your device and still get rewards as long as you do not select to leave the battlefield.  Even if your alliance loses the battle, you can still get rewards as long as you do not leave the battlefield.  Only after the entire battle is over, the timer has reached zero and it forces you to the final results screen, are you able to leave the battlefield and get rewards.

What to Do Once You Enter Battlefield.  When the battle starts, there is a 2 minute period where all you can do is view the battlefield and strategize.  Once this 2 minute period ends, all players can use ports and gems to move about the battlefield, capture buildings, kill monsters and attack enemy players.  These ports and gems are lost once you use them.  You do not regain them at the end of the battle.  You can also use speedups and other items, but these are also wasted.  You do not get them back at the end of the battle.  Truce Agreements are NOT able to be used at all during the battles.  Ports, some speedups, and attack and defense items, however, do provide you with advantages, if you have them.  However, please be careful not to waste too many speedups.  Your troops will automatically heal at the end of the battle, so use speedups wisely.  Also, you will not have any resources plundered by enemies during these battles, but traps will be destroyed and you will have to make new ones once the battle is over.

How To Earn Points.  You earn points for yourself and your entire alliance in the following ways:

Battle of Gaugamela
Occupy Portals = 4 points for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Battlefield Hospital = 1 point for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Blessing Tower = 2 points for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy March Tower = 1 point for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Kill Skeleton Dragons/Werewolves = 1 point
Kill Manticores/Yashas = 2 points
Kill Perytons/Minotaurs = 3 points
Kill Griffins = 4 points
Kill Ifrit = 5 points
Kill Boss Monster Fafnir in the center = Not sure but it’s a lot

Kill Enemy Players’ Troops = The more higher level troops you kill the more points you earn

Reinforcing Buildings = 20% of the building point value (Note: The Alliance does not earn any points from this.  Only the player who is reinforcing earns points.  So if your alliance has taken all of the buildings, you can still earn some points by reinforcing them all.)
Joining a Boss Rally = 20% of the boss’ point value  (Note: The Alliance does not earn any points from this.  Only the player who actually kills the monster earns points for the alliance as well as themselves.  All who join the rally only earn points for themselves.  They do not contribute to the Alliance Point Total.  Therefore, only if your Alliance is winning and you cannot earn any points in any other way should you join rallies against monsters so you can at least earn some points for the battle.)

Battle of Constantinople
Occupy Constantinople = 5 points per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Crystal Mines = 8 points for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Portals = 6 points for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Battlefield Hospital = 1 point for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Blessing Tower = 2 points for whoever captures it.  1 additional point per minute that it is occupied

Occupy Knight’s Hall = 1 point for whoever captures it.  2 additional points per minute that it is occupied

Kill Enemy Players’ Troops = The more higher level troops you kill the more points you earn

Reinforcing Buildings = 20% of the building point value (Note: The Alliance does not earn any points from this.  Only the player who is reinforcing earns points.  So if your alliance has taken all of the buildings, you can still earn some points by reinforcing them all.)

Buildings’ Special Benefits.  Each building in the battles has a unique benefits besides just to earn points.  These benefits are as follows:

Knight’s Hall (Battle of Constantinople only): Every 3 minutes that you occupy the hall it will unleash a march of knights led by King Arthur against EVERY enemy of the opposing alliance that is on the battlefield.

Battlefield Hospital (Both Battles): By occupying it, you increase the entire Alliance’s healing speed by 60%, so healing troops will take a LOT less time and speedups and may actually give larger players a chance to heal a good portion of their troops to get back into battle.

Portals (Both Battles): Each alliance as a whole gets a limited number of ports.  So even if you have 100 ports, the battle will only let you use a limited number of them.  Occupying a port for 3 minutes increases your alliances port limit by 1.

Blessing Tower (Both Battles): Occupy this tower and your whole Alliance gains a 20% increase to attack and defense.

March Tower (Battle of Gaugamela only): Occupy this tower and your whole Alliance will have its March Speed to monsters increased by 50%.  It will also reduce your enemy Alliance’s march speed by 30%.

Tips and Tricks: Facing a higher level enemy player is suicide.  It is the fastest way to lose all your troops and be fairly useless for the rest of the battle.  The best way to handle a fight against a higher level enemy player is to march all or as many of your troops off of your city so he does not kill your troops. 

If the enemy player hits your Main City enough he will force port you to some other spot on the board and your troops will return to your city.  However, at least your troops are alive and can be used to try to capture buildings or fight boss monsters, etc. 

If your troops occupy a building and a higher level enemy player attacks that building, return your troops from that building so they do not die.  It is better to let the higher level player have the building than to lose your troops.

Alliances with a lot of players participating in each of the battles provides an advantage over alliances with low participation.  Even if a few really big players participate from an enemy alliance, having lots of players participating allows an alliance to quickly take over buildings and the enemy to bounce around a lot and not focus on any one building.  Remember, every time they port, ALL of their troops have to be back in their city, so it may slow them down if your alliance is capturing a bunch of buildings and they have to port around to reclaim them.  The more buildings you hold for longer the more points you get.

Distract an enemy by having one skilled player face them head on.  Even if they are a lower level, if you can keep them busy trying to constantly wipe out your troops, your allies can claim buildings and get lots of points.  So time your marches well, and your enemy may keep chasing you all over trying to take you out.  I've seen some players throw their main march of troops off their city onto a random tile, pull them back, speed up a march to avoid getting killed, then throw them back off their city before the super high level enemy hits them and wipes them out.  They've kept players busy for ten minutes or more, frustrating them to no end trying to take them out.  It's stressful, but it can be done.

Regardless, a super high level enemy often makes the battle uneven and a definite loss.  Several super high level players makes it game over immediately.  They can usually VIP and gain an extra march, then send out five marches each and take over all the buildings in no time and then hold them with out too much trouble.  Some really good players even zero enemies pretty quickly too.  One time, I was zeroed shortly after porting near a building, and it hadn't even been 30 seconds of battle time.  Guy just ported on me and wiped me out in a matter of five seconds.

But regardless, if you are lower level, the best strategy is to port as soon as you can out onto the battlefield.  If you stay too long in the safe zone, where you first start, the enemy can easily find you and hit you if they are higher level. 

So it is best to get to the battlefield within the first 2 minutes, before the battle officially starts and people are able to port around the map.  During that 2 minutes, map out monsters and figure out where you want to port for the best strategy.  Spread out on the map, if you can, so you are able to take buildings quickly and maximize on the number of monsters you kill, stealing them from your enemies.

For the Battle of Gaugamela, as soon as you port onto the battlefield, send out your main troops and best general against whatever Boss Monster you can kill.  Don’t rally because you get more points as an alliance by quickly killing Bosses.  Your strongest players should focus on the toughest monsters leaving Skeleton Dragons and Werewolves for the weaker players.  If you can't even kill those, try to take a building over.

After you send out your main troops and best general, immediately send your remaining troops and generals to as many buildings as you can, dividing your troops into however many remaining marches you have.  Using VIP to gain an extra march is encouraged.  If you work together, you should be able to send out waves of troops from each of your keeps to all of the buildings at one time and capture all of them at once.  As long as you have marches headed to all of the buildings it is okay if you even reinforce one another at the buildings.

For Battle of Constantinople, as soon as you port onto the battlefield, send out marches to all of the buildings near your keep.  Divide your troops into as many marches as you have and send them out right away.  If you spread out on the map, you should be able to capture buildings quickly and start earning points for your alliance.  Again, using VIP to gain an extra march is encouraged and as long as you have marches headed to all of the buildings it is okay if you even reinforce one another at the buildings.

For both Battles, remember to watch for higher level enemies.  If they port on your keep, let them attack you.  If you have sent out all of your troops like you should have, the worst they can do is hit you until they force you to port.  Having your troops is more important to winning the whole battle, and if they waste their time hitting you until you port, that gives your allies more time to kill monsters and occupy buildings.

If your troops are marching towards a building that becomes occupied by a higher level enemy player, keep an eye on the building.  If they pull their troops off, continue your march until you take it.  If they don’t pull their troops off, scout the building and find out how strong their force is.  If you don’t think you can defeat their troops or you have doubts, don’t risk it.  Recall your troops...unless you have no ability to recall troops.  (Don’t waste gems on recalling troops.)

Against a higher level player, there are strategies that can be employed against them to defeat them.  First, remember that each alliance has a limited number of ports that they can use.  If you make them port enough, they will have no more ability to port, and all of their marches will take longer.  Also, remember that each player only has a certain number of marches.  If you have multiple players port near a stronger player to lure out their soldiers, stronger members of your alliance can surprise attack their keep and force port them, and possibly also weaken the number of troops that they have available to them.

Even if you can’t gang up on an enemy that is higher level, even 1 person in your alliance that is level 15 keep can distract a level 30 enemy by constantly marching your troops off your keep and bringing them back.  I've seen players do this during one of our more battles, marching troops back and forth from the Battlefield Hospital and the Keep so that the enemy was constantly trying to catch the troops on the hospital or on the keep.  Just keep sending troops back and forth to keep them constantly attacking until they are force ported.  If enough people do this, you can distract the enemy for a long time while our other players earn points.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you use building enhancements wisely, you can strengthen your strongest players against your enemy’s strongest players.  For example, if you capture and occupy the Blessing Tower before a higher level player attacks one of your higher level players, you can provide an added boost that may give your higher level player the advantage over their higher level player.  Remember, the Blessing Tower adds a 20% boost to attack and defense to all of your alliance if you occupy it, so that may provide the boost your alliance member needs to wipe out an enemy.  If you occupy the Battlefield Hospital as well, they can heal their troops even faster.

Keep in mind is that you should never heal massive numbers of troops in one of these battles.  If you do, you are done because you will likely not have enough speedups to heal them all in time to effectively participate again.  Don’t waste speedups either, because it isn’t worth it.  Remember, your troops automatically heal in full when the battle is over as long as you stay in the battle.  So wasting resources and speedups to heal massive numbers of troops is a waste.

Instead, heal no more than maybe an hour’s worth of troops and use speedups to complete the healing faster.  Basically, only heal as many troops as you are willing to spend speedups on to heal quickly so you can get back into the battle.  I have found that even 4 or 5 troops can be useful to heal.  After all, it only takes 1 troop to capture an unoccupied building.  So if I just heal 4 troops, I can send out 4 marches with 1 troop each and possibly capture 4 buildings.  Again, remember that if we capture the Battlefield Hospital, that increases our healing speed so we can heal troops 60% faster.

The Knight’s Hall is a valuable asset in the Battle of Constantinople.  If you can control it, you can hit all enemy keeps with automatic marches from the Knight’s Hall.  They march every 3 minutes.  This weakens your enemies and forces them to port a lot or be hit or send their troops on longer marches.  It is just like the Undead Invasion against your enemies.  On the other hand, if your enemy owns the Knight's Hall, this will force you to keep marching your troops or porting.  Therefore, it is a key building to capture, but if it comes down to capturing it or saving your troops, save your troops.

Constantinople.  It is the most valuable building on the battlefield in the Battle of Constantinople.  However, only capture it if you can keep it.  If you are going up against some really tough enemies, don't try to take it unless you know they aren't on it.  Then take it and run.

Reinforce one another.  If you are evenly matched with your opponent alliance, remember that you can reinforce one another.  Not only will this help you hold valuable buildings, but it also gives you additional points in the battle.  You get points for you, personally, if you reinforce allied buildings.  It isn't a lot, but it adds up.  So reinforce one another as much as you can.  Again, it only takes 1 troop to reinforce an ally to get you more points.  It may not help the alliance as a whole, but you will at least get some more points.