It's all about Artifacts

First the names of all the new artifacts, in the following format:

Name of the Village you will find them in
Short description of the artifacts bonus

Small: Name of Small artifact (bonus for small artifact)
Large: Name of Large artifact (bonus for large artifact)
Unique: Name of Unique artifact (bonus for unique artifact)

(Just a short note here, small effects only the village it is held in. Large effects the whole account and Unique effects the whole account but with a greater bonus)

Sanctuary of the Architect
All buildings in the area of effect are stronger. This means that you will need more catapults to damage buildings protected by this artifact's powers.

Small: Diamond Chisel (4 times stronger)
Large: Giant Marble Hammer (3 times stronger)
Unique: Hemon's Scrolls (5 times stronger)

Sanctuary of the General
All troops in the area of effect move faster.

Small: Opal Horseshoe (2 times faster)
Large: Golden Chariot (1.5 times faster)
Unique: Pheidippides' Sandals (3 times faster)

Sanctuary of the Spy
All spies (Scouts, Pathfinders, and Equites Legati) increase their spying ability. In addition, with all versions of this artifact you can see the incoming TYPE of troops but not how many there are.

Small: Tale of a Rat (Improved by a factor of 5)
Large: General's Letter (Improved by a factor of 3)
Unique: Diary of Sun Tzu (Improved by a factor of 10)

Sanctuary of the Cook
All troops in the artifact's range consume less wheat, making it possible to maintain a larger army.

Small: Silver Platter (50% reduction in crop consumption)
Large: Sacred Hunting Bow (25% reduction in crop consumption)
Unique: King Arthur's Chalice (50% reduction in crop consumption)

Sanctuary of the Instructor
Troops are built a certain percentage faster within the scope of the artifact.

Small: Scribed Soldier's Oath (50% reduction in training time)
Large: Declaration of War (25% reduction in training time)
Unique: Memoirs of Alexander the Great (50% reduction in training time)

Sanctuary of the Grand Designer
With this building plan you are able to build the Great Granary or Great Warehouse in the Village with the artifact, or the whole account depending on the artifact. As long as you posses that artifact you are able to build and enlarge those buildings.

Small: Builder's Sketch (NA)
Large: Babylonian Tablet (NA)
[No Unique Artifact exists]

Sanctuary of the Lookout
Cranny capacity is increased by a certain amount for each type of artifact. Catapults can only shoot random on villages within this artifacts power. Exceptions are the WW which can always be targeted and the treasure chamber which can always be targeted, except with the unique artifact. When aiming at a resource field only random resource fields can be hit, when aiming at a building only random buildings can be hit.

Small: Map of the Hidden Caverns (Capacity of Cranny increased by 200)
Large: Bottomless Satchel (Capacity of Cranny increased by 100)
Unique: Trojan Horse (Capacity of Cranny increased by 500)

Sanctuary of the Fool
Every 24 hours it gets a random effect, bonus, or penalty (all are possible with the exception of great warehouse, great granary and WW building plans). They change effect AND
scope every 24 hours. The unique artifact will always take positive bonuses.

Standard: Pendant of Mischief (Random)
Unique: Forbidden Manuscript (Random)

[Note: No large or small because the scope is randomly decided every 24 hours]

Some Notes About Artifacts

* Any individual player can only own one account or unique artifact
* Any individual player can only own three artifacts at a time
* Players may own more than the three artifacts / more than one account or unique artifact by conquering villages that already hold them but only the three oldest artifacts will function
* Artifacts will only start operating 24 hours after they are captured
* Moving artifacts between your own villages counts as capturing and so will reset the 24 hour timer
* All records for artifacts are shown in the Treasury
* Small artifact bonuses will overwrite the bonus of any account or unique artifact of the same type for the village it is in
* Uncaptured artifacts in Natarian villages are deactivated
* The number of troops in the Natarian village is related to the artifact that is held within it; most for a unique artifact, second most for an account artifact and the least for a village artifact


Finally an FAQ on Artifacts

Question: Does the bonus given by my "Stronger Buildings" artifact apply to my wall as well?

Answer: Yes it does.

Question: I own 2 artifacts of the same type, i.e. "Faster Troops". One has the scope village and
one has the scope account. What happens?

Answer: The effects are not added. The village containing the Village "Faster Troops" artifact will use its bonus for that village (and therefore overwrite the bonus given by the artifact with the scope account). All other villages will use the bonus of the artifact with the scope account.

Question: I own a "Less crop usage" artifact with a 50% reduction bonus. But the crop usage of my troops shown in the rally point did not change. It shows the normal usage without the 50% reduction bonus. Is this a bug?

Answer: No. This is intended. The rally point shows the normal crop usage. It does not get
modified. Neither the Wonder of the World village nor the "Less crop usage" artifact nor the Horse
Drinking Pool are modifying that view. But there is no need to worry. The crop usage for your
village is calculated correctly.

Question: My Artifact of the Fool changed its scope to account. But I own an unique/account scope
artifact already. What happens?

Answer: Only one account scope artifact remains active. The artifact with the oldest capturing
time will spread its effect to your account. The other one gets deactivated.

Question: I conquered my 4th artifact. It is an account scope artifact. My other 3 artifacts only
have a village scope. Will my new artifact work after 24 hours?

Answer: No, it will not. Only the oldest 3 artifacts will work (but only one with the scope account).

Question: I conquered two account scope artifacts and one village scope artifact. When I conquer
another village scope artifact now, what happens? Will I have 3 working artifacts (account +
village + village scope) after 24 hours?

Answer: Yes you will.

Question: I conquered 3 villages holding a unique artifact each. Will I have 3 working unique
artifacts after 24 hours?

Answer: No. A unique artifact counts as an account scope artifact. Only the oldest account scope
artifact will have an effect.

Question: Does an artifact travel with the troops that capture it?

Answer: No, artifacts teleport instantly when capture conditions are met

Leveling a hero and Boosting the economy

Want to expand the size of your economy and increase your hero's experience, all with minimal risk? Start clearing local oases. Why oases?

1. You know exactly what forces you will face. No guessing and hoping that your hero won't get overwhelmed. This allows you to use a battle sim to calculate the exact results before the battle ever happens.

2. You know that an uncleared oasis has 400/400/400/400 resources. So that's 1600 resources on the initial clear.

3. Oases have no cranny, so if a Teuton starts raiding it he has no advantage over you.

4. Non player controlled oases can not be reinforced.

5. Most players are not very vigilant of oases, so they will not know it's cleared. You can sometimes farm it for days without people jumping in to farm it as well.

6. Oases regenerate 10/hr of each resource, and 40/hr of the bonus resource. So a clay oasis regenerates 10/40/10/10 per hour (70/hr total). An iron/crop oasis regenerates 10/10/40/40 (100/hr total). On a daily basis, a 25% oasis gives you 1680 resources, or 11760 per week. A 25/25 gives you 2400/day or 16800 per week. That's quite an economic boost, especially early.

The steps required for success:

1. The first step is to find a suitable oasis. Most heroes are cavalry units, so you want to find an oasis with low anti-cavalry defense. If you have an infantry hero, just look for one with low anti-infantry defense. For the most part, if you have a level zero hero, look for oases with between 16-20 crop worth of defense, and under 700 anti-cavalry defense. I have generally found clay, iron, lumber/crop, and iron/crop oases have the lowest initial defenses. The variance between oases in defense strength can be pretty great. One clay oasis might have 16 crop of defense, and another clay oasis in the same 7x7 might have 54 crop of defense. You'll have to scout around a bit.

2. Next, put all your hero's points into offense attack power (not offensive bonus). I would also recommend getting the gold +10% attack power, as it will save your hero's hit points, which over the course of time will save you many hours.

3. Here's a bit of a trick. As long as your hero takes less than 50% health loss, it is beneficial to send another unit with him. This other unit, which will not be killed (if you calculate properly) can help reduce the health loss of your hero by 4-7% (depending on the strength of the defense you attack).

4. Calculate your results before you attack. Make sure you'll be able to clear the oases on multiple trips before trying to begin. Here is an example.
The scenario:
-TT hero, 5 points in offense attack power, full health (100 pct), and +10 pct gold attack bonus
-TT assist unit
-Target is a +25 pct clay oasis with 9 rats, 6 spiders, and 4 bats (19 crop of defense, 620 anti-cav)

Here is what the first battle looks like:

First wave---->

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?M0QAyA-uc9XhkUIFAPwfxagi

You killed 10 crop worth of the defense. You took 45.8% health loss on the hero, which Travian rounds up to 46%. Take not of the remaining defense...4 rats, 3 spiders, and 2 bats.

Just for kicks, let me show you the results if you didn't send that single escort TT:

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?MwRA/upZfBCPFCoA4FdhOvgA

You only kill 9 crop worth of the defense. You take 51.5% health loss on the hero, which Travian rounds up to 52%. So that extra TT saved you 6% health and resulted in one less rat you have to kill in the subsequent attack.

Just for kicks, let's say you get impatient and decide to send more than one extra TT because you want to get the job done faster. Let's say you send 2 other TT to help. What does this look like?:

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?M8QAkL-7r0fDI4UKAPhFBIVL

Here you can see that you only lose 41% health and you kill 11 crop of the defense. Great! But one of your TTs is killed. Not so great. The whole goal here was to level the hero and improve things economically, but losing a TT (especially early) is an economic setback. In truth, you would need to send 1027 additional TT to avoid losing even one single TT in this scenario. If you have that many TT, you are not concerned with farming oases!

Second wave (assuming you sent the hero and a single TT escort in the first attack)------>

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?M8QAkC-ANYzBgqEBAN//lOcM

You notice I sent two TT to escort the hero this time. I did so because the simulator showed I would not lose a TT with two escorts, but if I sent three TT one would die. Thus, I sent two. The result is that the hero lost an additional 19.3% health (rounded to 20%). This means your hero is down to 34% total health if he did not regenerate health between battles. The forces remaining are one rat and one spider.

Third wave----->

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?M8QhQH6goUoAgwAA/l9etR8

I sent 10 TT to escort this time, but really you can send whatever you have. With 10 TT, the hero took only 1% additional health loss, bringing him down to 33%. The oasis is now clear. There is 1600 resources to be collected, minus whatever you already pulled out of it (though some has since regenerated, depending on time). Congratulations, your hero gained 19 xp.

Important Notes, etc:

1. Those stupid animals regenerate fairly randomly. I read somewhere that if you keep clearing the oasis very regularly (like every few hours), then they don't respawn. That's not true. From what I have observed and experienced, they almost always pop back up after 1-3 days. No amount of farming keeps those rodents away. I've lost a handful of phalanx to random animal respawns after I send the attack. The lesson here is to use cheap units in small quantities, and farm regularly. It's better to collect a few hours of regenerated resources at a time rather than send a big force to collect a day's worth--only to lose that force when the animals pop up at an inopportune moment.

2. If you are a min/max type of player, and your hero is level 0, make sure you switch your hero to full regeneration between attacks. It takes about 57 minutes to get one hit point back.

3. If your hero is very low in health and level zero, and you have many attractive and nearby oasis targets, it is better to suicide your hero into the next oasis. For instance, let's just say it was the same oasis as the first example, but your hero only has 18% health (random low number). Here is what happens if you send him at that oasis:

http://travian.kirilloid.ru/log.php?M8QhQH6goUoAgwAA/l9etR8

You'll notice the hero died, but he killed just as much of that defense as he would if he was at full health. Also note that the hero would have lost 52% of his health if he had enough HP to survive the battle (or 46% if you sent the TT escort). So think about this. Instead of waiting two full days to get enough HP regenerated on your hero (25/day), why not suicide him and save all that waiting? You'll clear more oases faster. It only costs 2x the cost of a TT to rez your hero, and it only takes a few hours. Ultimately, I submit that you will get more xp and more net resources in less time if you suicide the hero when he's at low xp.

Troops v/s Troops theory of Travian

Be sure to keep it as reference and also use it to make effective army.
Please be advised to interpret this article correctly. The below article will actually tell you what troop type is more effective and what to use in different scenarios. DO NOT IGNORE OTHER TROOP TYPES at all and make units according to your situation in game.

Put all your queries here and we will answer you. Good Luck
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Unit versus Unit (welcome to the arena)
For all discussions about best tribe to come to an end and to finally know which units beat which for the same amount of resources, I decided to create this thread.


I took 100000 of each resourses as a starting amount.
I counted only limiting resources, cause they're most important. Limiting resources are these, which unit production consumes most.
I'll start with first level and go up.
City walls, residence, morale, village size and other factors are not taken into account, as well as, that some resource fields/troops take longer time to upgrade/build.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 level troops:

Legionnaire - limiting resource - iron (180)
555 legionnaires can be built
Clubswinger - limiting resource - wood (95)
1052 clubswingers can be built
Phalanx - limiting resource - clay (130)
769 phalanxes can be built

Combat:

1052 clubswingers attack 555 legionnaires
Casualties: 334 555
Left: 718 0
Resources lost: 31730 wood 99900 iron

1052 clubswingers attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 662 769
Left: 390 0
Resources lost: 62890 wood 99970 clay

555 legionnaires attack 1052 clubswingers
Casualties: 513 1052
Left: 42 0
Resources lost: 92340 iron 99940 wood

555 legionnaires attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 555 473
Left: 0 296
Resources lost: 99900 iron 61000 clay

Gauls' phalanxes will definitely lose in every attack, so I won't post results.

1 level combat summary:
Teuton player wins 3 out 4 clashes (except defending against romans), roman player - 2 (defending from gauls and attacking teutons), gaul player - only one (against roman attackers).




2 level troops:

Praetorian - limiting resource - iron (160)
625 praetorians can be built
Spearfighter - limiting resource - wood (145)
689 spearfighters can be built
Swordfighter - limiting resource - iron (185)
540 swordfighters can be built

Combat:

1052 clubswingers attack 625 praetorians
Casualties: 999 625
left: 53 0
Resources lost: 84915 wood 100000 iron

555 legionnaires attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 555 609
Left: 0 80
Resources lost: 99900 iron 88305 wood

540 swordfighters attack 625 praetorians
Casualties: 540 502
Left: 0 123
Resources lost: 99900 iron 80320 iron

540 swordfighters attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 308 689
Left: 232 0
Resources lost: 56980 iron 99905 wood

1 & 2 levels combat summary:
Teuton player wins 3 out of 4 clashes (except defending against gauls), gaul player - 2 (defending from romans and attacking teutons), roman player - only one (defending from gauls).




3 level troops:

Imperian - limiting resource - iron (210)
476 imperians can be built
Axefighter - limiting resource - iron (170)
588 axefighters can be built
Pathfinder (scout unit) - limiting resource - wood (170)
588 can be built

Combat:

476 imperians attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 294 689
Left: 182 0
Resources lost: 61740 iron 99905 wood

476 imperians attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 423 769
Left: 53 0
Resources lost: 88830 iron 99970 clay

588 axefighters attack 625 praetorians
Casualties: 588 506
Left: 0 119
Resources lost: 99160 iron 80960 wood

588 axefighters attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 480 769
Left: 108 0
Resources lost: 81600 iron 99970 clay

1, 2 & 3 levels combat summary:
Roman player wins 3 out of 4 clashes (except defending against teutons' clubswingers), teuton player - 2 (attacking gauls with either clubswingers or axefighters, attacking romans with clubswingers), gaul player - only 1 (attacking teutons).




4 level troops:

Equites Legati (scout unit) - limiting resource - clay (160)
625 Equite Legatis can be built
Theutates Thunder - limiting resource - clay (450)
222 Theutated Thunders can be built
Scout (scout unit ) - limiting resource - wood (160)
625 Scouts can be built

Combat:

222 Theutates thunders attack 555 legionnaires
Casualties: 222 339
Left: 0 216
Resources lost: 99900 clay 61020 iron

222 Theutates Thunders attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 222 231
Left: 0 458
Resources lost: 99900 clay 33495 iron

222 Theutates Thunders attacks 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 222 231
Left: 0 458
Resources lost: 99900 clay 33495 iron

222 theutates thunders attacks 625 praetorians
Casualties: 222 545
Left: 0 80
resources lost: 99900 clay 87200 iron

1, 2, 3 & 4 level combat summary:
Win percentage does not change, cause pure TTs lose everywhere. Even against praetorians, who are worsee at defending from cavalry than defending from infantry. So it's better for gauls to combine TTs and swordfighters and attack with the mixed army.



5 level troops:

Equites Imperatoris - limiting resource - wood (550)
181 Equites Imperatoris can be built.
Druidrider - limiting resource - wood (360)
277 Druidriders can be built
Paladin - limiting resource - wood (370)
270 Paladins can be built

Combat:

181 Equites Imperatoris attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 181 262
Left: 0 427
Resources lost: 99950 wood 37990 wood

181 Equites Imperatoris attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 181 326
Left: 0 443
Resources lost: 99950 wood 42380 clay

476 imperians attack 277 druidriders
Casualties: 445 277
Left: 31 0
Resources lost: 93450 iron 99720 clay

476 imperians attack 270 paladins
Casualties: 347 270
Left: 129 270
Resources lost: 72870 iron 99900 wood

1052 clubswingers attack 277 druidriders
Casualties: 695 277
Left: 357 0
Resources lost: 66025 wood 99720 clay

588 axefighters attack 277 druidriders
Casualties: 505 277
Left: 83 0
Resources lost: 85850 iron 99720 clay

540 swordfighters attack 270 paladins
Casualties: 365 270
Left: 175 0
Resources lost: 67525 iron 99900 wood
1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 level combat summary: Defense against infantry is worthless (waste of resources), best attacker is clubswinger (unbelievable? )


6 level troops

Equites Caesaris - limiting resource - iron (800)
125 Equites Caesaris can be built
Haeduan - limiting resource - iron (675)
148 Haeduans can be built
Teuton Knight - limiting resource - clay (515)
194 Teuton Knights can be built

125 Equites Caesaris attack 148 Haeduan
Casualties: 125 131
Left: 0 17
Resource lost: 100000 iron 88425 iron

125 Equites Caesaris attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 125 344
Left: 0 425
Resource lost: 100000 iron 44720 clay

125 Equites Caesaris attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 125 227 (lol)
Left: 0 412
Resource lost: 100000 iron 32915 wood

148 Haeduans attack 125 Equites Caesaris
Casualties: 75 125
Left: 73 0
Resource lost: 50625 iron 100000 iron

148 Haeduans attack 555 legionnaires
Casualties: 148 358
Left: 0 197
Resource lost: 99900 iron 64440 iron

148 Haeduans attack 689 spearfighters
Casualties: 148 244
Left: 0 445
Resource lost: 99900 iron 35380 wood

194 Teuton Knight attack 125 Equites Caesaris
Casualties: 59 125
Left: 135 0
Resource lost: 30385 clay 100000 iron

194 Teuton Knights attack 555 legionnaires
Casualties: 181 555
Left: 13 0
Resource lost: 93215 clay 99900 iron

194 Teuton Knights attack 148 Haeduan
Casualties: 149 148
Left: 35 0
Resource lost: 76735 clay 99900 iron

194 Teuton Knight attack 769 phalanxes
Casualties: 194 506
Left: 0 263
Resource lost: 99910 clay 65780 clay

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 levels combat summary:
Of all three, only one is worth - teuton knight, of course. Romans can't defend against him without loss. Even Haeduans can't stand against them. Equites Caesaris is the waste of resources.



Default
In conclusion, the most important points are:

1. Cavalry formed infantry defense always lose against those, that is defending from. Paladin is absolutely worthless, better get druidrider from your ally, which is better, but also worthless.
2. The best attacking unit is clubswinger (if you have a limited amount of resources and not an infinity). How strange? + plus he has large carrying capacity. Another one which deals more damage than gets is imperian. Abuse them as much as you wish. Both of these units destroys dedicated enemy infantry defenders (praetorians, phalanxes accordingly), while swordfighters fall against praetorians.
3. Teuton knight is nightmare, especially for romans. Gauls can defend with phalanxes.
4. Better forget about using cavalry if enemy is teuton or has a teuton ally. (Spearfighters!!!)
5. No point in using Equites Imperatoris or Equites Caesaris. They just die. Use imperians instead.
6. Offense outprioritizes defense (I do not talk about reinforcements). So best defense is offense.



I'll add more if I have forgotten something.

As well I decided to create a tier list for units. This tier list is based only on my opinion and I am no pro, neither experienced. If you disagree, I would be glad if you provide yours with explanations.

God tier: spearfighter (forget about cavalry. If I was a teuton, I would send them as reinforcements to nearby inactive villages. The farming will become massacre. Imho, this unit really unbalances the game.)
0 tier: clubswingers (the most powerful unit for the fixed cost, too huge carrying capacity or too low cost then).
1 tier: imperians (they only go down because they're more expensive, they build time is longer and iron fields are upgraded longer too).
2 tier: teuton knights (even they can't defend (what for?), their damage is huge and you build them in larger quantities and quicker. The best defender for romans against cavalry is legionnaires, but in this case they die more then defend.
3 tier: swordfighters (good all purpose unit from gauls, but not as abusive as clubswingers or imperians).
4 tier: praetorians (just good infantry defender), theutates thunders (very good for raiding inactives or cleaned from armies, as well as ambushing unprepared (NO spearfighters) teuton and killing his clubbies returning from the raid, cause theutates thunders are very fast units (thanks to Alto for that suggestion))
5 tier: all others except several ones
6 or mostly useless tier: druidrider (better defender than paladins, but still dies more often than survives), equites * (what can you do with them? attack and die? defend and die? and they cost too much), paladin (weaker and more expensive version of druidrider, totally useless because perishes against all other attacking infantry. Maybe was introduced to compensate too powerful teuton offense with weak defense against infantry. Who knows?)

Talking about most powerful tribe. I was always told that there isn't a most powerful one and I believe that even I made such a tier list, where teuton units clearly prevail. I think the power of the tribes changes as the game goes. In the beginning, teutons clearly dominates with their continous raids. In the middle of the game, gauls rise up because people have several villages and can reinforce each rather quickly and gauls have good defense strength even if offense dominates in Travian. In the end, Romans rise up due to their double building ability (letting quickly raise new villages) and good wall defense strength protecting during WW rush