I just wanted to share a few observations I have made among new and old players alike which may be hindering them from achieving their full potential as they enjoy the game. 

For the most part this is written with less experienced players in mind but perhaps a few Sparta veterans may also sharpen some of their skills if they find my advise to be insightful. 

1. Devise a strategy

There are many aspects to this game to explore and many styles of play you can engage in as you make your way in the world of Sparta.

Deciding what you are going to specialize in and focusing your resources to achieve those specific goals can greatly enhance your potential for rewards.

For example, are you mostly a defensive or an offensive player? There are pros and cons to each approach and I would suggest that you make both defensive and offensive units. However, if you find yourself raiding more often during pvp tournaments you may want to focus your energies on gaining an advantage there before anything else.

Lets first look at offense. 

Early on you are going to want to establish what unit types fit your play style best. Personally I focus on masses of swordsman and myrmidons when fighting in pvp tournaments. I choose these two in particular because they are cheap, expendable, easier to max the stats on, and surprisingly they are the most effective choice when fighting some of the strongest unit types in the game. 

In order to make these units optimal I focused my agreement research towards maxing out the levels on each respective unit before anything else. It's nice to have a balanced army and over time you will want to research everything you can, but establishing a core fighting force with maximum stats is crucial. 

Also, now that unit upgrades are fully implemented you will want to spend those relics wisely and only on the unit types you use the most often.

The same can be said for defense. Decide what units you like and develop them accordingly. 

Now going back to your affinity towards being defensive or offensively oriented. It is prudent to develop your city to complement that style of fighting. If you are primarily on the offensive end of the fight I would suggest investing in the acropolis to minimize losses from player retaliation. On the other hand, if you are more prone to defend and let your enemies come to you then invest in towers, walls, traps and the infirmary to minimize your losses in fights. 

If you never defend your city then walls and towers are basically useless by themselves and reversely if you primarily produce defensive units and leave your city guarded then a high level acropolis may not be the best investment early on. 

2. Guardians and Generals Equipment

The one mistake I encounter the most frequently is players not using these features correctly or not at all.

Always use a guardian wherever you go. It doesn't matter if it's high level or not. They do not die in combat and the few % points of improvement it gives your armies statistics can go a long way over time. 

You do not have to invest a ton of money into them to get a few good mid level guardians of various types. Personally I bought one or two guardian packs when they were introduced and then I gained everything else playing with them during tournaments. 

Even if you spend nothing and put in some work over the course of a few tournaments gaining the most you can on rewards a person can eventually at the very least get a blue guardian of each type up to a decent rank. 

The same thing goes for generals equipment. Play Persian positions appropriate to your level of strength and gain valuable experience to improve your troops while finding newer and better gear. 

I won't say anything else about Persian positions since that is a extensive topic on it's own and for the most part how much you play into them is really just a matter of personal preference.

Another common mistake I see in regard to generals is players not switching out their gear based on what they are doing specifically at any given time. If you are just attacking something with hoplites then put on whatever equipment boosts that particular units stats the most. It does not matter if you have rarer pieces on that give bonuses to a wider range of units if they are not offering the maximum advantage to the situation at hand.

There are also two gear slots out of the eight total that can either be defensive or offensive. Make sure that when you are attacking that both are set up offensively and when you are guarding your city from attack or offline always place defensive gear in those two slots. 

In my own experience I cannot tell you how many times I have engaged in combat with another player and noticed their gear is not properly set up. This type of mistake alone can cost you millions of offensive or defensive points during a fight depending on the scale of the battle. 

Having maximum defensive gear on as your default setup is also important if you are defending your coalitions capital or pan continuously. Those types of attacks will usually happen when you are offline, so clearly you will want to give those defensive units every advantage they can get when an attacker makes their move. 

Sanctum of asclepius also applies here, but I find that your decisions there are more straightforward and should be looked at in the long term. I personally choose to set all three slots to defensive elixirs since a vast majority of the time I am in defensive mode having forces stationed at my coalitions capital and various pantheons. 

It can also get quite expensive to switch the elixirs out frequently so I only place the offensive ones in on occasions where I am putting forth a tremendous amount of offensive force. Those situations typically being when I am fully engaged with every other available offensive boost I can muster, thus the cost / benefit of extracting elixirs being the most favorable.

3. Spend your resources wisely

This mode of thinking applies to every resource you can obtain in the game. Be it bronze and timber all the way up to upgrade sketches and drachmas. Remember this is a resource driven game so it is important to not only collect as much of everything as possible, but to also apply it in the most economical way. 

Your very first step when developing your city and putting your economy to work is to focus on that resource production. You don't necessarily have to max everything out but getting all of them to level 20 or even 21 as quickly as possible is key. 

Everything else you do revolves around your resource economy from training troops to signing agreements and construction. Also the bank for Persian positions is exclusively resource based so the more you can acquire the better off you will be.

All too often I will look into a mid or even high level city and see tons of decorations and expensive walls but the resource production buildings have been neglected. 

Every minute that passes by when you are not achieving your maximum potential resource production turns into huge losses over time. 

With that being said, once you have your economy firmly established you need to focus it on your current needs while setting up your long term agenda.  

I discussed earlier how an investment into fortifications or an acropolis can be advantageous to one player while being of little use to another. These decisions should all be based on your overall strategy with priorities being established in regard to your immediate needs.

Another thing to consider, especially when dealing with more expensive resources, is finding ways to maximize your purchasing power. 

Always try to buy things when they are on sale, be it from the wheel of fortune or a global offer. This can be for buying / reviving troops, improvements to your cities infrastructure, or converting one resource to another (ex. drachmas to upgrade sketches). With a little patience you can get the best deals possible on almost everything.

One common mistake that newer players make, that I was also quite guilty of when I started out, is purchasing things with drachmas that can be easily made yourself over time. Buying a bunch of cavalry at full or even a reduced price from the market is incredibly expensive and will not do much to improve your fighting power. 

When purchasing units only select the ones that you cannot produce yourself (champions), and choose the types that effect the class of units that you use primarily. Even though it may look nice to have some cataphract in your arsenal it won't help you at all if you do not have the agemas to back them up in appropriate numbers and leveled properly in terms of their agreements. 

The infirmary can be another great way to grow your army by recovering losses from pvp or playing Persian positions. However avoid doing this unless there is a reduced cost revival in effect and only recover the most essential units. Heavy and light infantry are not worth the investment and should always be considered expendable. Anything above that really comes down to personal preference. I personally only revive champion units and cavalry with veteran status.

4. Pick your battles 

Now we can discuss the main premise of this game, which is primarily combat. It does not matter if you primarily play Persian positions or fight with other players. This is a game of war.

With that being said typically you should not be constantly engaged in battle every minute you spend logged into the game. There are times to fight and there are times to build. One must always weigh their risk vs reward.

Keeping up with the status of various tournaments is crucial and sometimes even if an applicable tournament is ongoing it may not be prudent to participate. Sometimes you may not be properly recovered from previous engagements or perhaps there are no viable targets available given the circumstances. 

When you are ready to send your troops off to battle always carefully examine the rewards and the amount of points required for each tier of tournament advancement. Try to set a goal based on the forces you are willing to commit and save your armies once it has been met. 

In certain situations you will find yourself in a conflict that cannot be controlled so easily, such as a war between coalitions. While attacks on permanently defended positions like a pantheon are unpredictable your retaliation can be calculated.

It is easy to get caught up in a desire for revenge right after an attack, but it is important to remember that during that time the enemy will also be expecting retaliation. They will either hide all of their armies in the acropolis / engage full protection, or stage overwhelming defensive traps. 

Also in the event that a pvp tournament was going on you could already be maxed out on rewards or be in a position where additional fighting offers little additional benefit. 

While potential profit should not be the primary motivator for your actions when defending yourself and the honor of your coalition, there is a certain element of strategy in biding your time. 

When a new tournament comes around you will have had time to bolster your forces while allowing your enemy to drop their guard. This can better your chances of catching the enemy off guard. Perhaps they forgot to put away their offensive units after doing some raids or maybe you catch them doing Persian positions?

As with everything that has been discussed, a little bit of patience can go quite a long way.

Once again I hope this is an informative and useful outline of basic playing strategy and resource optimization. I always like to see both friend and foe improve their game play to make for more interesting engagements and a stronger community. 

See you all on the fields of battle... For Sparta!!!