The main purpose of the game is to develop your City, to join a strong Coalition, to defeat enemies, and to fight for Resources and dominance.

Quests. You receive a lot of quests.

First of all, we suggest that you complete the Tutorial ones. 

These quests will teach you how to play: who to raid, how to build and upgrade your Units, etc. Moreover, they will unlock more game features and give you good rewards that you can use to progress in the game. After completing the Tutorial, you can choose the quests with bigger rewards.

Units. They protect your City, invade other Cities, and help your Friends when they need it. Sign Agreements and construct new Buildings to unlock new, more powerful Units.

There are two kinds of Units: Offensive and Defensive (with the exception of Heroes that have the same value for both). Click on the Unit when purchasing it to see detailed stats.

Defensive Units are essentially useless when attacking but highly effective at protecting a City or a Colony. Conversely, Offensive Units are designed to be used for attacks but have a low defense value. If your City has tons of Offense and no Defense - don't be surprised when you get Invaded.

There are 4 types of Units: Light Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Phalanx and Cavalry. Units of each type can be trained in a designated queue. 

Note that each Unit has its own statistics against other types of Units.

Upgrade Agreements to improve your Units and to enhance their statistics by up to 40%. 

You can choose either an Offensive or a Defensive strategy in the game. That, in turn, will determine the order in which you upgrade your Units.

Coalition. Coalition and its members play an important role in every player’s life: your Coalition mates can give you useful tips and help you in difficult situations. You may request Resources, Articles, and Reinforcements, as well simply chat with them and have fun.

Don't forget to help other members of your Coalition. Moreover, always remember to follow orders of your Coalition Leader.

Do not join a random Coalition. It can be weak and/or inactive. Open the list of the Top Coalitions and choose the ones ranked 200 through 300. Send requests and messages to those recruiting new members. Indicate why you think you are a good candidate for this particular Coalition and wait for the response. Starting out in a big Coalition will help you learn more about the game features and get the protection every new player needs.

Bear in mind that Top Coalitions are unlikely to accept you since you do not have enough experience and Units to be able to keep up with their activities in the game. Once you gain more experience, you can try your luck with the Top Coalitions.

Buildings. There are several types of Buildings in the game, and each is associated with a different sphere of your City's life. They fall under the following categories: Military, Command, Resources, Decor, Fortifications, and Market.

Constructing and upgrading Buildings will unlock new game features, give you more Resources, etc. Building are necessary for you to be able to perform basic actions such as trade, exchange Resources and Articles, declare wars, etc.  

Resource Buildings. The more  Resource Buildings you have and the higher their level, the more Resources you can produce. You need Resources to develop your City and to train Units.

Remember that you do not need to upgrade all Buildings at the same time. Some of them are more important than others when you first start playing. For example, the Acropolis is a place where you can secure Units and Resources to protect them from other players, so make sure to upgrade it. Also, it would make sense to upgrade your Farms and Forges/Lumberyards before upgrading Granaries and Warehouses so that you actually have something to store. You can see how much you are currectly producing here: 

To erect a Building, you need to access the Construction menu: 

Military Buildings. Here you can house, manage, and develop all of your Units. Each Unit or a set of Units has its own Building, and you will find that you are required to construct certain Buildings before you can Sign certain military Agreements or erect more advanced military Buildings.

Defensive Buildings. There are two types of Defensive Buildings: Defenses and Decor.

Defenses improve the defensive capability of all Units within your City. Decor enhances the grounds of your City and add to your overall Defense.

Infirmary. Here you can restore the Units you lost while defending your City. Additionally, you can revive a certain percentage of the fallen Units for free, while the rest of them will require Drachmas to revive. 

The Level 1 Infirmary will let you revive 5% of your Units for FREE. Upgrading your Infirmary will increase the number of Units you can recover with each Level.

Remember: reviving Units is cheaper and quicker than training a new army!

Infirmary. It is a tab in your Market where you can recover a certain percentage of any Units you’ve lost in combat within the last 7 days. You will need Drachmas to recover them.

Please note that there is sometimes an additional discount (e.g. 75%) in the game that allows you to revive your Units at a much lower cost.  

Agreements. You are required to develop new Agreements in order to access new types of Buildings and Units. Construct the Ephorate to begin Signing new Agreements.The more you upgrade the Ephorate, the faster you complete Sign of new Agreements.

Signing each Agreement costs Timber, Bronze, and Grain. The more advanced the Agreement, the more expensive it is to Sign and upgrade. The cost of upgrading a given Agreement also becomes progressively higher with each new level.

After a certain point, you will find that you need to acquire a set number of Articles to unlock Sign of a certain new Agreement. You will get a new Article from your Scribe every day, but you must have all the Agreement-specific Articles for a given Agreement before you can initiate Sign. You can exchange Articles with other players to get the ones you need.

Agreements can be found here: 

Persian Positions. Persian Positions are locations in Sparta that have been occupied by Xerxes or temporarily held by friendly forces conducting Sparta operations. Raid them wisely. Send defensive Units to Defensive Position and vise versa. Don’t spend all your Units on them, or you will have none to fight with your rivals.

You can check the forum for some useful tips on how to clear Persian Positions successfully.

Emporia. Each Emporium is dedicated to producing one of the three main types of Resources - Timber, Bronze, and Grain - along with Drachmas and Denarii  

The amount of Resources you can gather from an Emporium depends on the overall carrying capacity of the Defensive Units you have stationed there.

You will need BOTH Offensive and Defensive Units to Capture a Emporium, but Defensive Units will NOT engage in the battle. All surviving Offensive Units will be automatically returned to your Acropolis. If you successfully Capture an Emporium, Defensive Units will start gathering Resources. The number of Resources that they can gather depends on your Units’ carrying capacity. The more Defensive Units you send, and the bigger their carrying capacity, the more Resources you can collect!

Emporia can be found in your Oracle: 

Using Resources. Don’t log out of the game when you have more Resources than your Acropolis can store - other players may be tempted to raid you.

 Always use up your Resources to upgrade Buildings, train Units, or Sign Agreements.

Spending Drachmas. Don’t spend them at low levels since you don’t actually need them. Keep playing and you will find the best way to spend them: to revive Units, to hire new Artisan, to acquire Items, etc.

Raid. Go to the Map

choose a City 

and send off Units 

To get Resources from Cities you raid, send Units with higher carrying capacity

Try to attack abandoned Cities if you don’t want to be hit back. Abandoned bases are good since they do not have a Coalition to protect them, and they have weak defenses which means your Raids are more likely to be successful.

Always recon the Cities you wish to raid before sending Units. If your Raid was successful and you were not hit back, save the coordinates of that City in the Bookmarks and come back to it later.

Scouting. It is better to use 1 Scout at a time. If you send them all and the attempt is unsuccessful, you will have to train new ones and will have to wait until you can start raiding again.  

Trading. If you need a particular type of Resource or a Article, go to the Port to get the ones you need in exchange for those you do not 

Global events (Missions). When you developed your City a little, you may start fighting for rewards in the Global Quests (Events). Bear in mind that you can earn points in some Global Quests by simply performing your usual actions such as upgrading Buildings, Signing Agreements, raiding Cities, etc. Remember that this is a good opportunity to develop your City and receive additional rewards. 

You can always decide whether you want to participate in Global Quests or not. But you should remember that there are also Coalition Global Quests and your reputation in the Coalition may depend on your performance in Coalition Global Quests.

Resources and Items you receive for completing game quests will be stored in the appropriate tabs at the Market. Activate your Resources only when you are sure that you need them that very moment.

There are Special Missions that may also help you receive rewards for usual gameplay. You may be asked to raid Cities, clear Persian Positions, collect Resources from other Cities, etc. Don't forget to check this tab as these rewards will help you in developing your City.

Happy hunting! We hope these tips will help you dominate Sparta!