[Copied from my Discord response to your same there ...]

(It being a good question, and the forum a better place than Discord for longer term discussions ...)

[15:38] Groundpounder: I can't seem to find any information on this.

- What are the breakdown benefits to put the Citadel next to the Forest versus anywhere else?

[16:12] SouthernLady: {image of in valley bonus %'s (vs order membership bonus %'s}

[16:13] MonsterATv: @Groundpounder to be closer to the bastion and next to the camp lvl6 assailant lvl6 apostate lvl6..

[16:13] SouthernLady: @Groundpounder these are the ones inside square

[16:13] SouthernLady: So folks like to have square close to where they yield or fight

[16:17] Groundpounder: Ok so the only benefits of being next to the black forest is because of faster yield production from the Citadel to the forest?

[16:17] Groundpounder: I believe the army stats follow you anywhere outside of the square , don't they ?

[16:20] MonsterATv: the statistics of the citadel you have them in his zone who is blue

[16:21] Groundpounder: Well, I have heard many a debate on why to put the Citadel up against the forest so I wanted to get it clarified

[16:23] Groundpounder: So all those stats including the army stats are only good within the Citadel itself ? I was told that the army stats follow you no matter where you go

[16:44] SouthernLady: The stats on that pic are only in citadel square. Some of the others do follow

@Groundpounder As @SouthernLady has mentioned in the past, the Citadel, let alone in Citadel Valley, bonuses are negligible - however, in this game of marginal %'s over the other takes 80% of their troops, in the end it all matters.

- Point being - focus in order of what improves your stats, individually, then collectively. (Higher individual stats helps everyone help everyone in their collective effort. e.g. Farms send to many, Cav goes here when needed, Spear there ... when good Scouts communicate on order chat what's where.)

- At the same time, we all work as many angles as possible simultaneously. e.g. Build / Study / Train. But it's more than that - my excess food goes to whomever every 8 h. Cardinal and troop upgrades are continually ongoing. Citadel builds, studies, transforms are ongoing perpetually. Citadel boosts can only be used on the Citadel, so everyone may as well use theirs up (strategically).

- And completing Citadel transforms during event not only give nice 'quick' point addition, the results are needed everywhere.

Now, having said that:

- being as near the ES as you can get lets your Watchtowers see where all the goodies are, easily. And all the goodies are centered around this area. Alphas - AND THEIR CAMPS, n6, n5, etc.

- which means your only target rich coordinates are immediately visible. (Outside of the center 5/6 area your economies of scale per yield / attack drop exponentially.) So, if they're in that area you can see them, and if they're not, you don't care.

- the nature of the forest means as long as you win (i.e. 50%+1), they will be ejected from the area automatically. Takes effort for them to try to retaliate.

- the nature of the valley means you can exile anyone in your area, keeping your attackers a bit distant so you have a (marginally) better chance to react and mitigate incoming damages.

- the caveat of all the above: they will center themselves in this target rich environment too, and can thus see you just as you can see them. Thus landing near ES means their Watchtower can see any order's valleys doing this, and which towns are unshielded, in one go.

- to that end, I have seen it argued that the better location is +60m away from the ES so their watchtower can't be so efficient.

= it is also arguable that the real point is just outside the popular valley area, +60m. Attackers like to jump next to their victims, so when they jump next to their victims (in a valley), they will then be able to see you.

- Near or far, they -will- find you, near or far. And jump next to you to do so.

- The only defense is to stay shielded. Your order mates can't help you. There's always a bigger n35 bully somewhere sometime, and any attempt to help you beyond rss (even reinforcements), just make them their victim as well.

Given all of the above, in the end, you want to take as much advantage as you can, by being as near to the ES as you can. They're going to get you wherever you are - if you are vulnerable to being got (at any time).

- remember, troops travel horizontally twice as fast as vertically. So being directly east or west of the ES, rather than north or south, is advantageous.

[You can see this: jump next to your citadel - E or W. Note how long it takes to send rss to the Citadel. Then do the same N or S - the trip time increases enormously. And that's one tile away. The effect is linear, so when you attack that varmint on the other side of the dark forest from you ...)

[Note for above: And Alphas / n6 / n5 and camps yield exponentially faster, so everyone centers there - resources and victims. You want to be there.]

- Another tactic is to put your Citadel wherever, and keep shielded order mates in a triangle around the forest, reporting happenings in the area. Thus ES visitors can't see you in their watchtower, but your order mates can see them.

- For that matter, if they are one square outside of the forest, they need not shield or have armies or rss. (They're just scout outposts.) They can receive rss when needed, shielding for 8h when appropriate for the amount of rss needed.

= when they grow to sufficient size, they can become trap pits, being reinforced or setting up a dummy raid in 8h. When they get zeroed, only 80% of the troops committed will die (not your entire arsenal), the rest coming home automatically. Having taken many with them long before they themselves fall.

= or they can rotate out for the next young ones to begin their cycle of growing.