The first step is to build the foundation. The tutorial will guide you through building all the overall buildings needed to get started and explain the function of each building. There are six different buildings, and you will need to raze all of them as you proceed. You can recruit and train troops at your own base, decide what to research, heal troops after battle, and more. Thankfully, when you get sea legs, you will stay safe for the first 24 hours, as the game provides you with a safety shield that protects you from attacks by neighboring players.

If you travel around the world, you will see your own base as well as other neighboring bases in the area. Each one will have a name, a rank indicator and a marker in that player's alliance. On this screen, you will be able to spot the neighbors you intend to attack and send the attacking party. While on the world map, you will also see coordinates, which is a way to let other friendly players know where you are placed. Resources play an important role in this game. You need them for everything, from researching new technologies to upgrading buildings for better troops and weapons. Stone, oil, iron, food and silver are the five game resources for success. There is also gold, which you can get by completing certain missions or through in-app purchases.

You will need to collect resources by building the appropriate resource collection buildings and continuing with upgrades. You will be able to have multiples of each type of resource build, but will also need to make sure you have enough storage space to hold all the content. Depending on the situation, each resource will be consumed in different ways. You will always be informed of the cost of construction and maintenance whenever you are ready to build additional troops or select new buildings. While upgrading buildings does consume some of the valuable resources you might ho, you can also collect and store more resources by upgrading. Essentially, you need to constantly evaluate the benefits and costs of upgrading. This is pretty routine for anyone who is used to building a base in the game. Research will also use up those resources, but this is how you can find new technology to help you in battle as well as make building buildings or training troops easier.