Castle Age Invasion Guide by chupacabraHow does invading work?Go to the battle page, find an opponent and click invade. Yay you’ve invaded! But what was really going on?The mechanics behind winning an invasion are still a slight mystery, but here what you need to know for sure:You build an army by inviting other players (from your friends list). Once you invade, you get to use 1 Army Unit, 1 Item, and 1 Magic for EACH person in your army. The only exception to this is heroes, and you can bring 1 Hero per 5 army members into battle with you.The maximum invasion army size is 501, this means the most you can take into battle with you is 501 army units, 501 items, and 501 magic.Currently there are not 100 heroes available so this is the only invasion stat you cannot maximize.
You can take 1 hero into battle for each 5 members you have in your army.You can however get up to 501 of each of the other types, which is what we’ll talk about in the rest of this guide.The specific calculation on winning an invasion is complicated, and much of this is uncertain. But for sure we know that having the best items will greatly increase your chance of success. The rest of this guide will aim to show you path to choosing the correct items to win invasions. There are a few threads out there devoted to trying to determine how the battle formula works, as well as some on the importance of how to allocate your stats to win more.
This guide will not focus on your individual stats, but rather how to best optimize your unit, item, and magic choices in relation to their overall value and cost. Getting Started1.
Image not available. Attack: 50 Defense: 35 Item Type: Amulet Obtained: 2x Helm of the Conqueror, 2x Ring of Power, 2x Aegis of Battle, and 18x Flames of War Description: This 'best in game' amulet can be created by players of level 190 or higher. Additional Information: Divine Power = 180 The ingredients can be obtained by defeating Malekus. Castle Age is a time-based massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game hosted on Facebook. You get to quest in a lore-rich world, team up with friends to fight monsters such as dragons and hydra, and even invade and duel thousands of other Castle Age players! This is a guide and tips on the various Castle Age stats and the many actions that you can take in the game.
Getting army members, visit the addme pages, add your profile link or your email depending on the thread. This takes a bit of click-work, but once it’s done it’s doneGetting Army Units2.
Army Units provide the bulk of your invasion stats. The following table shows the best items available, the important part to note is how large a% of the total points come from Army Units.Army units can compose potentially 70% of the invasion stats! This should be your first focus point when building an invasion force.Which Army Units should I use?This depends on your level, what’s available, how fast you are progressing, and how much money you make.A lot of factors I know, but I’ll list out what I believe are the most common Army Units and how they compare to each other in an invasion scenario.Tree Ents are the most common starter invasion force. They have the benefit of having no hourly upkeep. When you have a low income level, these make for great units to build upon.IMO Phoenixes are the next progression item, but this depends on your income and progression rate.
I believe you should build your income quickly while you can at the lower levels, and save that money to invest in Phoenixes. This would be opposed to filling out an army mixed with dragons angels and tree Ents. The table below shows the battle values for what I consider the most likely combination of army units:You should be able to see how drastically having just 250 phoenixes impacts the overall score. Cost & StrengthEverything costs money, the real question is how do you get the most bang for your buck?Obviously if you have trillions upon trillions of gold, you should go with 501 of the best Units available. Currently this is Archangels, and they cost somewhere around $96,562,500,000 to get 501.Now, if you don’t have that much spare change under your couch, lets talk real options.Your first really good invasion army will be 501 phoenixes.
This should be considered your first real invasion goal, tree Ents are just a stop-gap move too protect yourself while you build income at a low level.501 Phoenixes will give you a healthy defense against the average invader. In fact 501 Phoenixes will be give you an army of about 80% of the maximum available, that’s good news! See the following table:I’ve highlighted what I believe should be your 3 invasion unit goals.1. 501 phoenixes2. 250 phoenixes 250 valor knights3. 250 valor knights, 250 archangelsI’ve also highlighted the option of 250 phoenixes and 250 archangels. I wanted to make note of this because it is cheap, but it takes a long time to reach the high general rank.
It took me around 7000 total battles to achieve this rank, but that’s by no means the fastest possible. I put this up there to show that it does provide a good stat base, however it is still a fair amount (4.5%) weaker than the valor/archangel balance.You should notice that once you have 501 phoenixes you have 80% of the maximum army available! That’s a big chunk of our goal.
What does this mean? It means an army of 501 Archangels is 20% stronger than an army of 100% phoenixes. Buying the remaining units up to our goal of 250 valor and 250 archangels will net you another 14% increase in strength. I recommend this path, because once you have a full phoenix army you can buy valor knights as needed up to the 250 needed for our final hybrid army with archangels and not lose anything.It cost immensely more to fill out 501 valor knights or 501 archangels than it does to create a hybrid army. The benefit is not inconsequential, 6% gains with a full archangel army is nothing to sneeze at, however the time it takes to generate that amount of cash is staggering.Note: For each valor knight you buy, be sure to sell a phoenix!
They have the same upkeep, so you won’t incur any extra income cost over your 501 phoenix army, and there’s no reason to keep more laying around sucking up your hourly income.Take Away:The thing you should take away from this is that overall having a hybrid army is a great way to build up your invasion stats without having to dump tons of money into one unit type. If you start with phoenixes, get 250 valors, then get 250 archangels you only sacrifice the cost of 250 phoenixes, which overall is almost nothing.Getting ItemsThe next most impacting factor are items. When invading you can take with you 1 item for each army member up to 501 items. You can see from this table that Items can potentially make up over 20% of our total invasion stat!dueling items vs invasion itemsThere are a number of items that make excellent dueler gear, these are not however necessary to have a great invasion army. The main reason is that you can often only have ONE of each of these items, and since we’ll be invading you’ll want to 501 of each of the best available item.Also keep in mind, that when invading you get 1 item per army member, regardless of which item slot it fills.
Weapons, Amulets, Shields, Armor, etc are all compared equally when invading, and Castle Age will take the best available item to use regardless of what type it is.Which item is considered the “best available” is something determined by the so called “battle formula” which is always a hotbed of discussion. Castle Age users have yet to nail it down perfectly, but the general belief has been than when attacking OR defending it takes the items with highest combine Attack + Defense values. This could always be changed by the devs, but for the purposes of this article I’ll assume the above to be true. Which items should I get?The best starter items will be Steel Plate.
If you can get 501 of these you’ll be in decent shape to start. Focus on the steel plate first to fill out your invasion attack stats.The following table should show why I recommend you invest in the steel plate over saving for the gladiator swords.
There’s only about a 500pt difference between the two!.noteAxes no longer help with the recent change in the battle forumla. The current formula will pick items with the highest combined attack and defenseAt first the cost of these may seem a bit intimidating, but with an income of about 20 mil per hour, you can get 501 steel plate in about 2 days. So buy that land early and keep boosting that income!I’ve, again, highlighted the 3 steps I think are most logical.1. Steel plate2. 250 gladiator swords & 250 commander plates3. Heroes/GeneralsTerminology: In castle age the term hero and general is almost synonomous, as both can be found under the “heroes” subsection. However you must select an appropriate “general” for each quest.
When invading Heroes + Generals are the same, and there is no difference. All the Heroes/Generals found under the “Generals” tab will be available when invading.When you invade someone you can bring with you one General for each 5 members in your army. So if you have the max army size of 501 you could potentially bring 100 Generals as part of your invasion force.First off you should go buy every single general you can, once you have enough income to easily support them all. As a starting player this is a nice chunk of nearly-free invasion support.Once you have all the purchasable generals you can look toward favor point general, such as the treasure chest of the Monthly Release items.Currently this is limited by the amount of generals available. I won’t list them all but each month (roughly) a new one is released and is purchasable via favor points. Does this mean you have to spent real to get these?
One answer: dragons.IMO dragons are the easiest way to earn favor points, kill a bunch, kill ’em often. It’s pretty easy for me to gain the 30 favor points a month through this method, and thus gain a new general each month without spending real money. There are many ways to earn favor points, and I won’t delve into all of them, but what you should take away is that this is one area you should consider. Each monthly general bring around 29 attack + defense (normally it’s 14 atk / 15 def or 15 atk / 14 def or so). If you plan on playing for a long time, this can pay off pretty big.
Castle Age PvP Quick Guide by avsquarePREFACEThe intention of this guide is to discuss the various builds for different styles of PvP. I will talk about the pros and cons of the various PvP builds and it’s functionality to assist those who are lost in finding their preferred build.
Various mathematical ratios and their implications will be discussed here.It is also hoped to assist the newbies who don’t know how they hell they die on the battlefield to understand PvP better, and hopefully by reading this guide they will not make more of those “WHY?!” thread that has been answered a googolplex times. (ATTN NEWBIES: Go check at the bottom of this guide, I have a FAQ. If your question is listed then you should very well read this guide).CONTENTS. Chapter 1 – Assumptions. Chapter 2 – The Battle Strength Index.
Chapter 3 – The Stat Ratios. Chapter 4 – Easy Skill Points Farming. Chapter 5 – The Most Common PvP Questions/FAQ. Chapter 6 – Conclusions & Further ReadingCHAPTER 1 – ASSUMPTIONS. It is assumed that you have GOOD knowledge on the mechanics of PvP. If you don’t, either read other guides first or check out my FAQ at the last, later. To facilitate easy mathematical comparisons, the different builds are assumed on the ground of 1,000 total stat points in attack & defense.
It is assumed that both parties in comparison discussions have the exact gears and army composition. The comparison of BSI is supposed to be used for comparison of near level peers.
Extreme level differences beyond the gauntlet may not be fully applicable, due to the sheer amount of stat point difference. Using your BSI to estimate your strength against players who are much over-leveled than you would thus not be effective.
Win and Defeat mentioned in this guide are mutual. It refers to both offensive and defensive battles.
Wining offensively and defensively). The ratios used are assumed to be in the order of Attack: Defense.CHAPTER 2 – THE BATTLE STRENGTH INDEXThe BSI, is a moderated indicator of your battle strength based on your current level. The formula for this index “(attack + defense)/level” is widely used and accepted to evaluate one’s PvP power based on his/her level, and used to compare him/her with their close level peers to see how they fair in the battlefield.For yourself to be considered a build majored for PvP, I would say you would need a BSI of 5.0. To me, it’s a fair number to be considered ready for PvP action and subsequently, improving on it. Anything below that, you are just food to those who are PvP oriented, as simple as that.Now, let me discuss this indicator, and what the numbers mean. The Beginner – 5.00 to 5.49: Welcome to the PvP scene.
This is where you begin. At 5.0, you are just a mediocre PvP player, so do not expect much. At this ratio, you are only strong enough to fend off players whose BSI are generaly below 4.5 to around 5.5, depending his attack:defense ratio. These group of people are generally monster hunters who just started PvP or taking PvP as “part-time job”. Your preys are generally from monster hunters to players with a BSI under 6.0 with negligible defense, depending on your build’s ratios. The Intermediate – 5.50 to 5.99: You are of intermediate strength. What you are able to attack and defend from are dependent on your build’s rations again.
However, you should be able to do well against about 50% of your peers. What you cannot handle is those who’s BSI are 6.0 and above, they are the “full-time” PvP players. The Serious – 6.00 to 6.99: You are of superior strength in PvP. A good majority of your peers should not be your match in most circumstances, which depends on your build’s ratio. Of course, I would assume that at this stage you know what you are doing and what you want from PvP. I assume that you know who to hunt, who are your competitors and who are the top dogs around your range.
You are able to stand and fight on your own with ease. The Hardcore – 7.00 and above: You are basically a monster within your peers. Not much people should be able to defeat you. You are ready to have a shot at hitting beyond your level range, and you should do so, because the higher you go, the more tasty food you find, although the dangers get higher. HOWEVER, you are clearly limiting your ability to slay monsters and gather loots compared to the lower BSI builds.
It’s the major trade-off for such massive PvP strength.From time to time, you should use the above Index to evaluate your strength against the general strength of your peers. The BSI is a very relative index and you need not follow it to the T to be a top notch PvP player. You can easily adjust your BSI to your needs and your surroundings. For example, at a very high level of 600+, you need not have even 5.0 to win against most players. Being at the top levels means you can fairly weaken your BSI and invest your SPs on other aspects instead.
For a level 600, having a BSI of 3.33 is rather powerful enough. That could well mean 1,000 attack and 1,000 defense which is a challenge to most CA players.Venture it out and see what lies in front of you, and decide what BSI you should go for.CHAPTER 3 – THE STAT RATIOSNow, you’ve heard all the stuffs about the BSI, and now you wonder, what kind of ratio build you should go for? Now, I’ll discuss the various build for your consideration. I will move from the extreme offense to the extreme defense. The Destroyer – ALL Attack, 1 Defense: Yes you know it. You are the ultimate destroyer, you crush almost anything in your path.
The only one within your peers who could stop you is “The Wall (pure defense)”. However, it is not your concern at wall because Walls are rare in nature, I’ll tell you why later on. Lots of foods lies around, so, move on if you hit a wall. You deal massive damage on monsters too, compared to your peer.
But defensively, you are going to suck big time. Even if you are a “Destroyer” with a hardcore 7.0 BSI, in defenses your defense score is amounted to 4.9x your level. You can take it as good as a 4.9 BSI in defense. Any “The Beginner” of this “Destroyer” build will crush you biscuits, and they love it. Everyone loves it, BTW. As such, this build is clearly not viable in the long run; at high ranks it’s difficult to get good BP per fight, and if you continue to be a “Destroyer” you are going to lose more than you gain.
The Aggressor – 5: 1.5: This build is for those who wish to be aggressive, and at the same time, being able to defend well against the weak to mediocre attacks. Let’s take the ratio and use the numbers as factors to your level. That means, you have 5x level Attack, and 1.5x level Defense. Offensively, you have 6.05x level attack score, and defensively, you have 5x level in defense score. It’s pretty good I’d say.
The Offensive – 2: 1: This build is for those who plan to be offensive but at the same time, being balanced. At 2: 1, during the offensive you are have a total attack score of equating to 90% of your total attack + defense stats, and during the defensive, a defensive score of equating to 80% of your total attack + defensive stats. Fairly balanced, I’d say. The Balanced – 1: 1: This build is basic enough.
One to one, the perfectly balanced ratio. It’s basically the jack of all trades, master of none.
You don’t shine particularly in either department. The good thing is you can do fairly well against most players except the mid-extreme to extreme ratio builds. The Defensive – 1: 2: It’s just the vice-versa of “The Offensive”, with the downside of weakening your powers in the monster hunting department.
The Paladin – 1.5: 5: It’s the vice-versa of “The Aggressor”, which a significant downside of your powers in the general monster hunting department. However, you are valued in 2 monster battles: Serpents and the Orc Horde for fortifications. The Wall – 1 Attack: ALL Defense: The vice-versa of “The Destroyer”. Just that you do horrendously poor against non-fortification monster battles. You sucked absolutely at them except for the Serpents and the Orc Horde, which you will be greatly welcomed and loved.Now that you read about the builds and it’s strengths and weaknesses, we shall look at how it fairs against each other:It has come clear that the offensive builds are the ones being initiative, and the defenders passive players. Both has it’s pros and cons on PvP, but on multiple aspects on CA, defenders tends to lose out on the monster battle department, resulting in lesser ability to get the alchemy gears faster, and in larger quantity.Also, assumed that the comparison above is based on 1,000 total stats in attack and defense, you will realize that pure defenders lose out totally on the offensive, which limits their ability to retaliate players of similar level or total attack + defense stat.
This is the reason why offensive builds are preferred over defensive builds by the general CA community, and the fact that after reaching the gauntlet, you are susceptible to all attacks makes the “Wall” build and the “Paladin” build fairly unattractive, resulting in most players picking on an offensive or balanced build.CHAPTER 4: EASY SKILL POINTS FARMINGOk, now you may wonder, how the hell do I get all the SPs to build a high BSI build, and at the same time, not compromising my stam/energy department? Farm the easiest SPs! I’ll tell you how, and where, step by step.I will assume you are a total beginner and start from there.You will start you character by heavily pumping all your SPs to energy, and only energy. Pump it to either 84 or 120, depending if you ever plan to pray to Ambrossia. Either way it’s fine. Gears doesn’t mean anything much more than stats if your stats are really powerful.
Stat means the most, everything else are just bonuses.The next thing you should note is that you always start with Azeron, not only for the SP, but guess what? To unlock the first demi-quest! Why waste the god damn time for 2 days on other Demi-Powers, when Azeron do the job immediately? Yes he gives you the immediate 200 demi points to unlock his first quest, and let me tell you, advancement for demi-quests are much faster than normal quests.
Complete it and get your good 12SP.You should continue praying to Azeron and meanwhile, complete your Azeron demi-quests and master the whole of Land of Fire. Land of Fire gives you 61SPs in total.After completing Land of Fire, you should go ahead and rush Land of Earth to the boss quest for the Holy Avenger.
Now, I’m going to tell you that Land of Earth is not all that free. The first 2 quests and sub-quests are easy stuff, you can complete them while doing it at the same time with the 4th-5th Azeron demi-quest. And I recommend you to stop at the 5th demi quest for Azeron, because it gets real tough to advance after that.
So with that said, what you should do? If you have yet to complete Azeron, it’s okay. Divert your love a little, give Malekus and Corvintheus some, and unlock their 600 demi point quests, for a total of 24SPs!
Depending on whether you wish to pray to Ambrossia/Aurora or not, and whether you farm monsters or not, the 600 point quest for both the ladies are also available to you to quest, for another whooping 24SPs.FYI, After completing Azeron’s Path, I have his quest mastered till the 5th tier, with all other powers unlocked until the 2nd tier (600 points), and mostly mastered.After Azeron’s Path, where you go depends. If you stopped at 84 energy at the start, your primary focus is on Ambrossia. Unlock her to the 1,300 point tier, and move on to unlock the 1,300 for Malekus and Corvintheus.
If you are not picky on Aurora, you can unlock hers too if you wish. After doing so, focus on completing the demi paths depending where’s your focus. If you stopped at 84, focus on Ambrossia all the way.
If you started off with 120 gear or decides to stop somewhere in between and use Elizabeth or Aria, then it’s fine, spread your love in between Malekus and Corvintheus to unlock both’s 2,000 point quest, and focus on either one of them, depending on your build.Remember, demi-quests come first before anything on Land of Earth. Demi-quests are faster and easier. Don’t believe? The 2nd last quest of Azeron, at a requirement of 15 energy per click, gives you more XP than the 20energy/15xp quest on Land of Fire, and it gives a higher% increase!
Azeron’s goes at 4% per click while Shino’s goes at 2.5% average. It sucks to be honest. That’s why I say, go for the demi-quests.
Total: 362Path 3: 120 Energy start, Focus on Malekus/Corvintheus after Azeron:Land of Fire: 61Land of Earth: 61Demi Quests, Azeron (up to the 5th tier): 60Demi Quests, Ambrossia (up to the 2nd tier): 24Demi Quests, Malekus (up to the 4th tier if your focus is Corvintheus, 5th if Malekus): 48 OR 60Demi Quests, Corvintheus (up to the 4th tier if your focus is Malekus, 5th if Corvintheus): 48 OR 60Demi Quests, Aurora (up to the 2nd tier, no praying at all): 24Total: 338You can see that either ways gives you a fast and easy 338 SPs to apply. Path 2 is gives the most SP but it’s going to slow you down by about 2 weeks to do so, but I think it’s fine if you plan to play long term.So what is 338SPs? That means, you can have a minimum of 120 energy and 120 stamina, without dropping your BSI below 5.0! It’s really that EASY, my friends. To be real honest, I’ll leak a little secret, I haven’t even mastered the 338SPs and I’m already sitting on 120 energy and 120 Stam, and my BSI is certainly over 6.0.Let’s don’t forget about achievements. For battle achievements, yield 10SPs for doing 100 invasions and 100 duel wins. What you should go next?
I highly suggest getting a 501 army. You need not to have 501 VK or whatever, just invade the poor guys with pathetic army. Easiest wins ever, easiest BP ever. Get your 5,000 invasion done first, for the 15SPs! In total, you yield 25SPs and 40 FPs by just invading those with small army. Easy as ABC.Monsters? Hydra and Dragon are your best friends.
Get yourself a Dragon Helm on the way, and the Hydra heads, the Hellkite Minion and Hellslayer Knights as unit. I don’t really care what you do, get at least 10 kills for both for 10SPsSee how easy all these SPs are? A strong and versatile hybrid isn’t that all difficult, it depends on your mastery of resource allocation, and patience.CHAPTER 5: THE MOST COMMON PVP QUESTIONS/FAQQn 1) WHY DO I ALWAYS LOSE?– Use this guide as your lesson.
Do you have a sucky BSI? Are you losing to a build that is effective against yours? (check the build ratio comparison chart for this)Qn 2) HOW DO I GET ATTACKED BY SOMEONE OF XXX HIGHER LEVEL THAN ME?– Technically reaching level 80, you can get hit by ANYONE.
The semi-protection mechanism by not listing your keep to those level 120 and above, until you’ve reached level 120 yourself, is not foolproof. Anyone who has bookmarked your link can whoop you as high from level 1,000 as long as you are level 80 and above. Qn 3) I NEED STAT ADVISE!– Read this guide and formulate one for yourself!
The theory is all the same so just apply it.Qn 4) HOW DO I LOSE WHEN I HAVE SUPERIOR GEAR/MORE ARMY THAN HIM/HER?– It’s most likely that your stats are inferior. However, it’s may not be always the case, due to the fact that we have a dual battle platform; the duel and the invasion. To learn more about it, read the “further readings” at the end of the guide.Qn 5) HE/SHE IS A CHEATER! HE ALWAYS ATTACKS ME AND HE’S DEAD!– It’s called hiding, or he’s already being chained to death by someone else.
Either hide yourself, or get stronger.CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONSI hope that from the above discussion in this guide, you get a fair idea of the differences in the different builds and it helps you to decide what kinds of stat build you wish to have for your CA Character. Of course, whether to be a Dueler or Invader is another whole story, we’ve got 3 separate guides on that, and I’ll direct you to them on “Further Readings”.Again, all the above information are just the theories and tips. Ultimately, it’s up to you to expertly apply them depending on your needs and situation. For example, it might not be necessary to rush for a 7.0 or even 8.0 BSI build during the early levels, because you are likely to compromise your energy and stamina stat just for that. Always plan ahead and think about what you want in the long run. Building on energy and stam with a weak BSI build just to level, gain more SPs, do more quests, acquire the loots, then build on your BSI can be just as good as building a hardcore PvP character early. At times you may choose to weaken a little just to catch up with level, at times it’s good to give up on the focus on PvP and do monsters a little.It’s all up to you to apply the theories and techniques.
There are a lot of arguments and debates on this matter itself so I will not touch on them, and basically it’s personal preference.With this, I thank you for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Below are the further readings on Duels and Invasions if you are not yet familiar with them. Project X – Non Demi whore, supercharged pvp formula:p@level 137 I’m currently sitting on a 9.95 BSI (without stat boosts) now surely you’re thinking damn your “movement” stats must be horrendous, well partly yes this is the case with only 39 stamina. BUT at about level 120 I came up with a new resolution:) there is honestly only 1 Demi worth praying to and that’s ambrosia, why? You may ask because energy is required for a constant flow of SP and more SP means more ass kicking for you at the end of the day:P.
Now here’s my next suggestion for how to allocate those points, every SP that you earn from quests and achievements dedicate those to attack, for every SP that you gain from rank ups and level ups put that towards defence. This is because as you gain a high flow of attack you aren’t going to allow yourself to subconsciously neglect your defence (which lesbihonest, happens to the best of us). Hope my personal tips helped ^^ with stat boosts I’m sitting @ a 10.7 BSI and it’s only climbing:P I’m also doing decent damage to monsters (can get 3.5 million on a kessaran in 48 hours without refills) so those thinking it’s not well rounded think again:P.