Welcome to the world of Kingdom Maker! Hours of adventure await you as you build your story, battle, explore, and create your kingdom.
It’s a big, big world, there’s a lot to learn, and a wise monarch knows when to heed helpful advice. To wit, we’ve assembled some helpful guides to give you a smooth road ahead as you get set to helm your realm.
In this guide we’re CALLING ALL TROOPS! To grow and defend your kingdom you’re gonna need an army. Get ready for bootcamp as we review the combat essentials!
How to Build Your army
In Kingdom Maker, Nobles lead armies for multiple purposes like conquering, raiding, reinforcing, defending, mining, and more!
To build an army, you need a Barracks! You built one in the tutorial, so there’s one in your city somewhere! Find it, and make sure you've trained the correct number of each troop type you want. This is a good time to mention that if you want archers, you’ll need a Range, for cavalry you need a Stables, and for siege engines like catapults, you’ll need a Siege Factory, though if you’ve just started you won’t be able to research one of those for a little while yet. Once you’ve trained your units:
- Go to the armies tab, through your navigation bar.
- Tap "Assemble Army".
- Choose the Noble you want to lead your army.
- Select the Champions to lead each Battalion.
- Fill in all the troop slots to the maximum available number.
- Add equipment to each of your battalions.
A note on Champions. Each one has different abilities, and more unlock or they get stronger as you level them up. Some of those abilities are specific to certain troop types, so make sure your Commanders go well with the units you’re pairing them with.
Your army should now be ready, but keep in mind with research and building upgrades, you can increase the count of maximum troops held in each battalion. Make sure to keep your armies up to date, especially after leveling up your Keep or after unlocking new Champions that might be a better fit!
Moving Troops on the Battlefield
After you’re in a fight, Kingdom Maker zooms down to a bird’s eye view over the battlefield. Before you advance your army, you can tap a battalion and tap anywhere in the green deployment zone where your armies are starting the fight. That zone follows the whole border around the enemy keep. Note where teh gates are, and position your armies for maximum success! Your unit will move and deploy from there, and you can use positioning to guide your troops toward targets of opportunity.
To move every battalion in an army tap the torch in the middle of the army and anywhere in the deployment zone. All reinforcements will deploy from the torch, too, though you can adjust their position before commanding them to advance.
Reinforcing a Defender
You can reinforce anyone under attack, including your own city. Tap the Reinforce at the top of the combat screen and pick an army to send. Your reinforcements will deploy after the current friendly army is defeated.
Reinforcing an Attacker
Any armies you send to reinforce an attacker will be added to a queue. Whenever an army dies or retreats, the next army in the queue is deployed.
The player that initiated the combat has control over their placement and the orders to advance/hold/retreat.
Reinforcing Pro Tip: It is highly suggested to coordinate with your Alliance when someone is under attack, so you can effectively reinforce and help each other in times of need!
Loot and Capture
When combat is over, the attacker loots the city, taking resources and any food in unharvested fields. They also have a chance to capture a Noble from within the Keep. If a Noble is captures they are taken back to the enemy’s dungeon within their keep. Nobles can then be held, ransomed, scheduled for execution, or released depending on your diplomacy skills!
Pro Tip: Reach out to your Noble’s captor to negotiate. If negotiations fail then it’s time to plan a jailbreak!
If you reinforce an attacker and they are victorious, the loot is shared between everyone on that side based on how much damage their troops did as a percentage of the total damage done.
Troops / Units
As you progress you can unlock different types of troops/units. Each type serves a specific purpose on the battlefield.
- Infantry
- Ranged
- Mounted
- Siege Machines
Troops/Units also come in tiers (from the weakest Tier 1, to the strongest Tier 3). You can tell them apart by the color of their icon border:
- Bronze for Tier 1
- Silver for Tier 2
- Gold for Tier 3
Certain Troops/Units fit in better with specific Champions, depending on each Champion's skills, and they’re each stronger or weaker in specific situations. Assemble your armies and use your troops wisely.
Troop/Unit base stats can be improved by researching further in the "Combat" research tree in the Academy.
Battle Often!
In your Quests and Daily Goals you’ll find tasks to attack the non-player camps that infest your noble county. Not only is it your sworn duty to clean up the riff raff, the rewards are well worthwhile. Leading armies to battle is an excellent way to generate XP for your Nobles, but you’ll also often get resources and currencies for defeating enemy camps, in addition to the reward you receive from completing Quests and Daily Goals. That’s also how you earn XP to improve your Commanders.
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Glorious battle is a huge part of the fun in Kingdom Maker. Don’t shrink from the fight, leap into the fray and siege the day!
