Castle

Castles are build on unused plains. A certain minimum distance to harbours, towns and other castles is required! Castles are the only structures, that can't be torn down. They become ruins only after being conquered.

Armies are trained and siege weapons are build in castles. Castles of high level train armies cheaper, faster and better (higher experience for the armies) than castle of lower level. Sabotage doubles the time required for training. The sum of the levels of all your castles determines the maximum number of armies you can have at the same time (similar to thieves' guilds and harbours). The formula for the calculation of the army limit can be found in the formulary.

If some of your armies or armies of your ally have a lower level of experience than newly trained armies, they can be trained to achieve that level of experience in a castle. Also, the exhaustion of armies is reduced faster in castle.

The research of higher commander levels in "Path of the Military" provides better generals for newly trained armies and for armies being split or fused together. In this regard, the research experience of the owner of the castle, town or harbour is taken into account. Even the generals of allied troups can gain higher titels this way.

The research of the "Path of Siege" provides a higher bonus for archers' support during combat. In addition, castles can fill empty slots with structures, that may help during the defense. The Blacksmith may also be researched, allowing the castle to produce weapons.

Attacks on castles are more difficult than attacks on any other field. In return, the conqueror sacks a respective part of the enemy's stock and laboratories. When the last castle of an realm is conquered, the player is annihilated.

Construction time on an empty field	Rebuilding a ruin			Reduction of army's exhaustion	Defense bonus	starting experience of new troups
56*	28*			+1	20	50
49*	25*			+1	30	57
54*	27*			+2	40	64
59*	30*			+2	55	71
65*	33*			+3	70	78
70*	35*			+3	90	85
74*	37*			+4	110	92
Constructing a castle atop another kind of ruin: 70*

^{*The provided construction time does not take the research areas "Fatigue Duty" and "Industrial Cooperative" into account!
The cancellation of construction orders is possible at any time. 90 % of the paid ressources are returned.}

Expansion of the castle by slots:

To allow a better defense against sieges, the castle may be expanded. Each slot of an castle may be filled with a previously researched structure in the construction-menu of the area selection. For each level of the castle one slot is available. Every structure (except for the Fortified Towers) may be used as often as the player wishes to; in other words, at most in seven slots.

Function of the slot-structures:

	Slot	construction time	function
	Ballista	3*	A slot with ballistas carries 4 ballistas, which are added toward the castle's militia.
	Fortified Towers + 5 %	4*	The defense value of the castle is increased by 5 %. This structure may only be build once per each castle. It replaces Fortified Towers 2 (if present).
	Mangonel	4*	Every mangonel increases the combat value during the defense of a castle by about 3-5 points.
	Fortified Towers + 10 %	8*	The defense value of the castle is increased by 10 %. This structure may only be build once per each castle. It replaces Fortified Towers 1 (if present).
	Burning pitch	5*	Every slot increases the attacker's losses by 10 %. Example: attacker would have 10 % losses usually, but with 7 slots of Burning pitch the losses are increased by 70 % -> attacker has 17 % losses.

^{*The provided construction time does not take the research areas "Fatigue Duty" and "Industrial Cooperative" into account!
The cancellation of construction orders is possible at any time. 90 % of the paid ressources are returned.}

The Blacksmith

After researching the blacksmith, every castle automatically builds an armoury, that produces 2 weapons per castle level. The sabotage of a castle also affects the castles' blacksmith.

Minimum distance requirements:

1.castle-castle: 3 fields between building and construction site

2.town-town: 2 fields between building and construction site

3.harbour-harbour: 2 fields between building and construction site

4.calste-town: 1 fields between building and construction site

5.castle-harbour: 1 fields between building and construction site

6.town-harbour: 1 fields between building and construction site

Hints by experienced players:

Players should not waste their ressources for expanding their castle early in the game. The support of the economy is more important.

A castle directly at the water is not advisable.

Castles on battle fronts should be guarded by spies in addition to other units, to protect the castles from espionage.