Social Empires Guide

Social Empires is an Age of Empire style game whereby you are responsible for creating an empire from scratch, developing its research, technology, defenses and army, and then for launching attacks on AI and other human players and their empires. As with other Facebook games, you can advance more quickly using real money to purchase upgrades. Our guide gives you a great introduction to starting out in this popular game.

Getting Started

Town Hall:

When you begin a new game you will be introduced to the Town Hall. This is where you can train villagers, an essential task for progressing in Social Empires.

Villagers:

Villagers cost 50 Food. They are primarily useful for collecting supplies and resources, which extends to manning certain buildings to increase their productivity. They are next-to-useless in combat and should be kept out of harm's way wherever possible. Click on the Train button and a new villager will be produced in seconds.

Collecting Resources:

With a Villager trained, you can begin collecting resources.

Below are the resources that you can use villagers to bring in. These include food, wood, gold and stone. Training villagers to collect these resources is essential to compete successfully at Social Empires. Most resources can either be found by exploring the map, or are produced in buildings that you construct as part of your empire.

Food

As soon as you start the game, you will need to begin collecting food. Train some more villagers and construct some farms. To build one, click the Build menu and select 'Farm Land'. Farms cost 60 Wood to construct. With that all done, you can select a villager and click on the farm to set them to work on the land.

You need to keep an eye on the farmland and collect food once it has been produced. This allows the villager to continue working the land without interruption.

Wood

The second resource to begin collecting is wood. Again, after you have a few villagers working on farms, train some up to start chopping the trees that surround your initial village. They will automatically move on from one tree once it has been cut down and start work on the next-closest in that particular group - make sure you send a villager to a group of trees because if you just send them to one, they will chop that down and just stand there waiting for you to give them another intstruction. If the first tree is in a group, they will keep going until the whole set of trees has been chopped down. In their wake will be left piles of wood. Click on it to add it to your stockpile.

Once you progress through the game, Wood becomes less valuable. It is only really essential for building houses, and sending out your villagers to chop down the trees (which grow back after a while) should be enough to keep you going. You can also use Lumber Mills and the Market to trade for Wood if you absolutely have to get some quickly.

Stone and Gold

Stone and gold are less important than food and wood when starting a game, but you should still send a couple of villagers to the supplies that will be littered around your village. Gold is vital as you progress for building some of the higher-status structures that will set your empire apart from newer players.

As well as thinking of the best ways to harvest resources, you also need to be frugal with your usage of the materials collected. For example, with Stone, it is easy to waste all of this on building walls. However, wooden walls work fine and it is best to use your stone to build towers as these are far more effective at deterring enemies than walls. Obviously it is good to funnel enemies to bottlenecks that are easier to defend using walls, but towers can actually deal damage, so are the best solution in a general defensive sense.

Gold is generally much more scarce than Stone, considering how much you use it. While the supplies on your starting map will regenerate, this takes a lot of time. To really get new deposits of Gold, you will need to leave your cosy starting position. Buy a boat when available at Level 7 to explore new islands. Each island will earn you heaps of Gold once you complete it. You can also attack other empires to get Gold, though there are obviously risks involved with this.

If you have a glut of one particular resource, you don't necessarily need to divert villagers away from getting that. Instead, use the Market to sell the resource in exchange for Gold. You can then either use the Gold to improve your empire, or purchase resources that you are low on with it.

Other Resources

The collection of food, wood, stone and gold is dealt with in the getting started chapter

Below are the resources that you can collect through other means. If you do not have enough villagers, or want to max out your resource collecting, use the list below to see where you can expand without having to train more people in the art of resource collection.

Food (Animals):

Another method of collecting food is to keep an eye out for the animals found across the map. Build the appropriate animal pen for the animal and you will be able to harvest them. With the pen constructed, you can send a villager to the animal and then lead it back to the pen for its demise. This is not a long-term option as there is always a limited supply of animals roaming the map, but they do regenerate, so keep your eyes peeled.

Mines:

Construct a mine and you will receive a steady stream of resources into your stockpile. Send a villager out to the mine to begin work on it, and bear in mind that you can build some mines that allow for two villagers to work simultaneously, increasing your resource gain.

Mines can be used for Stone and Gold production, and both of these can reach a version up to level 4.

Mills:

Much the same as Mines, build these and send a villager to them to get Food coming in at all times. If you build enough, and make sure they are all fully staffed, you will have a healthy economy on your hands. Once you have a villager inside the Mill, click on it to select what task you would like it to focus on. You can then rush this through by enlisting the help of your friends or by spending Social Empires Cash.

Mills are upgradable to four levels, with level 3 and level 4 requiring gold to produce. The first two can be constructed with wood alone.

You can build general mills, as well as Lumber Mills for giving you the resource of wood.

Upgrades:

All the resource buildings are upgradable over time. You will receive better versions that you should replace your old, defunct models with. Watch out for these buildings as they come available so you are not losing out on a potential supply of more resources.

Collecting Your Resources:

Over time you will see icons indicating the resources that your people have harvested appearing around your village. You need to click on each of these to collect them, though the game does feature a Fast Collect which you can use to simply mouseover resources and pick them up.

Defending

We have looked at resource collection to start a potentially peaceful colony in Social Empires. Now, however, is the time to prepare for defense. You never know when you may be attacked by enemy units, so this is vital to make sure all your hard work sorting your village doesn't go to waste.

Defenses:

There are a few things you can do to bolster your city's defenses. Primarily, you can construct towers to try to prevent enemies from coming in, and eventually, once you level up enough, you will be able to build walls to physically keep everyone at bay. Castles come later and also support some very strong units that you can train there. While you are collecting resources from across the map with your villagers, you should try to send a military escort with them to avoid losing any to enemy attacks.

Towers

Towers come in numerous varieties, but the basic ones are upgradable to five levels. You can also purchase Fire and Lightning towers using Cash, to add another dynamic to your defenses.

Walls

Walls mirror towers because you can also upgrade 5 versions of them. The first few walls require wood to build, but as your technology and research develops, stone structures are built. This same principle applies to towers too. Walls are used so that people cannot sneak into the heart of your empire, as well as to funnel enemy attacks into specific channels where you can focus your resources.

Fires

If a building catches on fire (as happens regularly with towers), be sure to move a villager to it so as to extinguish the fl. Obviously you only really want to do this once the enemy threat has dissipated.

General Tips:

Some players opt to completely surround their empire with walls. This prevents enemies from being able to sneak into the center of your empire, and also allows you to funnel them down corridors lined with towers, making them easier to take care of. You can leave a few carefully placed gaps in the wall on the lower levels to allow your own armies out, while at Level 21 you are able to put a gate in for added security.

You could also obviously have multiple sets of walls, protecting more key structures, though as long as your defensive army is suitable, one ring around the outside should be enough.

Attacking

To attack enemy cities and the AI-controlled trolls that roam around, you will need to build yourself some military units. These require a building to train them in, and population space - so ensure you have enough houses free for them. Below are the most basic buildings for training military units, which can later be replaced with upgraded versions as you move through the levels. Ranking up will provide the ability to train Swordsmen, Long Swordsmen, Medium Archers, Heavy Archers, Medium Knights, Heavy Knights, Catapults, Rams and Cannons.

Spearmen:

To train Spearmen, you need to build barracks. Barracks are currently upgradable to Level 6. All these require Wood except the top version, which needs Gold.

Archers:

To train Archers, you need to build an archery range. Archery Ranges are currently upgradable to Level 5. All these require Wood except the top version, which needs Gold.

Cavalry:

To train Cavalry, you need to build a stable. Stables are currently upgradable to Level 5, while you can also construct Archery Stables. Elephant Stables are now available too, but are only purchasable using Cash. All these require Wood except the top version, which needs Gold.   

With the Training Stables, you simply need to place an infantry unit inside it, at which point it will be trained to become a mounted unit, as long as you have enough horses. Put a Heavy Archer in there to make a Heavy Archer Knight, for example. Doing this increases unit attack damage by 2 points, with the horse adding power to your attacks.

You get Horses in the same way as cows and sheep - send a unit to them to capture them from around the map and then lead them back to the stables.

Dragons:

Dragons form a crucial part of Social Empires. You begin the game with a Dragon Breeding Nest, and are allowed one free dragon to get you started (older players have to build the Breeding Nest, but the principle is the same).

From then on, all you have to do is enter the Dragon Breeding Nest and press 'Take Care' once every six hours. If you do this enough times to fill up the progress bar, you will then get another dragon to add to your army, completely free! Dragons are immensely powerful, and in fact can pretty much take on the first few Troll Camps single handedly.   

More powerful dragons and some different types can be purchase using Social Empires Cash in unit collections, while others come as rewards for progressing through the game and as part of various promotions.

Dead Dragons:

You may well get attached to your Dragons, especially the first one that you get. It is possible to get them back if they are killed in battle, by purchasing a Graveyard. You should be able to see your lost dragon there and can then purchase its revival for 3 Social Empires Cash or 2 Potions. If you cannot see your slain Dragon in the Graveyard, unfortunately it will mean that there is no way to get it back :(

Graveyards:

As well as using the Graveyard to revive your Dragons, as mentioned above, you can also revive units, heroes, and get reinforcements by resurrecting them via the Graveyard.

You can find the Graveyard in the build menu under Miscellaneous.

Trolls

To get some practice in with combat, you can explore the map and you will find a Troll's camp. The camp will send patrols out which you are able to engage and test out your units. Eventually, you will be ready to take on some of your Facebook friends.

Attacking a Trolls’ Camp

There are a few strategies you can use when attackings a Troll's camp. The first, is known as 'Bait and Switch'. This is where you feign an attack on the camp and lure the trolls back to your own defences - for example, take them in range of your towers to despatch them with ease.

Similarly, you can use long-range units to attack from distance. Then, when the enemy come to close down on your soldiers, simply withdraw and repeat until they are all taken care of.

You can obviously just attack with standard units in an all-out-attack style strategy, but this will always cost you a few units.

Attacking Other Players

The key element to Social Empires is attacking other users. This is the most fun and is a very competetive part of the game. You are unable to access the world map until you reach Level 6. This is to prevent new players from being out of their depth straight away.

Spying

Firstly, you will want to Spy on the enemy. Click the Spy tab (this activates once you have constructed a an Eagles Training Center in your empire). Move the screen around to investigate the various aspects of the enemy's setup.

Launching the Attack

Once you are ready to attack, click the Attack button.

At the top of the screen, you will see how many Attacks you have left, how many Spies you have left, and will be given the ability to select the world to travel to.

Once you've picked your target, you need to choose where you want your army to set out. You will then see a list of objectives. Essentially, you need to take down the enemy's Town Hall. You can monitor how well the battle is going through the Battle Menu, and 'finalize' it when ready.

Cooldown:

You can only attack three empires before you have to wait for a six-hour cooldown until you area allowed to attack again. You also can't attack the same empire repeatedly.

Battle Strategies:

You will probably come up with your own strategy for taking on enemy empires, but here are a few to get you started.

Kamikazes:

With the goal being to take out the enemy's town hall, having a strong contigent of Kamikaze units is a great tip. You can use an initial wave to blow an entrance into the heart of the enemy's empire, then send a second wave in to destroy the town hall.
You can also divert a lot of Kamikazes towards taking out enemy towers, though generally it is advisable to pick your enemy based on how weak his defences are - more units is preferable to lots of towers.

Maximizing XP:

Although it can be tempting to get quests over with as quickly as possible, you will want to maximize the possible supply of XP from each encounter. To do this, rather than heading straight for the town hall, it is advisable to mop up all the units in the base and then destroy everything EXCEPT for the town hall. Then, once you are confident that you have got all the points going around, you can take out the town hall for the win.

Baiting:

If you are trying to keep as many of your units alive as possible, you can try the baiting tactic. This works very well on AI units, whereby you send a few fast units in to lure out the enemy and separate them from the main force. This is good for cautious players but requires strong management of your unit positions.

Dragons:

If something is difficult to get to, for example because of walls or trees blocking the route in, send some Dragons as these can fly over the top and potentially subvert enemy defences or get around the back of their lines.

Quest Specific Strategies

Quests are the best way to level up. They can be found via the King icon, and vary from building structures to taking down certain enemies.

There are a few quests where some of the more generic strategies won't cut it. In these cases, use the information below to guide you on alternative methods:

Hero Isle:

To take on this quest, bring 50 Kamikazes with you. Split them up into a few groups and send them to take out the enemy groups of heroes. If you encounter any monks, healers or valkyries, focus your efforts on them first to avoid unnecessary loss of units.

Wild Isle:

The Wild Isle quest allows you to start with around 40 Kamikazes and a few Cannons. You should supplement the initial Kamikazes with at least sixty additional Kamikaze units. Again, split them into groups and send some to destroy the castle and fire towers on the left-hand side. You will then have a route to the town hall.

The Yeti Quest:

On The Yeti Quest, you need to take just 4 monks and 3 healers to be successful.

General Attacking Tips:

For new players, it is a good idea to get started by completing all of the one-star islands, once you have the Boat and the ability to travel to them. With that done, you should be ready to attack your first neighbor. Pick the weakest one and invade for great rewards!

Expanding

Soon, you will run out of profitable space on the map. The area marked in darker green is somewhere that you can venture into, to collect resources for example or to attack trolls, but you can't build any structures there. To buy an expansion, which allows you to build in part of this larger area, click on the for sale sign to buy it. The game has certain restrictions on when you can buy these, but it will quickly become necessary to progress in the game as you level up.

Expansion 1 costs 5,000 Coins or 20 Cash.

Gift Giving

You can give your Facebook friends free gifts, including military units and animals for food. They can return the favor, so it is a good idea to develop a consistent relationship of gift giving. This is a great way to get free resources if you have a good network of friends helping out.

Wonders

Much like in similar games, Social Empires allows you to construct Wonders, which reward you with additional resources that will come constantly into your empire. The only way to build them, however, is to part with Cash.
An example of one of the wonders and how it can benefit you is the Coliseum, which costs 15 Cash and rewards you with an impressive 450 gold every six hours. If you are struggling to progress at Social Empires, building a wonder can give you the impetus needed to move on.

Population Limit

Social Empires has an initial population limit of 175. Building Houses, The Nobel Mansion, The Tavern and the Baths will boost your population up to this point. Once there, however, there are only a few ways to advance the limit further. To do this, you need to build Wonders.

St Basil – this increases your population limit by 25, and costs 40 Cash to construct.

The Alexandra Building – this increases your population by 50 and costs 70 Cash to construct.

Babylon Gardens – this increases your population by 50 and costs 70 Cash to construct.

Great Church – this increases your population by 50, up by increments of 10 for every four new recruits you turn to your cause. It costs 9,000 Gold to construct.

With all of these Wonders in place, your population limit will peak at 350. If you hit your population limit, you will need to start sacrificing your weaker units and replacing them with stronger ones as the only way to improve your armies.

Other Structures

Harbor:

Build a Harbor and you will be able to roam the seas, unlocking new islands to explore. You first have to build a ship, but it is worth it to add another dimension to Social Empires.

Church:

Unlocked at level 19, you can use the Church to produce Healers. These units can accompany your main fighting force and will restore the health of any friendly soldiers in the vicinity.
 
Allies Market:

Build the Allies Market to allow your allies to assist you in your endeavors.

Treasure Mine:

This rewards you with a new collectable item every day that it is standing.

Temple:

This may seem to be in conflict with the Church, but nonetheless, it still gives you something very useful! With a Temple in place, you will be given resources consistently every 2 days. You will receive 750 food every time this time limit elapses.

Sacrifice Altar:

If you are running low on funds or resources, you are able to ‘sell’ your unit back to the game. This is done through the Sacrifice Altar. Note that you can't then revive them through the Graveyard - you can only do this for units that have died in battle.

Heroes Graveyard:

The Heroes Graveyard allows you to revive fallen heroes, for a cost.

Nursery:

Construct a Nursery and you are able to breed animals. Put two inside the Nursery to make the magic happen.

Healing Spring:

The Healing Spring is a good defensive structure. It allows any units in range to be healed when not in combat.

Bakery:

Like the Church, the Bakery rewards you with 750 food, however, in this case you receive the food every 8 hours.

Cathedral:

From the Cathedral you are able to train Monks.

Troll Camp Tasks and Rewards

These are the rewards you can expect to get for taking on the Troll Camp tasks:

Remember that you have to allow six hours between each Troll Camp.

Task: Prince kidnapped! – ‘Slay the Trolls and rescue Prince Arthur’

Reward: Prince Arthur (Hero)

Task: Creepy Skeletons! – Go to investigate the Skeleton Statues

Reward: Skeleton (Hero)

Task: Save the trapped troops!

Reward: 1 Medium Knight, 2 Medium Archers   
 
Task: Rescue the rangers!

Reward: Three Rangers
 
Task: Rescue the captured animals! – Slay the Trolls to open the animal cages.

Reward: 10 horses, 5 sheep, and 5 cows

Task: Captured Allies! – Help your allies to escape the enemy.

Reward: 4 Allies

Task: Rescue the troll!

Reward: Big troll (Hero)

Task: Stone Mines! – Liberate the Stone Mines from the enemy.

Reward: Stone

Task: Mill in flames! – Get some water to extinguish the flames.

Reward: Food   

Task: Princess kidnapped! – Liberate your princess.

Reward: Warrior Princess (Hero)

Task: Captures Siege! – Liberate your siege engines.

Reward: 3 Catapults

Task: Captive Healers! – Liberate your healers.

Rewards: 2 Healers

Task: A Treasure appeared!

Reward: 250 gold

Collections

There are numerous Collections in Social Empires, and collectibles can be found through a variety of sources:

These include killing Trolls and other minor enemies, killing bosses, defeating other players in an attack on their empire, harvesting trees, stone and gold, recovering chests during quests while exploring new islands, and finally in a treasure mine.

When you complete a Collection you will receive a reward. Decorations can be performed multiple times, but if the reward is a unit, you can only have one active at a time. Below is a list of these Collectibles, and how to get them.

Collection: Mysteries of the Sand

Reward: Pyramid (Decoration)

Collectibles Required:

Egyptian Hieroglyph, The Pharaon Mask, Old Ceramics, Written Papyrus (gained from harvesting trees), Horus Statuette

Collection: Ye Old Chest_Treasure

Reward: Treasure Chest (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Boards, Curved Plank, Lock, Treasure Map, Nails

Collection: Flower Power

Reward: Garden (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Rose (gained from harvesting trees), Sunflower, Tulip, Blue Geranium, Flower Seeds

Collection: A Renaissance Touch

Reward: Golden Fountain (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Gold Brick, Golden Lady, Pillar, Brick, Water Barrel

Collection: An Ancient Discovery

Reward: Frozen Mammoth (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Mammoth Skin, Tusk, Ice, Frozen Peanut, Mammoth Foot Print.

Collection: The Hunting Threat

Reward: Axethrower (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Leather Braces (gained from killing Big Trolls), Large Fang (gained from killing big trolls), Leather Belt (gained from killing enemy Heavy Knights while attacking), Horns Helmet (gained from Killing big trolls), Axe (gained from killing Bosses)

Collection: An Arctic Discovery

Reward: Penguin (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Frozen Pond, Fish (gained from Treasure Chests), Solid Igloo (gained from killing the Yeti), Petra frost, Egg (gained from killing bosses)

Collection: Snow Journeys

Reward: Yeti (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Ice Fur, Yeti Fang, Yeti Skin (gained from harvesting trees), Yeti Horn (gained from killing bosses), Yeti Claw (gained from killing bosses)

Collection: The Diabolic Appearance

Reward: War Troll (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Gold Nuggets, Skull Belt, Gold Nose Ring, Ponytail: (gained from doing sea quests), Sword (gained from killing bosses)

Collection: Scent of Magic

Reward: Wizard (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Wizard Hat, Wizard Robe, Wooden Rod (gained from harvesting trees), Beard (gained from killing War Trolls), Magic Spell Book (gained from killing Golem)

Collection: A Mortal Trap

Reward: Crocodile Pit (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Mud, Stone, Frog, Piranha, Baby Alligator

Collection: The Circle of Life

Reward: Life Tree (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Stone Ball, Strong Roots (gained from harvesting trees), Root (gained from harvesting trees), Life Vines (gained from harvesting trees), Life Seeds.

Collection: Sentence of Death

Reward: Guillotine (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Head Plank, Strong Planks, Head Bucket, Rope, Blade

Collection: Trapped in the Darkness

Reward: Prison (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Cell Lock, Iron Bar, Chain, Iron Shackles, Prisoner Suit

Collection: Hero Tribute

Reward: Solider Statue (Decoration)

Collectibles Required: Stone Pedestal, Stone Legs, Stone Armor, Stone Helmet (gained from doing sea quests, Stone Sword.

Collection: Troll's Best Friend

Reward: Fly (Pet)

Collectibles Required: Red Necklace, Tasty Bone, Fur, Balloon (gained from Troll island treasure chest), Sky Mask

Collection: Little Ball of Fur

Reward: Mishy (Pet)

Collectibles Required: Cute Necklace (gained from harvesting gold, stone and trees), Tuna Can, Fur, Small Sleigh Bell, Wool Ball (gained from harvesting trees)

Collection: Bare Bones

Reward: Skeleton (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Fleshy Bone (gained from harvesting trees), Rusty Sword, Helmet, Shield, Skull

Collection: A Monstrous Ally

Reward: Ravager Troll (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Leather Shoulder Pad: (gained from killing Axethrowers), Horn Helmet, Stone Gauntlet, Side Horn, Hammer

Collection: Sound of the Forest

Reward: High Elf (Unit)

Collectibles Required: Long Bow (gained from harvesting trees), Golden Diadem (gained from killing War Trolls), Arrow (gained from treasure mines), Quiver (gained from harvesting trees), Wooden Ocarina.

Troll Empire

One of the add-ons or expansions for Social Empires is the ability to play as the Trolls. You can do this simultaneously alongside your Human empire. To purchase it, you will need either 100,000 Gold or 22 Social Empires Cash. You also have to be at least Level 20, so that you have a decent Human empire and understand the basics of the game before embarking on this new adventure.

XP Boosts

The easiest way to get XP at low levels is to buy Decorations. Once you get higher up, at Level 7, you should explore the world and other islands to get some nice XP boosts.

Darts

Look out for the darts icon, which allows you to play a darts minigame to earn rewards, such as free units to add to your armies.

Daily Bonuses

You will be prompted when logging into Social Empires to claim your Daily Bonus. This is to encourage players to continue coming back to the game for more! You will be given Social Empires Cash as part of this, so it is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Cheats

Note that there are no official cheats for Social Empires. Any websites which claim to offer cheats or programs to give you free cash, resources or boost your level are likely trying to access your account or compromise your computer. If you do want to advance in Social Empires without having to go through the grind of everyday play, you are advised to use Cash to do this. Obviously such action is not for everyone, but it is the only way to beat the manual system that all other players have to go through.

How to Get Cash

It can be frustrating having to deal with Social Empires' constant requests for you to buy things with Cash, when you don't want to spend any real money on the game. There are a few ways you can gain Cash without spending anything:

Look at the bar on the top of your Social Empires screen and you should see 'Get Social Empires Cash'. Click this and select General on the left to see a list of offers which can reward you with Social Empires Cash. These are often things like watching videos or inviting friends to take part in offers but can still reward you with some healthy cash.

Some people claim that you can get Cash using programs that are downloaded to your PC and hack into the Social Empires engine. This obviously subverts the systems that have been put in place to make Social Empires a fair game for everyone to play and is likely to get your account banned. Certainly the method above is the easiest, legitimate way to earn Cash.

You will also get some as you progress through the game, leveling up will occasionally reward you with it, for example. Look out for Social Empires Cash as part of the Daily Bonuses as well. It has deliberately been made so that this will never be enough to make you truly happy though!

Tournaments

Once you have been playing for a long time, you may feel like you want to take on other players in a tournament scenario. These normally have entry limits, and you must be at least Level 15 and have completed certain missions to be able to take part. This is to ensure that all players are at least relatively evenly matched to stop it from beeing a bloodbath!

Winning tournaments is the way to get some more exotic, more powerful dragons than any of the ones that you can get from the Dragon Breeding Nest.

How to Get Free Dragons

You can get Dragons for free by using the Dragon Breeding Nest. This is now given free to new players, though older players will have to construct it. Once that is done, however, you can simply click 'Take Care' once every 6 hours. Do this as many times as you are asked to inside the Dragon Breeding Nest and you will be rewarded with a Dragon completely free!