Initial Troop Development

There are several schools of thought about troop development but here is the golden rule for Travian - This is a game about conquest! You will need to attack to capture villages, raid to capture resources, attack to capture artifacts, attack, attack and more attack. You will also experience being attacked by folks wanting you to leave the game, to surrender you artifact, etc....

Each leader may have a slightly different theory about troop development but one always stands out - all Teutons are aggressive forces. These folks usually have larger armies and less amenities in their villages. So if you are a Teuton, a good starting troop to pop ratio is at least 1.5 to 1(100 pop = 150 troops). We need offense to allow us to control our area. If you are offensive minded contact your offensive coordinators and leaders. They can guide you on how to develop your armies.

Defense - my favorite area - there is never enough. Wait, before long you new folks will see 10K armies and then 20K armies and higher. Defenders are relied upon to keep the unwanted folks out of our villages, save artifact villages and later defend the WW. If you are defense minded you need at least a mobile defense force of 50 troops available for deployment at a moment's notice to defend. This force must grow as the game progresses. Figure eventually needing several alliance members with multi-thousand defense forces to be able to stop a 30K in-bound hammer.

Our current numbers in the trooptool are dismal. It is imperative that these numbers are posted and updated regularly - right now once a week is a good start. The only way a defensive coordinator can mas defenses is if we know what is available.

**TIP** For the newer folks just starting armies. Especially this early and if you get regular raids it is hard to rapidly build a large force. A favorite trick is to work with team mates and shuffle forces back and forth to dodge attacks until your number are larger. It also will work as forces grow to mass troops from small groups of neighbors in a single location as each army builds - this will prevent raids from bothering you..

Do not be afraid to ask questions on military operations - I do not have all the answers but there are several very eprerienced players in our alliance that might have your answer..