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In Grepolis there are two processes by which you can obtain a new city, Colonising and conquering. Of these, conquering is considered the most effective; however it is also slightly more complex. There are two methods of doing it, Conquest and Revolt: Some worlds use conquest and others use revolt, which method is used depends upon the Settings of the world that you play. This page is intended to provide a quick introduction to conquering towns in general.

Conquering

A general overview:

Looting other towns will help your own city to grow and evolve. But to really prosper and become a mighty Hellenistic empire you will need more cities, preferably also on other islands. Here you will find out how to conquer other cities and to take possession of them permanently.

Prerequisites

Basic requirements

• Harbour: Level 20
• Academy Level 28
• Research: Colony ship (Academy Level 22); Conquest (Academy Level 28)

For a conquest

First of all, you need enough culture points. You can see in the Agora how to get them and how many you have.

Additionally a Colony ship is required for a conquest. This will cost you Wood 10.000 10.000 and 10.000. Of course, you also should have enough troops to command for a successful conquest. We will talk about the most important units for a conquest a bit further down.

The attack

As soon as you have made out a suitable target, the conquest can begin.

A conquest will initially proceed like a normal attack. A bit confusing might be that only the button for a "normal attack" is shown, but as soon as a colony ship is sent along, Grepolis automatically perceives the attack to be a conquest. To start a conquest, both land and sea units must be included in the army you send out. Also, the travel time of a colony ship must not exceed 48 hours.

The most important unit in your attack force is the colony ship. It should not get destroyed under any circumstances, otherwise the conquest will be aborted and the surviving troops will retreat. Hence it might be good tactics to send in one or more waves of attacks to eliminate the opponent’s defenses, before the actual conquest is carried out. In the final attack for conquest it is also very important to send along defensive units. These include Biremes to fend off naval units, and enough units with strong defensive values to hold off the enemy’s land units. Of course you can also support the conquest from other cities. What is important here is that any rearguard armies are sent in the "support" mode, so when they arrive they can help the troops that are already involved in heavy fighting with the capture of the city.

Divine units can only support the takeover when the attacked city worships the same god as the city from which they are sent. If this is not the case, divine units must be sent with the normal attacking host.

The take-over

Conquest by siege

This type of conquest applies to siege worlds as well as ghost towns on Hyperborea worlds (where it is not possible to conquer active players). On revolt worlds you "conquer through revolt" (see next chapter).

If you have a high enough culture level you can send your troops on a colony ship to an enemy city, to defeat the troops that are stationed there and to capture the city.

But when you arrive, and even after you have smashed the core of the city’s military defense, the inhabitants are not particularly well-disposed towards a new ruler. Thus the basic defense of the city may still destroy your colony ship. To prevent this, make sure that both land and naval units survive and remain in the besieged city after the initial attack.

Your conquering army needs a certain time to convince the citizens that you are the better ruler and to defect to your side. This is the phase of the siege.

The duration of the siege differs from world to world. On most worlds it depends on the speed factor, but it can also be set independently. The exact siege times for each world can be seen in the world information-article. By researching democracy the siege duration can be extended by 10%.

During the siege period the defender has no control over the city. But your troops can get attacked nevertheless, just as they can also be supported. You can see incoming attacks and supports if you go to the city from which the colony ship was sent, and click on the icon displaying the conquest under „Troop movements“. If the conquering troops survive the siege period without being crushed, the city changes into your hands.

All buildings and things that have been researched remain undamaged, unless you have specifically attacked them with a divine power or with catapults.

A colony ship is destroyed if the attacker wins the land or the sea fight, meaning he has defeated either all land units or all naval units and he has not lost all his troops himself in the process.

Conquest by revolt

This type of conquest applies to revolt worlds. On all other worlds you "Conquer by siege" (see chapter above).

In the academy you can research "Conquest". This enables you to spark revolts in other cities. To then take over the city as your own, the following steps are necessary. If you launch an attack with a "revolt" and then eliminate at least all land units in the targeted city, the residents there start to ask themselves if they are in fact governed by the right ruler. It takes a while before the rumors and grumblings of the citizens have spread within the town and the dissatisfaction escalates. Hence, it will be 12 hours after a successful attack, before the revolt in the polis erupts.

During the revolt, the population of a city is willing to accept you as their new ruler. After all, you have demonstrated with your successful attack that you are a more competent commander than the current ruler of the city. Therefore, if you execute another successful (normal) attack incl. a colony ship during this period, you can take over the city immediately. But there are two things you should know: Even if the population revolts against its present ruler, he still has full access to the polis, he can command and recruit troops and call in support units, which you should of course dispatch before or when your colony ship arrives. And, in this case, both the land- and the sea battles must be won!

To make things even more complicated, you only have 12 hours after the revolt has started to have the colony ship arrive in the contested city. When this time has passed, the owner will succeed to stifle the revolt.

The 12 hours before the revolt erupts as well as the 12 hour duration of the revolt itself are independent of the world's speed factor.

Several revolts can be instigated in one city at the same time. But only players who have started a revolt can conquer the city, meaning no-one can capitalize on a revolt that was sparked by another player.

A player cannot start a new revolt in a city when he has already instigated one within the last 24 hours. Extending the revolt time is therefore not possible.

Ghost towns on revolt worlds

You can of course also conquer ghost towns on worlds with the revolt system. But since there is no leader to revolt against, an attack to spark a revolt is not needed. All you have to do is to send a colony ship (accompanied by escorting troops for protection) to capture this city and incorporate it into your empire. If the ship survives its arrival, the city will be yours immediately, provided that you fulfill the necessary cultural requirements for owning another city. In the city, from which the colony ship sets sail, you don’t necessarily have to have researched "Conquest" for this manoeuver.

You have been conquered?

And your enemies have taken everything from you? Don’t worry, in Grepolis this doesn’t mean the end of the world for you. If your beautiful city becomes the prized possession of another player, you will get the chance to start a new empire right away, where you can avoid all the mistakes you may have made in your previous attempt. Of course we are aware of the fact that, when restarting, you will be a bit behind the longer-established cities. But we make up for that by placing your new polis in a location where your neighbors have a similar level as you. So, starting anew is a great opportunity to use the knowledge you have gained and to grow and become a lot more powerful the next time.