Exploring ruins in Evony: The King's Return is crucial for gathering resources and accelerating your kingdom's growth. However, sending the wrong troops can lead to significant losses and wasted time. This guide will detail the optimal troop compositions for efficient ruin exploration, minimizing casualties and maximizing your rewards. We'll cover strategies for different stages of the game and various resource needs.
Understanding Ruin Exploration in Evony
Ruin exploration in Evony presents a risk-reward scenario. While the potential rewards—gold, food, wood, stone, and even rare items—are significant, losses are possible if your troops are ill-equipped for the challenge. The difficulty of a ruin correlates with its level and the types of troops guarding it. Higher-level ruins offer greater rewards but also pose a more substantial threat to your army.
Choosing the Right Troops: A Tiered Approach
The best troops for exploring ruins depend heavily on your overall game progress and resource requirements. We can categorize troop selection into three tiers based on their effectiveness and cost:
Tier 1: Early Game Strategy (Prioritizing Survival)
In the early stages, your primary focus should be minimizing losses. Prioritize troops with high defense and survival capabilities, even if their attack power is lower. Ideal choices include:
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Archers: Relatively inexpensive to train and boast decent defense, making them good for absorbing early-game ruin damage. Their ranged attack is also advantageous, allowing them to hit enemies before engaging in close combat.
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Spearmen: Another cost-effective option with decent defense. Their anti-cavalry capabilities aren't particularly relevant in ruin exploration, but their survivability makes them suitable for early-game ventures.
Avoid sending highly vulnerable units like cavalry or siege weapons at this stage, as their losses will significantly impact your progress.
Tier 2: Mid-Game Optimization (Balancing Offense and Defense)
As you progress, you'll want to increase your resource gathering efficiency while still minimizing casualties. A balanced approach becomes necessary:
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Archers + Spearman Combination: This mix provides a strong defensive foundation with the added ranged advantage of archers. The spearmen help soak up melee attacks, protecting your archers.
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Strategic Use of Cavalry: In mid-game, carefully deployed cavalry can be effective against certain ruin defenders. However, only deploy them if you're confident in overcoming the enemy composition without excessive losses. Consider their deployment based on specific ruin guard information, available through scouting.
Remember to prioritize scouting before deploying any troops. Scouting provides crucial information about the enemy troops stationed within the ruin, allowing you to adjust your army composition accordingly.
Tier 3: Late Game Efficiency (Maximizing Rewards)
Late-game strategies focus on maximizing rewards and minimizing time spent on exploration. This requires a more offensive approach:
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High-Level Archers + Siege Weapons: A combination of high-level archers to handle ranged threats and siege weapons to efficiently dismantle defenses can greatly accelerate ruin clearing. This strategy requires a significant investment in troop training and resources.
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Advanced Cavalry (with sufficient support): Late-game cavalry units can be highly effective, but their vulnerability necessitates strong support from other units to ensure their survival. This approach needs careful planning and a strong understanding of your enemy composition.
Remember: Always scout before deploying your troops! Knowing the enemy's composition is paramount to success.
Beyond Troop Selection: Other Key Considerations
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Alliance Support: Utilize your alliance for assistance. Group expeditions to ruins with others can significantly increase your chances of success and minimize losses.
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Research & Upgrades: Continuously upgrade your city's buildings and research relevant technologies to enhance your troop training and overall effectiveness.
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Resource Management: Ensure you have sufficient resources to train and maintain your troops. Avoid over-extending your resources and compromising your overall kingdom strength.
By following these guidelines, you can significantly improve your ruin exploration efficiency in Evony, maximizing rewards while minimizing losses and driving your kingdom toward prosperity. Remember that adaptation and careful planning are key to navigating the ever-changing challenges within the game.
