Start here

  1. Compare city production and stationed troops.
  2. Check the upgrade price and your remaining gold.
  3. Choose a safe city to develop without weakening the frontier.

Common mistake: A higher city level is not a replacement for defending troops.

Actual Crownlands game cities interface with fictional example values
September 20 game capture with fictional demonstration state and simulated battles. Guide text reviewed against the September 30 web build; older screenshot values may differ.
  1. Production lists gold and troops earned per hour.
  2. Upgrade buttons show the cost before you commit.
  3. Available gold limits how much you can develop.

Select the image, then choose View full size to inspect details. Scroll or swipe inside the enlarged image.

Start with a home, then build a network

Your Main City anchors your kingdom. The city list pins it first, and the home control helps you find it when it is off-screen. New rulers begin with a Level 1 Main City in eligible New Lands. The Core is a strategic destination, not a new-player starting pool.

Open a city on the map to inspect its owner, level, stationed troops, wall, and available actions. A high kingdom-wide troop total does not mean those troops are defending this city: position matters. Use the city list to compare holdings before choosing where to invest.

Gold pays for growth; troops hold it

Regular cities produce gold and troops over time. Gold is a kingdom resource; newly produced soldiers remain in the city that trained them until you give a movement order. City upgrades improve the underlying production and value of a holding. Skills, equipped gear, and objectives can add applicable bonuses.

Inspect the displayed hourly rates and upgrade cost. Some rewards and Shop prices use base or raw production, which excludes bonuses; do not substitute the boosted total from your resource display. Spending all available gold on one frontier city can leave the rest of your realm too weak to support it.

Upgrade where you can defend the investment

  1. Open the owned city and check the next upgrade's gold cost.
  2. Compare its position, current troops, production, and wall condition with your other cities.
  3. Confirm the upgrade when you can afford it. City List supports +1, +5 and MAX upgrades with projected Gold while a batch synchronizes. Use the confirmed result when judging your final balance; an uncertain request needs reconciliation before you repeat it.
  4. Keep enough resources for the moves and upgrades your current situation still needs.

A repaired wall and a strong garrison solve different problems. City level does not increase each defending soldier's base power. Upgrading a captured city also does not magically restore an existing wall-repair deadline.

Choose a useful next city

Look for a holding that connects your army to the next part of the realm, consolidates your border, or adds a safer production center. Scout a defended target and compare the wall and garrison separately. Read the attack panel's protection and eligibility messages before dispatch.

Neutral expansion has limits: the daily neutral-capture allowance is 30, and neutral captures are blocked once you own 30 cities. Beyond that ownership threshold, expansion requires player-owned cities under the applicable combat rules. Owning more territory creates more places to defend.

Example: prepare before stretching the frontier

Imagine a safe interior city and a lightly defended border city. Upgrading the interior improves a holding you can protect, while a transfer from it can strengthen your border. Before sending the soldiers away, check the journey and the garrison left behind. That tradeoff is more useful than automatically upgrading the highest-level city.

After a successful capture, inspect the new city's remaining troops and wall condition. Read the report, consider reinforcements, and scout your next target rather than immediately emptying your newest holding.

Check what happened while you were away

The Welcome Back summary reports the production and ownership changes relevant to your absence. Troop production shown as retained belongs to cities you still own. Captures and completed marches can change what is available when you return.

Review the city list and Reports before making new commitments. If an action appears delayed, reconnect and inspect its result before retrying. The server may already have completed it.

Hero progress and choosing a Main City

Newly developed city levels can award Hero XP. Rebuilding levels already credited for that city during the season does not create another award. Level-ups give a skill point and the configured Gold and Main City troop reward. The upgrade must be affordable before any level-up reward arrives.

Captured regular cities lose one level with a Level 1 floor. You can move your Main City to an eligible owned regular city subject to the current cooldown and reinforcement rules. Nine Core maps are excluded: Stoneward, Greybanner Hold, Lionwatch, Swiftgate, Crown Citadel, Aurum Keep, Oakwatch, Ironwatch and Roseguard. Starting placement is a separate rule: new rulers start in the New Lands.

Put this system into practice