Facebook Empires & Allies FAQ

Facebook Empires & Allies Frequently Asked Questions by Jimmy Sullivan

About Empires & Allies

Come build an army in Empires & Allies! In this new game from Zynga, you must defend your humble island nation from the attack of the fiendish Dark Alliance. Rebuild your homeland from the ashes to become a mighty empire, build your own personal army, and fight your way to the sinister Raven’s island fortress to defeat his forces once and for all—or take the fight to your friends and invade their islands!

Community
Please visit the Empires & Allies Forums!

Building Creation

How do I build Farms?

Farms are found under the Industry tab. They cost 10 Wood.

What do Farms do for my Empire?

After planting crops on each farm, harvesting the crops will give you Coins. New Crops unlock when you increase your Empire Level.

Do crops wither?


All crops that are ready to harvest in less than 12 hours will wither 24 hours after they are ready to harvest. Everything with a longer timer than that will remain ready to harvest for 2x as long as the crop takes to grow, before withering.

Which is the best crop to plant?

That depends on how often you play. Choose to plant a crop that will just be ready when you next log on to play. That said, the longer the harvest time the better because that would be save you energy on harvesting crops. Thus the best crop is arguably the pineapple crop.

What do Houses do for my Empire?

Houses raise your Empire’s population and create Coin income. The higher your Empire’s population, the more advanced Military and Industrial structures you can build.

What do Military buildings do for my Empire?

The Barracks build Land Units. Hangars build Air Units. Shipyards build Naval Units. There are 3 increasingly advanced types of Barracks, Hangars and Shipyards.

What do Industry buildings do for my Empire?

Industry Buildings allow you to create Resources and sell goods through the Market. Lumbermills, Oil Wells and Ore Mines are available in this menu.

What do Government Buildings do for my empire?

Government Buildings increase the maximum population of your Empire. When you build a new Government Building, your friends have to staff it before your building will be complete. Once the building is complete, you can build more houses and increase your population.
Government Buildings also provide Coins for your Empire, in the same way Houses do.

Friend Ladder Options

What can I do with the Friend Ladder?

The friend Ladder is at the bottom of your screen. It keeps you connected with your Allies. The Visit button allows you to visit your Allies’ Empires. You have 5 energy to assist them with harvesting crops, speeding up the creation time of units, clear trees and rocks, and collect rent from houses. There are also options to send gifts, ask for Metal, visit their Market to see what they have for sale, and Challenge them in Combat.

How do I earn Honor?

Honor is earned by doing tasks for your neighbors like repelling invasions, harvesting crops, and speeding up production. You get one Honor for each task you perform.

How do I earn Infamy?

Infamy is earned by invading your neighbors. You get one Infamy for each building occupied by your invasion.

What do Honor and Infamy do?

Increasing your level in Honor or Infamy gives you a free Power-Up each time you level up. Honor Power-Ups are mostly focused on defense and healing. Infamy Power-Ups are mostly focused on doing damage to the enemy.

Resource Management

What do I need Wood for?

Wood allows you to build all buildings and decorations for Empires & Allies.
How do I obtain wood?
You can obtain wood for your Empire a number of ways. Clearing trees on your island will give you 10 Wood for trees and 1 Wood for bushes. Wood can be given to friends through the Gifting Menu, or purchased through the Market building. Lumber Mills create Wood through contracts for increasing Coin amounts. There are three types of Lumber Mills, which are unlocked with your Empire Level.

What do I need Oil for?

Oil allows you to build many Ground, Air and Navy Units.

How do I get Oil?

Oil is giftable and bought in the Market. Oil Wells can be used to produce Oil by buying a contract with Coins. There are three types of Oil Wells, unlocked by increasing your Empire Level.

What do I need Ore for?

Ore allows you to build advanced Buildings and Units of all types. Your Empire is able to mine one type of Ore, either Aluminum, Iron, Copper, Gold, or Uranium.

How do I get Ore?

There are a few ways to get Ore. You can get them from combat after striking Critical Kills on your opponents. The Friends Ladder has a link to Ask for Metal from your Allies. The Market is another way to buy and sell Ore. The three different Ore Mines allow you to buy mini contracts that produce Oil, unlocked by increasing your Empire Level.

How do I earn Coins?

You can earn Coins in many ways. Coins drop during combat, are harvested from Farms and Houses, earned through Daily Bonuses, friend visits, and by selling things on your Market.

Campaign

How do I play the campaign?

To play the Empires & Allies campaign click on the strategic map on the main screen. The map is the globe located in the bottom right corner of the screen.

How do I play campaign missions?

When you open the strategic map you will see a number of islands and groups of units connected by dotted lines. Any location with the current boss avatar is unlocked and can be played. Any location with your flag on it is a mission you have won. To fight a campaign mission, click on an unlocked location.

When the mission opens up you will see the opening screen for combat. You will be asked to choose a certain number of units from your available units or by purchasing them with Empire Points. You will be asked to select one or more allies to join you. These allies can be your neighbors, or hired for Empire Points.

When you have selected all of your units click on the fight button to begin.

What do allies do in campaign missions?

Allies provide a free random Power-Up by clicking on them. Each ally gives one random Power-Up per battle.

How does combat work?
When you are in combat you can have one unit fire each round.
To choose which unit you want to have fire click on that unit. When they are selected they will be outlined in blue. Every shot fired costs one energy.
When you have chosen the unit you want to fire you can choose your target. To do this hold your mouse over the enemy unit you want to shoot at. The unit you hold the mouse over will be outlined in red. When you do the game will give the chances of hitting the target as Poor, Good, or Great. To shoot at the target click on the unit and watch the bullets fly!
At the end of combat if you win you will receive a large victory payout. If you lose you will be given the options to retreat, rematch, invite friends as allies, or request gifts from your friends.

How does damage in combat work?

Damage in combat is caused by how you hit the target. How much damage depends on whether or not the unit is strong vs. what they are shooting at, as well as what kind of hit.

The first kind of hit is a Glancing Hit. Glancing Hits will always do at least one point of damage. The second kind of hit is a Direct Hit. Direct Hits inflict a lot more damage than Glancing Hits. The third kind of hit is a Critical Hit, which does a lot of damage—potentially killing the target in one shot. If you DO kill your target with a Critical Hit, you’ll get a big resource bonus!

What rewards do I get for combat?

There are a lot of rewards you can earn from combat.
Combat drops from damaged enemy units happen during the course of a battle. How much a combat drop pays out depends on the kind of hit you score. Glancing hits drop XP. Direct hits drop XP and a Coin reward. Critical Hits drop multiple Coins, XP, and Energy. Keep an eye on your bonus bar during the fight, this fills up from your successful hits just like in normal game play!

If you win the battle you will receive an after-battle payout. The reward will be shown in a popup screen and usually include Coins, XP, and more!

Gifting

What can I give to my friends?

You can give energy, resources, special building materials, or decorations to your friends.

How do I give gifts?

You can give gifts to your friends directly through the Neighbors bar in the game or through the Free Gifts screen. This screen can be accessed by clicking on the Free Gifts button just above the game screen.

Market

How do I build a Market?

Markets are an Industry building in the Build menu.

How do I put goods up for sale?

Selling items through the Market can be done by clicking on your Market. This will bring up a screen that shows all the items you can sell. Find the item you want to sell, select how much of that item you want to sell, and click Confirm.

How do I buy goods from my friends?

To purchase items for sale from a friend click on your friend in the Neighbors list. This will pull up a list of options—choose the Market option. This will take you to your friend’s Market where you can buy what they have up for sale.

You can also go to your “My Neighbors” list, and you’ll be able to see all the items that they have up for sale!

Invasions

How do I Invade my friends?

To Invade your friends, both you and your target need to be at least Level 6.

When you have reached Level 6 you will have the option in the Neighbors ladder to Invade a friend. This will appear just above the option to visit. Any Neighbors you have who are currently protected by immunity cannot be invaded (See “Can I block Invasions from hitting my Empire?” below).

How do Invasions work?

When you initiate an invasion, you will be taken to the target’s Empire. Once at your neighbor’s Empire, you’ll be able to choose your invasion site with a red crosshair.

Any buildings in the invasion area provide resources for the invader (you) and cannot be used by the occupied player (your friend). The amount and type of resources you will gain from the occupied area is shown next to the affected buildings.

When you have picked where you are going to invade, you will be taken to the combat screen. There you pick your units, do battle with, and defeat the defending forces.

What do I get from Invasions?

You receive the resources shown when you first picked your invasion site. For every building you plunder you will also receive one Infamy.

If the invasion remains in place for 24 hours then you can return to plunder the occupation site again.

Can I block Invasions from hitting my Empire?

Yes! When you reach Level 6, you will be prompted by a Quest to place a World Embassy. The World Embassy, when activated, provides immunity from all invasions for 24 hours. You can extend how long it protects your Empire by hiring friends or paying Cash. The Embassy can be activated an unlimited number of times.

While the Embassy is active your armies leave any Empires you have invaded. Attacking any of your neighbors will end the protection provided by the Embassy!

What can I do if someone invades my Empire?

You can directly fight the invader and drive them off. You can also ask your friends to help repel the attacker. Asking for help posts a feed inviting your friends to come to your island and fight off the invading army.

Do any of my buildings get damaged by invasion?

No. Occupied buildings still function as normal, but interacting with an occupied building takes twice as much energy as interacting with an unoccupied building. Once the invasion is over, your buildings will instantly return to normal.

How do I help defend my friends’ Empires?

If you use the Friend Ladder to visit a friend’s Empire, you may discover that someone else has invaded that Empire! You’ll see it in the form of an icon on your friend’s island.

If you want to help defend your friend’s Empire, just click on the invader’s icon. You will be able to fight a battle on your friend’s behalf, and if you succeed, the invasion will end!

Power-Ups

Where can I purchase Power-Ups?

Power-Ups can be purchased from the Build menu. They can also be purchased during combat using the Pick Power-Up button. All Power-Ups cost Cash. Power-Ups can also be earned by increasing your Honor and Infamy.

How do I use Power-Ups?

To use a Power-Up in a fight click on the Pick Power-Up button, select the Power-Up you want to use, and click on the target of the Power-Up.

Do I lose Power-Ups after use?

Yes. Each Power-Up is a one-shot item.

How do I unlock more Power-Ups?

Power-Ups are unlocked by leveling up.

Decorations

Where do I buy decorations?

Decorations are available in the Build menu.

What do decorations cost?

All decorations cost Coins.

Can I move decorations?

Decorations can be moved using the move tool.