City Festivals

In times of peace, you won't find BP. Also cities that are too far from the frontlines are going to be less useful in combat, especially in the attack.
The only thing your soldiers can do is play around with themselves in city festivals.
The more cities you get, the cultural points you need to unlock more slots. Of course, your army comes first, then you run city festivals, get a new slot and conquest a city. Anyway, it's much more fun fight in wars than be a simmer.

Dodging Sea Storm with CS

How many times did you lose CS for Sea Storm?
It can be very frustating lose your CS, because all your attacks will be for nothing, only info for the enemy. But there's a way, you can explore the mechanics of this game. Let's read the description  of the spell:

Description - Poseidon rises and beats the ships with furious waves. It is not a good day for seafarers. Destroys 10-30% of the enemy's naval units (can only be used on an incoming attack).

This spell don't affect transport boats neither land units , and it is based on the population count not the number of naval units.

All you have to do is to send a certain amount of naval units(not including TS or FTS), the amount should be before the 10% or after the 30% gap.

Examples:

1LS + 1CS = 10 + 170 = 180pop
Sea Storm casted. It will destroy nothing. But,
1CS= 170/180 = 94%
1LS = 10/180 = 6%
I attacked myself and the spell brokes the rule. It ended destroying 1LS...

2LS + 1CS = 10 + 170 = 190pop
Sea Storm casted. It will probablly destroy 2LS.
1CS= 170/190 = 89,47%
1LS = 20/190 = 10,53%
 Let's move on.

39LS + 1CS = 390 + 170 = 560pop
Sea Storm casted.
1CS= 170/560 = 30,36%
1LS = 390/560 =  69,64%
That's the maximum you can get from above.

154LS + 1CS = 1540 + 170 = 1710pop
Sea Storm casted.
1CS = 170/1710 = 9,94%
154LS = 1540/1710 = 90,06%
That's the minimum you can get from below.

Well, you'll never send a CS with so few LS(people can split birs and easily destroy it), neither with so many LS(players can snipe with DLU), neither with the risk of the Sea Storm. Then, the best amount of LS you should send is 39.

Splitting

This defensive strategic won't give you many BP, but it's the best to sink CS.
The idea consists in sending enough amounts of birs that can destroy all the LS that escort the CS.
Of course, if you know the enemy don't have many LS, then you can just stack birs and sink all his OLU, but when the attack firepower surpass yours, splitting is the best option.

Splitting is similar to snipinng, the main difference is that your precision is higher. because you only have to click one button:Support.

Sinking the CS:

• Identify the CS, cast wisdom and see how many LS the player has;
• If it's possible cast Sea Storm and negative spells;
• Go to the simulator and find out how many birs are enough to kill the LS;
• Don't forget to put the premius and the luck 30%(to the enemy).
• 11 sec before the CS arrives, send support as fast as you can. You can do this until 9 seconds after the attack;
• The more birs cities you have, the more attempts you have.

The standard number of LS is 39 for a "magical reason". Then groups of 70 birs can deal with the LSs.

Worst Scenario

In the second of the CS, there are LS nukes and OLU nukes, which means the CS was the last attack to be launched. This is never happend to me, but in this case sniping and stacking are the best options. Of course, most of the players you'll face won't know how to snipe or split.

Full war city

This type of city is designed to increase the population for the war. You'll usually put ~ 3500 of your population in the army and the city will end up with 8796 points. The basic configuration is:

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 15
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 10
• Academy 30
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

I beleive you already know what technologies are good or bad for each type of city. By the way,

you can adjust the building according to your preferences.

The first focus would be on the Senate to the lv 24, then farm to 45, thermal baths and the rest. If the city is an OLU, then put the academy in lv 28 as fast as possible. The last building you will finish will be the production camps and the warehouse. At this point, a 7000 points OLU city would be ready for war and a 6000 points naval city would also be ready for war.
Your main way to obtain resources is trading with yourself and farming cities.

What's the point in building a city like that?
The main drawback is that you'll spend more time to build your army and they'll suffer more with Z'rage and Sea Storm. But if you manage to "dodge" the spells then the attack will hit hard and probably clean all the DLU of the city and birs in a single attack. Also it will take more time to run city festivals.
Basically, you pay for a lower production of resources in change of a stronger army. You may find better have max resources, but you'll have more units to attack and defend with this strategy. You're going to gain only 90 population having level 30 production camps, but if you count this number in 20 cities, the "additional population" is 1800 both for defense and offense. That's just my humble opinion.

I'm sure that your army win wars, not your points.

Infiltration

This strategy consists in infiltrating the core of the enemy.
There you can do whatever you want to do, but there are two things you can perform well:
Build a full OLU city, or a OLU city with CS.
As you are in the same island of the reds, you can check thier harbors every time with small groups of slingers for example.
Probably you'll be attacked by everybody, so stacking units in the city is essencial. Birs or DLU, if you have a wall lv 15 or higher.
For these reasons many alliances like to fill their islands, even if the city has low points or it's just an anchor, ready to be colonized.

Simming

Simming is often see as a bad thing in the grepolis forums. I also agree with them, but if used strategic simming can be really good for your alliance.

Strategy

You will only build defensive troops: DLU if you're not active or birs if you're active.
All your cities are DLU or birs cities. Then, you'll put all your production camps in the max level, because you can't farm.
Pros: You don't have to worry about attacking and timing attacks. You can support all your teammates and defend your cities at the same time.
Cons: You can be a target for the enemies. Most of your cultural points will come from City Festivals.

Trading with efficiency

Have you ever imagined farming in 100 cities?
It's possible, but I'm sure you work or study. Then you have to find another way you can obtain many resources without losing so much time.
The solution is trading with yourself. Yeah, find a good trade in the market can consume a lot of time and they usually are far from your cites. Since your cities are close to each other, then trading isn't a problem.

First things you should know:

• Slingers cities: they lack in stone.
• Hoplites cities: they lack in silver, but let a lot of wood behind.
• Horsemen cities: they lack in silver, but let a lot of stone behind.
• Birreme cities: they lack in wood, but let a lot of silver behind.
• Light Ship cities: they lack in wood, but let a lot of stone behind.

Now, you'll trade between your cities. I recommend to choose one or two cities to send the resources and cast Pop Growth or Call of the Ocean on them. If you're not very active, then a market level 20 will help you.
I usually don't use the trade tool, but the regular trade, because I can see how many resources I sent and how much space there's left. This strategy works if you're cities have at least production camps in the level 30(silver mine can be upgrade to level 40, so you can store more silver):

1. Select a city group and choose a city that you pretend to send resources. 
2. Send the resources and click to the right to switch to another city.
3. Send the resources again and repeat the process until you fill the selected city with resources.

I give you my example:

1. I click in the overview, then in recruiting.
2. I choose the birs group and make birs.
3. I go in the LS group and cast CotO in one city and assign Aristotle to that city.
4. I send all the wood and silver from my LS cities to this city.
5. With the hero assigned. I make the LS and keep sending resources from the other cities.
6. At the same time, I go to a hop city with Chiron assigned and train hoplites there.
7. I send silver from the others hop cities and from the birs cities.
8. I repeat the process with the others cities until I finish the resources.

New cities

Depending how do you upgrade them, they can be good or bad cities. Before you start building your army, you should put a city in a stardard level. For example:
Birs city: upgrade the academy to level 13 to unlock birs. And then upgrade the production camps and warehouse.
Ls city: upgrade the academy to level 16 to unlock LS. And then upgrade the production camps and warehouse.
OLU city: you don't have many choice, but to farm until you unlock conquest and others researchs.

Production Camps without trading

This strategy are for those who don't have time to play, so it'll be better to train your army without worrying about losing resources.

Slingers:
Quarry 40
Timber 30
Silver Mine 25

Horsemen:
Silver 40
Timber 34
Quarry 20

Hoplites:
Silver 40
Quarry 22
Timber 20

LS:
Timber 40
Silver 27
Quarry 20

PS: The level can change according to the island preferences. I put the minimal level in 20 because you have to upgrade your city.

Heros lv 20

You can get heros level 20, but if you do that, you won't be able to pick all the heroes. The strategy is really good if you are active and rotationate your heros between your cities. Having a Medea lv 20 for your slinger nukes, will hit like a harpie nuke, because the boost  is very high and having a Chiron, you spend much less silver and stone to train hoplites in a very short time.
1155 coins are needed to upgrade a hero from lv1 to lv20.
These heros in max level will be the best ones:

Ajax(35) - This hero will make your hoplite nukes very strong. Assign to your city when you need him for a hop attack. Don't forget to make more hoplites than catapults(in a revolt wingorld), because he works better with hoplites.
Andromeda - Well, you'll start with her. She is really good for city development.
Aristotle(105) - With him, your LS production surpass the birs production of the enemy. Cheaper and less time to be built. Make a tour with him in all your LS cities. It's a good idea to have max warehouses in your LS cities, so you build LS only if Aristotle is assigned to the city and you don't lose resources.
Atalanta(105) - CS attacks are faster and more effective. With her, the enemy may be surprised by a fast CS attack. Save her for all your conquets.
Chiron(105) - Now hoplites are cheaper than slinger and they take less time to be trained. Train your hoplites with him.
Leonidas(110) - A strong hero to defend revolts. You may recruit him or not.
Lysippe(45) - Recruit her when she appears. Your horsemen nukes will be so strong as harpie nukes.
Medea(40) - She is insane with slinger nukes. She would be my first heroine in lv20. Use her in your slinger attacks. Don't forget to make more slingers than catapults(in a revolt world), because she works better with slingers.
Zuretha(95) - She will improve your LS attacks, even though she dies in every attack. But save her for attack.

My priorities would be Ajax, Medea, Aristotle, Chiron, and Lysippe and
Zuretha, Atalanta, Leonidas and Andromeda
The first four ones have the highest boost and will help you a lot. With them, you have powerful slinger and hoplite nukes, along with LS nukes.
Then you upgrade the rest. As you see there are more Heros of War than Heros of Wisdom, so you should focus in red coins. If you finish to upgrade the blue heros, then Pariphaistes and Daidalos are good options.

Maximizing the efficiency of each hero

One thing you can do to minimize the effort, but keep the same results is filling your training queue(2 or 7 slots, if you use the premiums). All you have to do is send all the resources of the cities of the same group(LS cities for example), then you send wood and silver to one single city and fill the queue. After you finished it, the city will be full and you are free to send your Hero of Wisdom to another city. Examples:

Aristotle
Choose a LS city, assign him to this city and cast Call of the Ocean. Make sure to build LS only if your warehouse is full of wood and silver. After you finished the first slot, then send wood and silver from all your LS cities and make another slot. Repeat the process until the queue be full. By doing this, you don't need to train every day. Depending of  the world speed, you have to wait one week.

Chiron
Choose a Hop city,assign him to this city and cast Population Growth. Make sure to train hoplites only if your warehouse is full of silver and stone. After you finished the slot, then send stone and silver from all your hop cities...

Medea
Everytime you need to make an attack in a city with wall lv25 plus tower, use her in your slingers nukes. You'll probably lose all your troops and she will die too, but the damage will be so high that you'll need only more one nuke to take down the city and put a revolt. She die but she can be healed, and after that you assign her to another slinger city.

Ajax
Similar to Medea, try to send both heroes  together, behind a LS nukes of course.

Lysippe
Similar to Medea and Ajax, try to send both heroes  together, behind a LS nukes of course.

If the hero of war dies(probably you lost many OLU or all of them), then assign him/her to a "fresh" city. So when they woke up, they'll be ready for battle, and don't forget to rebuild your army in the others cities.

Hunting wars

Wars aren't a bad thing, contrariwise they are the main source of culture.
It's better take the initiative than wait for the enemy arrive.
You should your team in a situation where they can't refuse your orders and the only way that they can get out of the situation is fighting.
Never pick wars where you don't have a chance of winning. Face alliances of your size...

Bad/good cities to defend

In the beginning

The only cities you really need to defend are the main cities of each player of your alliance, because they'll be the CS cities and lost one of them will hinder your development.

In the middle

Defend the most important cities.  They'll usually be the cities with more points, but it's not a rule.
I woudn't mind in handing over a 2000 points, unless I have troops to defend it. Even if you lose, you can quickly take over another better city.

In the advanced

Defend the most important cities. But now you should consider the strategical position and so on you calculate its value. For example if the alliance is moving to a direction and your city is in the other, then you should consider in hand over that city.

You never know what will happen to your cities or to your alliance, especially if you're not member of the leadership. Then you have to be "ready" to not sink with the alliance. The best formation to defend your cities is the circle. All you have to do is try to conquest your cities in a circle area, because all your cities will have the same distance to the center. And if something bad happens, you'll only lose your cities of the borders. As you long you expand, you expand your circle.

Frontline cities

Frontline cities are cities constantly bombarded. In general, blues and reds are in the same island or in a distance of one island. In these places, the main battles will occur, and the winner gets everything:

1. Never let inactive or half-active players in the frontline. They'll be under siege or revolt and they won't ask for help. Usually, they are the first targets;
2. Let the veterans and the most actives join the frontline. If you put a big guy but with fear of battle, he'll just sink your team;
3. Be ready for the battle. Never think in simming in these places. Defense is good, but only the attack will bring the victory.

Time managing and world speed

Depending on your activity some worlds will suit better for you. As a general rule:
Slow worlds for people who log few times per day.
Fast worlds for people who log every hour per day.

The content is based on the grepolis en forum: here

World speed 1:
The Cons:

• This is a very slow moving game speed, good for people who can log one time per day;
• You can log on in the morning and place something in the queue and when you arrive from the work it will still be there;
• You must be very careful with your armies, otherwise it will take weeks or a month to be rebuilt.

The Pros:

• This speed is almost certainly suited to the less active player;
• There may be less fighting, but when it does happen, it is HUGE;

World speed 3:
The Cons:

• You must be 24/7, things happens too fast;
• Armies can be built in 2 days;
• Most of the top players are going to be very active and if you're not, then your cities are just food for them.

The Pros:

• You'll always have fun;
• The players that are active are truly awesome. Most speed 3 players are very knowledgeable of the game due to the amount of time they must spend playing it;
• Active players receive many rewards, because of the "inactives".

World Speed 2:
The Cons:

• You'll struggle with some buildings taking 12 hours to be finished;
• Sometimes you may fell it could be faster or slower.

The Pros:

• You can play regularly without worrying about daily attacks;
• Still a moderately fast pace world speed;
• Basically a really good speed for the not so active but still serious player.

Time managing

The best way to play grepolis without spending too much time is using the premiums, unluckly. It may be contrversial but I believe that everybody can buy 20000 coins at once, one time per year, only spending to use the councils and swaping heroes and opening more slots in the inventory. 

After that, learn to use all the tools of the Administrator and the Captain, it will save a lot of time.

Tips:

• Don't take more than 5 farming villages and avoid taking them in different islands;
• Focus in recruting units in one or two cities, sending resources to them and completing their training queue;
• After some time, farming cites can be something really boring if you have a lot of OLU cities. Then, for example, you can send stone from your LS cities(they use more wood and silver) to your slinger cities and send wood from your hoplite cities to your LS cities.
• When you get a lot of cities like more than 20, it's wise to divide them in more groups, even if they are the same type.

Any doubts post in the comments.

Rounded attacks

Sometimes a rounded attack can be better than a nuke attack, but why?
I don't know the meaning of this, but they'll work better when you don't know what kind of DLU you're facing.
All you have to do is to train around 100 of hoplites and 33 horsemen and mix them with slingers. You can mix 100 of OLU in all your types of nukes.
This strategy works well, but when a hero of war is assigned to a city, then the pure nuke will be better and using this you may spend all your research points.

Mythical Defense

Defend with mythical units, only works, if the donor and the receiver have the same god in their cities. Or better, If everyone in the island worships the same god. Then let's start.

There are only three mythical units useful  in the game: Pegasus, Cerberus and Medusa.

Pegasus

It’s the fastest unit in the game, also very cheap in resources and it has the strongest defensive unit in the game(the sum of all its defenses). And the most important, it can fly.

It’s a great counter to horsemen and harpies nukes. The good thing about this unit is that you can support someone that is far from you.

Cerberus

Ranked in second just behind Pegasus in defense and cheap in resources. It is a great counter against slingers nukes and good to defend horsemen nukes. To replace its weak sharp defense, just train archers. You should use him in “Hades islands”.

Medusa

Ranked in third in defense, she is a well balanced unit, pretty good in conquest worlds. She has a great defense against harpies and horsemen nukes and a good defense against manticores nukes. Just train swordsmen to replace her weak range defense. One of the biggest problems of this unit is that it is expensive and you’re going to be unable to create harpies. She has to be used in “Hera islands”

Mythical City Building

Similar to DLU cities.

Tripwires

Tripwires are very small amounts of troops that are sent to allied cities to see if they are under attack.

You cand send from 1 to 3 units(swordsmen, archers and hoplites) in a trip and they must be the same type of unit. 3 are the best option, because you have a good accuracy about how many troops your teammate lost. As soon the attacked city will send a report to you, if you send 3 units the report can say:

• 0 unit lost - 0-33% of the units of the supported city were lost. Or it was LS attack or trirreme attack;=.
• 1 unit lost - 33-66% of the units of the supported city were lost.
• 2 units lost - 66-99% of the units of the supported city were lost.
• 3 units lost - 100% of the units of the supported city were lost.

Knowing this, you can make a siege thread or a revolt city, if the player is offline. Or you can send a heavy support to his city depending the situation. Tripwires are very useful  and can help you to win wars, even with inactives.

Fake attacks

As its name says, it’s not a real attack. This means you will attack with the intention of manipulating the enemy.

In a land attack, use 1 or 2 fake attacks. For example:

With a slinger nuke - 1500 slingers + 80 Light ships + FTS. You can send three waves, then you have the option to hide your real attack in one of the three waves.

1st 10LS

2nd 10LS

3rd 60LS + 1500 slingers + FTS

With a LS nuke - 290 Light Ships. Here, you can send more waves, but not too much, then the real attack becomes very weak.

1st 10LS

2nd 260LS

3rd 10LS

4th 10LS

Why should I use fake attacks?

In order to prevent zeus’s rage and sea storm that can kill a good amount of your units, you send fake attacks.

When should I use fake attacks?

Well, if you’re in a 1vs1, then use fake attacks, because he will probably have enough favor to cast the destructive spells. When you’re in a 20 vs 5, then you don’t need to worry about sending fake attacks, the enemies have to worry about many incoming attacks and they will don’t have enough favor to take care of each one of them.

Timing attacks and operations

You were already sniped?

I'm sure most of you become snipers because some hundred of birs destroyed your transport boats and you didn't understand what had happened.

Time attacks is the way to prevent sniping. You need to send the anti-sniping attack as close as possible to the your OLU. Example:

OLU attack: 0:20:00

LS attack: 0:19:59

In this case the OLU was the first to be launched.

LS attack: 0:20:00

OLU attack: 0:20:00

In this case the LS was the first to be launched. If the OLU was launched one second after, then a birs support can snipe if it lands 0:20:00.

In my snipe guide, I recommend to use anchors. Of course, such precision isn't something easy to achieve, you need to practice a lot.

You already face a surprising support in the city you were pretending to attack?

Well, operation are here to end with it. Many attacks at the same time, then the enemies can't support all the cities.

They can target one player and all his cities or many players and their cities.

The success of the OP depends if you have troops for before(siege or blue revolt) and after(siege and red revolt).

If you can't make the operation at the same time, it's fine, but you have to try to attack in the same period.

If you have many members I recommed to divide your alliance in "teams", where each leader has his own targets.

Full OLU city

Introduction

Sometimes you'll face tough enemies and special tactics will be required to take him down. One of the strategies is building Full OLU cities.
Let's say that your alliance want to enter in enemy base. You'll expect fortified cities and active players, then simple attacks won't work on them.
The main idea is build a city, focused only in OLU, with no harbour and temple. Yeah, you have to recover your troops very fast. It can be a slinger, hoplite or horsemen nuke. It's a good idea to change your nuke every time(it depends of the type of isalnd), so the enemy won't know what you are sending.
It only work if you make operations and time attacks, otherwise Purification and Zeus' Rage will aniquilate most of your troops before you hit the city.
You can't build this kind of city everywhere.
Of course, a good full OLU city is a developed one, so you'll not lose time to build them, even though you should prioritize saving your population for your big nuke.

Building priorities

Senate 24,  then demolish it to 15;

Academy 28, to unlock conquest;

Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level; Warehouse max, but it1s not a priority;

Market 0-1, you'll only train troops;

Barracks 15, always use Pop Growth;

Harbor 0

Temple 1;

Cave 10, to espionage and prevent espionage. Also it's highly recommended to stock hundred of thousands of silver coins;

Wall 0, your best defense will be birremes sniping;

Resources 20, you'll receive resources from others cities;

Special building: Thermal Baths.

The city will end up with 6738 points and 3731 of population. Be careful when you're using these cities. Make sure that this attack won't be the first to be spot by the enemy or a Z'rage will destroy many units.

Turtling

Everybody knows the defensive power of a city with wall level 25 and tower. Turtling is one of the best ways to gain DBP on defense. Especially if you're enemy is choleric. They will spend a lot of troops trying to take one single city. Then, if this was the strategy choosed, prepare yourself:

1. Rebuild your wall(revolt world). Ask for resources like stone and silver. After that don't forget to cast city protection. They will try to knock down with earthquakes.
2. The main defense is DLU. You can try to snipe some OLU with birs, but LS waves are going to kill them. Your wall suits better with DLU than birs. Ask for a balanced defense. And if it's possible you change your god to receive mythical units.

Turtling is also a good strategy in cities in the frontline or in the core of the enemies. Because the chances of being attacked is very high.

Sniping troops in return

The objective of this attack is very simple: destroy the OLU or LS of the enemy. It depends of luck too.

It only works if you're online when a player send an attack to you. When the attack appears in your screen, you'll quickly write down the time. You'll dodge the attack and then send back an attack that will land right after of the enemy troops.

Let's start:

• Write down the exact time of the attack.
• Take the time and multiply by 2(the round trip attack).
• Choose the closest OLU or LS city of the target.
• Time the attack. It's recommended to send a LS escort behind your OLU.

You can also attack other cities of the player before you send your counter attack to confuse him and prevent a birs stacking or sniping.

Such precision is impossible because you don't know the "exact" time the enemy send his attack and lag may disturb your snipe, but why don't try?

Checking enemy DLU and harbour

In order to spy an enemy, you also lose silver coins in your cave, meaning you have refill it again. But there are another ways you can spy, without losing coins, instead you're going to give some free BP to the enemy.  Checking can also say if the player is active or not. The checking consists in fake attacks and you need to reset your wall everytime:

1. Click in city wall in any of your cities;
2. Click in the "X"(delete the current record) and click in "save";
3. Send the fake attack;
4. Click in city wall. In the left superior side, you'll find out how many troops you defeated. Then you have many possibilities:

• If you killed DLU without militia, then he's probably not active;
• If you killed DLU with militia then he's probably online;
• If you killed OLU, then he's offline and the city is a OLU city;
• If you killed militia, then he's active and the city is probably not a DLU.
• When you kill DLU, you'll know the proportion of the units the player has. For example: the wall says 10 swordsmen, 1 archer, 2 hoplites. Then the worst attack is a slinger nuke, and horsemen and hoplites nuke will work better.

Naval and DLU Checking with OLU

You definitely don't want to lose all your OLU for a birs stacking. Then you send a fake land attack with as few units as possible to check the harbour and DLU of the enemy, so you'll know what he/she has. Checking can also say if the player is active or not.
Pros: You can quickly recover the units that you lost.
Cons: It works if you are or you have an ally in the same island of the enemy, because of the travel time. It won't work if  the enemy is active, he can send his naval units to another place and call them back, then you'll not know what he has.

Wall Checking

You should use this to know if the enemy is a heavy golder. For example, you attacked him with slingers + 30 cats, his wall was on lv25 and went down to 0. Then, you send a fake attack with a few light ships and find out that his wall is 25 again. In this case, you should have to replace your catapults. Don't trust in the number of birremes you killed, because even if you simulate, you'll still don't know how many birs the player has.
Pros: You can quickly recover the units that you lost.
Cons: None.

Naval and DLU Checking with Harpies

The best checking you can have, however you'll lost some favors on it. Train Harpies and send 3,4 as a fake attack. They will attack and you'll receive a report about his naval units and the DLU you have killed.
Why harpies and not manticores or griffins?
Harpies are the second fastest flyers only losing for pegasus. They are a bit slower than spies.
Pros: A fast checking and you can easily recover your flyers.
Cons: None.

Identifying attacks

When you are online and you're being attacked, you can easily identify the attack without using any kind of spells. You'll need to be playing in your computer:

1. Click in the icon of the attack;
2. Simulate an attack. This will shown to you the travel time of the incoming;
3. Now see with what kind of naval unit/flyers the attack matches;

Tips:

• Usually, the last attack in a red revolt is the CS. 
• If the attack is too fast, then it should be manticores or harpies.
• If the attack is too slow, then it should be a CS.

Sometimes you'll find an OLU escorted by LS and FTS, others you'll find OLU escorted by LS and TB, so pay attention.

In the advanced game, players may have Atalanta lv20, more speed spells, lighthouse and etc, then the CS attack will look like as a regular attack. In these cases wisdom is indispensable.

Island Quests

Islands quests directly link to expansion, the more cities in different islands you have, the more quests you can have, then the more heroes you can recruit and upgrade.

They are divided in 6 types:

• Defend: You must defend yourself against an attack. You are the defender and the Islanders are the attacker.
• Attack:You must attack a specified force. You are the attacked and the Islanders are the defender.
• Wait:You must simply wait for the specified amount of time.
• Bad wait:You must simply wait for the specified amount of time, however for that time you will suffer a negative effect.
• Island Support:You must simply send the specified amount of troops as support.
• Send Resources:You must simply send the specified amount of resources.

Note: It's from grepolis wiki en.

The best quests are ranked in order decrescent:

1.Island support;
2.Wait;
3.Bad wait;
4.Send resources;

1. You can send troops quickly and hide your troops in the quest, a very useful quest;
2. You just need to wait, I would put this quest in a naval city;
3. Bad wait. Well, it depends if it's a negative effect in the resources, defense or attack. In the first case, you should use in a OLU city, because you can just farm  the resources. In the second, choose a city that isn't being attacked. In the last one, in birs or DLU city.
4. It becomes a good option, when you have more than 20 cities.

City Expansion 

Many people make the mistake of conquering many cities on the same island. Keep many cities in the same island is very good for defense, but this will slow down your development. Here's the why:

• There two forms to gain BP in battles, attacking and defending. If you have many cities in one island and the enemies disappeared, then you'll not receive BP in defense.
• As soon you get rid of closer enemies, the others will be too far from you, and you won't be able to take their cities.
• The more you expand, the more territory you can claim and the more enemies and targets you can have.

How many cities should I have per island?

It depends of the context, but in the general, two cities per island is good. You should have one OLU city in each island, then you can complete the quest 1.Island support and another city, OLU or other kind of  city, then you can choose 2.Wait or 3.Bad wait if it doesn't imply in a negative effect in your resources production.

Useful Scripts

GRC tools, Dio tools, Grepolife tool
In a short answer they give you a better understanding of the game.

Just search and download them. All of them are allowed.
First install Tampermonkey,
Then download the scripts.

Saving OLU/MOU and LS

After days building your troops, your nuke is finally ready for the battle, but you're sleepy and go to bed. The alarm rings, but you don't wake up. The enemy hits your OLU, flyers or LS and you lose everything and give a lot of BP to him.
In order to avoid these situations, I recommend to send an attack with all your offensive troops and ships to an inactive city 2 oceans away, check the travel time and mutiply by 2, if the result is higher than your bedtime, then it's a good city. But if I can't find a city? You can build a transport boat(it's slow) and the travel time will increase.
The cons are that you'll not be able to use your troops when you wake up with the alarm. But the decision is yours.

Any doubts post in the comments.
Thanks.

Espionage

Extra information is definitely a good thing.
A successful espionage can be defined as a espionage that brings you a report and drains the enemy cave at the same time. I usually don’t send “expensive” spies because they can give you a report, but by doing that, the enemy cave becomes intact.
In the very beginning, you will probably destroy the enemy with one single attack, but it will not work in the advanced game. You’ll send more than one attack, so you want to see what he has in the city.
The idea is very simple: send many spies(the amount you want) spending 1001 silver coins. If you can’t get the information, at least you drain his cave.

Any doubts post on the comments.

Birs vs DLU

BIrremes are better than DLU for defense and I’ll explain the why.

Sum all resources to train 1 swordsman, 1 archer and 1 hoplite and the result is

600 or 600/3 = 200 resources per unit.

Don’t forget that they need fast transport ships and it costs 1200 resources.

Birremes cost 1680 resources.

Doing a MMC between 8(birs) and 21(DLU(16) + FTS(5)), you have 8 x 21 = 168.

8 birs cost 1680 x 21 = 35280 resources

8 FTS + 128DLU cost = 1200 x 8 + 128 x 200 = 35200 resources.

So they have almost the same cost, but you unlock birs on Academy 13 and FTS on Academy 22

(this takes time if this is not your first city) and you have to research many things in your DLU city.

And more… to support with birs you just pick the time of the incomings and send your birs,

for DLU you still have to count how many units you have to send.

Militia + birremes can destroy any OLU badly escorted by LS.

For these reasons birs are better than DLU.

There are exceptions like being attacked by flyers and then you have to protect your favors. You have to change your strategy, destroying the city of the flyers or preparing DLU.

Fireships and Trirremes

Some comments about each one of these naval units:

Fireships

• Second slowest naval unit, only behind the CS.
• Chepest naval defensive unit.
• For each fire ship, one LS can be sink.
• They don't kill Hydras neither CSs.

They can defend well against LS nukes, but birremes can do the same with a higher cost(if the number of birs are proportional to the number of LS, don't forget their attack x defense is 1 per 1, if you count pop per space). 

When your teammate need help, fire ships will take centuries to arrive and the city will probably be under siege or conquested.

Conclusion: Don't build them. They seem to be good in the beginning, but they are trash in the late game. When enemies are enemies are further away from you.

Trirremes

• So fast as FTS.
• Most expensive naval unit.
• Perfect to escort CS in Conquest Worlds.
• Good for defend and attack.

A naval unit that should be used in specific situations because of their price. You can surprise your enemies with an attack with trirremes in revolt worlds, but you can't use it in all your naval cities.

Don't forget to assign Eurybia to your trirreme city.

Transport Ships vs Fast Transport Ships

...

Breakthrough

Breakthrough can be a very good tool if used in the right way. Its main drawback is against good players and in a Revolt world is that it cannot be both revolt and breakthrough, which makes it more useful for Conquest worlds.

This technology makes your LS weaker, so you'll use in your OLU cities. The purpose of this is to make the OLU hits the DLU and the LS ignores the birremes.

For example. You have 50 LS in your OLU city, then you send it against a city protected by 100 birs. The breakthrough will work in this case and you will lose less FTS, consequently less troops.
The ratio can't surpass 1LS:4birs, so you have to clean the harbour with LS nukes.

If you're a sniper, then breakthrough definetely doesn't fit in you. Because you'll send the LS nukes right before your OLU lands, saving your LS and FTS in your OLU.

To recap, Light Ships and breakthrough in OLU cities are only to safely transport your troops on the enemy shore

Sniping

The most used way to defend a city both in conquest and in revolt worlds is stacking units in the city like DLU, birremes or both. But this not the best way due to the resources lost and the golding era, where players can have their army back in the same day.
In short way, sniping is defined as a support/attack that arrives right before(-1 second, revolt) or right after(1 after, conquest) the colony CS. Even though that precision isn't regular because of the anti-timer system. In the end, it's like playing with a dice, and the more times you throw it the more chances you'll have to get a "six".

Identifying the CS

Usually the CS is the last attack and the slowest one. But be careful some players may trick you with Atalanta lv20, Improved troop movement, Set Sail, Cartography and Lighthouse  and Helmet of Invisibility. All together they improve 104,5% in the speed! CS becomes slightly faster than fireships.
If you're not online, don't worry, you have to look at the chronological time of the attacks and simulate all of them. And cast wisdom if you're not sure.

The snipe

If you're a premium user:

• Create a plan to the city you want to defend;
• Put all the attacks or suppots with the right time(front snipes with the same time and back snipes with the same time);
• Open your command overview and the planner;
• Drag the command overview to the left and the planner on the right;
• One minute before, let the first attack open;
• When the timer hits 10 seconds before the departure time, attack the target;
• If you're not satisfied with the timing, then cancel the attack as fast as possible and repeat the attack by the planner again.

If you're not a premium user:

• Take a paper and a pencil;
• Simulate all the attack or supports you pretend to do in the targeted city;
• Note all the departure times of the attacks/supports;
• Open as many windows as you need(if the departure time of an attack is too far then you open this window later);
• When the timer hits 10 seconds before the departure time, attack the target;
• If you're not satisfied with the timing, then cancel the attack as fast as possible and repeat the attack.

Front Snipe

The front snipe is a support that always comes before the CS. The ideal scenario would be to support one second before the CS arrives, because they are usually escorted by LS nukes. Just remember, the command overview put the battles in order of departure.
You can use in revolt and conquest worlds.
Example:
Clearing attack(LS): 00:01:00
Clearing attack(LS): 01:01:01
Clearing attack(OLU): 00:01:01
The support must arrive here at 00:01:01
CS attack: 00:01:02
Enemy support 00:01:03

You can also use the front snipe to wipe out the OLU of the enemies.

Back Snipe

The back snipe is an attack that always comes after the CS. The ideal scenario would be to attack one second after the CS arrives, because they are usually supported by birremes and DLU. Just remember, the command overview put the battles in order of departure.
You can use in conquest worlds.
Example:
Clearing attack(LS): 00:01:00
Clearing attack(LS): 01:01:01
Clearing attack(OLU): 00:01:01
CS attack: 00:01:02
The attack must arrive here at 00:01:02
Enemy support 00:01:03

You can also use the back snipe to take down the OLU of the enemies in RR, but the city will be lost. If you feel necessary, you can buff your back snipe, casting a spell. The spell keep working even if the troops are returning.

Sniping from the same city

This is the most difficult one, due to lag mitigation, but here we go.

a) Front snipe

• Open the window of the CS attack;
• Choose a city to support(preferentially your cities and close to you);
• Pick a cronometer;
• Choose the time that you'll send the support. Make sure to choose a pair number;
• Multiple the time calculated by 2;
• When it hits the time of the last attack, then cancel the support.

Example:
Last attack: 0:01:00
CS: 0:01:01
Your support: 00:01:00
In this situation, you have to send the support when the last attack hits 00:02:00 and cancel the support when it hits 00:01:00.

b)Back snipe

• Open the window of the CS attack;
• Choose a city to attack(preferentially your cities and close to you);
• Pick a cronometer;
• Choose the time that you'll send the attack, don't forget to buff it with a spell. Make sure to choose a pair number;
• Multiple the time calculated by 2;
• When it hits the time of the CS attack, then cancel the attack.

Example:
Last attack: 0:00:59
CS: 0:01:00
First support: 00:01:01
Your attack: 0:01:00
In this situation, you have to send the attack when the CS attack hits 00:02:00 and cancel the attack when it hits 00:01:00.

Timing attacks

In order to avoid dodging and birs sniping(front snipe), your attacks must be timed. The gap between the LS nuke and the OLU attack must be the lower possible. A good sniper would land the LS and OLU in the same second, which will counter the birs sniping, then the defender must have more birs sniping to help him.
In conquest worlds, it's crucial to support in the same second of the CS(of course, the support must be send after the CS, then the rule will do the rest), because players can front and back snipe your sieges.

PS: You still need LS in your OLU cities. It doesn't matter how good you are, Sea Storm can easily destroy the CS and if you send a bad escorted OLU, others can snipe spliting their birs in groups of 70/100.

Using anchors

Anchors are single units slower than your troops like: transport ships, fire ships and LS(in birs cities). In the land: swordsmen and catapults
Such precision wouldn't be possible without anchors. With them you have more chances to get a "six" in the dice, because you can try to snipe more times.

Any doubts, post in the comments.

Flyers's city

You have to consider to use these cities in specific situations like break a siege and farming favors from enemies. Avoid send them alone without an OLU escort, because if they are the first to hit the city, you'll probably lose all your flyers and you know it takes a lot of time to build a nuke with them.

Best islands for:
harpies - + wood and regular silver or +silver and regular wood
manticores - + wood and regular silver or +silver and regular wood
griffin - + wood and regular silver or +silver and regular wood

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;

Academy 31, to unlock temple looting and divine selection;

Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level; Warehouse 20, to stock resources for conquest, battering ram...;

Market 10, to send resources to other cities;

Barracks 15-25, to build your army faster(use population growth from Hera, you can build your nuke in 2 days, if you have the resources);

Harbor 1, to build anchors(then you can save your flyers when you're offline);

Temple 10-15, it depends of the mythical unit;

Cave 10, to espionage and prevent espionage;

Wall 0-25, it depends of the type of the world;

Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your army basicly .

Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.

Academy priorities

Don’t research everything!

City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “population” defense;
Meteorology, because your flyers don't need transport boats;

Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;

Architecture, you will economize many resources;

Trainer, to build your army faster;

Crane(good if you have the advisors and if you’re active);

Conscription, for cheaper army;

Plow, free farm level basically;
Conquest,...

Temple looting, it allows you to train mythical units much more faster;
Divine selection, phalanx version of the mythcial units.

PS: You should research Phalanx and Battering Ram in Revolt Worlds, if you have resources. So in a revolt, you'll defend better.

Mixed defense city

These cities are made for conquest worlds, but you can use them in revolt worlds too, if that's the case, then make more birs than DLU. Your goal is to build DLU and birs to support sieges and not to defend your cities.

Best islands:
+silver and regular wood or +wood and regular silver

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;
Academy 22, to research bunks, FTS, and plow;
Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level;
Resources max
Warehouse 20, to stock resources for building more troops
Market 10, to send unwanted resources to other cities(in fact it’s not a priority);
Barracks 30, to build your army faster. This is different, because you’ll probably not cast Population growth here;
Harbor 25, to build birs and FTS;
Temple 10-15, depend if you're going to send mythical units in your siege;
Cave 10, it’s cheap and costs 10 of population;
Wall 0;
Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.
Only upgrade your academy to 23 or higher if you have many resources.

Academy priorities

Archers, for a good sharp defense;
City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “pop” defense;
Hoplites, for good blunt defense;
Villagers Loyalty, good for your first three cities;
Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;
Architecture, you will economize many resources;
Trainer, to build your army faster;
Birremes, to support sieges;
Conscription, to cheaper army;
Fast transport ships, transport ships are still horrible;
Bunks, makes your FTS useful;
Plow, free farm level basically;
Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.

PS: Support cities take a lot time to be build in a "good" level. I recommend to research horsemen and farm with them.

Conquest city

Conquest cities should be able attack and defend as well. Then you'll need hoplites and chariots and trirremes, because they can attack and defend.
When you get more than 7 cities you can make Cyclops and Hydras to escort your CS.
Use these cities to conquest, not to attack. Remember that mix units are very expensive.

Best islands:
+ wood and regular silver or +silver and regular wood

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;

Academy 28, to unlock conquest;

Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level; Warehouse 20, to stock resources for conquest, battering ram...;

Market 10, to send resources to other cities;

Barracks 25, to build your army faster(use population growth from Hera, you can build your nuke in 2 days, if you have the resources);

Harbor 25, to build your Trirremes;

Temple 10-15;

Cave 10, to espionage and prevent espionage;

Wall 0;

Resources level 30 or higher;

Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.
As your CS is slower than transport boats, you don't need FTS, but bunks is needed.

Academy priorities

Don’t research everything!

Hoplites;

City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “population” defense;

Villagers Loyalty, good for your first three cities;

Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;

Architecture, you will economize many resources;

Trainer, to build your army faster;

Crane(good if you have the advisors and if you’re active);

Shipwright, by using this, you don’t have to upgrade your harbor to 15;

Colony Ships…;

Conscription, for cheaper army;

Bunks;

Plow, free farm level basically;
Trirremes, to escort the CS;

Phalanx, you need this(once researched your troops will attack with a boost of 10%, also your DLU support will be 10% stronger. If someone attack your city, you’ll defende better);

Mathematics, for cheaper ships;

Battering ram, for stronger Light ships(once researched your ships will attack with a boost of 10%, also your birremes supports will be 10% stronger. If someone attack your city, you’ll defende better);

Conquest,...

Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.

Birs city

The main purpose of these cities is sink OLU attacks without a good LS escort and sniping CS.
Very easy to be build, because you can start making birs with academy 13.

Best islands:
+stone and regular wood or + wood and regular stone

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;
Academy 13 for Birs and 16 for Light Ships;
Farm Max;
Warehouse 20, to stock resources for building more ships;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your  fleet basicly .
Market 10, to send unwanted resources to other cities;
Barracks 10~0, to farm with Horsemen, if not, get rid of it;
Harbor 30, if you use Call of the Ocean, then Harbor 25 is enough;
Temple 5;
Cave 10, it’s cheap and costs 10 of population;
Wall 25, it depends, but in the beginner is important to have a solid defense;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your  fleet basicly .
Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.

Academy priorities

City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “pop” defense;
Villagers Loyalty, only if you have a farming village in your island(don’t spend BP in Farm villages);
Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;
Architecture, you will economize many resources;
Trainer, to build your army faster;
Crane(good if you have the advisors and if you’re active);
Birremes
Plow, free farm level basically;
Phalanx, for a stronger defense(you call members of your division or send support from your cities);
Mathematics, for cheaper navy armies;
Battering ram, both for offense and defense;
Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.
Only upgrade your academy to 14/17 or higher if you have many resources.

LS city

The main purpose of these cities is to escort OLU attacks and prevent birs snipings. Don't let your LS alone or someone can destroy all of them when you're offline. Also, I recommend to train horsemen for farming. By the way, easy cities to be build, because you only need an academy level 16 to start making LS.

Best islands for:

• LS: + wood or regular wood.

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;
Academy 13 for Birs and 16 for Light Ships;
Farm Max;
Warehouse 20, to stock resources for building more ships;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your  fleet basicly .
Market 10, to send unwanted resources to other cities;
Barracks 10~0, to farm with Horsemen, if not, get rid of it;
Harbor 30, if you use Call of the Ocean, then Harbor 25 is enough;
Temple 5;
Cave 10, it’s cheap and costs 10 of population;
Wall 25, it depends, but in the beginner is important to have a solid defense;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your  fleet basicly .
Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.

Academy priorities

City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “pop” defense;
Villagers Loyalty, only if you have a farming village in your island(don’t spend BP in Farm villages);
Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;
Architecture, you will economize many resources;
Trainer, to build your army faster;
Crane(good if you have the advisors and if you’re active);
Light Ships
Plow, free farm level basically;
Phalanx, for a stronger defense(you call members of your division or send support from your cities);
Mathematics, for cheaper navy armies;
Battering ram, both for offense and defense;
Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.
Only upgrade your academy to 14/17 or higher if you have many resources.

DLU city(Support city)

Support City

Many people call these cities by Defensive cities, but I disagree, the reason is these cities are made to support other cities, not defend. You will also try to find your enemy offensive army and destroy it. Offensive cities have much more value than Defensive cities, so they’re constantly attacked. Then comes the support cities. Here you will put all your defensive cities that you receive in the rewards, it’s pretty simple. Your ratio of troops must be 6 swordsmen, 2 archers and 5 hoplites.
Besides everything a city with wall 25 and tower plus Max farm, can’t be destroyed by 1 person. At least 2 nukes. And probably people from Alliance will support you. The main problem of this city is the building development, because you’ll always build troops to support your offensive cities. It’s a really good idea to keep supporting cities close to your offensive and naval cities, if it’s possible to build a DLU city on the same island.

Building priorities

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;
Academy 22, to research bunks, FTS, and plow;
Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your army basicly .
Warehouse 20, to stock resources for building more troops
Market 10, to send unwanted resources to other cities(in fact it’s not a priority);
Barracks 30, to build your army faster. This is different, because you’ll probably not cast Population growth here;
Harbor 5, just to build your fast transport boats;
Temple 5;
Cave 10, it’s cheap and costs 10 of population;
Wall 25, it depends, but in the beginner is important to have a solid defense;
Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your army basicly .
Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.
Only upgrade your academy to 23 or higher if you have many resources.

Academy priorities

Archers, for a good sharp defense;
City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “pop” defense;
Hoplites, for good blunt defense;
Villagers Loyalty, good for your first three cities;
Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;
Architecture, you will economize many resources;
Trainer, to build your army faster;
Conscription, to cheaper army;
Fast transport ships, transport ships are still horrible;
Bunks, makes your FTS useful;
Plow, free farm level basically;
Phalanx, for a stronger defense;
Battering ram;
Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.

PS: Support cities take a lot time to be build in a "good" level. They are better in the middle and in the endgame, birs cities are much more easier to be build and to support.

OLU city

The CS city(first city)

Following these steps, you will end with a 12000 point city that is a good city. As I explained before, your population is limited. Your goal is build a good army, not a pretty city
The first city has the bonus spell that increases the production by 75%, use happiness with it and boost your first city as fast as possible, you’ll receive a lot of resources, the enough to upgrade your city and training your troops and ships.
 Building your offensive army since the beginning, you’ll end the beginners protection with a powerful nuke. Make a conquest attack, wait for the Red revolt and the enemy city is yours :).
PS: Build stronger nukes removing the CS of your army. Since this is your first city, it's going to be an OLU with a CS city.

Best islands for:

• slingers: +stone or regular stone
• horsemen: + silver or regular silver

Building priorities(1st city)

Senate 24, in this level you can pick the special constructions;

Academy 28, to unlock conquest;

Farm Max, upgrade farm always, your army power is determined mainly by your farm level; Warehouse 20, to stock resources for conquest, battering ram...;

Market 10, to send resources to other cities;

Barracks 25, to build your army faster(use population growth from Hera, you can build your nuke in 2 days, if you have the resources);

Harbor 10, to build your Light Ships and Colony Ship(Use Call the Ocean from Poseidon, so you can build your navy in 2 days);

Temple 10;

Cave 10, to espionage and prevent espionage;

Wall 25, it depends, but in the begin is important to have a solid defense;

Resources that one with + max, normal 35, - 30, this is for your army basicly .

Special building: Thermal Baths and Tower/Divine Statue(temple 12), more population and more defense or more favour.

Academy priorities(1st city)

Don’t research everything!

Slingers/ Horsemen, as I said before, one of this two will be your offense power;

City guard, when you’re attacked, use your militia, with this research you have more “population” defense;

Villagers Loyalty, good for your first three cities;

Ceramics, extra 2500 store of resources;

Architecture, you will economize many resources;

Trainer, to build your army faster;

Crane(good if you have the advisors and if you’re active);

Shipwright, by using this, you don’t have to upgrade your harbor to 15;

Colony Ships…;

Light Ships, to escort your army;

Conscription, for cheaper army;

Catapults, useful in revolt worlds and in specific situation in conquest worlds,
Fast transport ships(FTS), transport ships are pretty slow;

Bunks, makes your FTS useful;

Plow, free farm level basically;

Phalanx, you need this(once researched your troops will attack with a boost of 10%, also your DLU support will be 10% stronger. If someone attack your city, you’ll defende better);

Mathematics, for cheaper ships;

Battering ram, for stronger Light ships(once researched your ships will attack with a boost of 10%, also your birremes supports will be 10% stronger. If someone attack your city, you’ll defende better);

Conquest,...

Cartography, your naval attacks are faster.

Nukes

Introduction

Nukes are armies made of single type of unit. This can includes catapults(in revolt worlds or cities with walls) or not(in conquest worlds). You'll usually bring 3500 of your population to make your army, but +-1230 pop are from your naval units(including CS).

Effectiveness

People train different numbers of Swordsmen, Archers. Hoplites and Chariots, and it may be to say which nuke will always be the most effective one - it has to be calculated for each individual defense.
Even though you can use espionage or check his walls.

After you find out the kind of DLU the player has, you choose the best nuke to that city. If you're not used to it, check the simulator with all your nukes.

The next step is assign the right hero to your nuke:
Medea for slingers nuke.
Ajax for hoplites nuke.
Lysippe for horsemen nuke.
Zuretha for LS nuke.
Urephon for mythical nuke.

And try to hit your enemies, when your army is full, because you'll take less risks and you'll be able to rebuild your army faster. If the defender loses, you will lost less units than attacking with a half nuke.

Time to rebuild your army

One thing very important to be considered is the time you'll spend to rebuild your army. The quicker you rebuild them the less time your enemies will have to recover their DLU and walls.
Fastest to slowest nuke production:

• Hoplites with Chiron. This hero is amazing good, without him Ajax is useless. I recommend to start building your hop nukes, when you get Chiron. Don't forget to cast Pop growth.
• Slingers. They are the cheapest OLU in the game with no heroes assigned. Don't forget to cast Pop growth.
• Horsemen. They take time to be rebuild, but you can easiky farm with them. Don't forget to cast Pop growth.
• LS with Aristotle. Zuretha is useless without him, because her buff is slower than his buff. The best way to build your LS is sending your resources to one sigle city. Once you complete the queue of the harbor, you move your hero to another LS city. Don't forget to cast Call of the Ocean.
• MOU(harpies, manticores and griffins). The hardest nuke to be build and the only effective way to get them is farming favor from inactives. Make sure to send your MOU, after a OLU(escorted by a CS nuke), unless you know the city don't have troops.

Types of nukes and army composition

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8796 points OLU city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3540):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 15
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 10
• Academy 30
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

I'm letting the production camps in level 30, because I don't think you get a warehouse lv35 so fast, most of you will upgrade to 20 just to unlock conquest. Well, that's my style, I'm not active all day, I usally reserve a time in the morning or in the night, then I spend all the resources.
I'll use the "magical number" for LS. I always like to keep 39 LS in all my OLU cities, so I can sen a CS without the risk of Sea Storm.
The city has thermal baths and plow and I'm not considereing any kind of spell.
39LS = 390 pop
3555 - 390 = 3165
3165 - 7  - 8= 3150, 1 transport boat and 1 fire ship as anchors.
Now divide per 21, because each FTS have 5 FS and they can carry 16FS:
3150 / 21 = 150 FTS
150 x 5  = 750
3150 - 750 =  2400
2400 is the population available for OLU.
20 cats = 300
OLU = 2400 - 300 =2100 slingers/horsemen/hoplites


Hoplites nuke
Hoplites:2100
Cats:20
LS:39
FTS:150
Strength: 12.19 (16 excluding FTS) Sharp Attack
Full Nuke's Strength:  33600
With Ajax lv20: 48720
Counter Units: Archers, Centarus, Boar, Medusa

Slingers nuke
Slingers:2100
Cats:20
LS:39
FTS:150
Strength: 17.52 (23 excluding Fast Transport Ships) Range Attack
Full Nuke's Strength:  48300
With Medea lv20: 70035
Counter units: Swordsmen, Cerberus and Cyclops.

Horsemen nuke
Horsemen: 700
Cats:20
LS:39
FTS:150
Strength: 15,23 (20 excluding Fast Transport Ships) Blunt Attack
Full Nuke's Strength: 42000
With Lysippe lv20: 60900
Counter Units: Hoplites, Chariot, Pegasus, Medusa, Boar, Cerberus, Cyclops, Minotaur.

LS nuke

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8853 points LS city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3540):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 1
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 16
• Academy 30
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

1 transport boat and 1 fire ship
LS: 354
Full Nuke's Strength: 70800
With Zuretha lv20: 81420

Birs nuke?

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8732 points Birs city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3544):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 1
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 15
• Academy 30
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

1 transport boat and 1 fire ship
Birs: 443
Full Nuke's Strength: 70880

Harpies nuke

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8919 points harpy city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3598):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 10
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 1
• Academy 31
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

Harpies: 257
Strength: 21,07/FS Blunt Attack
Full Nuke's Strength: 75815
With Urephon lv20: 87187
Counter Units: Hoplites, Chariot, Pegasus, Medusa, Boar, Cerberus, Cyclops, Minotaur.

Manticore nuke

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8919 points harpy city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3548):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 10
• Temple 15
• Market 15
• Harbor 1
• Academy 31
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

Manticores: 78
Strength: 22,44/FS Sharp Attack
Full Nuke's Strength: 78780
With Urephon lv20: 90597
Counter Units: Archers, Centarus, Boar, Medusa

Griffin nuke

This all depends of your style and the population available, but I'll show a example of a 8919 points harpy city(revolt or conquest, very agressive style) with the following constructions. If you want you can build a wall 20 and get the Tower, then demolish the wall. Population available (3548):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 10
• Temple 15
• Market 15
• Harbor 1
• Academy 31
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

Griffins: 101
Strength: 25,71/FS Blunt Attack
Full Nuke's Strength: 90900
With Urephon lv20: 104535
Counter Units: Hoplites, Chariot, Pegasus, Medusa, Boar, Cerberus, Cyclops, Minotaur.

CS city(revolt and conquest, you must be a sniper)

A 8796 points OLU city with the CS. Population available (3547):

• Senate 15
• Production Camps level 30
• Farm 45
• Warehouse 35
• Barracks 15
• Temple 5
• Market 15
• Harbor 10
• Academy 30
• City Wall 1
• Cave 10
• Thermal Baths 

Army:
39LS = 390 pop
3555 - 390 = 3156
3165 - 7 - 8 = 3150
Now divide per 21, because each FTS have 5 FS and they can carry 16FS:
3150 / 21 = 150 FTS
150 x 5  = 750
3150 - 750 =  2400
2400 is the population available for OLU and CS. I don't like the idea in destroying FTS, just to make more troops, because you will constantly change your CS cities and it's not everyday you conquer a city, right?
20 cats = 300
OLU = 2400 - 300 - 170 = 1930 slingers/horsemen/hoplites


PS: You can change the composition according to your preferences.

Heroes

Buying the best heroes is also pretty important, just like specialization cities. I would prioritize some of them.
S means "Why I don't have this hero yet?"
A means "I must have this hero";
B means "I could pick this one";
C means "I will not pick even if I have enough hero coins."

Agamemnon - S hero. Good for attack and defend with hoplites and archers, and he is cheap. Use him in hoplites nukes and to defend a city in red revolt;
Ajax - A hero. Great for attack with hoplites;
Alexandrios -  B hero. Good for defending with archers. If you are often attacke by Hoplites, Chariots, Manticores and Medusas, he can help a lot;
Andromeda - A heroine. Great for cities development. Use her to upgrade your small cities, and try to cast happiness with her, this will give a good resource bonus;
Apheledes -  C hero. Do you really struggle in researching? There are better options and you will not economize many resources with him. Also the tecnologies don't take too much time to be finished. He is good in a slow world.
Argus - A hero. Good for any naval cities;
Aristotle - S hero. Great to build Light Ship nukes;
Atalanta - S hero. Great to accelerate CS attacks. It's a good idea to send slingers nukes with her;
Chiron - S hero. Great to recruit hoplites in a cheaper and faster way. Use him in hoplite cities;
Christopholus - C hero. Well, he reduces the construction time of all buildings, but will you always have enough resources to put a building in the queue? He is good in a slow world.
Daidalos - A hero. Good in birremes cities;
Deimos - S hero. Use him in slingers nukes;
Democritus - S hero. Great to city development. Use him to upgrade your small cities and never forget to use items in these cities;
Eurybia - A hero. Good for conquest or triremes cities;
Ferkyon - A hero. Great for support cities;
Hector - B hero. Good for slingers nukes;
Helen - B hero. Good for revolt attacks. She can reduce the revol time, which means less support from the enemy;
Heracles - B hero. Good to along with mythical offensive units. I put him in B category, because the favor you gain from him is very small compared to Temple Looting;
Jason - B hero. Great for farming inactive players and good in Manticores nukes;
Leonidas - A hero. Great for defending during red revolt;
Lysippe - S heroine. Great for horsemen nukes;
Medea - S heroine. Very cheap and insane good for slingers nukes;
Melousa - B heroine. Good for Conquest cities with chariots nukes, even though chariots are very expensive;
Odysseus - B hero. Good to support cities with swordsmen and  to defend against slingers nukes;
Orpheus - A hero. Great to expansion in the very beginning. You can gain a lot of advantage doing Victory Possessions;
Pariphaistes - A hero. Good for naval cities;
Pelops - A hero. Great for conquest cities with hoplites and chariots. Also you can use him in hoplites nukes and for defending.
Perseus - B hero. Good for Harpies nukes. He is a B, because you will mostly face regular units. He can be very good in specific situations;
Philoctetes - B hero. Good to recruit archers faster and cheaper;
Rekonos - B hero. Good with islands with -stone;
Telemachos - B hero. Good against slingers nukes. You will defend with more swordsmen;
Terylea - B heroine. Good with islands with -silver;
Themistokles  - A hero. Great for horsemen nukes;
Urephon  - A hero. Good for Manticores nukes;
Ylestres  - B heroine. Good islands with -stone;
Zuretha - S heroine. Great for LS nukes. She will probably die in every attack, but her buff in the Light Ships is really good.