Hammer Guide: Offensive Guide
The Hammer is typically created in a single city, consisting of a large number of attacking troops. The amount must be a minimum of 80k to call it a decent hammer.
Building up a large army over a lengthy period of time can be done just about anywhere, but to have a truly good hammer you need to consider a few things.
1) Where to Build your Hammer - Capital or Non capital? explained below.
2) What troops make the Hammer?
Teuton: Axemen and Teutonic Knights
Romans: Imperians and Equites Imperatoris(i do not recommend EC for beginners)
Gauls: Swordsmen and Haeduan
Seize units are mandatory regardless of the tribe.
3) What should be the troop composition?
10:4:1:1
That is for every 10 infantry, you need 4 cavalry and 1 ram and 1 catapult.
Capital v/s Non Capital hammer
There are two viable strategies for the long-term development of a hammer. One develops a hammer in your 15-cropper capital, one develops a hammer in an adjacent village that uses the 15-cropper for storage. Below is a brief overview of some of the more important distinctions between the strategies.
STRATEGY 1
15-cropper: This is the simpler of the two strategies and if you have never played a full round of Travian, this is probably the strategy you should stick with.
The strategy: The 15-cropper strategy is simple. Your 15-cropper capital will contain only the essentials for maintaining an army: a barracks, a stable, a siege workshop, a flour mill, a bakery, a hero’s mansion, a marketplace, (a stonemason if you desire, but this is not essential) and a tournament square. Buildings like the palace, academy, and blacksmith will be constructed, but will be demolished once research is finished and villages conquered. All other buildings will be granaries and warehouses to afford the higher-level wheat fields. Your 15-cropper will be both your hub of production and of offensive activity. You should not produce defensive troops from your cropper, but rather reinforce it from specialized defensive villages as necessary.
Advantages: The 15-cropper strategy is very easy to maintain early on; however, a 15-crop capital hammer can be difficult later in the game. for example, if u have an army that eats over 100k crop/hour and ur capital produces 50k crop/hour. -50k+ crop/hour isn’t an easy thing to manage. It is easier than a non-capital hammer but still not easy.
You are also less vulnerable with the 15-cropper strategy. As your capital cannot be conquered, you are simultaneously protecting both your production hub and your offensive hub in the same, immune village.
Disadvantages: It will be more difficult to get your production as high under the 15-cropper strategy as you could using an adjacent hammer village. Buildings, such as the barracks, stable, and tournament square limit the amount of building space(for warehouses and granaries) and may prevent you from being able to build the highest-level fields.
Because you cannot use the great barracks/great stable, your speed of military construction is limited under this strategy.
STRATEGY 2
Adjacent Village: The adjacent village strategy utilizes a more sophisticated concept, but is much more difficult to sustain over the long-term.
The strategy: The purpose of this strategy is to maximize your long-term production and the speed at which you can construct an army by using a secondary village as close to your 15-cropper capital as possible as your hammer. All offensive units will be produced in the adjacent village, which can be a 6-cropper, a 9-cropper, or another 15-cropper. This village will focus only on offensive development, containing a barracks, great barracks, stable, great stable, siege workshop, tournament square, blacksmith, and other buildings of your choice. Your 15-cropper capital will contain only the bare essentials for production: marketplace, flour mill, bakery, and hero’s mansion. The rest of the slots will be used for enough warehouses and granaries to afford the highest level of wheat fields, maximizing your possible production. The hammer village will use the 15-cropper as storage for the offensive troops while they are not engaged in combat, then will recall them and send them out as necessary.
Advantages: Effective use of this strategy will increase both your long-term production and the speed at which you can construct and reconstruct your offensive hammer.
You can make Great Barracks and Great Stable to double the production rate.
Disadvantages: Despite the great potential for success with this strategy, there are several important disadvantages. For one, when you recall your forces and send them out, you create an enormous negative crop situation in your hammer village. This will require constant attention every time you launch your forces to keep your troops from starving. At later levels of the game, when the average attack is probably 10+ hours distance away, this can become extremely cumbersome and difficult to maintain.
You are also more vulnerable under this strategy. Since your hammer village is not your capital, it is conquerable and cannot build a stonemason, so it is far easier to destroy by catapulting. If your hammer were to be conquered, all of the offensive troops it hosted would die immediately — a very risky situation.
Overview: Both of the above strategies are viable long-term approaches toward creating a useful hammer. I only recommend the adjacent village strategy to players who truly know what they are doing and understand the additional commitment to the game this strategy will require. There is no reason why a player using the 15-cropper strategy cannot produce a powerful hammer.
The decision comes down to what type of player you intend to be, how comfortable you are with the long-term requirements of the strategies, and your commitment level to the game. All members should choose one of the strategies outlined above when developing their major offensive hammers. The earlier you choose and begin to develop your long-term hammer, the more powerful you will be come endgame.
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