In Grepolis, a strong city starts with a reliable economy, but resources alone will not protect it or secure your next city. Grow timber, stone, and silver production while managing Warehouse and Farm capacity; add defenses as your city attracts attention; then invest in research, alliances, and carefully coordinated expansion. The right next step depends on your world settings and local threats, so treat any build order as a starting point—not a universal formula.
What should you build first?
InnoGames’ First Steps guide puts resource production first for a new city, with storage and population capacity as essential constraints. Instead of leveling every building evenly, identify what is holding your city back and spend resources accordingly.
- Grow the resource economy. Develop the Timber Camp, Quarry, and Silver Mine to increase timber, stone, and silver production. These resources fund buildings, research, and units.
- Keep Warehouse capacity in step. A full Warehouse prevents you from holding additional resources. Increase its capacity when your planned upgrades or production would otherwise leave resources unable to accumulate.
- Watch population. Farm levels determine how much population your city can support. Buildings and units use population, so a Farm upgrade can be the limiting factor when you cannot add the structure or forces you want.
- Build the Academy when progression calls for it. The Academy enables research, including technologies relevant to acquiring additional cities. It is an investment in capability rather than a substitute for a functioning economy.
This is a priority framework, not a fixed sequence of building levels. World speed and rules, starting conditions, island resource balance, and the threat around your city can all change which constraint matters most.
How do you choose what to upgrade next?
Each city building serves a different function; the useful question is which one addresses your current bottleneck. InnoGames’ City Overview describes the core roles:
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| City need | Relevant building or system | Strategic use |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | Senate | Orders building upgrades and is a prerequisite for much of the city’s development. |
| Resource supply | Timber Camp, Quarry, Silver Mine | Produce the resources needed for buildings, research, and recruitment. |
| Storage | Warehouse | Holds resources as they accumulate. |
| Population | Farm | Raises the population the city can support; buildings and units consume population. |
| Land forces | Barracks | Recruits land units. |
| Ships | Harbor | Recruits naval units. |
| Technology | Academy | Researches technologies, including those relevant to obtaining more cities. |
| City defense | Wall and Agora | The Wall contributes to defense; the Agora provides an overview of troops and battles. |
| Divine favor | Temple | Supports worship and favor generation. |
| Information and exchange | Cave and Marketplace | The Cave supports spying; the Marketplace supports trade and resource transfers. |
Use the table diagnostically: if resources are not accumulating, address production or storage; if you cannot support the forces you need, check population; if a target city is the next objective, research and coordination may matter more than another production upgrade. Trying to maximize every building at once spreads resources across competing needs.
How should you protect a growing city?
A productive city can become an attractive target. InnoGames’ First Steps guide recommends beginning basic troop defense as raid risk rises and identifies Swordsmen as a basic defensive troop. The practical point is to avoid treating an expanding stockpile as safe merely because the economy is improving.
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- Recruit a basic defensive force as your city’s visibility and potential value to raiders increase.
- Use the Wall as part of your city’s defensive development, and consult the Agora to review troops and battle information.
- Take over Farming Villages for additional resources, as recommended by the beginner guide.
- Build local relationships and look for a strong nearby alliance when you are ready; allies can be relevant to both defense and later expansion.
How much to invest in defense depends on the local situation. A city facing immediate pressure has a different priority from one in a quieter area, and the evidence does not establish a single troop count that is safe for every world.
Which god should you choose?
Choose for the city’s role and its immediate need—economic support, land or naval conflict, or defense—rather than assuming one god is best for every player. InnoGames’ god guide lists eight gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hera, Hades, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Ares. Each has four divine powers and two associated mythical units.
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A city can worship only one god at a time. The Temple is the city building associated with worship, and its level affects favor generation. Favor is relevant to using divine powers, so a god choice is connected to what you want that city to do—not just to which mythical unit sounds appealing.
Switching gods has a real cost: the city loses the former god’s favor, mythical units, and divine powers. Decide whether the new role justifies giving up those existing benefits before changing worship; the official guide frames the right choice as dependent on the situation.
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How do you take another city?
City acquisition is a coordinated operation, not simply an attack followed by a Colony Ship. InnoGames’ conquest guide describes conquest by siege and conquest by revolt; the applicable method depends on the world’s settings. Its guidance emphasizes scouting, clearing defenders, protecting the Colony Ship, arranging support, and judging the target’s development and location.
- Check the world rules first. Confirm whether your world uses siege or revolt and review its exact timings and requirements in the world settings. The support guide warns that timing varies by configuration; do not apply a timetable from another world as if it were universal.
- Choose a target deliberately. Consider the city’s development and location, as well as the strength and position of the opponent’s alliance. A target’s value is only part of the decision if it is difficult to reach or defend.
- Scout and clear the target. Gather information and plan to remove the forces that could stop the operation before committing the ship and supporting units.
- Protect the Colony Ship. Coordinate the naval protection and other support needed for it to survive. Losing the ship can undermine the entire attempt.
- Coordinate with allies. Arrange timing and support with your alliance rather than treating the operation as an isolated attack, especially where the target’s alliance can intervene.
Before acting, verify current details for your own world in its settings and relevant current community or forum information. World configuration changes what a valid conquest plan requires.
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What rules and spending choices matter?
Grepolis is a free-to-play real-time strategy game available in browser, iOS, and Android, and InnoGames says players may choose in-game purchases. The publisher’s game overview describes building a polis, managing resources, researching technologies, recruiting land and naval forces, using gods and mythical units, forming alliances, and competing for expansion. Its listed features include 13 buildings, 8 monuments, and over 30 technologies; these are publisher-described game features, not independent measurements. The available official sources do not establish that purchases are required for strategic success.
Keep account rules in mind as well: InnoGames’ rules page, versioned July 2025, states, “Each player can play, in each world, with only one account.” Read the applicable official rules before participating, particularly if you are unsure how they apply to your situation: Grepolis rules.
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