Knighthood
From HiveWiki
Knighthood is an online multi-player game for social networks. The player assumes the role of a Medieval Lord and recruits his friends to be his vassals, constructs, expands and upgrades buildings, and can engage in warfare with other Lords.
Unlike many other games operating on Facebook, Knighthood is competitive, and to some extent zero-sum game; in other words there can be losers as well as winners. Be aware that other players will attack you, steal your vassals, and do things to you which you'd rather they didn't. The game gets very competitive very quickly, and players will benefit from developing good strategies for playing. This site can help explain the finer points of Knighthood and guide you and your kingdom to glory.
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Knighthood is currently in beta, which means that while the game can be played and enjoyed, it is not complete; there are still bugs (errors) in the code, and the rules may change at any time without warning. The developers welcome your comments and suggestions; please [report bugs here] and make [suggestions about the game here]. Playing a beta game can be particularly fun and interesting, but it can also be frustrating. You have been warned! Our understanding of specific equations and calculations is constantly updated as new insights are found. |
You'll also find a list of questions and answers in the Knighthood FAQ, and a list of game terms in the glossary. You should also read the tutorial Knighthood Getting Started.
This Wiki is written and maintained by and for Knighthood players, based on communal research and discussion, and the odd revelation from the Knighthood Developers. It is pretty large, not completely accurate, and almost always out of date, so if in doubt, your best bet is to find an experienced active player and ask them for clarification.
[edit] Getting Started
[edit] First Steps
You first task is to start production in your Castle. Recruit two or three friends and go to the Capital screen. Click Castle → Assign Vassals, and move some of your vassals from the Court to the Castle.
When you start you will get 2 serfs, each of 5 power. These are yours forever; they never rebel and cannot be stolen. They also do not contribute to your power. You can't use them to attack, but they can be placed in defense and will fight if your city is attacked by others. If you go to the Notifications drop down and verify your email address, you will also get a 15 power Steward. Apart from the power, your Steward behaves just like your Serfs.
From the Castle view, you can direct your vassals to construct buildings. Tell them to construct the Marketplace. Once construction is in progress, you can wait for it to finish or click 'Buy' to hurry the construction with your gold. After constructing a Marketplace, expand existing buildings so they can use more vassals and build up your defenses. You need to build Watchtowers, a Wall and a Palisade. Finally, after you've built the defensive buildings, expanded them, assigned defenders and built a Garrison, you will be ready to go to war.
[edit] War
Constructing a Garrison makes you eligible to attack and to be attacked. Make sure you have strong defenses before you go to war. Expand all defenses size 4 or 5 before going to war. Also, swearing loyalty to a liege at this stage, or even joining an alliance, is beneficial; see below for details.
It's best to learn war while you are small with little to lose. Attack brackets are made up of players with Power and Army Strength not much different from your own, so the higher your Power and Army Strength, the stronger your opponents are too, and many of them will be more experienced by then.
To go to war you need to have built a garrison and have at least 4 vassals (not including serfs or steward). IMPORTANT NOTE: when you first construct the garrison, you will automatically be put into WM . Dropping below four vassals will force your army to disband and getting back to four or more it will put you into War Mode again. When you want to leave war mode you click 'disband armies'. Disbanding takes 12 hours. You must disband, and wait 12 hours to return to peace mode, with more than four "real" vassals. While disbanding, you are still in war mode - you will be able to attack, and be attacked. You are not safe from attack until the 12 hours are up.
When you go to war, you will have a rank, which is shown on your 'stats' on your home screen. The only exceptions to this are if you have fewer than 4 vassals. Choose one defense column - the Wall, Watchtower or Palisade, and fill that one with vassals first.. you want defenses to be greater than your Army Strength (see your Capital page), and the higher the better.. if you can only man one defense well (minimum of 150% of your Army Strength - so if your top 3 vassals are a P20 and 2 P10s, your army strength is 40 and your defenses should be manned to Power 60, which may be size 5 upgrade 4 filled with 10s), that is better than trying to man three defenses inadequately.
Spend gold on building! don't try to hold onto large amounts of gold in war, it will be raided from you. A couple hundred gold is plenty for healing while you raid other players.
You don't have to man every building, in fact it's probably better not to for now. As a beginner, you will mostly be buying expansions and upgrades, so you may just want to move a P5 into the castle and a P5 into the workshop (once you've built it) just to keep them open.. perhaps put the P15 steward into the tower (once you've built it) to protect 300 gold at all times - the P5s and P15 can't be seized so there's no risk in not protecting them. Defense is your top priority for the rest of your vassals.
Once you go to war, raid everyone in your bracket, spend the gold on expanding and upgrading your buildings.. don't worry about seizing yet, just buy the new buildings that become available to you.. buy the Hospital, build it to size 5 then build a Tower. One beginner strategy is to put any of your own, loyal, P20 vassals in the tower for protection - the tower makes it twice as hard to seize vassals manning it, and also protects some gold - then fill the wall with seized P20s (the wall defends the Tower). If someone seizes one of your seized P20s, you'll gain an alarm bonus that should protect you from losing many more, and you can always seize more P20s as long as you have loyal vassals!
Start capturing vassals! To do this, go to the Attack screen, select an opponent, and click 'Seize a vassal'. After choosing which of the enemy's vassals to capture, select which of your vassals should attack (the maximum number is determined by your rank - see the section on TAS), and which part of the enemy defenses they should target. If your attack is successful, the captured vassal appears in your court. If the target vassal was not in the section of the capital you attacked, or if the defenders were too strong for your attacking force, then the capture will fail.
Read also Knighthood Tactics and Knighthoodies.org/tactics for some pointers.
You can also attempt to make other players your vassals by conquering them. This is sometimes easier than capturing another vassal of equal power, but remember that your newly captured vassal will probably try to rebel!
You can also acquire vassals via the Vassal Market, but it's usually far easier for small players to seize vassals than to raise gold to buy. The best strategy for developing quickly at the bottom brackets is to seize 20s and sell them on the vassal market when their 3 day timers lapse.. an active seizer can bypass months of building in a week or two!
Read the comprehensive war tutorial here
[edit] The Effects of Acquiring Vassals
The more and stronger vassals you have and the more equal they are in strength, the more powerful you will be. Capturing more powerful vassals is more difficult, so build up your forces gradually. Squires and handmaidens are not very useful, so collect knights and ladies wherever possible. Remember that if you steal a vassal that has a power above the lowest value in your TAS (the vassals that make up your attack) it will increase your TAS, so it would be prudent to mind your defensive capabilities when selecting vassals to acquire. A balanced lineup consists mostly of vassals similar in power to those in TAS, large gaps in power between vassals may weaken defense.
This is one of the most important concepts of the game, one which most new players will miss. If you're going into war mode, having one or two strong vassals and all other vassals much weaker - whether they are P10s or P20s - doesn't make you strong, it weakens your defense. No matter how big or how upgraded your defenses are, if they are filled with squires and handmaidens it will only take 10 hits to penetrate them. If you have one strong vassal (lets say a Power 100) and the others weak (lets say power 20s and power 10s) soon you will only have a Power 100 and power 10s.. anyone higher power than P10 but lower than the P100 will be taken from you. It's better to have a lower attack strength and higher defense, and don't worry about how "powerful" you are in warmode, worry about staying evenly balanced.. fill your defenses with P20s before you start seizing P30s, then fill them with P30s before seizing P40s. Some players prefer a more aggressive game and only man one or two columns, and fair enough, but successful players understand the concept of balanced lineup.
[edit] Further Kingdom Developments
After building the Garrison, build a Hospital and a Workshop. The Hospital is used to heal your vassals, and the Workshop is useful for improving the efficiency of your buildings.
Later, when you expand your Garrison to size 5, you can build a Guardhouse. A size 5 Hospital allows you to build a Tower. A size 5 Workshop allows you to build the Church. With a size 5 Guardhouse, you can build a Trapper. A size 5 Tower lets you build a Blockhouse. A size 5 Church lets you build an Outpost. These are useful defensive buildings.
With the latest release of Beta 4.2 an additional 3 buildings are available: Axeshop (requires a size 5 Guardhouse), Swordshop (requires a size 5 Tower), and Pikeshop (requires a size 5 Church).
[edit] Invite Page Problems
If people do not show up on the invite tab there are a few possible reasons:
- There may be a delay before they show up depending on how long they have been on your list of friends.
- Somebody else may have already added them and they simply haven't installed Knighthood yet.
[edit] Sovereignty and Loyalty
Every player is either sovereign (independent) or a vassal (a person who held land from a feudal lord and received protection in return for homage and allegiance) of another player (their liege).Only a minority of players are sovereign. Most players are vassals most of the time. Vassals are other players in the game, although they may not be actively playing. All players need vassals to expand their capital, or to attack other players. Success is determined by the number and power of the vassals you have.
When sovereign, you serve no one, but you can swear loyalty to anyone of an equal or higher title, but cannot rebel for 24 hours. As a Sovereign player, you can swear loyalty to one other player. The Lord to whom you swear will have to accept your plea of loyalty, even if that lord is a friend on FB. You will not become a vassal of the Lord until such time as he/she accepts your plea. A player can never be vassal to another player of lower title. A liege can release their vassals at any time, after the initial 24 hours. Lords cannot swear back or be bought by the lieges that released them within 24 hours.
If a vassal gains a higher title than their liege, they are released automatically, and become sovereign. Vassals may also rebel. If rebellion is successful, sovereignty is achieved. Sovereignty does not confer any benefits, though it can be a liability, as it leaves one open to the possibility to be conquered.
Vassals can be seized from their liege by another player. If you are seized or conquered by another player, you become that player's vassal. If conquered, you may rebel immediately. When you become the vassal of another player as the result of being seized, your previous liege has 72 hours or 10 attempts to rescue you, whichever comes first. The rescue period is shown next to your picture on your new Liege's page, with the words "loyal to ..." and a counter showing the time remaining for rescue. Vassals who you seized, and who are still loyal to their previous liege, are not subject to the initial 24 hour loyalty period. They can be released immediately by the Lord who seized them. While loyal to their previous liege, seized vassals will not help you attack other players, but may be included in defense.
Squires and Handmaidens (sometimes referred to as squirrels) are those players who have been invited to play Knighthood, but have not installed the application. If they do not install the application, they leave the game 14 days after they were first invited, but they can then be recruited again. These vassals are generally not very useful, but they are essential when starting to play the game.
You can recruit friends using the "Recruit" screen on the main menu. They join your court immediately, and receive an invitation to play the game. Any friends who install the Knighthood application automatically become Knights or Ladies.
Knights and Ladies have a minimum power of 20, and do not leave the game (even if they uninstall the application). However, if one of your vassals stops playing the game, or uninstalls the application, their power can drop quite quickly as they release or lose vassals.
Vassals who are discontent can join an Uprising to overthrow their lord and become free persons.
[edit] Buildings
Your vassals construct, expand, and upgrade buildings in your capital. Expansion and upgrades may run at the same time for the same structure. Buildings are constructed and expanded by Castle vassals, and upgraded by Workshop vassals. The maximum current expansion for any building is size 12.
[edit] Exchange rates of gold in building processes
If you have gold to spare, you can pay to hurry the building, expansion or upgrade of structures. Go to the Castle view (build, expand) or the Workshop view (upgrade), enter the amount of gold you want to pay, and click "Buy". The exchange rates of gold in the various processes are:
- When building a new structure (Castle): 10 gold per 1
- When expanding a structure (Castle): 10 gold per 1
- When upgrading a structure (Workshop): 5 gold per 1
[edit] List of buildings
The following buildings are available:
| Building | Function | Tier | Require- ments | Cost | Comments |
Court 
| Default starting point for new vassals. | - | - | - | Any number of vassals can be in the court, though they are idle while there. The court is the default location for recruited and seized vassals. |
Castle 
| Castle constructs new buildings and expands existing buildings. | - | - | - | Increasing a buildings size will allow you to use more vassals inside that building, and generates more work. Upgrading the Castle increases the efficiency of building and/or expanding. |
Marketplace 
| Generates gold. | 0 | - | 5
| Every hour the Marketplace will generate a number of gold coins equal to its production value. |
Watchtowers 
| Defends Court, Guardhouse, Trapper and Axeshop. | 0 | Market- place | 5
| Defends vassals in buildings in the leftmost column on the Capital screen from attacks. |
Wall 
| Defends Castle, Hospital, Tower, Blockhouse and Swordshop. | 0 | Market- place | 5
| Defends vassals in buildings in the center column on the Capital screen from attacks. |
Palisade 
| Defends Marketplace, Workshop, Church, Outpost and Pikeshop. | 0 | Market- place | 5
| Defends vassals in buildings in the rightmost column on the Capital screen from attacks. |
Garrison 
| Allows you to attack other players, and to be attacked. | 1 | Watch- towers, Wall, Palisade. | 10
| Constructing the Garrison will automatically move you from peace to war mode there by declaring war. Note that you cannot attack or be attacked unless you have the sufficient amount of vassals even while in war mode. Vassals assigned to the Garrison will automatically replace defenders that get seized. The Garrison also helps defend against foes pillaging your weapons stores. Your Theoretical Attack Strength is no longer controlled by the Garrison, but by your army size. |
Hospital 
| The Hospital is used to speed the healing of wounded vassals. | 1 | Garrison | 10
| Vassals inside the hospital now act as doctors, not patients. Placing vassals inside the hospital causes all your vassals everywhere to heal at a speed bonus shown on the hospital page. |
Workshop 
| Upgrades efficiency level of other buildings. | 1 | Garrison | 10
| Workshop upgrade levels make each building more efficient. This provides a bonus to production already happening inside the building. |
Guardhouse 
| Protects from Conquer attempts, and helps suppress rebellions of your vassals. | 2 | Garrison size 5 | 25
| When you defend yourself against rebellion or conquer attacks, the army assigned to the guardhouse is added to your regular sector defense army. If you are rebelling, and you normally keep your attack troops in the guardhouse, your rebellion attempt will be less effective, so your attack troops and guardhouse troops should be different if you are planning to rebel. |
Tower 
| Vassal protection - think fair maiden locked away in a tall tower for protection. | 2 | Hospital size 5 | 25
| Vassals in the Tower have double effective strength when being seized or rescued. As of Beta 4, a stronger tower also protects a small amount of gold that will be used for auto-healing your vassals after an attack. |
Church 
| Zeal combat bonus. | 2 | Workshop size 5 | 25
| Vassals praying in Church get an attack bonus, which appears as a chalice with a number beside it. The number represents the amount of extra power points the vassal will attack with on their next attack. This bonus accumulates over time and has a maximum potential. |
Trapper 
| Traps weaker attacking vassals in the event of a failed attack against you. | 3 | Guard- house size 5 | 50
| Vassals in the Trapper will try to capture unsuccessful attackers. In order to succeed, the vassals in the Trapper must be stronger than the attack (before applying casualties). If this is the case, the weakest vassal in the attacking party will be captured by the defender. |
Blockhouse 
| Vassal protection - think bodyguards. | 3 | Tower size 5 | 50
| Vassals in the Blockhouse can be assigned to protect any vassal. They will be used as additional defenders in case someone tries to seize or rescue the protected vassal. You can assign them to protect one vassal or several different ones, but they cannot protect themselves.
Vassals in the Blockhouse participate in defense, so they contribute to the defense rating and take casualties, unlike those in the Trapper. They contribute 100% of their power to the defense. |
Outpost 
| Raises your alarm level, making it harder for vassals to be stolen. | 3 | Church size 5 | 50
| Vassals in the Outpost increase your alarm level. This is the same alarm that is already used to calculate your defense, only now you don't need to have vassals stolen in order to have it increase.
The alarm will build up slowly and restart from 0 as soon as you attack. |
Axeshop 
| Vassals in the Axeshop produce axes! | 3 | Guard- house size 5 | 50
| Axes produced in this building are better in combat than pikes, but worse than swords. The storage of axes is guarded against pillages by the vassals in your Garrison. As with the Marketplace, the Axeshop will generate a number of axes equal to its production value. |
Swordshop 
| Vassals in the Swordshop produce swords! | 3 | Tower size 5 | 50
| Swords produced in this building are better in combat than axes, but worse than pikes. The storage of swords is guarded against pillages by the vassals in your Garrison. As with the Marketplace, the Swordshop will generate a number of swords equal to its production value. |
Pikeshop 
| Vassals in the Pikeshop produce pikes! | 3 | Church size 5 | 50
| Pikes produced by this building are better in combat than swords, but worse than axes. The storage of pikes is guarded against pillages by the vassals in your Garrison. As with the Marketplace, the Pikeshop will generate a number of pikes equal to its production value. |
There is a graphical Building Map that shows the dependencies for building and which buildings are defended by which structures.
[edit] Power, Rank, and Title
Your Power score (shown at the top of every page under the symbol of a fist) is one tenth of the total power of all your vassals, plus a base value depending on your title (for a Knight/Lady this is 20). So, recruiting or stealing a vassal of power 10 increases your power by 1. If one of your vassals gains 10 points of power, your power increases by 1. Gaining a higher title increases your power by 10. Your power determines your usefulness as a vassal; it is also used in your defense against conquer attempts.
The Rank shown under the symbol of a crown is your position relative to all other players in the Power rankings. For example, if your Rank is 100, then 99 other players have a higher power than you. If you view the Realm screen, the default view shows you with players of similar Power, in order of Rank. This has no direct significance within the game, but is widely regarded as a measure of success.
Your Title, (e.g. Knight/Lady, Baron/Baroness) shown before your name, affects relations between vassals and their lieges; no player can ever be a vassal to another player with a lower title. A higher title also leads to a 10 point increase in power, which is not dependent on your vassals. You receive promotion to the next title when you achieve a certain level of power (shown on the progress bar below your portrait) You can never go down to a lower title; even if you lose all your vassals, your title remains the same. Advancement in title is automatic on achieving the required points.
Base power (as shown below) is the power of a player with this title if they have no vassals at all.
- Knight/Lady: application installed; base power 20.
- Baron(ess): power 60; base power 30.
- Viscount(ess): power 150; base power 40.
- Count(ess): power 500; base power 50.
- Marquis(e): power 1200; base power 60.
- Duke/Duchess: power 3600; base power 70.
- King/Queen: power 10000; base power 80.
- Emperor/Empress: power 30000; base power 90.
Your opponents in the Attack screen are determined by your ranking according to a different value, which is not directly visible in the game. This value is calculated based on your Power and your theoretical attack strength, i.e. the total strength of the best vassals you can use in a single attack. Your opponents will be those whose Power and theoretical attack strength is approximately the same as yours; however, the further you move up the rankings the greater differences you will find in the power of people you are facing, and in their theoretical attack strength. Again depending on your level in the game, you should get between 1 and 6 pages of opponents to choose, each page containing up to 10 players. Players should be aware that because of the greater differences in the power of the opponents you will face at higher levels, it is even more essential to ensure that your defenses are considerably in excess of your TAS as you progress up the rankings.
The rankings for the Realm (in order of Power) and Attack (in order of power and theoretical attack strength) screens are not determined instantly, but recalculated for all players every five minutes. Each of these five minute periods is called a "round"; at the end of the round, rankings are recalculated, and the opponents in your Attack screen may change.
[edit] Attack and Defense
There are multiple tactics for keeping your vassals safe and scouting enemy defenses. Click the word tactics (in blue) to link to further details.
Always balance attack and defense power! It is vitally important to understand the balance required between attack and defense in the game. Do not expand your offensive capabilities beyond your ability to defend your kingdom.
Note: A good ratio is that your defensive power needs to be over 2x your TAS. (Theoretical Attack Strength)
[edit] Combat
Combat can only take place between players who have built a garrison and are not in "Peace Mode," having disbanded their armies.
When you select the attack tab in the game, you are presented with a list of people you can attack. That is your Attack Window. The Attack Window is a set of randomly chosen people that are in your Attack Bracket. The people you see in your window will change every few minutes, and you'll see players come and go.
There are four basic ways to attack someone from this window. (Specific equations are below.)
[edit] Raiding
You can raid players in your attack window for gold. This is easier, as their defense power will be the lowest possible. You select the person in the list and hit the raid button. You then select which area to attack and who to attack with.
If your attack succeeds, you will get gold from the player - approximately 10% of their stash. You can raid them again after the timer (10 sec) has elapsed.
You can heal and rearm your vassals from the attack page.
For a successful raid, the total power of your attack force must exceed the defensive power of the area you attack. Mobilization Level from attempted raids and seizures, but not from outposts or as the result of a successful seizure, apply to their defense.
[edit] Pillaging
You can steal weapons from other players using the Pillage attack option. Axes can be stolen from the watchtower area, swords from the wall area, and pikes from the palisade area.
[edit] Seizing
You can seize vassals from the players in your attack window. This is harder, because the power of the vassal you are trying to seize is taken into account when the defense value is calculated. And, the player's alarm is also taken into account when calculating the defense value. You select the player from the list and hit the seize button. You then select the vassal you would like to seize, and then where you would like to attack and with whom.
If your attack succeeds, you will get a notice saying you have seized the vassal. (He/she will appear in your Court, and you must allocate him/her to where you want, especially if the Court is not guarded by vassals in Watchtowers.) If you beat the defenders, but the target vassal is not in one of the structures behind that position, you will get a notice telling you couldn't find the vassal there.
For a successful seizure, the total power of your attack force must exceed the total power of the defenses of the area you attack, plus double the power of the targeted vassal. Both alarm bonus components (alert and mobilization) apply. If in the tower, the vassal's power is quadrupled instead of doubled. Targets who are protected by the blockhouse add the total HP of the blockhouse defenders.
[edit] Conquering
Players can attempt to Conquer sovereign players and make them their vassals.
[edit] Rebellion
Rebellion is another form of attack. If you are captured (seized, conquered etc) you can rebel against your new liege immediately. This 'inside' attack is targeted against one of the defensive structures in exactly the same way as a raid or seize, and if it is successful you will become sovereign. Unlike a seize, however, it is not necessary to break out through the defensive area in which you are being held. The number of rebellion attempts is unlimited, but if you joined a liege by swearing loyalty, you cannot rebel for the first 24 hours. It can be useful to co-ordinate your rebellion with your former liege in order to both attack the same structure.
You should be aware however that in order to rebel, you must be in war mode (i.e. have a garrison and at least 4 vassals, then gather your armies).
To rebel against your new liege, you should go to his/her home page and hit the Rebel button, usually below the 'Send gold' button.
[edit] Rescue
If a loyal vassal is seized from you, you can attempt to perform a rescue. As with other forms of attack, rescue is conducted against a specific defensive structure. If the attack succeeds, you will regain the vassal. Note that the rescue option is available only to the lord to whom the vassal is loyal. If you seize a vassal from another lord, and subsequently have the vassal stolen before the loyalty timer expires, you will not be given a rescue option. Also, if all rescue attempts are exhausted, it is still possible to reclaim a vassal before the loyalty timer expires if the new liege is in peace mode.
[edit] Ransom
If you have a vassal seized from you, you can negotiate for your stolen vassal's return. On the seized vassal's lordview page, you will be able to offer a ransom. The new liege can request a ransom as well from the same page. Either of you can withdraw your bid, change it any time or accept the other side's offer. Accepting will exchange the vassal for gold, so you don't have to trust the other side to keep their word. Many people used to use a standard ransom of 100 times the vassal's power rating but alas, inflation has set in. More than half market value is excessive. Don't pay more than 100 gold for a P10 squire /handmaiden, they will disappear eventually and you can reinvite them.
There is a restriction on the former liege: you can offer only as much gold as you have. If you fall below that amount for any reason, your bid will be automatically canceled. (The new liege is free to ask anything, of course.) Also if your vassal changes hands again, the new ex-liege's offer will be canceled, and yours will stay.
Remember that all bids only last as long as the lost vassal is still loyal to you. As soon as time runs out, you're out of luck.
You can also reclaim your former vassals if they become sovereign for any reason while they are still loyal to you.
Note: You need to click the Change Offer bit when offering or updating. The Enter key doesn't work.
[edit] Weapons
With the release of Beta 4.3, weapons have been added to the combat system. Although not required for attacking and defending, weapons provide vassals with an advantage against unarmed assailants.
[edit] Weapons Types
There are three types of weapons: axes, swords, and pikes. Each type of weapon has an advantage over another.
- axes beat pikes
- swords beat axes
- pikes beat swords
Stronger weapons provide a 50% bonus in both attack and defense. An armed vassal (regardless of type) always has an advantage (50% bonus) over an unarmed one.
[edit] Obtaining Weapons
Weapons can be obtained via several methods. Weapons can be built in shops manned by vassals. For more information on building weapons shops, see #Buildings. Weapons can also be stolen from other lords using the Pillage attack. As of the Aug 06 2008 Facebook Integration release, weapons can be gifted. An appropriate weapons shop must be constructed to equip or gift a particular type of weapon.
[edit] Weapons production rates
Note that in the initial weapons release (June 18, Beta 4.2.1), weapons production was boosted temporarily in preparation for the full deployment of weapons usage. In the July 15 maintenance release, weapons production was scaled back to normal, but because of a display bug, the correct production rate was not reflected in the capital overview. The weapons shop display bug has been corrected in the Aug 06 Facebook Integration release.
Hourly production = SUM(power of vassals in building) * (1 + [# upgrades * 0.05]) / 5
Hourly production = SUM(power of vassals in building) * (1 + [# upgrades * 0.05]) / 5
[edit] Using Weapons
Vassals can be equipped with a single type of weapon. Changing a vassal's weapon choice will result in any currently held weapons being discarded. Note that vassals can be equipped or rearmed only with weapons for which a shop has been constructed. Vassals lose weapons in proportion to the damage they receive.
Weapons assigned to a vassal stay with them, even if the vassal changes lieges by any means.
There are lots of different kinds of battles in Knighthood. We have to assume that the 50% weapon bonus applies to any kind of attack or defence, raid, seize, rescue, pillage, conquer, etc, where vassals are involved. Keep this in mind when looking at the Attack Equations below.
It is definitely worth arming the vassals in your three main defensive buildings. i.e. watchtower, wall and pallisade. Weapons will help keep the hordes at bay. Defenders should be armed with an equal distribution of each weapon if possible. If defenders' weapons are imbalanced, attackers may take advantage by arming all attacking vassals with whichever weapon seems superior.
It is unclear whether it is worth arming vassals in your guardhouse, trapper, outpost, tower or blockhouse. All of these building provide defensive capabilities proportional to the health of the vassals within, but the evidence suggests there is no advantage in arming these vassals. (need to confirm case by case).
It is clear that arming vassals inside the production buildings does not increase production. i.e. assigning 20 axes to the knight-20 in your castle does not increase his output to 40 hammers.
[edit] Weapons Storage
Filling the garrison with vassals offers protection of weapon stores:
# weapons protected = 50 x SUM(vassal power in garrison) * (1 + [ # upgrades * 0.05 ])
[Note: been looking at some more raw data, and this formula may not be correct.]
[edit] Crusades
Lords can go on a crusade to temporarily boost army size. Starting a crusade increases army size by 1, resulting in an immediate recalculation of your attack strength and bracket. Crusades last for one hour during which all defensive moves are disabled (rebel, rescue, etc.). You WILL end up in the bracket with people of higher titles/power for the duration of the crusade. Do not declare crusade if you don't have time to actively manage your attack and defense.
Two crusades can only be launched per day, which will allow you to boost increase your army size by 1 for 1 hour, but you may also start another crusade in the middle of the first one. so you can have an overlap of crusades. Example: if you start your first crusade at 1:00 , and the second at 1:30, BOTH crusades will end at 2:30.
[edit] Peace Mode (Disband Army)
You can now disband your armies. The button to do so is in your garrison. It takes 12 hours to disband them, but the return to War mode is instantaneous; you can cancel the disbanding process any time if you wish. When you are in peace mode (your armies have disbanded), you are not included in the rankings, so you cannot attack anyone or be a target of an attack yourself.
Peace mode mainly serves three goals: if you want to develop peacefully beyond garrison; if you want to take some time to build defenses; or if you are going away from the Internet somewhere and would like not to worry about your Knighthood account for a while.
[edit] Disadvantages of Peace Mode
While disbanded, any and all of your ranked vassals can choose to leave (Abandon) you. Any vassals seized by you and still loyal to another lord can be reclaimed by their former owners with no resistance from you. If you swear to a disbanded player, you cannot abandon them for 24 hours.
While disbanded (in peace mode), you will be unable to gift gold or weapons or offer vassals to other players who are at war.
Production in your buildings is reduced to 75% efficiency in peace mode.
If you have a vassal seized by someone who switches to peace mode, you will have the ability to reclaim that vassal by merely clicking a button that replaces the rescue button. You can also reclaim your former vassals if they become sovereign for any reason while they are still loyal to you.
Uninstalling the game whilst in peace mode will cause your armies to gather. Once uninstalled, all vassals (even those in peace mode) may choose to abandon you.
[edit] Mercenaries
With the release of 18 Apr 2008 you can now hire Mercenaries (see linked page for details) to help with the work in your kingdom. A new tab has been added entitled Market, which has a drop down menu item "Hire mercenaries". Mercenary contracts are for one week, and there is an option to extend the contract for another week when the first week is up. While under contract, mercenaries will be unable to release vassals, although they can have vassals seized from them if they are in war mode, and can be abandoned, if they are at peace. To become a mercenary, one must first be sovereign (no liege).
[edit] Non-Player Characters (NPCS)
[edit] Serfs
Every player starts the game with two serfs (power 5). Serfs cannot be seized and do not rebel. While serfs cannot be used to conduct attacks, they can be armed and used in defensive buildings. Serfs do not contribute to your rank power.
[edit] Steward
A power 15 steward can be obtained by providing a confirmed email address under Settings, Notifications. Aside from the power difference, the steward is identical in functionality to the serf.
[edit] Freemen
Freemen are special non-player characters which can be hired, depending on their professions, for 1-week or 1-month contracts using credits. Some freemen can attack and be seized. Freemen can also be resold and purchased on the vassal for sale market. For more details, consult the Freemen page.
[edit] Alliances
Since the beginning of the game there have been certain bonds between players which keep groups of friends or like-minded people together. Since then, the bonds have grown stronger and more complex. Politics, personal feelings, cheating, and playing styles all impact on how the game is played. Some players have chosen to form Alliances with others, groups of people who define their ideals and what they stand for. They also offer help to new players and players in need of assistance.
There are a number of reasons for forming (or joining) an alliance. A good alliance will:
- Give advice to members;
- Give gold to members to assist in healing or building
- Find vassals to join you to help with building
- Formulate group tactics;
- Allow you to wear a TAG e.g. |AF|, DVA, @KV, [ANZAC], [CC], [WHO];
- Offer protection from attacks by other Alliance members; and
- Introduce you to some fantastic new friends.
As of the Oct 22 Alliance release, alliances are a new feature of the game. If you leave an alliance, you cannot rejoin the same alliance for 7 days. You can, however, join a different one immediately.
Note that some alliances do require that your liege also be in the same alliance, so this is worth checking out before joining.
[edit] Where To Join
For those interested in joining an Alliance, select the Alliances option under Realm tab. This lists many official alliances, those that have chosen to create an Alliance page in Knighthood, ordered by member Power. Read the descriptions, many of these Alliances will offer a link to their main website or facebook group where further information is given.
For lists of Alliances that predate the new Alliance feature, look in Book of Alliances or The ANZAC List of Alliances
[edit] Combat Equations
This Wiki is written and maintained by Knighthood players for Knighthood players. It is based on communal research and discussion, and the odd revelation from the Knighthood Devs. Knighthood is in BETA, and game behavior and formulas can change without advance notice. Our understanding of specific equations and calculations is constantly updated as new insights are found.
[edit] A Note About Editing
Nothing in a MediaWiki wiki is ever deleted - every revision is saved back into eternity unless the administrators purge their database. As such, everything that no longer applies should be removed, since it can always be found by looking on the "history" tab. That area allows you to view arbitrarily old revisions of the page and see the difference between any two revisions.
Also, leaving updates in the documentation isn't necessary, since anyone can just look at the diffs to see what's changed since they last checked the docs. "Updates" quickly grow stale, as what was once exciting news becomes old hat. Instead, write that information into the change comment, along with any links to outside sources (like Facebook Discussion Board threads) that are useful to note. In fact it is most unhelpful NOT to leave a comment about what you have edited unless it is a minor change such as a spelling correction.
For more information, see Tracking Changes in the MediaWiki documentation.
[edit] Attack Equations
[edit] Theoretical Attack Strength (TAS)
Your Theoretical Attack Strength (TAS) or "army strength" is the highest power you can theoretically attack with based on your maximum army size. Your attack bracket is defined as the players who have a similar army strength and total power value to you. It determines who you can attack and who can attack you.
The army strength is more relevant in determining your bracket later in the game, but at the start of the game, even making a small change in either attack strength or total power will change your bracket: as a knight or a baron, adding or dropping one level 10 vassal will put you in a different bracket.
Your Army Strength is the sum of your top (highest powered) vassals' power. The # of top vassals counted is related to your "real" title (see army size table). Your real title is determined by your actual power. If you are a viscount but your power dropped below 150, your real title is baron. Garrison upgrades no longer affect your army strength. If you are too lazy to add up your top soldiers, check your capital overview on the left side of the page.
Army Strength = SUM(Top Vassals' Power)
Church bonuses and weapon bonuses are ignored in calculating army strength.
[edit] Actual Attack Strength (AAS)
Your Actual Attack Strength (AAS) is the power with which you choose to attack when you select your attacking vassals during the attack. In order for your attack to succeed, your AAS must be greater than the necessary defense for the attack type you are attempting.
Your Actual Attack Strength is based on the sum of your attacking vassals' health.
Feeling more healthy with an axe in your hand after visiting the church? You bet'cha.
Church bonuses (the little chalices next to the vassals) are added to the attacking vassal's health for one attack only, then completely cleared.
Weapon bonuses (the little axe/sword/pike next to the vassals) are added to the attacking vassal's health for one attack, then decremented by one, just like health. The 'heal and rearm' button is your friend.
AAS = SUM(Attacking Vassals' Health + Church Bonus + Weapon Bonus)
Remember how there are three kinds of weapon and each is better than one, but worse than the other? The upshot of that is that the AAS is different for every attack that you do, depending on which vassals you choose for your attack force.
The AAS equation also applies to defensive positions. For example, if you 'church-up' in peace mode and man your defences, the first person to attack will knock down the church bonus of your defenders.
The exact calculation of attacking AAS vs defending AAS, in particular with relation to how weaspons are matched up against each other, has yet to be revealed by the developers. Is it random? Is it according to the order of your vassals on the screen and the vassals in the defence? Is a heuristic applied?
[edit] Conquer Attack Strength (CAS)
Your Conquer Attack Strength (CAS) is the power you attack with when attempting to conquer someone. Conquering (from an attack perspective) is the same as any other attack, although the defense is calculated differently.
CAS = AAS
[edit] Rebellion Attack Strength (RblAS)
Your Rebellion Attack Strength (RblAS) is the power you attack with when attempting to rebel against your liege. If your RblAS is greater than the person's Rebellion Defense Strength (RblDS) you will become sovereign.
Church and weapon bonuses are added to the attacking vassal's health for the rebellion attempt. Your rank power (RP) is factored in as well. Thus:
RblAS = SUM(Attacking Vassals' Health + Church Bonus + Weapon Bonus) + Rank Power
[edit] Defense Equations
[edit] Fortification Defense Strength (FDS)
The Fortification Defense Strength (FDS) is your basic defensive power for a given defensive area of your Capital. There are three FDS values, one each for your Watchtowers, Wall and Pallisade.
The FDS is the sum of the vassals' health (their power minus damage) that are placed in the given fortification. You then apply any defensive upgrades for that structure as a 5% improvement per upgrade.
FDS = SUM(Vassals in Structure's Health) x (1 + (# of Structure's Upgrades x 0.05)
This FDS is the basis of many of the defensive equations that follow.
[edit] Alarm Bonus (AB)
The Alarm boosts your Seizure Defense Strength (SDS), which makes attempts to seize a vassal from you more difficult. It's made up of two different values: the Alert Level and the Mobilization Level (details below).
AB = AL + ML
In most defensive scenarios the alarm bonus stacks on top of the defense bonus. Sometimes only the AL or ML are taken into account. More details are given in each equation below.
Example 1: if the defence (FDS) for your wall is 120 and your alarm bonus is 75, then your total wall defense is 195. Check your 'capital overview' to see your alarm if you are too lazy to add it up.
Example 2: If the alarm bonus is 11 and there are no vassals manning the palisade, the total protection of the palisade will be 11. [Confirmed on an empty structure.]
NOTE:
- Alarm Level affects seizing and conquering.
- Rescues, rebellions and raids/pillages all ignore alarm.
For a compiled bit of info from the Devs, see this FB DB thread. Please contribute to the thread if you've found something from the Devs that isn't there.
[edit] Alert Level (AL)
The AL is the product of the Outpost and increases at a rate determined by the total power of the vassals in the building. It steadily increases over 24 hours to a maximum value equal to
2 x SUM(power of vassals in Outpost) x (1 + [# of Outpost upgrades x 0.05])
and then decays, from its maximum to 0, over the next 24 hour period. Alert also takes damage hit-points from attack on undefended structures, same as vassals would take health damage if they were manning the structure. This is only during the decay period and reduces alert by 1-3 points per attack. To restart the alert generation from the outpost, you must attack at least once. Thus, you must attack, at least once, every 48 hours (or slightly less) for Outpost to be effective.
The AL is reset to 0 each time you attack. Its main benefit is vassal protection while you're away for a moderate period of time, like while sleeping, going to work, peacefully building your defenses, etc.
ALARM is also a component of AL and raises if someone seizes a vassal from you; your AL will immediately increase by 2X the vassal's max power (e.g. 40 for a vassal of power 20). The alarm remains at max level for 24 hours and decays over the next ~6 hours. ALARM is included in total AL but operates independently of it. Attacking resets all alarm bonuses to zero.
[edit] Mobilization Level (ML)
Mobilization Level is part of Alarm. It is now shown, in red, immediately below alarm. The ML increases by 1 every time you are hit during an attack, successful or not (including raids, pillage, rebellions, rescue attempts, seize attempts). The ML decreases at a rate of ~1/min. ML is capped at the defender's power.
Where Alarm from Outpost or from having a vassal seized only deters Seize attempts, Mobilization type alarm applies against all attacks, including raids and rebellion. (rescues? unknown)
[edit] Tower Multiplier (TM)
The TM applies to seizure and rescue attempts against vassals locked away in the tower.
For such vassals, the Tower Multiplier is 2 plus the number of Tower upgrades from the workshop.
TM = 2 + (# of Tower Upgrades x 0.05)
But fear not,
TM = 1
for all vassals not in the tower, indicating no bonus to defense against seizure or rescue.
[edit] Defense Against Raid Strength (DARS)
The Defense Against Raid Strength (DARS) is your defensive power against someone raiding a given defensive area of your Capital. If someone raids an area with more power than the DARS, the raid will succeed.
The Defense Against Raid Strength is the FDS of that fortification plus the Mobilization Level.
DARS = FDS + ML
[edit] Seizure Defense Strength (SDS)
The Seizure Defense Strength (SDS) is the defensive power used to resist attempts to seize your vassals. Seizures are attempted against a specific fortification (Watchtowers, Wall, or Palisade) and target a specific vassal. The target vassal's maximum power is what counts, and not their current health. The SDS increases if the target vassal is in the Tower (not the Watchtowers), or you have assigned defenders to that vassal from the Blockhouse. In addition, the Alarm Bonus (AB) applies to seizure attempts.
The Seizure Defense Strength (SDS) is the FDS of the fortification attacked plus DOUBLE the health of the target vassal, or FOUR times if they are in the Tower, plus the health of any defenders assigned to protect that vassal in the Blockhouse plus the alarm bonus.
SDS = Structure's FDS + (2 x TM x Target Vassal Health)
+ (Assigned Blockhouse Defender's Health x (1 + (# of Blockhouse Upgrades x 0.05))
+ AB
[edit] Rescue Defense Strength (RDS)
The Rescue Defense Strength (RDS) is the defensive power used to resist against a rescue attempt. Rescues are attempted against a specific fortification (Watchtowers, Wall, or Palisade) and target a specific vassal. Because a single vassal is targeted, their maximum power is what counts, and not their current health. The RDS is improved if the target vassal is in the Tower (not the Watchtowers), or you have assigned defenders to that vassal from the Blockhouse.
The Rescue Defense Strength (RDS) is the FDS of the fortification attacked plus the maximum power of the target vassal (x2 if they are in the Tower) plus the defenders' health assigned to protect that vassal in the Blockhouse.
RDS = Structure's FDS + (TM x Target Vassal Power)
+ (Assigned Blockhouse Defender's Health x (1 + (# of Blockhouse Upgrades x 0.05)))
(+ ML?)
[edit] Conquer Defense Strength (CDS)
The Conquer Defense Strength (CDS) is the defensive power used to resist against someone's attempt to conquer you. Conquering is attempted against a specific fortification (Watchtowers, Wall, or Palisade) and targets you rather than a vassal. The CDS improves if you have vassals in your Guardhouse. In addition, the Mobilization Level (ML) is in effect for Conquer attempts (?).
The Conquer Defense Strength (CDS) is the FDS of the fortification attacked plus the DOUBLE your power rating plus the health of any defenders in the Guardhouse.
CDS = Structure's FDS + (2 x Your Power)
+ SUM(Guardhouse Vassals' Health) x (1 + (# of Guardhouse Upgrades x 0.05) + ML
[edit] Rebellion Defense Strength (RblDS)
The Rebellion Defense Strength (RblDS) is the defensive power used to resist against someone's attempt to rebel against you. Rebellion is attempted against a specific fortification (Watchtowers, Wall, or Palisade) and only target the defensive area. The RblDS is improved if you have vassals in your Guardhouse. In addition, the Mobilization Level (ML) is in effect for Conquer attempts (?).
The Rebellion Defense Strength (RblDS) is the FDS of the fortification attacked plus the health of any defenders in the Guardhouse.
RblDS = Structure's FDS + SUM(Guardhouse Vassals' Health) x (1 + (# of Guardhouse Upgrades x 0.05)) + ML
[edit] Trapper Counter-Attack Strength (TXAS)
The Trapper Counter-Attack Strength (TXAS) is the power used in the attempt to capture vassals following a failed attack. This applies only toward failed raid, pillage, conquer, or seize attempts and not to failed rebellions or rescues. The Trapper is activated when an attack fails against any defensive structure (Watchtowers, Wall, or Palisade), and will capture the weakest member of the attacking party if TXAS is greater than the AAS of the party before damage for the current attack is applied. No bonuses such as Blockhouse protectors assist in protecting the attacking force.
The Trapper Counter-Attack Strength is more than just the power of the Trapper because you can trap attackers when your trapper is unmanned.
TXAS = SUM (Trapper Vassals' Health) x (1 + (# of Trapper Upgrades x 0.05)) + ML
Note that because mobilization level (ML) is factored into the TXAS equation, it would appear (and was, for a time) possible to trap vassals even with an empty trapper. However, this behavior has since been corrected, and empty trappers will no longer trap anything.
[edit] Bug Reports
After reading this page, if you believe you have found a bug, please report it, not here, but on the Knighthood forum (Report Bugs).
[edit] Suggestions About the Game
Make suggestions about the game in the Knighthood forum (Suggest Ideas).
[edit] Cheating and things that aren't cheating but suck
Read this before you bring it to the forum: Ethics
[edit] Related Information
General game information - English language
- Knighthood War Mode Tutorial
- Knighthood Release Notes
- Knighthood FAQ - answers to commonly asked questions
- Knighthood Getting Started - a great tutorial
- Knighthood Comprehensive War Mode Tutorial
- Knighthood Glossary - explains Knighthood-specific terms and abbreviations
- Knighthood Tactics
- Knighthood in-game tutorial
- Knighthoodies.org - Screen captures of actual gameplay, detailed strategy, tactics and more.
- Alliance Chat - Alliance Voice Over IP Chat!
Other language versions
Tutorials
- downloadable
- KHStartersGuide.pdf - An illustrated guide to getting started. Version 1.6 now available which updates to Beta 4.2.3. (Over 17,500 downloads to date)
- Youtube video showing knighthood in use.
- web based Spreadsheets for Knighthood calculations
- Knighthood Calculator - An Excel spreadsheet that models many of the Knighthood calculations. 3.0.2(Beta) released 27 Jan 2009
- Simple Defence Health Indicator - A very simple Excel spreadsheet to quickly calculate defence health and determine garrison increase on your defences. This does NOT replace the functions of the Knighthood Calculator above.
Other information
- Facebook Limitations - Facebook just wasn't designed for the Knighthood hardcore.
- Report Cheaters - Report them to Facebook [1], Report them to TORS [2] TORS
