Fast Castle Light Cav Relic Control
Steps 12 · 6 → 27 pop · ~15 min
Source: Hera — Strategy Guide (December 2025)
Race to Castle Age behind your walls, then flood the center with monks and a handful of Light Cavalry to scoop up every relic before your opponent reacts.
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
Opening
8 steps · pop 6–23- 6
6 → sheep under the Town Center - 9
+3 → wood, drop a Lumber Camp - 10 +1 → lure the first boar
- 11
+1 → build a House, then a Mill on the berries - 11
Lure all 3 deer to the Town Center with your scout ↳ No new villager — stretch food while eco vils stay on resources
- 14 +3 → hunt; lure the second boar before the first runs out
- 18
+4 → berries and add a House; once the boars run out, seed 3 farms with the freed-up sheep villagers ↳ The farm villagers are a reassignment, not new pop
- 23 +5 → wood on a single Lumber Camp
Feudal
2 steps · pop 25–27- 25
+2 → gold, then click Feudal Age (~11:20 / 8 wood, 15 food, 2 gold) ↳ Keep your gold income flowing for the Monastery
- 27
Feudal: food-out vils → straggler trees; build a Barracks; make a Stable and a Market (2 vils each); +2 → wood on the single Lumber Camp ↳ Balance wood and gold for the Castle click
Castle
2 steps · pop 27 14:50- 27
Click Castle Age; research Double-Bit Axe and Horse Collar 14:50 - 27
Castle: 4 builders → straggler trees; seed more farms; train 2-3 scouts and drop a Monastery immediately; Bow Saw; add a TC when you can afford it; build Light Cav only if contested
Strategy Notes
- This is an Arena build first and foremost: you skip all Feudal military, so wall your choke early and treat the open center as the only contested ground.
- The Stable and Barracks in Feudal exist mainly to unlock Castle Age and give you a fast military option — don't over-invest, just keep clicking toward 14:50.
- The instant Castle lands, get a Monastery down and start pumping monks. Relics are the whole point: each one is a slow trickle of gold that funds your late game while denying it to the enemy.
- Build Light Cavalry only when the relic run is contested. A small pack escorts your monks and snipes enemy monks or scouts; if the center is quiet, skip them and pour resources into your economy instead.
- Bow Saw and a fresh Town Center keep your wood and villager count climbing while the monks work, so you transition into a boom without missing a beat.
- Aim to control four-plus relics, then choose your follow-up: a knight-and-siege push if you grabbed map control, or a straight boom into Imperial if the game has gone quiet.