There was an accident where Knicoals whole thread for race selection and more got deleted, and i am now going to try to restore as much as possible of it. This will all be copied from Knicoals original post as best i can do.

/Dante

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Selecting a race will likely be the very first decision that you make at the start of each round. For experienced players, this can be a difficult process of weighing the cost and benefits of each option. For new and unexperienced players, this process can be devastating, and choosing the "wrong" race can very easily make or break your round. This guide, then, is designed to help players, both new and old, decide which race is best for them. But the choice is ultimately your own, and you should choose whichever race suits your play style the best.

You DO NOT need to read the entire guide, but you SHOULD read the description for the race you are interested in playing.

Table Of Contents

A.1 How to Use This Guide Effectively
B.1 The Good Races
---- B.1.1 Shinobi
---- B.1.2 Human
---- B.1.3 Gryphon
---- B.1.4 Sylvan
---- B.1.5 Elemental
---- B.1.6 Dwarf
B.2 The Evil Races
---- B.2.1 FlameWeaver
---- B.2.2 Illith
---- B.2.3 Dark Dwarf
---- B.2.4 Goblin
---- B.2.5 PlagueBearer
---- B.2.6 Undead
C.1 How Many Diamond Mines Should I Build for the Round?
D.1 The Elveron Dictionary of Terminology and Abbreviations

A.1 How to Use This Guide Effectively

Below you will find a detailed description of all current races in the game (with the exception of races newly introduced for the current round). If you click on the Race, you will be brought to the page in the Guide for that particular race. From that page, you can see an Overview of all the raw data available on that race: the military details (pricing, casualties, return times), building differences, and race-specific spells. You will also find the race-specfic bonuses and penalties on this page. You may want to look over the raw data of the race before reading the information on this page and deciding on a race; however, much of that information is also summarized here.

The races on this page are organized from the "easiest" to the "most difficult." Next to each race, you will see a number rating. The number rating will tell you the difficulty level required of the race in question based on a scale of one to five, with one being "easiest" and five being "most difficult." Beneath each race, you will see an assessment of the race's key features. And this assessment will better allow you to ascertain the advantages and disadvantages of playing each race from an experienced player's point of view. Additionally, you will find a few race strategies/building set-ups in this thread designed to get you through the protection period.

Both the rating AND the racial details are based on a consensus of some of the game's top players. Likewise, the race strategies have been either designed particularly for new players OR donated by older players from previous rounds. Also, I would like to thank the following people for their help with rating and assessing the races for this guide: Wilan, Reddaddy32, Popcorn10, Peluin, The Baron, Sven, Acerac, Kalle, and Amuril.

B.1 The Good Races

B.1.1 Shinobi: 1.35

Shinobi are, without question, the easiest race currently available in the game. Unlike most of the other races, Shinobi's military troops require only gold to train. This means that you will not need to manage multiple buildings during the round, which will free up a great deal of land for Homes and Diamond Mines, making Shinobi's good improvement investors. For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 30 sawmills, 8-10% farms, 4-6% towers, X% CHs, and the rest of your land split evenly between homes and diamond mines.

Although the Elite Offensive Units do not have a great deal of turtle (only 2 points), the Shadow Sylphs provide "free" defense from casualty conversions. In addition to this, Shinobi's also have "free" spies, since each unit also acts as a partial spy. The Shinobi's spell, while very powerful, is somewhat constrained by the Day/Night cycle, but this is usually not very difficult to work around. Shinobi's are generally played slowly to maximize efficiency.


B.1.2 Human: 2.10

Humans are probably the most versatile race in the game, which makes them a particularly good choice for players that are somewhat unsure of the type of play-style that suits them best. Their troops require the management of multiple resources (gold, lumber, iron, magic dust), but this should not be too difficult. For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 6-7% samwmills, 5% iron mines, 4-6% towers, 8-10% farms, X% CHs, and the rest of your land should be split evenly between homes and diamond mines.

Humans are a high-turtle race, with 4 points and a 10hr return on the primary attacking unit. The primary attacking unit for humans should be your knights, and the primary defender longbowmen. You should always make sure to cast "Holy Armor" for one hour before attacking, in order to get -15% casualties. Humans are primarily good for attacking OR exploring OR Maging.

B.1.3 Gryphon [Currently Retired]: 3.25

Gryphons are easy to play mediocre, but very difficult to play well. They require you to constantly work to find the optimal percentage of Merchant Guilds to run to maximize your economy. There is no effective "cookie cutter" strategy/set-up for Gryphons, because this will constantly change throughout the round. And even with the Master Hunters and Noble Lords, you will likely need to build some CHs and some farms. This means you will need: Merchant Guilds, 30 Sawmills, Iron Mines, Towers, Farms, CHs, Diamond Mines, and Homes.

Gryphons have decent turtle on their primary (Iron Talons) and secondary (Light Feathers) attacking units. Their elite defender, however, is subpar -- so you will likely need the turtle. Gryphons do have the option of sending workers on attacks, but at such an incredibly high cost, this option should be used sparingly. I will repeat, you SHOULD NOT be sending all of your Fledgelings on every attack. Use Fledglings sparingly and only when necessary. Gryphon's spell should be used at your discretion (sometimes it will be more important to get the lower casualties, but sometimes you may need the quicker returns).


B.1.4 Sylvan [Currently Retired]: 3.53

Sylvans are a very strong race, but not very easy to play well. Their troops require the management of only two resources (gold and lumber), however they must also manage barren land. For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 8-10% farms, 4-6% Towers, X% CHs, and the rest of your built land split between homes and diamond mines AND making sure to leave 1 acre of barren forest for each Oak Dryad you have.

Sylvan's military offers some turtle (2 points), and with such an expensive elite defender you will probably need it. Sylvan's primary offensive unit, on the other hand, is relatively inexpensive. However, the attacking unit is subject to the day/night cycle, and they will need to attack during the day in order to be most effective. This will often mean that you will need to attack on a set ingame schedule rather than at your lesiure, so if you are unable or unwilling to conform to this attack cycle then this is probably NOT the race for you. Sylvans also need to carry a relatively high spa/mpa in order to avoid people stealing their lumber and/or casting land warp on them. Sylvans are good for attacking OR exploring OR experience play.


B.1.5 Elemental: 3.65

Elemental probably received the most varied ratings from the players - and this is because elemental are extremely easy to play conceptually, but incredibly difficult to play well (and compete with) at the top levels. Their troops require the management of only two resources (gold and magic dust). For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 30 sawmills, 8-10% farms, X% CHs, X% Towers, and the rest of your land split between homes and diamond mines.

Elemental troops have high turtle, but can still have low overall defense because of the upgrading involved. There is a great deal of versatility with your attacking units, and the primary obstacle will be knowing when to upgrade and when to train new spec troops. For the most part, the average player should train spec troops right before an attack cycle, and use the downtime in between to upgrade.


B.1.6 Dwarf: 4.10

Dwarfs are an easy race to flare with, but extremely difficult to play even relatively well after the first week. This means that just about anyone can have a great OOP and first week with dwarf, but after that you will be in for some tough times. You only really need to manage two resources for military (gold and iron), but for dwarfs gold is considered the secondary resource and iron the primary. For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 11-14% farms, 4-6% towers, X% CHs, 20% Blacksmiths, and the rest as homes. You will need to invest your iron using the racial spell, this can be quite difficult to manage.

Dwarfs have terrible turtle, and are frequently subject to being hit even all-in. In order to avoid constantly being hit, you will need to keep proper track of the current (and coming) OP threats and stay above them. This requires a lot of time, a lot of log-ins, and a lot of work and generally a solid team effort. Dwarfs also need to carry a considerably high number of spies in order to avoid having all of their iron stock stolen, which could very very easily kill your round. You should not consider playing this race until you have a firm handle on the game.

B.2 The Evil Races


B.2.1 FlameWeaver: 2.55

FlameWeavers are one of the easier evil races to play, because they are relatively straightforward. And unlike most races, FlameWeavers allow you to attack more frequently without penalty, since your casualties will be "reborn" as offensive elites. Their troops require you to manage three resources (gold, iron, and diamonds). For most of the round, the average player will need approximately: 8-10% farms, 4-6% towers, 2-3% Iron Mines, X% CHs, and the rest of your land split between homes and diamond mines.

FlameWeavers have decent turtle. One of the problems that FlameWeavers face occurs early in the round when trying to make the transition from spec troops to elite troops, and this is largely due to the vast price differences between the two. However, the elite attacker's ability to be "reborn" makes that transition from specs to elites absolutely necessary. Furthermore, the FlameWeaver's spell is, for the most part, completely useless. And while it is nice that their mages have a higher success rate on casting FlameBursts, this too is pretty useless for the average player, and certainly NOT worth overtraining mages for. FlameWeavers are good for attacking OR exploring OR experience play.


B.2.2 Illith: 3.35

Illith is another relatively easy, relatively straightforward race for evil. Illith's are probably best played when you have a strong pack, because it is absolutely essential that they have solid improvement investments and this will require a team effort. Their troops require you to manage primarily two resources (gold, and magic dust), but you may also need some iron for the offensive spec if and when you choose to use them. For the average player, illith's will build a combination of homes, towers, diamond mines early and use homes, towers, and Mind Academies and/or Mind Universities later in the round. You will, of course, still need the 30 Saw mills, 8-10% farms, and X% CHs, and 1-3 Iron Mines (that's 1-3 buildings total, NOT 1-3% of your land). And keep in mind that Illiths cannot build either Gold Mines OR Taverns.

Illith's have absolutely NO turtle, and this makes them highly susceptible to being hit. In order to avoid being hit, you really need to keep proper track of the current (and coming) OP threats and stay well above them. This, too, requires a lot of time, a lot of log-ins, and a lot of work and generally a solid team effort. Their main spell becomes quite useful mid-to-late round. But their "war-only" spell, at 19*land per cast, should NOT be used until at least mid-round. Illiths are good for attacking OR exploring OR experience play.


B.2.3 Dark Dwarf: 3.37

Dark Dwarfs are a relatively easy race to play, but they will require a great deal of "upkeep" to do well. DD's utilize Slave Pits (Spider Slaveries) for speed and efficiency, but this means that you will need to keep them filled manually when you are not attacking- and to keep your pits filled manually, you will need to maintain an appropriate spa AND log in frequently to kidnap peasants from other players. Additionally, DD's troops require two resources (gold and iron). For the average player, you will need approximately: 30 sawmills, 8-10% farms, 4-6% towers, X% CHs, 13-19% Spider Slaveries, X% Iron Mines, and the rest built as homes and diamond mines.

Dark Dwarf's troops are relatively inexpensive. And the 9 hour return on the Spider Riders will allow you to shadow just about anyone in the game. Additionally, there is some versatility with SR's, because if you overtrain them you can use them for offense as well. Also, any extra spiders can be sent as FREE offense. At only 0.1 per spider, it's not much, but it can help. And with a 9hr building construction time, DDs can be a real killer if you make it through until the end game. DDs are primarily a "fast" race.


B.2.4 Goblin: 4.30

Goblins are a very, very difficult race for new players for a number of reasons. For one, they are not good investors. This means that not only will your own investments be poor, but your ability to invest in the realm will also suffer. This can be a bad idea for new and inexperienced players, because you will likely require a great deal of team support (and not many of the newer/less experienced packs will want to OR be able to properly support your efforts). In fact, I am not even going to give you any kind of a cookie cutter build, because if you are not at a level to devise your own set-up then you really should not be playing this race.

Goblins do not offer very much turtle. And with the Techies defense attached to building construction/land type, you can quickly find yourself in a bad spot. Furthermore, with the offensive power attached to attack range, new players can RARELY utilize goblin's full potential. Goblins also need to keep a relatively high spa in order to prevent people from stealing all of their ore and crippling their military. Goblins are primarily a fast race.


B.2.5 PlagueBearer: X.XX


B.2.6 Undead: X.XX

C.1 How Many Diamond Mines Should I Build?

It's difficult to say how many Diamond Mines you will need at the top levels, because often that is determined with many additional variables. If you want to delve deep into the strategy and mathematics involved, I would suggest you take advantage of the sheet made available by Angelfire that is located for download here: viewtopic.php?p=178650#p178650

If, on the other hand, you are just looking for a less complex and easier answer, just use the following quick list:

If the round is 4 weeks long, you will need 400-450 Diamond Mines.

If the round is 4.5 weeks long, you will need 450-500 Diamond Mines.

If the round is 5 weeks long, you will need 500-550 Diamond Mines.

If the round is 5.5 weeks long, you will need 550-600 Diamond Mines.

If the round is 6 weeks long, you will need 600-650 Diamond Mines.

A nice addition here would be that: the advised amount of DMs also depends on WHEN in the round you get those DMs. For example, if you play with 100 DMs in the first 4 weeks of a 6 week round and in the 5th week, you make up to a total of 650 DMs, then it ain't gonna cut it Usually, it works best like this:

keep XX % of your land in Diamond Mines, up until YY acres (for a Z weeks round) i.e. In a 6 weeks round: keep 30% of your land in Diamond Mines, up until 650 (for a 6 weeks round)

I think it will be good to define it as this:
- Fast starting strategy with planning to have good imps by the end of the round: you can go with 20% DMs in the first 1 and maybe 2nd week. By week 3-4, you should start making a serious amount of DMs, preferably up to 40%. Keep this 40% until the desired amount of DMs is reached (i.e. 650 for a 6 weeks round). This can be done with the fast, but also medium, races like: Vampire, Ele, Spirit, Human.
- Slow strategy: it will work to just keep 40% DMs all the time, up until the desired amount of DMs is reached (i.e. 650 DMs for a 6 weeks round). This can be done with the so called slow race: Troll, Flameweaver, Leshkin, Shinobi etc.
- ALWAYS GOOD: just run 30% over the course of the whole round until you reach your desired amount of DMs (i.e. 650 DMs for a 6 weeks round). This works well with almost every race. It works well, but not always PERFECTLY. When one really understands the importance and mechanisms of the Imps, he will discover that 30% might need to be tweaked to 40% later on in the round or 20% early in the round, but one will discover that by trial and error. If you don't want to bother with lots of calcs and want to do DMs (to possibly do Alchemies later) but don't really know how to, just go with 30% until you have the amount you want and you will do well in the end

I will add some more stuff to this later.

The Elveron Dictionary

---------- Table of Contents ----------
I. General Kingdom & Realm Abbreviations
II. Land & Building Abbreviations
III. General Military Abbreviations
IV. Spy-Related Abbreviations
V. Magic-Related Abbreviations
VI. Other



I. General Kingdom & Realm Abbreviations
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-- kd: Kingdom
-- r: realm (as in the example, r100 -- this would be referring to realm 100)
-- Imps: Improvements
-- Kimp: Kingdom Improvements (when used as a verb, "to kimp," refers to the act of investing in kingdom improvements)
-- Rimp: Realm Improvements (when used as a verb, "to rimp," refers to the act of investing in Realm Improvements)
-- RS: Realm Service (not to be confused with the RS that could also refer to terra's o spec, this typically refers to the act of putting your heroes in RS in order to obtain and secure a relic.)
-- NW: Net Worth
-- OOP: Out Of Protection (but often also used to refer to the entire protection period)


II. Land & Building Abbreviations
----------------------------------

-- GL: Grassland (Land Type)
-- HL: Highland (Land Type)
-- LB: Land Bonus (refers to the 36 acres given as your daily bonus)
-- LQ: Land Quest (referring to the times you "find" 20 acres on a quest)
-- Land D or LD: Land Defense (when the targets defense is equal to the default of 2*land size)
-- r/r: Raze and Rebuild (refers to the act of destroying current buildings to construct something else)

-- DM: Diamond Mines
-- GM: Gold Mines
-- IM: Iron Mines
-- FT: Frost Temples
-- GQ: Guild Quarters
-- CH: Court House
-- MG: Merchant Guilds (Gryphon Only)


III. General Military Abbreviations
--------------------------------------------

-- spec: Specialist. (This would be your weaker, more inefficient troops)
-- o spec: offensive specialist
-- d spec: defensive specialist
-- leets: Elites. (This would be your stronger, more efficient troops)
-- o leet: offensive elite
-- d leet: defensive elite
-- D or DP: Defense [Power]
-- O or OP: Offense [Power]
-- Top OP: Top Offense in the game
-- Cas or Caz: Casualty
-- TS: Target Search
-- CQ: Conquest
-- All In: (1) noun. When used as a noun, this refers to your defense when all troops are at home, ie. your total defense including turtle. e.g. "What's your all in?" (2) verb. When used as a verb, this refers to being attacked with while all troops are home or attacking someone else while their troops are all home. e.g. "How many times was your kingdom all in'ed this round?" (The terms "all in" and "wilanate" can be used as synonyms.)
-- BF: BottomFeeding (NOTE: This is usually not used to refer to what is *technically* Bottomfeeding, which would be hitting below 67% of your size. Instead, it is generally used to refer to hits made between 67-75% of your size.)


IV. Spy-Related Abbreviations
-----------------------------------------

-- SPA: Spies Per Acre
-- ss: Spy Strength
-- SoM: Spy on Military
-- SoB: Spy on Buildings
-- SoI: Spy on Improvements
-- SoL: Spy on Land
-- SoH or SoHP: Spy on Hero [Power]
-- SoQP: Spy on Quest Party
-- SoE: Spy on Economy
-- KWIT: Kill Workers in Training
-- op: operation (in lower case, this refers to info-based spy operations: SoM, SoI, SoB, etc)
-- bop: black op (this refers to aggressive spy/mage operations, such as KWIT'ing and FB'ing)


V. Magic-Related Abbreviations
--------------------------------------------

-- MPA: Mages per Acre
-- md: Magic Dust
-- MS: Magic Shield
-- HC: HourChange
-- EC: Energy Charge
-- LFS: Lesser FarSight (just as a warning, LFS could also be referring to gryphon's o spec troops. You will need to use the context to decide which is being referred to.)
-- FS: FarSight
-- Rev: Revelation
-- Bliz: Blizzard
-- Blizzarchy: A simultaneous act of Anarchy'ing and Blizzarding a target kingdom.
-- FB: FlameBurst
-- bop: black op (this refers to aggressive spy/mage operations, such as KWIT'ing and FB'ing)

VI. Other
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-- RoB: Ring of Barin (also referred to as "The Ring") (Relic)
-- EM: Engineer's Manual (also referred to as "The Manual") (Relic)
-- CC: Council Cleaner (Appointed position in Realm Government that has the option to delete threads and posts in Council)
-- XP: Experience (can refer either to ruler hero's experience points OR a type of game-style)
-- HP: Hero Power
-- Pack: teams that begin the round together as a group
-- GT: Game Time (refers to the current hour in the game as located on the Main Page)
-- ST: Server Time (GMT+1)
-- RFM: Royal Family Message
-- RC: Realm Council
-- GC: Global Council
-- LFP: Looking For Pack (typically, this would be a thread one makes advertising that they are available for a pack with a free spot the following round)
-- nerf: to weaken (typically used in the context of balancing or tweaking gameplay or races)
-- buff - to strengthen (typically used in the context of balancing or tweaking gameplay or races)
-- turtle: (1) noun. The defensive pts. on offensive units. (2) verb. The act of "turtling," refers to a state of maintaining a defensive positioning in which you use the defensive pts. on your offensive units to stay at a relatively high or impenetrable defense.