Zero Castles

Game of Thrones: Winter is coming offers several different ways for players to engage in PvP. Despite the fact that some players never engage in combat, many players enjoy the original battles in which you can either kill your enemies or lose your own soldiers. Depending on the player, some prefer to play more defensively while others prefer to play more offensively. Many prefer to tank rallies from their enemies when for the majority of them, this may not be the best course of action. As part of this guide, I will discuss one of the most important battle strategies in this game. If you wish to play battles against other players, you should have a general understanding of this strategy. Play the game as zero castles.

Overview

By playing a zero castle, you basically hide all of your resources and troops and do not defend. As a result, a zero castle attacks the enemy and joins/starts rallies, and keeps the rest of the Army hidden so that even if they retaliate by attacking back, none of their troops will be killed or any resources taken from them.

There are many important details to this idea that most players don't realize or forget during battles.

Requirements

It is important to meet the following requirements when playing as a zero castle:

- Troop Count: The number of troops you have must be low enough for you to be able to hide them. According to the following formula, you can hide a maximum number of troops:

The maximum number of troops you can hide is determined by the number of deployments you can send out, the amount of shelter size you can provide, and the size of your army. The 1.5x multiplier is based on a 50% summon buff that is on sept of seven. There are also 75% and 100% summon buffs, but those are rarer.

The number of deployments you can make is increased by upgrading your castle (currently 5 deployments) and then by researching "New Procedures" researches up to a maximum of 8 deployments.

- Troop Types: There is generally no place for bowmen in this meta, particularly for fighters who fight in zero castles. It's important for zero castle fighters to have enough frontline troops to help with rallies and counter the enemy since they play more offensively. You need a balanced troop-type set for Zero castle fighters so you don't run out of something when you need it.

- T3 and T4: For fighters with T4 research unlocked, it is important to maintain a reasonable ratio between their T3 and T4 counts. Their attacks will lack the required damage if they have too many T3 and not enough T4, or they will not be able to fill rallies as much as they should. A lack of T3 will result in a high healing cost and a loss of expensive troops if the enemy damages their troops. In a zero castle fighter, T1 or T2 troops should not be kept in order to save space.

According to the example above, this is a zero-castle fighter with approximately 1.8 million troops. The balanced setup allows this player to participate in a variety of rallies. You can use the T1 bow/spear to gather since they won't take up any hospital space if your castle is attacked directly, and if they get hurt - for example, if an enemy attacks your gathering node - they won't require speed-ups to heal.

The risk of losing troops is reduced when you play with fewer troops. A player with approximately one million troops can easily join rallies without risk. However, a player with more than three million troops will almost always be forced to manage multiple marches, which poses a risk.

- Hospital Space: At least 500k hospital spaces are required for zero castle fighters. Your troops are at risk when you play as a zero castle. Without enough hospital space, any mistake can be your last mistake for a while as you won’t be able to continue the battle when your troops are dead.

- Zero castle lifestyle: Zero castles aren't for everyone. When you play as zero castles, you don't care about troop losses. As long as your troop count is low enough, your enemies will have difficulty hurting you, and you will be able to retrain and regain your previous power even after a defeat. The game of playing as a zero castle is not right for you if you believe that power is more important than any other factor. This is because playing as a zero castle means continuously gaining and losing power.

Reaction time: Your reaction time is a key factor when playing as a zero castle. Your troops will return to your castle at many points during a battle (for example, after a rally or attack) and since you might not have your lord or the rest of the troops back in time, they could be put in even more danger. What matters most is your reaction time to send them back out to safety in time.

Advantages

The following are the advantages of playing as a zero castle or being able to zero your castle:

- Rebuilding is easy: It is very costly to make a mistake when you have a large number of troops fighting against an enemy who is very strong. If you are a zero castle, it is easier to rebuild after making mistakes

(even if all of your troops are lost).

- Less dangerous: Whether you are joining an ally rally or reinforcing a great city, you will not be able to port as you wish. Your castle will remain Stuck in place. As a result, the enemy has an opportunity to attack you. As a smaller player, you can lose the battle with a single or multiple solo attacks. As a stronger player, they can run single or multiple rallies against you. You can suffer significant damage with a rally if your alliance is in great cities or if your alliance is rallying enemies. It is for this reason that many mid-spenders and average-sized players prefer to play as zero castles as well.

- Can still stand solo attacks: Many players can handle solo attacks from stronger enemies relatively well if they have decent buffs and bonuses. It is possible to play offensively and tank enemy solo attacks when you have the option of zeroing your castle; however, when they start a rally, you can hide your troops and avoid their attacks.

- Tricking enemy: By playing as a zero castle, you have the opportunity to trick your opponents. Only the arrows on the map are visible to the enemy. To fake zeroing and entice the enemy to solo attack you can be very risky however since your troop count is not high and the enemy might decide to coordinate to do multiple solo hits on you.

Disadvantages

For different types of players, playing as a zero castle or having the ability to zero your castle has the following disadvantages:

- Less useful in events: The Siege of Winterfell and the alliance conquest will be more challenging when you do not have as many troops as the rest.

- High adrenaline: It is important to note that playing as a zero castle is an extremely intense type of gameplay. This may not be suitable for those interested in a simpler game style.

- Less mobility: As you cannot port out of your location when you have zeroed out, you will have less mobility.

- Low Power: The power rating of zero castle fighters will not be high. It is common for zero castle fighters to be stuck in certain power ranges. This is because the best way to increase power is through training troops, which they do not wish to have in large numbers.

- Great city restricted area problem: Due to the fact that you are a zero castle rally leader, you will not be able to hold great cities as long as you are in the great city restricted area, as the enemy could directly attack you, resulting in the porting of your castle out randomly. From outside the tree line area, playing in great cities is more expensive than playing in great cities from inside the tree line area since you will need to make use of rally speed-ups in order to reach your target sooner before the enemy is able to counter your marching rally formation.

Where to hide?

The topic of zero castles was discussed, however, we did not discuss the question of how to become a zero castle. In order to become a zero castle, you must send all of your extra and unprotected resources to an allied bubble castle before breaking your bubble and then deciding how you wish to hide your troops. The following are some useful hiding places and I will explain each of them in detail:

1 – Shelter

the shelter is one of the most important places to keep your troops and your Lord safe. Under your castle, you will find the shelter building, which is located next to the Tavern and Warehouse.

As your base march size increases, your shelter capacity increases. Shelter capacity increases with castle upgrades and glory levels. Shelter capacity can also be earned by owning bonuses to some castle exteriors, such as Crimson Fort, Silent Prayer, Rose of Highgarden, and Northern Pine, along with some marching animations, such as Dragon's Rage, Dancing Flowers, and A Dance of Snowflakes.

Some important notes about Shelter as a hiding spot:

- Shelter is the best place for your troops and your Lord to be protected. The enemy will not be able to damage your sheltered troops while you are unbubbled

- Having anti-scout enabled prevents the enemy from seeing if you recall troops from the shelter. Soldiers who have been sheltered are visible in the scout report but cannot be detected elsewhere.

- If you maintain at least one troop in the shelter, you will be able to access it from the map. During a battle, it is very important that you do not completely empty your shelter.

- You should keep a balanced amount of back troops in the shelter in case you need them for future rallies. As a result, you will be able to easily replenish your troops before joining the next rally without the enemy noticing.

- A shelter does not add fervor to a battle, so it is a perfect way to start the battle (hide your troops first, then go into a fervor to ensure the enemy can't kill them before you can completely zero out your troops).

2 – Rebel Camps

There is no doubt that rebel camps are the second most reliable place to hide troops. To hide your troops, start rebel camp rallies or join your allies' rallies. The following are some notes regarding the use of rebel camp rallies as a means of hiding troops:

- At all times, try to run the rallies for the longest possible amount of time (8 hours).

- Make sure you notify your friends before joining their rallies to ensure they will not cancel them. Never cancel your rally unless you’re sure no one else is in it.

- You will not get fervor for hiding troops in a rally on rebel camp. It doesn’t matter if it’s your rally or someone else’s. You can hide troops this way before unbubbling and you can bubble if your fervor is ended without recalling troops from these rallies.

- You won't be able to recall troops if you're hiding them in other people's rallies. You must ask your friend to return them to you. This is why you shouldn't reinforce AFK players' rallies.

-Try rallying rebel camps far away from your hive. There are some enemies who begin running rallies on rebel camps around your hive in order to return your troops and attack you.

- Rebel camps reset every 8 hours. If you want to make sure that your troops are safe, make sure you keep an eye on the timers.

3 - Gathering Nodes

The third place where your troops can be hidden is at gathering nodes. The following notes are provided to assist you in hiding troops in gathering nodes:

-If you are still moving toward a node, your opponent can use the second dragon's (Moon shadow dragon's) ability to instantly complete that node you are about to reach. This will result in your march returning to your castle if they do it.

In such a situation, it is best to use march speed-ups to recall troops quickly and then send them out as quickly as possible again. Multiple marches returning close together will make it impossible for you to hide your troops in time unless you speed them up one by one and send them out before the others return.

- By using speed-ups, you can reach the target gathering node before the enemy can detect your troops.

Other than the marching arrow that leaves your castle, gathering nodes cannot be detected in any other way. Also, returning marches are a safe method of keeping troops hidden, since the enemy cannot make them return sooner.

-Fervor will not be triggered by marching toward or from a gathering node, or by having troops in any gathering node. If you’re unbubbled and an unbubbled enemy fills the gathering node before your troops get there you will attack them. Due to this, you may hide your troops in gathering nodes before breaking your bubble. When troops are in nodes or marching to or from them, you can bubble.

4 – Garrison and Reinforcements

You can hide troops in your ally-bubbled castles, one of the most popular and easiest ways. These are some notes about hiding troops:  

-You can send more troops when you garrison a target, as you can also send commanders at that time. However, each castle can only be garrisoned by one player, so it is important for players to communicate about which castles they wish to garrison.

-Each castle can take about 1 million troops as reinforcements. A zero castle with a larger march size can fill this space alone, and for most zero castles, a maximum of two players with reinforcements can be hidden within a single-player castle.

- Garrisons and reinforcements should not be sent to the same target. One of your garrison or reinforcement will come back if they reach the target at the same time.

- Your fervor will be triggered by sending garrisons and reinforcements. If you are garrisoning or reinforcing someone else, you cannot bubble after your fervor.

-In order to bubble, your reinforcements and garrisons must be recalled. It will be possible for the enemy to snipe the returning troops in this situation. Because of this, you should only reinforce and garrison castles that are located near your own.

- You should recall all reinforcements and garrisons simultaneously and ensure that they are back at your castle as soon as possible.

- During the recall of troops and while you are busy speeding them back, you may find it helpful to ask your protector to spam bubbles for you. By doing so, you reduce the number of clicks you need to perform to bubble before you are hit.

- Recalling troops should never be rushed. There is a good chance that the enemy is watching, but once the recall has begun make sure the process is carried out as quickly as possible.

5 – Marches

Lastly, marching is the last place where troops can be hidden. The following notes will help you with it:

-A march should never be sent to an empty spot on the map (to establish a camp/occupy). Your peaceful march may turn into an attack march if the enemy ports there before your troops arrive. If the enemy ports out after that, your march will instantly strike their castle. Because they are defenders, they will have a greater advantage over your troops.

- Any march toward an enemy is not safe. By random porting, the enemy may be able to take it instantly. Depending on whether they have a defense or not, your troops will die, and if they do not have troops, your troops will march back toward your castle more quickly. You'll be attacked by the enemy as you return.

- You are the only person who can speed up your return march. Your enemy can see when your troops are arriving. You can use speedups to recall them when they aren't ready to snipe.

- You can hide troops by rallying or attacking far away Alts or allied accounts from other alliances since you know they won't instantly port. The timing of recalls is important, though.

Some important general notes:

- Do not rely on other players, especially without speaking with them first. Do not forget that others may also be interested in unbubbling and playing.

- The hospital should be empty and kept clean at all times. Things can go wrong at any time, and you need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

- Never lose your Anti-Scout buff from the Sept of seven. It is not just that the enemy cannot know when you are a zeroed castle or if your troops have returned, but you may be able to trap some of them if a stronger ally wants to garrison you.

- Keep an eye out for tricks that other Zero Castles may attempt. It is possible for strong zero castle accounts to tank solo hits quite well. It is possible that they will send one troop out to appear to be zeroing their castle so that you will feel more comfortable solo attacking them.

-Losing troops isn’t the end of the world. Just move on if it happened. 

Thanks for reading this guide about zero castles! I hope you enjoyed it! Here is a video that shows some zero-castle actions. I hope you enjoy it!

Here: The Zero Castle WEE/GoTWiCChronicler GoTWiC