Handbook: Beginner roadmap · Commanders · Resources
Quick Answer
The useful calculation is the one that answers your next decision: how much is missing, how long will it take and what are you giving up to finish now? Count what you already own before buying a bundle or burning universal speedups.
This page contains worked methods and links to community tools. The examples use stated inputs; they are not promises about your account's income or the current cost of every upgrade.
Pick the Calculation
| Question | Calculation | Tool/reference |
|---|---|---|
| How many VIP points remain? | Target cumulative points minus current points | VIP calculator |
| Are my speedups enough? | Applicable minutes minus remaining queue minutes | Speedup calculator |
| How many resources are in items? | Quantity of each denomination multiplied by its value | Resource calculator |
| What does a skill target cost? | Sum the remaining eligible skill-upgrade costs | Sculpture calculator |
| When will Castle books be ready? | Remaining books divided by expected books per week | Castle planning |
VIP: Points Are Not Daily Sculptures
Keep VIP points, claimable VIP rewards and paid VIP special chests separate. A daily sculpture reward does not supply the same number of VIP points. For a time estimate, use the actual point income you expect, including only sources that really grant points.
Example: a target requires 150,000 cumulative points and you hold 132,000. The shortfall is 18,000. At an illustrative 600 points a day, that is 30 days. If your free income is irregular, a precise completion date is false confidence. Gems spent on points are a separate choice to compare with your other planned purchases.
Speedups: Keep Types Separate
Ten 60-minute research speedups contain 600 research minutes. Twenty-four five-minute universal speedups contain 120 flexible minutes. Together they can cover 720 research minutes, but only the universal 120 can be allocated to an unrelated training queue.
Do not count the same universal stack against research, building and training simultaneously. Apply active buffs and available alliance help first where appropriate, then calculate from the remaining timer. If a scoring event is involved, read whether spending speedups or finishing the activity triggers points.
Castle and City Hall Are Different Projects
City Hall 25 does not require every building to be level 25. Castle 25 and Academy 25 belong to later dependencies on the route to T5. Use the City Hall requirements and T5 plan instead of adding a blanket sixteen-blueprint bill to the City Hall upgrade.
For books, calculate expected weekly income first. At an illustrative six books per eligible reward and twenty rewards a week, the result is 120 books per week. A 1,200-book shortfall would take ten weeks at that pace. The drop rate and activity are example assumptions, not guaranteed fort rewards.
Resources and Gathering
Resource inventory is a sum of quantities multiplied by denominations. Keep flexible packs unassigned until you decide what to open. Gathering output is constrained by rate, march load, available nodes and travel time; multiplying gathering speed by load and trips does not produce a meaningful resource total unless the units and time period are defined.
For a simple session estimate, take the resource amount actually returned and divide by the total time from departure to return. Compare the same resource and route before claiming that a new commander doubled income.
Troop Training and Healing
Price the troop type, tier and train-versus-upgrade action separately. Your total army can exceed hospital capacity; the risk is combat exposure and incoming wounded exceeding available space. Use the healing guide before treating a troop-count calculator as a safety rule.
Are community calculators always current?
No. Check their constants against the upgrade or event panel before a large spend. A tool can calculate correctly from an outdated table and still give you the wrong decision.
Sources and Review
Source review: 9 September 2026. Game mechanics are drawn from the references below; spending priorities and play examples are editorial recommendations. This is source-reviewed guidance, not a claim of independent in-game testing.