DomiNations is a mobile MMO strategy game that combines base building, resource gathering, as well as village attacks and defense into a highly addictive blend. Unlike in other, similar games, however, your initially feeble tribe can progress through the eras and all the way up to the Space Age in a journey that can take anywhere from weeks to months.

Each age comes with its specific buildings, units, and priorities, as well as the possibility that your base will be attacked by increasingly strong opponents. This guide will take you through the first four eras in DomiNations and prepare you for what is to come during the momentous Classical Age.

The Dawn Age

Your tribe of wandering Homo sapiens emerges during the Dawn Age and decides to settle in a small clearing surrounded by forests. During this era, you mostly follow the instructions of Pompus the Wise, your advisor and game tutorial.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

The buildings you have access to include the Town Center, a couple of Houses, the Barracks, and one Tower. The Houses you construct will serve as the backbone of your base because they will decide how many villagers you can have at a given time. Every task will require one to six of these little workers to be completed, so it’s essential to max out the number of houses in your base as soon as possible. For now, you can build no more than two Houses, for a total of four villagers.

As you get the hang of building and moving your completed constructions, you should also have your idle villagers hunt animals, gather food, and mine gold, whenever this is possible.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

You’ll soon be introduced to the workings of a defensive Tower, which you should place near your most precious resources (the Town Hall, for now). Finally, you’ll be able to construct the Barracks, where you will train basic troops to crush a nearby barbarian base.

The Stone Age

Once you’re stacked on food and gold and you’re ready to advance to the next era, you’ll be asked to click on the Town Center and find the “Stone Age” button. The first age transition will cost you a meager 300 gold and will be completed in no more than 6 seconds, so there’s no point in wasting any crowns here.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

Three new noteworthy buildings will become available once the transition is complete – the market, the mill, and the blacksmith. The first two will become an integral part of your economy and will increase your storage room for gold and food, respectively. There is no good reason to prioritize these buildings over others, but you will notice that some upgrades will start to require more resources than you can store. That’s when the market and mill come in handy.

The blacksmith, on the other hand, is worth prioritizing after the completion of each age advancement. Here, you’ll be able to research new troops and upgrade your existing ones, which can determine whether or not you have a strong enough army to defeat opponents.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

Still during the Stone Age, you’ll gain access to another House, which you should build straight away, and you’ll be able to clear a few additional squares of forest around your camp. Although you can change the layout of your base as you progress through the game, it’s important to consider, from the very beginning, that the village is easier to protect when buildings are grouped together in a square-ish shape. Bear this in mind as you decide which forest segments to clear next and avoid a lengthy configuration (from gate to sea, for instance).

The Bronze Age

As you step into the Bronze Age, your camp can receive some serious upgrades. Two new economy buildings, the Farm and the Caravan, will help you increase your food and gold production, respectively. They are fairly cheap to build and upgrade compared to other structures and they only take two workers (as opposed to three or four) to complete. As such, they make a good first priority.

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DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

A fourth House also becomes available during the Bronze Age, but this time, it will cost no less than 13,000 gold. Although this might seem like a lot, it’s still important to get this done before anything else. Upgrade your Market, build a second one, and farm the necessary gold prior to tackling more complex buildings.

Meanwhile, the Mercenary Camp can make a nice addition to your base as it will allow you to spend special resources (iron and fur, to begin with) in order to recruit additional troops. And speaking of your ever-growing army, this is a great time to start raiding towns on the first single player campaign map. With two Barracks and a Mercenary Camp at your disposal, you’ll have no trouble getting 5-star scores across the board, while the resources you’ll earn will be much needed at home.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

The Bronze Age is when you’ll first tackle the Road and Wall infrastructure of your base. You’ll have 30 pieces of Road to connect as many buildings as you can to your Town Center and 53 pieces of Wall (with 4 gates) to create your first defenses. Neither of the two is purely aesthetic. The Road will generate more gold per hour depending on how many buildings you connect, whereas the Wall, together with a well-positioned Garrison, can make all the difference when it comes to defending your base (to be linekd to “DomiNations: A Guide to the Perfect Base Defense”) and resources.

Finally, you’ll also be able to construct your first Wonder during this era. You only get to choose one of the four available, so make your decision carefully. Then, take advantage of the long building time to place any remaining constructions and fully upgrade your existing ones.

The Iron Age

At the beginning of the Iron Age, you’ll be asked to select an allied world nation. Although this will not affect which players you can attack, it is still a significant decision due to the bonuses associated with each option. Should you want to turn back on your choice later in the game, this will come at the painful cost of 600 crowns.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

The Catapult is the most important new building in the Iron Age and should be completed as quickly as possible, as well as surrounded by walls. If you’ve already started battling other players, then base defense is a top-most priority and this monstrous-looking piece of artillery will scare off many potential raiders.

DomiNations: A Guide to the Early Ages

Otherwise, the Iron Age is a lot about constructing more of the buildings you already have and upgrading everything to prepare yourself for the next transition. While some players prefer rushing through the eras up to the Enlightenment Age, this can have disastrous consequences on your ability to defend your base, especially if you’re an F2P player. Instead, we recommend you bide your time and never skip on the exorbitant wall upgrades!

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