Village creation and management is highly enjoyed by the majority of the Zhentonians, so you can be sure it is worth something investing some time and thought into. This mode allows you to create a village in a given nation and develop it from a small village to a towering fortress. In this mode, you will be able to:

• Construct and demolish buildings - Buildings are the foundation for a village and develop your village
• Employ workers for specific tasks, e.g. Scholars, Builders, Farmers, Woodworkers, Stonecutters, Soldiers etc
• Carry out research to unlock new buildings and special bonuses for your village
• Manage your economy and resources, and the happiness of your peasants
• Hire armies and mercenaries to raid other villages, or to defend your own
• Trade resources - Send aid dispatchments to your friends
• Use the auction - Bid on useful resources or put your own excess goods up for auction
• Set taxes and explore more land to expand your village
• Join or create legions and have access to private Legion Forums - Legions consist of a group of villages
• Join or create empires - Empires consist of a group of legions and are the ultimate alliance type
• Participate in Kingdom Forums and talk politics, form alliances, or just introduce yourself to the community

As you might imagine, the scope of this mode is quite vast, thus making it quite enjoyable. The beauty of Zhentor Online is that it never resets, so you don't have to fear spending hours on your villages and have them disappear in Round 2:P Zhentor only has 1 round, and so far it doesn't have an end date.

The main aim of village development is to dominate all other villages in the many nations of Zhentor and authorize your rule all over the Zhentonian world. One way to achieve this goal is to claim the No. 1 spot in the Village Rankings and be well known to the general community, while also having great power in political talks. Alternatively, you can lead a mighty and dominative (not necessarily respected) Legion which authorizes its rule over the lands of Zhentor. The second method is the harder of the two, and more challenging.

However, it should be noted that authority does not necessarily come only with top rankings, but that it is a mix of certain special ingredients, of which strongly involve strong, respected and loyal allies, a respected personality/character within the community, and intuitive partaking in the community on-goings. Thus, a successful village is that which can hold its wit in the grimmest situations, and have the ear of strong and feared allies to turn the tide of any battle. Active participation in Kingdom forums and good use of role-playing skills as well as cunning diplomatic talks are a key ingredient in achieving just that. Remember, your ultimate goal is to enjoy the game and make new friends for life!

But just in case you are one of the high fliers and need some challenges, here are the basic global standards for one to meet in order to gain some respect and claim the first prize.

Ranked One - Individual village requirement:

• To be the highest in Networth in the Village Rankings (Rankings & Records -> Village Rankings from the kingdom menu)
• To attain the status of Commanding Village by researching Prime Command Centre and authorizing your rule over your area

Ranked One - Legion Requirement:

• To be the highest in Rating in Legion Rankings (Rankings & Records -> Legion Rankings from the kingdom menu)

TOP

You should now be able to create a village. Give your village a name, and click on Setup My Village Here! Most zones allow you to setup a village. Remember that you can create a maximum of 3 villages.

It might be a good idea to take a look at the area stats (highlighted in yellow above). Here you can see the Total Land of the zone you are in, how much of it has been built on, and the amount of free land remaining. As your village grows, you will need to explore more land to make space for peasants and buildings. If your zone has little free land left, the cost of exploration will be quite steep. Once the zone runs out of all land, you will will have to conquest extra land off other villages in the same zone.

TOP

Basic Principles of Village Development: To develop your village, you need to perform a variety of actions simultaneously. Below is a list of the most fundamental actions you can make while developing your village.

• ----------------------------------------------------
• Research plans. There are 3 types of plans in Zhentor: (a) Basic Plans which unlock bonus structures for your to build, (b) Special Plans which grant your village special bonuses, and (c) Guild Plans which allow you to choose a variety of race-specific bonuses for your village. Researching plans requires the employment of Scholars, which produce plan points as they study a plan. Each plan has a set amount of plan points which must be generated by scholars through study before it can be brought to completion. The plan points produced by Scholars are evaluated at each End Turn phase (see below).
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Build structures. There are 4 categories of structures you can build in Zhentor. (a) Public Buildings which allow your village to develop, (b) Resource Buildings which are used to produce village resources such as wood and stone, (c) Military Buildings which are used for warring as well as for village defence, and (d) Utility Buildings which protect your village from internal events such as fires, crimes and floods. To build structures, you must employ Builders and generate the appropriate amount of build points to bring the build to completion. The builds points produced by builders are evaluated at each End Turn phase (see below).
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Employ workers. There are a variety of workers in Zhentor Online. The maximum amount of a worker you can employ depends on the respective amount of structures built. E.g. At the beginning you start with 30 Builders. As you construct more Construction Sites, the maximum amount of builders you can employ will increase proportionally. Workers produce resources and other essentials for your village. Remember that buildings don't actually produce the resources themselves, but instead allow you to employ appropriate workers which produce the required resources.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• End Turn. You start off with 100 turns when you first create your village. Every hour, you generate 1 (one) additional turn. However, the number of turns will not exceed the maximum limit (usually 100), so you will effectively be loosing turns if you don't use them. At each End Turn phase, all the events in your village are evaluated. If you have any builders employed, they will produce build points. Woodworkers will cut timber, Taxmen will collect taxes and so on. Think of it like this: When you end a turn, your village comes alive! A good strategist manages his/her turns well, and always saves some up just in case.
• ----------------------------------------------------

For more information on the basic actions listed above, follow the links below:

• More information on Building Structures
• More information on Researching Plans
• More information on Employing Workers
• More information on the End Turn phase

TOP

Village Stats: On each village development page, you will see various stats at the top of the screen (screen dump below). These stats are described below for your reference.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Food: Indicates your food reserves. Your peasants need food to survive. This is undoubtedly the most important resource you will need to monitor (unless of course your race does not need food to survive, e.g. Undead race). Low food reserves can lead to large population losses, while empty food reserves can trigger global death in your village. Food is produced by Farmers and can be increases through various research plans. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wood: Indicates your timber reserves. Wood is used in construction and certain research plans. Wood is produced by Woodworkers and the production rate can be increased through plans or talismans. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stone: Indicates your stone reserves. Stone is also used heavily in builds and plans. Stone is produced by Stonecutters and can be increased like all the other resources. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Metal: Indicates your metal reserves. Metal is the hardest out of all the resources to produce and is extracted by Metal Extractors. This resource can also be increased through research plans and special talismans. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Denars: Indicates your gold reserves. Denars are a major part of village development and are used heavily in a lot of tasks. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Land: Indicates the amount of land your village has. You need land to construct buildings and increase your population. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Land: Indicates the amount of free land in your village. Free land is calculated by (Total Land – Land in builds – Land already built – Land occupied by population). The more free land you have, the higher the peasant influx rate (i.e. the higher the population gain rate). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Networth: A measure of a village's global rating in Zhentor Online. Networth increases as you erect more units of buildings, gain more peasants and produce more resources. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Army: Indicates the amount of peasants you have assigned as soldiers. Soldiers can be employed from the Population tab and subsequently transferred to any of the military units available when required. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Moral: Indicates the happiness of your peasants. Lower morals can lead to revolts and all sorts of bad events. Max: 100, Min: 0. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Army Moral: Indicates the moral of your army. Lower morals lead to less attack and defence offered by your military units. Max: 50, Min: 0. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Turns (Current / Max): Indicates how much turns you have left. At each end turn, 1 turn is deducted from the Current amount. You cannot end a turn if you have 0 turns. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits: Indicates how much credits you have to spend. Credits can be bought by donating money. 1 euro buys 1 credit. However, credits can also be granted in global events and for special tasks as appointed by the admin. You can use credits to buy special goodies from the Zhentonian Market such as Talismans. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Population: Indicates how much peasants you have in your village. More population leads to more jobs, but also requires more food to survive (if your race requires food to survive). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peasant Influx: Indicates the rate at which peasants migrate to your village. Certain races offer higher peasant influx rates than others. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tax: Indicates your tax rates. Higher taxes lead to more income, but also require more moral to be produced by entertainment systems to keep your population happy and avoid revolts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

TIP: You can choose whether you want to see textual or graphical visuals for the stats. See the stats menu for more details.

TOP

Ending Turns: You receive 1 turn every hour. You do not have to be connected to Zhentor Online to receive your turn or to be up-to-date with the progress of your village. Turns will accumulate to a maximum of 100.

At every End Turn phase, you will see a screen listing a variety of statistics regarding your village (example screen dump can be seen below). These statistics must closely be monitored as they display events, both good and bad, related to your village.

Direction: Kingdom Menu -> End Turn It is generally a good idea to save some turns just in case your village gets invaded. In such circumstances, the extra turns will help you defend and recover.

Look at the numbers in the print screen, and then read the appropriate numbered bullet point. Resource Production table: This table lists your village's resource production such as wood, stone, metal and food. It also shows moral production of your village, as well as how much moral is lost. Food Production - If you produce less food than your peasants need to survive (indicated by Eaten), then a portion of your population will die. If your moral production is lower than your moral loss, your population moral will decrease. If your population moral drops too low, there is a chance of a Revolt. In such a case, your village will STOP working. You must then try and raise your moral. The most efficient way of doing this would be to enforce the Emergency Rule from your Economy Management screen. Population Statistics table: This table shows you immigration into your lands, as well as loss of population through deaths and other events. This table also shows you the occurences of events such as fires, crimes and illnesses. To reduce these occurences, you must build the respective buildings and hire the appropriate workers to tackle the disasters. Economy Statistics table: This table lists the economy adjustment of your village. Evaluation tables: The 3 tables here list moral gain (if your moral is already at 100, you will not gain any moral even if you produce more moral than you loose), population gain (or loss), and revenue (denars gain or loss). Report tables: These two tables shown positive and negative reports relating to your village. You must keep a careful eye over the negative reports section, for this indicates any trouble brewing in your village.

Note: Special membership plans can increase the maximum turn limit up to 150 turns.

TOP

Construction & Research - A Basic Overview: To develop your village you must construct buildings which will define your strategy and approach to Zhentor Online. Certain buildings allow the production of raw materials such as wood, stone, metal and food. Others are used to defend your village and keep it under control. In effect, buildings allow you to employ workers that produce the required resources for your village.

To unlock new buildings for construction and extra bonuses for your village, you need to carry out research. There are 3 different categories of research, and together they help to develop and fortify your village. Research is carried out by Scholars. The more scholars you employ to a plan, the faster it will be brought to completion. Decisively, it is important for any developing village to carry out research, as this helps unlock new buildings for construction, and grants the user's village with special and worthwhile bonuses to help and maintain the growth of the village.

For any progress to be made, one must end turns. At every end turn phase, the village leader will be told of the progress being made with the construction and research, as well as any plans or build projects that have been borught to completion. For more information, follow the links below.

Detailed Information: Construction | Research

TOP

Population & Workers: You start with a small amount of peasants for your village. In time, the number of peasants in your village will increase as you explore for more land, construct new buildings and plan for special technologies. However, you must always keep an eye on your population and tackle any problems as soon as possible.

Peasants are distributed at each end turn to your village. The distribution mainly depends on various controllable factors to determine how much peasants you receive. It is possible that you receive negative peasants (i.e. you loose more peasants than you gain), and in this case, your population will decrease, bringing your networth down.

Population gain is controlled by the following factors:

• Food Production - Unless your race does not require food to survive (e.g. Undead race), you need to optimise your food production rate. If you produce less food than your population needs to survive (check your food production and food ate in the End Turn sheet under the Resource Production table), you will loose peasants
• Wall Coverage - Ideally, you need to have above 4.5% wall coverage for good peasant influx, as they will feel safe in your village
• Free Land - If you village has lot of free land where new peasants can settle and start work, you will see healthy immigration rates.
• Limiting Deaths - This includes incidents caused by fires, crimes and illnesses and can be reduced by building the necessary utility buildings and hiring the required workers from the Population tab from the Kingdom Menu.

Effectively, you can give specific tasks to your peasants, i.e. employ them for various activities. In addition, the more peasants you have in your village, the higher the taxes generated by your taxmen.

Detailed Information: Population & Employment

TOP

Village Events - Causes & Effects: At each end turn, your village may be subject to one or more of the following events, which occur randomly. However, the damage caused by these events can be reduced by building the appropriate utility buildings and hiring the corresponding workers to look after your village.

• Fires: Your village will be subject to daily fire reports, of which will include damage to property, and death of peasants. Money will also need to be invested to repair the damage caused by fires. The number of fires increase as your village develops and gains more land, but you can usually keep these incidences down to a fair number by building Fire Stations and employing Firemen. There is also a chance that your village catches a Great Fire, which can last anywhere from 1 to 15 turns. In the event of a great fire, your losses will double and the moral of your peasants will also drop significantly. Great fires can cause damage to property, but a minimum of 1% Firemen coverage will nullify this damage and also put you in a better position to stop the catastrophe.
• Crimes: Your village will also experience law outbreaks and criminal activities. These will also reduce your income, increase deaths and decrease village moral. Sufficient Crime Stations and employed Law Enforcers will provide good law coverage for your village and decrease the amount of crime. 1% law coverage will also nullify any damage to property in the case of Riots which can take place in extreme circumstances.
• Illnesses: The health of your peasants depends on the health services provided by your village. Sufficient Health Clinics and quantity of employed Doctors will decrease the amount of illnesses in your village as well as reduce the chance of a Plague spreading throughout your village.
• Floods: Floods are very rare events and are not known to occur frequently. However, if your village does get flooded, you will loose most of your land and buildings, as well as experience great losses in population, and exponential decay in population moral. As a result, it is well worth investing some money in Dams and building at least 1 Dam per 25,000 herals of land.

All events decrease population moral, lead to death of civilians, and decrease your income. However, all occurrences of these events cannot be eliminated since there will always be some anomalies, so it would be unwise to believe that high coverage of Utility buildings will nullify these events.

TOP

Walls & Watchtowers: Walls and Watchtowers provide an extra defence to that given by a standing defensive army. These buildings are being discussed in the starter section as they have great importance in the game and allow you to defend your village from invaders.

Walls: Walls prevent the attacker from gaining loot or causing damage to your village so long as you have over 4.5% wall coverage. You can view your wall coverage in your Military Buildings page (Build Structures -> Military Buildings). In such a case, even if the attacker manages to steal a victory, he/she will not be able to enter your village and hence be unable to gain plunders, or cause damage to your village. There are various grades of walls depending on your wall coverage (Units Built / Total Land);

Direction: Kingdom Menu -> Build Structures -> Military Buildings

Wall Coverage Grade Defence Bonus < 4.5% Breached Nil 4.5% - 8.9% Complete x2 9% - 14.4% Tenacious x2.5 14.5% - 19.9% Robust x3 20% - 24.4% Fortified x5 > 24.5% Impenetrable x7

Watchtowers: On the other hand, Watchtowers are much more offensive. Sentries stationed in Watchtowers will rain long range projectiles at an attacking army, causing great casualties before the main battle can begin. This means that even if a defending army is killed in a battle, the Watchtowers continue to fire at an attacking army each time it invades the village, until the Watchtowers themselves are destroyed. So, if a village has both Watchtowers and Walls, even when the defending army is killed over the course of a battle, the enemy forces will still take casualties if they continue to attack the Village, without any gain to themselves.

As with walls, Watchtowers also have different grades and vary depending on the amount of units built in respect to the total land of the village. Higher grades cause more casualties to the enemy on raids and lead to higher army losses. These grades are listed below for your ease.

Direction: Kingdom Menu -> Build Structures -> Military Buildings

Tower Coverage Grade Casualty Multiplier < 6.9% Scarce x1 6.9% - 11.8% Effective x1.2 11.9% - 19.8% Destructive x1.35 > 19.9% Colossal x1.5

TIP: Remember that one tower kills between 0.7 to 1.2 enemy units, which can be further increased by special plans as well as increasing your tower coverage. However, to operate at this optimum efficiency, Watchtowers MUST be manned by Sentries. In the absence of sentries, Watchtowers will operate at a much lower efficiency, delivering a casualty rate of between 0.2 to 0.4 per unit built. To obtain the optimum efficiency, one must hire the maximum possible of amount of sentries.

TOP

Commanding Villages - They really are awesome!

Commanding Villages are the ruling bodies of your nation, your designated area. Each zone can have a Commanding Village, and all other villages within that zone, whatever their status or rank, must obey and follow the rule of the Commanding Village.

Becoming a Commanding Village:

To become a Commander, the following requirements must be met:

• ----------------------------------------------------
• Attain #1 ranking in the Village Ranking Halls for the area your village is situated in
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Successfully researching the special plan Prime Command Centre
• ----------------------------------------------------
• No other Commanding Village present in the current zone
• ----------------------------------------------------
• A minimum of 15 Villages registered in the current zone
• ----------------------------------------------------

Events that occur when a village is crowned Commanding Village:

The following events take place when a new Commander authorises his/her rule over your nation:

• ----------------------------------------------------
• All Prime Command Centre plans are destroyed whether they have been completed or are in progress
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Villages under the domain of the new Commanding Village CANNOT wage war against the Commander (i.e. villages in the same zone as the Commander). However, this ability can be nullified if the Commander's Popularity decreases below 25% (see below).
• ----------------------------------------------------
• The Commanding Village receives the support of all villages under his/her domain, thus increasing his/her defence by 5 times as much as normal in times of war (from villages that do not reside within his/her jurisdiction)
• ----------------------------------------------------
• The Commanding Village is immune to attacks if he/she is part of a legion and not the crown holder (i.e. monarch, leader). In such a case, all villages in the legion must be eradicated before being allowed to invade the Commander.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• The Commanding Village is immune to any form of Path Attacks
• ----------------------------------------------------

Popularity, Taxes and Land-price inflations:

A Commander has the ability to perform the following actions:

• ----------------------------------------------------
• Set Taxes (0% to 10%). The taxes are applicable to all villages within the jurisdiction of the Commanding Village (i.e. in the same zone). Taxes are collected every 5 turns, but only if the revenue generated by the village in question is positive, and that the revenue generated is more than 1000 Denars. In addition, villages under protection are not charged taxes. Commanders have to set reasonable taxes so as to maintain their expenses but also ensure satisfaction of the majority of their followers.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Inflate land-costs (0% to 10%). This inflation is applied directly over land prices and so can greatly increase cost-per-heral for exploration. This is a great way for Commanders to boost their revenue to help pay for the expensive Intercontinental Outposts (see below).
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Build Intercontinental Outposts. A Commanding Village has the ability to erect Intercontinental Outposts to protect all villages under his/her domain from foreign invasions (i.e. attacks from different zones). These outposts are different from the normal Legion Outposts and also cost an exponential amount to build and maintain (maintenance is approximately 10K denars per outpost every 6 hours real time. Failure to pay the maintenance costs demolishes all built outposts!). The greater the number of outposts, the more casualties that foreign invaders will suffer when attempting to raid a village under the command of the leading village. On average, 1 intercontinental outpost encompasses 3 villages. The casualty modifier depends on the amount of outposts erected in relation to the number of villages protected. Greater number of villages require more intercontinental outposts to be built to provide sufficient protection.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Attack villages under his/her domain regardless of the target village's networth. Normally, an attacker is only allowed to wage war against a village that is at least half the size of the invader. However, this restriction is lifted for Commanding Villages and they are allowed to attack any village, as long as it is in their zone, down to 500 land, regardless of the target village's networth. To limit abuse by players, this ability can only be activated if the commander's popularity is greater than 55%. In addition, invasions of this nature will portray a negative image and force the commander to loose a random amount of popularity, as well as decrease the Commanding Village's reputation points.
• ----------------------------------------------------

In return, all villages subject to the leadership of the Commanding Village can vote. Votes are held once every 2 weeks, and all villages who answer to a Commander can vote for their respective commander. This, in essence, determines the Commander's Popularity, and defines the reputation of the commander. A commander may be subject to certain penalties for low popularity ratings:

• ----------------------------------------------------
• Popularity below 25%: Villages from the same zone as the commander may invade the commander. However, normal restrictions for invading the commander still apply.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Popularity below 50%: The commander may only receive half his/her revenue generated from taxes and land-price inflations.
• ----------------------------------------------------
• Popularity below 55%: The commander may not attack small villages (a commander has the ability to attack a village down to 500 land, no matter its size in normal circumstances)
• ----------------------------------------------------

Commander bonuses (dependent on Commander's race): 

The following bonuses only apply to villages that reside within the jurisdiction of the Commanding Village, AND are of the same race as the commanding village.

Race	Bonuses
Human	x2 Market trade x1.3 Tax (increment of 30%) x2 Army moral gain per turn
Elf	[Battle - Archers Round] x3 Archers attack/defence x2 Research points production
Half-Elf	[Battle - Archers Round ] x1.5 Archers attack/defence (increment of 50%) x1.5 Research points production (increment of 50%) x1.5 Tax (increment of 50%)
Dwarf	x2 Build points production x2 Stone production x2 Metal production x1.5 Wood production (increment of 50%)
Half-Orc	[Battle - Siege Round ] x1.5 Siege effectiveness (increment of 50%). Refers to siege capabilities against fortifications such as Walls and Watchtowers, not normal attacking capabilities. [Battle - Various Rounds ] x2 Infantry attack and defence [Battle - Final Round] x1.5 Army attack (increment of 50%) x2 Wood production
Half-Ogre	[Battle - Siege Round ] x1.3 Siege effectiveness (increment of 30%). Refers to siege capabilities against fortifications such as Walls and Watchtowers, not normal attacking capabilities. [Battle - Various Rounds ] x3 Infantry attack and defence [Battle - Final Round] x2 Army attack x2 Wood production
Gnome	[Path Attack - Dark Magic Attack] 100% success [Path Attack - Sleep Wave ] 100% success [Infiltration - Agents ] x2 coverage [Infiltration - Missions ] x1.3 Spy success rates (increment of 30%) [Infiltration - Missions ] x0.5 fitness loss per mission (decrement of 50%)
Undead	[Path Attack - Brain Release ] 100% success [Path Attack - Soul Conversion ] 100% success [Battle - Final Round ] x0.5 casualties (decrement of 50%). Applicable when invading AND defending x3 Worker skill increment per turn

TOP

Kingdom Forums - Why do I need them?

Kingdom Forums allow village leaders from all nations to gather together, and discuss and argue about various topics, of which include politics, alliances, retaliations, protection notices and a lot more. It is highly recommended for new and existing village leaders to visit and participate in the Kingdom Forums. It is here that you can announce your presence to the community, role-play, and make yourself known. We think the Kingdom Forums are the first step to developing a well respected village, formiddable alliances and having the ear of the mighty! It is here you can make friends, and portray your talents as a mighty village leader!

TOP

Role Play - Why this is more than just a game!

Anyone can play a game, but to enjoy what you are playing and making most of it is the true art. Zhentor Online is not just about conquering the nations and making everyone bow down to your feet, but about having fun! You choose your play-style, you define your character, you are free to do everything how you want to do it! There is no right or wrong, only what pleases you. But more important than all of that is to make good friends for life and portray a well defined character through active and enchanting role-playing. Like they say, to rise, you gotta have the King’s ear! In Zhentor Online, the community is the King!

TOP