r/SwagBucks•6 yr. ago

the ultimate guide to playing Rise of Kingdoms for profit

since there seem to be daily posts with questions about ROK, and lots of good information that isn't consolidated anywhere, i decided to put everything i know in one place.

for background, i have played this game more than 10 times and it has only failed to credit twice. once was b/c i took the same offer a 2d time through adgate or adgem. the other was doing the offer through earnhoney, which i should have known was already dead at the time.

i should add: there seem to be offers for "rise of kingdoms" and "lost crusade" or something like that. honestly, i don't think the actual app is any different.

EDIT: i've added some info at the end, responses to questions, and random stuff about the game.

will i get credit? can i get credit for completing ROK multiple times?

i cannot guarantee you will get credit for playing. the only real point of this guide is to help you complete the requirements in as little time as possible. if it does not credit, i strongly urge you NOT to submit a ticket if you have already played it before.

yes, you can get credited for playing more than once, but only so long as you don't try to take the same offer twice, on the same device, with the same google play or icloud account. for android offers, factory resetting them and creating new play accounts with new emails has worked for me. the google play emails on my devices have not matched my swagbucks email, but that has not prevented me from getting paid. but that could change at any moment, so ymmv.

swagbucks has (or had) multiple ways to access ROK offers: inbox offers, offers on the "discover" page, offers accessible through offer walls (e.g., adgate, adgem, revenue universe, etc), and sometimes an offer will pop up if you search for "rise of kingdoms." keep track of the offer you take and how you got it.

final note - my guide assumes your goal is city hall 17. most offers credit upon completion of that goal. sometimes you can get lucky and they will credit early. if your goal is CH 18, my guide could actually hinder you as i don't know what you might need to get past CH 17.

basic reference and getting started

most offers ask for your phone number or email so they can send you a link for the app. i always put in the email specific for my device (e.g., the google play email for that specific android phone). i've never put any adblocking on my android devices, but i advise disabling any to be sure if you have them. click the link, download, and open the app right away. some offers specify must open the link w/in 15 minutes and i would not risk waiting.

final building list - to get to CH 17, you must have all of the following buildings upgraded as follows:

hospital - 16. hospital is where you heal troops after battle. level 16 is a pain b/c there is an upgrade chain of farm > barracks > hospital.
barracks - 16. for training infantry.
farm - 16. for growing food.
wall -16. city defense. you can ignore this entirely, apart from the upgrades. there is a regular upgrade chain of quarry > tavern > wall.
tavern -16. this is where you "recruit" commanders & get other bonuses by opening chests with silver or gold keys. higher level=more keys.
quarry - 16. mining stone.
academy - 15. researching tech.
scout camp - 14. you start with 1 scout & will end up with 3.
trading post - 13. for trading w/ alliance members and some missions with limited rewards. a pain b/c you need gold mine at 13.
gold mine - 13. necessary to upgrade the trading post. gold is nearly useless for you.
alliance center - 13. higher level means more times your allies can help you, which can knock off several hours for long build times.
archery range - 12. for archers.
lumber mill - 12. for wood. needed to get the range to level 12.
storehouse - 11. protects resources in the unlikely event you're attacked.
stables - 10. for cavalry.

always be upgrading what you need to level up your CH. if you're not sure, then upgrade your hospital, alliance center, or gold mine (in that order)

the monument, castle, watchtower, lyceum, and siege workshop are optional. that said, the monument gives you certain bonuses as you, your alliance, or your kingdom complete certain eras, the castle allows you to launch alliance rallies, the lyceum has an occasional mini-game for resources, and building siege units is important for daily bonuses and farming resources on the map.

my golden rule 1: do not rush complete any building upgrade until you have received all alliance help available (the number of helps is based on your alliance center level - you'll eventually get 17 helps, which can trim several hours off long builds).

golden rule 2: only spend gems on speedups. or if you're just a few points short of VIP level 3.

golden rule 3: only research military techs (except metallurgy). you'll get all the civic techs from huts. and dont bother with techs beyond those that give you tier 2 troops, unless you want power, quest, or special event bonuses from research.

golden rule 4: when you're done playing for awhile, start long-term buildings, or at least have upgrades underway, and send your commanders to gather stone (or food/wood, if you think you need them); when opening the game after a break, speed up and complete whatever buildings are still under construction.

picking your civilization

england. or, maybe, byzantium.

your choice of civilization affects your architectural style, civ-specific special units, certain bonuses, and your starting commander. the style is irrelevant, and you won't play long enough to get the units. the bonuses don't matter (yet - see below). but your starting commander affects the entire game. the only commander skill trees you care about are gathering and peacekeeping. england and byzantium give you peacekeepers (boudica and belisarius) to start. peacekeepers are the best at fighting barbarians, and you will do a lot of fighting barbs. they also eventually give resource bonuses for fighting barbs.

france gives you a gathering bonus, and joan of arc, who has gathering. but you don't need either. most gathering happens when you're away from the game, so you'll likely not care about the bonuses. and you'll pick up plenty of gathering commanders along the way.

CH 1-5: the first two hours

when first starting out, expect to spend ~2 hours with the game, as a lot happens that requires your involvement. skip the intro movie, and tap through all of the vignettes with the woman in the white dress. the first barb fight is annoying and requires multiple taps to get through, but you'll end up with your second commander (markswoman, whom you'll never use). you'll build most of your base buildings during this phase: wall, alliance center, hospital, barracks, stable, archery, siege, farm, lumber mill, and tavern.

hire the second builder, easily done by tapping on the builder hut or trying to upgrade a 2d building while waiting for the 1st to finish. always try to have two buildings under construction at a time. note - many guides tell you to rush to VIP 6 for the permanent 2d builder. for you that's a massive waste of gems. the only VIP that matters, apart from the daily chest, is level 3 where you can buy speedups.

alliances, scouts, and your first teleport

as soon as you can, join an alliance. being in an active alliance can shave at least several days off the time it takes to get to CH 17. to be in an active alliance, you must be yourself active or they won't take or keep you. join the largest alliance that does not require an application. at the start, all you care about is a big alliance. there are 3 reasons to leave an alliance: you see no caves on the map after joining, people in alliance chat are talking about jumping, and you've gained enough power to join a better alliance. FYI - jumpers are players using an exploit to move to a new kingdom with a head start above other players, which you don't care about; it only means they will leave the alliance soon.

if you zoom out or tap the lower left button, you'll see the kingdom map. it's entirely covered in fog at this point. as you send out scouts, you'll clear the fog. you can see the other members on the kingdom map. they will appear as little blue castles. tap the "explore" option from the menu on the left side of your map screen, and you should see some yellow huts and caves (which look like capital A). tap the cave that is furthest from your city and send your scout to explore it. ideally, it will be a 20-30 minute trip. your scout will explore a lot along the way. once your scout is done exploring the first cave, try to send them off to another cave far from your city. you'll discover a lot of passes, barb camps, & holy sites along the way - generally you can ignore them. if you see any huts, tap them right away. they give goodies - troops, resources, speedups, 'tomes' (used to upgrade commanders), local maps, and civic technologies.

teleports - you start the game with 2 beginner teleports and 1 territory teleport. use your 1st beginner port to move your city as far away from your original location, and as far from the cave you first explored, as you can. now start the long distance cave exploration again.

CH 5-9: fight, farm, and shop

courier station - you get the mysterious merchant at CH 6. the merchant sells resources, speedups, and other stuff you can ignore. i have two tips here: (1) buy all of the general and building speedups you can, regardless of cost, but ignore research, training, and healing speedups. this is one of the main places you will spend gems. (2) buy any stone, wood, or food resources you can, but only use resources (i.e., buy stone with wood). do not use any gems for resources, and never buy gold which is worthless.

quests - there are three kinds of quests. the "main" quest is at the top of the list. i highly recommend doing them, as they give good bonuses as you progress, and you have to complete them in order. secondary quests are below the main quest, and you really don't need to focus - they will just happen. the "daily" quests are important - every 24 hours (measured by UTC) you have the chance to earn ~100k in each resource, plus 100 gems, various speedups, and other bonuses, for completing a number of tasks you should be doing each day anyway: training troops, gathering resources, upgrading, researching, buying things from the courier, and advancing your commander.

always be training troops - this may seem counterintuitive, but you need troops for (1) daily bonuses and (2) gathering resources. fighting barbs also gives lots of bonuses, plus if you have boudica, her tech tree eventually gives you extra resource packs as well. having a large army will discourage attacks, and helps you survive attacks on troops that are gathering. you want to get your commander up to level 20, so they can take a 2d commander on marches.

if you have been using all of silver and gold keys, you should have several commanders by now. focus only on sarka (the best), joan of arc, constance, and gaius. develop their gathering traits (stone, wood, and food only - ignore gold) and use the statues to advance their skills as fast as possible - each has a 2d skill that benefits gathering (note: all ROK guides say to max out the 1st skill. ignore them! that's for serious players). why is sarka best? her 2d skill is a gathering boost for all resources, and she is an "advanced" commander, not "elite," which means you will have more statues to use on her.

at this stage, you should be (1) sending scouts on the longest trips possible, (2) fighting barbs with boudica until you run out of action points, and (3) sending a 2d commander to farm resources.

CH 10: civ change and alliance rallies

when you hit CH 10 you get a "civ change" item. use it to switch to china for the building speed bonus. now is a good time to see if your alliance is building the central fort or is otherwise active. use your 2d teleport to move near the fort and cluster. they are probably launching rallies at this point, on lohar, forts, and other players. ONLY join rallies on forts & lohar; you might get a bonus from your 1st attack on another player, but it's really not worth it to do often. note: lohar is a great barb fighter, but you don't need him b/c you have boudica who is just as good and already leveled up.

but always remember that the real value of an active alliance is the speedup help. having lots of troops increases your power, which makes you attractive to good alliances. joining rallies means you are less likely to be kicked out. and the most active alliance members get daily bonuses - the best is an 8 hour speedup.

around this phase you should lose your peace shield. trust me, you will not miss it. you will likely have some in your items, but i doubt you'll have any need, except for rare "kill" events.

VIP - around this point you may hit VIP level 3. buy all of the 5 minute speedups you can - there should be 500 bought with food and 500 bought with gems.

CH11 and beyond: the long haul

for most of the rest of the game (for you), you should probably play 2-3 times a day, and follow a predictable routine: (1) finish any building upgrades, (2) train troops, (3) fight barbs, and (4) send your 2d & 3d commanders out to gather resources. pro tip: send only tier 2 troops to fight barbs, and save your old T1 troops for farming.

always keep a gathering bonus active while you're playing.

also, keep track of special events, which give speedups, keys, and other boosts. your monument should give some bonuses, especially for getting to bronze & iron age quickly and if your alliance kills 40 barb forts.

there is an especially long gap between CH 13-14 due to the trading post/gold mine, and between CH 16-17 due to the farm/barracks/hospital routine. fighting barbs, joining rallies, attacking holy site guardians make the game more fun. do the expedition, sunset canyon, etc, too - they cost nothing and give some bonuses.

final note about commanders - you'll probably have 1 or more legendary. ignore them, except maybe for expedition (where they try to sell you aethyl merman but don't waste your coins, maybe just buy resources instead).

CH 17 - the end

when you hit CH 16 and enter the dark age, you get a 7-day speedup. save it to upgrade your city hall to 17. most ROK offers credit after your level 17 upgrade is complete.

well, that was longer than i expected but i hope this helps others. post comments or send me messages with any questions!