Skip to content
⚔️ TeD’s Total Battle Guide (K299)
Reset in: -
Reset in: -

Getting Started

New to Total Battle, or new to K299? Read this page top to bottom. It explains how the game actually works, what matters in your first weeks, and where to go next for each topic.

How the game works

Section titled “How the game works”

Total Battle is a long-running strategy game where five systems feed each other:

  1. Economy (food, silver, tar, iron, stone, wood) funds everything else. Food is the one resource you cannot run negative without penalties; the others are safe to spend to zero.
  2. City buildings convert resources into capacity: higher Capitol unlocks everything, the Academy runs research, the Barracks trains troops, the Warehouse protects resources from raiders.
  3. Research in the Academy permanently strengthens economy, troops, and combat. It never stops; an idle Academy is the single biggest waste in the game.
  4. Army: Guardsmen farm PvE (monsters, gathering, events), Specialists (Swordsmen) fight other players. You need both, but you need them at the right time.
  5. Crypts run alongside everything. They drop the gear and gems that make your captains stronger, which in turn makes every other system more efficient. Skip crypts and you fall permanently behind.

Your hero gives talent points and unlocks content; your captains are mode switches you swap per activity (building, research, combat, crypts). Victory Points (VP) are the main scoring currency in events, earned mostly from training troops, killing monsters, and research. Clan Points (CP) come from player combat and are secondary in the early game.

Your first week

Section titled “Your first week”

In priority order:

  1. Join a clan on day one. Move your city onto clan territory for the bonuses and protection. Introduce yourself in clan chat. In K299 the binding Rules of Engagement live in the in-game chat K299-ROE; read the pinned message before any PvP action.
  2. Always shield up when logging off. Anything above your Warehouse storage limit is lootable when offline. Shield, or donate excess resources to clan buildings.
  3. Pick a hero, but don’t rush his level. Event difficulty scales with hero level. See Heroes. Never pick Faron.
  4. Start Carter crypting daily. Carter is the most important captain in the game. See Crypts and Captains.
  5. Queue research 24/7. Prioritize Map Resource Gathering first, then economy, then your current troop tier. See Academy Research.
  6. Build in order. Capitol, Academy, Warehouse, Barracks, resource buildings. See City Buildings.
  7. Before Hero 20, buy the Fast Construction pack if you intend to spend, and hold the Absolute Domination pack for Arachne. Both packs disappear at Hero 20.
  8. Request clan help on every queue before using speedups. Each help removes 1% of the original timer for free and generates clan territory points.

Do not attack other players in your first weeks. Your own growth is a faster return than raiding until you have Specialists in meaningful numbers.

TL;DR: the 15 core rules

Section titled “TL;DR: the 15 core rules”

Reading this list alone should give you the strategic foundation for every decision in the game.

  • Clan First. Join a clan immediately. Stay on clan territory for bonuses, protection, and coordination. Learn your kingdom’s Rules of Engagement. In K299 the authoritative RoE lives in the in-game chat K299-ROE; read the pinned message before any PvP action. Always play with your shield active. Request clan help on all queues before using speedups; each help removes 1% of the original timer for free, and generates clan territory points.
  • Don’t Overlevel Your Hero or Rush Troop Tiers. Event difficulty scales with hero level and with your top available troop tier, not with captains. Keep hero level low and upgrade troops in a controlled way. Don’t rush to unlock G4 before your economy can mass-produce them, or event difficulty will outrun your ability to field the army.
  • Capitol = Your Real Level. Capitol level (C) determines city level, help cap, and building limits. All building targets in this guide are relative to C (e.g., “C-1” = one level below Capitol). Hero level is separate; it gives talent points.
  • Food Deficit Kills You. Surplus is fine. Deficit means 2× silver training costs. Zero food means famine (−25% army strength/health). Always keep food production positive.
  • Carter & Crypts Are Your Engine. Crypts provide gear and gems that improve every other system. Carter is the most important captain; invest in him first and crypt daily, even during events. Better crypt gear leads to stronger captains, stronger army, more VP, faster everything. A player who skipped crypts is permanently behind. See Crypts.
  • Swap Captains Per Activity. Captains are mode switches, not permanent picks. Using one captain for everything wastes massive efficiency. Rotate: Aurora for building, Farhad for research, Carter for crypts, Doria for VP fights, Hercules for solo epic monsters. Build a toolkit of 4–5.
  • Research Never Stops; Economy Leads. An idle Academy is wasted hours; always have something queuing. Keep food and silver production research ahead of your current troop tier; a strong economy prevents cascading problems as your army grows. Prioritize Map Resource Gathering research early, since it’s the fastest way to obtain RSS.
  • Concentrate, Don’t Spread. This applies to both research and talents. One deep investment beats many shallow ones. In research: push gate nodes to unlock new sections; support nodes only need Lv3–5. In talents: use 1-point bridges and dump the rest into the deepest available node.
  • Specialists for PvP. Guardsmen are for PvE (monsters, gathering). Swordsmen (Specialists) deal 2× attack against players and are your primary PvP troop. Neglecting Specialists research is the most common reason players lose in wars and citadel fights. Never rely on Guardsmen alone for player combat.
  • Spend Gold Wisely. Never use gold to revive troops (use potions). Don’t revive low-tier units (retrain them). Use gold for: Great Architect’s blueprints, portals, 30-day buffs (avoid 1/7-day), Watchtower activation, saving toward a second hero (1M gold).
  • Early Game: VP > CP. Until G5, focus on building, researching, events, clan chests, and killing epic monsters. Don’t attack other players yet; your own growth is the faster return. Exception: Shadow Invasion (prioritize CP).
  • Snapshot Your Speedup Captains. Aurora (construction), Farhad (research), and Helen (training/food) lock their bonus into the queued job the moment it starts. You can swap them out immediately after and the discounted timer stays. One captain slot covers all three roles across a day.
  • Warehouse Protection. Anything above the warehouse storage limit is lootable when you’re offline. Check the ceiling in Capitol > Statistics > Resources. Shield up or donate excess RSS to clan buildings before logging off with a large surplus.
  • Hero-20 Purchase Window. The Fast Construction and Absolute Domination packs are only available while your hero is below level 20. Buy Fast Construction once you’ve saved RSS to spend it on. Hold Absolute Domination for Arachne so you can level captains fast when it matters most.
  • Diplomacy Beats Raw Power. This is a social game. Allies, clan communication, and reputation decide more fights than army size. Invest in relationships early.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”

Work through the guide in this order. Each page expands one of the rules above.

  1. City Buildings: what to build, how many, and at which level relative to your Capitol.
  2. Academy Research: branch priority by phase, gate checklist, and milestones 0 through 5.
  3. Hero Talents: go deep then backfill, reset at tier thresholds, run 2–3 presets.
  4. Captains: the 4–5 captains to build and when to swap between them.
  5. Crypts: how a crypt resolves, efficiency thresholds, and how Tar is actually spent.
  6. Heroes: hero selection by game stage, and why Faron is a trap.
  7. Troops: Guardsmen for PvE, Specialists for PvP, and how to stack a march.
  8. Events & Boosts: VP farming, permanent and situational boosts, and a quick reference for every recurring event.
  9. Daily Checklist: what to do every reset so momentum never stalls.
  10. Common Mistakes: anti-patterns to catch and fix before they compound.

Tools you’ll use daily

Section titled “Tools you’ll use daily”