New Content Guild Expedition Level 5

[Kyrael]

Dear Kings & Queens,

You have battled through the harsh volcanic landscape of Guild Expedition level 4 and now the time has come to take the next step! The volcano has transformed into a lush jungle and your guild needs you to defend this tropical paradise in our all new Guild Expedition level 5!

In addition to introducing the level 5, we are also working to adjust the balancing of levels 1-4 to make the balancing of the whole feature more cohesive. Read below to find out more!

Summary​

Guild Expedition level 5 will follow a similar format as previous levels, but with a twist! Similarly to previous levels, there will be 16 encounters for you to conquer, but on this level your army will be using the City defense boost instead of the attacking army boost. You can of course negotiate as in previous Expedition levels, however if you choose the battle option - beware! This will use your city's defensive army bonuses instead of your attacking army bonuses. If you have been neglecting this, don't panic - we have you covered! We have introduced a mechanic which will allow you to construct Fortifications to aid you. You can build on all encounters, or only target the encounters you are struggling with. This works in a similar way to Guild Battleground build mechanics, but these buildings will use your personal goods and will only be usable by you.

To gain the maximum percentage in the Guild Championship, your guild members will now need to complete 80/64 encounters! The goods cost for unlocking the 5th level will also be higher than for level 4, so all you guild leaders out there, make sure you look to your Guild Treasury to avoid being caught short!

The difficulty of the level​

The new level of the Guild Expedition will present a real challenge, even for our most experienced players. Bringing new content while setting new, complex goals is the reason why we shaped this level around the defense bonuses and why it is meant to be very difficult to complete right now. With the inclusion of upcoming new sources and strategic use of those, you will be able to gradually improve your defense bonuses. It is meant to be a marathon and not a sprint.

We really want to bring you more memorable experiences in Forge of Empires and expand the use of different mechanics we already have in the game. This is one of the steps in that direction.

Fortifications​

To ease your way through this tough new challenge, you can build fortifications to provide yourself with a bonus for that encounter only. Choose your buildings wisely to gain the maximum benefit! If one doesn't help, you can demolish it and try another! The goods required to build will be randomized from your current era - but if you do not have enough of the goods asked for you can also use diamonds to shuffle the required goods. The boost provided depends on your age and the encounter you are on.

Eagle Warrior Temple	Jaguar Warrior Temple	Great Warrior Temple	Temple of Infiltration	Zacatzontli Statue	Tlacotzontli Statue
Increases the attack of your defending army	Increases the defense of your defending army	Increases the attack and defense of your defending army	Infiltrates the opposing army	Reduces the cost of negotiating	Reduces the possible negotiation options by one

Rewards​

The Forgotten Temple​

No new level of Guild Expedition would be complete without some brand new buildings to win as rewards!

The primary reward for the Guild Expedition is the Forgotten Temple. It is a powerful limited building which provides impressive boosts for your attacking and defending army, as well as a bonus to Forge Point production. It will last for 28 days before succumbing to the jungle's heat and degrading. After this time it will still provide happiness but its other bonuses will be lost, so be sure to build these at a time to maximize your benefit!

To assemble the Forgotten Temple, you will need Fragments you can gain at every big encounter on the Map (every 4th encounter). The number of Fragments you can win will increase towards the end of the Expedition. If you always finish Guild Expedition level 5, you will be able to receive a new Forgotten Temple after these 28 days.

If you manage to complete only a few encounters, it will take you longer the assemble the building, but will nevertheless be possible!

Forgotten Temple (3x4)
40% attack and defense for attacking army​ 50% attack and defense for defending army​ 20% Forge Points collection boost​

The Feathered Serpent​

Of course, the Temple is not the only building you can win. The next available reward is the Feathered Serpent Statue - an awe inspiring new chain building which will undulate through your town. With three levels for the main building and three possible chain buildings, you can customize your fearsome Serpent to provide the boosts you most need!

Serpent is not a limited building, so once build, it can stay in your City, allowing you to keep expanding the chain and gaining more bonuses. The way you assemble the Serpent is the same as for the Forgotten Temple: you can win the Fragments every big encounter both for the Serpent head and tree chain elements.

At the highest, 3rd level the Serpent can provide the following bonuses:

Feathered Serpent Statue (3x2)	Serpent Fins (2x2)	Serpent Spikes (2x2)	Serpent Feathers (2x2)
15% attack and defense for attacking army 10 Forge Points when motivated Coins	5% attack and defense for attacking army Happiness	15% attack and defense for defending army Happiness	20 random Goods of your Age Happiness

New versions of existing buildings​

But what of the existing buildings, you ask? We've expanded the range for two of these to bring them up to date. Introducing: the Divine Sky Watch and the Greater Ritual Flame!

Please note that these are brand new versions of these buildings, but you can't upgrade your existing Sky Watches and Ritual Flames to this version.

Divine Sky Watch (3x2)	Greater Ritual Flame (2x1)
4% attack and defense for attacking army Coins Population 5 Forge Points when Motivated	7% attack and defense for defending army

Avatars​

Naturally, we've added 18 new avatars to let you show off your Guild Expedition progress to everyone! All avatars have a chance to drop from various encounters on level 5.

Quetzpallea	Quetzalli	Coatl	Nahuatl	Citlalicue	Ahuatzi

Nochtli	Eztli	Ohtli	Yolihuali	Tonalnan	Huitzilin

Chimalli	Tonatiuh	Citlalee	Necahual	Patlee	Teiuc

Achievements​

All new challenges require new achievements! With the 5th level of Guild Expedition there will be three new achievements to add to your list - Impressive Defender, Impressive Architect and Impressive Penacho! Like all achievements these will have gradient levels for you to work towards.

Impressive Defender	Impressive Architect	Impressive Penacho
Finish GE level 5	Build X fortifications in GE level 5	Collect X avatars in GE level 5

Levels 1-4 reward update​

Our team has been working on overhauling the rewards for levels 1-4 along with the preparation of the level 5. We're currently putting finishing touches to the balancing and expect it to become available earliest with when the next Guild Expedition starts.

In the upcoming update, we're utilizing our Selection Kits mechanic, to make sure you can build one of the many reward buildings we offer as long as you play the Guild Expedition. Instead of encounters providing a chance to win a certain reward building, the game will now provide you with Fragments that you can use to assemble the building you want.

After completing each one of the big encounters in the Guild Expedition levels 1-4, you will receive Fragments of a Selection Kit. Upon assembling the Kit, you will be able to choose a building from the pool of rewards for the level you completed. The number of Fragments, much like in the Guild Expedition level 5, increases with each new encounter.

As long as you play the Guild Expedition and win Fragments on the big encounters, eventually you will have enough to assemble the Selection Kit with the current balancing. The time it takes you to do that depends on your activity on the Guild Expedition and the number of encounters you manage to complete.

Check the table below to see what kind of buildings you will be able to choose from upon assembling a Selection Kit from Guild Expedition levels 1-4:

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Gate of the Sun God Gate of the Sun God Upgrade Kit Face of the Ancient Face of the Ancient Upgrade Kit	Ritual Flame Ritual Flame Upgrade Kit	Tribal Square Tribal Square Upgrade Kit Sacred Sky Watch Sacred Sky Watch Upgrade Kit	Terrace Farm Terrace Farm Upgrade Kit

The rewards for the smaller encounters will also change to match the difficulty of the encounter and the overall reward balancing of the feature.

Note: as we're still working out the details of the new balancing, the rewards above might still change.

Should you have any comments, questions or concerns, please let us know! We're very much looking forward to your feedback here!

Onward to victory!

Your Forge of Empires Team