Preparation and strategy for Burning Sands

Getting Ready

At level 35 you can enter another Kingdom, called Burning Sands or “Sands”.  Just like "Ice"  because you can enter Sands, doesn’t mean you are ready to. Before entering Ice, it’s good to have already:

1. Occupied 3 outposts.

2. Have your main and outposts all upgraded to what your level can do.

3. Have at least 10k in coins in reserve.

Tip: Saber Warriors and Desert Bowman which are the troops that are native to this kingdom are about equal to level 4 and 5 troops in Evergreen. Only they are both attackers and defenders. Being up there with level 3 barracks will be a struggle. Wait until you have reached the level that you can have barrack 5 before you head up. Or have some special troops you have acquired through Events (Traveling Knights, Marauders, Horror Troops, etc. )

These are suggestions that might make your experience better but certainly not a rule for the alliance. Setting up a new kingdom will take lots of resources. You need to have them coming in as your nearest alliance mate could be 300 miles away and without a marketplace. In a nutshell you should have your main and outposts in green flowing resources and well defended.

When you enter “Sands” chose the direction of SOUTH. Many of us have gone that way. There is no way to move your castle once you are in Ice, Sands, and Fire. It can be lonely up here. Even if you’ve gone south you can be many miles away from an alliance mate.

When you arrive all the resources you donated to go there are used on the 2 hour trip so expect that you will have to send more. Transport to other kingdoms takes 2 hours without “research”.
You have 48 hours of protection and when that is used up you will be hit by a Deser Tower. Do not worry, this is almost like a robber baron attack but it’s a little stronger, you will need to have some defense troops by then or you will catch fire.

(Resource required to unlock Iceland are 65000 stone; 65000 wood; 10000 food and 50000 coin. The rest above have been added for your basic survival)

Developing Your Castle

Basic Castle Development: (Remember these are suggestion not requirements)

(Follow the quest given as well)

Number of farms - 11
Stone/wood - 4
Dwellings -0-5
Guardhouses -5-6
Target PO - 240%
Target food rate - 4500-4800/hr (get the normal +vet overseers)
Target stone/wood rate - 750-850/hr (w/o overseers)
Bakery Level 8 a must
Target troop capacity - 2000 
Food research Level 5

Olie Oil Grove- 3-5

Olive Oil Press- 1

Loot Warehouse- 1
Resources Villages- 15

Capturing RV's

Once you have built your inventory warehouse, you are ready to capture.

The best way to have success chasing RVs is:

:1.     Check the edges whenever you log on and then again when you log off.

2.      Create a few speedy commanders whose only purpose is to move fast.

3.      Use faster troops.  Hounds are ideal but if you are just starting out, level 1 and 2 troops are the fastest troops.                Remember your army is as fast as its slowest member

4.      Use Ruby horses, if you are a ruby player.

5.      Send out a lot of commanders. You cannot expect to send out one capture attack and always get it. Up your odds            by sending multiple capture attacks at once time.

6.      Tools are not necessary. They are just farmers. Attackers should win.

7.      If you see that the RV you are going after has been occupied by someone else, call back your attack. There is no              battle that will be had if you arrive, your troops will simply turn back and come home. Save some time and call                them back.  So you can send the back out again.

8.      Do not do an espionage report. The time your spies take to get there will leave you too behind in the race. It is a               waste of time.

9.      If you do happen to get lucky enough to acquire a Village, recall your attacking army to your main castle except 1           soldier, leave 1 soldier there as otherwise the village can be occupied by someone else and at the same time                  send defense units to that village. 10 defense units, melee and ranged should be ideal, add some defense tools                also.

Here is the report. They are all the same when you are capturing unoccupied RV's.

Lt: 50 farmersFt: 100 farmersRt: 50 farmers

I have successfully captured by just sending  40 troops.

20-0-20 maceman or crossbows will work. The level 3 troops have enough travel speed and attack power to do the job.

With wolfhounds I just send 20-0-20, and have been successful. The more you send the less you will lose.

Defeating the Desert Towers and The Fortress

Hitting towers and fortresses are the easiest way to make coins and rubies. One hit on the fortress is 50 rubies and 10,000 coins. Towers are just like as RBC in Evergreen but they are filled with Norseman. I think one should always try and do their own spy reports as it gives valuable insight with commanders and equipment but if money and time are tight, and you can't get the full report, here is a link to all of them.

The Burning Sands Desert Towers - Spy Reports 

The Desert Fortress has just one defense set up all the time. Only one person can attack one over a period of time. Like a RB has a cooling off period so do these but for everyone. So you will have to wait if one has just been attacked.

Tip: Only hit the Left and Front flanks. Leave the Right alone it is too well defended. Always use martyr waves to knock out tools.

Upgrading your Village
 
Off to the side of your castle you will be asked to upgrade the native village. There are 4 levels to building your village. In each level  you can purchase things with the coal that you produce.

TheOlive Oil Press and The Olive Oil Grove are two new buildings that you will have access to in Burning Sands. The groves produce theolive oil and the press speeds up production, much like the saw and flower mills do for wood and food respectively.

Levels 1-3 (from top to bottom)

You may purchase the troops and coins repeatedly but the equipment is a one time purchase. It's imperative to purchase the wolfhounds from level 3 in Ice if you want to be competitive in the hunt for RVs.
Each level cost resources to be donated that gets more sizable as the levels rise.

Level 4 is costly. 

Renegade Spy Event

This is an event similar to the Traveling Knights in Evergreen. You get piece to the relic by hitting the desert towers (NPC that are like Robber Baron Castles). 

You receive the Renegade Troops and armor tools as well as achievement points.