Which civilisation to choose in Rise of Kingdoms?

Choosing your civilisation in Rise of Kingdoms is not easy. Should you prefer cavalry, harvesting, building or something else? This guide to RoK civilizations will help you compare them to make the best decision.

Civilization comparison in Rise of Kingdoms

RoK does not leave you any respite. As soon as you arrive in the game, you will have to make a first strategic choice that will determine how your game will turn out: choose your civilisation in Rise of Kingdoms.

After a few tries, you will have determined which style of play suits you best, but not all civilisations are equal in the field you are aiming for.

Comparative table

To assist you in this choice, I thought it would be useful to compare all the civilisations in several categories. I have therefore prepared a small comparative table which highlights the strengths of the civilisations.

Civilization	Speciality	Search / Advantage	Exp	P.A.	Walk	Harvesting / Construction	Training / Troops
Rome	Infantry PvP	. .	.	.	+	+ .	. +
Spain	Cavalry Farm	. +10% Experience versus barbarians	.	.	.	+ .	. +
Germany	Cavalry PvP Mid-game	. .	.	++	.	. .	++ +
China	Beginner Construction	. Sun Tzu free	.	+	.	. ++	. +
France	Beginner Farm	. .	.	.	.	+++ .	+++ +
United Kingdom	Archers Barbarians Alliance	. +20% Garrison alliance	+	.	.	. .	++ ++
Japan	Exploration Early game	. +30% Exploration	.	.	+	++ .	. ++
Empire Ottoman	War Alliance Archers	. Skill 1 damage +5	.	.	+	. .	+
Arabia	Alliance Barbarians Cavalry	. Damage to Barbarians	.	.	.	+ .	. +++
Korea	Technology Late-game	++	.	.	.	. .	++ +
Byzantium	Unit care Harvest Late-game	. .	.	.	.	++ .	++ +

Please note that this is not a precise list of the talents of each nation. You can already find the detailed bonuses for each in the civilisation choice menu in Rise of Kingdoms. In the area of troops and training, I have also included hospital and garrison capacity as well as defence or attack bonuses for certain troop types.

Benefits, specialities, what to understand

From this table, we can see that China is the only one that really shines in building construction, while all other civilisations are equal in this field. Similarly, the UK and Spain have special advantages that allow them to deal more effectively with neutral units or barbarians.

Of the latter two, the United Kingdom is still preferred by players at the start of the game as Boadicea is a good elite commander and the longbow archers (a special unit of the civilisation) can be useful. Spain is very specialised in cavalry.

If you don't quite understand what they are talking about, just refer to the specialties in front of each name. Some civilizations in Rise of Kingdoms focus on a specific phase of the game: the beginning, the middle or the end. So I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you to check out our tip for changing civilizations if you're not happy with your first choice.

Choosing the right civilisation in Rise of Kingdoms

Now that you have a general idea of where to judge the strengths or weaknesses of a civilisation, it is time to make your choice. Honestly, some civilisations are overlooked by players at the beginning of the game for reasons that you, as a new player, do not want to experience.

Spending several dozen hours on an account that will automatically fall behind because of a bad first choice is very frustrating. And I think I can spare you that. So here is a little questionnaire worthy of a women's magazine with a few tips to guide you in your choice of Rise of Kingdoms civilization.

When you start the game, you say to yourself:

1. Attack!
2. On the road to new territories!
3. What if I went farmer to outscale my opponents?

PvP civilisation specialised in the army

You chose option number one. You little bugger. If you're the kind of person who wants to butcher anything remotely resembling an able-bodied opponent,Germany is your best option, as isArabia, thanks to its specific traits.

Both civilizations work wonders in PvP or PvP. As a result, they are perfect for any player thirsty for blood and resources. I must warn you though that trying toattack players too early is a bad strategy. You will lose more resources leading the assault than you will gain by stealing your enemies' resources.

Make the fog and villages disappear

Option number 2: Make yourself the future Christopher Columbus of RoK. Aspiring scout for new lands, this should please you. Japan offers a 30% extra marching speed bonus which makes this civilisation in Rise of Kingdoms excellent for all types of scouting. As a Japanese civilisation, your goal will be to have troops scouting the battlefield day and night to clear the fog of war.

This will allow you to quickly cross tribal villages to unlock economic technologies without spending any money or to discover sacred places that are essential in RoK.

In fact, exploring the Rise of Kingdoms map can give you a good idea of what the game is like as a whole, and having a broader view of the gameplay will help you make better macro decisions for your future games. On the other hand, enemies will not be afraid of you if you launch an attack against them.

The farming is beautiful!

You have chosen option number 3. Let it rain resources to make your nation grow! France is the country of honour in RoK when it comes to farming resources. Any player will tell you that. France is an iconic Rise of Kingdoms civilisation.

In fact, it is an excellent starting point for your farming accounts to boost your main account. Knowing this, you can easily spot which accounts are military and which are just for gathering as many resources as possible for war. Another excellent civilization for beginners is China, which has a unique construction bonus to rush your buildings.

In the end, it all depends on the style of play you want to give to your start of the game. I don't say "your entire game" because you can change civilisations in RoK even after the game is well underway.

Now you know which civilisation to choose in Rise of Kingdoms. Let the game begin!

And for more RoK tips and tricks, check out our guide to getting started with Rise of Kingdoms. You will find the basics of the game as well as the first strategies to put in place to avoid giving ground to your opponents.