Grepolis

What it is

Grepolis is InnoGames’ strategy game set in ancient Greece. The official site calls it a free, browser-based online game with a strong focus on cooperative play and strategy, and the second half of that sentence is the important one: this is a game about alliances first. Apps for iOS and Android share the same worlds, and the app can even start you on a guest account before you register.

Your job is to turn a small polis into a metropolis, and then into many. The twist is geography. The world is made of islands, so most of your neighbours are across the water, and a city without ships is a city that can only wait.

How a reign unfolds

You start on a small, peaceful island alongside other new players. A city can hold 13 kinds of buildings and 8 monumental structures; the academy offers more than 30 technologies, including the ones that let you reach other islands and, in time, take enemy cities. Your everyday resources are wood, stone and silver coins.

Then come the gods. Each city worships one god, and favour lets you call on that god’s powers. The official site describes them with relish: Hera raises resource production for a while; Zeus darkens the sky and his thunderbolt can destroy buildings or attacking fleets; Hades can revive units after battle; Poseidon calms the sea or sinks ships; Athena rallies defenders; Artemis, Aphrodite and Ares bring tricks of their own. The gods also stand behind mythical units — the Manticore, Hydra, Pegasus, Medusa, Cyclops and Minotaur all appear in the official material.

Real power comes from alliances. The official page urges you to co-ordinate attacks on land, by sea and from the air, and to build a core of cities that defend one another. Late in a world, alliances race to build World Wonders, and the Hall of Fame records the best players and alliances of each world.

The clock it asks for

Grepolis runs in real time, and because fleets take time to cross the sea, timing is half the game: when an attack lands, when support arrives, when a city falls. Solo play works early on, but the longer you stay, the more your alliance will count on you being there.

The app helps. Push notifications tell you when something is coming, and the touch interface covers construction, recruitment, research and spells. We would call it a game of a few check-ins a day, with the occasional evening when your alliance needs everyone online at the same moment.

How it pays its way

InnoGames says Grepolis is free to play without restrictions and that players may choose to make in-game purchases. The premium currency is gold. According to the official wiki it pays for advisors — the Administrator, Merchant, High Priestess, Commander and Captain — which add overviews, planning tools and quicker management, as well as instant completion, longer-lasting divine powers and summoning the Phoenician Trader to a city of your choice.

Gold is not tied to one world, only to a regional server, and on worlds started after February 2015 you can also trade resources for gold at a market of level 5 or higher. That gives non-paying players a slow road to the same conveniences.

Who it suits

Strengths and faults