Rise of Kingdoms drops you into a decision within the first few minutes — pick a civilization — before you understand what any of it means. That choice, plus the commanders you invest in next, will shape how fast your kingdom grows for weeks to come. This guide covers the civilization pick, the commanders worth prioritizing, and the early-growth habits that separate accounts that snowball from accounts that stall out by week two.
Choosing your civilization
Every civilization in Rise of Kingdoms gives permanent, account-wide bonuses, so this isn't a cosmetic choice — it affects your growth rate for as long as you play that kingdom. For brand-new players, China is widely considered the strongest beginner pick. It gives a building speed bonus (helping you reach a higher-level City Hall faster) along with an Action Point recovery boost, which matters a lot because Action Points are what you spend clearing barbarians and forts for early rewards.
Britain is the other commonly recommended option, and some experienced players rate it slightly above China overall thanks to its research and troop-related bonuses, though it's marginally less forgiving for absolute beginners. If you're unsure, defaulting to China and focusing on hitting City Hall milestones quickly is a safe, well-tested path.
Whatever you pick, remember: civilization choice is tied to the kingdom you start in and generally isn't something you casually change later, so don't rush past this screen without reading what the bonus actually does.
Which commanders to invest in first
Commanders are the backbone of both your economy and your army, and Rise of Kingdoms has a huge roster — which is exactly why new players waste resources spreading investment too thin. Early on, focus on a small number of versatile, Epic-rarity commanders rather than chasing Legendary units you can't fully build yet.
Strong, commonly recommended early picks include:
- Sun Tzu — one of the best true beginner commanders. He performs well in open-field fights, canyon events, and garrison duty, and pairs cleanly with mixed troop compositions, making him useful in almost every early game mode.
- Joan of Arc — a solid gathering and support option that remains useful well past the early game.
- Boudica, Aethelflaed, and Scipio Africanus — all viable early picks depending on whether you're leaning into infantry, cavalry, or a balanced army.
Rather than leveling five commanders halfway, pick two — one gathering/economy specialist and one combat generalist — and invest skill points and commander XP into those first. A fully-built pair outperforms five half-finished ones in every practical scenario you'll face before you join a kingdom's active wars.
Smart early growth: what to prioritize
The single biggest early-game mistake is treating Rise of Kingdoms like a combat game from day one. It isn't, yet. Your first two weeks should look like a checklist:
- City Hall upgrades first. Almost every other building and tech has a City Hall level requirement, so a higher City Hall unblocks more progress per hour than almost anything else you could be doing.
- Keep your resource production buildings (farms, sawmills, quarries, gold mines) upgraded in step with City Hall, not left behind — a high-level city with low-tier resource buildings just means longer queues on everything else.
- Clear barbarians and lower-tier barbarian forts daily using your Action Points. These give steady rewards (gems, resources, commander XP) with essentially no risk.
- Complete VIP/growth quests and daily objectives — they're a reliable source of speedups and resources that compound over time far better than anything you'd get from combat this early.
Avoid early wars — they cost more than they earn
New players often get pulled into skirmishes with neighboring cities the moment they see a weak-looking target nearby. Resist it. Healing wounded troops consumes resources and speedups that are far more valuable spent on buildings and research at this stage, and losing troops early sets your military growth back further than any barbarian clear ever could. Most active alliances also protect newer members inside a "peace shield" or truce zone for exactly this reason — use that protected window to build, not to provoke fights you don't need yet.
Join an alliance as soon as you reasonably can, too. Alliance-shared research, gift boxes, and help requests all speed up construction and research timers, and it's one of the few systems in the game that costs you nothing but a little communication.
Final tips before your next login
Rise of Kingdoms rewards a boring first two weeks: pick China or Britain, commit to Sun Tzu and one gathering commander, keep City Hall and resource buildings growing together, and leave the fighting for later. Players who chase combat and Legendary commanders too early usually end up resource-starved and out-leveled by the time real kingdom wars start. Build first — the fights will still be there.
