Taking a hold is only half the work — keeping it means rebuilding it. Capturing a location downgrades its structures, so the moment the flag is yours the clock starts: re-raise the walls, gates and guards before the enemy returns to take it back. This is the builder's side of the war — the counterpart to the fighting in Sieges and the strategy in Territory, Frontlines & Bastions.
The first rule of building: the bastion gates everything. A structure can only be upgraded as high as the central bastion allows — so raise the keep first, and the walls, workshops and gathering buildings around it can follow.
Why you rebuild — capture downgrades a hold
When your nation or guild captures a location, its buildings drop in tier — you inherit a weakened version of what the defenders had, and the structures you'll most want (walls, gatehouse, guardhouse) are exactly the ones that fell. The rebuild is a race: get tiers back up before the enemy comes back to recapture. You can start rebuilding at the Architect's Table three minutes after the flag stops burning — see Sieges for the defence that buys you that time.
Who builds — the trades behind a hold
Upgrades eat gathered and refined materials in bulk, so a rebuild is a whole-guild effort drawing on several trades:
The construction trades
- Engineering — the bloodstream of construction: the planks, nails and building materials that go into every upgrade.
- Wood Cutting & forestry — the logs (oak, ash, elm, yew and more) that become planks, in large quantities at higher tiers.
- Mining & metallurgy — stone (granite, gneiss) and the steel for long nails; it matters more the higher you build.
- Farming & cooking — food for guard upkeep and the location's supply needs.
You don't have to be a crafter to help build. Player-Driven Logistics lets anyone haul free supply packs to wherever they're needed and get paid for it — often the fastest way a fighter contributes to a rebuild.
The Architect's Table & upgrade points
Every upgrade is started at the Architect's Table inside the bastion — the same panel where you read a location's efficiency and supply. You must stand still to use it; moving cancels the action. Open the Bastion System to see what can be raised and what each project needs.
- Starting an upgrade costs upgrade points, which regenerate over time — the baseline is free, so anyone can chip in without spending gold.
- At a guild province, the leader or vice-leader uses Freebuild to place or remove structures (walls, gates, oils, vendors, stations); any member can then fill the scaffolds to finish them.
An older community guide describes buying extra upgrade points with coin at the Architect's Table. That predates the current relaunch and we can't confirm it still works — treat the free, regenerating points as the rule, and check in-game before counting on a purchase.
Scaffolding — finishing a build
Starting a project raises scaffolding at the target structure. Interact with the scaffold to see the exact materials it wants, then deposit them — logs, planks, nails, stone and, for some, food. Any member can contribute, and once the scaffold is full the structure ticks up a tier. The scaffold is the meeting point between the builders starting projects and everyone hauling in materials.
Keep it running — efficiency & supply
Building a structure up isn't the end of it. A location's efficiency (scored 1–3) and its supply needs (armaments, tools, food, morale) decide whether everything you built actually works at full strength — low efficiency temporarily downgrades workshops and weakens guards, and it degrades over time. The full system lives in Territory, Frontlines & Bastions and Crafting Workshops; keep it topped up or your upgrades sit idle.
What each structure gives you
Each building upgrades independently and pays off differently. Raise the ones that match the hold's job — defences on a frontline, gathering and workshops on a rear hold.
| Defensive structure | What upgrading it gives |
|---|---|
| Bastion / keep | Raises the tier cap for every structure around it, and adds the keep's own defences — dropping logs, boiling oil (respawns ~60s) and ballistas. Minor holds (farms, mines, lumbermills) cap at level 3; major holds reach level 6, a full stone keep. Build this first. |
| Walls | More health per tier, plus walkways with cover so archers can fire from the parapet at higher tiers. Cheaper to raise than towers. |
| Towers | Like walls but costed separately; at level 2+ a tower gains a free ballista that auto-fires on engines and riders. |
| Gatehouse | The wall's only entrance. Higher tiers add a second gate and defences (dropping logs, then boiling oil). It has less health than the walls, so expect it to be the target. |
| Guardhouse | Spawns more guardsmen — it raises their number, not their stats. Guard strength is set by distance from your capital, so frontier guards are weak while capital and Holy-Temple guards are tough. (Attackers destroy it to stop guard respawns — see Sieges.) |
| Economic / utility structure | What upgrading it gives |
|---|---|
| Crafting workshops (Tailor, Armorsmith, Weaponsmith) | Each upgrades separately — raising one does not raise the others. Higher tier means higher-quality gear from that station. See Crafting Workshops. |
| Lumbermill | A better Engineering workshop and more wood to cut. Sits outside the walls — easy to back-cap, so guard it during a siege. |
| Mine | A better Metallurgist workshop, higher stone and ore yield, and rarer materials at higher tiers — and it speeds wall construction. |
| Farm | Expanded farmland and a better Villager workshop — flax, wheat and beehives for top-tier crafting. Also outside the walls. |
| Well | Can't be upgraded — a fixed water source, always at max. |
| Respawn barn | Can't be upgraded. The defender respawn at forts and resource areas (castles use the keep's safe room instead) — you spawn up top and drop in. |
| Logistician | Can't be upgraded. Fast travel between your non-sieged holds (wagon icon on the map); only worth it once your nation holds several linked locations. See Movement & Fast Travel. |
A builder's checklist
- Get to the bastion's Architect's Table once the flag is held and stops burning (about three minutes).
- Raise the bastion first — it caps everything else.
- Pick by the hold's job: walls, gatehouse and guardhouse for a frontline; workshops, mine, lumbermill and farm for a rear hold.
- Rally materials — gather locally, or haul supply packs if you'd rather fight than craft.
- Fill the scaffolds to lock each tier in.
- Keep efficiency and supply topped up so nothing you built downgrades.
Sourcing
We deliberately leave out the per-tier material costs (the exact log, plank and nail counts). The community guides that list them are years out of date and incomplete even where they exist — the live figures are shown on each scaffold in-game and on the official wiki. Build from those, not from a stale table.