There are many things to do in Aether Kingdoms. This page walks you through the early game to help you get set up for success.
Signing up
The first thing to do in Aether Kingdoms is to sign up for an account. With this account, you can play on multiple game servers and more. For now, all you need to do is sign up here.
When you've signed up you can select Login or Register on any game server with open registration.
Spawning in
When you log in to a game server for the first time you'll be greeted with a welcome message. On the second screen, you'll be asked to select a direction in which to spawn your first village. If you play with friends, it's recommended to pick the same direction.
Screenshot of the spawn selection at the start of the game
In the beginning
For the best beginning, you'll want to increase your population. While upgrading resource fields gives you future resources, unlocking new tiles speeds you up even more. At 40, 80 and 120 population you can unlock a new tile for a Village, but no more for now.
Starting with new buildings gives a quick boost in population. Buildings like the Warehouse, Food Cellar and Marketplace are good places to start.
Screenshot of the warehouse building screen from a new village
After you queue some buildings, take some time to familiarise yourself with the game interface. Check out each of the buttons at the top of the screen to see what they do. For a full breakdown, you can check out the Game Interface from this guide.
Make sure to take note of the Tasks button, which will guide you through the main aspects of the game.
It's a good idea to make level 1 of each building to get the most population quickly. When you reach the threshold of 40 population for your first tile, head to the Map. There you'll be able to claim a tile. Make sure to choose wisely, because this choice is permanent.
If you're ever short on resources early on, buying some with Aether from the Aether Store is a good idea.
Starting up
After queueing your first buildings and taking a look around, you will want to explore Science and Culture.
Pick one of the starting researches to begin researching. This will take a while. Also take a look at what you can do with Culture: settle new Villages (with 1 Settlers unit) or tier up your Village to a Town and later a City.
This is also a good moment to decide how to spend your first Aether: do you buy resources to increase your early growth, or units to start completing combat events for more Aether and resources?
Plan your next move
After getting yourself established, it's time to plan your next move: where do you expand your Kingdom? Look at your surroundings to see if you want to grow here or find somewhere new to establish your Kingdom.
Expanding closer to other players means you have more opportunities for offensive play, but also more competition for resources.
The center of the map has better food production and slightly more resource fields. A higher density of objectives will spawn there as well, so head there if you want a lot of action. Or play safer and stay around your spawning area.
Screenshot of the map at the start of the server with players just spawning in
Grow your village
If you found a great location for a second village, you'll need to generate enough culture and make a Settlers unit. Spend time further developing your Village's production capacity. Grow your resource production and build out your Culture and Science production with the Theater and Library.
Some possible strategies are:
- You can use your Production to directly produce extra Culture in the village queue. This way you can settle before anyone else, but at the cost of economic development.
- You can choose to go for a Town first to unlock a specialty district, such as Science or Army. This gives you the possibility to conquer other players as well, but slows your early growth considerably.
- Play a research build and focus on quickly researching Apprenticeship and Organised labor to help you boost your production, science and army.
- Or maybe you want to clear a lot of events and farm resources, so you rush the research to unlock the Stables.
- Go aggressive and invest in army to start completing events on the map and use that to propel your growth.
The Riding Training research unlocks the Stables building for all your villages
Spreading out
It's encouraged to settle a second village before tiering up to a Town. Many players settle a third or even fourth Village before upgrading to their first Town. No matter what, eventually you'll want to expand your Kingdom with more settlements.
If you rush in the beginning, keep in mind that Settlers are expensive and take a long time to produce. You'll want to plan it so that your Culture and Settlers are done at the same time.
From here... it's up to you! With a second Village you're all set to build up your Kingdom and rise to the top in Aether Kingdoms. Join or found an Empire and fight to earn the most Prestige!