Is Evony Better Than Kingdoms Of Camelot?

Camelot is a massively multiplayer online strategy Castle Building game based in Facebook. This Facebook app is quite graphical compared with more text based games like Mafia, but is graphically inferior to Evony by quite a long way.

It is a Javascript based game and this allows for real time messages and events. This also means you get a chat window which may get very busy and can lead to it hogging your CPU.

It sometimes tries to fit too much into a small viewing window, and this can be frustrating when things are off in the corner in the city. You can not drag to pan around or zoom on your city view in Camelot either.

In Camelot you start with a single city and you add cottages for citizens, along with resource and utility buildings like workshops, storehouses, barracks and blacksmiths. Alchemists allow you to research new troop types, better armour, faster building times and so on. The barracks allow you to train troops and war machines, utilizing other buildings like blacksmiths and stables to make certain troop types.

Watchtowers are built to warn of imminent attacks, and you are able to send your own troops to attack as well as scouts to find out about the defenses of other players or computer controlled areas.

You can also appoint your friends as knights. Each knight needs to be paid and can be assign a single role in a city that will enhance either production, research, troop training or building. Only one per skill per city can be assigned, and when assigned, that knight is not available to send with troops. Troops attacking always require a knight to march them, and the strength and skills of knight can enhance the strength of the marched forces.

In Camelot, you can speed up building and research in a number of ways. the first is to get friends involved by inviting them to click your speed up button, necessarily recruiting them into the game as part of the process. The other is to use special items - hourglasses, which can magically shave plenty of time from these. The hourglasses, along with plenty of other game enhancing items can either be won in a daily game of "Merlin's Magic Boxes" or by buying emeralds - which cost real cash. Spending money on the game is not necessary but can allow players to progress considerably faster if wisely used, in much the same way that Godfather Points were purchased in Mafia Wars.

Camelot also has alliances, which are quite chatty and changeable. Alliances allow players to help each other out, share resources, fortify each others cities, and click each others speed up links. This can be great if your alliance includes friends from Facebook.

The game uses forums to allow longer term communications - including bug reporting, an alliance specific forum for each alliance, forums for the region you are in (different servers). The forums seem obscure to many players who mostly just use chat.

Also are messages - which notify you of in game events with a flashing icon above the game. these can be saved, read and deleted as a mail would be. They are how scout reports come to you, battle reports, transportation reports and other important in game events.

There are some bugs that crop up, while the game is still in BETA this is to be expected. I have seen scouts that did not return, a stuck message counter, building upgrades being lost during server changes and so on. Most of these are rare and can be fixed by refreshing the game, but be warned that you may sometimes loose some progress when things happen.

Camelot is all about building your might - better production, more citizens, a bigger or more sophisticated army, more controlled/occupied areas and additional cities all enhance this might. There are also quests to aspire for - they start off as a guide and tutorial to get you into the game, but after that they are goalposts to hit and get progressively more difficult, and more rewarding, with resources, extra city deeds and other goodies for grabs.

You only get 5 days protection, which is still good enough to get a city fortified enough that it is not seen as a joke or an easy farm.

Camelot has much better Facebook integration than Evony without being so incessant about it (no random popups to try get you to message people), although the speedup links can quickly annoy your non playing friends until they spot the "hide Kingdoms of Camelot" button.

My Details in Camelot
I am Lord Theothal, on Goswhit32's Domain

Evony is at first sight a very beautiful game.
For something that is free to play, it is a lot more polished than you would expect. With well rendered animated graphics, and an animated guide with sound, it shines to show how good on line games can look.

At its heart, the game is a castle building real time strategy. It is also a massively multiplayer online game. I would not quite describe it as an RPG, but there are quests and stats to improve.

You start off a mere minnow, with a city that is barely bigger than a village. You can then start to build up your citizenship, add resource buildings to get your wood, stone, iron and food, then start building useful buildings for more interesting things.

As you build, you gain in rank and power. You gain the ability to start building soldiers, researching weapons and fortifying your city with defences. You can also recruit Heroes to your cause.

Heroes give you abilities to build quicker, fight better, produce more resources etc, and can have their stats improved as they level up.

When you start up, to prevent you being flattened before you have a chance to make your city defensible, you are given 7 days of protection (more generous than Camelot's 5). By connecting it with Facebook, you may find that your castle is near to those of friends you invite to the game, as well as being able to share rewards and other events - although the event popups to share can become quite incessant after a while and can not be turned off.

Evony is however a bit of a processor hog - based on animated flash, and having a constant chat window, you may notice your CPU crunching a bit. The simple way to avoid that is to switch the chat window away from global and beginner chat areas so it is quieter.

Players can attack other players, as well as Non Player Characters (computer controlled cities that are fairly passive). To make themselves safer, and help each other out, players can join alliances, which are generally in competition and sometimes at war with each other.

When building, upgrading or researching, you get the options to speed things up. During the tutorial this is totally free, but later you get this either through paying real cash for game coins"Evony Cents" - to purchase items, or winning them in a daily chance game - the wheel of fortune. There are many other items that can help a player get through the game quicker, most are available in the same way, but money is not required to actually see the whole game.

As far as my experience goes, the game is not "completable" - but open ended where you challenge yourself to see how high you can get on the leader boards or in your own alliance, or just to see what content there is and what you can do.

The game is not without a couple of bugs, but like most games of this kind, it is actively supported with moderators often online in global chat to talk problems with and dedicate buttons for bug reporting.

My Evony Details
I am lord Theothal on world na2.

Both Evony and Kingdoms of Camelot are free games to play, but are there limits to how much can be done for free?
Both have a concept of an in-game currency that can only be earned either for free during the tutorial period, or by ponying up real cash from your wallet!
This money is then used to buy in game items to enhance play, most items are available in a daily chance game if you are lucky. However can all play or content be accessed without cold hard cash?

Camelot
Merlins Magic Boxes provides the daily chance game, and the currency is gems.

Recently introduced is the "Complete Setup Process" bar - which encourages you to become a fan of Camelot, allow it to post to your profile without asking and mail your inbox, in return for a few gems. You can take the gems, use them, then perhaps reduce those permissions if it starts to annoy you and your friends.

The boxes mostly provide resource bonuses - extra food, wood, ore or stone. These are very handy to an early player, but later they generally seem less useful as resource production levels in your cities shoot for the skies.

Early players would probably be interested in the speedup bonuses available first as "hourglasses", any of which above a minute are fairly rare.

There are volunteer troop boxes, which immediately give trained troops - these are quite handy, but beware when you use them to ensure your food supply can take it - unwise for an early player.

As players progress through the game, they will find that with many level 9 buildings, "Divine Inspiration" is needed to progress to Level 10. Whats more, Level 10 buildings are needed for the Trebuchet weapon type - so without this, not all the game content is actually available. Divine Inspiration, as far as I can see, is only available as an item in the shop, by winning a tournament (with really dedicated play) or by getting lucky with the magic boxes - but this is very rare there. Given that this costs 50 Gems, much more than you get with any freebies - this is quite a hard to come by item.

Kingdoms of Camelot Tutorial - Divine Inspiration

Evony
Evony uses Evony Cents as a currency, and allows you to use an Aries Amulet for a spin on the wheel of fortune to get items for free.
One of Evony's marketing slogans is "Free Online Forever" - so it is worth determining how much of it can be got to for free and without being very lucky on the wheel.

There are speed ups - as "guides", and also resource bonuses - which are handy but not essential. There is the concept of a flag for a city (a bit of text), which requires an item to change, and other such items that actually seem a bit frivolous to me, but a bit of fun.

To speak in the world channel you consume "speaker" items, which means that global chat is not completely without limit. this is a bit cheeky, but then global chat is often fairly pointless unless you are recruiting for an alliance anyway.

I am still playing through Evony to see where the play gets difficult without cold hard cash. Although it nags more, it also gives more. For example, Michelangelo's Script, the equivalent of Divine inspiration, is much easier to come by, I have had more than one through the Wheel of Fortune.

Privacy
On privacy - another aspect of the "Free" game is privacy. Evony does not seem to be spamming me or showing popups. KoC shows the usual set of Facebook ads. As KoC is a Facebook app, and Evony uses FB Connect that means they may have access to your info, but not seen them doing anything untoward with it. Privacy may be part of the real price of "free".

When wanting a quick game catchup (or fix!), speedy access is often desirable. How quick is getting back into a game?

Camelot
If you are normally logged into Facebook, barring any current defects and issues, Camelot normally loads almost instantaneously - it is JavaScript and consists of cachable components. Sometimes defects mean it ends up blank though

Evony
Evony takes a bit longer being flash based and requiring each flash part (including individual dialogs) to load as you start up. It is more graphically rich, so this is to be expected. Also because you are not usually logged in, you will need to go through the login process again - which can be a bit slow.

Camelot wins this one, but the occasional blank screen defect can be annoying.

Evony is streets ahead of Camelot in this. Although Camelot has a pleasing and unique style, it can seem a bit boxy and out of date, while Evony looks lighter, more detailed and more textured.

Camelot

Upgrading buildings in the cIty will put the building into a translucent style while they are building, and some get small visual changes. The cottages do show more interesting changes, but some just developer larger roofs.

Upgrading the Castle and walls give quite visual feedback, but not for all levels.

Upgrading resource areas in the fields does not appear to change them at all in terms of appearance - they always look the same.

On portraits, Camelot has a small selection of Lord or Lady portraits for you to choose your appearance as the game begins.

Camelot has just upgraded troop icons also to portraits with some brand new artwork.

Evony

Upgrading buildings will put up scaffolding with animated builders, and a suggestion of what the finished building will look like.

Each upgrade in both the city and fields mostly show clear differences at the different levels, which adds something to the satisfaction of seeing one completed. This is also true for the Town Hall and Walls.

There are more Lord/Lady portraits to choose in Evony, which are also more detailed and higher resolution than the Camelot equivalents, with your Lord portrait displayed proudly in your interface.

On troop icons, Evony does not have graphically rich portraits but simpler icons for troop types.

Outcome
This is a win for Evony.

Both Evony and Camelot have introduction tutorials. How do they compare?

Camelot
Introduction to Camelot starts with a basic place this here type tutorial with popups, and then guides the player onwards using quests.

Players get a protection period where they cannot attack or be attacked by other players. They can still attack wildernesses.

The quests encourage the player to explore the game and try most of the simpler features, and continue to give a player goals until they get to later levels, where the quests still exist but are perhaps less important that simply improving an army and bringing up your might. As you get to a very high level, some quests are very hard to attain without a lot of luck or coughing up hard earned money...

Evony
Evony introduces the player to the game much more quickly than Camelot, and this is enhanced by a talking video character.
The player is shown how to place buildings, start research and use the games controls. When the intro tutorial is finished, the tutorial carries on with quests getting the player to use most features of the game, and for Age II that includes getting the player used to the new features.

Evony has a longer protection period than Camelot, which also prevents the player from attacking or scouting other players and NPC (non player) cities. NPC cities are similar to Camelot's barbarian camps.

Evony wins here on how easy the tutorials are and the animated character. The quests in both serve a similar purpose.

KoC has the concept of Knights, which are ins some ways similar, and in some ways different from Evony's Heroes.

Camelot
You need to build a knights hall to recruit knights.

Knights are needed to march any troops, apart from city to city transportation. They lend their stats to aid on the battlefield. Knights can also be appointed positions in a city with the roles of a Steward to improve resource production, a Foreman to improve construction, Alchemistic to aid research and a Marshal to improve Troop Training speeds. A knight in a role like that can not be sent on marches.

Camelots Knights can be recruited from your Facebook friends. Friends who are Camelot players start off as knights with higher stats. This is one place where it offers to notify your wall that you've recruited somebody.

Knights need to be paid and this pay increases per level. This pay is in terms of gold.
Depending on the level of your Knights hall, and the way the Knights are utilized the knights gain experience. Experience allows knights to level up which gives you skill points that can be distributed to help the knight perform their role better.

Knight stats all start on 50 if they are not a camelot player and 55 if they are.

Evony
Evony's Heroes need you to build a feasting hall and then an Inn. An Inn is used to recruit Heroes, who are wandering rangers and can be refreshed with certain (purchasable) items. You need a space at the Feasting hall for each Hero you recruit. Higher levels of the feasting hall gives more spaces for heroes, and higher levels of the Inn give you more heroes to chose from. Heroes here are not related to your facebook friends, but still a much richer concept than Facebook.

One Hero can be appointed as a City mayor, where their stats contribute to bonuses in production, research, construction, troop training and defence. Other Heroes can be sent out with troops for missions like scouting and attacking.

Heroes can be enhanced with weapons and items researched in a workshop, and the tutorial quests encourage you to do this. You equip heroes with different sets of gear (Age II stuff here) to get whole sets of bonuses.

Heroes need to be paid money while they work for you, and also you may want to reward them to increase their loyalty too. Heroes will level up through experience and utilization, and you can then assign the distribution of skill points they get where you need them.

Heroes starting stats vary quite a lot, and you may find an Inn with not very desirable heroes and want to find out if there are more around, or you may find some great heroes there straight away. Greater Inn levels will also attract better quality Heroes.

I think the Evony Heroes win with a much richer concept, even though only one is a mayor instead of the 4 different roles per city you can assign in Camelot, the items, recruiting methods, stats variations make this more interesting.

Evony has not been without some major controversy.

The first is an advert campaign that was pretty dodgy, involving a fair amount of cleavage and being quite suggestive. Said cleavage does not actually appear anywhere in the game, unless you account the somewhat less (but not drastically less) endowed tutorial video, which has a little. The ad campaign with the cleavage has now began to die down with one more appropriate to the games city building/castle building and PvP nature.

Evony has also upset some players by introducing Age II where many game rules have changed, some adding new things, some feeling a bit watered down and making Player vs Player a bit less attractive.

Evony used to be named Civony, which shows its relation to Civilization, but it is not really a complete rip-off as some have said. Also early screenshots , featuring graphics that allegedly came from Age-Of-Empires caused a bit of a stir too, but even if it is not hard to see some relationship between the games, AoE is quite a bit more sohpisticated. There is a certain level of simplification that generally happens translating a single player game to an MMO (Mass Multiplayer Online) type game.

I've written a few articles and lenses on computer games, and I know that people game in different ways, and some not at all.
Come let me know, maybe you do not even have time for computer games!
Poll on your gaming habits

Today I figured out how to use one of the "Anabasis" items in Evony to boost a hero.

After trying an uprising, and failing dismally (loosing all of the troops in one city), I am going to build up resource and troop production in both cities sand redirect all of it to one when done, so then I can stage an uprising there - but its a battle. I need thousands more troops than I have to pull it off. Many barracks for now - military industrial complex here I come.

Also had a look at my Camelot account - coming along nicely, I've quite a nice large might there, just need to carry on growing the second city - its not got all the wildernesses there. Annoyingly - many of the wildernesses are taken, making it a bit tight, so I can see some big conflict for them coming very soon. Time to raise the troops (and food for upkeep!) more. One neat trick is to make many troops, upgrade the rally point and then send them all to reinforce your wildernesses - it means you are not paying upkeep for them in your city, and defending them too. It wouldn't work in Evony because you continue to use more upkeep for marching troops.

Playing Evony for the last couple of days, each time I login I have to do so twice, as the first time results in a blank screen - hardly ideal!

I've also yet to weigh up two experiences gained on it these few days:
* using the plans to build a level 10 farm - which given that I had one and have already gained another on the wheel, they seem more obtainable than camelot's Divine inspiration items.
* Occupation - I was attacked and had my two cities colonized and occupied - I am yet to throw off the suppressor with an uprising - and seem to be paying him tribute. Lots of barracks improvement and focus on military might, where before I was focussed on research a bit.

Other things is managing to equip my hero with goodies created at the workshop, it seems to be that they can wear these at a 10th of their level. Camelot knights so far have no such system that I've found.

I've not been playing Camelot so much this week.

Kings Of Camelot has had an upgrade, with the troop types now denotes with detailed high res portrait artwork as opposed to tiny icons it had before. They do look quite attractive, but the question is, does this gain it much against Evony's graphical dominance?

Evony Graphics vs Kings Of Camelot Graphics

In both Evony and Kings of Camelot MMO browser games, you are able to recruit helpers to your cause. These come in different flavours between the two games, but what really are the differences?

Evony Heroes vs Camelot Knights

So if you are looking for a new game to start playing, and have time to kill, Evony and Kingdoms of Camelot both have plenty to offer and look pretty good. These Castle/City building games, descended from concepts in Civilization and Settlers allow you to raise empires and pit them against, or ally them with those of your mates.

The big question is, how do they look, play and how do they fair when compared against each other?

Is Evony Better Than Kingdoms Of Camelot?