How to Rule as a True King in For the King

For the King is a roguelike strategy game that throws you into a deadly procedural fantasy world and tasks you with expanding your territory to become its undisputed ruler. With its punishing difficulty and complex systems, progressing from a meager Baron to a powerful King requiresmastering various gameplay facets.

As both an avid gamer and content creator focusing on tactical titles, I‘ve compiled this definitive guide on conquering For the King‘s kingdoms. Follow my hard-earned advice below to go from fledgling nobility to supreme royalty.

Managing Your Alignment for Success

As you play, your decisions determine whether you lean towards Cruelty or Righteousness on the Alignment scale. Carefully manage this, as it unlocks specific camp interactions, statutes and quests.

My recommended approach is to initially build Righteousness to unlock the essential Devotion statute for Renown gains, then later shift to Cruelty. The chart below displays optimal thresholds to target:

Here are productive early options for quick Righteousness gains:

• Donate Gold (+3 at Statues)
• Show Mercy in Combat (+2 per fight)
• Bless Shrines (+1 per Shrine)

These provide efficient Cruelty boosts later on:

• Executing Captives (+3 per Captive)
• Desecrating Shrines (+3 per Shrine)
• Establishing Fear Statues

With the bonuses above, you can unlock the game‘s best gear and maximize Renown income through statues.

Conquering Territories and Questing

Expanding your kingdom‘s borders through conquest and completing procedural quests are the primary methods to accumulate all-important Renown points.

When evaluating which hexes to conquer, always consider:

• Resources – Prioritize Sites with Iron/Stone/Wood. These fund Buildings.
• Settlement Size – Larger Towns (indicated by number of houses) provide more Income.
• Geography – Lands with Mountains/Forests feature more enemies to defeat for Renown gains.

For Quests, I recommend pursuing two early on for efficiency:

• The Holy Pilgrimage – Simple travel quest providing solid Renown.
• The Apprentice – Fetch quest for high value Magic Dagger reward.

Both are relatively low risk and great for new characters.

As your kingdom grows in strength, undertake more difficult quests with proportional payouts. By mid-game, routinely seek out Bounty and Destroy Encampment quests to accelerate your Renown income further.

Optimizing Your Decrees and Buildings

Once you‘ve earned enough Renown, investing it back into your Kingdom efficiently through Decrees and Buildings is vital for greater prosperity.

Of the various Decree options, I suggest Conquest and Gold Rush first and foremost. Conquest keeps your borders expanding briskly, while Gold Rush bolsters your treasury. They provide the best foundation.

For Buildings, focus on economic/unit boosts first via Structures like Farms, Iron Mines and Barracks in your largest cities. These amplify income substantially and support fielding larger, deadlier forces. Once your economy is established, build advanced Structures like Keeps and Magic Academies.

Below displays data on the optimal Buildings to develop early and mid game:

Suggested Early Game Structures

Suggested Mid Game Structures

Carefully constructing the above buildings provides major boosts to your Gold, Resources, Military power and Magic capabilities right when you need them most during your rise to supremacy.

Mastering Combat and Military Strategy

While diplomacy has its place, warfare is inevitable on the path to becoming King. When confronting various enemies, I firmly recommend these tips:

• Manage Initiative – Focus fire to kill/stun foes and reduce incoming attacks through manipulation of turn order.
• Target Soft Enemies – Bring down low armor targets first to minimize retaliatory damage.
• Stick Together – Avoid spreading out to prevent being isolated and swarmed.
• Utilize Chokepoints – Funnel melee enemies through narrow access points to limit their attacks.
• Disrupt Mages – Shut down enemy magic users; they often pose the biggest threat if left unchecked.

Additionally, investing in quality arms, armor and accessories makes battling substantially easier. Here is gear I suggest crafting/purchasing as soon as you have the required Resources:

• Broadswords – Extremely reliable primary melee weapon available early.
• Hunting Bows – Top ranged weapon for softening up distant foes.
• Leather Jerkin – Solid medium armor with no movement penalties.
• Turtle Shell Shield – Good anti-magic shield to counter enemy Sorcerers.
• Swift Boots – Bonus movement to outmaneuver adversaries.

Equipping your party appropriately with gear like the above vastly improves combat effectiveness in all battle scenarios.

There are certainly more tactics and recommendations, but the guidance above directly addresses the most common issues I see new players encounter. Follow it closely in your campaigns and victory shall be yours!

Conclusion

I hope this guide has illuminated everything you need to transform from Baron to King smoothly in For The King. By managing Alignment progression, rapidly acquiring Renown through conquest and quests, strategically investing in your Kingdom through Decrees and Buildings, and mastering combat fundamentals, you now have the expertise to rule mighty empires. Best of luck; be the greatest monarch you can be! Please let me know if you have any other questions.