What is a "mobile"

I must admit that I cannot take all the credit for this. I found all this information on board post from a person named "Alleycat". I hope this information is helpful.

For those who are unfamiliar with this terminology, a "mobile colony" is a town started close to enemy territory for the purposes of having easier access and the ability to move troops and ships closer to the battlefront. Normally, these colonies are not "permanent", in that the owner will abandon them when the time comes. They are referred to by many names; Mobile War Colony (MWC), Floater, Raid colony, Ghost colony, Proxy colony, Roaming colony, Forward/Advanced Base, but all generally refer to the same idea. For references sake, they will hereafter be referred to as a "mobile colony".

All they consist of is a low level town with a level one barracks, level one shipyard, a port, a hideout and usually several warehouses. Generally, there is no attention paid to a GR, tavern, museum or any of the production/reduction buildings as workers and population are not needed, though sometimes the barracks/shipyards are increased so the owner can build troops and ships there in an extended conflict.

It's purpose is to have a place to launch sea and land attacks from a point closer to the enemy so that response time is dramatically reduced for both offensive and defensive measures. It also saves quite a bit of upkeep by not having to send sorties from a longer distance.

So we know what they are and why they are used, so the question is, why should you care if you see one?

The answer, if not obvious, is that since the main goal of these colonies are to reduce response time for defense, having a few of these appear on your island or nearby, means defense will be that much harder, as now you may become the target of these mobile colonies.


It's difficult to stop them if they are "persistent", but you can try to make it absolutely painful for them to attempt it. There is a six step plan:

1. Identify the person to determine if they are a threat
One can look at their sawmill or mine screen and see the name of the person establishing a new colony and then use the high score list to get further info.

2. Raid the colony the second it goes up
By carefully monitoring when the colony is completed, one should sent a raid at it ASAP. Since they will only have a level 1 town hall, no wall and no ships/troops, even a sword should suffice to take everything they sent with the colony, though, if possible, a gyro is preferred in order to reduce the travel time. Attacking brings them down to 100 wood and 50 of each lux, making it more difficult to build the required buildings to effectively operate from it.

3. Get spies in there!!!
The point here is to spy on them to see WHEN the troops ships are coming. Since they will not have a hideout, or a very low level one, the chances of the "Observe Fleet Movement" spy mission should be at reasonable odds. When successful, it will tell you how many units are arriving and when. This is most important AFTER you see a barracks and/or shipyard go up, but if you cleaned them out of materials, they might even try to send tradeships with more. (Blockade them and bounce it to you!!)

4. Once you have discovered when the troops/ships are coming, determine a plan
If it's just troops, go ahead and send a "simple" block to the island and just bounce them away! If it's a fleet, decide if you can engage them when they get there, you will be on the "attackers" side, so assault is nice here.

5. Constantly take advantage of the "Observe fleet movement"
Even during your blockades, they can have friends send help to try to free the block and let the troops in, same goes for reinforcements in sea battles. A big disadvantage is that a mobile has a low hideout, take advantage of this to see EVERYTHING that they are doing! Plus, they will probably try again, if first they didn't succeed.

6. Rinse and repeat steps 3-5 until they figure out a way past your defenses or give up and go home
Some more tips in general...
In many cases, the enemy will send his troops/ships piecemeal as they are coming from separate locations. Take advantage of this in many ways..

• For ships, blockade with a big fleet first, so as each "wave" enters they will be met by your large force. Your 200 ships are MUCH more effective going against four waves of fifty each then waiting for the entire 200 ship defensive force to arrive.

• For troops, you can continue to bounce them forever if they fail to send the proper ship escort first, but you might not want to! A better plan is to "allow" a wave or two in and then block the rest, this automatically divides their troops and allows you to smash them piece by piece.

Also:

• ALWAYS continue with the "spy assault" to keep constant tabs on the goings on of the mobile colony.. even in battle.

• Remember that the mobile colony generally doesn't have high level walls.

Two points:

• 1. You will not need siege to take them down and

• 2. If YOU have high walls and they have you outmatched, you can encourage fights to start at your base at an advantage, though this gives up the initiative.

If, for some reason, you DON'T want the mobile packing up and leaving, you can have someone send a one ship blockade from a great distance to "pin it down". This activity will prevent them from abandoning the colony and being able to put it up elsewhere for better effect. This little trick is hard to counter (they have to generally block the long distance attacker) and is a good plan to help slow things down when an offensive shifts gears, or more mobiles are needed on another front.


1: Don't send much material in the initial build!
Not only does this slow down the expansion (not by much) but it can be taken easily.

2: Don't necessarily pick the same island as your foe!
It's easy to see a mobile colony on your own island, but to constantly check those surrounding you? Also, because one cannot check the mines/mills of other islands they will not know who it is until you arrive.

3: Be mindful of when things will happen
You will not like to wake up and find your mobile just had all of its material stripped away during your sleep, so try to time the arrival at a time where you can respond the instant it goes up and get up a few buildings before anything gets taken from you. Also, the timing of your fleets/troops is also important, as previously explained.

4: Send your troops/ships in one batch
It doesn't take much time to gather all of your forces to your closest main island to the floater first, which will not only reduce the critical travel time, but also not allow your forces to get divided by the enemy.

5: Send the ships first
It's too easy to bounce troops, even if sent in one giant batch. You are just wasting time and upkeep if you do so, and at worse, your troops will be divided and destroyed.

6: Get help
Work with your allies to ensure that your troops and ships arrive at the same time as those who can reinforce you! This makes it harder for the enemy to engage you in a quality sea battle for control. This can be applied to both when troops and fleets arrive. Also, getting "pulled" by having someone close by send you a few resources, helps minimize the time they can be taken from you.

7: For Generals: Set up a mobile "fleet base" so the others can get theirs established
The idea here is a guy with a big navy puts up a mobile near where the other mobiles will go, but still farther away from the enemy. More than likely this will go undetected, and when the large navy gets there, it can help ensure all the other closer mobiles also go up. Of course, a player with an established colony can also serve this purpose!

8: For Generals: Time your mobiles so that their troops/fleets can arrive at the same time
This is a conservation of force thing to spread out the resistance or make them only be able to focus on select targets so the others can get in.

9: For Generals: Overload an area with mobiles instead of spreading them out
The key to mobiles is that they can move and your target is static. If you concentrate your forces, you can overload the defenses of particular areas and then pack up, and redeploy to take out the next area.