Which Outposts to Take, Why, and How Not to Lose Them
An Outpost (an outer domain) is the second, third, and fourth castle you can own in Empire — and along with it, extra production, an extra Barracks, and extra room for your army. Choosing an outpost is a decision that lasts for months: a poorly chosen type or location will slow you down every single day. This guide walks through all 8 outpost types, the production math, how Castellans and capturing occupied outposts work, and how to safely give up an outpost.
What an Outpost Can Do and What You Can't Build In It
An outpost is a full castle with one key exception: it always produces only two resources — a combination of wood and food, or stone and food. Buildings tied to a resource the outpost doesn't produce can't be built there at all. Nor can you build Taverns, the Estate, the Encampment, or the Research Tower there — those belong exclusively to your main castle.
Everything else, yes: Barracks, workshops, warehouses, Houses, fortifications. In practice this means an outpost serves three purposes: extra resource production, extra recruiting, and a parking spot for your army. That third one is often underestimated — units stationed in an outpost don't eat from your main castle's food stores, and on defense the outpost defends itself independently with its own Castellan.
The 8 Outpost Types and Their Production Limits
You can tell an outpost's type on the World Map by its small resource icon. Each type has a "100% limit" — the number of production buildings for the main and secondary resource that run at full output:
| Outpost | Main-resource buildings at 100% | Secondary-resource buildings at 100% |
|---|---|---|
| Stone + Food | 6 Quarries | 2 Farms |
| Stone + Food Plus | 8 Quarries | 2 Farms |
| Wood + Food | 6 Woodcutters | 2 Farms |
| Wood + Food Plus | 8 Woodcutters | 2 Farms |
| Food + Stone | 6 Farms | 2 Quarries |
| Food + Stone Plus | 8 Farms | 2 Quarries |
| Food + Wood | 6 Farms | 2 Woodcutters |
| Food + Wood Plus | 8 Farms | 2 Woodcutters |
You can build past the limit, but each additional building loses a quarter of its output: the production power of an over-limit building is 0.75N, where N is its position past the limit. So the third farm past a limit of two runs at 75%, the fourth at 56%, and so on. The game automatically assigns the highest multiplier to your most upgraded buildings. Research, Public Order, VIP time, the Overseer, and production buildings can still push over-limit production above the 100% standard.
Which Type to Take - Food First, Plus Every Time
The universal advice is take your first outpost as an 8-food type (the Plus version with food as the main resource), as close to your castle as possible. The reason is simple — food is the only resource your army consumes continuously, and an outpost with 8 Farms at 100% can feed a noticeably bigger garrison. Your army is everything in this game; wood and stone can be plundered, but food for a large army can't.
Pick your second and third outposts based on your own economy: if you're building long-term (upgrading walls, towers, and Keeps eats up stone), go for a stone Plus type; wood is typically the least critical, since it's mostly consumed in the early game. Always prefer the Plus version (8+2) over the basic one (6+2) — it's a third more production ceiling for free — and proximity to your main castle: the Castellan is extremely slow, and every extra kilometer means a longer capture time and permanently slower army and resource transports.
The Castellan, the Estate, and Your Outpost Limit
To claim an outpost you need a free Castellan — and Castellans come from the Estate building, which you can build starting at level 13. Each level of the Estate (max 3) adds one Castellan, so the maximum is 3 outposts. The Castellan is famously slow; Stables speed him up, but he'll never get anywhere near a Commander.
Taking an unoccupied outpost plays out like a regular attack — a handful of Peasants sit inside, a difficulty comparable to a level 5 Robber Baron's castle (around 19 Horrors will do it). You simply send your Castellan with an escort, and once you win, the outpost is yours.
Taking another player's outpost is a whole different league: first you have to defeat every unit inside, then a 24-hour occupation period begins, during which you don't control the outpost and have to defend it against every counterattack — allies from your alliance can send support to it. Common-quality gear sets can cut the occupation period by up to 50%, but be careful — a Castellan wearing gear like that isn't strong on the defense you need during the takeover. Once the 24 hours are up, the outpost is fully yours, including most of the previous owner's buildings — even ones above your own level. Do expect, though, that a good number of the buildings will be burned down, with some in ruins.
What Moves When an Outpost Is Captured, and What Stays
When you lose an outpost, the original owner doesn't lose everything — the game draws a precise line on where things go:
| Category | Where It Goes |
|---|---|
| Master Builder, Guard House, Stonemason, Mill, level 15 Barracks, level 2-3 Stable, Stronghold (PC) | The original owner's outpost inventory (if it stood in a Quarter), otherwise it stays in the outpost; it can only be used in an outpost |
| Relic production buildings (Conservatory, Greenhouse, Bakery, Quarry, Woodcutter, Warehouse), Beehives, the Brewery, and all 3 Quarters (Residential, Trade, and Military) | The original owner's global inventory; can be built anywhere |
| Decorations, Tools not on the wall, installed relic buildings | Return to the original owner — the conqueror doesn't get them |
| Tools installed on the wall | The only thing the conqueror keeps |
That gives an important lesson for the attacker: you don't capture another player's outpost for the gear, you capture it for the location and type. The original owner takes the valuables with them. And the lesson for the defender: don't leave your army unattended in an outpost you could lose.
Giving Up an Outpost and the Rules of Courtesy
When an outpost stops making sense (wrong type, bad location after relocating your castle), you can give it up: World Map → outpost → Economy → Management → Give Up Outpost. A 24-hour waiting period follows, during which you can still cancel the process for up to 3 hours. Once it's done, you get your Castellan back, the outpost drops to a level 1 Keep, and it behaves like an unoccupied one.
Tidy up before giving it up: decorations, Tools, and relic production buildings return to your inventory automatically, but the remaining buildings are lost — demolish whatever you can and sell the resources on the marketplace or donate them to your alliance, and above all move every unit to your main castle or another outpost, or you'll lose them.
And here's a rule you won't find in any tutorial: attacking another player's outpost is an act of war for most alliances. Before you reach for an occupied outpost, tell your alliance's leadership — taking the outpost of a player from an alliance you're paired with, or starting a war your alliance can't back up, tends to end in expulsion. You can't take an outpost belonging to a fellow member of your own alliance at all. And keep in mind you lose Honor the same way you would attacking a castle, if the defender is significantly weaker or 10+ levels below you.