Tentlan tips for fast progress

If you are in your first days, the beginner guide comes first. For what each building does, see the economy guide, and the Tentlan hub for everything else.

How score works, and why it matters

Score is not just a ranking. It decides beginner protection (2,400 points) and the official protection rules between strong and weak players. The scoring formula from the FAQ:

Two things follow. Cheap low level upgrades give the same 10 points as expensive high ones, so score races are won by keeping many queues busy. And units give little score, so an army is for loot and safety, not for the ranking.

The daily routine

1. Collect corn first, then limestone, obsidian and cacao. Start every new order with corn in stock.
2. Refill every queue: building, research, recruitment, production. An idle queue is lost score.
3. Spy and raid barbarians until your 5 daily raids are used. One win also gives your daily amber.
4. Check the Activity icon. Red means something hostile is coming.
5. Before logging off: spend loose resources, start long production orders (uncollected resources cannot be stolen), and time a long build in winter or long research in summer.

Economy tips

• 1. Match cycles to your schedule. Short cycles pay best per hour when you are online; 8 hour orders cover the night and double as a safe.
• 2. Time the seasons. Orders keep the season bonus of the moment they start. Queue long builds in winter (20 percent faster), long research in summer (20 percent faster).
• 3. Never cap the Sun Temple. Population is the real bottleneck; Mathematics raises the cap too.
• 4. Take Astrology early. 2 percent more loot per level, up to level 20, on every future raid.
• 5. Value cacao. The score table rates 500 cacao like 1,000 limestone. Trade with that in mind, and keep cacao for healing.
• 6. Stop at the bonus caps. Bonus buildings stop improving at 10, 15, 30 or 40 depending on the building; past that you only buy score.

Military tips

• 7. Max your support ratio. 10 shamans and 10 quipucamayocs per combat unit give the full 30 percent regeneration and 30 percent accuracy.
• 8. Overkill on purpose. When your total strength beats the enemy's total stamina, the strength excess factor cuts your own damage taken, up to 99 percent.
• 9. Bring cargo. Loot is capped by what the troop can carry. Pochtecas carry 10,000, but slow the whole troop to their speed.
• 10. Save feasts. Fire and Lightning Feasts come once every two weeks for 10 to 60 minutes. Use the Fire Feast for the biggest fight, attack or defense.
• 11. Build the Itzamna Temple. Without it, the 8 to 15 percent of healable losses simply die.

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Safety tips: do not lose what you built

• 12. Watchtower within 2 levels of enemy Espionage. Otherwise you see an attack but not what is in it.
• 13. Save your troops, not just your pride. If an attack is too strong, send the army and resources away on a spy mission to an inactive player or a level 1 to 2 barbarian, timed to come back after the hit. Never use an attack on barbarians for this; it costs a daily raid.
• 14. Use the 12 hour rule. If a player with at least a third more score beats you (your score is 75 percent of theirs or lower), you are protected from that player for 12 hours, as long as you do not attack them back. The protection against stronger players stops if your account is inactive for more than 7 days.
• 15. Use vacation mode and account sitting properly. Vacation mode lasts 15 days and needs every queue empty and no troops in other Tambos. A sitter may watch your account for up to 10 days, once every 30 days, and must not use it for their own gain.

Expanding to more cities

A new city means four more production buildings, another set of build queues and 100 score points at once. Requirements are a level 1 Quetzal Palace and one settler; further cities are founded from the city with the highest Quetzal Palace. You can send up to 7 units with the settler, so bring carriers with starting resources. Extra settlers give the colony a larger starting population.

Place the second city close to the first while you are small, so resources move fast between them. Cities cannot be conquered in Tentlan, so the only real risk to a colony is raids. Build a Quetzal Palace there too if you want elite units: level 1 for jaguar warriors, 2 for atlants, 3 for ek chuahs. The limit is 15 cities per account.

A weekly checklist

The daily routine keeps queues full. Once a week, step back and check the bigger picture:

Also read the Rules and News board on the official forum once a week. Server mergers, the Christmas truce and crystal events are announced there first, often with only a few days' notice, and a merger cancels every troop movement that is still running when it starts.

Time wasters to cut

• Logging in through the registration form. One typo creates a new account. Use the login form at the top of the start page.
• Upgrading bonus buildings past their cap. A Stele above 10 or a Temazcal above 15 no longer adds bonus according to the FAQ.
• Spending amber on the wheel too early. Each spin costs more after every fourth one, and the same amber pays for Quetzal Palace levels.
• Losing troops to fights you could see coming. A low Watchtower and no spies is the most expensive mistake in the game.
• Overstocking the warehouse. Anything above your Underground Cave share is loot for the next raider.
• Rebuilding the Wall after every hit. If the same player beats you repeatedly, ask your tribe for Tambo support instead of pouring resources into a Wall that drops a level each time.
• Dancing for short orders. A season change pays off for multi hour builds and research, not for ten minute ones.

Where paying helps, and where it does not

Turquoise buys time: extra queue slots, halved order times, extra barbarian raids, faster or slower troop marches, Ahaw survival items, Pakal protection and Kauil feast extensions. It cannot buy you the parts that decide most fights: espionage levels, a full support ratio, good timing and an active tribe. Free players who follow the routine above and stay in a strong tribe keep up well. For tribe play and event rewards, read the alliances and quests guide; for battle maths, the units and combat guide.

FAQ