Special castles

Besides normal castles and your main castle there are special types with their own strengths and limits. Most of them come from an upgrade that you redeem in the upgrade stock on the currently selected castle (Upgrade Stock). You get such upgrades in events, as a rare prize from the Mage (The Mage) or in the guard's Thaler shop (Thalers and the Thaler shop). An amber castle, on the other hand, you convert yourself with amber.

Baldur's Fortresses: gold, ice, Halloween and mage castles

Gold castles, ice castles, Halloween castles and mage castles all belong to the family of Baldur's Fortresses. What they share: you can train Paladins in the Stables, they use their own Baldur construction sites, and only here can the Storehouse, Tournament field, Military training grounds and Treasury be raised by up to 20 extra levels beyond level 100 with extensions.

On top of that there are milestones in the Laboratory: every ten levels the castle unlocks a bonus – in order stone, wood, ore, gems, trader speed, trader capacity, amber, troop queue, more room for diamonds in the treasury and troop production. How strong the bonuses are depends on the type: gold castle 30%, ice and Halloween castle 40%, mage castle 60%; the building page lists them. The ice castle upgrade with 1,300 fields and the Halloween upgrade with 1,333 fields also set the construction sites to that value, and the mage castle gives you free spells every month (Mage Castle).

Amber castle

For 10,000 amber of each type you convert a castle into an amber castle on the amber page (Amber). Senators cannot take it over, but you cannot attack active players from it either – bandits and abandoned castles are fine. Resource and troop production rise by 10%, the construction sites are raised to 1,000, and the castle becomes a sanctuary where Templars and Paladins can be recruited. The Laboratory milestones apply here too, at 50% each.

Conditions: it must not be your main castle, not contested and not too large – the amber page tells you the limit for construction sites. A Baldur or mage status is lost in the conversion, and afterwards only amber construction sites can be used. The amber page also shows how many amber castles you may own; between two conversions there is a waiting time that gets longer with every additional amber castle.

Sanctuary

Some fields on the map are sanctuaries. A castle built there becomes a sanctuary itself, and you can train Templars in its Barracks. The "sanctuary upgrade" turns a normal castle – even your main castle – into one later on, but not a Baldur's Fortress. Amber castles become sanctuaries automatically. The construction wagon map finds free sanctuaries for you (Construction wagon).

Settlement

Settlements only appear in the Settler Event. They can neither attack nor be attacked and gain bonuses with every year of protection – everything about them is in Settlements.

Back to normal: the "Special-Castle Status reset" upgrade turns a Baldur's Fortress or an amber castle back into a normal castle. You do not get any amber back, and a sanctuary stays a sanctuary.