Ever notice how troop training feels smooth for the first nine tiers, then suddenly your queue eats way more resources and takes forever? That's not your imagination. We pulled the actual training cost table for all three basic troop types and the jump is real, and it's identical across the board.

Before Tier 9

Training cost grows gradually from Tier 1 through Tier 8 for every basic troop type, Footmen, Cavalry, and Archers alike. Each tier costs a bit more than the last, and training time creeps up in small steps too. Nothing dramatic here, just the normal curve you'd expect from any tiered troop system.

The Tier 10 Jump

Two things change once you hit Tier 9. First, that tier requires a tech unlock before it becomes trainable at all, on top of the resource cost. Second, whatever tier 9 costs you, tier 10 costs five times more in resources and ten times longer in training time. Not a gradual step up. A cliff.

Take Footmen as the clearest example. Tier 9 training runs on Food and Iron. Tier 10 needs exactly 5x the Food, 5x the Iron, and 10x the base training time of Tier 9. Cavalry and Archers show the exact same 5x / 5x / 10x ratio between their Tier 9 and Tier 10, just with different resource types feeding the cost.

Across Three Troop Types

This isn't a Footmen-only quirk. Cavalry and Archers both hit the identical 5x resource and 10x time jump going from Tier 9 to Tier 10. Whoever built this troop system clearly used one shared cost template across all three basic troop lines, they just swapped which resources each type consumes.

Different Resources, Same Ratio

Here's the part that trips people up when they're stockpiling: each troop type draws from a different resource pair. Footmen training pulls from Food and Iron. Cavalry training pulls from Wood and Stone. Archer training pulls from Food and Stone. So if you're gearing up to push Tier 10 on all three troop types at once, you actually need a healthy reserve of all four base resources, not just "whatever you have the most of."

Planning Around the Cliff

• Don't assume Tier 10 will cost "a bit more" than Tier 9, budget for 5x the resources before you queue it
• Training time at Tier 10 is 10x Tier 9's base time, plan your queue timing accordingly instead of getting surprised mid-event
• Check which tech unlock gates Tier 9 and Tier 10 for your troop type before you even start saving resources, the unlock comes first
• Since each troop type spends a different resource pair, don't dump everything into one resource while ignoring the others if you're training multiple troop types

Knowing the cliff exists ahead of time turns a "wait, why did this eat my whole stockpile" moment into a normal planned upgrade.