I have been playing for a few months now and have spent some time in a couple different alliances. I liked it for a while but felt more comfortable playing as an individual since many alliances have rules and guidelines they want all members to follow. Additionally, the Titans remained constant at certain levels per the alliance’s strength.
I found myself wanting the ability to choose the level and color of Titan I want to fight next and couldn’t do that in an alliance. So I left to play as an individual.
It seems this game discourages individual players and wants players in alliances.
Are individual players welcome in empires and puzzles?
1 Like
See this thread and form your own opinion on how welcome “Mercs” are:
I don’t know if you’re talking about being a merc (seeing the line about wanting to be able to ‘choose’ the level and color of a titan), or about being a player who simply does not want to be in an alliance at all.
Should it be the latter, then I would say that, yes - individual players are welcome in E&P. Of course the game encourages the social aspect - fighting titans and participating in Alliance Wars is only possible if you’re in an alliance. However, if you decide not to join an alliance and just play for yourself, that doesn’t disadvantage you in terms of possibilities (gaining heroes, expanding your battleground, doing quests, levelling up et cetera).
The only thing I could think of is that you’d get less chances to obtain ascension materials when not fighting titans, but to be honest titans are certainly not a guarantee for those either.
It is not only about lost chances of getting rare ascension materials (although it is true), it is also about loosing considerable amount of action (Titan fighting and Alliance Wars). I’d say, it is about a half (well, one third) of a game play.
But, yes, alliance is not good for people who don’t like to obey rules.
1 Like
@Psychawk I don’t know much about mercing, I suppose that is the only way where you have some measure of choice over the Titan you get to attack, but to solve the issue of not wanting rules and guidelines while still being able to play in an alliance - start your own! That way you can decide the rules, or the lack thereof… and other like minded players could join you in your anarchy 
With so many alliances already out there, it seems entirely plausible that such alliances already exist, if you manage to find one.
While I think your success in wars and against Titans will be mixed if all alliance players are lone wolves, it’s still better than not having a chance to participate in those things at all IMHO… over time you will accumulate fewer ascension items and a bit less food/iron etc. if you don’t (even if you lose more than you win). Just my thoughts.
1 Like
Just browsing and this was interesting to me. I liked the idea of merc’ing before, and when just starting out we had several visit our alliance to help with titans. They usually were very encouraging and an invaluable source of tips, tricks, and good advice. Once they changed the merc rules we didn’t see many, and I understand that since they get very little to no rewards now for helping. A sad change to the game IMO. What I hadn’t thought about until I read this thread was the alliances of one………I see them, and often they are closed/invites only. It made me wonder…….do they still get titans? And take them down alone? What about alliance wars? A one on one battle with another alliance of one? I see quite a few now that I looked to see how common they might be. Just curious if anyone had any insight or experience with this.
1 Like
@Jedon plays very successfully as a one player alliance. He might give you some ideas or insight
5 Likes
Thanks @JonahTheBard, it is intriguing to me and not something I had thought about before. Just curious about the mechanics of it, and how progression in the game compares to the more traditional groups .
1 Like
If i wanted to play as an individual and still progress in a mobile game, i wouldnt choose E&P. SG has made it clear they’d prefer if those players chose a different game as well.
3 Likes
While you certainly can be in a one-person alliance, that will sharply limit the 
of the titans you can take down. Big titans give better loot. It does make it easier to get 100% participation in wars, though. 
5 Likes
thanks for the link that was an interesting read, and he did better than I thought! As for rewards, we fight 10 & 11*, with an occasional 12*, rarely do I get anything for higher tier ascension mats.
1 Like
The 4* epic ascension mats are extremely rare loot drops regardless of what tian you fight. The key point is they are less rare from big titans than from small ones. Furthermore in a solo alliance, you’ll need to take down 6* titans solo to get to loot tier IX with its extra ascension mat slot. Good luck with that.
2 Likes
@JonahTheBard Thanks for tagging me, as 1 man alliance 
@LadyAnesthesia sorry for late replay, I had lately problems with notifications.
Well being in 1 player alliance is working great for me. I can take down 3☆ titans down but not all colors, or the hard 1☆/2☆ titans with the most hp values.
Some times 1☆ titan comes with 135k hp but it usualy comes with 88k.
Ofc higher titans are giving better loots no douts. But what a 1 player ally seeks is his/her freedom, we are addicted but we have life! We can’t be all time in E&P
So we - and we are too many- let go of titan loot -chances for better- and aim on titan boxes where the chances better any way. We seek the freedom and it gets us to that point of peace where you get all the time needed with no one to ■■■■ you off commanding you to do better bossing you and pushing all the time thinking he/she is incourging you but infact making you getting off this game!
So point is free time play VS better titan loot.
WE have chosed already your turn 
3 Likes
Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful response! I am enjoying my current alliance and the people in it, but have been in groups where I really was not enjoying the game. Then I saw some one-person alliances, set to invite-only and it made me think what that would be like. It does have a certain appeal, but I also enjoy the group dynamics and banter when in a good group. I wish you luck and good boards, and again, thank you for the glimpse into your world.
1 Like
A good titan hitter can reach and stay about 4* titans alone, that means loot tier 7 with little to no items at all and zero stress.
Not bad to end my empire and puzzle carreer.
That is a good Titan hitter … till now I only have 1 4/67 5☆ Darke sad Lee.
Rest are 2^60 Liana, Justice and Horgal as 5☆s and punsh of 4☆ maxed and 5 squads of 4☆ 3^60s . Only 2 dark tho.
So ofc I can’t stand all colors and will be cheating on my self if I tried to get 4☆ titans. Unless I can chose color then I can kill 4☆ dark ones.
But sadly we can’t chose our hits.
Never forget that idols often have feet of clay…
I find playing a solo alliance is fun - for me. Others may enjoy the camaraderie of an alliance more than I do.
The way I see it, the cons of going solo are:
- Less good advice readily available than a good training alliance will have. There’s the forums and Peer Support chat ingame which can substitute though.
- Slower acquisition of materials. Bigger titans, better chance of goodies. Solo alliance, you’re stuck with baby titans. I’ve never gotten 4* loot off the 1 to 3* ranged titans I fight. 3* unfarmbles do show up from time to time.
- Wars put you at the mercy of the RNG for tiles. A couple of bad boards can cost a solo player their war. In a big alliance things are more likely to average out, with someone having good luck boards when another finds nothing works today, but when solo it’s all on you.
- More limited social interaction overall. That’s a con for a lot of people, but likely a pro for someone who’s happy to fly solo.
My advice for someone considering going solo:
- Try to find a good training alliance at least at first. There’s no obligation to stick around if you don’t like it but the initial help can give you a boost in direction and help you avoid common initial mistakes, like feeding away Bane.
- If you plan on spending money, the VIP is as good a deal as you can get. If you intend to keep on spending regularly, set a budget and stick to it. The odds can be beaten, but they do suck. When buying a deal stick to ones with guaranteed loot, not a chance of loot.
- Be patient. Playing solo is guaranteed to be slower than a more cooperative approach.
- However you decide to play, have fun doing it, and don’t let anyone tell you you’re not doing it right as long as you enjoy yourself playing.
1 Like