Aging up and moving into a new era is both exciting and terrifying. You get to grow and explore further, but at the same time you’re going to be fresh and vulnerable. One of the trickiest balancing acts of the game is definitely deciding when to move up, and when to stay put. Moving up too fast means you can’t strengthen your city to be able to handle it, but moving too slow means you’re hindering your growth and potential. So where is that delicate balance? It will vary for each individual play style, but these are some general things to consider.

One of the biggest things is how your stores look. When you age up, you’re going to be researching technology, and therefore unlocking it. This often costs goods, supplies, and coins in various combinations. Making sure you have enough going into the next era will greatly help your ease of moving through the era to get what you need without much delay or headache. Remember too that you’ll be changing out your buildings, and this also costs coins and supplies. Most won’t run out of coins because you get plenty with aiding, but supplies are a bit more lucrative. Setting a goal amount before moving up, and achieving that goal is recommended. What era you’re moving into will determine how many you want to have. Generally speaking though, by the time you get to Industrial Age if you have paused at the end of each era you won’t have any shortage of supplies or coins. From there on up it’s just goods.

Depending on the guild you’re in, and the activities of said guild, getting a bunch of unattached troops might be a consideration you have. If your guild is very active in GvG, having a supply of unattached troops for your era gives you the ability to still help with that era in GvG, without having to place barracks back down or utilize Alcatraz right away. This is very handy because the GvG maps are largely unpredictable and you never know what you might need! There is no penalty for having hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unattached troops just sitting around. So even if you’re not in a GvG guild right now, if you think you someday might be, it doesn’t hurt to just hang on to those unattached troops. They’re not hurting anything after all.

Achieving specific levels with Great Buildings, or making sure you build certain Great Buildings, before advancing an era are very good goals, too. Having well-leveled Great Buildings can really change your game, and make things easier in the long-run, so it’s definitely worth while to sit for a bit to gain a few more levels on them before you move ahead. What Great Buildings you have or want will change depending on your play style, but if you’re unsure perhaps have a look at the guide on what Great Buildings are right for you. This gives some good guidelines for any play style to help you sort out what you might want. Making sure they’re leveled up to 10 if they’re something you plan on keeping is a great strategy to have before you get too far past the era you built them in, to achieve maximum base effectiveness. Being in a supportive guild will help you level your buildings much quicker, so it’s also recommended to find a good guild.

Looking ahead in the tech tree also isn’t a bad idea, so you can start planning on the changes you’ll need to implement in your city to accommodate the new age. Will you need space for goods buildings? Are you going to need more population? Do your barracks need to be changed out? Or perhaps you’re about to jump from Industrial Age to Progressive Era where you make the dreaded leap into two lane roads. That one has been known to trip up many the player, because suddenly you need more space dedicated to some roads. Valuable space, at that. By the time most get to Progressive Era, their towns are packed pretty full of stuff after all. Looking ahead and pre-planning in your head or with City Planner (not available on mobile) can be a big help here!

There are likely many other things one might consider before choosing to age up into a new era, but these are definitely some of the basic ones to consider. Depending on your individual game play, or the requirements of the guild you’re in, there may be other things you need to look at as well. Part of the beauty of the game is the individuality it can have.

Perhaps the most important thing though, is to never age up until you’re comfortable with aging up. Don’t feel rushed to do so, because rushing benefits no one, least of all you. It can make you a much easier target for those looking to attack and plunder your city. There is nothing wrong with sitting for a bit to grow stronger, first.