Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade - An Experienced Player's Breakdown

By Nham Vu · Updated July 2026

Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade is a real-time strategy mobile game built by Lilith Games and released in April 2018, originally under the name Rise of Civilizations. I've put a few hundred hours into it across two kingdoms, and it still stands out in a genre stuffed with clones because the historical commanders and civilization system actually change how you play, not just how your city looks.

This piece covers what the game is, how the civilization pick and troop progression work, whether it holds up on PC, and the questions new players keep asking on forums and Reddit threads. I'll flag the parts that trip people up early, because the tutorial glosses over a lot.

What Is Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade?

Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade is a massively multiplayer real-time strategy game where you build a city, train troops, and fight other players' kingdoms on a shared world map, not isolated instances. Lilith built it on the Unity engine, and it runs on Android, iOS, and Windows through the official client.

What separates it from most mobile 4X titles is that combat happens on one continuous map with everyone else in your kingdom, and alliances of real players coordinate rallies, farming routes, and territory defense together. There's no separate PvP arena tacked on. If a rival alliance marches on your city while you're offline, you can actually lose troops and resources, which gives the whole thing more weight than a typical idle builder.

How Do You Pick a Civilization in Rise of Kingdoms?

At the start of the game you choose one of the game's historical civilizations, each modeled on a real-world culture like Rome, China, Germany, or Egypt, and that choice grants permanent passive bonuses. Civilization bonuses touch things like construction speed, troop attack, gathering rates, or healing speed, and they stay with your account.

New players often ask what the strongest civilization is, and honestly the answer depends on your playstyle more than raw numbers. Rome and Byzantium lean toward strong all-around military stats, China and Korea suit gatherers and farmers, and Egypt or Arabia favor builders who want faster construction. The best players I've seen pick based on the role they want in their alliance, not a tier list screenshot from three patches ago, because balance changes shift these rankings regularly.

What Are Level 5 Troops and Why Do They Matter?

Level 5 troops are the highest current troop tier in Rise of Kingdoms, unlocked after researching through the military tree and building up your Academy and barracks-type buildings. Each troop type (infantry, cavalry, archers, siege) has its own tier ladder, and reaching level 5 requires serious investment in both time and resources.

In practice, troop tier matters more than raw troop count in most fights. A smaller force of level 5 troops with the right commander pairing will often beat a much larger stack of level 3 or 4 troops, which is why veteran alliances push tech research hard before chasing city hall upgrades. Getting there requires a list of prerequisites players commonly ask about:

• A high enough City Hall level to unlock advanced research slots
• Completed tier 4 troop research across your chosen troop type
• Enough gems, food, wood, stone and gold banked for the tier 5 unlock cost
• An academy and troop-specific building upgraded to support the new tier
• Time, since higher tier research queues can run for days

Can You Play Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade on PC?

Yes, Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade supports Microsoft Windows through an official PC client that Lilith Games maintains separately from an emulator workaround. This matters because a lot of older mobile strategy games only run on PC through third-party emulators, which can get you flagged or banned.

The official client mirrors your mobile progress if you log in with the same account, so switching between phone and desktop mid-session works cleanly. I play on PC most evenings just because managing multiple queues and chat with alliance mates is far easier with a keyboard and a bigger screen, and the interface scales up well rather than just stretching mobile assets.

Can You Still Jump Kingdoms in Rise of Kingdoms?

Kingdom jumping, moving your city to a different kingdom's server, is still possible in Rise of Kingdoms, but Lilith has tightened the rules considerably compared to the game's early years. Jumping typically requires a migration item obtained through events or the in-game shop, and it's usually restricted to certain kingdom age windows rather than open at all times.

New kingdoms open periodically and accept jumpers for a limited window before locking down, which is when you'll see the biggest waves of transfers. If you're thinking about jumping to chase a stronger alliance or escape a kingdom that's fallen behind in age progression, keep an eye on official announcements, because the migration item availability changes with events and isn't a permanent fixture.

How Do Redeem Codes Work in Rise of Kingdoms?

Redeem codes in Rise of Kingdoms are short alphanumeric strings that Lilith Games distributes through official social channels and partner sites, redeemable through an in-game or web-based redemption screen for resources, speedups, or gems. They typically expire within days to a few weeks of release, so codes shared in old forum threads rarely still work.

The safest approach is checking Lilith's own social accounts or the official ROK site rather than random code lists, since expired or fake codes waste your time and some third-party sites bundle them with sketchy downloads. Codes are a nice bonus for new accounts trying to catch up on resources, but they're not a substitute for actual gathering and alliance farming.