Travian Glossary

A reference for the terms you'll encounter on private Travian servers. Each entry briefly explains what a term means and how it affects your choice of server and how you play on it. Terms link to each other, and you can jump straight from an entry to matching servers.

Tribes

In Travian you pick one of the tribes, and it shapes your whole playstyle. The three base tribes are Romans (balanced, strong but expensive troops), Gauls (defensive, fast troops, friendly to newcomers), and Teutons (aggressive, cheap troops, raiding-focused). Some servers also offer extra tribes. Your tribe choice sets the tone for development and warfare, which makes it the first big decision in the game. Related: Romans, Gauls, Teutons

Romans

Romans are Travian's balanced tribe: strong but expensive troops and a unique ability to upgrade buildings and resource fields at the same time. They're considered a medium-difficulty option suited to players who want a sturdy, all-round army. Roman troops consume iron. Choosing Romans works well if you value powerful troops and flexibility between growth and war on a private server. Related: Tribes, Gauls, Teutons

Gauls

Gauls are Travian's defensive tribe, with fast troops, solid defense, and quick merchants. They're widely considered the best pick for beginners thanks to their speed and defense bonuses and a more peaceful playstyle. Gaulish troops consume clay. If you prefer holding your ground, building up strength, and taking fewer risks early on, Gauls are a comfortable tribe for a calm start on a private server. Related: Tribes, Romans, Teutons

Teutons

Teutons are Travian's aggressive tribe: weak but cheap troops and slow, high-capacity merchants. Their style is raiding and pillaging neighbors, which makes Teutons the hardest tribe to master but also the most forceful. Teutonic troops consume wood. If you're drawn to active warfare and putting pressure on opponents from the early game, Teutons offer the strongest offensive potential on a private server. Related: Tribes, Romans, Gauls

Resources

Resources are the backbone of Travian's economy: wood, clay, iron, and crop. They're gathered from resource fields around your village and spent on buildings, troops, and research. Consumption depends on your tribe — Romans need iron, Teutons need wood, Gauls need clay. Managing resources is the core of the strategy, so how fast you gather them (based on the server's rates) largely sets the pace of the whole game. Related: Rates, Village

Village

A village is the basic unit of ownership in Travian: it's where you build, gather resources, and train troops. Over time players found new villages and conquer others, expanding their empire. Conquest goes through an administrator (senator, chief, or chieftain, depending on tribe) who drives a village's loyalty down to zero. The number and development of your villages define your power, which makes growing them the main goal of a round. Related: Resources, Alliance, Conquer

Conquer

Conquering a village in Travian is how you take over someone else's settlement by driving its loyalty down to zero. To do this you train an administrator (a Roman senator, Teutonic chief, or Gallic chieftain) and send them in with an attack, usually escorted by troops. Conquest is a key tool of expansion and alliance warfare. Being able to defend your villages from conquest and to take enemy ones is part of playing at a high level on a server. Related: Village, Alliance, Artifacts

Artifacts

Artifacts are special Travian items belonging to the Natars tribe that grant powerful bonuses, such as faster construction or lower crop consumption. They come in village, account, and unique tiers based on their scope of effect. To capture an artifact, you attack a well-defended Natars village with a hero, destroy its treasury, and win the fight. Artifacts heavily shift the balance of power in the middle of a round and can decide the outcome of alliance wars. Related: Natars, World Wonder, Alliance

Natars

The Natars are a non-playable NPC tribe in Travian that guards the artifacts and, at the end of a round, the World Wonder plans. Their villages are heavily defended, and once construction of a Wonder begins, the Natars attack the village building it. There's also a separate non-playable "tribe," Nature, made up of animals in the oases that can only be attacked, never played. Understanding how the Natars behave matters most in the mid and late stages of a round, when its outcome is decided. Related: Artifacts, World Wonder

World Wonder

The World Wonder is the final goal of a Travian round. Toward the end of the round (the exact day depends on the server), the Natars release the Wonder plans, and coalitions of alliances start building it. The first player to bring a Wonder to level 100 is declared the winner of the round. Building a Wonder demands huge resources and coordinated defense against Natar attacks, making it the culmination of a server's entire strategic and team play. Related: Natars, Alliance, Round

Alliance

An alliance is a group of Travian players who band together for joint defense, warfare, and building the World Wonder. Winning a round alone is nearly impossible, so coordination inside an alliance is at the core of the game: shared defenses, attacks, artifact hunting, and division of roles. An alliance's strength and organization largely decide the round's outcome, so how active its community is worth checking before picking a server. Related: World Wonder, Conquer, Artifacts

Round

A round is the full game cycle of a Travian server, from launch until one coalition wins the race for the World Wonder. Unlike endless MMORPGs, a server here has a clear start and finish, after which the world resets. How long a round lasts depends on the server's speed. Knowing what stage a round is at helps you decide whether it's worth jumping into a particular server right now. Related: World Wonder, Server Speed, Rates

Server Speed

Server speed is Travian's multiplier for the game's pace: on speed servers (such as x3, x5, and higher) construction, resource gathering, and troop movement all happen faster, compressing a round from the many months of a standard server down to a noticeably shorter run. Speed servers suit players who want a fast-moving game without a long wait. Speed is almost always listed in the server description, so it's worth weighing against how much free time you have. Related: Round, Rates

Rates

Rates in Travian are the overall speed multiplier affecting resource gathering, construction time, and troop movement compared to a classic server. Low rates keep the slow, deliberate pace of the original game; high rates speed up development and warfare. Rates and speed are the two things players use most to choose a server, so they're usually listed near the top of a server description, alongside the expected round length. Related: Server Speed, Round, Private Travian Server

International Server

An international Travian server is aimed at players from different countries: communication is usually in English, and alliances are formed from all over the world. Such servers tend to keep a more stable population and larger alliances thanks to their broader reach, which matters for wars and the race for the World Wonder. If you're looking for a server with an international community, this label helps you tell it apart from local, single-region projects. Related: Private Travian Server, Alliance

Private Travian Server

A private server is a project run by a team of enthusiasts outside the game's official infrastructure, often on older versions of the engine. Each server sets its own speed, rates, tribe lineup, and round rules, so projects can differ quite a bit from one another. Private Travian servers let you play at the classic slow pace or on fast builds with shortened rounds — and that's exactly what's worth checking before picking one. Related: Rates, Server Speed, Tribes