Read This First: The Age Is the Level
A city’s progress is its age plus its Great Buildings. The account market prices exactly those two things (plus banked Diamonds, which cannot be transferred any other way). Everything in this guide serves one of the two: research pacing for the age, contribution discipline for the buildings. Our Diamonds farming guide covers the balances behind both.
The corollary for returning players: the target moves. Version 1.346 changed the Building Menu and added a mobile Energy Saving Mode; 1.345 smoothed the Item Store and quest display; 1.344 reworked the building upgrade window to show the full upgrade path including Silver, Golden, Platinum and Ascended versions. A progression guide ages with the changelog, and this game’s changelog is dated and public — the best Patch Watch feed in its class.
Research Pacing: Spend Points Forward
Forge Points unlock technologies, and each age’s tree must be substantially climbed before the next age opens. The pacing discipline is simple to state and easy to break: keep the bar emptying (a full bar is deleted income), research in the order the age rewards — the 1.345 update made finished quests more visible in the early ages, which is the game itself nudging new cities to clear their quest lines alongside research — and do not rush an age change before your goods production can fund the new one.
Age changes are one-way doors: the city that advances underfunded stalls harder than the city that waited. The market knows this, which is why listings pitch developed, funded cities rather than raw age.
Great Buildings: The Compounding Layer
Great Buildings are where progression compounds: built from blueprints, levelled by Forge Point contributions — yours and other players’, which is why the contribution dialog’s Forge Point calculation earned its own bugfix in 1.345 — and paying out bonuses that scale with every level invested. A city’s Great Building portfolio is the difference between two accounts of the same age, and the account reviews reflect it.
Invest deliberately: a few buildings levelled deep outpay a skyline of shallow ones, and contribution spots on other players’ buildings are a blueprint-and-medal income stream in their own right. The 1.346 changes to the Building Menu (new Sell, Move and Flat mode icons) are cosmetic; the economy under them is untouched.
The Two-Week Cadence
Plan around the version rhythm: 1.344 on September 21/23, 1.345 on October 5/7, 1.346 on October 19/21, 2026 — a dated release roughly every two weeks, International server first. Events, passes and store refreshes ride that rhythm (1.346’s headline change is Pass and Quantum Pass progress showing in tooltips), so the efficient city is the one played in step with it: event currency spent inside its window, pass progress claimed before rollover.
No date for 1.347 was published at our check; the cadence, not a calendar promise, is the planning tool.
Buying Progress
The only bought progression for this game is a whole account: G2G’s shelf ($55 to $1,890 at our check) and PlayerAuctions’ ($25 to $5,250, 5.0 across 20 reviews) sell cities with the climb already done — age, Great Buildings and banked Diamonds in one credential transfer. Our buying guide carries the risks and the checklist. See the Forge of Empires page for the reviewed market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is leveling in Forge of Empires?
The age climb: Forge Points spent through each age’s technology tree, with Great Buildings as the permanent power layer. There is no character level — listings and players alike describe a city by its age and its buildings.
How often does Forge of Empires update?
Roughly every two weeks, with dated official changelogs: 1.344 on September 21/23, 1.345 on October 5/7 and 1.346 on October 19/21, 2026, International server first, other servers two days later.
What changed in version 1.346?
Pass and Quantum Pass progress now shows in tooltips, the Building Menu’s Sell/Move/Flat mode icons changed, and mobile gained an Energy Saving Mode (30 FPS) option and a Player Information copy option for support tickets, alongside Stellar Age and Great Building bugfixes.
How much does a developed Forge of Empires account cost?
G2G’s category ran $55 to $1,890 and PlayerAuctions’ $25 to $5,250 at our check, priced on age, Great Buildings and banked balances — one reviewed account carried 256,310 Diamonds.
Sources
Checked October 20, 2026. Game systems change with patches, so confirm numbers in game.
- InnoGames Knowledge Base: Update to version 1.346 (released Oct 19, 2026 International, Oct 21 other servers; 1.345 on Oct 5/7; 1.344 on Sep 21/23)
- G2G: Forge of Empires Accounts (category listing data $55 to $1,890, InStock; GamerProtect; accounts only — no Diamonds product)
- PlayerAuctions: Forge of Empires Accounts ($25 to $5,250 at check; 5.0 across 20 reviews; Diamond-loaded cities in delivered reviews; login details auto-delivered or sent within 24 hours)
