How to find someone to attack (the target lists explained)

Ok so the war module is finally here and you have an army, but now the question is, who do you even attack? At first I opened the attack page and felt lost with all the lists. After some clicking I understood what each list is for, so here is a beginner tour of how to find a good target. First, one rule that filters everything. You can only attack towns in OTHER countries, never your own countrymen. So every list already hides the players from your own country. Everybody you see is a valid foreign target. Good, less to worry about. Now the lists on the attack page. There are a few different ways to find targets, and each one sorts the enemy towns differently. Top gold miners. These are the towns that mined the most gold recently. Why care? Because when you occupy a town you take 10% of what it produces. So the biggest gold miners are the richest to tax. This is the list for players who want income. Top resource miners. Same idea but for raw resources, you can pick a resource and see who produces the most of it. Closest to you. These are targets in the countries nearest yours. This matters because your army has to march, and closer means it arrives much faster. Great when you want a quick strike. Weakest garrisons. These are the towns with the least defense right now. In other words the easy targets, the ones you can crack with a small army. For a beginner this is often the best place to start, pick somebody weak and practice. Best targets. This one is clever, it sorts by the most gold mined for each point of defense you have to beat. It is basically a value ranking, the best return for the soldiers you will spend. When you do not know who to hit, this list is a smart default. Browse all. Just every attackable town, and you can filter by country. There is also a search box to type a player name if you want to attack somebody specific. When you click a player from any list, a window opens where you choose how many soldiers to send, and it shows the distance, the arrival time and the defender defense points. So you get all the info before you commit. My beginner advice, start with the weakest garrisons list, pick a target in a nearby country, and send a bit more attack than their defense. Do not go straight for the biggest gold miner on day one, those are rich because they are often well defended. Learn on the soft ones first, then when you are confident use the best targets list to make real money. Since everything war is new, these lists are how we all scout each other now. Spend a minute reading them before you attack blindly. Pick the target that is weak enough to beat and rich enough to be worth it, and you are playing smart. That combination, weak defense plus good production, is the dream, and the best targets list basically finds it for you.