Sending 500 million silver by caravan hands roughly 100 million of it to tax, and the usual workaround - both players dropping their Shield of Peace - leaves two cities open to anyone watching.
The Citadel trick in Total Battle moves resources between two shielded cities with no tax: both players march on the same citadel, the giver lands first and destroys it, and drops a portal on the empty tile. The receiver's march arrives at the portal and walks straight into the giver's city.
What is the Citadel trick in Total Battle?
It is a resource transfer disguised as an attack. The silver changes hands as ordinary battle loot, so neither player pays the caravan tax and neither has to drop a Shield of Peace.
Two roles, and it helps to name them before you start:
| Role | What they do | What it costs them |
|---|---|---|
| Giver | Destroys the citadel, portals onto the empty tile, moves their army out, and holds the silver | Their army sits outside the city for the length of the window |
| Receiver | Marches on the same citadel a little later and arrives at the portal instead | One march, sized to the load they need to carry |
The trick is entirely about arrival order. The receiver's march is committed to a map tile, not to a target, so whatever occupies that tile when the march lands is what it hits.
How do you transfer silver without paying tax?
Six steps, and step 5 is the one people forget:
- Pair up across clans. The giver and the receiver must be in different clans - see the next section for why.
- Pick a citadel both players can reach and send two marches at it, timed so the giver's army lands clearly first and the receiver's is still in flight.
- Giver destroys the citadel. The tile is now empty.
- Giver places a portal on that tile, which puts their city where the citadel stood. The portal master building is what enables this.
- Giver sends their army out - to a clan fort or anywhere off-city - before the receiver lands. Leave troops at home and the receiver fights them and loses troops instead of collecting silver.
- Receiver's march arrives at the portal, enters the giver's city, and leaves with the silver. Both shields are still up and no tax was paid.
How much moves per run is capped by what the receiver's march can carry, so a large balance is several runs, not one.
Why does it need a player outside your clan?
Because you cannot attack your own clan mates. If both players are in the same clan the march resolves into nothing and no report appears in either journal - which is exactly what a failed attempt looks like.
The way around it is an alt in a third clan, used as a staging city - how to run silver alt accounts covers getting one into a clan and keeping it cheap to run:
- Giver runs the trick against the alt.
- The alt runs it again against the intended receiver.
That is a minimum of two runs for one transfer, plus extra runs if the amount is larger than a single march carries.
How much caravan tax does it save?
About a fifth of the load. On a 500 million silver transfer the caravan tax is roughly 100 million, and that is the entire reason players put up with the timing and the army shuffle.
| Method | Shield of Peace | Tax | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caravan transfer | Kept by both | ~20% of the load (100M on a 500M transfer) | Nothing to arrange, you just pay |
| Drop shields and attack | Both drop | None | Both cities are exposed while unshielded |
| Citadel trick | Kept by both | None | Needs a citadel, an outside-clan partner, march timing, and an emptied city |
Clans already use it for a specific job: paying a CP-run host. Instead of every participant caravanning silver to the host, everyone pays into a silver bank city in a CP run and the host collects the whole pile in one attack through the portal.
Why did my attack leave no battle report?
An attempt that produces no journal entry on either account failed before the fight, not during it. Work down this list:
- The two players are in the same clan. The most common cause, and the one that produces exactly this symptom - the attack shows against the portal but no report lands anywhere.
- The giver arrived second. The receiver hit a citadel that was still standing, or an empty tile with no portal on it.
- The giver's army was still home. The transfer happens, but the receiver fights the defence and pays for it in troops.
- A CoK flag is involved. One report says it will not run while you gain a flag in CoK. That is a single account, not something confirmed across many runs.
As of 2 September 2026 the trick still works: players ran successful transfers the same day others reported failures, and the failures traced back to the same-clan mistake rather than to a patch.
Frequently asked questions
Does either player lose their Shield of Peace?
No. Neither city drops its shield at any point - that is the difference between this and the straightforward "both drop shields and one attacks" method.
Can you move resources other than silver?
Yes. It is a normal plunder, so it moves resources generally; silver is simply the one worth the trouble, because it is what trains guardsmen, specialists, and engineers and the amounts involved are large.
How many runs does one transfer take?
One if the players are in different clans and the balance fits a single march. Two if you have to route through an alt, and more on top of that for every march-load the amount exceeds.
Is the giver's city defenceless?
For the length of the window it is defended by its Shield of Peace and nothing else, because the army has been sent out. Keep the window short: move the troops out just before the receiver lands, not hours ahead.
Before you run one
Line up the partner first, because the outside-clan requirement is what actually breaks most attempts. Then agree the arrival order out loud, count the march timers before either army leaves, and confirm the giver's troops are out of the city - if the receiver comes home with silver and no losses, you did it right.
How much silver did you transfer in an exchange?