The Foundation

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 Army Management

The Helmet icon to the lower left of your screen is Army Management.  Here you can manage your units/troops and assign them to both your Attacking army and your Defending army. In each of your armies, up to eight units can fight. The two armies are separate; the Attacking army is the one you use to fight, the Defending army is the one used to defend your city.  You should always try to put as many troops as possible into an army. The units in your defending army defend your city. Fellow players have to defeat them when they attack you. But fear not: even if your opponent is victorious, all units/troops in your Defending army will be healed and revived to full strength immediately after any battle. To assign units to your Defending army, click the blue helmet button on the left and then click on the units you want to assign.  You can select defending units from both the current attacking army or from the available units. If you have unattached units (explained below) it is a good idea to use them for defense, as you risk losing them if you use them for your Attacking army. The assignment of a defending army is unlocked by completing the Military Tactics (tech) research in the Iron Age.  So, your Attacking and Defending armies are separated and unique from each other.

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If you want to attack another player or an enemy on the Continent map or in GE, you use the units in your Attacking army. They are not life protected (like the Defending army) and therefore can be destroyed or damaged in battle. So if a unit of your Attacking army is killed in battle it is terminated and you loss it.  You select troops for your Attacking army by just clicking or dragging them up to one of the eight army spots in the upper left quarter of your Army Management screen.

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The units shown at the bottom of your Army management screen are pools of the various units/troops you have in inventory.  You can use the various control buttons to sort them in several ways and use the left-right scroll to see more you have in inventory.  By scrolling all the way to the right, you come to a yellow cloud icon, hovering over this will list totals of different troops as the left-right scroll only shows 20 of a kind unit, rather than the 100+ you may have (eventually).

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As mentioned above, you have attached and unattached units/troops.  Attached units are ones that you have made in the relevant military building.  Unattached units/troops are units that you win as rewards from quests, GE, the continent map, or bought from the game store.   Incredibly valuble. they are not tied to any military building so when you remove a military building and the troops that they produced disband you are still left with all your unattached troops.  They are best used in defence of your city until you have better and afterward they are either for defence in GvG or attacking 2 spear city defences to get medals from earlier ages.  Unattached units/troops are shown in your Army Management window with a striped banner in the upper right corner of the unit/troops icon.

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Unit Types

In each age, there are five different base military buildings that produce the different base units of that time. The base units differ in their type.  There are fast units, light and heavy units and units with ranged or artillery attacks.  The different base unit types have different characteristics (generally outlined below) and offer bonuses verses other units of different types (graphic at end of article).

• Fast units have a good range of movement, but they cannot take much damage. They are a great way to take out ranged classes.

• The light units are genuine all-rounders: they are fast, inflict good damage and can withstand a lot. They are best at intercepting enemy heavy units.

• The heavy units are moderately slow and heavily armored. They are formidable opponents when they make it into close combat; there they outmatch any other unit.

• Ranged units are fast and can attack from a distance, and their attack causes significant damage. However, they cannot defend themselves and are easy prey for all units which manage to attack them in close combat.

• The artillery units are lost in close-range combat. They are very slow, very weak defense, and mediocre attack. Their big advantage is that they can cover almost the entire battle map with their attack and are able to selectively attack almost every unit. If used in numbers, it can take out enemy artillery units without getting damaged. It can also defeat most units from an age up and all the ages below.

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Additional, Special Unit Types

There are a few special units that one gain via quests, GE, and special events.  Each one has unique abilities that may give bonus to the individual troop or enhance your entire army.  Information about the special units can be found here.

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Special Skills

In addition to characteristics of the base unit types; there are some base units in the game that add a further layer of tactical options to the players by featuring special skills. Right now the following skills are in the game:

• Blast: This skill is only found on 3 units with ranged attacks, i.e. Howitzer, Microwave Blaster and Exoskeleton Soldier. A unit with blast deals more damage for every field it is closer to its target and ignores stealth.

• Stealth in (terrain): A unit with this skill can only be attacked from adjacent fields, as long as it stays in the specified terrain. For example, Jaeger Infantry, Ranger, Paratrooper, Commando, Strike Team, Stealth Tank, Hover Tank and Surrogate Soldier.

• Secret Identity: A unit with this skill completely ignores the first attack it takes. Instead, it transforms into an undamaged copy of another unit of your army, that does not have secret identity. If no such unit is left, the attacked unit gets removed from battle instead. For example, Rogue

• Chivalry: The skill is used by the High Middle Ages Knights and Late Middle Ages Heavy Knights (with Chivalry values of 3 and 5 respectively). The skill increases attack and defense when this is the only unit with chivalry in the army. Example: Champion (varies with values of respectively).

• Call of Duty: Grants attack and defense bonus to all friendly units when this unit is killed. (Can only be applied once.) Example: Champion.

• Dug in: Units with this skill gains defense bonus if the attacker is a certain amount of fields away. The distance varies upon the unit. Example: Cannon, Field Gun, Breech Loader, Rapid Fire Cannon, Sniper, Bazooka Team, MG Team, Anti-Materiel Sniper and Recon Raider.

• Rapid deployment: Units with this skill start the battle in a random location towards the center of the map and act before any other unit. Example: Paratrooper, Strike Team, Ultra AP and Drone Swarm.

• Close Quarters: Units with this skill gains attack bonus when attacking in adjacent field. Example: Conscript, Commando, Exoskeleton Soldier and Surrogate Soldier.

• Flying: Units with this skill cannot be attacked by artillery units and ignore terrain when moving. Example: Attack Helicopter, Combat Drone, Drone Swarm and Dragon Drone.

• Reactive Armor: Found on only 3 units, cannot take more than 4 damage per attack. Example: Assault Tank, Hover Tank and Battle Fortress.

• MIRV: A found only 1 unit in this skill, hits targeted units and between one and 3 additional units in range, able to target maximum 4 enemy units in one attack within range. Example: Missile Artillery.

• One-Shot: A found only 1 unit in this skill, unit is removed from battle after attacking and dies when battle is lost. Example: Missile Artillery.

• Contact!: Units with skill always retaliate against attacks within range, including enemy units are hidden. Example: MG Team, Anti-Aircraft Vehicle and Ultra AP.

• Heat: A found only 2 units in this skill, unit reduces enemy target's attack 20% and colors them red (does even stack). Example: Microwave Blaster and Satellite Spotter.

• Morale: A unit with this skill makes all friendly units start a battle with 1 point of armor, its will be extra 1 hp for all friendly units, for a total of 11 hit points. Does not stack. Example: Military Drummer.

• Recharge: A unit with this skill attacks every two turns. Example: Rail Gun.

• Power Shot: A unit with this skill ignores defensive skills and terrain, including ignoring Flying ability, Stealth, Dug-in, Chivalry, Call of Duty, Last Stand ignoring all enemy defense bonus from terrain, but does not ignore other skills, all enemy attack bonuses from terrain and enemy unit bonuses. Example: Rail Gun.

• Rally: A unit with this skill gives all friendly units with an attack and defense bonus at the beginning of a battle. Does not stack. Example: Color Guard and Military Drummer.

• Dragon Breath: A unit with this skill that attacks a row of enemies up to two tiles behind the target enemy without receiving retaliation. Example: Dragon Drone.

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Movement and Attack

The battle is fought in rounds. Basically, each unit moves and attacks once per round. They move according to their movement points, but each type of terrain will cost a differing amount. Directly after movement, if there is an opponent within their reach, the units can attack. Melee classes and fast units have to attack into an adjacent field, while ranged classes can shoot at an enemy within their range. There is no retaliation to fear from ranged attacks; however, in close-ranged battle, attacked fast and melee units can defend themselves.  It works like this: First, the attacker does its damage, then the one being attacked hits back. However, there is only one counter-attack per round: even the strongest unit can be defeated by a swarm of enemies this way.

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Terrain

On the battle map, there are different types of terrain. Forests, bushes, rocks, hills, water bodies, plains and swamps are examples of them. The Terrain offers two different effects in the game: Firstly, it affects movement. Water areas are impassable, and other types of terrain costs extra movement points when they are crossed. On the other hand, terrain can give battle bonuses: light unit get defense bonuses in bushes and forests, heavy units are better protected in plains, artillery units receive an attack bonus when they shoot from hills, whereas those with ranged units attacks deal more damage standing on rocks. Only fast units do not receive benefits through the terrain. Rough terrain benefits ranged units that stand behind it as both melee classes have movement range that are significantly smaller, therefore allowing you to hit the enemy effectively without the enemy attacking your ranged units the following turn.

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Damage

Each unit has a maximum of ten life points. The amount of damage points an attack deals is calculated using the current life points and the attack value of the attacker, the defense value of the attacked, modifiers for terrain, other bonuses (some units get bonuses if they fight against units of a particular type, as mentioned above and outlined in the graphic at the end of this article) and a random factor. Thus, a unit with a high attack rating deals more damage, and an uninjured unit inflicts more than a wounded one. On the other hand, high defense means good armor – the unit takes less damage. If a unit loses all its life points, it is destroyed.  Attack stats and Defense stats are not 1:1 (example a attacker with 7 attack hits a defender with 7 defense, one at first would think 7 from 7 equals zero, so the defender must be killed with one hit but this is not so).

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Bonus

The stats (attack and defense) of units may be further influenced by a percentile boost. While on some provinces of the Continent map, enemy units gain a percentage bonus to their attack and defense stats (easily seen in the sector view as small shield icons on top of the unit images),  Also, in GE as you advance in age so the defending natives in GE advance in attack and defending bonuses.  Native army bonuses (and more info about GE in general) can be found here.  There are three different types of bonuses that can boost the armies of players, they can be accumulated from certain buildings; examples are Watchfire, Ritual Flame, Monastery, special event buildings (and sets), etc, and some Great Buildings, like Deal Castle, CDM, CoA, etc, and/or bonuses may be temporary given via Potions and/or Tavern boosts   These three types of bonuses are:

 

• Defense boost: All units in the Defending army (not Attacking army) get a bonus to their defense stat only, which means they take less damage when attacked.

• Military boost: All units in the Attacking army or the Defending army (specified by the GB) get a bonus to both their attack and the defense stats, which means they take less damage and deal more damage.

• Attack boost:  All units in the Attacking army (not Defending army) get a bonus to their attack stat only, which means they deal more damage.

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Difference in Unit Age

Every Age the units stats change, typically getting tougher but not always the case.  As described elsewhere, it is possible for a player to gain troops beyond their age by going forward (beyond current age) in the Story Quest.  To give a base difference from age to age the following comparison took the average attack strength and defense strength of all 5 unit types per age and calculated them against the next age older.  

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Age     Base Strength   % stronger than previous Age troops

BA          5.5                         0% <no preceding age>

IA            7.5                         36%

EMA        10.5                       40%

HMA       15.5                        47%

LMA        20.5                       32%

CA          27.5                        34%

InA          30.5                        11%

PE           34                            11%

ME          51                            50%

PME        63.5                        24%

CE           88.5                       39%

TE           98.5                        11%

FE            127                         29%

AF            141                          11%

OF           169.5                      20%

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Battle Points

Battle points are awarded when, and only when, you win a battle.  The points are calculated off of the age of the units/troops; the amount of damage the Attacking army inflicted on the Defending army, plus your happiness modifier, minus the amount of damage the Defending army inflicted on the Attacking army.  So to get the most points possible it is not enough to just defeat the Defending army but to also insure that your Attacking army is not damaged too much.  Also, of note, your Battle points awarded for winning a battle are boosted, or not, by the level of Happiness you have in your city.  So a Enthusiastic city gets you a 20% bonus to your earned Battle points.  Battle points rank you in PvP Tournament, in GE, and your Battle points divided by 50 are added to your overall game Player Ranking.

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Strategies

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Reading the Unit Bar (at the middle bottom of your screen) - the Unit bar shows each unit, Attacking and Defending.  Your units that are unattached have the stripe banner indicating them.  You can hover your mouse over each unit and it will highlight the corresponding units place on the field (their hexagon outline will turn orange) and will change the field into 2 different shades around that unit - the darker shade is were that unit can move, the lighter shade is were that unit can attack (for shooting units).  The round area to the very left, displays the current unit that will be attacking. The units to the right in the square bins, are the units (yours and the enemy), in the order that they will fire/attack...  You can take advantage of using this "read" to place your units out of harms way of the opponent or "read" which opponent unit will attack first so you can hit them first.  It makes more sense to attack the one who can fire next, as opposed to attacking the one closest (who may have just fired at you and is now the last one in the firing order - a damaged unit firing at you will cause less damage on you).  There’s only one exception that we must be sure to consider when using this attacking strategy.  If a closer unit is about to take out or damage a key unit you have, you should always deal with that unit first.

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Hit your enemy first or another words skip your first turn...  Undoubtedly, you have noticed that when a battle starts troops are too far from one another to attack the first round (except on rare occasions).  So the first round of play is just about getting closer to attack.  If you skip your units the whole first round (i.e. don't move) then the defending troops will move closer to you, which means on the 2nd round you will be able to fire the first shot.  On occasion, this may require skipping the first and second rounds when fighting against slow moving heavy troops.  Of course, keep in mind artillery units can fire almost completely across the field, so if facing artillery this will only leave you free of damage the first round usually.  When facing only artillery (or mostly artillery), it may be prudent to ignore this hint and instead move first - as your troops must get across the field to be closer to attack enemy artillery; enemy artillery will generally try to move away from you while still attacking.

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Rogues are one of those Special Unit Types, they are basically utilized to add troops you do not actually possess to an army.  Thus, what you usually see is an army consisting of 1 or 2 “powerful troops” and 6-7 Rogues.  Such a set up means that each of the rogues, when hit, will transform into the "powerful troop" thereby expanding your (or your enemies) assets.  For a real player attacking and meeting a rogue defense, depending on what “Powerful Troops” that your enemy has deployed, normally this set up is quite easy to defeat by killing the 1 or 2 real troops first the rogues will have nothing to transform into and will die.  So, if possibly kill the 1 or 2 real troops first!  Having said that be careful as the enemies rogues advance, you don't want one of them hitting you first as a power 100+ hit blow you will take.  When a real player utilizes rogues in their attacking army one can take advantage in that the AI troops generally will attack all the rogues first.  When this happens you can take advantage of using the rogue as a 'decoy' to stave off attacks on your 1 or 2 real troops.  Thus, one may take advantage of asset expansion and bait ploys.  Of note; it appears the AI on the Continent Map is programmed a bit different than the AI for GE - as stated before, Rogues are usually targeted first on GE and PvP, however in the Continent Map the AI tends to target the original troop(s) first and not the Rogue - keep this in mind on the Continent.

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Some other notes about the AI;  the AI will always attack if there is something in range.  You can sometimes use this to bait enemy units away from your units with less defense stats (like artillery).  If there's nothing in range but a target just one square out of range it will often still chase that target even if it's the 'wrong' direction.  Fast units are particularly good at this style of baiting.  The AI tends to (not always) target different units with different units on the first hitting round - you on the other hand, should almost always concentrate your fire to kill fast, even on the first hitting round.  The AI tends to (not always) concentrate fire on an injured opponent after the first round but will generally not chase them if you move the injured unit and another unit is in range for attack.  Helpful to remember when trying to preserve injured units from being killed and/or trying to maximize your battle points.

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A word about 'Auto'matic fighting - so you have noticed the Auto fight/instant complete button on the lower left of the battle screen.  By pressing this you allow the AI control over your units and it will finish the battle to completion instantly.  I'm sure you have noticed how the AI allows for strategies to happen, like the ones spelled out here, the result is literally very poor city defense unless you have troops the next age up in your neighborhood (possible via finishing your current era quests and moving to the next era quests while you are still in the lower age) - so the AI is bad for defending your city but good when you attack someone else.  This same idea applies to GE or any other battle.  Thus, my advice is to never never never 'auto' battle, the only exception is if time is more important than your troop loss. To go along with this; you will notice that when you target a enemy unit for attack, your attacking troop moves automatically (if needed).  When chasing after enemy or when trying to get to artillery/ranged enemy troops you should always manually move your unit first, then fire (attack), this way you will gain a space or 2 closer to artillery or to the chase.

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Know your troops and your enemies troops!  Whenever possible (GE, continent map) review the enemy units via the Army Management window, the upper right quarter is the Enemy Defending Units.  Here you will see what units you will be up against.  You should hover over the unit icons and note what type of unit they are and what bonuses and buffs they have.  When there is a 2 phase battle you will see 2 red helmet icons beside the enemy troop icons, the red helmet with the roman I is the first phase and you can click on the red helmet with the roman II to see the units of the second phase.  Match your units to the units that oppose you.  For example; if facing a whole army of PE tanks (the 2nd fight of GE level 3) with a 50% attack and defense bonus, your best bet is using conscripts because in addition to whatever bonuses you may have (via GBs) the PE Light troop gains a 10 hit attack bonus and a 10 point defense bonus versus PE Heavy units - this will tip the scale in your favor.  A good rule of thumb is to first attack those enemy units can deal the most damage against your unit(s),  once eliminated, go after the enemy units that can deal you next most damage, and so on.  In a 2 phase battle were the enemy units are very diverse - select your best units to get through the 1st phase as undamaged as possible, then let phase 2 be a battle royal - again, going after the enemy units that can deal you the worst damage first.  A graphic is shown below - this is a map of troop vs troop bonuses.  Use it by identifying the icon of the unit you are fighting against on the right, then look for corresponding leftward units you may choose for your attack, the number represents the bonus (attack and defense).