Your four troop types
Train troops at the barracks:
- Footmen are cheap and steady, the backbone of any army.
- Riders are the fastest troops and hit hard.
- Bowmen strike from a distance.
- Catapults have the longest reach and the heaviest blow, but they are the slowest to move.
The exact numbers for each, and what they cost, are in Combat basics.
Training
Pick a troop, set the number and start training. The resources and workers are taken at the start. Two kinds of troops can train side by side, or three under VIP, and every barracks level makes the drill faster. Training you have already started keeps going while the barracks is being upgraded.
Every troop also eats food each hour for as long as it lives, whether it is at home or away. Keep an eye on your food income, because an army that cannot be fed starves. Resources and upkeep explains how.
A battle, round by round
Battles are fought live. Each round you give every troop type its order: advance, hold or fall back, and which enemy to target. Your rival does the same at the same time. Reading their moves and answering them is what wins a fight, not just the size of your army. Faster troops act first, and troops with no orders advance on the nearest enemy.
Holding your Bowmen back and letting the enemy come to them is a sound opening. If your signal drops in the middle of a battle, the game reconnects you to it.
Practise first
The battle simulator is free. Set up two armies and play out the fight before you risk real troops. Fortune and the order of strikes change on each run, so try a few different seeds.
Your general
Your general leads your armies. Equip a sword, armour, a horse, a manual and a ring, and enhance them to make every battle count. Generals and treasures covers attributes, skills and equipment.
Protecting your city
The ramparts hold traps and turrets that fight for you when you are attacked, and the hidden cellar keeps part of your stores out of a raider’s hands. Both are described in Buildings.