Land battle

A land battle occurs when a player or alliance attacks the town(s) of another player or alliance.

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The basic breakdown
A land battle will occur in either situation:


 * A pillage mission
 * An occupation mission

Battles are broken up into rounds. Each round lasts 15 minutes, and the battle will only end with one party ending victorious in any of the situations:


 * All of the enemy player's non artillery, air, or support units are killed.
 * Either the attacker or defender surrender.
 * Morale reaches a low point and the units flee. __NOWYSIWYG__

The beginning of the battle
The battle does not officially begin until one of the Walls possible breaches are destroyed, therefore bringing several siege weapons is highly advised. If the enemy has more units than their wall can garrison, the wall will not appear until the enemy's troop numbers have fallen below the garrison limit. Walls have defensive features, so can damage an army before any breaches have been achieved. There are some bits of a battle that need a slightly larger comprehension of the game, but it still is fairly simple. The main aim in a land battle is usually to breach the wall losing the least number of heavy, light and ranged units. __NOWYSIWYG__

Strategy

 * 1) If you can, recruit many Steam Giants or Hoplites as they both serve as your front line. Steam Giants are suggested for when waving tactics are being used, and Hoplites are suggested for when waving tactics are not being used.
 * 2) Swordsmen form the Flank lines on the battlefield. They are the key to winning long battles, as after the flanks are broken the swordsmen inflict heavy damage on the enemies Long Range battle line followed by the Front Lines. If you run out of swordsmen, you lose.
 * 3) Long-Range Fighters should fight from the wall or behind strong troops(such as the front line infantry) as they can attack the enemies front line troops through their own front line and cause many casualties. (Use Sulfur Carabineers, if you can not, then use Archers or Slingers).
 * 4) Gyrocopters are the swordsmen of the sky. If you have enough to kill all your opponent's gyros then you have command of the sky. Gyrocopters target balloons first and ignore the other gyros, so if one side has balloons and the other doesnt, the gyros on the side with no balloons will take heavy losses until the other sides' balloons are destroyed. Balloon-Bombardiers can decimate an army if the skies are clear, or serve as bait to protect your gyrocopters while they kill the enemy copters. Gyrocopters and Balloon bombers can cause hundreds of casualties per turn if unopposed.
 * 5) Cooks and Doctors are very useful. If you can, bring many, so that you maintain high morale and have few losses. However, if you have Steam Giants then there is no need for doctors, because they can not be healed and they will just raise your upkeep cost. Only 30 cooks are needed to maintain 100% morale thought a battle.
 * 6) Remember, units have an upkeep cost, so keep as many units as it takes to defend your town, but not so many that you go bankrupt. __NOWYSIWYG__

Morale
Morale is one of the main driving forces of a battle, affecting one of the three possible outcomes of the battle. When a battle starts, morale is at 100% for both sides. However, during the battle morale decreases by varying percentages(the standard is 10%) every round, therefore if no cooks are present, a battle can only last (usually) at maximum 10 rounds. Morale is affected by many things, including the amount losses, the presence of a town wall, army size differences, how many cooks there are in a battle, and how many allies/enemies are in the battle.
 * You can see the morale percentages of the players that take part in a battle by scrolling down in the detailed battle report. Also, you can see how and how much their morale has changed in a particular round by mousing-over the percentages. __NOWYSIWYG__

Garrison limits
The attacking player might be forced to fight in the largest size battlefield format, regardless of the size of the town under attack. This happens only when the defending units' body count is more than the Garrison Limit of the town they defend. This has many strategic defensive advantages, to mention a few:


 * The element of surprising the attacker who is expecting to fight a certain battlefield size with closed flanks and a wall, only to find themselves fighting an open field with open flanks. They may not be prepared for this and did not send flanking units in the first wave, which will result in a slaughter of the attacking ranged units and artillery if the defense have unopposed flank units
 * Fighting few rounds in open field while defending army is losing units will exhaust attackers artillery units munition. When enough casualties are sustained by the defender that the army body count is less than the garrison limit, the battle will move behind the Town wall. This means increased chances of defeat for the attacker if they are out of artillery munition, or still have munition but is not enough to take down the wall, or cannot send a new artillery reinforcement wave. __NOWYSIWYG__

The battlefields
The size of the Town hall affects the size of the battlefield. With every advancement of battlefield, a larger amount of troops are deployed at once. The rest are all classed as reserves and will only come into battle to replace another unit who was killed. If the Heavy Infantry (Hoplites & Steam Giants) line is broken and no other Heavy Infantry units can replace it, other units from the Light Infantry and Long-Range Fighter categories will replace them, however they are will die faster and in much greater numbers than a standard Heavy Infantry unit. This means that, to make Light Infantry and Long-Range Fighter units do their jobs, you must first fill the Heavy Infantry spaces. __NOWYSIWYG__

Good battle examples
Bring enough fully upgraded Steam Giants or Hoplites, Swordsmen, Sulphur Carabineers, Mortars and lots of Auxiliary units to fill all the corresponding spots and have some extra in reserve, especially for the Sulphur Carabineers, which only have 3 rounds of ammo. The Heavy Infantry will create a very good defense, the Swordsmen will attempt to flank the enemies, successfully if the enemy has no light infantry. The Sulphur Carabineers will shoot the target with their Harquebuses, the auxiliary troops will heal the Heavy Infantry and feed all the troops, and, assuming there are no Balloon-Bombardiers, the Artillery units will be safe to destroy the Town walls. __NOWYSIWYG__

Bad battle examples
Attacking a village with a simple army such as some spearmen, swordsmen, a few slingers, no rams, and maybe a cook with about 30 hoplites will probably be unsuccessful because Heavy Infantry and Artillery units are lacking. But let's say you're attacking with an army of 20 hoplites and several of the other types. Since a square of positioning takes 30 men max you will only be able to partially fill 1 square with your Hoplites. Soldiers from the other lines (Archers, Swordsmen etc) will fill the slots but will be quickly defeated. __NOWYSIWYG__

Tips
If you want to attack a big town that you can't afford to fill its front battle line but you have confirmed that they don't have (or have very, very few) defenders in that town, just send your Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry units, in order to protect the Long-Range Fighter and Auxiliary units. This is also useful if your aim is not a serious fight but want to go there with a good battle plan. If you have no other options, sending just Light Infantry, Heavy Infantry and Artillery units should suffice. __NOWYSIWYG__

Battlefield layout



 * 1. Support units
 * Can only contain units from the "Support" class. (ie. "Cook", "Doctor")
 * Can contain an unlimited amount of units.
 * The support units do not take part in combat action and can not be killed.


 * 2. Bombers
 * Can only contain units from the "Bomber" class. (ie. "Balloon-Bombardier")
 * "Balloon-Bombardier" have a size of "2", and so can only fit 1/2 of the number of "slot spaces" listed on the charts below.
 * The units with the strongest weapons are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Artillery, Long-range weapons battle line, Front battle line, Flanks


 * 3. Artillery
 * Can only contains units from the "Artillery" class. (ie. "Ram", "Catapult", "Mortar")
 * ALL current Artillery units have a size of "5", and so can only fit 1/5th of the number of "slot spaces" listed on the charts below. (ie. Max always 6 units per slot)
 * The units with the strongest weapons are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Front battle line, Flanks


 * 4. Long-range weapons battle line
 * Can only contain units from the "Long-range fighter" class. (ie. "Slinger", "Archer", "Sulphur Carabineers")
 * "Sulphur Carabineers" have a size of "4", and so can only fit 1/4th of the number of "slot spaces" listed on the charts below.
 * The units with the strongest weapons are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Front battle line, Flanks, Long-range weapons battle line


 * 5. Front (close-combat) battle line
 * Is initially only occupied by "Heavy Infantry". (ie. "Hoplite", "Steam Giant")
 * "Steam Giant" have a size of "3", and so can only fit 1/3rd of the number of "slot spaces" listed on the charts below.
 * If no Heavy Infantry is available, the following units will take their place:
 * Light Infantry.
 * Long-range fighters that do not have any munition left.
 * The units with the least health points are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Front battle line, Long-range weapons battle line, Artillery, Flanks.


 * 6. Flanks
 * Can only contain units from the "Light Infantry" class. (ie. "Swordsman", "Spearmen")
 * The units with the least health points are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Flanks, Long-range weapons battle line, Artillery, Front battle line


 * 7. Air defense
 * Can only contain units from the "Air Defense Fighters" class. (ie. "Gyrocopter")
 * The units with the strongest weapons are positioned first.
 * Attack sequence: Bombers, Air defense


 * 8. Reserves
 * The reserve takes all the units (of any class) that do not fit on the battlefield. __NOWYSIWYG__

Firing order
Up to six formations can be positioned on a battlefield. The same formations on both sides of the battle shoot at the same time.

The individual formations and shot sequence on the battlefield are filled and shoot in the following order:


 * 1) Air defense:
 * Gyrocopters
 * 1) Bombers:
 * Balloon-Bombardiers
 * 1) Artillery:
 * Mortars &rarr; Catapults &rarr; Rams
 * 1) Long-range weapons:
 * Sulphur Carabineers &rarr; Archers
 * 1) Front line:
 * Town wall &rarr; Hoplites &rarr; Steam Giants
 * Swordsmen &rarr; Spearmen (when moved to the front battle line)
 * Slingers &rarr; Archers &rarr; Sulphur Carabineers (when out of ammo and moved to the front battle line)
 * 1) Flanks:
 * Swordsmen &rarr; Spearmen __NOWYSIWYG__

Battlefield images and deployment
The battlefield background image will change depending on the size of the town you are attacking. __NOWYSIWYG__

Levels 1 through 4
A town of Level 1 - 4 is classed as a Village. The smallest battlefield format allows the following:


 * 3 slots x 30 spaces = 90 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry to fill the front line.
 * 3 slots x 30 spaces = 90 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighters.
 * 1 slot x 6 spaces = 6 spaces allowing Artillery.
 * 1 slot x 10 spaces = 10 spaces allowing Air Defense Fighters.
 * 1 slot x 10 spaces = 10 spaces allowing Air Defense Bombers.
 * 2 slot allowing unlimited number of Support units.

Towns leveled 1 - 4 are too small to allow the maneuvering for Light Infantry units, therefore there are no slots for flanks. __NOWYSIWYG__

Full deployment formation

 * 90 Hoplites or 30 Steam Giants
 * 90 Slingers, 90 Archers or 21 Sulphur Carabineers
 * 6 Rams, 6 Catapults or 6 Mortars
 * 10 Gyrocopters
 * 5 Balloon-Bombardiers
 * Unlimited Cooks
 * Unlimited Doctors __NOWYSIWYG__

Levels 5 through 9
Towns leveled 5 - 9 allows the following:


 * 5 slots x 30 spaces = 150 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry to fill the front line.
 * 5 slots x 30 spaces = 150 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighters.
 * 2 slots x 30 spaces = 60 spaces allowing Light Infantry.
 * 2 slots x 6 spaces = 12 spaces allowing Artillery.
 * 1 slot x 20 spaces = 20 spaces allowing Air Defense Fighters.
 * 1 slot x 20 spaces = 20 spaces allowing Air Defense Bombers.
 * 2 slot allowing unlimited number of Support units. __NOWYSIWYG__

Full deployment formation

 * 150 Hoplites or 50 Steam Giants
 * 150 Slingers, 150 Archers or 35 Sulphur Carabineers
 * 60 Swordsmen or 60 Spearmen
 * 12 Rams, 12 Catapults or 12 Mortars
 * 20 Gyrocopters
 * 10 Balloon-Bombardiers
 * Unlimited Cooks
 * Unlimited Doctors __NOWYSIWYG__

Levels 10 through 16
Towns leveled 10 - 16 allow the following:


 * 7 slots x 30 spaces = 210 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry to fill the front line.
 * 7 slots x 30 spaces = 210 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighters.
 * 4 slots x 30 spaces = 120 spaces allowing Light Infantry.
 * 3 slots x 6 spaces = 18 spaces allowing Artillery.
 * 1 slot x 30 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Air Defense Fighters.
 * 1 slot x 30 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Air Defense Bombers.
 * 2 slot allowing unlimited number of Support units. __NOWYSIWYG__

Full deployment formation

 * 210 Hoplites or 70 Steam Giants
 * 210 Slingers, 210 Archers or 49 Sulphur Carabineers
 * 120 Swordsmen or 120 Spearmen
 * 18 Rams, 18 Catapults or 18 Mortars
 * 30 Gyrocopters
 * 15 Balloon-Bombardiers
 * Unlimited Cooks
 * Unlimited Doctors __NOWYSIWYG__

Levels 17 through 24
Towns leveled 17 - 24 allow the following:


 * 7 slots x 40 spaces = 280 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry to fill the front line.
 * 7 slots x 40 spaces = 280 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighters.
 * 6 slots x 30 spaces = 180 spaces allowing Light Infantry.
 * 4 slots x 6 spaces = 24 spaces allowing Artillery.
 * 2 slot x 20 spaces = 40 spaces allowing Air Defense Fighters.
 * 2 slot x 20 spaces = 40 spaces allowing Air Defense Bombers.
 * 2 slot allowing unlimited number of Support units. __NOWYSIWYG__

Full deployment formation

 * 280 Hoplites or 91 Steam Giants
 * 280 Slingers, 280 Archers or 70 Sulphur Carabineers
 * 180 Swordsmen or 180 Spearmen
 * 24 Rams, 24 Catapults or 24 Mortars
 * 40 Gyrocopters
 * 20 Balloon-Bombardiers
 * Unlimited Cooks
 * Unlimited Doctors __NOWYSIWYG__

Levels 25 and up
Towns leveled 25 and higher allow the following:
 * Note :
 * If you have a lower level town and go over the garrison limit you will see this battlefield as well.


 * 7 slots x 50 spaces = 350 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry to fill the front line.
 * 7 slots x 50 spaces = 350 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighters.
 * 6 slots x 40 spaces = 240 spaces allowing Light Infantry.
 * 5 slots x 6 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Artillery.
 * 2 slots x 30 spaces = 60 spaces allowing Air Defense Fighters.
 * 2 slots x 30 spaces = 60 spaces allowing Air Defense Bombers.
 * 2 slot allowing unlimited number of Support units. __NOWYSIWYG__

Full deployment formation

 * 350 Hoplites or 112 Steam Giants
 * 350 Slingers, 350 Archers or 84 Sulphur Carabineers
 * 240 Swordsmen or 240 Spearmen
 * 30 Rams, 30 Catapults or 30 Mortars
 * 60 Gyrocopters
 * 30 Balloon-Bombardiers
 * Unlimited Cooks
 * Unlimited Doctors __NOWYSIWYG__

Unit types
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Heavy Infantry
Heavy Infantry are the basis of the army, and will occupy your front line. if you do not have enough of them to fill the front line, Light Infantry and Long-Range Fighter units will move up, so to make those units stay in their slots, a full front line is needed. Heavy Infantry will attack the opponents Heavy Infantry and/or Town wall. 30 Hoplites can fill one unit slot of the battlefield, except for the 2 largest battlefield sizes, which take 40 and 50 to a slot. It takes 10 Steam Giants to fill a spot, or in the 2 largest battlefield sizes, 13 and 16. Barbarians-Axe Swingers are also considered as Heavy Infantry and 30 of them can fill one unit slot of the battlefield.


 * Note: Heavy Infantry units will not spread themselves out across the Heavy Infantry spaces, they all try to get into full groups, and thus will only have a complete line if enough troops are sent.

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Light Infantry
Light Infantry units are vital for the protection against flank attacks. Light infantry will occupy your flank. Light Infantry units will attack your opponents Light Infantry until your opponent has no more Light Infantry, after that, they will attack Long Range units and Heavy Infantry. They will move to the front line if it starts to break. Each of these take 30 men to fill up one battlefield slot and 40 men to fill up one slot on the largest battlefield.

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Long-Range Fighter
Long-Range Fighters attack your opponents front line. They occupy the long range battle line behind the front line. Long Range units also have a limited amount of ammunition, though they can share ammo with other Long Range units of the same type in the reserve. They will move to the front line if it starts to break. 30 of each Slingers and Archers comprise a battlefield unit, or 40 and 50 in the 2 largest battlefield sizes, but only 7 Sulphur Carabineers will completely fill a slot, except for the 2 largest battlefield sizes, which need 10 and 12 per slot.

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Air Defense
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Fighter
There is only 1 type of Fighter Pilot to occupy the Air Defense slot, the Gyrocopter. Gyrocopter can attack other air units, but can not attack any land units. A different number of Gyrocopters will fill a battlefield unit, according to the battlefield size.

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Bomber
There is only 1 type of Bomber to occupy the Air slot, the Balloon-Bombardier. Balloon-Bombardiers will first attack the opponents' Artillery, then they will begin attacking their Long-Range Fighters. A different number of Balloon-Bombardiers will fill a battlefield unit, according to the battlefield size.

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Artillery
Artillery weapons are essential for breaking down a higher level Town wall, providing large amounts of attack power. They will first attack the opponents wall, if your opponent has no wall remaining, the damage will go to other front line units. It is important to note that if your opponents wall is partly destroyed, all the damage will go to the remaining wall segments. Additionally, once a Town wall becomes Level 24, Rams can not do any damage to it. Although Catapults can damage any known level wall, it becomes very slow at higher levels, so mortars are recommended. Artillery will never move to the front line, therefore the close range attack is useless or only used when they run out of munition. Each of these weapons take 6 units to fill a battlefield slot.

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Support
Auxiliary troops occupy the reserves. They will not engage in combat, and thus, the battle will end if an opponent has only auxiliary troops remaining. These troops are the only type of unit of which you may have an unlimited quantity. Doctors will restore health, and Cooks will restore morale.

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