1. The turn i switch to defense mode, I lose half of my battle points. Will this affect my retal if someone attacks me that turn?

2. In successive turns, as I hold my front line and attack in defense mode, what kind of modifiers do I face as I attack?

Thanks.

1. retal is not affected, even better cause of higher defense.
2. your attack has 10 p0ints less and your troops move slower (only half as fast as before)

it does affect ur retal, u get double retal in d mode in that turn for campaigns. in battles u just get wat viva mention

Defence mode is only useful in a couple of situations. I have not found it useful in battles at all.

The benefit of a higher defence in a battle isn't worth the cost. You lose 10 attack points, 50% bp, and only move at half MP. You gain 10 defence points.

In campaigns it can prove very useful. However going into defence mode has to be carfully thought out. Using defence mode at the wrong time could leave your troops out of the fight for 1 or more turns.

You lose the same as you do in battles, but you get a little more in campaigns.
What you gain in a campaign:
10 defence points
Double retaliation (Your unit retaliates against the first 2 units to attack it. The type of attack does matter, melee being attacked at range still gets no retal)

The big question, When is it good to use defence mode?

Most will say when you have been driven back to your castle and want to make your enemy pay dearly for the conquest. There are times though when you may want to use defence mode when you aren't losing.
I usually use defece mode when my force is out numbered by my attacker,and I want to hold that position as long as possible.

Note that I don't use defence mode in wide open areas. This is because your units can be easily surrounded. You need to choose good defence locations and use ZOC properly in order for Defence mode to work.

I have also discovered the hard way that attacking in defence mode isn't good. That is because I am typically using defence mode to hold a specific spot,against a larger force. You lose troops when you attack, so does your opponent, but if he has larger numbers then he can afford to lose extra troops. By not attacking you keep that unit alive longer, hopefully long enough to get reinforcements to the area.

My numbers may be off, if they are I am sure someone will correct them.

Defense mode is good in a number of situations. Of course defending a castle. When you have trained small amounts of melee, but lots of ranged and you use your melee mainly to protect your ranged units. When you have a ton of commanders backing up your troops increasing their attack rating you may be willing to sacrifice some offense for some more defense.

In battles there might be times for defense mode also. Such as your in a situation where the enemy is gona get the first hit. Defense mode may be the difference between losing the whole unit or losing all but 1-2 troops. Thereby giving you a throw away attack to take away a retal for the next turn.

i notice sometimes if the first attack is not strong enough, the defending troop will retal on the second hit.
Does anyone know the math on this? I wonder if it goes by number of troops in my first Army, or the amount of battle points used. For example, is my army of 5 spearmen with 131% battle points as good as an army of 7 spears as far as diffusing retal?

well, if after retal the defending troop still has 41% retal left. This only happens if the 1st attacking unit is destroyed.

In battles, one retal taking attack is enough to always defuse a troop, as long as it wasn't a knight.

In camps, I am a bit unclear, but isn't it that you have to take whatever retal points a troop has before it stops retaliating? If that takes multiple troops, so be it.

What is the formula for this?

Mog the last I knew in battles a knight only got 1 retal.

Unless you were refering to a knight's special ability that doesn't allow retal. That first sentence is a bit ambigous as macemen retal against all attackers, preventing their retal from being defused.

Ok, for clarity, in a battle, any attack with a melee troop against another melee troop takes all the retaliation from that troop for that turn. The exceptions are: Knights never take retaliation from anybody. Knights have one retaliation against attack per turn. Macemen always retaliate against every melee attack.

Ranged troops only take retaliation from melee troops if they are touching the troop they attack. Ranged troops take retaliation from other ranged troops. The exceptions are: If a ranged troop has a longer range than the troop it is attacking, and is out of the range of that troop due to it having a longer range, it takes no retaliation. Once a ranged troop has been attacked by another ranged troop or a melee troop it has no more retaliation left for that turn.

hmmm, just to clarify things.
*I`ll make sure i use a proper english in this...geezz*
I thought the bp of an army will affect its retal against opponent? Or has that change?
For instance, an army of 40% bp will retal less damage compared to an army of 100% bp.

i dont think Bp has anything t o do with retail but i dunno

It doesn't, at least not in my experience.

If anything, there is a hidden "Defense BP" that is not used up by moving, at least in campaigns. This explains why attacking with a small stack, then a large stack, will not save the large stack from all damage.

However, attacking with the small stack first WILL save the large stack SOME damage. Attack a large stack with one of your stacks, and you'll lose a goodly number of your troops. Attack wtih a 5 pop first, THEN your stack...you'll still lose a goodly number, but slightly less, because instead of 100% defense BP, your opponent is likely now at...98%.

I'd like to see some tests done on this, now I'm interested. But, in general, I operate on the belief that there is some sort of "defense BP"

Isn't it true that a unit in defence mode can absorb "retal" without receiving as much damage as it would in normal mode? I sometimes use defence mode for this purpose.




edit = rephrased

Last Edited : Thursday, 1 June 2006 - 06:31

Jux, yes and no. It gets a +10 increase in defense levels, but a -10 decrease in attack levels. Other than that, the damage algorithm works the same way. Except you get 2 defense retals in campaign/duel games. You can use the Combat Calculator to see the effect of the level changes.