Ive joined a battle and the majority of troops is ranged.
infact, there is only 2 melee units, a knight and a commander.

how should i set up my strategy?

Eek, thats insane.

I'm having trouble picturing this in my head, though. I'd say (I may be wrong) that whoever takes out the opponent's knight first wins. A whole stack of knights will have a field day with ranged troops, so allowing your opponent to keep his knight too long would be doom. I'd advise making SURE you get first strike (auto battles set up like this one are completely determined by first strike) and during that first strike, shoot the enemy knight with ALL of your ranged and hit it with your knight. If you do this properly, his retal won't be as strong as your first hit (because HIS knight will be crippled or dead). After that, its just a matter of killing off the rest of his troops.

If you're unsure that you'd be able to get first strike...try protecting your knight with your low-level ranged (archers). It may be unorthodox to use ranged troops to protect melee, but the knight is the key to this battle. With a line of archers protecting your knight, your opponent has to make a choice.

(A. Use all of his range on your knight, and then use HIS knight to simply kill off an archer.

(B. Use some of his ranged to kill off the archer shield, and THEN hit your knight with his knight.

(C. Ignore your knight, and try to take out your high-powered ranged (marksmen).

If your opponent chooses option C...I think that would be best for you. You would then, in retaliation, attack HIS knight with your *full* knight and your slightly diminished ranged troops. Even though your opponent got first strike, they did so badly, so you could win.

If they chose option A, the situation MAY be salvageable, depending on how much power his ranged had in destroying your knight. If your knight is still useful (not completely crippled) then your melee hit on his knight PLUS your ranged troops could balance out his attack, maybe even put you ahead.

If your opponent choses option B (and as long as it didn't take TOO MUCH of his ranged power to kill the archer shield), then most likely your knight is completely crippled. In that case, you're most likely going to lose.

So, make sure you get the first strike .

Last Edited : Friday, 19 November 2004 - 16:13

arbs could serve as your melee troops if you have alot

I'm guessing he wasn't able to use your advice in time Sage...

1 The_Seeker 1413 (200) 755 (148) 2.401216
2 antt 755 (148) 1413 (200) 0


Or perhaps The_Seeker choose option B?

Using arbs as melee wouldn't make a LOT of sense, at least not until the enemy knight is dead. The reason I suggested using archers as a shield was that they were expendable. Any ranged unit is going to die in droves against a knight, even the tough little arbs.

Using arbs in melee, however, is good when they can melee against balista/marksmen. In my experience, thats the only time when the arbs melee properties are useful on OFFENSE. While it's always nice to not suffer the ranged penalty when you're defending, against melee troops its always better with arbs to shoot from a distance. However, against other ranged troops, the melee abilities of arbs are VERY nice

According to the rules, it should be better to strike as melee with an arb than ranged. This is because they get no melee penalty but do get range penalties...

I have seldom used arbs, but those strange occassions they have served well.

range 2 and 3 doesnt get any range penalties
so its better to attack from tat point rather than go melee
afterall,its health isnt really good-it dies easily

I know many people don't like/use the Arbs but I have lately been on the receiving ends of a horde of Arbs. ethedog uses them with just a few other troops to block access to great effect.

Using Arbs he repeatedly wiped out my troops and eventually took my castle. I was much impressed.

for me...tat actually depends....its good vs sum1 wit a few or no range army(u can get tat free attack and he cant attack u without the normal casualties)....but then...its range is smaller than all other range...so tats the bad part

Gueritol...take into account that when you attack, using arbs, in melee...that arbs die from retal. That's obviously bad...so attacking from 2 or 3 hexes is optimal.