Did you read all the stuff in this thread, warstrike21? If you did you should have a better idea about how to find information and contact folks personally.

If you find yourself with a specific question, or just want to chat, come to IRC chat or WEB chat. Players will be more than happy to help you learn whatever you need to know.

If you can't figure something out that you need to know quickly, message me.

hi i am new and i dont know what the hell i am doing,,my msn add is ahmed_jig@hotmail.com,,someone please add me and tech me

Try IRC chat or WEB chat. there ar plenty of people willing to help you there

yes the web chat and irc chat are really good places to learn wat you need to learn ,but the training game is a awesome place to learn ,thanks to the new updates the training game is doing a fine job , and do as you are doing also looking in the forums get imformation there aswell ,good luck .

Make sure to read the training and do alot of turns atleast 10.

how do you do those smiley face thingys?

you type the normal characters for them like

: ) =
: D =
: ( =

Except do it without the space in between.

How to Battle

By the eternal theorycrafter, ~DG.


If you read this, you'll likely be a new player. You'll probably ask, "what IS a battle, anyway?" Well, little kidlets, let Uncle DG tell you.

A battle is a small-scale tactical engagement with absolutely no pretence of economy or kingdom management. It's your army, vs another players' army, on a relatively small map.

This guide is designed to teach you the basic theory of battles, and, more importantly, how to play lots of them.


To begin, there are two kinds of battle: Scenario battles, and Custom battles. Scenario battles are battles with predetermined troop configurations: both you and your opponent get the same set of troops as decided before the game.

A custom battle, however, adds an extra dimension of tactical thought to the battle: you must decide on what troops you will deploy BEFORE the battle begins, with absolutely no knowledge of your opponents' own troop setup.


When you begin a battle; (specific guides on how to host and join games are hosted elsewere) you will be greeted by your friendly troops in a rectangular construct called a "castle". The castle has two entries and exits. Click on certain hexagons, and you'll find there are "roads", which usually lead out of the castle and are coloured white: these give your troops a speed bonus.

Move your troops outside your castle, and begin moving to the other side of the map. Do not bother with any sort of formation at this point, you will NEVER engage an enemy on the first turn of the game.

When your turn comes around again (ending turns is also explained elsewhere), it's time to be more serious. Move your melee troops (any troop that doesn't have a ranged attack) up front, with your ranged troops behind. This is to ensure your ranged troops aren't killed early: they are EXTREMELY fragile to melee attack.


Now it is time for me to introduce to you a crucial element of battles and key in all combat you'll have in your career: Rock-Paper-Scissors.

All non-ranged troops are given a category: Rock (Macemen, Pikemen, Spearmen); Paper (Militia/Swordsmen, Squires, and Knights); or Scissors (Scouts, Falchioniers, and Heavy Cavalry). As a rule of thumb, anything with a sword is a Paper, anything on a horse is Scissors, and anything with a spear or mace is a rock-type.

As in the game, Rock-Paper-Scissors, in combat each type does better against one type, and does worse against another. For example, if I use Squires (a paper troop) against Pikemen (a rock troop), I will do better than if I attacked with another Pikeman. If you ever forget the type of a unit, merely click on it, and it will be revealed on the information panel on the right hand side of the screen.

As a rule of thumb, Scissors troops are fast, Rock troops good on defense, and Paper troops better on offense.

How does this affect me, you say?

Well, remember how I said to move your melee troops up first? If possible, move rock troops up the very front: this will help repel any sudden strikes by your opponents' quick Scissors units. Don't fear any Paper attacks: its' not going to happen this early.

During turn 2, you have to start scanning the terrain as well. Look for places in which you can maximize the range of your own ranged troops, while exposing them to little threat from enemy melee troops, and, most importantly, look for a place where you can fit more troops into the battlefield than your opponent.


This is an important facet of battle: very rarely in a battle will all your troops be fighting at once: normally you will have four or five fight and die, while the next five wait in line for their turn. Therefore, ALWAYS LOOK for a position where you can fit more troops into the battle line (the line where the two players' melee troops will battle) than your opponent. Getting in that extra free hit per turn weake

weakens your enemies' next attack and means you have more troops than he does.


After this, there's little I can explain; it all comes down to what your opponent is doing. If he uses a frontline full of rock-type troops, just move your own troops back, and give room for your Paper-type troops to give his front line a hiding.


When it gets down into the dirty melee, you'll want to use every trick in the book to try to keep your own blokes alive. Sometimes this involves sacrificing a weaker stack of troops, say, Spearmen, in exchange for keeping an extra Maceman or two alive.

This trick is known as "soaking up retal". Move in your weaker stack, and attack the enemy frontline stack. Your weak stack will most likely die, but now that frontline stack has no retaliatory attack left. Move in your big guns, and try to knock that one stack down with EVERYTHING you have. Believe me, its' usually better to let your opponent have one healthy stack than have two medium-health stacks.

DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER use this trick against Macemen: their special ability allows them infinite retaliation attacks.


On that note, be mindful of your troops' abilities. Use Knights to soften up targets along with ranged, because Knights take no damage from retaliatory attacks. Use Macemen on the frontline, because they are impervious to retal soaking. Use squires against heavy ranged, because they have resistance to ranged assaults. Most Scissors units have a percentage chance to deal bonus damage: you can't calculate this, but be aware of it when your opponent attacks. Pikemen are extremely effective vs. scissors troops.


Now, while I might rant and rave about Rock-Paper-Scissors, it's not that crucial. If sacrificing a rock stack against a Scissors stack allows you to breach the enemy front line, by all means do it. Take every piece of advice with a grain of salt, because every rule has its' exceptions.

For example, there are four "tiers" of units: Basic, Advanced, Expert, and Master.

Basic: Scout, Swordsman, Spearman, Commandeer, Archer
Advanced: Pikemen, Squire, Arbelest
Expert: Falchionier, Macemen, Ballista
Master: Knight, Heavy Cavalry, Marksman

(The last unit in each category is ranged).

The Commandeer, however, is a crucial addition to any Custom army setup. His ability gives your nearby units an insane attack boost: don't ever go without one. He's worth the cost, but don't try to use him in combat, please.

Now, while I've been going on about Rock-Paper-Scissors, you need to realise something: it's not everything. Using Spearmen, a Basic rock troop, vs Heavy Cavalry, a Master Scissors troop, will result in the HC taking about 10 damage, and one less stack of Spearmen you have, plus you'll have a lovely ornamental blood spot to stand in.

Don't try using basic troops at all in battles, except to soak retaliatory attacks. Advanced troops are iffy at best, Falchioniers are overshadowed by Heavy Cavalry, while at Expert the long-ranged ballista are becoming a favourite of battlers.


One last thing: DO watch out for blood spots: don't fight in them, they result in a rather nasty -10 attack and/or -10 defense penalty.

In short, the player who understands the battlefield, knows his army, and knows his theory, will be the victor.

Believe me, the best way to learn battles is to go out there and lose a lot of them.

~DG.

Here are a few things I did not find in the manual but learned on my own.

- Only Commandeers can take a Castle. The manual says "click on your army."

- Only Commandeers can take a building from an other player.

- It only takes an army of 2 to destroy a resource. Similary, Commandeers of 2 can take most buildings & repair as well.

- Campaign turns begin at midnight, and 30 minutes before the timer says.

- Attacking Heavy Cavalry with a Falchionier (sp?) is a death wish.

- Clicking on a ranged army shows their range in dark gray.

- If you capture a castle, you may get the other player's armies thaqt were in it.

- The most damage you will do to a wall is 250/turn/army regardless of the army's size (at least med vs. large) unless you are using rams or catapults.

- Movement is limited next to other armies. You can limit the movement of an army by bracketing them.