Lapallanch Family/Guide + Thoughts + Etc on the Military Aspect of the Game

Basics

Class

• Warrior - In Battlemaster, most nobles are considered warriors and have the ability to lead units of varying sizes and strengths.

Subclasses of Warrior
Hero - Has the capability to command basic units such as Infantry, Archer, and Mixed Infantry. Can acquire reinforcements without cost by enlisting volunteers (availability may vary). Can be killed in battle.
Cavalier - Specializes in leading Cavalry and Special forces units. Not able to loot. Earns at least one honor point per battle when fighting against non-peasant units.

• Courtier - Capable of commanding a small unit. Typically efficient in preventing losses from bandits or eliminating small rogue units.
• Priest - Unable to command any units.

Unit

• Type: The classification of your unit, including three primary types (Infantry, Archers, and Mixed Infantry) and two advanced types (Cavalry and Special Forces).
• Range: Mixed Infantry, Archers, and Special Forces possess at least one range, while melee units have none.
• Strength: The number of men in the unit, with wounded men indicated in parentheses.
• Training: The level of training of the unit, with better-trained units dealing more damage and panicking less on the battlefield.
• Weapons/Armor: The weapon used impacts the unit's hitting power, while armor affects the number of casualties caused by enemy hits.
• Damage: The damage to the unit's equipment. A higher value results in fewer casualties suffered.
• Morale: Affects the unit's Combat Strength (CS), with low morale potentially leading to desertion.
• Cohesion: Currently not well understood, but it increases the unit's CS to some degree.
• Combat Strength (CS): An indicator of the unit's strength, with Special Forces and Cavalry having a higher CS per man than basic unit types.
• Encounter Setting: The unit's behavior in diplomatic situations, with options including aggressive or murderous.
• Deployment Line: The row on which the unit is deployed on the battlefield.
• Deployment Formation: Different formations offer advantages and disadvantages, such as the Box formation being effective against melee but weak against ranged attacks.
• Designation: The unit's role, including Sentries (good for defending within your realm), Vanguard (reduces travel time), Police Force (helps maintain control of a region but not meant for combat), Mercenary Troops (reduces distance penalties), and Regular Army (default).
• Provisions: Necessary to prevent starvation.

Morale Checks

• The occurrence of panic among units.
• The scattering or retreat of units.
• Capture of the unit's commander.
• Police units suffer a significant decline in morale when they engage.
• Engaging in combat with Daimons (which can be negated by special items).
• Units experiencing a decline in morale proportionate to the number of units they are engaged with during close combat.
• Units suffering a loss of morale based on the number of hits sustained in combat.
• Units on the losing side experiencing an additional decline in morale at the end of combat.
• Prolonged battles can also result in a decrease in morale.

Basics for Marshal

Marshals are responsible for two main tasks: maintaining current orders and executing the plan of their general. Depending on the type of general, the role of a marshal may overlap with that of a general. However, a general who follows a recommended playstyle will delegate tactical responsibilities to their marshals while focusing on strategic objectives.

Upon being appointed as a marshal of an army, the first task is to familiarize oneself with the army members. This includes identifying responsive and unresponsive nobles, and tailoring one's approach to the needs of the army. For example, for less active armies, a marshal may need to encourage nobles to follow basic orders, while for highly active elite armies, a marshal may need to simplify complex orders to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

To accomplish this, it's recommended to:

• Send letters to each member to get to know them better,
• Move the army around to see who can keep up and who cannot.
• Be mindful of the real-life schedule of the players behind the nobles, and work around them instead of forcing them to conform to your orders.

To ensure the army is equipped and ready for battle:

• Make sure everyone has enough gold to pay their men for the duration of the campaign.
• Ensure that everyone carries enough scouts, healers, and banners for the size of the army.
• Familiarize oneself with the army composition and adjust unit settings accordingly.
• Learn about unit behaviors and settings, and use either custom settings or the marshal settings provided by the game.
• Read other guides offered by the Wiki to learn more about unit behaviors and strategies.

It is also important to keep in mind that Combat Strength (CS) is not the only factor in determining the effectiveness of a unit. Sometimes, having a larger number of men over CS is better as it allows for more damage to be absorbed in the initial clash.

Basics for General

As the head of the military, the primary role of a general is to set long-term goals that will lead to the realm's victory. It is not the general's responsibility to win individual battles; that is the job of the marshals. In a one-on-one war, the general's task is straightforward: set long-term goals that the marshals can achieve. However, when dealing with multiple armies, coordination becomes more complex and requires communication with allied generals to set common goals and guide marshals in achieving them.

To accomplish this, it is recommended to:

• Set objectives, with one main objective and several minor objectives that lead to its achievement.
• Secure resources for the armies to ensure their optimal functioning.
• Coordinate multiple armies if necessary.
• Only get involved in unit settings when marshals are unable to agree on them for a pitched battle.

In a defensive strategy, a general should:

• Be aware of the resources (gold, recruits, and paraphernalia) at their disposal and plan campaigns accordingly.
• Understand which regions can and cannot be held and prioritize their protection.
• Familiarize oneself with the geography of the realm and use chokepoints and militia units to their advantage.
• Be aggressive when able to hit enemies harder than they can hit the realm.
• Anticipate enemy plans and strike before they can.
• Focus on defending, but also gradually take the fight to the enemy to avoid prolonged recovery time for regions.
• Avoid large battles unless they are necessary for achieving major goals, instead focus on skirmishes to test the performance of troops.
• Use the "dig in" option with caution, as it may make the realm vulnerable to certain enemy army compositions.

It is important to remember that your role as general is to set the long-term goals and provide guidance to your marshals, who are responsible for achieving the objectives and winning battles. Effective communication, resource management and strategic thinking will be key for your successful as a general.

Battle Procedures(Updated 6/14/22)

The text provides a basic overview of the mechanics of how battlefields are controlled and how battles are conducted in a game. However, it could be improved by providing more detail and examples to help the reader better understand the concepts. Some suggestions for improvement include:

• Providing a clear definition of what is meant by "control of the battlefield" and the implications for the battle.
• Offering examples of situations where a unit may be considered "freshly arrived" or "stationary" to help the reader better understand the concept.
• Explaining the significance of being designated as the defender, attacker, or neutral role, and how it affects the units' behaviors and chances of winning the battle.
• Describing the different phases of the battle in more detail, including what happens during each phase, and how it affects the outcome of the battle.
• Offer some examples of different scenarios (like the weather effects, different unit combinations and different formation) to give the reader a better understanding of how the game mechanics play out in practice.
• Make sure to use more specific and professional terms when describing the game mechanics.
• Provide tips on how to best use the different phases of the battle to the player's advantage, such as when and how to use ranged and melee units.

Fortification (for both General and Marshal)

• It is important to plan your siege strategy in advance and gather enough resources, including siege engines, to ensure success. A general rule of thumb is to bring at least 10 siege engines per level of fortification you wish to breach. However, having double the amount can provide extra insurance against any complications that may arise.
• When defending a fortification, it is crucial to have a strong infantry presence on the walls to repel attackers and slow their progress. The longer the attackers are kept off the walls, the more damage they will take and the easier it will be to fend them off.
• It is important to note that if you are defending a fortification alongside allies, you cannot use the fortification's defenses unless there is at least one unit from the owning realm present in the region. Coordinating with your allies and ensuring that someone is always present to hold the fortification is key to successful defense.
• In addition to traditional military methods, it is worth considering non-military means to damage fortifications, such as using hammerfall scrolls. However, these items are rare and can be expensive, so it's important to weigh the cost and availability before committing to this approach.

Landing in a hostile region from a sea zone

• When planning an amphibious landing, it is important to consider not just the strength of the defenders, but also the terrain and fortifications of the region. Landing in a heavily fortified coastal region will be much more difficult than landing in a rural, undefended area.
• It is crucial to have accurate intelligence on the strength and composition of the enemy force before committing to a landing. This can be achieved through scouting and reconnaissance, or by gathering information from allies or spies.
• In addition to overwhelming force, using diversionary tactics, such as feints or diversionary landings, can help to draw defenders away from the main landing zone and reduce the resistance faced by your landing force.
• It is also important to consider the logistics of the landing, including the availability of transport ships, the capacity of the landing zone to support your forces, and the availability of supplies and reinforcements. Adequate planning and resources will ensure that your landing force has the necessary support to achieve their objectives.

Hunting Enemies

• Hunting enemies can be a highly effective strategy to weaken your enemies and gain an advantage in battles. It is important to note, however, that it should be executed with careful planning and consideration of the potential risks and costs involved.
• It is important to select the appropriate unit for hunting enemies. Units that are heavily armored or equipped with high-quality weapons may be less effective in hunting, as they are typically more expensive to replace and may not be as expendable as other units. Instead, consider using cheaper, more disposable units such as light infantry or scouts.
• When hunting, it is important to keep in mind the type of unit you are targeting. Archers, for example, are not well suited for hunting as they are not particularly effective in close combat. Instead, consider targeting units that are weaker in battle such as support units or supply trains.
• When planning your hunting operations, consider the terrain and geography of the area where you will be hunting. Look for choke points, ambush locations and other areas that will give you an advantage over your enemies.
• Be prepared to retreat if the situation turns against you. Do not take unnecessary risks and always have an escape route planned.
• It is important to communicate with your allies and coordinate hunting efforts to maximize the chances of success.

Opinions on Unit Types

Infantry

Infantry units are a solid choice for any army as they are not affected by weather conditions, unlike archers, and are not affected by complicated unit behaviors like mixed infantry. They are also relatively cost-effective compared to other unit types.

When forming an army, one of the simplest and easiest ways is to mass infantry units. They are reliable and do not require much thought when it comes to formation. When recruiting infantry units, prioritize armor to ensure they can withstand more damage. While they may not hit as hard as archers or other unit types, their main purpose is to swarm the enemy and break through their lines, as they have the ability to soak up a lot of damage before scattering and retreating.

When setting the casualty rate for infantry, aim to maximize it to keep them on the field longer. A good option for formation is either a box or line formation.

When building an infantry unit through a Recruitment Center, consider the following:

• Shock Trooper: If you want to use infantry to dish out damage, focus on high training, weapons, and armor stats.
• Anti-Cavalry: To soak up as much damage as possible, prioritize high armor (preferably above 80%).

It's worth noting that due to past bug fixes and updates, the effectiveness of infantry units may have changed. In 2016, a bug fix for archers made it difficult for infantry to reach them as archers would shred them before they got close. Currently, since archers no longer target the closest unit, infantry units have a better chance of reaching the enemy archer line if enough of them are brought and set to skirmish.

Archer

• Archer units are least reliable due to this unit type being heavily influenced by the random weather patterns of the game. There is no way to predict the weather and depending on what weather you encounter, your archers will either be the deadliest units or the most worthless units on the field. With no wind to reduce your hits, your archers will decimate even heavily armored infantry units.
• Archers are the most fragile of all unit types. They panic more easily than any other types when they enter a melee combat so it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep them away from your enemy's infantry line as long as possible.
• Due to their fragile nature, most of the time these units won't lose much since they will be placed behind everyone else, causing them to suffer the least. This means archers will usually end us being highly trained, highly cohesive, and most consistent damaging units on the field - unless you are fighting in a horrible weather condition in which case they will be as good as peasants.
• Set your casualty rate to minimum so your units ditch the field fastest as you do not want to risk losing all of your well trained archers in one failed battle. If you think the battle is going to be close and you want to absolutely win the coming battle, then set it to maximum.
• Archers mainly benefit from two settings: Box and Skirmish.
  • Box(low melee damage/high melee defense) will help archers take less melee hits while negating most of the setting's downside as archers are already bad at melee. Since archers are usually the most well trained units on the field, they can hold the line pretty well. If you lack infantry units to hold the line, you can definitely use heavily armoured archers to hold the line as well. But this is only recommended when you are forced to improvise.
  • Skirmish(low melee defense/high ranged defense) allows you to soak up more ranged hits. Skirmish setting is used the most in a siege battle where your archers willbe taking ranged attacks for many rounds.
• Your damage is divided by how far you are shooting from. If you are shooting from 4 ranges away, it will be divided by 4. The closer your enemies get to you, the harder you will hit.
• RC building guide for Archer:
  • Primary Damage Source: High training and high weapon. Other types will soak up the damage for you so armour is not needed as much.
  • Cheap but Effective: Low training and armour, high weapon. Training will go up overtime. Avoid losing too many men.
• Updates and Changes
  • (2016): Currently archers are quite powerful. There used to be a bug that crippled archers but ever since that got fixed, archers became quite powerful. Archers excel because you can damage your foes before they can get to you. If you use this fact well, you can mow down your foes enough for your melee units to finish them off.
  • (2018): Archers now target a random unit within their range.
  • (2021): Archers are still the most cost efficient unit in the game. Most used as well.

Cavalry

• Cavalry units are one of the most expensive unit types, second only to special force units. They are also one of the hardest hitting units. With enough cavalry units, you can even tear through strong infantry walls.
• Cavalry units are also the most worthless unit type when it comes to a siege battle. They can't use siege engines will stand in the front taking archer fires. You don't want to waste expensive cavalry units in sieging a city.
• if you are defending your city, you still want them around since your cavalries will start to charge toward them to push them off the wall if they manage to breach it.
• The cavalier class specializes in recruiting more cavalries. Since cavaliers also gain honour quickly, you will be able to field a large cavalry unit in no time.
• The most important characteristic of Cavalry is their ability to charge. Cavalry units will move 2 columns per turn until they hit their target, doing massive damage. To maximize the charge damage, it is important to use the 'wedge' setting.
• After the initial charge, cavalry units will work like a very expensive infantry until they have at least one column between them and their next target. Once they have the space required to charge, they will charge their next target.
• In order to counter the charge attack, you will need to either isolate the cavalry units(which will be very difficult due to the fact most realms putting their cavalry units in the back or rear) or have meatshield units to soak up the damage instead. You need to first predict where these cavalry units will be charging from and place your meatshields accordingly. This requires very delicate positioning of troops which is hard for even the best marshals. The simple way would be to have your own cavalry units to deal as much damage as your enemies to negate their damage. Do not send units in waves. Cavalry units will destroy them one line at a time. If you are going to send units to face cavalries, then just send them all in one go.
• Cavalry Charge is rather random. Sometimes you will land your charge, sometimes you won't.
  • This happens because sometimes some units move ahead of others. If your cavalry units move before their targets move within their charge distance, they won't try to charge their targets.
• RC building guide for Cavalry:
  • Shock Trooper: High training and high weapon. You want to do as much damage as possible. Low armour may help your cavalry pull out faster after the initial charge
  • Softener: Low stats. You simply want as many people recruiting cavalries as possible.
• Updates and Changes
  • (2016) Just like infantry, cavalry is not used much. You will melt before you get to archers.
  • (2018) With archer nerfs, cavalry is rather good against archers.
  • (2018) For some reason, attackers usually gain the upper-hand in getting the charge attack off. Defenders tend to walk into the attackers' charge attack.

Mixed Infantry

• Jack of all trades, master of none. They are not as good as infantry in melee battles but can't shoot as far as archers. But at the same time, they don't die as easily and can be used in any formation.
• Generally, people just put them beside infantry units. I personally, however, prefer putting them before archers but after infantry as they can buy more room for archers while able to still hit. Or put them by the archers so your archer line doesn't collapse too quickly.
• They are probably one of the best units against rogues along with archers and ranged special forces
• Max range for Mixed Infantry units is 3. Meaning they should probably be placed with your infantry line.
• Along with archers, they are probably the best monster killing units. They seem to grow stronger as you have more of them. If you have considerable number of these units, you can probably replace your infantry with them.
• RC building guide for Mixed Infantry:
  • Backbone: Range(3) + All high(could get away with a low training). Due to their inefficient way of fighting, if you wish to use them as your main unit, you need to get high stats for all. As long as you can keep fighting small battles to minimize the losses, you could go for low training to cut the cost and train them over time.
  • Fodder: Range(3) + low training and weapon but high armour.
• Updates and Changes
  • (2016) Along with archers, MIs are the most reliable.
  • (2021) Due to the ranged unit behaviour change which took place in 2018, MIs not as reliable. They are still good in their usual filler role.

Special Force

• Special Force (SF for short) units are the most expensive unit type. In terms of quality, there is no equal to these guys. They hit hard, last longer, and have a random special ability (nobody knows what they are. There are some guesses like built in siege engines, one additional ranged - giving them up to 5 range). Although they are powerful, not many people can command enough of these guys. You will see people with 100 or more infantry, archer, or mixed infantry more easily than see someone with over 70 SF units. You will be lucky to see even two sizable SF units in your army. Their weakness also is their advantage. Since they can reach higher CS easily with less men, they tend to be smaller yet powerful. This means they suffer less from overcrowding effect which most melee types suffer greatly. This means they can hit harder than anyone on the field exception of cavalry. Also, they come in two types, melee and ranged. Ranged SF units act like archers but they hit much harder than archers. This makes them decent even on bad weather days - very deadly on good weather days. Usually, in a long battle, these guys will out damage even cavalries.
• They are also ridiculously expensive. If you are not a duke or a rich region lord, you shouldn't even be bothering yourself with these guys. Also, if your honour isn't high enough, you won't be commanding a big enough unit to make any difference.
• If positioned well, they hit quite hard. Try to maintain as many of them as possible since they are quite expensive.
• You don't want to let new nobles commanding these. They can hardly recruit 10 and won't be making any difference. The best way to deal with new people who want to command these is by not funding them.
• Unlike archers, ranged Special Force units are good in melee as well. Of course ranged SF units are not as good compare to melee SF units in melee combat but they can hold their ground pretty well. There seems to be MI type SF unit as well so be aware if your enemy's SF seems to hit too hard in melee as well.
• The cavalier class is the best class for using these as it can recruit the most.

• RC building guide for Special Force:
  • Artillery: Range(5) + High weapon and armour, training can be on the lower side but preferably high. They are the best of the best. They only lack in melee against cavalry and melee SF. They will devastate most unit types before they even get near them.
  • Shock Troop: Range(0) + High everything. You can replace cavalry with melee SFs and they will perform excellently. Unlike cavalry units who do one big hit, melee SFs will do high hits every turn.
  • Cheap Hit Squad #1: Range(5) + low training, high weapon but low armour: You focus on the damage only. Cost efficiently way to run ranged SF.
  • Cheap Hit Squad #2: Melee + high training, low weapon and high armour: SF hit hard naturally. You don't need high weapon. But you want to last as long as possible to push your melee line forward.
• Updates and Changes
  • (2016) Ranged SFs are worth getting. Melee ones are not.

What not to do

• 1) BM is a turn based strategy game which limits all characters' movement to one region per turn meaning it is impossible to catch up to your enemies. Here are some reasons why you shouldn't chase your enemies.
  • a) I repeat: You can only move one region per turn. Meaning if your enemy is running away from you as well, you will NEVER catch them.
  • b) If you start swapping locations with your enemies, you are doing something seriously wrong.
  • c) The attacker is always in disadvantage in this game. It is easier to have people sit in one region than to make them move. Also, the defender has some good options to boost themselves - dig in/sentinel.

• 2) Not bringing siege engines to a siege battle. Doesn't matter if you have 17k CS and defenders only have 12k CS. The fortification of the region will break your men.
  • a) If you don't have siege engines you better have brought at least x2 of your enemy's CS with x3 of your enemy's infantry.
  • b) Besieging any fort is a major investment unless you are attacking an empty region. If you want to deny your enemy from using the fort then start a take over.
  • c) If you are cavalry or archer heavy, don't even bother attacking a well defended fort region.

• 3) Sending orders out too late.
  • a) Some people are not as active as you hope them to be. Your job is to fit your plan around the activity issue not to force it on people.
  • b) Suggest people to act according to scenarios so you don't have to send out orders every time. It is good to remind people which scenario to follow.

• 4) Abandoning choke points. Abandoning these will only make your war harder. There are handful of strategically important regions in this game and you really need to learn to use them.

• 5) Using the same settings for every battle. Different situations call for different settings. If you only use one setting, you will quickly find yourself without an army to lead.

• 6) Do not blame others for your own mistakes. Try to explain to them and discuss to not repeat the same mistake twice.

• 7) Changing orders too often. CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY!
  • a) Make your mind up before sending an order out. Don't change it four times a day. People can't adapt to your plans as quickly and as often as you might think.
  • b) People don't check as often. By the time they check again, it might be too late.

• 8) When you have too many units in one region (this won't happen for most players. You will need a lot of people in one region like something close to 40-50k CS worth of troops), don't order people to attack it over a day. Even a two turn move will reduce your CS by quite a lot since your road will be overcrowded. You want to have 20k CS each in two regions. That way you won't crowd the road as much.

• 9) Encourage people instead of pointing fingers at people.
  • a) Anyone can make a mistake or two. Complement people for doing well but do not point fingers for people's mistakes.
  • b) People will actually perform better if you keep on encouraging them to do better.

Other Guides and helpful pages

Note: Some of them are somewhat outdated but not by much. The general ideas are pretty much the same.

• Military Studies of Dwilight University
• Military Studies of Aristoi Atamarism (Somewhat outdated but VERY good. Should definitely READ!)
• Formation (Must READ!)
• Unit_Orders (Recommended)
• Regarding Military Hierarchy (Recommended)

Other factors that may change the outcome of a battle

1) Overcrowding - Too many melee unit in one square prevents some of your other melee units from engaging enemies (unconfirmed: when there are over 1700 men in one square, cavalries cannot charge into that square)

2) Overkill - Happens when a big unit hits a small unit. % hit loss is determined by the difference of unit size between two units.

Contributors

• Penchant - Penchant Family
• Ta|i - Bluelake Family
• Myself 🤣

<note> Still under construction. If you want me to add something here, do mention under the discussion or on the page directly - that will get my attention faster!.

I will go over some battle reports. Also will try to explain custom unit settings vs marshal settings.

Battle Report Analysis

• Note: For more details, you may want to actually ask Anaris or Tom since as a player, my understanding is limited to my experience. I will mainly be using reports I myself have stored for my personal storage purpose.

First

Let's start with smaller battles. The first battle we will look is Battle of Bruck. It was a battle between Westmoor and Sirion in a rural region. 'Rural Battles(RBs for short)' or 'Open Field Battles(OFBs for short)' are battles where cavalries thrive. Most of your battles will be RBs or OFBs. As you can see from most maps in the game, rural is the most numerous region type in the game. This region type lacks fortifications meaning unit compositions of armies can vary unlike siege battles where infantry units are considered the best while other types are considered less effective or useless. Enough talk, let's get into the real thing.

• note: It is harder to calculate exact values for this battle since this battle had a peasant unit which is nothing more than a meat-shield.

The first thing I'd do is to calculate hits for each round. Here is the suffered hit/casualty progression for the battle. This will give us a brief idea on how much damage each army suffered throughout the rounds.

Westmoor:

Hits suffered: [1] 1824(Ranged) - [2] 9921(Ranged:1338/Close Combat:8583) - [3] 9742(752/8990) - [4] 5314(0/5314) - [5] 4747(881/3866) - [6] 3960(1167/2793)

Casualties: [1] 49 - [2] 274 - [3] 198 - [4] 143 - [5] 149 - [6] 266

Hits taken per man(hits suffered / casualties): [1] 37.22 - [2] 36.2 - [3] 49.2 - [4] 37.1 - [5] 31.86 - [6] 14.89

Sirion

Hits suffered: [1] 1818(Ranged) - [2] 6284(Ranged:1434/Close Combat:4850) - [3] 5109(0/5109) - [4] 3380(0/3380) - [5] 1697(0/1697) - [6] 145(0/145)

Casualties: [1] 40 - [2] 153 - [3] 125 - [4] 86 - [5] 42 - [6] 3

Hits taken per man(hits suffered / casualties): [1] 45.45 - [2] 41.07 - [3] 40.87 - [4] 39.30 - [5] 40.40 - [6] 48.33

Hits taken per man = This will tell you how much damage each of your men took before going down. This gives you an idea how long your men lasted on the field.

Let's compare the two realms.

Round [1], they fired arrows at each other doing about the same damage.

Round [2], both realms collided with each other. Both realms took about the same ranged damage but Westmoor took twice as much damage from Sirion's close combat units. This was mainly due to some of Sirion's cavalry units landing their charge attacks on Westmoor's infantry units.

Round [3], Sirion's biggest cavalry unit lands its charge attack on Westmoor's only cavalry unit which couldn't even engage due to having too many men in front of it. The attack wiped the unit out completely before it could land its charge. Also, due to all of Westmoorian archers being engaged in a close combat, they couldn't shoot arrows. Archers were pretty much used to soak up what little damage they could soak up.

Turn No. 1

5 (30-C)

2 (45-I) 4 (52-I) 6 (50-I) 7 (908-P) 9 (70-I) 10 (30-S) 11 (37-I) 13 (70-I) 14 (49-I) 15 (75-I) 18 (40-I) 19 (61-I) 20 (52-I)

1 (38-A) 3 (34-A) 8 (69-A) 12 (40-A) 16 (43-A) 17 (49-A)

21 (79-S) 22 (37-I) 24 (57-I) 25 (45-I) 26 (22-I) 27 (32-I) 28 (40-A) 29 (44-A) 32 (52-I) 33 (45-S) 35 (38-A) 36 (80-I) 37 (52-I) 38 (30-A) 39 (113-I) 40 (69-I)

23 (40-C) 31 (55-C) 34 (34-C)

30 (45-C)

Let's go through the battle turn by turn. When a battle starts, you will see the formations of both sides. You can check different formations from my recommended pages. Formations are very important when two armies similar in size clash. Each formation emphasizes a certain type of unit type in your army. For example, Wesmtoor in this case is using 'Archer Opening' putting ARCHERS in the FRONT, INFANTRIES in the MIDDLE, and CAVALRIES in the REARGUARD. It is important to understand the purpose of each formation(They are all briefly explained in the formation page so do check it out).

The advantage of this formation is that when enemies put their infantry in the front, on turn 2, your archers will attack twice. They will shoot first - because enemies are still within the range.

Note: Range units will always act first. Melee units move when it is their turn to move. They move after the range phase and once they are in the same column as their enemies, they start to attack.

Turn No. 2

5 (30-C)

1 (38-A) 2 (45-I) 3 (34-A) 4 (52-I) 6 (50-I) 7 (908-P) 8 (58-A) 9 (70-I) 10 (30-S) 11 (37-I) 12 (30-A) 13 (70-I) 14 (49-I) 15 (75-I) 16 (27-A) 17 (37-A) 18 (40-I) 19 (61-I) 20 (52-I)

21 (69-S) 22 (37-I) 24 (57-I) 25 (45-I) 26 (22-I) 27 (32-I) 32 (52-I) 33 (39-S) 36 (70-I) 37 (45-I) 39 (106-I) 40 (69-I)

23 (40-C) 28 (40-A) 29 (44-A) 34 (34-C) 35 (38-A) 38 (30-A)

30 (45-C)

31 (55-C)

After the ranged attacks ended, Sirion's infantry advanced to engage Westmoor's archers. Westmoor's infantry also advanced from C4(Column 4) to C5 to fight their enemy. Westmoor's archers are forced to enter melee combat. If you check the hit exchange, Westmoor's archers barely did anything to Sirion's infantry. Their only job here was pretty much absorbing hits for their infantry. Sirion's archers continued their range attack in the following turn.

Some Useful Settings

Siege

Infantry(Rear) || Cavalry(Back) || Empty || Archer(Front) ||

Archer: Front/Skirmish or Line
Infantry: Rear/Box or Line
Cavalry: Back/Line or Back/Box - You do not want Wedge as they won't be able to charge that well. But if you want to risk it you can go for Wedge as well. (Must put it in either Front or Back. Cavalries checks 2 columns ahead excluding the column they are in to see if they can charge or not. If they there is a fort 2 columns away, they will stop and wait for the fort to be breached in the front column. In this setting they will stay with the archers until the infantry units breach the fort. If you put cavalries in the back, they will go with infantry units but they won't do anything but absorb archer fires which is a bad way to waste expensive cavalry units.)

This setting allows you to deal as much damage as possible to the defenders before your infantry units can scale the wall. If your army has a high number of archers, this is a viable tactic to use. Softening enemies before hitting them hard with siege engines.

Siege - Variation

Infantry(Rear) || Cavalry(Back) || Archer(Front) || Empty ||

If your enemies know you will use the settings above, you will need to adapt accordingly to prevent your archers front getting slaughtered.

Siege - Variation 2 (Complex)

Against heavily fortified region - High infantry / Low archers

-Assuming enemies have no idea what you are doing you can set your archers to the front do maximize your damage against enemies' infantry units which will move forward to front on turn No.2 -Your infantry should be placed in the rear to delay their advance as much as possible. Result: You will hit enemy infantry while only taking archer fires. This will slaughter most infantry enemies before your infantrymen attack the walls. -Depending on the level of your enemy's fortification, their cavalry units will leave the walls to hit your units. Lower level fortifications tend to allow cavalry units to charge out so keep that in mind if you are planning on putting your archers in the front with the skirmish setting. -Example) First Siege of Taselak City, Second Siege of Taselak City

Against heavily defended region - Low infantry / High archers

-Place your archers in the middle. -Select 3 smaller infantry units. Put one in each row - front, middle, back -Put the rest of your infantry in the rear (Outdated)Result: Enemy archer fires will be only focused on those single small units you've selected for 3 turns. You probably will be able to take out all the infantry by then and will most likely be hitting your enemies' archers. (Updated)Result: Archers will still prefer to attack enemies that are closer to them but now they have a chance to attack not just the closest but enemies farther away. So this tactic is not guaranteed. Still effective however.

Against many archers and infantry

There are really dirty options to bring a city down especially against a large city like Oligarch which can hold and sustain many militia units.

For example, let's say Oligarch has just archers so they can't leave the walls even if they wanted to. Their militias will stay behind the walls as long as there are infantry units on your side. If you abuse this fact, you can do some serious damage to Oligarch.

What you will need.

1) Lots of archers 2) Expendable infantry

So here is what you do. When you attack Oligarch, you don't hit the city with everyone you have. You attack the city with these units.

1) All your archers 2) 1 Infantry unit

Put your archers in the rear with the infantry unit.

-Why?: Because militias start in the middle as well. To hit their infantry only, you put your archers in the rear. There won't be any exchange of hits for the first round. But when the second round comes, your units will move to back and their inf will move to their front. your archers will shoot their infantry in the turn 2.

Turn3: your infantry will die but you will hit their infantry again without getting hit.

Turn4: their infantry will leave the walls and move to the center line. your archers will hit them even harder. their archers will not leave the walls.

Turn5: their infantry will advance to your front. your archers will hit them even harder.

Turn6: their infantry will advance to your middle. you should have taken out most of their infantry by this point. you will hit even harder and probably finish their infantry off.

Turn7: your archers will advance to middle and get hit by their archers.

Turn8: your archers and their archers will exchange hits until one side wins or the battle will end in draw.

Since you've cleaned out their infantry militias, you can hit them with everything you have in the following battle and won't have to worry about their infantry. You will still have to worry about Garas dumping more militias though. In case this happens, you can probably repeat the previous tactic of sending archers and 1 infantry if you want. Or you can risk it and hit them with everything you have. It would be really good if you have pain and suffering scrolls or accident scrolls to take Garas out to prevent him from dropping militias.

With 0 infantry militias, you can just storm the walls with everyone in the front or put archers in the front with everyone in the rear to take out as many archers as possible.

Open Field

High Risk High Return

Requirements: 1~2 units of cavalry || Lots of ranged units with at least range of 3 Settings:

• Cavalry: Back or Front / Wedge
• Ranged: Front / Skirmish
• If you have infantry: Middle

Putting them in the front will allow them to engage with enemies ASAP. If enemies are using front archer, this will surprise enemies greatly, damaging their archers off the start. If their infantry was in the front, your cavalries will keep enemies' infantry in check. Your middle infantry can then follow up.

Putting 1 infantry in each row can prevent enemy's archers from doing too much damage to your archers.

How to mix with low Range RCs (or prevent your range from falling)

Let's say you have a 50 R1 archer unit. As you know well, R1 archers are useless. You need to increase the range. You want to get to R4. From here, you only need to recruit 50 R4 archers to reach R3. From there, you need to recruit 100 more archers to reach R4. The game takes the average of your range to determine your final range so if you mix well, you can turn your R1 into R4.

You can use this to prevent your range from falling from R4 as well. If the RC center you are trying to recruit from has only the difference of 1 range, you can simply recruit 1 less man than what you currently have to maintain it. So if you want to double your unit size, you can recruit 49 R3 archers to your 50 R4 archers to maintain your R4. However, if you want to recruit from R1, you can only recruit 20% of what you have. So if you have 100 R4 archers, you can only recruit 20 R1 archers to maintain your R4. If you recruit anymore than that, you will end up with R3. As for R2, you can only recruit 33% of your current unit size to avoid losing your R4.

Mixing R5 SF with other SFs

Start with 50 SF if you want to recruit R0 and R1 since you can't recruit less than 5.

• R0 - Melee SF = 10%
• R1 = 14%
• R2 = 20%
• R3 = 33% = Not exactly. 33% of your current # of men subtract 1 to be safe.
• R4 = 100%

• • Tip: Try to make sure the average between your existing unit and your recruits stay close to the range you wish for your updated unit to have. If you want your unit to keep R5, you need the average range should be higher than 4.5.

• • If you want to keep R5 = (# of existing unit)x(range) + (# of recruits)x(recruit RC range) / ((# of existing unit)+(# of recruits)) ⪰ 4.5

Designing your army

• You cannot order someone to get a specific unit type. However, you can tell your realm that you need more of x type and you need volunteers to fill the types you need.
• Or you can seek help from your dukes and other rich nobles to reform your RCs to limit people's selections in the first place.

Infantry Heavy: Used to be good. Melee units can hit multiple units at once so your damage is less likely to be wasted

Archer Heavy: The current favourite. You can mow down enemies before they even get to you. Doesn't work that well when your enemies bring a lot more units (Not necessarily more men).

Mixed Infantry Heavy: Flexible. They are archers without the melee penalty.

Cavalry Heavy: If used well, you can dismantle your enemies quickly and crush their archers. Archers do not do as much damage to cavalry as infantry so they are good at soaking arrows as well. Their main problem is people's inability to recruit enough of them as they are not as numerous as other unit types.

Special Force: Big guns. Expensive and rare, but powerful. You don't really see SF heavy armies often. But when you do, you better have enough men to soak up their damage.

Questions and Requests

If you have questions or want me to add something, do leave a comment under here.(I am unsure when I will answer them but if I notice it, I will answer)

(Question from momom2, a new player starting in SI :)

How does digging in change the capabilities of a unit ? In particular, is digging in useful with infantry against armies comprising mostly archers ? Will it prompt the troops to stay put behind ? Will it prevent some units from moving forward ?

• 🗨Answer: Digging will grant you a temporary fortification. Think of it as 0.5 level fortification. If you need your infantry units to defend your ranged units, you may want to put them before your archers. And yes, since they behave like as if they are behind walls, they won't advance forward until the same conditions are met -- no melee units on the other side.

I read on the wiki that fortifications helped particularly against enemy infantry. Is it true of digging in too ?

• 🗨Answer: Yes but it is not as effective as actual fortifications. When you are digging in, your primary goal is to prevent your units from advancing forward. The beauty of digging in is, being able to choose which unit to send in first vs being forced to be behind walls until it is either breached or enemies lose all the melee units.

In general, I have rarely seen entrenched units, though it takes relatively little time. Should I conclude that digging in is seldom useful ?

• 🗨Answer: Only defenders can dig in. Maybe that is why you don't see it often. Also, it is not used as often due to the fact it is nigh impossible to make everyone to dig in at the same time. Those who forget to do so will behave differently and that can cause some unpredictable issues.

(Request for clarification regarding "How to mix with low Range RCs" :)

• 🗨Answer: The example is for ranged 5 SF units. If you are commanding a R5 SF unit and have more than 50 men, you can grab men from SF RCs with R0~R4. But the ratio has to be different. If you want to add men from a melee SF RC, you can only grab 10% of your current unit size at a time(remember the example is for 50 men or more. So in this case, you can only grab 5 men until you hit 60 men. Then you can add 6 men at a time until you hit 70 and so on.) If I can guess why this is happening, it is probably due to how the game rounds the range. If you grab more than 10% from a melee SF RC, your average range will fall below 4.5 which after rounding to the closest full number will be lowered to 4 or lower depending on how many you grab. Let me know if you need this to be explained further.

Does the system keep track of the times you successfully mixed your unit with lesser range recruits ?

• 🗨Answer: No. The game only averages your unit stats. Every time you recruit, the game will take the average between the existing men and the new recruits.

An example of what I am thinking of in particular :
Imagine you have a unit of 50 R4 archers, which you mix with 49 R3 archers to prevent your range from going down. How many R3 archers can you then add without decreasing the range, 98 or 0 ?

• 🗨Answer: Let's calculate. 50x4 is 200. 49x3 is 147. Add both together and you get 347. Divide that by 99 and you should get your range which is 3.505 so you should have R4. Now on the left side you have (99x4 + yx3)/(99+y). As long as (396+3y)/(99+y) is equal or higher than 3.5, you should get R4. So in this case, y can be 99 or less.

(Commentary on "Other factors that may change the outcome of a battle" :)

I have recently participated in a battle where my 18 cavaliers could not enter the melee because it was overcrowded. There were at most 353 infantrymen on our side, and at most 225 for the enemy (didn't bother to calculate the number of wounded at the moment).
More than 100 enemy soldiers were incapacitated in this round, and my cavalry could charge at the next one.

• 🗨Answer: Overcrowded is not well known especially in this time and age when most people use ranged over melee. Think of it this way, when too many of your melee units are trying to hit fewer enemies, they will run into each other. To prevent this from happening, you will have to split your men into different rows when there are too few enemies. Sometimes your men can run past them but the exact mechanics behind that is not very well known either.