Battle, round by round
From the first round to the last: who shoots whom, who takes the hits, who deals the damage. And so why each troop type matters, and which stats to upgrade.
1The rules
The battle is played in rounds
Each round, every line on both sides fires at the same time. The dead are removed, and it starts again until one side is empty. A big battle easily lasts 30 to 50 rounds.
Everyone shoots at the enemy front line
As long as the enemy Infantry stands, your Archers, your Cavalry and your Infantry all hit it. The enemy Cavalry is only targeted once the Infantry is dead, Archers come last.
Each troop type has a profile
At the same tier, with Infantry as the reference:
| Damage | Toughness | |
|---|---|---|
| Infantry | ×1 | ×1 |
| Cavalry | ×3.4 | ×0.36 |
| Archers | ×4.2 | ×0.28 |
- Infantry is a wall: 3 to 4 times tougher, but it hits softly.
- Archers and Cavalry are glass cannons: they deal the damage but melt as soon as they get hit.
The small exceptions
- Bypass (T7+ Cavalry): each round, 20% chance that the enemy Cavalry skips your Infantry to hit your Archers.
- Double shot (Archers): 10% chance to fire twice.
- Triangle: +10% damage Inf → Cav → Arch → Inf.
Whoever's wall holds the longest wins, because meanwhile their cannons keep firing without taking a hit.
2A round-by-round example
Two identical armies: 100,000 T10 soldiers, 50,000 Inf / 10,000 Cav / 40,000 Arch (the recommended starting composition, 50/10/40), all stats at +300%. One single difference: Blue put +100% into Infantry Health, Red put +100% into Cavalry Health.
100,000 T10 soldiers · 50/10/40 · One single difference · Same stats, except Health
Show the key rounds table
| Blue | Red | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Inf | Cav | Arch | Inf | Cav | Arch |
3Key takeaways
- Blue wins with 42,680 survivors. Its Cavalry did not lose a single soldier during the whole battle.
- Red's +100% Cavalry Health? Without it, Blue would have ended with 42,850 survivors instead of 42,680. It only cost Blue 170 soldiers, when the battle was already lost.
- If Red had put the same bonus into Infantry Health: a draw, both armies wipe each other out in 51 rounds.
Each troop's role
The wall. Its survival is the battle's clock. The longer it holds, the longer your cannons fire.
The cannon that never gets hit while the wall holds, and that goes after the enemy Archers (Bypass).
The biggest cannon. They take a little damage from the enemy Bypass, which is why their Health matters too.
Everything that keeps your Infantry alive longer (Health, Defense) comes first. Then everything that makes Archers and Cavalry hit harder. Cavalry toughness only matters once the battle is lost.
4Who really deals the damage?
Same battle. Here are the 100,000 Red soldiers eliminated by Blue, sorted by the troop type that fired.
| Troops | Eliminated | Share | Per soldier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infantry | 50,000 | 8070 | 8% | 0.16 |
| Cavalry | 10,000 | 26,570 | 27% | 2.66 |
| Archers | 40,000 | 65,360 | 65% | 1.63 |
- Infantry = 50% of the army, but 8% of the eliminations. It doesn't win the battle by hitting, it wins it by holding.
- Archers do two thirds of the work with 40% of the troops.
- Cavalry is the most profitable per soldier: 10,000 riders, zero losses, firing every round from first to last. And at the end they finish off fragile targets (red Cavalry and Archers).
And it's not just a simulation
In our real battle reports, an army with 47% Infantry got only 10% of its damage from it. Per soldier: Inf 0.20, Cav 1.43, Arch 1.64. Same picture, the fourth time we measured it.
The full loop
Upgrade Infantry toughness and Archer and Cavalry damage, never the other way round.