DeletedUser2145
This guide has been mainly inspired by Daniel's General Offensive/Defensive Military Guide, but it will not touch up on the topic of offensive military. It may also differ not only in how it is presented but in the information it provides - Daniel's guide is fantastic and all, but it's way too outdated and 99% of the units have undergone some changes since then that directly influences the performance of those units in battle.
This guide is also a one man's opinion. All of this info and the defenses are applicable in the game, they all work. However, all defenses have a counter-offense so if in your case one of these didn't work it means you need to make a change. It doesn't make the defense listed here bad, it just makes it ineffective for your specific case.
THINGS TO KNOW
:death: Plundering
This guide is not about how to avoid being plundered. If you do not want to be plundered, plan ahead and time your productions so that you can collect on time. It's that simple. You can only lose a single production which is ready and sitting there waiting to be collected, and hasn't been motivated in the meantime. If getting a building or two plundered feels like the end of the world for you, do remember this is not solely a city building game and it may not be what you're looking for.
:smile: Perfect Defense
There is no perfect defense. It doesn't matter in what era your city is, what units you use, or what your defending army's attack/defense bonus is - there will always be at least someone who can breach your defenses. So your best course of action is to aim at a moderate/advanced defense which most players won't go up against because of potential losses, and not giving away all the space in your city for an unreachable "perfect defense" dream.
:charge: The Goal
Offense is indeed your best defense, in the way that the more damage your units apply to the enemy, the better you have defended yourself. The majority of players will stop attacking you if battling you becomes troublesome for them . Basically if there are 70 players in your neighborhood, the easiest ones to breach will be attacked most frequently and those harder to breach will be attacked far less or not at all.
:luck: Surprise, surprise!
The main advantage you have as a defender is the fact the attacker doesn't know which units you're using. However, if you never change your defense you lose this advantage. They can simply make a note once of what your army is and then just keep using a specific counter-army against you all the time afterward. So whenever someone attacks you, regardless of whether they breach your defenses or not, change your defense a bit. Changes a few units or change the whole army.
:war: Rogues and Champions and...
I will not be including these units in the rest of the guide because not everyone has access to them, but I figured they're worth mentioning. It's worth mentioning that they're not a very good addition to your defenses in general --- they may work in certain combinations and eras, but still in a small number.
When it comes to Rogues for defense, they're only fine until the Industrial Age. You can use a few in combination with other units and get good results. Starting from PE the battlefield is re-scaled to 1.5 and Rogues suffer greatly because of this. It reduces their movement significantly so it takes them too long to reach the opponent, and they're melee units meaning they don't have any range. I would advise against using more than 1 starting from PE. Keep in mind that this will be another player going against you, they will know the best course of action is to take out your other units and then your rogues, thus using multiple rogues is just giving away free victories.
When it comes to Champions, there's no point in using more than 1 in your defense. They give a lot of battle points and you shouldn't be aiming to make your enemy rich on that front. They're also not special, they're just as good as other units from the same age. Their one and only useful thing is the Call of Duty ability - when they get killed off the other units in your army get a bonus to attack and defense. But this is applicable only once so there's no point in having multiples in your defense.
This guide is also a one man's opinion. All of this info and the defenses are applicable in the game, they all work. However, all defenses have a counter-offense so if in your case one of these didn't work it means you need to make a change. It doesn't make the defense listed here bad, it just makes it ineffective for your specific case.
THINGS TO KNOW
:death: Plundering
This guide is not about how to avoid being plundered. If you do not want to be plundered, plan ahead and time your productions so that you can collect on time. It's that simple. You can only lose a single production which is ready and sitting there waiting to be collected, and hasn't been motivated in the meantime. If getting a building or two plundered feels like the end of the world for you, do remember this is not solely a city building game and it may not be what you're looking for.
:smile: Perfect Defense
There is no perfect defense. It doesn't matter in what era your city is, what units you use, or what your defending army's attack/defense bonus is - there will always be at least someone who can breach your defenses. So your best course of action is to aim at a moderate/advanced defense which most players won't go up against because of potential losses, and not giving away all the space in your city for an unreachable "perfect defense" dream.
:charge: The Goal
Offense is indeed your best defense, in the way that the more damage your units apply to the enemy, the better you have defended yourself. The majority of players will stop attacking you if battling you becomes troublesome for them . Basically if there are 70 players in your neighborhood, the easiest ones to breach will be attacked most frequently and those harder to breach will be attacked far less or not at all.
:luck: Surprise, surprise!
The main advantage you have as a defender is the fact the attacker doesn't know which units you're using. However, if you never change your defense you lose this advantage. They can simply make a note once of what your army is and then just keep using a specific counter-army against you all the time afterward. So whenever someone attacks you, regardless of whether they breach your defenses or not, change your defense a bit. Changes a few units or change the whole army.
:war: Rogues and Champions and...
I will not be including these units in the rest of the guide because not everyone has access to them, but I figured they're worth mentioning. It's worth mentioning that they're not a very good addition to your defenses in general --- they may work in certain combinations and eras, but still in a small number.
When it comes to Rogues for defense, they're only fine until the Industrial Age. You can use a few in combination with other units and get good results. Starting from PE the battlefield is re-scaled to 1.5 and Rogues suffer greatly because of this. It reduces their movement significantly so it takes them too long to reach the opponent, and they're melee units meaning they don't have any range. I would advise against using more than 1 starting from PE. Keep in mind that this will be another player going against you, they will know the best course of action is to take out your other units and then your rogues, thus using multiple rogues is just giving away free victories.
When it comes to Champions, there's no point in using more than 1 in your defense. They give a lot of battle points and you shouldn't be aiming to make your enemy rich on that front. They're also not special, they're just as good as other units from the same age. Their one and only useful thing is the Call of Duty ability - when they get killed off the other units in your army get a bonus to attack and defense. But this is applicable only once so there's no point in having multiples in your defense.
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