Back for an update (sorry for the length):
This last GbG was my first in going past 1000 battles, I know, I'm a lightweight compared to some of you guys! Actually did 1407 for the season, but spent about 2k in diamonds healing & placing SCs and rushing them. Pushed to 129 Attrition one day, but on another did over 200 battles and stayed at 49 attrition due to having 5SC support throughout the center. All possible by having advanced units.
I have to say that the units by themselves are pretty awesome, but if you haven't developed your Zeus, CoA, Cdm, SBC, & TA all of mine are still less than 20, your HT's will take damage, as will your OF troops. When I have all available aids such as the Tavern & black potions, my max att/def is only in the 800's. So it can get expensive if you're just counting on your Troops to do all the work for you. Since AI is pretty stupid sometimes in Autobattle, I stick with 2 HT's and 6 rogues. As I envision in my head the auto-battle, the AI will move that 1 HT forward. It may or may not place it on a plain's territory, so it may lose its stealth ability, opening it up to all ranged attacks or maybe the blast effect. I see this happen when I take on PvP defenses and they have artillery units. My HT's always seem to take 1 or 2 points of damage. But that's usually with just my bare 485% att/def stats. Same in GbG, doesn't matter the attrition, eventually, I'll get hit, and it gets worse around the 40's, then I might take 2-3 on each tank. That's when I switch to my OF troops.
I've found it necessary to include the Rail Gun with my turturrets to limit the damage. If I don't, my TTs can lose up to 50% in one battle, ouch! So with two TT's and a RG, it's pretty simple to fight through into the 70's, then if they get hit, it's usually 3+ points of damage.
So while this is a guiding thread on getting the Advanced units, there's a lot about how to use them and not lose them that you'll need to practice according to your city and GB status. Play carefully and before you click on okay after a battle, double-check your units! Have enough diamonds in reserve to completely heal them if they die. Once they're gone, they're gone.
As a reminder, you might be leaving 20k in medals behind if you don't fight every tower you're capable of. A lot of players in InA simply don't defend their city, so two spear fighters are sitting out there. So on day 1 of the new 'hood, I start at the lowest neighbor with 1 bronze unit and 7 rogues. Once I win, I change that out with an Iron, and then all the way up through progressive. I don't have any CE's, so then it's to Tomorrow then up through Oceanic. I don't mess around too much in Industrial since that's where most of the competition is. I'm also mainly using either FE or OF troops so those towers have most of my points. You might find two or three players in your 'hood with Advanced Troops too, just keep in mind that no matter what you defend with, The HT's and Rogues will usually trump any troops you put out there. So watch who you pillage, could simply turn into a ping-pong match where you're both trying to pillage each other since you both can beat each other. I also check badges, so if someone is a glorified pillager, I might see what's available in their city.
Which reminds me Uber, you made a video about the Units being nerfed and how Inno is trying to make the game faster. It isn't the speed that causes people to quit, it's being pillaged by campers. When I first started I'd lose a whole city of produce to pillagers. Almost quit because of that and I'm sure that's why 98% of new players quit. They rush through Iron, unlocking PvP before they know what they're doing, then they're into EMA with just the Oracle, and all their goods/gold is taken daily. Much better to keep the storyline how it is and move PvP/Pilliaging up to CA. At least by that time they've had exposure to GE/GbG and know how to fight at least. Makes more sense than trying to limit access to Higher Units.
But those campers in the lower Ages are now having their butts handed to them by players with AU's and now, even though they're #1 in the 'hood, they get pillaged themselves. A lot of my top 10s are still fighting with all Industrial units. Yeah, they may have 1000%+ att/def, but they still can't beat HT's and OF units.