Imbalance between Military Strength

[Cyrus the Adequate]

I agree, 183/108 is low for ME. In Dilmun I'm in Colonial and already have 195/117%. I'd hope to have at least 300% attack by ME.

That's REALLY low. I'm at 469/475 in HMA, and still lose more units than I would prefer in GBG and PvP.

 

[Pericles the Lion]

Perhaps it is too low in ME. But it is already much higher than the enemy's. Would this be fair?

Of course it is "fair". Every player has two sets of army boosts. One for their attacking army (this is your 183/108), the other for their defending army. When you battle, your attacking army is pitted against the other players defending army. Most FOE players pay little attention to their defending army boosts, focusing nearly all of their attention on maximizing their attacking army boosts. Because of this, only rarely will a well-prepared player find themself fighting a battle in which their army's boosts are less than the defending army's. In my SAJM main city my attacking army is 2500/1400 while my defending army is only 200/100.

 

[xivarmy]

Perhaps it is too low in ME. But it is already much higher than the enemy's. Would this be fair?

Honestly 183/108 is fine, and effective, and more than one would've expected in ME when ME was the last age. The only places you should find that low are GE & GBG.

The problem is what you're expecting of it - it will not turn your squishy units into defensive all-stars. So things like paratrooper vs mech artillery will be a 2-shot in either direction because paratroopers hit artillery hard by default and it'd take a *lot* of boost to change that.

With only 100-200 boost you still have to pay attention to matchups. If you want to beat a lot of paratroopers send some battle tanks or some mech infantry.

 

[ChimaeraW]

It is also my experience that, whenever I get some soldiers, and no matter how good my strategy and tactics are, I will lose a similary quantity of military units, espcially those of the same category (battle tanks, for instance). I am not sure whether it were the design of the game; but it has been my experience.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

It is also my experience that, whenever I get some soldiers, and no matter how good my strategy and tactics are, I will lose a similary quantity of military units, espcially those of the same category (battle tanks, for instance). I am not sure whether it were the design of the game; but it has been my experience.

It is definitely not the design of the game. It's on your end. I don't know if it's your fighting ability/experience or your boosts or not training/acquiring many troops or something else, but it is most definitely on your end and not the design of the game. I am constantly coming out ahead in troops in all of my active cities no matter how much I fight. And I only have a Traz in one of them. The others I get more troops from one or two levels of GE + chest Incidents than I lose each week. If you're losing as many as you're acquiring, then you probably need to work on your boosts or possibly figure out better ways to match up units with the enemy army. Not to mention how to attack with minimal losses. I go into every fight expecting to win and my only real strategy involves minimizing losses. It helps tremendously if you have enough troops to switch out healthy ones for wounded ones without waiting for healing times. And knowing when it's time to quit for the day is also important. Don't fight if you can't win with minimal losses.

(If this is really your experience most of the time, then you might need to take a good hard look at your strategy and tactics.)

 

[Dursland]

I have less than 200% attack boost and I can fight through the first 48 encounters in GE without losing any troops. 2 units + 6 rogues.

Maybe you could upload a video of yourself fighting and we can see what's going on? That's quite a bit of doing but you can download free screen recorder software that's easy to use, then upload the file to youtube for free.

 

[Emberguard]

It is also my experience that, whenever I get some soldiers, and no matter how good my strategy and tactics are, I will lose a similary quantity of military units, espcially those of the same category (battle tanks, for instance). I am not sure whether it were the design of the game; but it has been my experience.

What Age/Era are you in?

 

[ChimaeraW]

What Age/Era are you in?

Modern Era.

 

[ChimaeraW]

It is definitely not the design of the game. It's on your end. I don't know if it's your fighting ability/experience or your boosts or not training/acquiring many troops or something else, but it is most definitely on your end and not the design of the game. I am constantly coming out ahead in troops in all of my active cities no matter how much I fight. And I only have a Traz in one of them. The others I get more troops from one or two levels of GE + chest Incidents than I lose each week. If you're losing as many as you're acquiring, then you probably need to work on your boosts or possibly figure out better ways to match up units with the enemy army. Not to mention how to attack with minimal losses. I go into every fight expecting to win and my only real strategy involves minimizing losses. It helps tremendously if you have enough troops to switch out healthy ones for wounded ones without waiting for healing times. And knowing when it's time to quit for the day is also important. Don't fight if you can't win with minimal losses.

(If this is really your experience most of the time, then you might need to take a good hard look at your strategy and tactics.)

It is my goal, also, to fight with minimal losses. In fact, I have extra soldiers, and I do not recruit them (I just get them from daily accidents).

When I say it is the design of the game, I mean this: It seems that the enemy knows which one to target first, and will keep attacking that one until it dies. I do not want to lose even a Rogue or any other unit.

 

[ChimaeraW]

I have less than 200% attack boost and I can fight through the first 48 encounters in GE without losing any troops. 2 units + 6 rogues.

Maybe you could upload a video of yourself fighting and we can see what's going on? That's quite a bit of doing but you can download free screen recorder software that's easy to use, then upload the file to youtube for free.

I participate always in the expedition, and I usually lose 1 or two units in Level 2, and 1 to 2 units in Level 3.

 

[Pericles the Lion]

I participate always in the expedition, and I usually lose 1 or two units in Level 2, and 1 to 2 units in Level 3.

At any point in your city's development were you able to complete all 64 encounters in Guild Expedition by fighting before advancing to the next Era? If the answer is "no" then you advanced too rapidly.

 

[ChimaeraW]

At any point in your city's development were you able to complete all 64 encounters in Guild Expedition by fighting before advancing to the next Era? If the answer is "no" then you advanced too rapidly.

No, in 3 levels of the expedition, I have to go through some (fewer than 6) of the encounters by negotiation and am able to win the remainder by fighting. Perhaps I advanced too fast.

 

[Dursland]

Fortunately winter event's building gives an attack boost, and one of the daily specials is Winter Canal which has options for either attacker's boost or attacker's defense boost on the final upgrade. That'll help you a bit.

 

[MJ Artisan of War]

My rule is never to age up until You can complete GE 64 with just un-boosted fighting.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

It is my goal, also, to fight with minimal losses. In fact, I have extra soldiers, and I do not recruit them (I just get them from daily accidents).

When I say it is the design of the game, I mean this: It seems that the enemy knows which one to target first, and will keep attacking that one until it dies. I do not want to lose even a Rogue or any other unit.

Well, it is the design of the game for the AI defense to kill your troops. It is not the design of the game that it always kills a number of troops equal to what you've just acquired, which is the way you said it originally.

 

[Emberguard]

No, in 3 levels of the expedition, I have to go through some (fewer than 6) of the encounters by negotiation and am able to win the remainder by fighting. Perhaps I advanced too fast.

Depends on what you wish to achieve as to whether it was "too fast"

The higher up the ages you go the harder it becomes. If all you wanted to do is get through the Continent Map then you wouldn't need much, but if your goal is to gain more troops than what you lose, then getting a attack boost high enough to reduce losses will be essential.

Pairing troops with Rogues is also going to do wonders for troop retention for the age you're in.

I would 100% recommend you get a Arctic Orangery if you haven't already.

The enemy's troopers usually take the first attack and target my Rogues (if there were any);

I'm thinking this is the biggest reason for your losses.

Your posts are telling me you're not getting many Rogues, and are (quite likely) trying to produce too many types of Units.

When it comes to single unit production buildings (from the build menu), try restricting your selection to a single unit. The only other single-unit production building in your city should be Rogues

The reason for this is so your Alcatraz will produce solely those Units and nothing else.

Then in battle use that 1 unit type + rogues. It will stretch so much further than if you're constantly changing your unit typings.

For Modern Era you should be using 1-3 Tanks + Rogues (experiment a bit to see what ratio works at what Attrition level as by Modern Era the Rogues may struggle to keep up with the other Units on the Battlefield), and use the Unattached Units you gain from other sources (ie: Random Unit buildings, Guild Expedition Rewards, Guild Battleground Rewards etc) for when you know the Tanks aren't capable of defeating the opponent or would match poorly

I use my 1 Main Unit typing to do the main fighting, while I use the other Units as cannon fodder to throw at the enemy when I'm at the edge of how high I can get in GBG Attrition, PvP Arena and anywhere I don't care about retaining Units or know there'll be high amount of unit losses.

This is why Alcatraz is necessary, because no player in the game, no matter how high the attack and defence bonuses are, would be able to sustain without getting units from the Alcatraz.

Not true.

I created a city to do a never-build-a-Alcatraz challenge and found it incredibly easy to sustain without a Alcatraz. That city now has 10,000-ish Unattached troops + 6 Attached Rogues. It does take deliberate conscious decisions to make it work at the start of the city life cycle, but it can be done. You do obviously need a Unit source, it just doesn't need to be a Alcatraz once you know what you're doing enough that you can create more unit gains outside of the Alcatraz than what you're losing anyway.

 

[ChimaeraW]

Depends on what you wish to achieve as to whether it was "too fast"

The higher up the ages you go the harder it becomes. If all you wanted to do is get through the Continent Map then you wouldn't need much, but if your goal is to gain more troops than what you lose, then getting a attack boost high enough to reduce losses will be essential.

Pairing troops with Rogues is also going to do wonders for troop retention for the age you're in.

I would 100% recommend you get a Arctic Orangery if you haven't already.


I'm thinking this is the biggest reason for your losses.

Your posts are telling me you're not getting many Rogues, and are (quite likely) trying to produce too many types of Units.

When it comes to single unit production buildings (from the build menu), try restricting your selection to a single unit. The only other single-unit production building in your city should be Rogues

The reason for this is so your Alcatraz will produce solely those Units and nothing else.

Then in battle use that 1 unit type + rogues. It will stretch so much further than if you're constantly changing your unit typings.

For Modern Era you should be using 1-3 Tanks + Rogues (experiment a bit to see what ratio works at what Attrition level as by Modern Era the Rogues may struggle to keep up with the other Units on the Battlefield), and use the Unattached Units you gain from other sources (ie: Random Unit buildings, Guild Expedition Rewards, Guild Battleground Rewards etc) for when you know the Tanks aren't capable of defeating the opponent or would match poorly

I use my 1 Main Unit typing to do the main fighting, while I use the other Units as cannon fodder to throw at the enemy when I'm at the edge of how high I can get in GBG Attrition, PvP Arena and anywhere I don't care about retaining Units or know there'll be high amount of unit losses.


Not true.

I created a city to do a never-build-a-Alcatraz challenge and found it incredibly easy to sustain without a Alcatraz. That city now has 10,000-ish Unattached troops + 6 Attached Rogues. It does take deliberate conscious decisions to make it work at the start of the city life cycle, but it can be done. You do obviously need a Unit source, it just doesn't need to be a Alcatraz once you know what you're doing enough that you can create more unit gains outside of the Alcatraz than what you're losing anyway.

In fact, I am able to continuously get free soldiers from daily accidents, expeditions, and the battlegrounds, and special events.

 

[ChimaeraW]

Depends on what you wish to achieve as to whether it was "too fast"

The higher up the ages you go the harder it becomes. If all you wanted to do is get through the Continent Map then you wouldn't need much, but if your goal is to gain more troops than what you lose, then getting a attack boost high enough to reduce losses will be essential.

Pairing troops with Rogues is also going to do wonders for troop retention for the age you're in.

I would 100% recommend you get a Arctic Orangery if you haven't already.


I'm thinking this is the biggest reason for your losses.

Your posts are telling me you're not getting many Rogues, and are (quite likely) trying to produce too many types of Units.

When it comes to single unit production buildings (from the build menu), try restricting your selection to a single unit. The only other single-unit production building in your city should be Rogues

The reason for this is so your Alcatraz will produce solely those Units and nothing else.

Then in battle use that 1 unit type + rogues. It will stretch so much further than if you're constantly changing your unit typings.

For Modern Era you should be using 1-3 Tanks + Rogues (experiment a bit to see what ratio works at what Attrition level as by Modern Era the Rogues may struggle to keep up with the other Units on the Battlefield), and use the Unattached Units you gain from other sources (ie: Random Unit buildings, Guild Expedition Rewards, Guild Battleground Rewards etc) for when you know the Tanks aren't capable of defeating the opponent or would match poorly

I use my 1 Main Unit typing to do the main fighting, while I use the other Units as cannon fodder to throw at the enemy when I'm at the edge of how high I can get in GBG Attrition, PvP Arena and anywhere I don't care about retaining Units or know there'll be high amount of unit losses.


Not true.

I created a city to do a never-build-a-Alcatraz challenge and found it incredibly easy to sustain without a Alcatraz. That city now has 10,000-ish Unattached troops + 6 Attached Rogues. It does take deliberate conscious decisions to make it work at the start of the city life cycle, but it can be done. You do obviously need a Unit source, it just doesn't need to be a Alcatraz once you know what you're doing enough that you can create more unit gains outside of the Alcatraz than what you're losing anyway.

In fact, I do not have a military production building; I rely on daily accidents, expeditions, battlegrounds, special buildings, and events for military units.

 

[Pericles the Lion]

In fact, I do not have a military production building; I rely on daily accidents, expeditions, battlegrounds, special buildings, and events for military units.

Not the path that I chose but, if it works for you, great!

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

In fact, I do not have a military production building; I rely on daily accidents, expeditions, battlegrounds, special buildings, and events for military units.

Well, this explains why you would think that the game was designed to kill your units at about the same rate as you acquire them.