Fighting Mechanics?

[DeletedUser9131]

So when I played a bit back in early 2016, fighting was easy, however I've gotten to the point(not far out) from my city, where I cant win fights.

My question is, what's the trick to fighting? Clearing a province is starting to cost me 50+ of one resource and a lot of supply, and I'd rather fight than slow myself down with paying the enemy.

 

[The Unbeliever]

1. Don't over-scout.
Use your tech tree as your guide as to how many provinces it's 'safe' to unlock. (ie: to open the chest & begin Ch.2, you must have cleared 10 provinces total. Hence, once you scout your 10th province, STOP SCOUTING!
Over scouting means the enemy squads sizes will be massive vs. your, AND, it'll cost you a ridiculous amount of goods/supplies to negotiate!

2. Research ALL your available 'Squad Size Upgrade' techs.
Fighting early on is a huge PITA, in part because you don't have access to all the unit types until into Ch.3, and partly because the enemy has a big squad size advantage early game...
Hence, it's vital to have all the possible upgrade sizes researched to make fighting doable. (though the last 4-6 provinces or so for Ch.1 + 2 won't really be possible unless you know what you're doing)

3. When entering into a new chapter, DON'T SCOUT AT ALL UNTIL YOU'VE RESEARCHED THE ADVANCED SCOUT TECH!!
Doing so decreases the enemy squad size & negotiation costs by 25% iirc. This alongside the forced squade size upgrade techs keeps things firmly in your favour!

Once you reach Ch3., things finally move in your favour, and in a big way!
Just keep to the so-called "Goldilocks zone", (ie: only scout upto the required province to unlock the next gold chest/'Advanced Scout' tech)

Afterwards, it's all about simply learning what units to use as each provinces natural counter.

 

[DeletedUser9131]

1. Don't over-scout.
Use your tech tree as your guide as to how many provinces it's 'safe' to unlock. (ie: to open the chest & begin Ch.2, you must have cleared 10 provinces total. Hence, once you scout your 10th province, STOP SCOUTING!
Over scouting means the enemy squads sizes will be massive vs. your, AND, it'll cost you a ridiculous amount of goods/supplies to negotiate!

2. Research ALL your available 'Squad Size Upgrade' techs.
Fighting early on is a huge PITA, in part because you don't have access to all the unit types until into Ch.3, and partly because the enemy has a big squad size advantage early game...
Hence, it's vital to have all the possible upgrade sizes researched to make fighting doable. (though the last 4-6 provinces or so for Ch.1 + 2 won't really be possible unless you know what you're doing)

3. When entering into a new chapter, DON'T SCOUT AT ALL UNTIL YOU'VE RESEARCHED THE ADVANCED SCOUT TECH!!
Doing so decreases the enemy squad size & negotiation costs by 25% iirc. This alongside the forced squade size upgrade techs keeps things firmly in your favour!

Once you reach Ch3., things finally move in your favour, and in a big way!
Just keep to the so-called "Goldilocks zone", (ie: only scout upto the required province to unlock the next gold chest/'Advanced Scout' tech)

Afterwards, it's all about simply learning what units to use as each provinces natural counter.

Looked in the research menu, I don't see the scout tech?

Edit: LOL nvm It's the chest one

 

[Mykan]

Another big tip is to only scout in a "circle" pattern. The difficulty increases a lot by moving out a ring further so delay that as long as possible and get the advanced scout tech fast.

The first 3 chapters are not balanced for combat so stick to tournaments there. well Chapter 1 is fine but 2 and start of 3 is broken, it turns when you can start to access all troop types.

As to the Goldilocks zone, don't be so stressed by it, just stop scouting when your fights get hard. The number of provinces this is compared to the chests gets larger the further into the game you are.

Squad size comparison is the big deciding factor on difficulty. 2:1 odds are meant to be impossible, the hardest round of tournaments is only 1.6:1. Anything close to 1:1 and you should win easily. Sadly comparing squad sizes is complicated unless both are 5v5, you need maths to figure it out if they have more or less than 5 squads.

Also read some guides for tips on combat. Gamers gems of knowledge, Crazy Wizard and I (links in signature) have guides for combat. There is a pattern to the troop types and thus what types you should use. Selecting wonders to help your troops is also good.

 

[LisaMV]

1. Don't over-scout.
Use your tech tree as your guide as to how many provinces it's 'safe' to unlock. (ie: to open the chest & begin Ch.2, you must have cleared 10 provinces total. Hence, once you scout your 10th province, STOP SCOUTING!
Over scouting means the enemy squads sizes will be massive vs. your, AND, it'll cost you a ridiculous amount of goods/supplies to negotiate!

2. Research ALL your available 'Squad Size Upgrade' techs.
Fighting early on is a huge PITA, in part because you don't have access to all the unit types until into Ch.3, and partly because the enemy has a big squad size advantage early game...
Hence, it's vital to have all the possible upgrade sizes researched to make fighting doable. (though the last 4-6 provinces or so for Ch.1 + 2 won't really be possible unless you know what you're doing)

3. When entering into a new chapter, DON'T SCOUT AT ALL UNTIL YOU'VE RESEARCHED THE ADVANCED SCOUT TECH!!
Doing so decreases the enemy squad size & negotiation costs by 25% iirc. This alongside the forced squade size upgrade techs keeps things firmly in your favour!

Once you reach Ch3., things finally move in your favour, and in a big way!
Just keep to the so-called "Goldilocks zone", (ie: only scout upto the required province to unlock the next gold chest/'Advanced Scout' tech)

Afterwards, it's all about simply learning what units to use as each provinces natural counter.

Oh my...! This is the clearest & most concise explanation I have read, thank you so much!
If you don't mind helping some more, I have some rather specific questions to help get my head around the whole thing:

1. When I finish my 'squad upgrade 8' will this reduce the 'difficulty' of
my scoutable provinces (e.g. 'very difficult' changes to 'difficult', or
'medium difficulty', etc)? Also, will this directly reduce my negotiating
fees, or not?

2. Will going back to finish researching my 'squad upgrade 5' provide any
additional reductions in difficulty or fees, or make no difference
whatsoever? I do not want to waste my very limited KP's.

I realize this is a very old post ~ I hope you see it!
& thank you!

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

1. When I finish my 'squad upgrade 8' will this reduce the 'difficulty' of
my scoutable provinces (e.g. 'very difficult' changes to 'difficult', or
'medium difficulty', etc)? Also, will this directly reduce my negotiating
fees, or not?

If you do any tournaments whatsoever, do NOT research any of the optional squad size upgrades. That was just a terrible advice. There are only so many provinces on the map, and can be easily taken care of one way or another. Extra squad sizes will hurt you in tournaments every single week.

 

[LisaMV]

If you do any tournaments whatsoever, do NOT research any of the optional squad size upgrades. That was just a terrible advice. There are only so many provinces on the map, and can be easily taken care of one way or another. Extra squad sizes will hurt you in tournaments every single week.

Can you explain this with a bit more detail? Are you implying that squad size INCREASES the negotiating fees?
I am never going to fight - not into violence in any form - so it is an unknown balancing act for me to afford to negotiate. Are the weekly tournaments made more costly by squad upgrades?
Oh dear...

 

[Yogi Dave]

Are the weekly tournaments made more costly by squad upgrades?

The number of troops you bring to a battle in a tourney is a fraction of your squad size, so the larger your squad size, the more troops you need. Since you don't fight, this isn't the problem. However, the cost of catering is also based on your squad size, so the larger your squad size, the more goods you will need to cater. There are more details, but that is the basic info.

 

[LisaMV]

The number of troops you bring to a battle in a tourney is a fraction of your squad size, so the larger your squad size, the more troops you need. Since you don't fight, this isn't the problem. However, the cost of catering is also based on your squad size, so the larger your squad size, the more goods you will need to cater. There are more details, but that is the basic info.

Thank you Yogi Dave! (and for other helpful insights, I notice... )
Oh dear - I see now. But most squad size upgrades are mandatory...so a bit unavoidable. Then how does squad size &/or number of squads affect the scouting situation? (...and where is that scratching head & thinking hard emoji when you need it?!)

 

[Yogi Dave]

Then how does squad size &/or number of squads affect the scouting situation?

Scouting time and cost increases with every scout. It increases a little for a prov in the same ring, but a good bit more when scouting a higher ring. It only goes down when you do an advanced scouting tech. The number of troops they bring to a fight and cost of negotiating is directly related to the cost of scouting, not your squad size. A larger squad size makes fighting in provs easier since you bring more troops, but it doesn't affect negotiation cost. So, again, a large squad doesn't help you since you don't fight. However, in this case, it doesn't hurt you either. So, like @MinMax Gamer says, skip every optional squad size tech. I wish I'd known that before it was in Woodelves. @CrazyWizard has a table on his site which give approx. cost and length of time for scouting depending on how many provs you have scouted which I've included here. Scouting TImes

Personally, I've never worried about the time or cost of scouting. Just always scouted in the smallest ring possible and, until the later chapters, kept the number of provs scouted close to the number required to get into the next chapter.

 

[Deleted User - 1178646]

Thank you Yogi Dave! (and for other helpful insights, I notice... )
Oh dear - I see now. But most squad size upgrades are mandatory...so a bit unavoidable. Then how does squad size &/or number of squads affect the scouting situation? (...and where is that scratching head & thinking hard emoji when you need it?!)

The tournament difficulty is directly related to your SS,
Since world map provinces are slowing down considerably to up to once a week, the chances that you will be spending more time on the tournaments vs the world map is huge.
It's therefore cheaper to negotiate the world map once every several days and focus on the tournaments instead for a maximum amound of KP and other goodies.

This whole overscouting thing I don't buy it myself, I love aquiring space for my town and I am scouting and keep scouting since the day I played.
This makes some wonders more powerfull as there powewr is related tou the amount of provincies you have completed.

The world map on browser now has an excellent tool to help you scout the cheapest province first.

 

[Yogi Dave]

This whole overscouting thing I don't buy it myself

The only actual problem with overscouting is if you reach ring 11 before you are in chapter 8, orcs and goblins. Ring 11 requires orcs for negotiating and orcs don't become available until chapter 8. If you reach that point, you probably can't win the battles, especially if you have been avoiding the optional squad size techs. That leaves you with having to use diamonds for every encounter if you need them for events. While it takes a good bit of scouting to reach ring 11, it has happened to a few people. Just be a little cautious that doesn't happen to you.

You can tell which ring a prov is in when you are clearing it. It is the number of ranking points you receive in each of its encounters. You could also count the number of rings by looking at the map if you don't have an open prov, but that gets more awkward the more provs you have opened.

I've always overscouted a bit, especially very early in the game. More land always helps - a lot. It wasn't until I was past orcs that I always keep a scout busy.

 

[Deleted User - 1178646]

The only actual problem with overscouting is if you reach ring 11 before you are in chapter 8, orcs and goblins. Ring 11 requires orcs for negotiating and orcs don't become available until chapter 8. If you reach that point, you probably can't win the battles, especially if you have been avoiding the optional squad size techs. That leaves you with having to use diamonds for every encounter if you need them for events. While it takes a good bit of scouting to reach ring 11, it has happened to a few people. Just be a little cautious that doesn't happen to you.

You can tell which ring a prov is in when you are clearing it. It is the number of ranking points you receive in each of its encounters. You could also count the number of rings by looking at the map if you don't have an open prov, but that gets more awkward the more provs you have opened.

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I've always overscouted a bit, especially very early in the game. More land always helps - a lot. It wasn't until I was past orcs that I always keep a scout busy.

When you open the window I mentioned you can see what ring a province is even before you hit the scout button.

I still don't get what the point is for the orientation arrow, since you can just move tot that province anyway.

 

[Yogi Dave]

I still don't get what the point is for the orientation arrow, since you can just move tot that province anyway.

They didn't want you to get motion sickness when the map zoomed under you.
Before this tool, I scouted clockwise around the map to help keep me from losing scouted provs. With the "Incomplete" tab I know longer do that. So, I speculate that perhaps it's a hold-over from that philosophy which was rendered moot by this tool.