In some of those screenshots you are deciding the best unit based on your knowledge and experience. If you ask forum members I bet many would recommend different units as the best because they have more experience and know what is best. They are aware of all the different elements that factor into a fight. The little picture graphic is a start but you need to learn why those pictures appear and more than one unit will provide the same pictures. Having a picture doesn't make them the best it only means they have some sort of benefit. The person behind much of the combat information on gems of knowledge does hundreds if not thousands of encounters every week, that is a massive amount of experience. There are many forum members that would also do similar, you are free to post your screen shots and ask them what they would do and tap into that knowledge.
That last one, the 2-star Cerb vs 1 star light ranged and a 2-star mage was based on the forums here, the pentagon, the game telling me cerbs were good vs BOTH of those units, and the Gems site- which DIRECTLY said for beginner and intermediate players to use Cerbs.
I literally did what the game, these forums, and gems page said to use.
I am just confused as to how 5 units of 2-star "strong vs" units could lose to 4 units of (3 1-star 1 2-star) units ALL weak vs the ones I used. Cuz like according to the info I've read, that should not have happened.
And in the gems chat, they said "terrain" or cuz the weak ones get to hit first cuz of range... making them stronger than the strong vs (despite the gems page saying to use ONLY cerbs or cerbs & a mage- which also lost bad). So I am at a total loss how the game suddenly makes "weak vs" better choice than "strong vs" and when I should choose to use a weaker unit vs the enemy to beat that enemy. Honestly, if I have to do that- why does it even bother with "strong vs" if that is actually gonna lose? That means they are actually NOT stronger vs them.
Its not disregarding it but you need to learn the basics and give yourself time to gain experience. There is more going on in combat than you first realise. As you follow the basics and cater when it fails you will start to learn the situations and the reasons why things didn't go as expected. You will also start to learn when certain combinations or choices are better than others.
So "learn the basics" - like "follow the pentagon"? "use stronger troops vs weaker ones"? Cuz that's what the guide post thingy said to do, and as I said above, I did the units the gems pages said to use... all that experience and info I FOLLOWED and DID what was instructed.
I am confused about WHY it didn't work. What was wrong with what I did?! I used stronger star and pentagon stronger units vs weaker ones. HOW does that equal losing so badly?!
I can't learn from the info if I can't understand WHY it doesn't work the way the game info and forum info and gems page says it should. I don't know where the failure happened at, so IDK what to avoid doing again? Clearly it's not "ignore the forums, gems, and guide advice" right?! But I DID do what those said, and it didn't work- so where did I go wrong? How do I see that in the results to know better next time?!