Offense Army Types

As mentioned, you need to build and maintain a large offensive army from the start to the end of the game. But the types of armies you build will change as the game progresses.

The main offense army types are:

• Primary Offense Army
• Secondary Offense Army
• Raider Army (also offense)
• Rain of Fire (ROF) Army
• World Wonder Army

The size of your primary army will change and along with it, their roles will change.

It all begins in your starting village. By necessity, your first village has to play a generic role (see village specialization) but this does not mean you can’t have a large offense army.

Let me explain.

Typically, in my first village, I have only one hammer which is around 1000 clubswingers, some rams and around 60 catas. This is a fearsome army, especially when you’re only 2 to 3 weeks into the server start (the catas are built over time).

This army is used for raiding, and at this stage there’s no cata’ing until around the second village is founded.

When my second village is founded (about 15 days later), usually a 9 cropper, I begin to build my second hammer there. By now, my first village would have at least 1000 clubswingers. Unlike my first hammer, this will have axeman and Teuton Knights and eventually grow to be stronger than my first army. It starts off with 1000 clubswingers, but they eventually become 2500 axeman, 2500 TKs, some rams and 100 catas.

At this point, there are two armies, a primary and secondary army. Both armies are used for raiding and at this stage, I begin cata’ing other players.

When my third village is founded (about 9 days later), it is my capital. It is a 15 cropper village. Train troops continuously and this hammer will grow to a fearsome size. This hammer will be responsible for enforcing authority to all players around you and wil finally be retired as a World Wonder Army.

All three armies continue to be used for raiding and cata’ing, but only my capital army continues to grow. The other two armies growth remain stagnant and they now become secondary armies.

When my fourth village is founded, I build a large raider army there. It is also a 15 cropper. As usual, it starts off with 1000 clubswingers but they eventually mature at 5000 axeman and 1000 TKs. Later on, I build some rams and catas in this village so it can also be used for cata’ing smaller players.

Sometime around my 5th to 6th village, I found a new village specifically for offense. This is a very important village for the mid to end game. It is also a 15 cropper with high crop bonus. This special offense army will reach the size of 10000 axeman, 5000 TKs, 300 rams and 400 catas.

The village expansion continues but there are no more additional offense village. Every new village founded after this are either support village, scout village, or defense village. But even support village can double up as raiding village where I train between 200 to 1000 clubswingers just for raiding. Even a defense village with paladins is used for raiding.

At this stage of the game (month four), my total village tally is 12 villages – with four villages dedicated solely to support the special offense village.

As an indication, by month four, my capital hammer has grown to 26000 axeman, 10000 TKs, 350 rams and 1000 catas. The total crop consumption is 63000. With such offensive capability, its easy to see why other players will not attack you.

Here is the army status at month four:-

	Village	Cropper	Army Type	Army Strength
	1st village	6 cropper	RoF	1000 clubswingers, some rams, 60 catas
	2nd village	9 cropper	RoF	2500 axeman, 2500 TKs, some rams, 100 catas
	3rd village	15 cropper	Capital army	26000 axeman, 10000 TKs, 350 rams, 1000 catas
	4th village	15 cropper	Raider army	5000 axeman, 1000 TKs, 300 rams, 110 catas
	6th village	15 cropper	Secondary army	10000 axeman, 5000 TKs, 300 rams, 400 catas

At this point, there are five solid armies. Two are for offense – the primary capital and secondary offense army. The first two villages are turned into RoF armies although they are not really needed yet at this stage. The raider army is for raiding but also doubles up as an offense army against smaller players.

That is all the offense armies you will need throughout the server. All five armies are used for raiding, attacking, conquering, cata’ing and everything else. Raiding is also done from other villages.

One of the main reasons for building the raider army is when both the primary and secondary armies are out attacking (very common) – the raider army can continue to raid uninterrupted. If you did not have a raider army, you will find a shortage of troops again to raid effectively.

Except for the capital army, all other armies do not grow any bigger. This army buildup serves well until around month 8.

On month eight, things start to change again. I retire my capital army and change it to become a World Wonder Army. Once designated as a WW army, it is no longer used for attacking. Please see section on Building A WW Army.

At this stage, my Secondary Offense Army takes over the role of primary offense. Since the capital army is retired, I am left with only one offense army, one raider army and two RoF armies. You will find these armies to be very useful at this time because you would not have lost your offense capbility despite retiring your capital army to become a WW army.

I do not build Great Barracks or Great Stables in any of my villages, opting instead to continuously keep my barracks and stables busy on 24/7. The primary offense army is now treated as disposable, so if I lose it, its not a big deal.

Priority always goes to building the WW army, but where possible, the primary army is increased in size but it doesn’t exceed 15000 axes and 6000 TKs, 300 rams and 500 catas. This is also at the stage of alliance wars, so the two RoF armies and the primary army are busy attacking enemy players. Even so, a small army like this can do plenty of damage if used properly.

Also by this stage, there are very few players left nearby to farm. They have all but disappeared. The only ones remaining are allied players.

Up to the end of the server, these armies are treated as disposable use it or lose it armies.

About one or two months into the endgame, your World Wonder Army can be withdrawn and sent to cata the enemy WW village. I ended the game with the third largest WW Army on the server. It was over 200k in crop consumption.