There are MANY guides and opinions out there on how to attack and defend, this page is an overview of the mechanics of the game, with a few suggestions.  You will find the best way for you as time goes on, and your alliance will also have targets and plans for you.   

 

Attacking

Defending

What makes a 'Strong' army?

 

 

Attacking

In the PvP combat screen, there are a few options of how to send troops against other players.  You may only attack other players from a city you have built a castle in.

 

See here for how to send an attack

 

Scout

In this screen you can send scouts to see what another player has in their city.  Depending on the resistance your scouts face, you may see nothing, everything or partial information (for example the resources but not the troops, or the buildings.

 

Plunder

Using this command your troops are intent on stealing resources.  If they meet resistance they may all be killed, or may come home carrying up to the maximum of their capacity.

 

Assault (against castles only)

This command tells your troops to attack the troops inside the castle.  There will be a battle and you will receive a report detailing how successful you were, what you killed or not (unless all your troops died).  The number and type of enemy troops you kill will reward you with refined resources.  If you assault with Artillery, you will also demolish the walls or the buildings in the castled city.  As structures are demolished, the score of the castled city goes down.  When there is nothing left in the city apart from a Basilica and a Castle at Level 1 (they cannot be totally demolished) the city can be damaged no further and is '7-pointed' (3 for the Basilica, 4 for the Castle).  Surviving assaulting troops may also plunder resources and return them to your castle.

 

Siege (against castles only)

Sieging allows you to take over a castled city, as long as you include a Senator in your attack.  The siege army needs to have enough troops to defeat any resistance that may be present, and there is always a possibility your senator will die in a siege battle.

You need to siege enough times (ticks) to reach a claim of 100%.  The basic claim (assuming no resistance) is 10% per tick, and a tick lasts 1 hour.  The time it takes you to reach a claim of 100% gives the opponent time to bring in reinforcements.  A castled city under siege cannot send out any troops.  

 

Attacking strategies

Most attacks to capture a city will work in the following way:

 

• Scouts to check what is in a city

• Assaults to kill all troops in the city

• Siege starts to increase the claim on the city

• Ongoing assaults to kill any arriving reinforcements, to protect the senator and ensure his claim increases

 

In a large scale co-ordinated attack, 'locking sieges' may be sent at other cities nearby to prevent reinforcements being sent in to defend the city. The aim is not to capture or destroy the other cities, but simply to trap their troops.  If the player is known to be online, plunders may also be sent to remove resources and prevent the player from rebuilding any troops.

 

It is also very common to send 'Fake' sieges or attacks, to confuse the enemy and prevent all  defence being moved into one target castled city in advance.

 

 

Defending

Defending is most often a matter of predicting what is coming at you, and protecting yourself against it.  Of course once a siege is underway against you, you know what you are facing and can plan defence that is going to be most effective.

 

How do I know I am under attack?  Help!

• You will see the shield on your toolbar flashing red (under the 'Mail' button).  The number in front of the brackets is how many attacks are coming to your cities.  Click the number for details on all incoming attacks.

• When you are in the city under attack there will be a red information panel at the top of the sidebar

• You will see a red icon on your city on Region view.

• If you have speakers and volume you will hear a 'Caesar!  You are Under Attack' recording as an attack is spotted or when you log in/refresh the screen.

• There will be a number in your browser tab, next to 'CotG' - that's how many attacks are headed your way.

• You will need at least one Sentinel Post, to increase the time at which you will see troops attacking you.

 

Predicting what troops are attacking you

There are a few ways to do this, some of which are more proactive than others

• Scout a city and get a report of what troops it holds

• Attack a city and receive a report of troops present 

• Look at the red 'incoming' information, and see how far the city is from yours, and calculate the speed or the travel time.  This will let you know the slowest of the troops present,   Of course if a player has researched troop travel times, the troops may be faster than the standard 8,10,20 minutes per tile speed.

• If you have previously attacked or scouted a city, you can click 'City Information' and see past reports

 

Predicting the type of attack that is coming

• If they are at scout speed, it is scouts, likely to be scouting you

• If they are Senator speed, it is likely to be a senator siege

• Artillery speed, Cavalry speed and Infantry speed are harder to predict!  Artillery are probably sieging though.

 

Defence against Scouts

• Have scouts of your own.  Either by placing one Stables in each city and making them, or sending some as reinforcements from a dedicated Cavalry city.  

• Move all troops and resources out before the scout arrives - the attacker may be able to guess what troops you have, but will not know how many, or how much of each resource you have.

• Hideouts are frowned upon, but if you're frequently plundered it can keep some of your res hidden.

 

Defence against Plunders

• Move out resources before an attack arrives

• Refine resources before an attack arrives

• Have a stronger army than the player plundering you has sent

• Hideouts will protect resources

 

Defence against assaults

• Again, have a stronger army than is attacking you

• Researching troop combat strength

• Increasing the level of the Wall and Posts which increase your troop defense ability (if you have the right posts for the troops defending your city, eg Ranger Posts if Rangers are defending your city)

• Increasing level of Barricades to neutralise some of the troops that are attacking you (again, of the correct type for the troops, eg Equine Barricade if cavalry are attacking)

• Have reinforcements (of a most efficient type) in your city to support you.  For example Rangers have a Def value of 40 against Infantry but only 10 against Cavalry.  If Cavalry are attacking, avoid Rangers. Use Arbalists (def value of 90) or Triari (def value of 50 but you get twice as many per city).

 

Defence against sieges

• The same as defending against Assaults, however your main aim is to not let the Senator get a claim on your castled city.  

• If a Senator is trying to capture your city you need to kill or delay him, by making sure the troops he is sieging with are defeated.

• Don't panic, the absolute fastest a siege can capture your city is 3 hours (which is if they have the maximum research possible and the bonus for alliance loyalty) facing no resistance.  It is unlikely a player with maximum research and maximum alliance bonus would be after your castle if your empire is still in the early stages.

• If it is a large sieging army, you may need to time all reinforcements to arrive for the same time, giving you more chance of killing the siege.  

 

 

What makes a 'Strong' Army?

Well that really depends what you want to do with it, what is nearby, and what your neighbours have...

 

Some things to consider:

• The number of barracks you have

• The troop type and their relative attack and defence against other troop types

• How fast you can replace any losses

• What you have researched for combat strength

• The Posts and Barricades you have built (posts should match your troops, generally)

• The overall balance of your cities (and your neighbours') to be able to attack or defend against all troop types

 

There are some other ways to increase your army's strength relative to the other player in a battle

• Morale bonus - if your score is a lot less, you have a boost

• After Dark protection - if the battle takes place at 'night' defenders have a boost

• Alliance loyalty - if your alliance has temples to certain Gods, troop combat power is increased

 

Mostly though - strength in numbers!!