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Best fighting units

Spartus

Adventurer
Barracks, training grounds and mercenary camps produce light melee, light ranged, mages, heavy melee and heavy ranged units, if all the units were at the same level which individual ones should I use? I mean are fully maxed.mercenry units better than all the fully maxed training ground units
 

MinervaOz

Enchanter
Mercenary camp and training grounds troops specialise against different enemy troops, while barracks troops are 'generalist'. So you would usually use troops from mercenary camp and training grounds in different situations, rather than always preferring one over the other. It's easier to compare them to barracks troops. I have a human city so can't comment on elven troops, but here's my experience. Others may have different views.

LM: I rarely to never use the barracks storm barbarian because of the short range. Of the others, dogs are good against mages and drone riders against LR. Both have low initiative so are likely to be hit before they can attack, and drone riders die easily. But they're useful in combination against mage/LR enemies, especially if there's a couple of LM in the enemy line up. Drone riders seem to handle thieves and ancient orcs better than dogs. I'll use both in the Spire and early tournament provinces; they're not much good in distant provinces where you're heavily outnumbered. (Dogs also handle steinlings and cannoneers better than LR troops, if there's one in the mix).

Of the LR, Rangers are the best choice in most situations because they have an extra step, and have strike back. They also have the highest initiative against anything other than mist walkers. They specialise against mages but will handle HM units just fine until they're heavily outnumbered. In distant provinces, and sometimes in the Spire (usually to save rangers) I use dryads against HM.

Of the mages, I find blossoms and priests perform much the same against HR, while blossoms have the edge over HM units. Blossoms have the highest initiative of all mage units, so are first choice if there's a thornrose (the next highest) in the enemy mix and you don't want to use LR. Both have the same range so have a good chance of taking little to no damage, and of actually being able to hit the enemy. I hardly ever use banshees, which specialise against HR, because of their short range; when I have, I haven't found them to be vastly superior to either priests or blossoms.

I tend not to use HM troops much because of their low initiative, and because I rarely see enemy troop combinations that call for them. But orc warriors are superb against LM, particularly dogs, and vallorians against HR, and both are stronger than paladins. If I do have a situation where I want to use HM I would usually fight manually; orc warriors in particular have a very short range and are susceptible to getting blocked if left to the AI.

Of the HR, the human mortars are the weakest. Frogs are strongest against LM and have a higher initiative then enemy dogs; they're great back up for mages, especially if you can fight manually. Because of the long range you never have to worry about terrain. They do tend to crumble when attacked though. Orc strategists are my absolute favourite; they're lethal against LR and stand up pretty well to LM and HR. They have a shorter range so are susceptible to tricky terrain. Some will tell you they're too expensive to train, but I don't agree - but I only train them with the brown bear fed, and I time boost them (and I try not to negotiate with orcs).

Hope this helps.
 
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Laurelin

Sorcerer
I'm not one of the game's Combat experts, but if you're going to use Auto-fight, it seems to me (manual Combat player), from much time spent watching how the AI behaves, that the AI [at time of writing] assumes the use by Players of mainly/only Mercenary Camp Units, probably at 3* level.

This means that the AI will usually place other types of Player Units, especially Barracks Units (generally higher HP but also generally lower damage), into positions where they are more readily killed than their broadly equivalent Merc. Camp Units, with the different move/strike range of pre-Merc. Camp Mages - which are often the Unit on which any given battle hinges - being of special note here (NB : excluding Human-only Priests, which have a move 2 / strike 5 range). Conversely, it's also possible, where fighting Manually in particular, to 'trick' the AI by intentionally using the theoretically less-versatile move/strike range of Barracks Units in particular, plus [rarely] Cerberus Units, to one's advantage, since the AI defends poorly against them - again because, in my opinion, the AI understands primarily, if not solely, how to use and/or defend against Merc. Camp Units.

I generally would not use Barracks Troops - other than Priests if playing as Human - in Auto-fight Combat against non-ideal opposing Enemy Units, especially where the battlefield Map obstacles don't favour their move/strike ranges, although in some cases Golems, if playing as Elf, can be very advantageous, especially when not combined with other Units - assuming that the nature of opposing Enemy Units is suitable (few or no HM).

The * rating of Units, both Player and AI-controlled, is very significant in terms of debuffs - I am fairly confident that the AI assumes all-3*, always.

Scouting the battlefield before Auto-fight is important in ANY battle and can be vital, especially using Barracks Units, and Manual Combat is safest.
 

Skallywag

Spellcaster
I agree with most of what @MinervaOz and @Laurelin said, although I tend to use HM in many situations simply because I have the troops and want to use them. And while using manual fighting, and scouting the battlefield beforehand when using auto fighting is ideal, I usually just don't have the time for all that. I do both of those rarely, based on the situation, and only if I've got time.

All of this though shouldn't be confused with whether or not you should build all three buildings. You absolutely should, because they each have their own build queues, and can build in parallel. Always be building troops, 24x7 in all three buildings. That is, if you are looking to fight.
 

sail0r

Spellcaster
I only fight manually. It is essential to strike the enemy units first before they strike back so I train only the following units:
Barracks: Archers and Golems
Training Grounds: Dryads, Banshees and when I have an abundance of orcs I also train Orc Warriors and Orc Strategists
Mercenary Camp: Rangers and Princesses and Frogs

When enemy mages are present you should take them out before they move. I use archers for that (if they can reach them) or Rangers if I need the extra move. Since the Mercenary Camp is the slowest producing I try to conserve the rangers, so I use them only if I cannot use archers.
The Banshees are the best unit against Heavy Ranged. Dryads are good against Heavy Melee (I use them when I cannot use princesses because of enemy light ranged). Orc Warriors are the best against light melee. Orc Strategists are the best against light ranged.
Princesses are the best against Heavy Melee. I use Frogs against light melee and light ranged whenever the terrain doesn't allow the enemies to approach quickly. I also use Frogs against dogs and also against cannoneers so that I strike them before they move.
I use Golems against combinations of enemy light melee, light ranged and heavy ranged when I cannot strike first and I have to defend.

I have also another use of the Dryads. The enemy Mist Walkers have the highest initiative of all units so they always move first. They are the reason why you cannot use mage units when they are present. Well, Dryads for some reason attract the enemy Mist Walkers. So if you want to protect your mage units from a Mist Walker attack, just place a Dryad where the enemy Mist Walkers can reach it and they will attack the Dryad and not your Mages :)
 
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