Every troop is trained in the village's Barracks. The exception is the settler, which comes from the Residence. Each village has its own Barracks and its own training queue.
How the queue works
- You pick the unit and the amount and pay for the whole batch up front.
- Units are ready one at a time, so you can use the first ones without waiting for the batch to finish.
- A new order goes behind the ones already queued. The Barracks trains one order at a time.
- Cancelling an order refunds part of the cost of whatever hasn't come out yet, and the next orders move up.
- Each unit needs a minimum building level. The unit's page shows the requirement, and the Barracks page lists what each level unlocks. Technology can lower that level: the Humans' Late Lance unlocks the Border Rider earlier.
What speeds up training
Each unit's base time is divided by three factors:
- Server speed, which is 3x here. See Server pace.
- Barracks level: every level adds training speed, and the per-level table is on the Barracks page. What counts is the building's current level, not the minimum the unit requires.
- Account bonuses: the guild's oasis and training cards from the Omens. Equipping or removing one of those cards changes the pace even of a queue that is already running.
The training time on each unit page already uses this server's speed and the Barracks at the level that unlocks the unit, with no guild or card bonus.
Phases: early, mid and late
Every unit has a phase that roughly tells when it comes into play. Early units come out at the first Barracks levels and carry the opening. Mid units need a higher Barracks. Late units are expensive and pack more per head. An early unit doesn't become useless later: it still counts for numbers.
Roles
Each race has its own take on each role, and within the same class there are offensive and defensive profiles. Compare attack, defense and specialized defense on the unit pages. Each race's full list is on Humans, Orcs and Chaos.
- Infantry (light and heavy): the front line, which beats cavalry. There is defensive infantry, like the Legionary, the Royal Guard and the Veil Butcher, and offensive infantry, like the Raider, the Warrior and the Berserker.
- Archers: beat infantry and suffer against cavalry. Most are offensive, like the Longbowman, the Swamp Howlers and the Herald of the Void. The Wall Crossbowman is built to defend.
- Cavalry (light and heavy): the fastest combat class and the one that hunts archers, like the Border Rider, the Wildrider, the Dryad, the Imperial Knight, the Blackfang and the Dread Knight.
- Scout: spies on villages and targets. Examples: Royal Scout, Iron Falcon and Seer.
- Ram: knocks down Wall levels in a siege. Examples: Royal Ram, Brute Ram and Crystal Ram.
- Catapult: damages buildings in a siege. Only Humans and Chaos have one: Royal Catapult and Demonic Catapult.
- Settler: founds new villages. Examples: Settler, Orc Settler and Void Settler.
- Transport: carries resources between your villages and in Square trades. Its attack is zero, so it adds nothing when attacking, but at home or stationed it counts as a weak defense and takes losses like any other troop. Examples: Royal Wagon, War Packbeast and Profane Cart.
Infantry, archers and cavalry make up the combat triangle. The other units are neutral. See how that decides a battle in Combat and the triangle.