Building Troops
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1LadyFreyja
- Lancer
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:32 am
- Location: NY, USA
Building Troops
I am a new player to Valor and I have been looking through forums for a basic formula for building strong attack troops, defense troops and farming strategies. Basically something that advises; build X amount of attack troops by X time, and so on and so forth. I've read one thread that did this for building your city and it has been extremely helpful. Kind of a how to, for the first 30 days. There is a lot of info out there but it is scattered. Can someone offer advice for these things in something that is easy to understand? Thank you in advance!
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Patricia.Sandell
- Lancer
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:19 pm
Troop builds are, in my opinion, completely situational. It really depends upon what kind of build you are aiming to create and what your opponent is building. Here are some basics. I hope will help.
Things to keep in mind when building troops:
There are 3 different troop buildings: Barracks, Stable, and Workshop.
**** -You can cue troops at all three buildings at the same time.
**** -Each building will create only one cue at a time.
Keep these rules in mind when building troops. Seeing as Valor is all too often a numbers game, troop strengths are a must, and I'm going to say that a fast build is usually preferable, but many would argue a slower more strategic build. Sooooo....
Attack build:
Barracks: Cue Berserkers (1:05 build time per unit)
Stable: Cue Knights (2:56 build time per unit)
Workshop: Cue Ballista (15:24 build time per unit)
***Strength per unit favors Berserkers, then knights, then ballistas. If you are going for all out attack build about 60% berserkers, 30% Knights, and 10% ballistas for roughly the fastest build.
Defense Build:
Barracks: Cue Lancers or Sentry (or a combination of the two) (build time is 00:50 Lancer, and 01:15 for sentry)
Stable: Cue Guardians (build time of 03:54 per unit)
Workshop: Cue ballistas/rams ***(build style favors player style, I personally don't use rams for several reasons)
***Strength per unit favors Sentries/lancers depending upon what unit is attacking, then Guardians. If you are aiming for strongest defense then build about 40%Lancers, 40% Sentries, 20% Guardians
Now then, This was a VERY basic idea. Like I said,completely situational. Combinations of different builds are effective in different situations. For instance, in defense in a frontline (near enemy) city I would favor a much stronger Lancer/Sentry build. In a rearline city I would favor a heavier Guardian build. This is mainly because of travel time of the different units, guardians are faster, and would therefore be more effective in more distant cities (from the enemy). However, a clear cut enemy line is sometimes hard to determine. Now then, for offense, you can use the same method of berserkers closer to the enemy, knights farther from the enemy because of the travel time.... BUT, you can't overlook the "What am I up against" rule. What your enemy is building is a HUGE factor in how you perform both offensively and defensively. A full berserker squad means nothing when pitted against a full sentry squad behind a wall. Valor is similar to poker, in that you have to play your opponent.
So, if I've confused, I'm sorry
The main rules I try to pay attention to are: Always try to keep troop numbers up, no matter what your build, and use your troops for their strengths: Berserkers/Knights are attackers, Lancers/Sentries/Guardians are defenders.
Things to keep in mind when building troops:
There are 3 different troop buildings: Barracks, Stable, and Workshop.
**** -You can cue troops at all three buildings at the same time.
**** -Each building will create only one cue at a time.
Keep these rules in mind when building troops. Seeing as Valor is all too often a numbers game, troop strengths are a must, and I'm going to say that a fast build is usually preferable, but many would argue a slower more strategic build. Sooooo....
Attack build:
Barracks: Cue Berserkers (1:05 build time per unit)
Stable: Cue Knights (2:56 build time per unit)
Workshop: Cue Ballista (15:24 build time per unit)
***Strength per unit favors Berserkers, then knights, then ballistas. If you are going for all out attack build about 60% berserkers, 30% Knights, and 10% ballistas for roughly the fastest build.
Defense Build:
Barracks: Cue Lancers or Sentry (or a combination of the two) (build time is 00:50 Lancer, and 01:15 for sentry)
Stable: Cue Guardians (build time of 03:54 per unit)
Workshop: Cue ballistas/rams ***(build style favors player style, I personally don't use rams for several reasons)
***Strength per unit favors Sentries/lancers depending upon what unit is attacking, then Guardians. If you are aiming for strongest defense then build about 40%Lancers, 40% Sentries, 20% Guardians
Now then, This was a VERY basic idea. Like I said,completely situational. Combinations of different builds are effective in different situations. For instance, in defense in a frontline (near enemy) city I would favor a much stronger Lancer/Sentry build. In a rearline city I would favor a heavier Guardian build. This is mainly because of travel time of the different units, guardians are faster, and would therefore be more effective in more distant cities (from the enemy). However, a clear cut enemy line is sometimes hard to determine. Now then, for offense, you can use the same method of berserkers closer to the enemy, knights farther from the enemy because of the travel time.... BUT, you can't overlook the "What am I up against" rule. What your enemy is building is a HUGE factor in how you perform both offensively and defensively. A full berserker squad means nothing when pitted against a full sentry squad behind a wall. Valor is similar to poker, in that you have to play your opponent.
So, if I've confused, I'm sorry
The main rules I try to pay attention to are: Always try to keep troop numbers up, no matter what your build, and use your troops for their strengths: Berserkers/Knights are attackers, Lancers/Sentries/Guardians are defenders.Not succeeding is nothing more than learning from your mistakes, and the only real way to Fail is to Quit--Bl1ndFury
I completely agree with Bl1ndfury -- troop composition is largely situational as well as personal preference. When I first started playing I tried searching high and low through forums and talking to more experienced players in my guild to try to find the best/most efficient composition to aim for but it just doesn't exist currently because of the number of factors involved. Therefore, the best way to figure this issue out is to attempt to talk to as many people about their personal strategies as possible and come up with your own.
Personally, this is what I do (it is largely based on Bl1ndfury's strat but more tailored for my situation) (I play in a 3 level upgrade world):
I have 4 basic city types currently - RS (or 'Ram Strike'), BS (or 'Berzerker Strike'), GS (or 'Guardian Support'), and FS (or 'Feed/Support'). I cluster my cities as well - 1 GS/2BS/2RS - any city or cities I grab from other players in a war are FS and I like to make sure I take a couple cities in the same area or just grab barbs near them to have at least 4 FS in close proximity.
My RS comp looks like:
BUILDINGS (3577 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 19 workshop, lvl 17 market (I never use hiding place - max level it hides 10K resources which is worthless and a waste of farm space).
TROOPS:
7k zerk, 100 scout, 2.5k guard, 750 ram
FORGE:
1 Lancer (have to have that) 3 Zerk 2 Scout 3 Guard 1 Ram
EXPLANATION:
The building comp is to allow for some resource movement between offensive cities based on necessity along with allowing for almost exactly 20,200 farm space for troops. With RS cities being the vanguard of my assault (like Bl1ndfury's) they're a lot more likely to wipe in the troop department and this troop comp + building comp allows me to be able to rebuild that exact troop comp in approximately 4 days for zerks 3 days for guards and 2 days for rams. I also squeeze as much offense as I can out of it when compared to farm space and time to rebuild along with a least a little bit of defense to be able to support surround cities should my offensive cluster be attacked. I feel its the best balance overall for this type of city.
My BS comp looks very similar to my RS minus the amount of rams and the high lvl workshop:
BUILDINGS (3498 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 5 workshop, lvl 18 market
TROOPS:
8k zerks, 100 scout, 3k guards, 20 rams
FORGE:
1 Lancer, 3 Zerk, 2 Scout, 3 Guard, 1 Ram
EXPLANATION:
The main difference here is 1k more zerk and 500 more guard in place of the rams. I still have 20 rams to help with chaosing (as I do in all of my cities) but I find that the zerk/guard comp allows for quicker rebuilding of troops while maintaining decent attack/defense. These cities are used when I expect heavy defense or to help smaller players by clearing their targets for them during wars. The 20 rams are not only used for chaos but also to help with timing my clearing waves with my scholar waves. Because I play at work the most and because of the funky launch times my guild has, it's a lot easier for me to remember to throw my clearing waves at a target city approx 2-4 hours after I launch my scholars (by sending a single ram with the wave) vs 6-12 hours after -- it also has the added benefit of giving the target less time to log in and be able to truce (if they're a gold user) between my scholar and clearing launches.
My GS comp is pretty straightforward:
BUILDINGS (3098 food):
Max stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 10 barracks (demo'd after academy is built) lvl 7 workshop, lvl 17 market
TROOPS:
50 scouts, 5k guards, 20 rams, 5 scholars
FORGE:
2 lancer, 2 sentry, 2 scout, 3 guard, 1 ram
EXPLANATION:
This is my scholar city. I build a straight 5k guard because of the scholars - there is (IMO) very little reason to have lance/sent/zerk/knight here as I want as much defense and offense as possible simultaneously and I just like sending round numbers with my scholars (1k each). I have my lance/sent levels at 2 for when I receive FS or guild support (the level of the support unit is based of the level in the city it supports, not the supporting city). Not much more to be said here.
My FS comp looks like this:
BUILDINGS (4277 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy/MARKET lvl 29 city hall, lvl 6 workshop
TROOPS:
6K lancers, 3k sentries, 2550 guards, 100 scouts, 25 rams
FORGE:
2 lancer, 2 sentry, 2 scout, 3 guard, 1 ram
EXPLANATION:
This city is meant for 2 things: feeding and supporting. They have decent enough defense to defend against most uncoordinated attacks BUT their strength lies in pooling all troops for a 4 FS city cluster into 1 city being targeted. When any of my cities are under attack I immediately attempt to secure chaos on it and I send support from FS clusters (send guard/lancer/sents separately because of different travel times). In most cases I get chaos before clearing waves are sent or if clearing waves are sent far ahead of scholar waves it's easy to dodge and because of travel times my support usually arrives after clearing waves have hit. I try to keep clusters of FS cities no more than 12 hours travel time (as the sentry travels) from other clusters (kind of like a web). If I cap cities that are further than that I usually attempt to start up a cluster (when possible) halfway between the closest cluster and the new cluster to help support it. As far as feeding goes, these cities generally only build scholarships once they are complete and, as such, generally have an excess of wood and iron that my RS/BS cities (which have to rebuild troops relatively often given their nature) desperately need. This is where the max market comes in - being able to supply up to 400k wood/iron at a time from one cluster is a tremendous boon to the offensive capability of my war machine.
One final note: in a 3 level world guardians are most definitely king. I shoot for level 3 guardian in every single city - they support quickly and have great stats (althought not the best stats vs farm space). This is what works for me for the situation I am in (top 5 guild in a top 2 alliance that is very active) and hopefully it helps give you and other players reading this and idea of how to craft their empires :-).
Personally, this is what I do (it is largely based on Bl1ndfury's strat but more tailored for my situation) (I play in a 3 level upgrade world):
I have 4 basic city types currently - RS (or 'Ram Strike'), BS (or 'Berzerker Strike'), GS (or 'Guardian Support'), and FS (or 'Feed/Support'). I cluster my cities as well - 1 GS/2BS/2RS - any city or cities I grab from other players in a war are FS and I like to make sure I take a couple cities in the same area or just grab barbs near them to have at least 4 FS in close proximity.
My RS comp looks like:
BUILDINGS (3577 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 19 workshop, lvl 17 market (I never use hiding place - max level it hides 10K resources which is worthless and a waste of farm space).
TROOPS:
7k zerk, 100 scout, 2.5k guard, 750 ram
FORGE:
1 Lancer (have to have that) 3 Zerk 2 Scout 3 Guard 1 Ram
EXPLANATION:
The building comp is to allow for some resource movement between offensive cities based on necessity along with allowing for almost exactly 20,200 farm space for troops. With RS cities being the vanguard of my assault (like Bl1ndfury's) they're a lot more likely to wipe in the troop department and this troop comp + building comp allows me to be able to rebuild that exact troop comp in approximately 4 days for zerks 3 days for guards and 2 days for rams. I also squeeze as much offense as I can out of it when compared to farm space and time to rebuild along with a least a little bit of defense to be able to support surround cities should my offensive cluster be attacked. I feel its the best balance overall for this type of city.
My BS comp looks very similar to my RS minus the amount of rams and the high lvl workshop:
BUILDINGS (3498 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 5 workshop, lvl 18 market
TROOPS:
8k zerks, 100 scout, 3k guards, 20 rams
FORGE:
1 Lancer, 3 Zerk, 2 Scout, 3 Guard, 1 Ram
EXPLANATION:
The main difference here is 1k more zerk and 500 more guard in place of the rams. I still have 20 rams to help with chaosing (as I do in all of my cities) but I find that the zerk/guard comp allows for quicker rebuilding of troops while maintaining decent attack/defense. These cities are used when I expect heavy defense or to help smaller players by clearing their targets for them during wars. The 20 rams are not only used for chaos but also to help with timing my clearing waves with my scholar waves. Because I play at work the most and because of the funky launch times my guild has, it's a lot easier for me to remember to throw my clearing waves at a target city approx 2-4 hours after I launch my scholars (by sending a single ram with the wave) vs 6-12 hours after -- it also has the added benefit of giving the target less time to log in and be able to truce (if they're a gold user) between my scholar and clearing launches.
My GS comp is pretty straightforward:
BUILDINGS (3098 food):
Max stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy - lvl 25 city hall, lvl 10 barracks (demo'd after academy is built) lvl 7 workshop, lvl 17 market
TROOPS:
50 scouts, 5k guards, 20 rams, 5 scholars
FORGE:
2 lancer, 2 sentry, 2 scout, 3 guard, 1 ram
EXPLANATION:
This is my scholar city. I build a straight 5k guard because of the scholars - there is (IMO) very little reason to have lance/sent/zerk/knight here as I want as much defense and offense as possible simultaneously and I just like sending round numbers with my scholars (1k each). I have my lance/sent levels at 2 for when I receive FS or guild support (the level of the support unit is based of the level in the city it supports, not the supporting city). Not much more to be said here.
My FS comp looks like this:
BUILDINGS (4277 food):
Max barracks/stable/resources/farm/warehouse/wall/forge/academy/MARKET lvl 29 city hall, lvl 6 workshop
TROOPS:
6K lancers, 3k sentries, 2550 guards, 100 scouts, 25 rams
FORGE:
2 lancer, 2 sentry, 2 scout, 3 guard, 1 ram
EXPLANATION:
This city is meant for 2 things: feeding and supporting. They have decent enough defense to defend against most uncoordinated attacks BUT their strength lies in pooling all troops for a 4 FS city cluster into 1 city being targeted. When any of my cities are under attack I immediately attempt to secure chaos on it and I send support from FS clusters (send guard/lancer/sents separately because of different travel times). In most cases I get chaos before clearing waves are sent or if clearing waves are sent far ahead of scholar waves it's easy to dodge and because of travel times my support usually arrives after clearing waves have hit. I try to keep clusters of FS cities no more than 12 hours travel time (as the sentry travels) from other clusters (kind of like a web). If I cap cities that are further than that I usually attempt to start up a cluster (when possible) halfway between the closest cluster and the new cluster to help support it. As far as feeding goes, these cities generally only build scholarships once they are complete and, as such, generally have an excess of wood and iron that my RS/BS cities (which have to rebuild troops relatively often given their nature) desperately need. This is where the max market comes in - being able to supply up to 400k wood/iron at a time from one cluster is a tremendous boon to the offensive capability of my war machine.
One final note: in a 3 level world guardians are most definitely king. I shoot for level 3 guardian in every single city - they support quickly and have great stats (althought not the best stats vs farm space). This is what works for me for the situation I am in (top 5 guild in a top 2 alliance that is very active) and hopefully it helps give you and other players reading this and idea of how to craft their empires :-).
I disagree with the attacking troops buld is "completely situational" its not completely situational but not totally yes u would build more defense troops closer to the front lines and more attack troops farther away but that's it it's not based off of the speed of the troops. All your doing is taking a city and since I time my attack to land seconds before scholars I have to wait on the scholars anyway so in my opinion speed doesn't matter when attacking cause they land same time as everyone else
How I build things I like to keep it simple and only have attack and defense cities
I build the same buildings in both atack and defense cities
Max: warehouse, farm, troops buildings, resources, forge, academy, wall
Lvl 25 city hall. Lvl 20 market
This leaves me with 20k farm space
TROOPS
Attack cities:
5000 zerks , 3000 knights, 1000 guards, and 500 rams
This is a great attack wave at wrecking havoc on the enemy but also if I'm attacked I can easily dodge to kill the scholars
Defense cities:
5000 guards
I have used an all lancer/sentry defense before but they were too slow to do anything.
I have also used a lancer/sentry mix before but it got too confusing
So now I just use all guards cause they can get there destination to actually defend it lol
This is just my strategy but too each there own
How I build things I like to keep it simple and only have attack and defense cities
I build the same buildings in both atack and defense cities
Max: warehouse, farm, troops buildings, resources, forge, academy, wall
Lvl 25 city hall. Lvl 20 market
This leaves me with 20k farm space
TROOPS
Attack cities:
5000 zerks , 3000 knights, 1000 guards, and 500 rams
This is a great attack wave at wrecking havoc on the enemy but also if I'm attacked I can easily dodge to kill the scholars
Defense cities:
5000 guards
I have used an all lancer/sentry defense before but they were too slow to do anything.
I have also used a lancer/sentry mix before but it got too confusing
So now I just use all guards cause they can get there destination to actually defend it lol
This is just my strategy but too each there own
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