Introduction
This is a tough and touchy topic. People who have played GoR for a long time will probably have opinions that differ from my own. However, I will try to incorporate many of the different points of view, or philosophies, into the explanations to follow in later posts. For now, I am going to provide basic information on troops: strengths, weaknesses, resource usage, etc. In later parts of this series, I will provide more comprehensive advice on how to build an army. I am still learning, and what I have experienced in the past has shaped my views, but I might come to different conclusions later as my experiences evolve.
The first thing you need to know is about the different fighting troops that you can build and how they are “tiered” into 4 categories. Each of these troops have strengths and weaknesses which must be understood to build an effective army, and each tier represents a more effective troop than the lower tier. (In addition, understanding the resources required to build the troops as well as the food resources necessary to maintain the particular troops are critical.)
When it comes to discerning which troops are “better” than others, it is important to remember the fact that numbers matter! All the calculations below are based on 1on 1 battles (and are drawn directly from Kabam's own material). For instance, when different size armies are involved, say 500 centurions versus 50,000 cavalry, the superior abilities of centurions will become less of a factor due to the large numbers of the opposing army (e.g., all the cents will die, and most of the cav will survive). This is a KEY concept in GoR, sometimes better troops don't guarantee a win due to having inferior numbers. This is an important concept because it requires massive resources and upkeep to train and maintain, say 90k centurions (Tier III), but significantly less is required for 90k legionaries(Tier II), which means you can have 2-3x more legs for the same “cost” as cents. Thus, early on when deciding what to build you must factor in the resources required to build and maintain high tier (3-4) troops (for example, Ballistae require a massive 100 food/hr per unit!). This is a concept we will explore in later posts as well—and will be a major part of philosophy of army building. Always remember, what you build, you have to maintain! And you can have massive numbers of lower tier troops (1-2) or lower numbers of higher tier (3-4).
To help with differentiating the troops beyond the basic stats, I use a metric I came up with called the “raw battle score” (RBS) to rank troops according to their strengths and abilities. This score is just ONE way of measuring the overall effectiveness of the troop. However, it does NOT include the specific strengths or weaknesses in terms of other types of troops (for instance, the RBS of centurions is 7.5—but this does not reflect how that specific will do against other specific troops, see the "battle matrix" for that information). And it does not include a calculation of resource use and maintenance to provide a value-based or economic assessment of each troop ; I will introduce that in later posts (because it is much more advanced).
Finally, I am not discussing siege troops or transports. Donkeys are lame, wagons carry lots of stuff. Enough said.
Section One: Basic Troops Tiers 1-2
Tier 1: Conscripts
Conscripts: These are the basic melee troop. They are only really effective against cavalry, and are weak against all other troops. They are only really good for three tasks: Defending against cav attacks, taking wilds, and taking down wall defenses. I would not bother making more than 180k per city. They are cheap and give 1 glory per unit. This troop has the lowest RBS of -16.
Tier 2: Legs, Cav, Skirms
Legionary: The next step in melee troops. Overall, legs are better than conscripts, and good for defense. They are effective against cavs and shock cav and are decent against skirmishers, but weak against scorpios. They have a decent battle score of -4.5, which is better than skirmishers and scorpios (this is because they are effective against . They are also relatively cheap to make and have low upkeep (9 food/hr) compared to centurions (35 food/hr). They give 3 glory per unit.
Cavalry: These are an excellent troop which can be very helpful for farming activities because of their high speed and load capacity. Cav are also very effective against skirmishers and scorpios, and hold their own with ballistae. However, they are weak against legs and centurions. They have a middle of the road battle score of -.05, but they have low upkeep (9 food/hr).
Skirmishers: These troops have an excellent reputation for attack and defense. Their ranged ability makes them very effective troops because they can attack without taking losses under the right circumstances. These troops don’t look good objectively based on the numbers, but they are a proven performer in GoR and are used as the main attacking and defending troop for almost all regular players. They have a low RBS of -10, the lowest score second only to conscripts. Don’t let that dissuade you; they are a powerful and proven troop with relatively low up keep (9 food/hr).
Battle Matrix
Below is the whole “Battle Matrix” which gives a breakdown of how each troop performs “one on one” against all other troops. On the left is each battle troop and along the top are the "opponent" troops. The matrix is filled with three possible outcomes color coded : red--opposing troop survives; orange--both troops die; green--opposing troop dies. The raw battle score is on the far right column (If you can figure out how I calculate the RBS, you get a special prize which I will never give you). *Hint: the scores are weighted according to their effectiveness against tier levels.
Below is at matrix of all troop stats for Life, Attack, Defense, Speed, Range, Load, Food upkeep/hr, and resources required to build one of each troop. This is current as of May 2011 and are BASIC troops--no research or bonuses.
NEXT TIME:Tier III and IV troops (Cents, Scorps, Shock Cav, and Ballistae!)
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