Combat rules

Attack and defense types

Every combat unit has attack power plus separate defense values against infantry and cavalry. The attacking army draws its power from the attack values of its surviving troops. Which defense values protect the village depends on how much of the attacker’s power comes from cavalry.

An all infantry attack faces infantry defense. An all cavalry attack faces cavalry defense. Against a mixed army, both defense values are blended according to the share of total attack power contributed by infantry and cavalry.

Troop count alone does not tell the whole story. Spearmen excel against cavalry heavy armies, while Swordmasters resist infantry heavy armies. A balanced garrison can answer both threats when you do not know what is coming.

Shadow Riders and intelligence

When an attacking army includes Shadow Riders, a separate scouting skirmish happens first. The attackers face every defending Shadow Rider stationed in the village or sent there as support. If at least one Shadow Rider survives, they return information according to the clash tier. The loss of every scout yields no intelligence.

Shadow Riders never join the main infantry and cavalry battle. The rest of the attacking army continues even when the scout clash goes badly. If the main army overruns the village, any defending Shadow Riders that survived the scouting clash are lost with the garrison.

More surviving Shadow Riders bring back more reliable and complete information in the report. Stationing Shadow Riders in defense is how you stop enemy reconnaissance.

Morale and luck

Morale affects only the attacking army. It can fall when you attack a much smaller lord and when you march especially far. The first 10 map fields cause no distance penalty. Battles involving a barbarian village always use 100% morale.

An attacker gains 10 morale points when members of two banners at war fight each other. Final morale stays between 25% and 100%, and the attacking power is multiplied by that percentage. Your Raven Post report shows the morale used in battle.

Luck is determined once per battle from minus 25% to plus 25%. Positive luck strengthens the attacker and weakens the defender. Negative luck does the reverse. Luck can change both the winner and the losses on each side, so evenly matched battles remain risky.

Walls and siege engines

The wall multiplies all defense provided by the garrison and the village’s basic resistance. Each level adds roughly a ×1.045 increase, so a high wall makes the same defending army considerably harder to defeat.

Doomhorns strike the wall before the main battle is calculated. Destroyed levels equal the number of Doomhorns divided by the current wall level plus one, rounded down. This damage does not depend on winning the battle. Higher walls require more Doomhorns.

Choose one eligible enemy building in the attack window when you send Trebuchets. The Wall is also in the target list. When you target the Wall, its damage is applied before the main battle and the reduced wall level lowers the defender’s power. Damage to other buildings is applied independently of the battle result. The Underground Storehouse is always protected. If the building disappears or becomes ineligible before impact, no damage is dealt and the report marks the target as not found. Higher building levels are harder to damage, while more Trebuchets improve the chance and extent of destruction.

The Lord's Keep, the Lumber Camp, the Clay Pit, the Iron Mine, and the Cellarhold cannot fall below level 1. Other eligible buildings can be reduced to level 0.

Highborn and conquest

A Highborn reduces allegiance only when the attacker wins and at least one Highborn survives. Every village begins with 100 allegiance. A successful assault reduces it by a random 13 to 33.

Sending several Highborn in the same army does not increase the allegiance loss. Only one reduction is applied per attack, so conquest usually requires several separately timed waves.

When allegiance reaches zero, the village passes to the attacker with 50 allegiance. Conquest does not require a free Highborn slot. The Highborn and conquest page explains training capacity, allegiance recovery, and conquest planning in detail.

Losses and loot

The weaker side loses all of its combat troops. The winner’s losses depend on the gap between the effective power of both sides. An overwhelming victory can be bloodless, while a close battle can cost the winner heavily.

When the attacker wins, only surviving troops contribute carry capacity for wood, clay, and iron. If one resource runs short, unused capacity is redirected toward the other resources still available in the village.

Raiders are excellent looters because of their speed and carry capacity. Attack troops such as Axemen help win the battle but carry little. Plan both combat strength and carrying space when assembling a raiding army.

Support troops and reports

Support troops from other villages join the target village’s garrison. Their infantry and cavalry defense values are calculated with the home garrison against the composition of the attacking army. Supporting Shadow Riders also join the scouting defense.

Defensive losses are shared between the village’s own troops and supporting villages according to their troop counts. Surviving support continues to protect the village until it is recalled or withdrawn by its owner.

The Raven Post report shows the information you need to understand the result, including morale, luck, troops, losses, loot, wall damage, building damage, and allegiance changes. When at least one scout returns, the same report adds partial or deeper intelligence according to the clash tier.