Army strategy...mid to late game

[TemplarX]

Looking through my alliance list, I see esteemed forummers like Xira, shawnbb, ghost at levels 65 - 70, so I guess I can be considered to be approaching mid level at 31. So my question to everyone is, what is the best army combination to have, taking into consideration the enormous upgrade times?

(1) which class of units do you favor? If I look at end-game units, I see
Barracks/colosseum: 10/12($540) , 22/18($2000) best honor 16/10(200H) assassin
Academy/spire : 19/11($1200), 33/17($3700) best honor 22/9(1200H) warlock
Warren/den : 23/21($2500), 70/43($13000) best honor 24/23(400H) werewolf
Workshop/lab: 34/16($3600) , 35/37($7500) best honor 36/20(500H) cannon

it seems to me that at end game, the lvl 10 beast breeding den is a must-have. However it unlocks only at lvl 50, so it's really a late game building. The werewolf looks like the best honor unit to have, so upgrading the beast Warren seems like the way to go. Infantry is too weak as an end game class, so it doesn't seem worthwhile pursuing upgrades to lvl 10.

(2) for mid-level armies, the paladin (8/17) packs a strong defense available with just a lvl5 colosseum, combined with giant snake (13/9 with lvl6 beast Warren) or catapult (14/5 with lvl5 siege workshop) for attack. Alternatively, one can just build an entire army out of machines upgrading the workshop to lvl6 and using catapult and zeppelins(7/17).

(3) the magic class seems to be the worst class, with high attrition rate, mediocre honor unit, and no competitive end game unit. Buildings are beautiful and it's cheap units are good for early game. Otherwise, this class should be ignored.

(4) strategy wise, ignore barracks and magic class. Build colosseum only to lvl5 to anchor your defense on riflemen and paladins, which are also v cost effective and low attrition. Beasts should have ongoing upgrades to get the werewolf and the imps. Machines look like a great mid-game class, so players can build an entire army out of siege workshop units, but the gnomish lab looks like a dead end evolution trail. Given that the blacksmith is availableearly in the game, and can be quickly upgraded to lvl7 to give a 14% boost to infantry, I favor the infantry-beast combo to the single machine class army.

(5) at some point, presumably lvl 50, the focus should shift to building an army made up exclusively of beast. The beast Warren should stop at level 7, and shift to upgrading the breeding den to train the DRAGONS. Don't forget the time needed to upgrade the beast booster building.

This is just my 30 minute thought process and inevitably I would have missed many crucial details. Comments welcomed. (I am L31, 61 allies, 3800/4300, IPH 3408/h...heavy on riflemen+imps)

[Freekizh]

I'll let other people wade in here but I would like to comment (3) in that magic class are a sadly misunderstood game unit, and they can be and are end game units.

Also, you should also consider that some quests require mandatory upgrades of certain buildings like barracks, siege, etc, so you should take that into consideration.

[The_Red]

(3) you're certainly not considering the high priest.

[RandomUser]

Your army composition also depends on if you want to take and aggressive PvP stance or a more defensive one where you level up and gain money from PvE & money units. If you're a PvP type, attrition rates and resupply costs are very important. If you're losing 1-2 units with almost every attack & raid, your goal needs to be getting the cheapest units to get the job done. I've found that attrition rates have been higher than I expected for supposedly sturdier units, just from a sheer numbers standpoint. When you have 100 units of something, even if their casualty rating is "low", you're probably going to lose 1 anyway in a relatively evenly matched battle. It takes a really big ticket raid item to replace a $3,600 Flaming Catapult, for example.

[Hobtuse]

You might want to know how much it costs to upgrade those secondary class buildings (Colosseum to Breeding Den). Especially Breeding Den I think costs $1.9 million to upgrade to level 10 if I didn't recall wrongly from the data sheet (without taking into account reduction in construction/upgrading costs from the Lumber Mill)

It's not easy to upgrade to level 10 unless you have already set yourself up

[Dewsy]

I'm just about to finish upgrading my Wizard's Spire to level 7 for High Priests 11/32 $2,800. I've just had a quick look on the forum and can't find it but I have heard many people claiming that High Priests are the only way for free players to compete with gem players. This is my plan at level 65, so I would also be interested to hear other peoples' thoughts.

[Hobtuse]

This is a free game for me so my point was to enjoy the game while still being competitive. I kinda like the infantry units and the beast units and I do want to get to the Dragon unit while having an army of Death Knights.

There are many strategies out there, some better, some worse but much depends on your goals for the game. There is a reason why I chose to play Kingdom Age over MW or CC cos I want my Dragons, Hydras etc. over rifles and guns.

[TemplarX]

Unlike CC where you can bank your money all your money, the max vault capacity in KA is only 330000 (from spreadsheet). It would be an incredible challenge to hold on to 1.9m gold for the final den upgrade, without being robbed dry in the meantime...

[lucita]

Just some sharings and they may not be applicable for everyone

- Level: With the lift of lvl 75 cap, lvl 31 would prob. be considered as low/mid stage. If you now get to lvl 70-90 you see ppl +/- 20 levels, so it'd take more than 1-2 major upgrades to read your very final army

- General: You're very thoughtful about the units but I think the most important variable should be how you fight. Are you strong enough among your peers that no one dare to touch you? Or if your defence is strong enough such that it's not economical for others to attack you? Are you constantly getting punched? Do you initiate a lot of fights? The answers would be great determinants of how your form your army. While I was at your level my defense was not the best but strong enough such that it's not economical for ppl to attack me. I do a lot of attacks so I focus on low/very low casulty units by doing leap-frog upgrades.
[After I finish typing I notice RandomUser has addressed this important point already!]


(1) With my high honor points, I bought some assasins before I got my lab to build my inventory of canon.
Breeding den and its upgrades cost a lot and I think until you've the economic power it's better to focus on infantry units

(2) Yup, paladin is my favourite as high priest is quite costly. If I were at your stage again I would upgrade my colosseum asap to get rifleman, and for paladin depending on situation.

(3) I don't think this class should be ignored at all. High priest is essential for defense once you get to high levels. As stated at the beginning, if you don't plan to fight and can form an army strong enough to deter others from attacking you, magic units for defence is an economical choice.

(4) I think you've missed out berserkers and I can't remember whether it's on the barrack or colosseum stream. It's a great cheap unit to loss if you do a lot of attacks! I still have a lot of them though Manticore form the bulk of my offense right now. As a personal choice I skip the machines for offence because of their medium casulty rate, except canon & flaming trebuchet.
You may be right about the blacksmith but I think the opportunity cost of upgrading it to lvl 7 is simply too high. Can't comment on that since I'm not on lvl 7.

(5) I'm not sure if that idea is practical given the cost and the current circumstances. My view is that if there's level cap (such as 50 or 75) then attack/defense per unit is more important. For the time being once you reach a high level it's only a matter of absolute att/def so it may be economical to level up for more allies & buy units cheaper than the beast. Well, things may change so it's hard to comment right now.

Hope it helps!

[TemplarX]

Thanks for pointing out the lvl7 spire for high priest. I see that it's 32 point defense is without peer until lvl 8 breeding den's Hydra. This makes the army combo-buidling upgrade equation that much more complex!

[Njwmrb]

I would not recommend buying Zepplins or Paladins. They are both 750 gold and if you are just buying them for a defending army why not buy Priests for 540 gold? I have only lost 15-20 units from my defending army the entire game, in no way are those 2 units going to save you money based on their casualty rate.

So your lvl 31 lets assume you are max allies. To equip your army with all Zepplins/Palladins it would cost 349k as compared to 251k with priests. So you would have to lose 181 more priests than Zepplins/Palladins to overcome that cost difference.

[Freekizh]

If you intend to carry these units into whale territory instead of high priests where attacks are much more frequent than in the middle game, the casualty rate will be a consideration. Otherwise I would agree with the above.

The other consideration is if you want to use an all machine army + machine boost building, then using zeppelins may be a better for that reason.

[MSH]

I personally go for cannons - get as much h points, as possible and build an army of cannon - with36/20 and very low casualty rate they are virtually in a class of their own in the game. Engineering Academy upgrades would make cannon (and whatever other machine units you might have - like cheap and easily replaceable battering rams and not very expensive, yet efficient siege towers). Infantry - cheap mainstays - berserkers and riflemen with max blacksmith upgrades and assassins, if you dont have enough patience to generate 500 h points for your cannon (still, I personally consider cannons the best) + suprcheap cannon fodder such as monks and rangers. Beasts - manticores are my favorite - not super expensive, low casualty and a decent punch...Magic - barely use - high priests might be cool, but Lvl. 7 spiral is far too much money/time to vaste, IMHO, but I guess that is a matter of style...

[Njwmrb]

My only units have come from machine and magic. illusionists, priests, high priests, battering rams, catapults, and seige towers have been 99% of my unit purchases.

Still on the fence with what honor units I should be investing in...I have 12.5k points now. Guess I'll just keep saving them until I'm sure.

[MSH]

Arithmetically you get 2.5 16/10 Assassins per 1 36/20 cannon, but in my experience assassins tend to perish somewhat faster, than cannons, so I would still prefer artillery. Water elementals and giant worms are relatively useless/short lived, while werewolves require LvL 6 beast warren, which I think is not worth it and with their 24/23 stats they dont seem to effer enough bang for 400 h points...

[Njwmrb]

From the data sheet I'm leaning towards poison catapults, if they exist...?

[MSH]

On the units lists the cannon is still the best h points unit in the game (or 2.5 assassins, if one prefers those), but Funzio might offer something new and much better in a future (poison catapults?), I guess. Then my cherished collection of cannons and assassins would become obsolete...

[Njwmrb]

From what I've heard those units are available they just don't show until you unlock them. No idea if thats true or not.

[Freekizh]

From what I've heard those units are available they just don't show until you unlock them. No idea if thats true or not.

There's no evidence of that todate in KA.

[Skoty422]

I started my armies as follows and I think they are good for my style. Constant play. Pvp,pve as fast as the timers will allow.

First I used the illusionist/battling rams
Then I merged to the paladins/catapults
Then I merged to a larger army of paladins,zeppelins/catapults,siege towers
I do not lose many paladins. Maybe lost two the whole game. Zeppelins are about 1/3attacks
Catapults are weak but decent stats for price. They get creamed 2/5 attacks. Siege towers are no better! 2/5
At this point I am giving all my honors to cannons. High priest. And I thought flaming catapult but purchased 5 and made 12 attacks and now have zero!!! So I am getting some manticore built up which I think are good units for the price but are also killed 1/6 attacks. I have about 35 high priest so far and haven't lost one yet. I raid/attack people probably 50 times at least a day. I get hit often. But lose little. If you pvp make sure you check stats. That is important for battles. I don't check stats for raids anymore unless I am raiding someone with 20 or more allies than me.

This is my opinion only. May have better things to get but this has done me well. IMO

[MSH]

At the current list (I am lvl 83) the most powerful catapult like units are Flaming Catapult 34/16, 3600 gold, lvl 10 Siege Workshop and Flaming Trebuchet 40/19, 5400 gold, lvl. 5 Gnomish lab. As to the h unit - cannon still is the most powerful one on the menu. I checked units used by a few whales on my lists - no one has poison catapults, at least as of yet...Future - who knows...

[Njwmrb]

Well I'd like to know because I started upgrading my gnome lab today...I'm not going to be happy if I get to 7 and theres no poison catapult.

[MSH]

Well I'd like to know because I started upgrading my gnome lab today...I'm not going to be happy if I get to 7 and theres no poison catapult.

Good luck with your upgrade - please post if there IS a poison catapult there - I, for one would be glad to get some :)

Methodologically, though - it is interesting that some slots in the current units lists are left empty. For example, there are 2 empty slot levels between ornithopter (level 2) and flaming trebuchet(lvl 5) in gnomish lab, empty level 2 slot in Wizard's Spiral, etc. Could it be that these slots would be filled up later on, when Funzio develops/introduces new units? Does not sound that logical for me, though - why leave empty slots in the middle of the tech tree, rather, than in the end...Oh well - we'll see, I guess...

[Njwmrb]

Good luck with your upgrade - please post if there IS a poison catapult there - I, for one would be glad to get some :)

Methodologically, though - it is interesting that some slots in the current units lists are left empty. For example, there are 2 empty slot levels between ornithopter (level 2) and flaming trebuchet(lvl 5) in gnomish lab, empty level 2 slot in Wizard's Spiral, etc. Could it be that these slots would be filled up later on, when Funzio develops/introduces new units? Does not sound that logical for me, though - why leave empty slots in the middle of the tech tree, rather, than in the end...Oh well - we'll see, I guess...

Well just to Lvl 2 lol, long way to go to lvl 7