Fleet Theory

Fleet Theory

Credits (Copied from these peoples work)

MASTER SERGEANT Dragonchow from #30

MASTER SERGEANT DestroyerOne from #30

TUR Oizon from #113

TUR JustJosh #113

TUR Ultraplex #113

Good fleet strategy needs to be based on a few different variables. All of them must be assessed before you can know the best way to build a fleet.

The purpose of the fleet must be considered first and foremost. Combat bonuses and troop special abilities are often dependent on if you are attacking or defending and the type of battle you need to fight. For the purpose of this guide those two variables will be simplified to “offense or defense” and “monsters or armies.”

The second consideration needs to be your officer skills and research levels. If you have large bonuses on specific troops (melee/mid range/long range) then you will want to favor those troops in building a fleet. Improving these bonuses can make a big difference in overall strength so it’s wise to continue developing them.

The final variable to consider should be if you will be attacking alone or as part of a time attack/rally. In almost all cases a fleet that will fight alone needs to have 1 of every troop type. When joining a time attack or rally that becomes much less important as long as at least 1 of every troop type is included somewhere in the final fighting force.

Attack Composition.

An attack fleet should never contain more than 1 of the following: infantry, armored infantry, and either tanks or shredders (tanks vs. shredders will be addressed later). The only exception to that will be solo attacks against monsters. It’s better to send a smaller fleet than send troops that will possibly die and certainly waste space.

An attack fleet should always be filled from back to front. Now we consider “monsters or armies.” For monsters send only 1 laser. Their special attack does nothing against a single enemy. For armies lasers should be included.

Snipers and cannons have the largest attack bonus so they are the highest priority. Send the highest level units first (T8 before T7, T9 before T8), then lasers, and last shields. If it happens that you still have units that are lower tier (T4/T6 snipers, T5/T7 cannons, etc.) they should be left out.

Next we again consider “monsters or armies.” Never attack armies with melee troops. Just don’t. It will give the enemy a lot of kills and waste good defenders/gatherers. If attacking monsters, once the back row is full it is time to add shredders or tanks. Send only the higher level type (T9 tanks, T8 shredders, T7 tanks, etc.) and only send about 20% of your fleet size. Their purpose is to slow down the monster so your back row can do heavier damage.

If you have added tanks or shredders (or are fighting against armies) and still have fleet space, next fill the middle row in this order: shock troops, gunners, rockets, motorcycles. That may seem counter intuitive if you have T7 but not T9. You should fill in that order because of the attack order; you send the most of the troops that will be attacked last.

If you still have fleet space left, it’s time for two things. First, recruit. You do not have enough troops. Second, if (and only if) you are attacking monsters, add either the tanks or shredders you have not added yet, then armored infantry, and finally infantry.

Zombies should always be sent to every attack. Send just 1 against armies (or most of them will die needlessly) and send all of them against everything else. They do not use your fleet space so that is not a limiting factor. They DO use rally space, though, so send wisely.

Defense Composition

A defense fleet will be highly situational. Like attack fleets, always make sure the final fighting force has at least one of each unit type. Like attack fleets, the heavy damage will be dealt by the back row. Unlike attack fleets, if you have Aeon or other  melee bonuses now your infantry gets to shine.

A defense fleet should be built back to front like an attack fleet. Snipers and cannons have the largest attack bonus so they are the highest priority. Send the highest level units first (T8 before T7, T9 before T8), then lasers, and last shields. If it happens that you still have units that are lower tier (T4/T6 snipers, T5/T7 cannons, etc.) they should be left out.

Now we consider bonuses. If you have Aeon leveled up and/or have melee skills on other officers, you will benefit from maximizing the melee troops you send. After back row, send the highest level melee troops. That will be either shredders and armored infantry or infantry and tanks. If you have to decide between melee troop types, favor infantry.

If you do not have strong melee troop bonuses from officers or research, send only infantry in the front row (and 1 of the rest). Their combat bonus only applies in defensive battles and it’s the best combat bonus of all troop types. Also, they’re cheap.

If you are defending a flag as opposed to a city, build your fleet just like a city attack fleet but with infantry instead of shredders/tanks. YOU WILL HAVE MELEE LOSSES.

Like before, if you still have fleet space left, it’s time to recruit. You do not have enough troops. Next, add mid range troops in the following order: shock troops, gunners, rockets, motorcycles. Like an attack fleet, fill in that order because of the attack order; you send the most of the troops that will be attacked last.

There are a few more general guidelines. When joining a rally it is often more prudent to send a partial fleet with only your highest level troops. It is unwise to send 3000 T6 shredders when it prevents 6000 T9 cannons from joining. “Siege Attack” and “City Defend” officer skills do NOT apply to monsters, including Wyrms and Dinos. They do apply to flags and all cities.

Finally, EXPERIMENT! Since everyone will have a slightly different bonus mix results will vary from player to player and city to city. These are guidelines and you may benefit greatly from small tweaks.