What beats what
Four classes, one circle, and what formations and stances do about it.
Every unit in Aetas belongs to a class: infantry, ranged, cavalry or siege. Each class has a bonus against another class, and that bonus is not ten percent but a factor of two to three. With the right answer you win a fight you would not come close to with the wrong one.
The circle#
- Infantry (spearman, swordsman, pikeman …) stops cavalry.
- Ranged (archer, crossbowman, musketeer …) cuts down infantry.
- Cavalry (scout, chariot, knight …) rides over ranged.
- Siege (ram, catapult, cannon …) breaks buildings, and is helpless itself.
The exact bonuses per unit are in the table on the units page, as a matrix at the top.
Melee or ranged#
A unit with a range under one tile fights hand to hand. Archers shoot from three to five tiles and would much rather do that from behind a line of infantry. Put them in front and they die before their second arrow.
Formations handle this for you: pick box or line and your melee moves to the front, your archers behind. Wedge is for a breakthrough, spread is against siege engines that hit several units at once.
Stances#
Every unit has a stance that decides what it does on its own:
- Aggressive — attacks anything that comes into sight and gives chase.
- Defensive — fights back, but does not wander far.
- Hold position — does not move, whatever walks past.
Put siege and ranged units on defensive or hold position, or they will chase a scout all the way into the enemy camp.
Attack-move#
Q (or the button) and then a click on the map sends your units there fighting: they walk over and attack whatever they meet on the way. That is nearly always better than a plain move order, because a plain move walks straight through a fight without swinging.Buildings#
Walls and gates stop everything that is not a siege engine; a gate lets your own units through. Watchtowers shoot back and get more expensive with each one, so a wall of towers stays a choice rather than a default opening. The fort hits hard and takes a lot, and is the answer to an opponent who drops by with ten horsemen every five minutes.
Against buildings you need siege. A ram against a wall is slow; a ram against a wall with twenty spearmen next to it is a plan.
Hospital#
Wounded units heal at the hospital, instead of being thrown away and replaced. After a fight you barely win, that is the difference between pushing on and starting over.