Soldier Strength and Percentages
(by Auratus; Ubi Forums)

Interesting to ponder indeed for SP! I found it matters on your level of resources and how soon you need to attack an enemy; and that enemy's strength...

If I need to attack early, and iron and coal are close, and the enemy isn't guarding all their towers very well (I place some lookout towers or use spies)... then...I will go for eye catchers if my off-territory strength is 40 percent or lower and I need early victories.

I go for one set generally... but two sets if there is a lot of stone and wood on the map as starting resources.... heck, the jump in strength to 70 to 80 percent or so for level 1 soldiers (given by a few sets of eye catchers) will make a huge difference in keeping your soldier deaths lower when on enemy territory early in the game. The level 1 soldier will be very effective! And you didn't need gold to recruit them!

But if you have the time, sure, escort a bunch of L1 soldiers in with some squad leaders (say 5 to 10) to take the first "hits" (they can suffer more hits before death and they give a "battle bonus" too... says the rule book).

If Roman, hire some L1, L2, or L3 medics to heal your wounded squad leaders (keep medics out of fights). Bring along several L2 and L3 swords for taking enemy towers. Keep them to the rear until nearby free-standing enemies have all taken your arrows.

It is helpful to have catapults along for reducing towers clusters to trash in early game invasions. Ya, there is nothing worse than losing a lot of gold spent on recruiting L3 soldiers that die fast on enemy territory when their strength was just 25 percent! Arg! On your land (click on a soldier to see the value), the soldier attacks and defends normally, or what is called "100 percent."

The soldier's strength is according to eye catchers and other buildings (large residences in particular) on your territory when that soldier is NOT on his own territory; i.e., he is not on any player's territory or is on enemy territory.

Your soldiers can have defenses and attacks higher than 100 percent while on their own territory. Only values above 100 percent apply. Simply click on them to see the amount of the value. But their attack and defence will never be less than 100 percent while on their own land. Of course, values higher than 100 percent apply regardless of the soldier's location on the map.