Songs of Conquest: Armies and Battles Songs of Conquest guide, tips
This Songs of Conquest guide page will give you useful information about the army and battles - dividing troops, defending and conquering settlements.
Last update: 08 July 2022
This Songs of Conquest guide page will provide you with useful information related to the army and battles.
General information
The military is the most important resource in the game. Without it, you won't get any others. How to recruit soldiers has already been described on a separate page of this guide - Army Recruitment.
The number of units you can enlist depends on your trustee's command skill, which he gains with new levels. You can learn more about the characters from the Trustees and sorcery page.
You have a top-down number of soldiers within a unit. However, you can enhance it with the right technologies. You can read more about them on the Research and Raw Materials page.
Division of troops
You can manage your troops and divide them into smaller groups. To do this, simply drag a unit to an empty space in the army (or to the space of a unit of the same type). A tab will then appear allowing you to select how you want to transfer (all or equal split). This will result in lower troop strength but will double the essence generation (since you gain essence not from the number of troops, but from the number of units). This also makes sense when fighting a very strong opponent who can knock out an entire squad with a single attack. You can then lose only a portion of the unit rather than the entire unit in one fell swoop while making your opponent lose a turn - a sacrifice that is sometimes necessary.
Troops can also be shared with other lords and even settlements. If you want to combine two armies, just interact between them and move (by dragging) the units of interest from one trustee to the other. Furthermore, you can transfer your entire army using the arrows at the bottom.
It is worth remembering that trustees cannot stay without troops. He must always have at least one soldier.
Defending settlements
The previously discussed army sharing mechanic works similarly with settlements. Select a lord, interact with the village with it, and click on the defense tab. Move units to vacant spaces in the settlement or conscript previously left behind into the trustee's army.
It is worth noting that outside of the largest settlements, the garrison of a settlement does not provide the opportunity to leave enough troops in the settlement to effectively defend against an enemy confidant. Even if you build guard towers to support the defense.
Therefore, pay attention to the green button at the bottom. It allows the lord to remain in the village, which will give him a chance to defend it. It is also an effective tactic for fighting a stronger army. The settlement gives the bonus of defensive structures and higher terrain. Additionally, you can power it up with defensive forces beforehand, which will significantly boost your combat potential.
Conquering settlements
The main means to achieve victory in a campaign is to capture settlements. If the settlement is neutral, just interact with it. In the campaign they do not have garrisons, the main problem is rather getting into them.
A slightly different issue is when a village is occupied by the enemy. It sometimes leaves a small force to defend itself. It is then necessary to break through them, just like in a traditional battle, except that the enemy is a bit more entrenched. How much, depends on the type and level of the locality.
After conquering an enemy settlement, two (or in the case of strongholds, 3) options will appear:
- Occupation - is available only for the biggest settlements (fortresses) allows you to take over the settlement immediately and get some profits from it, but it doesn't become fully yours and you can't build in it;
- Demolition - level enemy buildings to the ground, after their demolition the settlement becomes yours;
- Dragging the settlement to your side - This option causes a relatively peaceful occupation of the settlement while keeping your faction buildings, but you will have to wait a bit for it.
Battles
To start a skirmish, simply interact with your opponent's squad. If you get close enough, you can check his estimated strength first before fighting. This is quite useful, in order to avoid unnecessary waste. To do this, simply click the adversary's army.
If you are the one who is attacking, you can get out of the fight. It is worse if they attack you, then unfortunately this possibility does not exist.
In addition, the game also gives you a chance to conduct a "quick battle". This means that the computer will perform the skirmish automatically. Unfortunately, this always involves more losses and sometimes even losing a battle (which could have been victorious if personally led).
It is also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the strength of your opponent's army. Its estimated value is shown in the right corner of the battle screen.
Before the skirmish, the game offers you a board with the outlined terrain of the clash. Within it, you can deploy units, but only on designated fields (in your color). The exalted fields (highlighted in the screenshot above) are also worth a look. Hills give a bonus to defense and attack. In addition, they make ranged soldiers have a longer range. That's why it makes sense to bet on them, especially since they don't have to move as much as melee troops.
After the battle has started, this is the view you will see. You can see portraits of the trustees in the right and left corners of the screen (as long as both parties have them), their levels, and the essence they possess.
If you look in the left corner, there is a small arrow next to your general's head (to his right). It gives control of the battle back to the computer. If you take this option, there is no turning back, all that remains is to watch the AI make decisions for you.
Underneath the bust of the trustee are the spells available to you at the moment (which your essence allows you to cast). It is worth remembering that by default they are selected for quick access automatically, based on their strength. However, you can change this in the spell settings. If you want to see all the spells, just press the scroll icon.
At the beginning of each round (that is when all units have completed their turns), you will receive a passive essence that allows you to cast spells. You draw it from your generals' skills, technology, and captured buildings. In addition, you will get the essence of the active squad at the beginning of each turn.
At the bottom of the screen is a visualization of the rounds. It is worth planning your actions according to it. It's often a good idea to attack a unit that hasn't yet made its move in the round and hasn't contributed to the opponent's essence pool. The order of troops' turns is determined by their initiative. During their turn, soldiers can move and attack, but attacking ends their movement (unless they have the double attack skill/spell).
There is an end of turn button in the bottom right corner should you decide to end the turn prematurely.
When you select a ranged unit or hover over an enemy unit, orange circles will appear. They show the attack range of the soldiers. The first circle shows the area where the squad is most effective and deadly. The second one, on the other hand, presents the maximum firing range, although the soldiers will no longer do the most damage.
The green border when selecting an allied troop (or the red border when hovering over an enemy troop) shows the unit's movement range. It is a good idea to check how far the enemy can go in a given round. Sometimes it is worth it to wait him out a bit to deal his troops the first blow.
The troop that attacks first almost always has an advantage because it depletes the opponent's troop pool.
Also, if you hover over an enemy unit, you will see blood-red fields. This is its range of fire. If you are going to go through this area without engaging in combat, you must be ready for it to attack your unit on them.
Most troops after promotion (and some before) also have special skills. These are indicated as small icons next to the number of soldiers. It is worth familiarizing yourself with them, as they can sometimes be useful.