Castle combat runs twelve simultaneous rounds. Neither side gets a first-strike advantage — both act in the same round, and losses land together at the end of it. If nobody is wiped by round twelve, the defender holds: taking a castle means actually breaking the garrison, not winning on points.
Ranged troops engage first and melee closes last:
| Round | Archers | Mages | Warriors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ✔ | — | — |
| 2–3 | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| 4–12 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Archers loose immediately, mages join from round 2, and warriors swing from round 4 once the charge has crossed the field.
While a side's warriors stand, they hold almost all incoming fire. Melee can't reach past a front line at all, and ranged fire is mostly locked onto it — only 12% leaks through to the archers and mages behind. Overkill damage spills to whoever is still standing, again and again within the same round, until it is spent.
This is the step-up: while a wall stands, the back lines behind it are nearly untouchable — which is the entire reason to bring warriors. A march without a wall exposes its archers and mages to everything from round one, and dies for it.
Warriors beat Archers. Archers beat Mages. Mages beat Warriors.
The counter bonus climbs with tier — +5% at Tier 1, +2.5% per rung, +20% at Tier 7. A better unit isn't merely bigger; it's better at exploiting the matchup. Early fights are decided by numbers, late ones by composition.
Each attacking stack pools its damage, splits it across enemy kinds by its targeting shares, and each target reduces what lands with its defence:
reduction = Defense ÷ (Defense + 100 × attacker's power)
The curve is hyperbolic on purpose: every point of defence is worth slightly less than the last, and it can never reach immunity. Armour is also capped by what a unit wears — plate 75% (warriors), hide 55% (archers), robes 40% (mages). Partial damage carries between rounds, so chip damage is never thrown away: a weaker force still grinds a wall down over twelve rounds.
An attacker's losses are always dead — there is no ward on the far side of the map. A defender's losses become wounded up to the Hospital's remaining beds, and dead beyond it. Defending your castle is structurally cheaper than attacking someone else's.
All at Tier 7, full twelve rounds unless a side breaks first:
| Setup | Attacker lost | Defender lost | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Even armies, 3,500 v 3,600 | 1,509 | 1,406 | Defender holds |
| 3,500 archers alone v 3,000 mixed | 3,500 — wiped | 633 | Defender holds |
| 3,500 warriors v 3,000 archers | 504 | 3,000 — wiped | Castle falls |
| Thin wall + heavy archers v thick wall | 2,919 | 1,016 | Defender holds |
Each troop building that reaches level 30 opens a one-of-three choice that applies to every tier of its unit:
| Building | Offensive | Field Medics | Logistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barracks | Hold the Line — warriors take 10% less damage | A share of attack losses return wounded; stronger passive healing and more hospital beds | Bigger training batches, faster and cheaper training, larger marches |
| Range | Breach Shot — arrows follow the wall down as it breaks | ||
| Wizard Tower | Arcane Overload — 7% of casts erupt for 1.8× damage, ignoring armour |
All three offensive talents are live in the Combat Lab — toggle them and watch the exchange move.
Conflict Kingdom is in development: every constant on this page comes from the current combat model and may be tuned before release.