Strategies, Tips & Tricks - Everything you need to know about commanders

*apparently that block of text is too hard to read. it states "You can create new commanders here. To create a commander you have to have at least 1 troop trained that is not in an army"

Picking a unit for a commander

You can make any troop that you can train into a commander - tier 1 and 2 of each of the four types of troops. Siege engines are not people and therefore cannot be commanders. T1 commanders get an extra 5 levels in the divisional bonus in defense of the type of commander and T2 commanders get an extra 5 levels in the divisional bonus for attack of that type. From this, it would seem straight forward that if you have an army of infantry that you want to attack with that you would pick a T2 infantry commander. However, that's not aways the case. Each commander gets attack/defensive stats based off of its unit type. In most cases, the T2 calvary unit has the best stats. The extra attack you get with a calvary commander is greater than the extra 5% attack bonus you get with small armies. It differs for each race and unit type, but a general size is 1000 troops in the division. If you have over that, you get more from the extra 5% bonus of having a commander that is the same troop type. The same is also true for defensive stats and commanders - but remember that bonus comes from what is attacking, usually infantry or calvary.. The other bonus of a having a T2 calvary commander is that it won't slow down any army unless the army consists of T1 calvary. If you have an army of T1 calvary, you can make a T1 calv a commander if you want to keep the speed at max for a loss of commander attack, which isn't a problem if you are using the army for raiding.

Putting commanders in charge
Once you have your commander(s) made, you can put them in the front of your armies. You need at least 1 division in your army commanded by a commander for it to go forth and conquer. However, you can put as many divisions in as you want - up to 5 ones commanded. This allows you to make sure that you get the most out of your troops by matching commanders with troops. A bonus of this is that when you have multiple commanders in an army, all of their attack and defense values add up and it makes sense to get the most out of them For instance, you could have 3 T2 calvary commanders leading divisions of 500 bow units each(getting the max attack from the commanders) and another 2 T2 infantry commanders each in charge of 1500 infantry (getting the extra 5% bonus).

Gaining XP
Commanders gain XP whenever the troops in their division kill enemy units. When fighting other players, the XP gain is equivalent to the gold upkeep the player was paying them. Against NPC troops, the XP gain is equal to the Experience listed when you click on the picture of the NPC troop.

Commander Skills (compiled by Piarou)

After you have researched Command you can start your research in commander skills. There are four trees; Defensive Tactics, Discipline, Offensive Tactics and Seasoning. You can research one skill per lvl of your barracks. With a lvl 20 barracks you can eventually research them all.

Defensive Tactics

Agile Defence: +1% defence against spears per lvl

Interlocked Shields: +1% defence against swords per lvl

Square Formation: +1% defence against cavalry per lvl

Tortoise Formation: +1% defence against bows per lvl

Discipline

Force of will: +5% resistance to magic, yet unused

Forced March: +5% on slowest unit speed per lvl

Military Logistics: +5% maximum load of total unit per lvl

Offensive Tactics

Bloodlust: +1% attack for swords per lvl

Charge: +1% attack for cavalry per lvl

Close Quarter Penetration: +1% attack for spears per lvl

Concentrated Fire: +1% attack for bows per lvl

Seasoning

Accelerated Healing: hp regeneration speed increased by +1 hp/hour per lvl

Vitality: +50 hp per lvl

Avoid Charge: Better defence against cavalry for your commander

Break Spear Wall: Better defence against spears for your commander

Cover: Better defence against bows for your commander

Heroism: Increased damage dealt by your commander

Sword Mastery: Better defence against swords for your commander

Uncanny Sense: Higher chance to survive an assassination attempt

Defy Death: Improved chance to survive a battle even when reduced to 0 hp

Order to level your commander skills
When you are leveling your commander you want to make sure you pick the right ones so you get the most out of your troops. I suggest this order for both offensive and defensive commanders - you need to level up defensive ones by attacking or it'll take forever waiting to be attacked.

1) Heroism --> 10*; Heroism gives you a base attack that you don't have to retrain to get. *As your commander only gets as much attack as the troops he commands, if you have a small army, you might only level Heroism until the commanders attack is about the same as your army's and then level it later when your army grows.

2) Divisional bonus for the troops commanding --> 10, For instance, if your army is of infantry, level Bloodlust. This divisional bonus gets you more attack out of each troop.

3) Defy Death --> 10, The less your commander dies, the less you have to pay. It becomes more important for your commander to live when he becomes higher leveled.

Offensive Commanders

4) Forced March --> 10, Perfect for the impatient people, the faster your troops move, the less you have to wait and the more attacking you can do!

At that point, you should have an idea for what you want your army to do and can either start leveling Military Logistics - raiding, Force of will - save troops from spells, Uncanny Sense - save your commander from those pesky assassins when you are in a war and so on and so forth!

Defensive Commanders

4) Personal bonus/Divisional bonus for defense --> 10, this one depends on your army size. If you have a large army ~ 1k or more troops depending on the type, its better to do the divisional bonus, else do the personal bonus. The bonus type to level is a hard one as it depends on what is attacking you. One way to decide is to see what terrain is being attacked, if its a plain, most likely will be attacked by cavalry, its a forest, most likely infantry.

5) Uncanny Sense --> 10, This is important when you are defending as its likely your armies will be hit by assassins and a dead commander doesn't help much when defending. You can switch this with 4 if you need it sooner.

6) Personal bonus/Divisional bonus --> which ever you didn't do in step 4)