We get asked all the time what troops to fight with - short answer is for a lot of fights 1 troop plus 7 rogues is how you attack; in later ages you need 2 troops and 6 rogues to be able to auto battle (in GvG especially) and one of the combos I used a lot is 4 artillery 4 rogues to attack - the higher your attack boost, the better artillery works (artillery sits back and kills them all before they can reach you - usually).

Until you have higher attack boost (by high I mean over 200%-300% at least) you will fare much better with Heavy plus rogues or Fast plus rogues in most ages, those are the combinations I used often until my attack/defense while attacking was well over 200%, then artillery starts to work better than those; especially if you need to auto-battle or there are a lot of rogues in the enemy army like in GvG, then artillery is key to kill at a distance instead of letting enemy rogues get in reach of your units and cause massive damage before they've all been turned into other units.

Fighting tactics vary for each age and the abilities of units from each age change too; Iron through Industrial Ages operate all on the same basic unit principles and are similar for fighting tactics. From Progressive Era onward, it changes as to what unit types work best against other types, for example in iron thru industrial light units are good against fast/horses and weak to heavy units, in Progressive onward (conscripts) are the best to use against heavies (tanks) which is completely opposite of the iron-indy troop schema.

Iron through Indy troop bonuses on terrain:

• light units good against horses, get bonus on trees or bushes

• heavy are good against light, get a bonus on the plains.

• fast are good against artillery and ranged (archers) (no terrain bonus... on a horse.)

• artillery are good against heavy, get bonus on hills

• ranged (archers) are good against heavy, get bonus on rocks

IRON AGE (IA)

• 1 horse 7 rogues (move horse to top left on first turn, advance rogues, then hit auto): good against most armies especially 8 ballista, does ok against even 8 soldiers but will not work well against an army with a lot of rogues.

• 1 legion 7 rogues:  safe to auto but if it's against a lot of ballistas, you will be sorry.

• 2-4 artillery plus 4-6 rogues - this auto battles almost anything but will take loses against 8 ballista and 8 archers.

EMA
in EMA, the ranged units/archers are mounted archers, this puts a little twist on EMA fighting as sometimes those can reach all the way across the field in one turn.

• 1 horse 7 rogues (move horse to top left on first turn, advance rogues, then hit auto): good against most armies.

• 2 horse 6 rogue: you can auto with this when you have to fight fast, but will take some losses.

• 1 heavy 7 rogues: safe to auto but if it's against a lot of artillery, you will be sorry or have to retreat and attack again with different units or against a different DA.

• 2-4 artillery plus 4-6 rogues: this auto battles almost anything but will take loses against 8 ballista and 8 archers.

HMA: Same as EMA/IRON
LMA: Same as EMA/IRON
COLONIAL (CA): Same as EMA/IRON but rangers (light unit) can hide in trees and can't be hit from distance when hidden.

INDUSTRIAL (INDY): Same as EMA/IRON but 2 howitzer 6 rogue will auto most mixed armies, or also use artillery a lot in Indy as long as not many jaegers in the enemy armies. 8 artillery does quite well against 8 howitzer DAs or anything with a lot of rogues in it. Jaegers hide in trees, just like rangers, but unlike grenadiers, howitzers can shoot through them ignoring their hidden ability.

PROGRESSIVE (PE)

• 4 artillery 4 rogues: autos most things with minimal loss

• 2 conscript 6 rogues: also autos most enemy armies well, unless lot of snipers

• 1 tank 1 conscript 6 rogues: good for attacking against lot of mixed troops

• 1 sniper 7 rogues: on the rare occasion you find a lot of conscripts in the enemy, this works.

MODERN (ME)

• 2-4 artillery and 4-6 rogues: auto kills almost everything with minimal loss unless there are paratroopers in the enemy armies

• 1 heavy 7 rogues: good against everything except artillery/bazookas

• 1 fast 7 rogues: good against 8 artillery

POSTMODERN (PME)

• 1-2 MG Team and rogues: kills everything except 8 artillery

• 2 or 3 artillery and 5 or 6 rogues: autos most things but with some loss

• 1 champs 7 rogues (keep champ back on first turn or use 2 champs and hit auto): good against almost all enemies

• 1 fast 7 rogues: good against 8 artillery

CONTEMPORARY (CE)

• 1 anti air, 7 rogues (move anti air to top left then hit auto, kills anything, but you can't auto fight, first move is manual)

• 2 anti air, 6 rogues (you can auto fight with this but will take losses)

• 2 champs, 6 rogues (you can auto fight with this combo)

• 8 helicopters: good against 8 artillery, this is the first age with flying and artillery can not hit flying units. also useful to auto battle against 8 rogues.

• 1 tank 7 rogues: you can fight with this but will take loses and tanks are better for defense armies in CE.

THIS IS ONE AGE WHERE THE ARTILLERY UNIT IS almost COMPLETELY USELESS. the CE missile leaves the battlefield after firing once, and if you lose the battle you lose the missile too.

TOMORROW (TE)

• 1 or 2 champ and 6 or 7 rogues: takes out anything, keep champ back on first turn.

• 1 stealth tank 7 rogue: you can auto battle with this but will take injury or loss every time

Microwaves are good against stealth tanks, but they get killed a lot (because they have blast ability and try to run forward instead of shooting from the back of the field) and you can't auto with them. This is another era like CE where the Artillery unit is not so great - and microwave artillery can not hit flying drones.

FUTURE (FE)

By far the most commonly used army overall for FE should be:

• 2 hover, 6 rogues: safe for auto battle, will win against almost anything, even enemy units from Arctic, Oceanic, and Virtual Future.

You can experiment with some other combos, I also used these when I was in FE:

• 1 rail gun, 1 hover, 6 rogues: good compromise attack army in a mixed sector

• 2 rail gun, 6 rogues: hit auto, kills almost anything (but drone swarms will hurt it)

• 1 hover, 7 rogues: kills about anything but takes some injury/loss especially against 8 hovers

• 1 satellite spotter 7 rogues: ideal only for killing 8 rail gun army.

• 4 hover, 4 rogues: ideal only against 8 champs (You may find this in your Hood battles.)

ARCTIC (AF)

• 1 battle fortress, 1 plasma, 6 rogue kills just about anything in arctic.

• 2 battle fortress, 6 rogues: safe for auto battle

• 1 dragon drone 7 rogues - can win almost any fight also but you HAVE to play manually to optimize the dragon breath hitting multiple units in a row.

OCEANIC (OF)

• 2 subcruiser 6 rogue - good version for autobattle, but will take some losses on auto.

• 1 subcruiser 7 rogue is a good all around attack army. Make sure the subcruiser stays back on the first turn.

• If facing mixed turtles, I also used a lot 2 turtle, 2 subcruiser, 4 rogue to attack.

• 8 turtles: good against almost anything as long as no flying units present

VIRTUAL (VF)

• 1 ronin 7 rogue is a good all around attack army, safe to auto.

• 2 ronin 6 rogue, even safer to autobattle.

• If facing mixed rockets, I often used 2 rocket, 2 ronin, 4 rogue to attack.

• 8 VF rocket: good against almost anything as long as no flying units present

Mars (SAM)

• 2 warden 6 rogue: kills most enemy armies, safe to auto.

• 1 sentinel 1 warden 6 rogue: good against mixed units

• 1 or 2 sentinel, 6 or 7 rogues: good against a lot of artillery, can auto 2 sentinel 6 rogue but with some losses.

• 4 sentinel 4 rogue can auto against anything with 4 enemy artillery with no loss.

• 8 sentinel works very well with minimal loss at high attrition against certain armies.

• 8 VF rocket: good against 8 space marine, or most anything as long as no flying units present

Space Age Asteroid Belt (SAAB)

• 2 nail guns, plus rogues, is what I use most to attack

• 4 artillery 4 rogue works well as long as no fast/flying units in the enemy army

• 8 artillery is good against the all heavy/all light armies, or all heavy/artillery mixed armies. (Again, make sure no flying units present.)

But honestly the SAAB units are so bad, Mars is far superior. I still used 1 or 2 mars heavies plus rogue a lot - kills most SAAB armies.
Sentinels (fast unit) from Mars are much better than almost all the SAAB units as well.

Space Age Venus (SAV)

• 2 or 3 power dragon (artillery,) plus rogues, will kill almost anything, even flying units.  The artillery units in this age CAN hit flying units.

• 2-4 fast plus rogue or 8 fast units  will also kill almost anything.  Weirdly, the fast unit for Venus is named energy cannon, which makes it sound like an artillery unit.

The artillery and fast units are the strongest of the Venus units; power dragon is likely overpowered, it ignores stealth, flying, and other special abilities.  Observer drones (light unit) could be interesting in some manual fights since they can hide on broken ground, but they can still be hit by power dragons (which ignore stealth.)

Space Age Jupiter Moon (SAJM)

• 2 harpoon grenadier (ranged unit) plus rogues, the ranged unit with Contact skill is the best overall attack strategy.

• 2-4 fast plus rogue or 8 fast units  will also kill almost anything. 

• 8 cavitation tanks (artillery) but make sure no flying units present, artillery in this age can't hit flying  (fast) units.

But honestly the SAJM units are mediocre compared to Venus. I still used power dragons which kills most everything in SAJM, and fast units are king now that the Jupiter artillery can't hit flying units.

Space Age Titan (SAT)

• 2-4 fast plus rogue or 8 fast units  will kill almost anything.  Probably the best overall strategy because of the artillery having mortar ability but can't hit flying.

• If facing mixed artillery enemies, I also used a lot 2 artillery, 2 light units, 4 rogue to attack.

• 8 artillery but make sure no flying units present, artillery in this age can't hit flying  (fast) units, but it has mortar and hits multiple enemies with each shot.

Titan is very reminiscent of Oceanic for troops - meaning it's difficult to find a combo that works well on everything, and you always take some damage if facing any artillery.

Space Age Space Hub (SASH)

• 2 ranged unit plus rogues, the ranged unit with Contact skill is the best overall attack strategy and works well until very high attrition.

• 2-4 fast plus rogue or 8 fast units  will kill almost anything, like the rest of the space ages, you can play everything on fast units if you wanted.

• 2-3 artillery plus rogue will kill almost anything, the artillery in this age is like rail guns from FE (ignores all special abilities) and can hit flying.  These are more powerful than rail guns ever were because they move every turn instead of every other turn, and are more or less like Venus power dragons were.

Special Note: Against 4 fast and 4 ranged enemy army, use 2 ranged 1 heavy and 5 rogues (yes the 1 heavy is making all the difference here, funny as it is!)