Military is how you take land, gold and books from other provinces, and how you make a name for yourself. This page explains the units you send, how long an attack takes, what each type of attack does, and the bonuses that make an army stronger. Conquering others is rewarding, but attack badly and you will lose troops and time for little gain.
In short
- You attack by sending an army of units: soldiers, specialists, elites, generals, plus optional horses, mercenaries and prisoners.
- An attack succeeds when the Mod Offense you send is at least Mod Defense +1. Since Age 103 there is no random factor.
- Attack provinces of similar networth. Smaller targets give less and keep your army away longer; attacking inside your own kingdom gives few, if any, rewards.
- A normal attack takes about 14 days to finish, including rest and preparing the new land.
- War horses add 2 offence each, mercenaries and prisoners add 8 each.
- Successful Traditional March attacks also earn specialist credits and building credits.
Units in an attack
To attack, you send an army made of different kinds of military units: horses, prisoners, mercenaries, soldiers, offensive specialists, defensive specialists, elites and generals. You must have enough of each type drafted or trained. See Units for the full details. You can view each race's unit strengths on the game's Race & Personality details page.
Generals lead your armies. Check that you send the right number of generals for the attacks you plan (see Attacking & Defending).
War horses
War horses come from stables and make your army hit harder. You may send up to one horse per military unit in the attack, and each horse adds 2 points of offensive strength.
Mercenaries
You can hire mercenaries to help in an attack. They serve you for a single attack only. They cost a lot, but each one adds 8 points of offence, so they can raise your attack substantially. You can also get free mercenaries by holding prisoners of war (below), which needs Dungeons built on your land.
Prisoners
Prisoners are taken from the enemies who would have been killed in your attack, usually at a ratio of 2/3 prisoners to total kills, and only if there is room in your dungeons.
- Prisoners have no upkeep.
- Every 2 prisoners fill 1 job (only for BE calculations).
- Every prisoner produces 0.75gc per hour, whether or not there are unfilled jobs. For the formula, see Economy.
- Each prisoner you send in an attack provides 8 offensive points.
- About one third of the prisoners you send are lost in the fight. The rest are immediately available to your general again.
Choosing a target
With risk comes reward. There are plenty of smaller, weaker provinces to attack, plenty of bullies who will attack you, and plenty of chances to feed on provinces ravaged by others. The Lords do not think this is noble and will see that it is not rewarded.
Attacking provinces of similar networth to yours is richly rewarded. Attack smaller enemies and you suffer a variety of penalties: you gain less and your army is away for long periods. Attacking within your own kingdom has few, if any, rewards.
Attack times
An attack takes time and effort, and your forces then need rest. The baseline is about 14 days, which covers attacking, resting, and preparing your new land or other resources for use. Factors such as the size of your opponent change this. Attacking vastly different size opponents gives longer attack times. The Attack Menu in your War Room shows the time before you send.
Random factor
As of Age 103, the random factor has been removed. An attack always succeeds when the Mod Offense you send is at least Mod Defense +1.
Types of attack
Traditional March
The standard attack. It captures a portion of enemy lands.
Raze
Destroys a portion of the enemy lands and is not affected by differing province sizes. Only destroys buildings during War.
Plunder
Captures some of an enemy's gold, food, and runes. Troop losses on Plunder defense are reduced by 50%.
Learn
Steals a portion of the target's allocated books plus a portion of the target's unallocated books. During War, Learn temporarily removes part of the target's Science books. Troop losses on Learn defense are reduced by 50%.
Massacre
Rampages through a province killing any population that can be found, including peasants, wizards, and thieves. Damage is increased during War.
Conquest
Similar to a Traditional March, but does not need to be fully successful to capture land. It is limited to opponents very similar in size to you, except in War.
Ambush
You can ambush a province that has recently captured land from you. You strike the opponent's army while it is away from home and recapture 50% of the land stolen from you.
- Because it is a surprise, no offensive or defensive modifiers are considered, only raw military strength.
- The defence fights at 80% of its normal capacity.
- Specialists in the opposing army defend with the strength of that race's defensive specialists.
- A province attacking Anonymously or using War Spoils cannot be ambushed.
- An army can only be ambushed once.
- Ambush inflicts increased Military Casualties.
If you are still unclear, see the Ambush Guide.
Credits from attacks
Successful Traditional March attacks earn credits that let you train or build without paying gold. You can choose not to use credits. Upon leaving End-of-War Ceasefire, all credits are lost.
Specialist credits
These let you train specialist units at no gc cost. The amount is directly related to the amount of defense you break. They decay while out of war at a rate of 20% at the dawn of each Utopian Month.
Building credits
These let you build or raze buildings at no gc cost. The amount is tied to networth, but the exact formula is currently unknown. They decay at a rate of 20% at the dawn of each Utopian Month if your total credits are greater than 15% of your total land (Credits > Acres * 0.15).
Formulas
The base amount of specialist credits earned:
Defense * 0.008 * Relative Networth
Estimated base of building credits (the exact formula is unknown):
Acres taken * 0.4 * Relative Networth
Building credits decay only if:
Credits > Acres * 0.15
Numbers last updated 27 Sep 2026.