Attack, defense and army management
Battles in Zardekon are resolved with real-time travel, transparent formulas and unit abilities. Whoever sends the right army at the right time wins.
Army capacity and grain
Every unit consumes grain each hour (upkeep). The total upkeep of your army — including units in training, units stationed as support and units on the move — cannot exceed your hourly grain production. This way your net grain production never goes negative and the stock in your granary stays available for construction.
- To grow your army, upgrade your Farm, Grain Mill, Bakery and Farm II.
- Grain never drops below 0; your units do not desert, but you cannot train new units without enough grain.
- Low-upkeep units such as the Han Cavalry mean a bigger army for the same grain.
Training units
Infantry is trained in the Barracks, cavalry in the Stable and siege units in the Siege Workshop. You can queue up to 1,000 units at once; units join the village one by one, each as soon as its own training time is up. If a building already has a queue, the new batch starts after the previous one finishes. Each building level reduces training time by 5% (about 62% at level 20).
How do you attack?
- Select a village within your range on the map.
- Choose the units to send: the screen shows total attack power, carry capacity and arrival time.
- The army marches at the speed of its slowest unit. Travel time = distance ÷ speed (hours).
- The battle is resolved on arrival and both sides receive a detailed battle report. Survivors return home with the loot.
Attack range
How far you can attack depends on your Town Hall level. Since the map wraps around, distance is always measured along the shortest path.
| Town Hall level | Range |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Off |
| 3–4 | 3 tiles |
| 5–7 | 5 tiles |
| 8–9 | 8 tiles |
| 10–14 | 12 tiles |
| 15–20 | Entire map |
How is a battle calculated?
Attack power A = Σ (unit count × attack × ability multiplier)
Defense power D = (Σ village and support units × defense × ability multiplier + villagers) × (1 + wall bonus)
- Villagers: even with no units in the village, there is Town Hall level × 10 defense power.
- If A > D, the attacker wins: the attacker loses a share of (D ÷ A)1.5, and all of the defender's units fall.
- Otherwise the defender wins: the entire attacking army falls, and the defender loses a share of (A ÷ D)1.5.
- Abilities apply: for example, Wall Breacher reduces the wall bonus, Commander increases defense in the village and Disciplined Retreat reduces losses.
- If all of the attacker's units fall, the defense details are hidden in the report — that is the price of attacking blind.
Example: if you attack 600 defense power with 1,000 attack power, you win and lose about 46% of your army (0.61.5 ≈ 0.46). Against 250 defense, 1,000 attack loses only 12.5%. The bigger the power gap, the faster losses shrink.
Loot
A victorious attacker takes resources up to the total carry capacity of its surviving units, split as evenly as possible across the four resources. Viking units carry 15% more, and the Egyptian War Chariot carries 50% more. Egypt's Medjay Guards, on the other hand, each hide 20 units of every resource from looting when defending.
Siege and building damage
If the attack is won and at least 5 siege units survive, the target village takes damage:
- Viking, Gokturk and Han siege units: reduce the level of a random building (except the Town Hall and wall) by 1.
- The Roman Onager and the Egyptian Battering Ram: reduce the wall level by 1.
- Building levels never drop below 1; a building currently under construction takes no damage.
Support troops
You can send units to your clan members and defend their villages together. Support troops are added to the host's defense; their upkeep is paid by the sender. You can recall your units at any time, and the host can also send them home. See the Clans page for details.
Beginner protection
For 7 days after you register, your village cannot be attacked; you appear on the map with a 🛡 icon. If you launch an attack before the protection period ends, your protection ends immediately.
Battle points and rankings
Every unit you kill earns you points equal to one percent of its cost. Defenders killed in your attacks give attack points; attackers killed while you defend give defense points. Defense points are split according to each party's contribution to the defense (including clan members who sent support).
Rankings are based on battle points (attack + defense); ties are broken by village points (the sum of all building levels). Separate rankings are kept for players and for clans.