Are you tired of massive army food burn? Are you tired of watching your offline buddies fall victim to numerous spam attacks, followed by a pony hit, followed by loyalty runs and eventually losing their town? If you don't mind thinking a bit outside the box, and want a better blanket of protection while you're away from your computer, the answer is here.
The Compact Defense is your answer. As far as I can tell, it was originally conceived of by Dark Brady (original forum link following this post), and it answers all of the above questions... VERY effectively. As with any good idea, it has evolved over the months - and continues to evolve today. Keep in mind, that no defense is unbreakable, and that with enough ambition, effort and troops your walls will eventually fall. However, the Compact Defense will make any victory so costly that most attackers may not even attempt to take it down. Personally, I've been scouted (successfully) several times, and only attacked a handful of times since I instituted the Compact on s139. I haven't come close to losing a town, much less my walls, so I speak from experience, not just research.
The basics of the Compact Defense center around the common idea that archers are the most important piece in your arsenal, and is built around protecting that piece - and thusly, your walls and town. As well, it involves the manipulation of the concepts of range and combined attack ratios, both in attacking and defending armies. Other benefits include a lower food burn rate, no need to remove cav and 'phract when attacked and ease of use. Quite simply, The Compact Defense is considered one of the best in the game, and is used by many of the top players.
First things first, what makes a Compact Defense. Simple.
Walls:Full, with ONLY Archer Towers (18,333)
- ZERO Traps / Abatis / Defensive Trebuchets / Rolling Logs
Troops:Min recommendation for archers: 150K
- All other troops counts revolve around your base # of archers, and increase / decreas as your archer count does
Min Warrior ratio: 3 to 1, warrior to archer (450K)
Min Swordsmen ratio: 1.3 to 1 (195K)
Min Pikemen ratio: 1 to 1 (150K)
Min Cavalry: 50-100K
Min 'Phract: 20-50K
Min Ballista / Battering Ram / Catapault: 10k each (I know!)
- These minimum numbers equal a 9.83 mil food / hour - or 235.9 mil a day. OR about 13 Lv10 NPCs (19 mil food per hit).
- Ponies are optional (but suggested) in this defense, remove ponies and burn drops to 8.23 mil / hour
- Also, does not take into account food burn for workers, transporters or scouts.
The Compact Defense is effective at lower numbers, and can be run with smaller ratios of troops to archers - but as these decrease, so does the effectiveness. When discussing mech, start building the Ballista first (you should already have 3-4K from Lv5 farming teams), then mix in Rams and Catapults until the minimum 10K of each is reached.
Second. WHY is the Compact Defense so effective?
The true beauty of this defensive scheme is in it's manipulation of range, which is (in my opinion) is one of the most ignored factors of the game, and combined attack. A typical defensive scheme consisting of trap / abatis / defensive trebuchets (t/a/d) will set your defensive range (and the beginning of battle) at 5,000 ~units (yards, feet, miles, inches, whatever)~. The attackers begin there and move forward, round by round, based on their individual movement rates, until a defending piece(s) come into their attack range. The defending army moves out from the base of the wall (0 range) based on the same principles. As pieces come into contact with another, battle ensues. Combat Mechanics are explored in other posts, see those for reference. As the Compact Defense DOES NOT employ t/a/d (or Rolling Logs), battle begins at the longest range of the attacking army (the furthest possible would be the Catapult, at 1,500). This is known as "Power Range". Thusly, at the beginning of battle the ENTIRE attacking army is already in range of Archer Tower fire and, more than likely, within range of fire from your defending Archers and Mech. Attacking armies are decimated in very few rounds, and at little cost to you.
Well, why not just throw multiple Scout Bombs at the target to soften them up? Again, the intricate beauties of this defense prevent Scout Bombs from attacking your archers for quite some time. The combat mechanics of a Scout Bomb hold that the scouts will attack the piece with the HIGHEST COMBINED ATTACK. The basic troop count for the Compact Defense ensures that your layers will have a higher combined attack than your archers.
Example: 450K Warriors = 22,500,000 combined attack
195K Swordsmen = 19,500,000 combined attack
150K Pikemen = 22,500,000 combined attack
150K Archers = 18,000,000 combined attack
Thusly, Scout Bombs will target all other layers until archers finally have the highest combined attack. This will take multiple bombs, and if enough are thrown, they will eventually start to eat away at your archers. However, after the first one hits the archers, their combined attack drops below that of the other layers, and the process must be repeated! Also keep in mind that Scouts have a very low attack (20) and very low defense (20). Score 1 for the defense!
Another "Bomb" type attack is the Cav Rainbow or 'Phract Smack (see other sections for specifics). Though ponies have a much higher attack (and defense), they operate on much the same principles as the Scouts as in they will attack the highest combined attack piece first. Some schools of thought will even say that ponies will move their way through infantry and horseback (HB) units before moving on to range units. This feeds the premise that pony bombs require that defending infantry be cleared before being launched against defending ranged units (Archer, Ballista, Catapult). Either way, the Compact Defense wins. While scouts are relatively inexpensive to produce, ponies (especially 'Phracts) require a much larger amount of resources and time. Not many people have multiple pony bombs to lose. Score 2 for the defense!
Ok, Scout Bombs and Ponies don't work... well if the attacking alliance wants to waste 3-4 million scouts on one target .. I guess ... maybe you might start to do some damage .... but sheesh.. really?! New thought says Mech. Yes! Mech! Mech is great at clearing meat layers! That's it primary use! Perfect! Wrong again... Mech are ranged pieces, and thus, need range (distance) to be effective. Mech is most effective from 5k distance. As it moves sooooo slow (Ballista moves at 100), defending armies spend multiple rounds just running out to meet it - out from the protective cover of Archer Towers and are slowly destroyed round after round as they struggle to reach the far distant Mech. In a Compact Defense, the battle begins pretty much at the base of the wall nullifying the greatest advantage of Mech - distance. As well, the combat mechanics of range units specify that range attacks range and, that units within 50-100% of attack range will only receive 50% damage. As mech moves so slow, they will not get the chance to attack at optimum range, which is 1-50% of distance (and receiving full 100% damage). However, neither will defending mech and archers, however you will have the added bonus of 18,000+ Archer Towers attacking in the first round of battle. 1-2 rounds and bye-bye mech. The same theories hold for typical Archer Rainbows, just on a far more devastating scale to the attackers. Score 3 and 4 for the defense!
A Compact Defense can absorb multiple Scout Bombs, Archer Rainbows, Cav Rainbows and 'Phract Smacks, and even Mech Strikes. It takes a combination of all the above forms of attack, a great deal of planning and calculating, and a deep understanding of Evony Battle Mechanics to conquer The Compact Defense. It is easy to implement and maintain, even though the mechanics behind it are quite intricate. It will bend, and eventually break - but the cost to your opponents will be so great that to take the walls of your one town will leave many of their towns poorly defended. You may lose a battle, but your alliance will win the war!!
Original Compact Defense Forum Post by Dark Brady:
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=84025
