Combat Basics

Combat Basics describes the default combat system used in War.app.

By default, combat contains no randomness. Every battle will always produce the same result given the same number of attacking and defending armies. For games that use randomized combat, see Random Combat.

Attacks and Transfers

Attack/transfer orders become transfers if the destination territory is owned by you or one of your teammates.

Otherwise, the order becomes an attack.

How Combat Works

Combat is simultaneous. During an attack, both the attackers and defenders deal damage to each other at the same time.

By default:

• Each attacking army kills 0.6 defending armies.
• Each defending army kills 0.7 attacking armies.

Since there is no randomness, the result can always be calculated in advance.

For example:

• 10 attacking armies kill 6 defenders.
• 20 attacking armies kill 12 defenders.
• 50 attacking armies kill 30 defenders.

If all defending armies are eliminated, the territory is captured and occupied by the surviving attacking armies.

If at least one defender survives, the attack fails and the surviving attackers remain on their original territory.

Examples

Capturing a Territory

Suppose 10 armies attack a territory defended by 5 armies.

• The attackers kill 6 defenders.
• The defenders kill 4 attackers.

Since all 5 defenders are eliminated, the territory is captured.

The 6 surviving attackers move into the conquered territory.

Failed Attack

Suppose 10 armies attack a territory defended by 10 armies.

• The attackers kill 6 defenders.
• The defenders kill 7 attackers.

Four defenders survive, so the territory is not captured.

The 3 surviving attackers remain on their original territory.

Rounding

Combat calculations do not always result in whole numbers.

For example, 7 attacking armies deal 4.2 kills, while 3 defending armies deal 2.1 kills.

By default, War.app uses Straight Round rounding, which rounds values to the nearest whole number.

Under these settings:

• 4.2 rounds to 4.
• 2.1 rounds to 2.
• 4.7 rounds to 5.

Some games may use different rounding methods. See Random Combat and Rounding Mode for details.

One Army Must Stand Guard

Some games enable the One Army Must Stand Guard setting.

When enabled, at least one army must remain on every territory. This means you can attack or transfer with at most one fewer army than are currently stationed on the territory.

For example, a territory containing 10 armies may attack with at most 9 armies.

Mutual Destruction

If all attacking and defending armies are eliminated in the same battle, the attack fails and one defending army is resurrected.

This most commonly occurs when attacking a territory defended by a single army with a single attacking army. Because of this rule, attacking a 1 with a 1 is ineffective when One Army Must Stand Guard is enabled.

Analyze Attack

Use the Analyze Attack button from the game menu to preview the exact outcome of attacks under the current game settings.

Because default combat is deterministic, Analyze Attack can show the precise result of every battle before it occurs.

See Also

• Random Combat
• Luck Modifier
• Rounding Mode
• Analyze Graphs