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Kaiserpunkis a city builder first and foremost, but sooner or later you’ll find yourself sending troops out into the trenches once more, either to defend your new home or to unite the world under your rule. From small-scale skirmishes to meticulously-planned invasions spanning entire continents, warfare is a major part of the game even if you’re just trying to protect what’s yours.
Kaiserpunk’s combat system can seem a little obtuse at first, but once you know what you’re looking at it’s fairly simple. We’ll break it down so that you can plan your strategy with confidence.
Unit Types
Military units are grouped together on the map according to their type;land units in Army Battalions,sea units in Navy Fleets, and air units in Air Force Squadrons.These are headquartered by their respective bases in your city, so for each base you have, you’re able to deploy one Battalion, Fleet, or Squadron.
Regardless of type, each base can supporta maximum of eight units.
Land Units
Land units can beInfantry, Artillery, or Tanks.They do the bulk of the fighting in the game, especially on defense. They’re also the only units capable of conquering regions; if a Fleet or Squadron defeats a region’s defenders, the region will just be undefended until an Army Battalion comes to claim it.
Battalions aren’t restricted by Airfields, so as long as they don’t have tocross water via expensive Landing Ships, they’re the most maneuverable unit type as well.
Like ships, a full Tank Battalion is expensive to produce and maintain (you’ll likely need several Vehicle Factories working at once to keep up with demand), but is exceptional in ground combat, all other factors being equal.
Sea Units
Ships have only a single unit class, so the only consideration when building your navies ishow much you want to spend on developing the more expensive high-tier variants.A fleet of Battleships will devastate any foe in its path, but the fuel and shells necessary to keep it running will run up some truly heinous costs.
Shipsmove slowly along sea lanes, but once they’re in position, a shore bombardment is one of the most powerful tactics in the game. Unless your opponent has a fleet of their own to intercept or a large Artillery emplacement to fire back, ships deal massive damage to land units while taking little in return.
A purely naval engagement, on the other hand, is often decided simply by numbers if both squadrons are of equal ship classes.
Ships deal less damage to air units; use this to your advantage bysending Bombers to soften them upbefore attacking with your own fleet. By the same token,equip your own fleets with Carriersor keep them in range of your Airbases so that your Fighters can chase off enemy Bombers who would do this to you.
Air Units
Air units must be stationed at an Airfield or Carrier on the World Map, andcan operate within two regions of their base.They’re divided into two classes, each with a distinct and equally-important role.
If you can afford it, it’s wise to haveseparate Squadrons for Fighters and Bombers.That way, the Fighters can fly in first to dispatch any enemy planes, then the Bombers can start a run immediately afterward when the path is clear.
Range And Damage
Units can attack any region or sea zone to which they’re adjacnet (or, in the case of air units, within their flight range). That means that land units can attack ships off the coast, and vice versa. However, attacking a region means thatall the units and garrisons stationed there will fight back, while attackers can only strike with one battalion, fleet, or squadron at a time.
Range
Attacks are resolvedin order from the longest-range units to the shortest, with defenders going first at each range. This means that attacks are resolved in the following order:
Close (Goes Last)
Infantry
If a unit is destroyed before their turn comes up, they won’t be able to attack back.
Damage
Each unit has a different damage rating based on which unit type they’re attacking; their damage against land units is shown on orange, their damage against ships is in dark blue, and their damage against planes is in light blue.
When a group of unit attacks on their turn (again, as determined by their range), theydeal all their damage from each category as long as there is an appropriate target present. For example, if there are no ships to attack, a unit will deal their land and air damage, but the sea damage will simply not find a target and be wasted.
Damage isdivided evenly among all enemy units of the target type.This usually means thatInfantry and Fighters will be the first to dieunless you keep them reinforced between engagements. Without those smaller units to soak up damage, larger units like Tanks will quickly succumb in subsequent battles.
Use the cooldown between moves and attacks toreinforce damaged units.It pays to have a stockpile of vehicles and firearms specifically for this purpose.
Terrain
Each region has aTerrain typethat modifies the damage dealt by some unit types. The modifier isdifferent based on whether the unit is attacking or defending, making some regionsmuch more defensible than others.For example, inUrban Terrain, Infantry deal more damage on both attack and defense; attacking Artillery and Fighters, however, take a penalty as the buildings make it harder for them to get targets, while defending Bombersalso deal less damage as theyhave to avoid damaging their own nation’s infrastructure.
Paying attention to the terrain in a theater of war and adjusting your unit composition accordingly can mean the difference between victory and defeat. You canreplace an existing unit in a Battalion, Navy, or Squadronby selecting it in its battlegroup’s info panel.
