Troops

Defensive troops:

Spear fighter – Probably first troops which you will train will be spear fighters. These guys are very useful in the beginning to farm abandoned villages which don’t have troops in them. They can carry 25 resources. That is why you should train them in the beginning and use them to farm. They have very low offensive power what means that if you would attack someone who had troops in defense with spear army you will lose. They are good in defense against cavalry.

Swordsman – Another defensive unit only this one has a bit better offensive power (that doesn’t mean that you can attack villages with troops using swordsman’s) but they can carry only 10 resources so they aren’t good for farming. You could build few swords in the beginning to send with spears groups. If you send spear farming raids with 5 swords in them then you won’t lose spears against villages’ general defense. The problem with swords is that they are much slower than any other unit except nobleman. Swords have high general defense.

Archer – He has good general and cavalry defense but can easily be crushed by mounted archers. These guys are very useful because from my experience not many players build many mounted archers what gives you opportunity to build more archers in defense.

Heavy Cavalry –Can be used in defense and offense. They are my favorite units in defense and I usually replace swords with HC because they are so much faster than swords. They are built in stables so you can build defense in barracks and stables at the same time what saves you few days for building up full defensive village. You can also use HC to attack. Usually I send my nobles with HC escort.

Offensive troops:

Axeman – One of two main attacking troops. There are usually ~5-10k axes in nuke.

Light cavalry – The best farming unit in Tribal Wars. They can carry 80 resources and move very fast. They are also your main offensive troops.

Mounted archers –Good against archers, but not very popular. You should add at least few hundred MA to your nukes.

Rams- They are only good for destroying walls in enemy villages. But they play very important role in attacking. By destroying walls you decrease bonus enemy troops receive from walls what can be very high. They attack before any other troops so they will lower the wall before your other units fight.

Catapults – great for destroying building in enemy villages. You can use them to kill enemies which you don’t want to noble.

Scouts- They can be used in offense and defense. They are good for higher farming efficiency to see how high mines are in you farm and how many resources left after you farm them. They can tell you how many troops enemy has but in worlds where you can’t see troops outside the village your opponent can dodge your scouts and you won’t see what he has. You can also use them in defense to hide information from your troops/buildings from attacker but you need twice as much scouts in defense then attacker has. Scouts in offense can be killed only by scouts in defense.
Paladin – can be used as early farmer if you have abandoned villages near you. He is also great with sending support. If you send defense with paladin to support a village they will move twice as fast as without paladin.

Nobleman- only unit which can noble a village, but it’s not enough to hit only once with noble. You need 3-5 times to hit a village with nobleman. Each nobleman lowers loyalty in range between 20 and 35. They must be sent with escort. After nobling a village your paladin disappears.