Warpath: Army formations guide

A comprehensive guide explaining the basics of the Warpath army formations and troops selection per different combat scenarios.

Introduction

Over 150 different units are available in Warpath split into 9 categories. Which ones should you use for effective combat, both in PvE and PvP, are written down in this guide.

This guide is intended for beginners who started playing recently and looking to understand basics of the combat manoeuvring in Warpath in general and unit formation(s) used for that in particular.

Know your role on the battlefield

Warpath is a war game and it’s not possible to win it solo. Every player has to be part of an alliance and play a specific role in it. To make this guide easy to understand, I’ll define the following roles/combat scenarios:

1. Campaign Rusher
2. Siege Machine
3. Tank Hunter
4. Ze Flanker
5. Rear Guard
6. Territorial control

Each of those requires a different set of units to be deployed on the battlefield and specific focus during the battle maneuvring. If you have any doubts, you can always refer to the units countering matrix.

Don’t hestitate to reset your unit via the factory for 20 gold when needed.

Campaign Rusher

Progressing the campaign is quite important to increase your passive income of experience and ammunition required for units’ upgrades. Quite often it is ignored by the beginners causing issues in mid-/late-game.

Description

Majority of the early missions are easy to complete. All you need is 1 strong infantry unit able to absorb damage while your rear units are killing the enemy.

2 things you need to remember here:

• Bunker your infantry BEFORE they start taking damage
• Assign Angel of Light / White Wolf officers due to their infantry-exclusive skills.

In case you don’t have strong infantry, heavy/super-heavy tank can be used as an alternative but I won’t recommend it due to high investment cost into this unit to be effective. Especially, in the early stages of the campaign.

Unit setup

Typical army formation might vary depending on the campaign progress since some of them have more enemy infantry to deal with, while other missions have more tanks – so you will need to adjust the amount of siege/anti-tank guns units in your setup.

Selection of particular camps doesn’t really matter for campaign, just assign your strongest units taking into accout table below.

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Front	Damage sponge		Take enemy fire, survive as long as possible.
	Front	Damage sponge		If you don’t have strong infantry unit, using heavy/super-heavy tanks can be an alternative solution.
	Middle	Damage dealer		Medium and Light tanks are essential to counter enemies artillery and tank hunters.
	Middle	Damage dealer		Tank hunters will take care of the enemy heavy tanks.
	Rear	Damage dealer		Anti-tank guns are mandatory when you have super-heavy tank enemies during certain campaign stages.
	Rear	Siege Infantry		Rocket launchers and Howitzers are equally good while dealing with enemy bunkers and infantry units, take one or two depending on the situation.

Battle Mechanics

1. Take your infantry and bunker it in front of the enemy so that every opponent focus fire it.
2. With the remaining units target 1 enemy unit at a time starting with those closest to the bunker – it will reduce movement of your units and speed up killing the enemies.
3. Rinse and repeat until the mission is over.
4. If you’re stuck: modify infantry with better components/parts first, invest remaining resources into your ATG/HR/RL.

Siege Machine

This part of the guide was written thanks to:
PennyWise|StarGate Command Alliance Officer

Description

Siege Machine a.k.a. B2B (Base-2-Base) combat is one of the most important skills to learn as it is critical in the mid to late game stage. B2B is only effective on territory borders or in any situation where you are able to place your place extremely close to your opponents.

Unit Setup

The ideal army/unit setup for B2B battling is very simple: 1 Heavy (HT) or Super-heavy (SH) tank such as Tiger or Lion. The Valentine and Churchill lines are also worth considering: although they have thinner armour than the others and thus don’t last as long on the field, they benefit from a 300% damage boost against structures such as bases and bunkers.

The rest of the units should be Howitzers (HR) and Anti-tank guns (ATG), for example 1x ATG / 3x HR or 2x ATG / 2x HR. The ATGs from Vanguard division have 250% damage boost against vehicles and bonus penetration damage but have no such damage boost against structures, whereas the Soviet and Liberty howitzers have 250% and 300% damage boost respectively against buildings.

Here is a small selection of the units that are a good choice for B2B:

• HT/SH: Lion, Tiger, Valentine, Churchill
• ATG: 8.8cm Flak, 7.5cm Pak
• HR: Zis 3, QF 17, QF 6-Pounder

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Front	Damage sponge		Take enemy fire, survive as long as possible.
	Front	Damage sponge		If you don’t have strong HT/SH unit, using infantry can be an alternative solution.
	Rear	Support		Anti-tank guns won’t do much siege damage but will support your formation in case enemy deploys tank to fight back.
	Rear	Siege		While Rocket Launchers are also siege units, they are not recommended for B2B. Depending on your ATG units amount, 2x-3x Howitzers are must-have to finish this formation.

Battle Mechanics

1. Once you are in position, having deployed your base as close as is possible to your opponent, you want to first look at their base. You want to try to assess what level their CC, if they have units trained in barracks, what type of units they have, if they are online etc.
   The type of units they have is important because if they have none you will have a much easier time defeating the base, especially if they have no 4 tile range units such as howitzers or rockets. But if they have a good mix – including ATGs and/or THs – then you may struggle and have to change tactics.
2. Your initial attack should then come from your HT or SH, select only that unit then tap to attack the base. After the base has targeted your HT/SH (~2.5 seconds) you want to select all units and click attack on the enemy base. This ensures that your HT/SH will be able to act as a damage sponge and your artillery (which has weak durability and no armour) will not be targeted.
3. If the target is offline you should wait until your ‘sponge’ unit is at medium health (yellow/orange bar) and retreat all units back into garrison to regain health. Once they are healed you can repeat until the base is destroyed.
4. If your opponent is online and actively defending it is more of a challenge. When they take units out to attack you you should redirect your units fire to their weak units ie ATGs, HRs, RLs. Again, when low on health you can retreat into garrison to heal, then repeat until either you have depleted their reserve capacity or destroyed the base.

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Tank Hunter

Description

Tank Hunter role is essentially taking care of the enemy tank forces. It is split into 2 scenarios: either countering enemy super-heavy or rest of the tank types.

Unit Setup

In case the enemy has super-heavies heading your way: 2x-3x ATG units are deployed to counter them while remaining 2x-3x positions can be either used for medium tanks to protect your ATG vs LT/TH units.

If the enemy doesn’t have SHs but HTs, you put THs on the field. Prioritize those with higher armour penetration (Soviet) over pure Firepower (Vanguard) over Speed (Liberty).

Another scenario is the enemy deploying tank hunters and medium tanks, which can be countered by either light or heavy tanks respectively.

Here is a small selection of the units that are a good choice for the Tank Hunter role:

• ATG: 8.8cm Flak, 7.5cm Pak
• MT: T34, Sherman
• TH: SU-100, Nashorn
• HT: KV/IS, Tiger

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Front	Damage sponge		Take enemy fire, counter enemy MTs.
	Middle	Support		Counter LT and TH units.
	Middle	Damage dealer		Counter HTs.
	Rear	Damage dealer		Destroy enemy SH.

Battle Mechanics

1. In case the enemy deployed SH units: this is your primary focus. Try to have allies support for your ATG protection and watch out your flanks for enemy LT manoeuvres. Switch to THs if the enemy got heavy tanks instead.
2. Enemy with MT/LT/TH units: focus fire those with your HTs/MTs. Take speed into consideration – firing at LTs from a long distance might be waste of time since the enemy can easily retreat and heal.

Ze Flanker

Description

Purpose of the Flanker is to quickly destroy most vulnerable enemy units: ATGs, HRs, RLs. This role is most difficult to master since you need to manoeuvre a lot, don’t engage in long fights but rather “sting” and retreat to recover.

Unit Setup

The most obvious choice – Light tanks – offer lighting speed and long firing range at the cost of low durability and armour. However, just a few precise hits targeting enemy artillery (done from the flank – thus the role name) would be enough to seed chaos amongst the enemy rows.

Since you don’t really want to invest everything into 5x LT units, the best choice would be going with a mix of other high-speed units: namely, THs and MTs.

Here is a small selection of the units that are a good choice for the Flanker role:

• LT: M24
• MT: Sherman
• TH: M10/M18

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Middle	Damage dealer		Counter enemy THs.
	Middle	Damage dealer		Counter LT and TH units.

Battle Mechanics

1. Flank, flank, flank! Looking for a weak spot in between the enemy rows and their rear positions. Don’t worry to utilize enough space for manoeuvring even when the enemy is approaching your allies/buildings – they surely can survive a few hits to allow you taking the best position possible.
2. Don’t engage in a long fight. Your role is to take out weak artillery and retreat. Even if you don’t take the unit completely, lowering its HP to half is already a win – you’re depleting enemy troop reserve capacity.
3. Retreat doesn’t mean losing. You will have to retreat a lot for healing and reacting to the situation on the battlefield.

RearGuard

Description

In simple words, a RearGuard role is to counter the Flanker one described above. Protecting your weakest ally units to make sure the overall battle goes in your alliance favour.

Unit Setup

Medium tanks are the natural counter both for Light and Tank Hunters. Once again, you don’t want to go 5x MTs thus mixing them either with THs or HTs would be optimal setup but it all depends on the particular battlefield situation.

Soviet MT units are in favour here due to their self-healing ability. As for HTs, both Vanguard and Soviet are good, depending on if you attack (higher durability with KV/IS) or defend (higher armour with Tigers).

• MT: T34, Sherman
• HT: KV/IS, Tiger

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Middle	Support		Take enemy fire, counter enemy MTs.
	Middle	Support		Counter LT and TH units.

Battle Mechanics

1. In this role, you observe more and play proactively to prevent enemy flankers from getting too deep into your rows.
2. Positioning-wise, you stay close to your allied artillery (ATG/HR/RL). This is essential both when you advance your alliance attack or have a need to retreat.
3. You can rotate your units for healing but never abandon the battlefield completely making your allies an easy pray.

Territorial control

This part of the guide was written thanks to:
CommanderRex|StarGate Command Alliance Leader

Description

Sometimes you need to stop an unexpected enemy strike on your alliance territory. Airlifting the base straight into the enemy lines would be most effective if you place the right formation beforehand.

Unit Setup

Majority of the enemies would be using heavy/super-heavy or (less likely) infantry to protect their siege units while hitting your base.

As result, deploying multiple ATGs/HRs supported by either heavy or medium tank is going to make them suffer huge losses. To play this role effectively, your Command Center has to be the highest level possible – for increased durability and firepower.

Here is a small selection of the units that are a good choice for your base defence:

• HT: any
• MT: Panzer/Sherman
• ATG: 8.8cm Flak, 7.5cm Pak
• HR: Zis 3 / QF 6-Pounder

Unit	Position	Role	Officers	Explanation
	Garrison	Damage dealer		It is important to keep at least one tank (either heavy or medium) for better damage output once your artillery takes care of the enemy damage sponges.
	Garrison	Damage dealer		A minimum of 2x ATGs will ensure enemy damage sponge (tank) will be taken out quickly.
	Garrison	Damage dealer		Same with 2x Howitzers: they will destroy any infantry close the base. You can swap 1x HR into ATG if the enemy has little to 0 infantry.

Battle Mechanics

1. Check your Reserve Troop Capacity before jumping into enemy – you will definitely get swarmed by multiple attackers and deplete it fast. Make sure you have something left once the base is destroyed and you relocate out – to stay in the fight as long as possible.
2. Don’t engage in Territorial Control with low CC level: rather than being wiped out quickly, let your senior alliance mates take the hit while you can support them from behind by a flanking manoeuvre. Remember the ultimate goal is to deplete enemy’s reserve troop capacity earlier than your own one: thus a “suicide” jump will less likely help the overall fight.
3. With the patch (1.03) being introduced, you can ask the allies to assist recovering your base.
4. VIP 10 adds a 10% base durability recovery, might be useful to have one.

Conclusion

Understanding your role on the battlefield is one of the most important tasks in the game. While there are multiple combinations possible, I’d like to give some ground for those starting the game and learning the basics.

It is also important to gain this understanding while assembling your units. Since maxing out every single one will take months (or even years), getting the right priorities early would allow you growing in the right direction when approaching mid- to late-game.

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