Gate of the Dead · player guide
Troops and training
Troops fight on the Road and go out on map missions. There are two lines: melee, who hold the front, and ranged, who do the damage from behind. You start with spears and bows; guns come much later, once you've built an Armoury and a Bullet Farm.
Two lines, two buildings
The Training Yard (Headquarters 4) trains the melee line and the Archery Range (Headquarters 5) trains the ranged line. Both stand in the Market, which opens when you finish chapter 4. Each building holds 10 troops plus 10 per level, so a level 4 Training Yard holds 50 melee troops.
Tap a training building and choose Train 1, 5 or 10. You always train the best tier you can. Training costs food, timber and later steel and ammo, plus 3 of the Mayor's energy for each batch of up to five, so training in fives is the efficient way.
The melee line
| Troop | Needs | Power | Each costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spear Rookie | Training Yard 1 | 1 | 10 food, 6 timber |
| Shieldbearer | Training Yard 7 | 1.8 | 14 food, 10 timber, 4 steel |
| Riot Guard | Training Yard 10, Armoury 1 | 3 | 18 food, 10 timber, 12 steel |
| Breacher | Training Yard 15, Armoury 8 | 5 | 24 food, 12 timber, 24 steel |
| Vanguard | Training Yard 20, Armoury 15 | 8 | 30 food, 15 timber, 40 steel |
The ranged line
| Troop | Needs | Power | Each costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow Rookie | Archery Range 1 | 1.1 | 10 food, 8 timber |
| Hunter | Archery Range 7 | 2 | 14 food, 12 timber, 2 steel |
| Crossbow | Archery Range 11 | 3.2 | 18 food, 14 timber, 10 steel |
| Rifleman | Archery Range 12, Armoury 5, Bullet Farm 1 | 5.5 | 22 food, 20 steel, 10 ammo |
| Marksman | Archery Range 18, Armoury 12, Bullet Farm 8 | 8.5 | 28 food, 30 steel, 20 ammo |
| Gunner | Archery Range 24, Armoury 20, Bullet Farm 15 | 12 | 34 food, 45 steel, 35 ammo |
Guns: the Armoury, the Bullet Farm and ammo
Riflemen, Marksmen and Gunners are soldiers with guns. They need the Armoury (Headquarters 10) to make the guns and the Bullet Farm (Headquarters 11) to make the ammo, a material of its own. Training a gun troop uses ammo, and each Road stage uses one round for every four gun troops. If you're short, gun troops fight at half strength. The first riflemen usually arrive around chapter 12, "Boots on the Road", which asks for ten of them.
When a line is full
When a building is full, training more doesn't fail: the line retires its weakest troops at home to make room for the new, better ones. So once Shieldbearers open, every batch you train replaces Spear Rookies one for one, and your old troops are never in the way.
Using troops well
- Keep the lines even. A force near half and half by power fights best on the Road and on missions; all of one line loses up to 40% of its troop strength.
- Watch your leaders' command. Each leader commands 10 troops plus 2 per leader level. Troops past that don't help on the Road until you level up the leaders or open another squad.
- Food is the limit early on. Training eats food quickly. Keep the Veg Patches collected, send Hunting Parties, and build the Barn when it opens.
- Upgrade the First-aid Tent before a long Road push, so more of the fallen come back.