Defense

Recruits today, raiders tomorrow.

Defense (can also be spelled defence) or combat is a game mechanic in Songs of Syx, it refers to the act of simply defending oneself or going a few steps further and attempting to violently conquer other lands to make them your own. Eventually, when you're expanding your settlement, you're going to come to enjoy all the progress and resources you've made, and sadly, so will others who want to take it from you. These are known as raids, and without a skilled army to fend them off, you will fall victim to these raids.

To train soldiers in melee combat, a training ground will have to be built. To train soldiers in ranged combat with bows, an archery range must be built, though citizens have to undergo melee training first before moving on to an archery range. The longer citizens train there, the more their offensive and defensive capabilities will go up. Those who just started training will be labeled as recruits, and will become soldiers after that if they train long enough. As citizens train, they go up in levels. If they are at level 1 or higher (which means they are considered a "soldier" at this time), they can be sent out and perform tasks outside the settlement, which has them labeled as "campaigning" on the conscripts screen. Note that only soldiers are skilled enough to be sent out.

Citizens at level 1 will remember their training for 5 years, after which they will forget their training and will have to retrain again. Citizens at level 15 will have to train every day to maintain their skills. With the use of knowledge points, the speed of training can be increased to a maximum of roughly 20%. Battle damage and defense can also be increased the same way, with a maximum of roughly 17% for both.

Setting up divisions and armies

Conscripts GUI, where armies are made.

Soldiers can be customized by separating them into groups, known as divisions (which are separated by species, which can be chosen by the player). The amount of training per division can also be customized, as well as the amount of weapons, armour and bow units per division. As expected, the more they train, the deadlier they will be out on the field. Up to 119 divisions are available for the player to customize. The amount of soldiers in a division can be between 15 and 150.

These divisions can be sent out in the world view, but only if they meet the requirements of army supply depots stocking up on the required amount of resources of rations, clothes and drinks. Once these requirements are met, then divisions can be sent out.

However, the player must first go into the world view and set up an army. This is done by clicking the armies button in the top-left corner of the screen, this begins an army, which can be named anything the player chooses. This, by itself, does not yet create a force of soldiers, as the player must then place any divisions inside that army (again, once the resource requirements are met). Once any amounts of divisions are making up an army, the player can then control said army's movement in the world view. This is explained in the next section.

Armies can be disbanded at any time, but the individual divisions within them must be disbanded first, individually. When an army disbands, your settlement will receive any leftover resources that army was using. It will be marked as "spoils", and will be carted shortly to your settlement.

Armies and battles

Settlement view

The battle formation GUI. With a division forming under it.

By clicking the "battle" button in the top-right part of the screen, the player will be able to control divisions. This is one of two instances in the game where citizens can be directly controlled by the player (the other being the control of armies on the world map). Here, the player can muster all citizens in a division to gather and make a formation where the player chooses by clicking and dragging the mouse.

Depending on the position of the mouse and the direction the mouse is dragged in, the formation can be a straight line, a box, or anywhere in between. The division can be in a loose or tight formation. They can also be made to run, but this exhausts the citizens. They can also be made to aggressively charge in the direction they're already facing.

This mechanic is useful for properly setting up a line of defense from invaders or rioters.

World map view

Armies campaigning out in the world view can also be moved, being the second way that citizens' movements can be directly controlled. The player can recruit more citizens to an army. When doing this, the amount of soldiers, how much training they need, and how much battlegear they wear can be chosen (which must be stocked up in the player's settlement). The species of the recruits can also be chosen. The higher the training level chosen for the recruits, the more days it will take for them to be recruited, due to the time needed to reach that level of training.

After a division is sent out to an army, couriers will arrive at your army supply depots to ferry equipment, food, drink, and clothes that is necessary to field the division. With every moment divisions spend out in the world, they consume resources send to them by via army supply depot. If at any point there aren't enough resources available to replenish armies, desertion can occur. Another way of adding soldiers to an army is hiring mercenaries. This method doesn't require resources, as these men can supply themselves, but it instead costs money to hire and retain them. When an army is moving, it cannot gather new recruits.

Battles, raids and conquering

Armies

Battle victory window.

Also known as the "pay up or fight us later" window.

When a player-controlled army collides with an enemy army, a window will appear and prompt the player to select one of three choices: the first choice is to engage in battle, which brings the player to a screen similar to viewing one's settlement, but in an empty area with both armies facing each other. The player can control divisions on the field during the fight with the enemy until they win or are defeated. When starting a random game, the chance percentage of raids occurring can be customized.

The second choice is "auto-resolve", which instantly decides which army wins depending on each army's strength. This option is good at saving time, though the player could potentially have a better outcome if they engage normally and control their divisions manually. The third and final choice is to retreat, which skips battle but causes the player's army to suffer losses based on the enemy army's strength.

There are two types of enemies that can threaten your settlement, rebels and raiders. Raiders will arrive during a random time after your settlement has developed enough. Before they arrive, the player has the option of paying them off a fraction of their resources to keep them at bay, while refusing the offer will have them attack. Rebels, however, cannot be paid off in the same way and must be fought once they reach your settlement through the world map. They can, however, offer their "protection" by asking for "denari" and a fraction of resources, which the player can accept or refuse. The player has 4 days to decide. Accepting to pay up will leave the rebels at bay for a some time, while refusing to pay will have them threaten you later, appearing on the world map and moving near your settlement to attack.

Being victorious in battle will reward extra resources (of course being the spoils of war), while being defeated will lose resources. If an enemy army reaches the player's settlement, they will begin raiding it. They will kill any citizens and damage buildings in their way. Once they reach the throne, they will steal a large amount of "denari" and resource stockpiles, and will leave soon after. Any invasion can be fought off if the player has strong enough divisions and defensive structures for protection.

In an older version of Songs of Syx, the main antagonist of the game was Krull.

Conquering

Attacking a settlement is very similar to attacking an enemy army, with a few differences. A foreign settlement will be much harder to take down right away than an enemy army, even if the player's army is very large and powerful. Instead of being presented with the options "engage", "auto-resolve" and "retreat" like when colliding with an enemy army. Making contact with a settlement will present the options "assault", "wait" and "retreat". Assault will immediately attempt to besiege the settlement, while waiting will increase a player's army's chances over time. Retreating will simply escape and abort the besieging. Note that waiting may cost a great number of resources depending on the army's size.

If you conquer a region, you are given more choices with what you can do with it. You can show mercy by not doing anything malevolent to the settlement, which puts that settlement in your debt. You can sack the region and take its resources, though the region will despise you for it. Lastly, you can completely annihilate a region, gaining even more resources and leaving absolutely nothing behind. The last two options grant the additional choice of taking any citizens as your slaves, with these choices separated by species.

Once you have chosen the option of mercy, sacking, or annihilation, you can finalize the choice by either incorporating the region into your control, which gives you the power to manage it with administration points much like your starting settlement, or you can liberate the defeated settlement, which causes them to become resisting rebels and move their capital.

If any armies belonging to a settlement are nearby, they will immediately close in on your armies while you are waiting to conquer their settlement, adding more battles and difficulty in taking over the land. Some regions will surrender and offer to pay you annually if you don't conquer them, denying this will cause any nearby army to attack you. Enemy armies can also take over regions you've conquered if they are poorly defended.

Massacre and riots

If the player, with the help of admin points, makes the cruel decision to massacre a species in their settlement, an uprising of the targeted species will occur. To fend this off, the player must have a well-trained military to fight this. The damage done by riots can also be reduced by well-trained guards at a guardpost, although guards/soldiers can only do so much, as they can be easily outnumbered.

Trivia

• It is possible for archers to accidentally hit allies with arrows.

Gallery

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  A bloody battle.
  (Click to see .gif animation.)