War in eRevollution is a machine with simple parts but a complicated whole.

Because the module is so complicated, only about 12 people in the entire game have mastered it. These logn-time alliance MCs and Ministers of Defense are instantly given the top positions in any alliance they serve because of their experience fighting.

Because so few people are involved with it, military coordination is a mystery for most people. Through fighting wars and working with some of the best MCs for years, I hope I can shed some insight into the highest levels of military planning, and increase the overall level of military education. I dare say that most CPs are bad at war, which has been shown time and time again during both versions of this game, but only because nobody has put the art on paper. Through this article, I hope to give you all an overview of the thought process behind war and the most effective methods of fighting.

This is going to be a long article. I considered releasing in many parts, but wanted it to be coherent whole for people to reference back to. War in eRev is a surprisingly complicated topic, and there is no way to write about it in brief. 

The "O" word, Organization

Organization is the most overused buzzword in the game. Whenever we lose, it's because of enemy VISAs and their overpowered alliance. Whenever we win, it's because of our superior organization. However, despite how many CPs brag about organization, few actually understand it. Organization is actually very simple - how many players can you get doing what you want at the last 2 hours of a battle?

Types of soldiers

Tanks

Tanks are the most powerful players, always VISAs, who can hit hundreds if not thousands of times per battle (using energy packs) and afford guns. They are enormously important and routinely do 50% or more of a country's weekly damage. Countries with no VISA players are in trouble.

Tanks are in three categories:

Light Tanks - Generally 1 star VISAs who, for simplicity's sake, do not function differently than ordinary players. They sporadically hit a couple hundred times, and in general are not that useful.

Heavy Tanks - Around a dozen players in the game - multi-star VISAs who buy supplies and can hit thousands of times in certain battles.

Supertanks - Players with numerous WQ5 factories and WRM supplying only themselves. They otherwise function no differently than heavy tnaks. However, their advantage is that, because of a huge gold investment in companies (4,000+), they can tank for free. They sell weapons on off days, buy energy with gold, and use weapons to fight battles. Heavy tanks eventually run dry, supertanks never do. However, because of the immense financial cost, there are only 2 supertanks in the game.

Infantry

Ordinary soldiers. Generally hit "ff" (food energy) throughout the day, building walls in DO (daily order) battles. However, they can be powerful when used in "m attacks" - when dozens are collected and all hit 1-2 minutes before a battle ends, in order to turn the battle around. They can also be powerful when organized into a bomb squad.

Bomb Squad

A mixture of tanks and infantry, mostly (but not all) VISAs. Create 1 bomb a day, and drop them in the last 10 seconds of a battle to rapidly turn it around. They become less useful as the game goes on because hit damage increases, but bomb damage does not.

Organizing Tanks and Infantry

Tanks are generally very easy to organize, requiring almost no work from the government. They are generally reasonably well off people in real life who care enough about the game to spend money on it, so they generally are on discord and do what is asked of them.

The real difference in national power, therefore, is in how well a country can organize its infantry. In order to incentivize people to show up to M attacks (also called Organized Hits ), a government needs to provide discounted or free weapons. This means a government has to organize people into communes (weapons for work instead of pay), or set up state companies (state-owned weapons factories) to reduce the cost of supplies. It also should only give loans to people that show up on discord, and constantly send out m PMs to get people on Discord. All new players should get a message to be on discord.

I will discuss later how to use infantry and tanks, but first need to give an overview of strategy.

Strategy

Strategy is defined as "the direction of overall military movements in war", or the big picture. Key to understanding strategy in eRevollution is the concept of waste.

It is best to win battles with as little overkill (too much damage) as possible, as all overkill disappears and is wasted. However, there is a second element to keep in mind - 100% of the loser's damage is also wasted, since the loser lost the battle.


Brazil wasted 6m. USA wasted 117m.

Therefore, it is almost always better to tolerate up to 50% overkill if you win the battle, than waste 100% by losing it.

This leads to a general principle in eRev war - "if you are trying to win, win big. If you are going to lose, lose big".


If you're going to lose, it's better to lose big

Most countries fighting wars will fight them on multiple fronts. It is key therefore to choose a main front, or centerline, and secondary fronts, or flanks. For convenience, I will use the terms Centerline (your main line of attack), and flanks (fronts you care less about). The division between the Centerline and Flanks is the single most important concept in strategy.

Choosing a Centerline

The centerline is where you focus most of your damage, so it should always be a direct path towards the enemy's most lated regions. Why not the capital? (If it is not the most lated region)

Because the capital can be moved. However, the most lated regions generally have hospitals, and lots of 2-clickers who will stop fighting when they are taken. Also, the 2 clickers work for the occupier in your own factories.


What happens to an MU when the most lated region falls.

Whatever happens, the centerline should not make detours. This is because a defender's advantage exists in this game. Whenever you win a battle, you are wasting some damage, generally 10 to 30%. The winning country in a battle gets the initiative (or the right to attack in the next 24 hours), so the winning country becomes the next attacker. This means that if you win a lot, you attack a lot, which also means you are spending more damage than your enemy.


Click to Expand: Ideal attack plan for Serbia against all of its neighbors. Attack should aim directly for the enemy's most lated region (not necessarily the official capital, with no waste of time.

If you are commanding a weaker country, you should conserve strength and give up as many battles as possible, then focus everything on defending the hospital/lated region, preferably with a Defense System (DS). This maximizes your use of damage.

Since many hospital/lated regions will be fought hard for and have DSes, the attacker should therefore go directly to the region, without attacking unimportant side-regions, to make sure they win the battle. After the hospital/lated region is taken, the enemy country is much weaker, and should be wiped immediately. When a country is wiped (loses all regions), huge numbers of players quit.

Handling Flanks

There are two kinds of "flank" or "periphery" battles - direct and resistance war. Direct battles are those where you are attacking or being attacked by an enemy that is not your main target. Only countries occupying other countries territory are vulnerable to resistance wars, which do not care who has the initiative and in which no allies can fight without moving to your country.

In general, you should always give up flank battles where possible. If the enemy is attacking useless regions (fruit regions, for example), the battle should be given up. In general, most players like to attack in their own country's battles more than their allies', so a country attacking a stupid, insignificant region is always going to waste damage. Holding bonuses is nice as well, but generally distracts you from your goal of taking your centerline target.


It is important in war to pick essential and non-essential battles.

Stronger and Weaker Countries

Stronger countries should beeline to their centerline target as soon as possible and give up all other flanks, to knock opponents out of wars in succession. Every time a battle ends, they should open a new one immediately.

Weaker countries, however, should delay as much as possible. When they have the initiative, they should not attack until the 24 hour initiative period is over, then give up battles and defend only where they have a Defense System, or in very important battles.

Sword and Shield: Using Tanks and Med Infantry

Tanks are a country's "shield" in this game, while med infantry and bomb squads are the "sword". What I mean by this is that tanks are much more efficient than infantry at building walls, but infantry are better at winning a battle by surprise.


No Organized Hit is turning around this wall

Tanks are easier to coordinate, more dependable (because of fewer numbers and high activity levels) than infantry. Also, they do more damage per hit. Big VISAs almost always have the best Training Ground, and, as they do more damage, their rank goes up, and their damage goes with it. They also use Boosters better, since hitting hundreds of times with a booster lasting 40 minutes is more efficient than hitting 10-12 times.

However, tanks can take hours to empty all their damage. Since you can only hit once every 1-2 seconds, hitting thousands of times can take over an hour. Tanks essentially have no element of surprise, but are much better at churning out damage than infantry.

Because of this, tanks should only hit in the main centerline battle, and med attacks/OHs and bomb attacks should only take place in flank battles. The second technique is called "sniping".

I mentioned before that you should give up flank battles. Sometimes, however, the enemy on the flank also gives up that battle.

If the enemy wall is low enough (generally less than 5 million for bomb attacks, and less than 100 "hits" for infantry ), a flank battle can be "sniped" either by an organized hit in the last 30 seconds (10 players emptying about 10 shots each), or by a bomb attack of several players in the last 10 seconds. The advantages of sniping flank battles are huge. If you win an RW against you, you keep the bonus. If you win a direct flank battle, you get the initiative (and breathing room) for 24 hours. If you win an RW against an enemy, they lose bonuses. If you win RWs on your own territory, you get regions back.


The effect of good sniping

30 minutes before every flank battle ends, soldiers should be called into the military unit channel for an organized hit or bomb attack. OHs and bomb attacks can be cancelled at any time.

Tanks are less flexible. Since tanks can take up to 2 hours to empty all their hits, the decision to abandon or win a centerline battle should be made at least 1 hour before it ends. If you are already badly losing at this point and do not have thousands of tank hits to turn it around, don't. It is much better to badly lose than barely lose, since 100% of the loser's damage is wasted.


The worst thing that can possibly happen - a narrow, expensive defeat

Generally, doing an Organized Hit or bomb attack on a centerline battle is completely pointless. Unless the battle is extremely close 10 minutes before it ends, the battle should be left to the tanks. This is because tanks do much more damage than most players, and can "pad" (build up a huge wall) the battle, making it OH-proof. In every battle, you want your tanks to build a wall of at least 10 million (vs. bombs) and 200 hits (vs. OH).

Delaying: Fighting on multiple fronts

If you are fighting on multiple fronts, you have to delay or eliminate some of them and focus on one. Spreading out damage is a recipe for disaster since 100% of the loser's damage is wasted in any battle. Fortunately, there are some very easy delaying tricks.

1. RWs - This is especially effective for strong countries. Since MPPs are not called into an RW, a weaker country can almost never occupy a stronger country, as it becomes a 1v1 fight. Except in hospital battles, strong defending countries never need to win a direct flank battle - they can just RW their regions back once the RW cooldown expires.

This strategy also highlights the importance of picking and sticking to a centerline. The ONLY way a weaker country (even a team of weaker countries) can occupy a stronger country is if they take over the lated regions, depriving the country of its 2-clickers and causing players to migrate/quit. If weaker countries mess around in unlated regions, they can still win direct battles from MPPs, but will lose the regions back just as quickly in RWs, where it is only 1v1.


Many regions lost in Direct Battle can be taken back in Resistance War

2. Pre-emptive attack - If you know someone will declare war on you, declare war first. The person who declares war has initiative for 24 hours, and the law takes 24 hours to p, then you fight an offensive battle for 24 hours, giving you 72 hours.

3. Snipe battles - Snipe occasional flank battles where the wall is low, gaining initiative for 24 hours.

4. RW Cooldown Kung Fu - During a resistance war, a region cannot be attacked. So, if the enemy borders only one of your regions, you can start an RW in that region 5 minutes before the 24-hour initiative expires, and get another 24 hours with no enemy attack. Then, you can "fast finger" the enemy - attack them seconds after the resistance war is over, when neither side has the initiative (either can attack) - which gives you another 24 hours.

5. Defense lines - You can effectively close off a front at "chokes" (big regions, or island/coastal regions bordering few enemy regions) by placing Defense Systems. A couple well-placed DSes can stop an offensive in its tracks and prevent the enemy from going around.

Knowing the Enemy: Which Country to Prioritize

In general, you should always fight centerline wars against countries you have more tanks than, and fight a guerilla war against countries you have less tanks than. Since tanks easily win centerline battles, it is pointless fighting them if the enemy has more tanks than you. However, since tanks can take 30 minutes or more to empty all their damage, they are no better than ordinary players for flank fighting and sniping. If you are fighting lots of tanks, you should ignore that front's direct battles and try to snipe a few of them, and snipe RWs to get your regions back.

Similarly, you should always pick a country with less tanks than you to be your centerline target, as they will rarely if ever win direct battles against you.

Countries with many normal tanks but no supertanks should always attack rapidly and fast to try to win the war as soon as possible. They should never fight defensively. This is because tanks that don't have 7+ fully staffed WQ5 factories are not self-sustaining and will eventually run out of money. At around 5,000 or so gold invested in WQ5 and WRM, however, tanks start to become self-sustaining supertanks and can channel enough weapon production/sales to make tanking free.

Summary and Concluding Notes

- Focus on attacking directly towards the enemy's most lated regions with no distractions - give up side-battles and RWs.
- Use bombs and organized hits only for sniping RWs and flank battles, save the main battle for DO build-up and for tanks.
- Tanks are easy to organize. How many people a country can get to snipe determines its "organization".
- Fighting on your own cores is best if you are weak - you can reclaim regions with RWs
- Wait 24 hours before attacking if fighting on multiple fronts
- Use RWs to delay enemy attack by another 24 hours, if there is only 1 bordering region that you can plant RW in
-100% of the loser's damage is wasted - don't fear overkill, and if you will lose, lose big

Fight well!

Much credit goes to Naki/Cypher, Marcial, and ktab, from who I have learned almost all of this over the course of the game.

BONUS:

Tired of waiting forever for trades? Want to do them instantly?

Several merchants have set up a trade discord - free to join. Spread the word!

https://discord.gg/QUb84bn