Range

The Importance of Range

This article is based on the Evony Forum topic "the importance of range" by Darwin.

Base Range

Each unit has a specific unmodified 'base' range which it can attack from. For quick reference, these ranges are:

Infantry Range Worker 10 Warrior 20 Swordsman 30 Pikeman 50 Archer 1200 Horse Range Cataphract 80 Cavalry 100

Mechanics/Siege Engines Range Battering Ram 600 Ballista 1400 Catapult 1500

City Defenses Range Trap 5000 Abatis 5000 Archer's Tower 1300 Rollinglog 1300 Defensive Trebuchet 5000

Battle Mechanics

Battles start at a base of 200, then you add the maximum attack or firing range of the longest ranged participating unit(s). So for example, if there are catapults in a battle, the first round starts at 1700 range (1500 for catapults +200 base range), with archers in a battle the first round starts at 1400 range (1200 for archers +200 base range), for a warrior-only battle the first round starts at 220 range (20 for warriors +200 base range), and so on. On round one all units with the longest commencing range will attack, and all other units will close up by their movement speed (adjusted for Horse Riding level). All Battles are made up of rounds which repeat until the victor is decided or the Battle defaults to the defender on 100 rounds, with surviving attackers retreat.

Ranged Attacks

Archery technology raises the range of Archers by 5% per level. If archers have a superior range over their enemy, they get 'free' rounds of shots at an opposing army until it reaches it's own attack range. As an extreme, think of the Russian Cannons and the Light Brigade's Sabers at the battle of Balaclava! Likewise, Wall level gives City Defences increased height and thus longer range. This means that archery technology is the most important technology in open battle, with Wall Level equally important in City defence.
Any higher research level Archers are guaranteed to have more range,so they can decimate enemy units before they can respond. For example, with two 10K archer armies faced off, the higher ranged archers can easily wipe out more than half of the opposition on round one, reducing it to less than 5K archers (Research level differences are why the Rally Point 'Exercise' option is so often wrong in Evony).
Note that Archer's Towers have 100 more base range than Archers. Combined with Walls Level over L5 Archer's Towers become deadly as they get one or more free rounds of shots on attacking archers. Although not yet known for certain, it is possible that archery technology does not increase the range of defending archer's towers, only Wall Level (height).

City Attacks By Siege Engines

Compared to Archers, Ballistae and Catapults have more range than Archer's Towers, and that explains why siege weapons are so effective against towers on low level walls, because their higher range gives them free attacks until they reduce the defences.

Miscellaneous Battle Range Implications

• Warriors die easily because every other unit except Workers out-ranges them.
• Cataphracts lose out to pikemen more than cavalry because they have less range than cavalry - cavalry gets two initial free attacks on them, cataphracts only get one.

Archery Technology

Archery Technology boosts shooting range 5% per level. It has not been made known what exactly benefits from this extended shooting range, however probably all troops requiring Archery to build (ie: Archers, Archer's Towers, Ballistae, and Catapults will benefit from it.

The Archery Research requirement for a unit determines when it becomes available in Barracks for training.

Generally the 'Base' figures for range are a somewhat misleading as the 'Boost' range is what each unit will start with (ie: a Catapult can only ever have 2250 range, no more, no less). The only exception is when the research is not complete (mostly during the initial days of a new server/account) and the player wins a mechanics battalion on the wheel. If a player uses a Mechanics Battalion to get Catapults, the range will be based upon their Archery level.

The research levels are as follows:

Unit	Requirement	Base Equivalent (L0)	Research Boost @ 5% Level
Archers	1	1200	1260
Archer's Towers	3	1300	1495
Ballista	6	1400	1820
Catapults	10	1500	2250
Defensive Trebuchets	None	5000	5000

If your Archery level is the maximum at L10, and an opponent has the minimum L6 for Ballistae, then your Archers will have 1800 range, and the opponent's Ballista 1820. So it is impossible for Archers to ever outrange Ballistae, unless the opponent has opened a Mechanics Battalion. It is impossible for anything to out range Catapults as they require L10. Likewise, it is impossible to increase Catapult range by research as it's already maxed out.

Archery Level	Ballista	Archer	Archer's Towers	Catapult
0	1400	1200	1300	1500
1	1470	1260	1365	1575
2	1540	1320	1430	1650
3	1610	1380	1495	1725
4	1680	1440	1560	1800
5	1750	1500	1625	1875
6	1820	1560	1690	1950
7	1890	1620	1755	2025
8	1960	1680	1820	2100
9	2030	1740	1895	2175
10	2100	1800	1950	2250

Any range that is red can only be obtained via a battalion.

Wall Level

The height of Walls also has an impact on range. Each level a wall is, there is an approximate gain of 6% range.

Archer's Towers

	Wall Level
Archery Level		0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	0	1300	1365	1430	1495	1560	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950
	1	1365	1430	1495	1560	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015
	2	1430	1495	1560	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080
	3	1495	1560	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145
	4	1560	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210
	5	1625	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275
	6	1690	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275	2340
	7	1755	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275	2340	2405
	8	1820	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275	2340	2405	2470
	9	1895	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275	2340	2405	2470	2535
	10	1950	2015	2080	2145	2210	2275	2340	2405	2470	2535	2600