Don't send only attackers - building a balanced army

When the war part launched, my first army was ten assault soldiers, because assault has the biggest attack and I wanted to hit hard. It worked for attacking, but then my own town was wide open and somebody nearly took it. So I learned you need a balanced army, not just attackers. Here is a beginner take on mixing your troops. Quick reminder of the types you train at the academy. Assault has high attack but low defense. Defense has high defense but low attack. Rapid intervention is fast but weak. Elite is strong in both attack and defense but slow. Special operations is the best in everything but expensive and comes last. Each academy level unlocks the next one. The mistake I made is thinking one type does everything. It does not. Attack points only help when YOU attack. Defense points only help when you defend, at home or holding a conquered town. So an army of pure assault is amazing on offense and useless on defense. The moment my assault troops marched out to attack, my town had almost no defense left, because those same soldiers were my only garrison. So the balanced idea is this. Keep a group of defense troops at home as your permanent wall, they protect your town and they are cheap for the defense they give. Then build a separate strike force of assault or elite troops for attacking. When your strike force marches out, your defense wall stays home and keeps you safe. Two jobs, two groups. Another reason to mix carefully is speed. When you send an army, it all moves at the speed of the slowest soldier in it. So if you throw fast rapid troops together with slow elite troops, the whole group moves slow. If you want a fast attack, send fast units together. If you do not care about speed, a slow strong army is fine. Just know that mixing slow and fast wastes the fast ones speed. For holding a town you conquer, defense matters again, because if another player attacks your occupation, they hit your occupying soldiers defense. So sending some defense along on an attack can help you keep the town afterwards, not just win the battle. My current beginner setup, which is nothing fancy, is a wall of defense troops that never leaves home, and a small group of assault troops for attacking weak neighbours. When I can afford elite troops I will add some, because being strong both ways is convenient even if they are slow. Special operations is my dream for later. The big lesson is do not empty your town to attack. Always leave something to defend, because the second your army is away, you are the weak target on somebody else lists. A balanced player who keeps a home guard and a separate attack force is much safer than a glass cannon who sends everything and prays. War is new so most of us are still experimenting with what mix works. But even as a beginner, this simple split of home defenders plus an attack squad already saved my town more than once. Do not put all your eggs in attack. Balance it.