Squad

Squads are one of key parts of gameplay in Symphony of War. The player can build and command squads of up to 9 units. Squads are usually being lead by one of the many of the story’s main cast of characters, or by an unit assigned by the Hero, and can be thousands of different combinations with over 60 unit classes, along with the assigned Artifacts and leadership traits. The squad leader must be a tier 2 or higher tier unit in order to become a squad leader. War Cats and Behemoths, along with the risen units, cannot be selected as squad leaders.

Placement

The player can have up to 9 units in 15 squares on the grid (9 base tiles and 6 semi-tiles). Placement determines how much damage units do and take, as well as how the enemy can target them.

These squad grids are made up of rows and columns, which can be somewhat counter-intuative for how they're visually represented in the game, though military formations do also treat them as the following as well:

These are what the game calls rows,

And these are Columns.

From the player perception, the units placed on the right, are the frontline units of a squad. They will take the most damage, as most units can only attack the front row. Placing polearm units in the front row is essential for cavalry charge defense.

The center row can be targeted after units from the front are taken down. They can also be targeted by AoE-attacks, Centurions and other units who may attack any target.

The rear row (on the left) can be targeted only after units from the front and center are taken down. AoE-attacks can always target the rear, Rogue and Assassin units can attack the rear on the first turn on offense.

In general, the more units you have in the squad, the more flexibility is lost regarding unit placement and preventing AoE-attacks from hitting multiple enemies.

Squad placements

This section describes a few squad formations and their disadvantages. The squad placement determines the following things:

• Which unit(s) take the brunt of the physical damage, which is usually be dealt to the front line.
• Enemies at the back are in general, protected very well, but Rogues and Assassins are able to attack the rear row.
• It also determines how Area-of-Effect (AoE) damage is received. If the squad is spread out, the splash damage may not be able to hit certain units.

Placement of a squad can also be affected by traits which boosts offence and defense. The traits of Rally and Barricade increase those statistics in a row .

Area of effect can also be guided somewhat by the traits of Imposing and Unassuming. Placing the latter trait on the central unit, will likely lead that area of effects with a diamond shape, target someone else and might lead to less units being hit by the attack in overall, possible reducing damage. Imposing for that role, can be used to guide attacks away from other units, preferable to an unit at the corner of the 3x3 squad grid.

V-Formation

The V-formation consists of an unit placement in the ">" shape, with a single unit in the front. The disadvantage of the placement is that the front-row unit takes the brunt of the damage, while the center is semi-protected. AoE attacks have which target the back or the front row, are missing a lot of units. With two units at the back, Rogues and Assassins aren't likely to kill them, if they are decently armored or have enough hp.

Empty Center

This formation consists of an empty center (row), with either the front or the rear having two or three units. The advantage is that AoE-attacks are likely to either hit your front or your rear row and not both. If the rear is decent as well, Rogues and Assassins aren't that much of threat. If placing vulnerable units in the rear, the only advantage is the lower likelihood of AoE-attacks dealing damage to both rows. Another advantage would be the full utilization of the Rally and Barricade traits.

Single/Double File Formation

This formation consists of filling one or two column with units. The front should be a sturdy unit, while the most vulnerable units can be placed in the center or the rear. If placing a vulnerable character in the rear, it's more likely that the unit(s) in the back are taking down swiftly by Rogue and Assassin units.

This formation has also the disadvantage that AoE attacks from mages and other units, hit more squad units. This formation does have the advantage that, even cobbled together with weak units; an entire enemy Volley will be spent on the singular front man, then the 2nd Volley on the singular middle man, leaving the squad alive to weather another assault, capture objectives, use shuffle, use an overworld heal, run back to a Donari Temple to revive their comrades, be a target of the Hero of Legend's Revive, etc.

Generally useful for disposable squads, were an easy way to prevent a valuble glass-cannon squad from getting obliterated in enemy phase is to place a squad of far more disposable units next to them in the same enemies' range.

Capacity

Capacity of a squad is determined by the leadership stat of the squad leader, it affects how many units and/or artifacts can be place in the squad. Every point of leadership is one point of capacity. The first five units in a squad have no extra capacity cost and most units require 10 capacity. A few units require 15 points. Starting with the 6th unit, every unit require 2 more extra capacity than the previous unit to put into the squad. 6th unit require +2 extra capacity, 7th +4, 8th +6, 9th +8 respectively. In New game+ (SoW1), this capacity increase can be adjusted.

Capacity modifications

The capacity needed per unit is a default 10 points for most units and is influenced by their loyalty progression, giving a range of 8-12 points of used capacity, depending on the loyalty traits. Dragons, War Cats, Behemoths have an standard requirement of 15 points

The Hero of Legend gives a +20 bonus to capacity when chapter 29 is completed.

Capacity calculations

For example: a leader has the soldier captain trait and the player adds an infantry unit who is the fourth unit in total to the squad. This unit also has the Loyal traits as well. In this case, the capacity needed is then: 10 - 2 (soldier captain) - 2 (loyal) = 6 capacity. If this unit is the seventh unit of the squad, the capacity needed would be: 10 + 4 (two times extra capacity modifier) - 2 -2 = 10.

Artifacts and technology

• Elegant Blade lowers capacity by -2.
• Imperial Battle Armor lowers capacity by -3.
• Imperial War Banner lowers capacity by -4.
• Master Artificer technology lowers the capacity cost of all artifacts equipped by -1 and items lowering, have this added to them.
• The capacity of the leader can be improved with the Technology Grand Army. This will not improve leadership, but gives a bonus of +10 to capacity.

Improving leadership and leadership traits

There are few ways to improve leadership of a leader.

Below are the passive methods:

• For mercenaries, there is the trait of Prodigy, which increases leadership gains by 20%.
• When it comes to affinity, its best to pick the light affinity, as that one increase leadership gain the most and its stat-neutral, regarding the development of other stats. Fire also increases leadership gain, but its a terrible fit for units who need high magic. Lightning and dark decrease the development of leadership.
• Deploy the future leader on the squad of Barnabas, who has the Mentor trait. This will increase leadership gain significantly.
• The Mentorship Technology gives a passive bonus to leadership development and is an early accessible tech. Only condition is that the bonus is granted to non-leader units, who are lagging 10 or more points behind the leader of the squad.

Active methods:

• Use the consumable Medal of Valor, but it has diminishing returns, starting from a score of 50+ and beyond leadership score 70, it can no longer be used improve leadership. Leadership can intentional be lowered with a Dark affinity scroll in order to improve the effect. But it requires switching to a different affinity after that.
• The Benevolent trait boosts leadership gain when successfully forcing the enemy squad to surrender. This does require developed tactical insight to be successful enough. You need to employ the Target leader attack and take the leader out, or if that fails, lower morale by harrassing the target squad with arrows or light cannon fire. Another tactic that lowers morale is forming a cauldron or full encirclement of the target squad, as two enemy squads or more present, lowers morale. Using the traits of Colossal and Overpower can increase morale-lowering attacks.
• The most straightforward, using the squad to capture towns, villages and castles in normal battles or during arena battles. This can be boosted further by giving the leader short- or long-term, the trait of Liberator.

If an unit with the following leadership traits is appointed as squad leader, capacity for certain unit types is reduced by two points.

• Archer Captain, reduces capacity for archers.
• Knight Captain, reduced capacity for cavalry units.
• Raid Captain, reduces capacity for light melee units.
• Shock and Awe reduces capacity for firearm units.
• Soldier Captain, reduced capacity for heavy infantry units.

These leaderships traits will become less valuable at the end-game, when leadership of squad leaders nears its peak or even outgrows the requirements of squad setups.

Squad types

The game has the following squad types. Each type of squad has a standard amount of movement, movement a certain terrain types and which actions can be performed.

Caption text

Squad type	Standard movement	Terrain movement adjustments	Shuffle	Ambush	Charge	Canter	Squad conditions
Slow infantry	5 squares	Hindered by woodlands, swamps and hills. Benefits from roads.	Yes	No	No	No	Squad consists of 50% or more mages and support units. Is phased out with the Mage Regiments technology.
Heavy Infantry	6 squares	Hindered by woodlands, swamps and hills. Benefits from roads.	Yes	No	No	No	Standard squad type if none of the other conditions are met. Less cavalry than infantry.
Light Infantry	6 squares	Not hindered by woodlands, swamps and hills. Benefits from roads. Gains one extra movement in dungeons.	Yes	Yes	No	No	Always one more unit should by a light type, compared to heavy or slow infantry. Less cavalry than infantry.
Heavy Cavalry	7 squares	Gains extra movement on flat terrain. Benefits from roads. Hindered by woodlands, swamps, hills and towns.	No	No	Yes	Yes	More horse units than infantry.
Light Cavalry	7 squares	Gains extra movement on flat terrain. Benefits from roads. Not hindered by by woodlands, swamps, hills and towns.	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	More horse units than infantry. There must also be more light units (infantry and horse units combined).
Flying	7 squares	Not hindered by terrain and can fly over many types of impassible terrain, but does not benefit from roads.	No	No	No	No	Flying units (dragon riders) must equal infantry or outnumber them. No cavalry and non-flying dragons in squad. The conditions for this squad, lead to less flexibility in squad setups.