How to understand combat?

[alexandreagrg]

I'm enjoying the game, but at the same time I feel lost and almost ready to give up, because I still haven't figured out how to use my units, that is, I can't tell if I'm strong or weak, I don't know how attack, defense and damage work to predict and try to anticipate the opponent's movements. So could someone explain to me how to read my forces and the enemy's forces? Oh! By the way, I'm in act 3 of the first campaign and when the big guy in armor arrives, the only way I was able to defend myself was by entrenching myself in some fortress. Therefore, I think a more advanced tutorial on how to fight and a better explanation of the units' stats, as well as their interaction with magic, would be important.

[Bumc]

One thing first tutorial doesn't cover well is that the combat in SoC is magic first.
When evaluating units more often than not you should look at their essence first and stats second.

Another thing that often gets lost is that your first instinct should be aggressive exploration. Efficiently killing neutrals to unlock more of the map is how you win the game, not sitting back and slowly building up your army.

With those points in mind there are three types of units you should care about

1) Expanders. Ideally you get some of those for free. For Arleon its Sappers and Rangers. Don't expect them to perform against wielders on their own. Especially rangers you might as well just not bring to the wielder combat as they will die to a slight breeze.

2) Essence batteries. Often used as 1-of per stack, sometimes come with extra abilities. For Arleon its mostly troubadours.

3) Frontline. For Arleon its footmen, knights and later queen's guards.

4) Buff magnets. These are the guys that will actually win you the wielder combat.
Arleon has limited section of buffs, but they do have the best one -- mass Initiative and speed buff (Invigorate). Your main culprits here are the sapper-knight combo and later fae ragers.

Same goes for enemies. AI does not really know how to use magic (except nukes) so their carries are much weaker and can be cheesed by limiting their mobility or sight range.

[Stan]

Play and learn and keep it up until you figure it out because there are so many ways to play
My way his way or others probably not how you play. So put some casual time into it to learn.
To learn not to win. With this attitude and approach you will in your mental capacity's time you will see a light bulb turn on (you will start to grasp the game) and then make some adjustments towards further progression.