Introduction

Fighting battles is one of the most important (and fun) parts of Iron Rage, so this page will give you a quick explanation of how this is done.

The first step is to select the troops that will come with you into battle. For each mission, there is a certain predefined list of unit types that may come along; each is represented by an icon in the selection screen. In the sample mission shown at right, you may bring, in addition to your hero, 4 infantry, 4 stormtroopers, 2 heavy infantry, 2 vehicles, and 3 support. You don't have to fill all of the slots (and indeed it is generally not recommended to do so); in fact, you can enter battle with only your hero, if you want to. Bringing a hero is mandatory in storyline missions, but optional otherwise (and there are some types of missions which don't have a hero slot at at all). If you are in a clan, you will also have two additional slots in the top right for a clan squad and clan support.

The game will automatically fill some troops by default, but generally it is a very bad idea to follow its suggestions (more on this below). You can use the "Fill" button to automatically fill all slots, but this is also generally a bad idea. To add a unit, simply select it from the panel at the bottom (use the right and left arrow buttons to scroll through the possibilities). You can also filter the troops at the bottom by selecting one of the type icons. To remove a unit from your lineup, just click on it in the top pane. You can also remove all units using the down-arrow button to the right of "Fill". The game also allows you to define three presets for commonly used combinations. To load a preset, just select it from the "Select preset" menu; to define a preset, load it, set up your lineup, and then use the save button (next to the down-arrow button). Note that if you define a preset with, say, 5 infantryman squads but then load it in a mission where you can only take 4 infantry, then it will automatically only take the number that will fit.

Finally, the number at the bottom lists the fuel cost to undertake this mission. This ranges from 10 to 500, depending on the mission, and obviously if you don't have the necessary fuel you can't do the mission.

Once you've clicked the "Begin" button, the battle starts! The picture at right illustrates a sample battle screen. It contains the following features: Most (but not all) maps also include one or more strategic points, such as machine gun or mortar positions. You can see two in this map: one active machine gun in the top center, and one inactive machine gun position in the bottom.
 * Your spawn circle (green circle at left)
 * The enemy's spawn circle (red circle at right)
 * Units available for deployment (four units at bottom)
 * Next unit available (unit in the circle to the left of the four available units)
 * Deployment bar (above the available units)
 * Strength bars (green and red bars at top)

The basic mechanics are as follows: you have a certain number of deployment points, which increases gradually over time to a maximum of 6. To deploy a unit, simply click on it and then click on a destination. Its deployment cost (the number in the corner) will be subtracted from your number of deployment points. The unit will start at your spawn circle and then move to the destination that you chose. If it's still alive when it gets there, it will then attempt to continue towards the enemy's spawn circle. For supports, such as the artillery bombardment, you just select the location and then the bombardment will happen at that location. Your hero does not need to be deployed; he will automatically begin the battle on the battlefield at your spawn point.

You win the battle by either (a) moving a unit into the enemy's spawn circle, or (b) killing all enemy units (including any active machine gun or mortar positions). The strength bar at the top shows you how many of your units and enemy units remain. Conversely, you lose the battle if the enemy moves into your spawn circle, or all of your units are killed. You also lose if you run out of time. (Presumably you also lose if all units from both sides get killed at the same time, but I've never seen this.)

At the beginning of the battle, four random units from your lineup are placed in the available units bar. You can only deploy one of these four units (this is another reason not to bring more units than you need, since it decreases the odds you'll get what you want). The unit in the circle at the left is a preview of the next unit; once you deploy a unit, that unit will move into the available units area.

The strategic points on the map start out inactive. Once a unit moves onto the circle, then they become active and start firing. If they are destroyed, they revert to being inactive. Once this happens, they cannot be reactivated by the same side that had it previously -- it must change ownership to become active again.

If you win the battle, you collect any rewards for the mission. All units that you deployed are used up and will disappear from your army, but units that you did not deploy are saved, so it's generally a good idea to be conservative in deploying units. If you lose the battle, however, you lose all units that you had in your lineup, regardless of whether you deployed them or not. So if it looks like the battle is going to be close, don't be afraid to throw all your units in, since you'll lose them all if you lose anyway. (Expeditions behave differently in this regard, however.) You always keep your hero, regardless of whether you win or lose (even if he is "killed", he apparently just needs some rest to be ready for the next battle).

Unit selection strategy
In general, units can be divided into two categories: regular units which you can produce yourself at your base, and premium units which you cannot. Premium units can be obtained via rewards, chests, or purchasing with gold. This is the main reason why using the autofill to set your lineup is strongly discouraged -- the game will happily put your best units into the lineup without considering if you can get more of them, which is often a significant waste of units that you can't easily get back.

In general, the first time you do a mission, you should only use replaceable units (mostly infantryman and stormtrooper squads). If you are stuck on a mission and need to beat it to move forward, then you can start throwing in some premium units. Especially in the early game, you shouldn't be too shy about using some of the premiums such as loyalist or black knight squads, since eventually your regular infantry and stormtroopers will get better than these and they'll be obsolete anyway. However, there are some extremely powerful premiums such as silent sentry squads, which can easily singlehandedly win a battle for you, but are also extremely rare and difficult to replace, so use these with great caution.

Battle strategy
In general it's much more effective to send out two squads at once than to send them out one at a time, so try to save up your deployment points so you can deploy in larger groups. (This does make them more vulnerable to artillery strikes or other support attacks, but the increase in effective firepower is worth it.) Also, try to time your deployments so that your slower units and your faster units reach the front lines at approximately the same time (so deploy your infantry first and then your stormtroopers).

In most maps, there are obstacles which separate the battlefield into two or three lanes, as the example illustrates. You might try to deploy a blocking force of slow troops in one lane and then rush the other lane to quickly reach the enemy's spawn point. Keep an eye on what your enemy is doing so that you're not caught by surprise; this is especially important when they might drop a landing behind your lines.

This is only a brief introduction to strategy; for more, see the guides in Category:Guides.