Understanding the Table
Damage values
5 types of damage and 5 types of armor respectively.
Every unit in the game has their own Armor Multipliers (AM) for all 5 damage types. Think of every unit taking standard full damage (100% / 1 AM) from every attack type. Higher values mean weaknesses where as lower values mean resistances.
Armor Multiplier value of 50% means the unit will take half incoming damage from an attack because it lowers the default armor multiplier from 1 (100%) to 0,5 (50%).
A value of 200% means the unit will take double damage because it increases the default armor multiplier from 1 (100%) to 2 (200%).
Weaknesses are marked with yellow color where as Resistances are red. Neutral values are grey.
This system is based around multipliers.
For example, a unit that has cutting damage value at 25% (strong resistance) is also hit by a negative effect - "takes 50% more damage from all attack types", this means the unit will take 37,5% damage from cutting attacks (moderate (weaker) resistance) [0,25 * 1,5 = 0,375 / rounded to 0,38 by the game].
And if the same unit is hit by a positive effect- "takes 50% less damage from all attack types", this means the unit will take 13% damage from cutting attacks (strong resistance) [0,25 * 0,5 = 0,125 / rounded to 0,13 by the game].
SP = Unit is available only in the Single Player campaign.
Piercing Damage Redesign (1.58.3)
Piercing armor is now always exactly in the middle between the worst and best possible counters (weakest and strongest armor).
If a unit's highest armor is 25% (takes 25% damage) and lowest armor is 150% (takes 150% damage), then they will take (25 + 150)/2= 88% damage from Piercing based attacks.
This is the supposed "lazy" damage type that will always be better than a resistance, but worse than a weakness.
Poison
Poison is a unique damage trait that bypasses all weaknesses and resistances.
In the legacy version of the game (2001-2002), Poison is interconnected with base damage of units. It takes 50% of units' base damage and distributes it overtime.
Zen Edition has Poison untied from units' base damage. Instead it's applied as additional "pure" damage that is distributed overtime. On top of that, it slows units down by 40% and prevents them from being healed.
Poisoned units that get healed will have poison removed first, only after that they can be healed normally. If a unit in the process of healing gets hit by poison, the healing effect stops.
Siege vs Non Siege
TL;DR: If you don't train Siege units, you won't be able to effectively destroy buildings.
• Buildings take 100% damage from any damage type.
• Siege units deal great damage to buildings; Non- Siege units are much less efficient.
• Unit Class will show as Siege in “Smart Tooltips” when selecting units.
Flammability
There are 3 types of flammability that define how easy it is to set a building on fire: simple (only watchtowers), medium (all combat/special buildings) and hard (only keeps).
Burning buildings launch embers, they slightly damage units and are able to set other buildings on fire. If the fire remains unattended for long it can quickly cause a chain reaction setting your buildings ablaze.
Attacking buildings with fire when it's raining will be much less effective, rain will also extinguish any already burning building (and water ricefields).
Terrain & Environment
☯ Height (dis)Advantage: TL;DR: The taller unit gains an advantage.
Height advantage is a damage bonus (or penalty) obtained by units relative to the target they are attacking. This is related to unit heights (base models and their positioning).
The maximum height damage bonus that can be obtained by units is +25% and the maximum penalty is -25%.
For example: Warlock vs Archer duking it out on flat terrain will result in Warlock gaining ~12% bonus damage against archer because of the height advantage.
Archer will be able to neglect that and even come on top (by a tiny bit) if he gets on top of a horse since his height is now above Warlock's.
Warlock will be at a big disadvantage fighting the Shale Lord in melee on even ground - the tallest unit in the game. That goes for pretty much any unit.
Horses, Towers and terrain (cliffs, hills etc.) provide a way to get "above" your enemy and neglect that, and even get bonus damage as a result. Death from above!
☯ Environment: Units will have decreased speed when climbing hills (increased speed when going down), going through water or forest areas. Trees also obscure units' LOS. There are exceptions for certain unique units. All units will alert birds in the trees when running, essentially giving their position away to the enemy.
When it's raining, all buildings will be extinguished and all rice crops will be watered (thus growing back faster). When it's showing, rice crops will be growing back at a decreased rate.
Yin & Yang
All Zen-Masters (heroes) and Spirit Wolves have their damage increased by 10% per each Yin/Yang the Clan has (not with every Yin/Yang gained in total). Ninja and Monks get a 5% damage increase. Serpent and Lotus follow the Yin where as Dragon and Wolf follow the Yang.
The rule for acquiring Yin/Yang is pretty simple: the more effectively you fight, the more Yin/Yang you get. However, the mechanic is deeper than that and depends on many conditions: inflicted/received damage, how far you fight from your peasant huts, and the amount of points you already have.
Building a Town Square will also increase the Yin/Yang generation by 25% for all clans.
Peasant Generation
All peasant huts add +100 rice and +50 water bonus to the maximum resource cap, as well as a small boost to the peasant generation rate. In the original/legacy game (2001-2002) and in Zen Edition (as of 1.58.2), the boost effect is uncapped and is limited only to the maximum building cap (50 buildings).
Horses
Horses can be used either as a combat unit, or as an addition to peasants. In both cases, combat or economic power gets increased. Wild horses can be seen on the minimap as brown dots.
☯ Combat: Horses give their riders a height bonus and, in some cases, faster attack speed, as well as more survavibility in combat. They are also able to trample (BG, Lotus' steeds burn enemies and buildings) which can be deadly for certain enemy units, however, mounted units will be unable to use their BGs. All clans (except Wolf) have various upgrades to improve their horses.
Melee units deal 100% of their damage to horses, missile units deal 100% of their damage to riders. Area Of Effect attacks will deal 100% damage to riders and 100% to horses.
☯ Economy: Dragon, Serpent and Lotus Peasants can take horses in order to gather more resources. Each horse can carry 45 units of rice or water, any peasant can carry 15 units.
Tamed horses without a host can be taken by anyone. Steal enemy horses and look after yours!
Wolf peasants will always feed horses to their wolves. Wolf units can attack other enemy clans' horses that have no rider.