Rob, stormtroopers run faster than infantry, shoot faster, and have armor, there is usually a quite long stage in your troops' development when stormtroopers are stronger and more useful than infantry - notice that you can gradually make all your basic troops (infantry, stormtroopers, crusaders) much stronger than such enemies by upgrading them in barracks, doing their research in academy, equipping skins, joining an upgraded clan, equipping equipment, and later on researching skills in training grounds and equipping them in barracks. But there sure are elements of strategy (which troops you take and when and where you deploy them) and luck (in which order you "draw" your troops "cards" in battle) too.
The game is still being maintained to some minimal extent - a developer is still launching in-game events and occasionally answering support requests in game discord (the discord link is in my beginner guide on Iron Rage wiki, can't reshare here due to spam concerns).
still welcoming players who would like an active clan for the current event and more into UN - United Noobs, new clan discord link: https://discord.gg/f6Zerxrj
if someone needs a clan for Knowledge day event clan convoys (doing some is required for full completion of the event), we have a plenty of space and firepower in UN - United Noobs. best contact us in our clan discord in addition to applying, for better communication and faster acceptance https://discord.gg/FYUQtmnQ
We in the UN - United Noobs clan will be happy to have you and anyone else interested! no matter how new - just play at least a little most days and be willing to join our discord and read and write there as needed. We have a lot of spots (we are only 4 really) and are able and willing to carry in clan convoys and world convoys (though faction convoys probably only blue currently). https://discord.gg/n3QpGZqH
@Mobster007 you should donate your excess resources towards the building/upgrading of your clan buildings (and towards clan research and centurion if your clan has them) - whichever building your clan leaders want you to or you see some resources have already been donated towards
Medium badge took only about 15 min more than the "easy" one. Fortunately, the stars for the medium badge are marked yellow in the minimap - and even more fortunately, they count also if you end up last.
@luxfare - It IS possible to get the medium badge without "premium" units, even without using these the game provides through daily rewards (calendar) and mission rewards. Just by upgrading the regular units. But it takes a couple of months of playing a few minutes each day.
Great easy mode! (Reduce the difficulty for each level to lowest = all badges obtainable in one playing session of about 2 h, without grinding and with the game still being fun.)
@guan2 - apparently you (and I) chose correctly, according to the wiki trusting the ancient one gives the more rewarding ending: https://dream-world.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ancient_One
The game can't save any more, but when I turned the autosave off, I was able to leave the base and obtain the easy badge in a few minutes and the medium badge within an hour (playing carefully to avoid dying - I repeat, the save doesn't work). The entrance to the secret star system needed for the Eye of the Storm mission later on never spawned, so the hard badge isn't obtainable, at least for me.
The "strategy to fly around the map on the edges", approximately, worked for about 19.5 levels, taking much less than an hour. Then I got so much lag that I couldn't move for most of the remaining waves and died probably at the last wave.
@AezurX - It is possible to change the faction for free about every 2 weeks (the bottom timer in the faction reputation will get to 0, then faction missions will be unavailable for a couple of days, and then we will need to pick a faction again). And as far as I see the faction rating or number of people in the faction doesn't matter, doesn't give any rewards or penalties.
Apparently this game is likely to be shut down at the end of August, so just get the badges quickly (the points remain after the game can't be played any more): get 1-2 of premium cards (for 10 + 60 bonds), fill the rest of the deck with the highest-health normal cards you have, and auto-play (bottom right corner) + skip through Missions; when out of energy, do the same through Battles until level up (promotion) as that refills energy.
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Thank you for the help Commander