Infantry

Combat role

Light ground infantry — low cost, moderate staying power. The first unit every faction fields and the anchor of forward defense.

Lore

By 2035, the "infantry soldier" was no longer a single concept. In the Eurasian Union the term meant a conscript from a regional levy, issued standardized body armor and a short-range directed-energy sidearm. In the African Coalition it described a motorized scout trained in desert route-finding. In South Asia it was a volunteer from one of the mobilization drives, equipment supplemental, numbers compensatory.

What unified them across factions was function: close-range engagement, city garrison, forward screening. Drones, artillery, and cyber units had not replaced the foot soldier in any bloc — they had displaced it upward in the task hierarchy.

The Infantry's role in the Red Age is unglamorous and irreplaceable. No faction builds them for their damage output. They build them because a city with an infantry unit garrisoned is defended, and a city without one is a target.

When to use

Open with Infantry to garrison your capital, then screen advancing tanks. Do not use them to assault fortified positions — their damage output against defense bonuses is poor.

Counters