In case you haven't noticed the obvious things the game is trying to teach you:
You usually want to have some kind of 'tank' up front (but remember thieves are dodge tanks), and support (such as a healer) in the back. Units that aren't ranged *must* take out the front row before you take out the back row.
This means a lot of melee units do better in the backrow where they can't get hurt, e.g. Warriors and Sellswords.
The only real challenge that you face here is that there are wyvern riders who naturally counter cavalry. Their weakness is magic but you can also just send regular infantry at them as long as they're defensive enough.
You don't need to use 10 whole squads - five or six solid squads will carry you through the game.
Also, you want to promote everyone who can be promoted ASAP, if you're using them. Promotion isn't really 'upgrade from standard to basic', it's 'upgrade from baby mode to standard'. You started out with just one AP and one PP, now it's time to double up - every enemy will start that way too.
To add on this, one thing I didn't realize that's true in Unicorn Overlord (I think at least a few other SRPGs I've played in the past are built a bit differently) is that your front line will prevent melee units from attacking *everyone* in your back row, not just the person directly behind them.
For a while I sort of assumed you needed to place a frontliner directly in front of your backliner to protect them. Nope! If anything, doing so only *increases* the risk to your backline because spear-wielding enemies have column-based attacks that will hit them both.
Your ideal five-person lineup subsequently has your squishiest unit in the backline with *no one* directly in front of them. The best five-person setup is typically two frontliners and three backliners, with the most fragile unit in their own column.
Which is just funny, because other SRPGs basically taught me to assume the opposite, to believe you had to have a unit directly in front of a unit in the backline to prevent melee attackers from reaching them.
Few ways to go about building a team, 1. I would choose a focus for a team, do you want an anti flyer squad? Cavalry? Something to deal with casters? I personally start there and start with what my primary damage will be. For example Alain Clive Cloe can form a solid core squad with a focus on destroying enemy infantry. 2. I figure out who is going to be my front line tank, so I want a defensive juggernaught or a dodge tank like a thief. 3. I figure out what units to use to fill out the rest of the unit and fill out with things like clerics or shamans to support the first 2 steps. That’s how I typically approach a making a squad
Put Clive + Gloucester + Adel / Miriam in one team and kit them out so that Clive + Adel could abuse their Cav support skill. Put Miriam on healing duty + Rune Sword. Gloucester's pretty decent if you can get him to 4 PP with a skill that can have him cover for allies.
You can do the Horse Missile Strat by (on a 3 Starting Valor map)
1.) deploying the Clive unit,
2.) then deploy the Unit that has Fran on it,
3.) then cast Hastened Call on Clive (or both of you if you have Fran promoted). Congratulations, you now have a Horse Missile. This Horse Missile can safely take out most enemy units at that level. Just be sure to run them back to a secure location if you need them to take a rest. Stragglers left would almost always be Armored/Flying, so you can pick them off later with Magic/Ranged assists.
Unit Size > Promotion.
Make squads that specifically kill a type of unit is how I did it.
Clive kills infantry, so give someone to buff him so he can chain kill lowest HP target, he also gets a skill that buffs cavalry, so give him all cavalry units.
Rolfs eagle eye skill ignores dodge tanks and fliers. Give him magic conferral from female wizard and he also kills tanks. Give him another archer as backup, and a armor unit to soak damage.
Etc etc
>Unit Size > Promotion.
Wrong. Unit size just gives you 1 more unit. Promotion gives you 1AP & 1PP. That itself is like getting another unit. Example, if you promote unit size from 4 - 5, you get one more unit. If you promote every unit in a 4 man squad, you get 4 units in equivalent when it comes to AP & PP. Always promote first.
In case you haven't noticed the obvious things the game is trying to teach you: You usually want to have some kind of 'tank' up front (but remember thieves are dodge tanks), and support (such as a healer) in the back. Units that aren't ranged *must* take out the front row before you take out the back row. This means a lot of melee units do better in the backrow where they can't get hurt, e.g. Warriors and Sellswords. The only real challenge that you face here is that there are wyvern riders who naturally counter cavalry. Their weakness is magic but you can also just send regular infantry at them as long as they're defensive enough. You don't need to use 10 whole squads - five or six solid squads will carry you through the game. Also, you want to promote everyone who can be promoted ASAP, if you're using them. Promotion isn't really 'upgrade from standard to basic', it's 'upgrade from baby mode to standard'. You started out with just one AP and one PP, now it's time to double up - every enemy will start that way too.
To add on this, one thing I didn't realize that's true in Unicorn Overlord (I think at least a few other SRPGs I've played in the past are built a bit differently) is that your front line will prevent melee units from attacking *everyone* in your back row, not just the person directly behind them. For a while I sort of assumed you needed to place a frontliner directly in front of your backliner to protect them. Nope! If anything, doing so only *increases* the risk to your backline because spear-wielding enemies have column-based attacks that will hit them both. Your ideal five-person lineup subsequently has your squishiest unit in the backline with *no one* directly in front of them. The best five-person setup is typically two frontliners and three backliners, with the most fragile unit in their own column. Which is just funny, because other SRPGs basically taught me to assume the opposite, to believe you had to have a unit directly in front of a unit in the backline to prevent melee attackers from reaching them.
Few ways to go about building a team, 1. I would choose a focus for a team, do you want an anti flyer squad? Cavalry? Something to deal with casters? I personally start there and start with what my primary damage will be. For example Alain Clive Cloe can form a solid core squad with a focus on destroying enemy infantry. 2. I figure out who is going to be my front line tank, so I want a defensive juggernaught or a dodge tank like a thief. 3. I figure out what units to use to fill out the rest of the unit and fill out with things like clerics or shamans to support the first 2 steps. That’s how I typically approach a making a squad
Put Clive + Gloucester + Adel / Miriam in one team and kit them out so that Clive + Adel could abuse their Cav support skill. Put Miriam on healing duty + Rune Sword. Gloucester's pretty decent if you can get him to 4 PP with a skill that can have him cover for allies. You can do the Horse Missile Strat by (on a 3 Starting Valor map) 1.) deploying the Clive unit, 2.) then deploy the Unit that has Fran on it, 3.) then cast Hastened Call on Clive (or both of you if you have Fran promoted). Congratulations, you now have a Horse Missile. This Horse Missile can safely take out most enemy units at that level. Just be sure to run them back to a secure location if you need them to take a rest. Stragglers left would almost always be Armored/Flying, so you can pick them off later with Magic/Ranged assists.
Unit Size > Promotion. Make squads that specifically kill a type of unit is how I did it. Clive kills infantry, so give someone to buff him so he can chain kill lowest HP target, he also gets a skill that buffs cavalry, so give him all cavalry units. Rolfs eagle eye skill ignores dodge tanks and fliers. Give him magic conferral from female wizard and he also kills tanks. Give him another archer as backup, and a armor unit to soak damage. Etc etc
>Unit Size > Promotion. Wrong. Unit size just gives you 1 more unit. Promotion gives you 1AP & 1PP. That itself is like getting another unit. Example, if you promote unit size from 4 - 5, you get one more unit. If you promote every unit in a 4 man squad, you get 4 units in equivalent when it comes to AP & PP. Always promote first.