Strategy by Phillip Rock, posted on http://warbookforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96.0

Being an Automator, and a successful one at that, I'm gonna give out some tips that have really helped me out. There is no specific order.

1) Don't put a whole lot to your mana.

I have 100 mana. Why 100? The duration of the day I am gone, that gives my mana time to keep building. Plus, if I need to fireball someone, I have 5 of them. I think 100 mana is a good point to stop putting points to mana if your are an Automator. Plus, it takes 10 hours to fully recharge, so I get to sleep for 10 hours .

2) Attack and Defense

After you reach 100 mana, you should put all your remaining exp to def and atk. Since I like to be balanced, I put equal amounts to each, but if you plan to either attack or defend a lot, then you may put more points into one of them.

3) Buy elites.

Yes, they are expensive, but well worth it. They are the most cost efficient unit in the game long term. They offer 5/5 atk and def at 0.2 upkeep. Rust effectively increases upkeep to ~1.85 gold, but works out cheaper at ~1 gold if you have 25% barracks. Any other elite costs 3 gold upkeep. You can have 3 Machina (elite unit) for 1 of any other. Thats 15 def and atk. That costs an arm and leg, but well worth it as I said.
(edited by lvl_50_noob)

4) Don't spread thin.

If you spread thin, you will lose land. Thats all there is to it. Keep about 15 elites per acre till you hit 50k acres. Then keep 30 elites per acre.

5) Land

75% mines
25% barracks

You don't need anything else. Your units have enough def and atk already, and when you factor in your def and atk from your hero, its a huge amount. Why this setup? Well, its working for me.

Also, I have calculated for Automators only using Elites, and it is much more cost efficient with 25% of your land barracks, than 100% mines. The amount of gold lost per hour is much, much less than the amount saved with this.

*When you get to about 400k acres, make 25% of your land Barriers as well, leaving only 50% mines. With so many Elites laying around, one fireball is devastating. Barriers cut out 75% of that.

(Additional comment by lvl_50_noob-
Because of rounding up effects, you only need to have 24.95% barracks, rather than exactly 25% to get the full benifit of them. It's not much of a bennifit, (1.5% extra income) but you don't lose anything by doing it either. The same will also be true when you build barriers. )

6) Save your money.

Don't spend it as soon as you get it. Save some of it. Buy in moderation. Buy a set of soldiers, say 1k or 10k in a batch, and then save the rest for emergency.

7) When you attack, go all out.

Use nothing but elites, and go all out. Use every single one. Attack someone just under you, perhaps 4/5 the size of you. You should win with very low casualties. By low, I mean a few hundred. That is not a lot. Now, also, play it smart. Don't attack people that have scarce resources, or that have a high alert rating, and plentiful resources. Of course, every now and then, you will run into some son of a gun that has a buttload of defense, and takes a lot of your elites, but, it won't happen every time. And you should still win. I have won every single fight I have fought since restarting.

Comment by MKramer on http://warbookforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96.0

1. If your upkeep is more than 33% of your gross income, you should expand. If you don't have enough troops for #3, then at least bottomfeed to bring up that income.

2. Soldiers should be bought from a vendor in large chunks every 2-4 days and used to do massive expansions at once, then the remainder converted to elites using temporary 25% barracks a day or two after the push.