Ive talked till I was blue in the fingers about that exact thing. When I hear "But I scouted it, and the hero was only level 9, Why did I take so many troop losses?"
The main things to look at when farming a lvl-10 NPC is your Tech level, your Heroes attack/leadership, Star set bonus and the wave setup your using.
I always have at least a 9 star set bonus when farming LVL-10 NPCs. I'm sure you could use a 5 set bonus, but I don't care for extra losses.
Techs that you should have:
- Arch 10 (I don't farm LVL-10 NPCs with out it)
- HBR 9 or 10. Some will argue that having 10 is a hindrance, but I think that this will only matter on LVL-14 or above NPCs. But that a debate for a later time.
- Military Tradition
- Logistics (sending 1900-2230 Transports, I don't have an updated total amount needed for a LVL-10 NPCs due to not testing it in a few servers)
Now I send 2 different farming waves to LVL-10 NPCs. The determining factor is whether I need Justice medals or not. If you going for just Resources, then the setup should be a bit different.
This is the exact setup I use for Farming Justice medals from LVL-10 NPCs. This setup yields great results for Nation and Justice medals. it is also what I use to Level HHs.
First wave:
- Transports 1500
- Workers 1
- Warriors 1500
- Scouts 1
- Pike 1
- Swords 1
- Archers 92000
45-55 Seconds later the first following wave of:
- Transports 1500
- Workers 1
- Warriors 1500
- Scouts 1
- Pike 1
- Swords 1
- Archers 25000
45-55 Seconds later the second following wave of:
- Transports 1500
- Workers 1
- Warriors 1500
- Scouts 1
- Pike 1
- Swords 1
- Archers 25000
For farming Resources, I like to use:
- Transports 2000
- Warriors 1500
- Warriors 1500
- Scouts 3000
- Archers 92000
Like it was stated earlier, will find the best setup that works for them with minimal losses.