Battle¶
Battles are automatic. They are fought the moment a hostile host arrives (an assault, a War Council or a sunder), and every lord involved receives a battle report with the forces, every clash, the losses, the plunder and the spoils. Open the report to watch the battle again as a replay.
Who fights¶
- Attackers
- Every host of the assault or War Council, each with its own lord's war disciplines and the kindred bonuses of the stronghold it was sent from.
- Defenders
- Every unit stationed in the stronghold (support units and immobile units included), its fortifications (spells excepted), and every allied host camped there as reinforcement.
Each piece's values come from its stats and its lord's lore:
- Might = might × (1 + 10% × Weaponsmithing + kindred bonus)
- Ward = ward × (1 + 10% × Warding + kindred bonus)
- Fortitude = (iron + runestone cost) ÷ 10 × (1 + 10% × Armoursmithing + kindred bonus)
A Warlord fights with two extra levels in each of the three disciplines, and members of an Order of Blades with one more.
Clashes¶
A battle has up to six clashes. In each clash:
- Wards are restored to full on every surviving piece.
- Every piece strikes once at a random enemy piece. Both sides strike in the same clash, so a piece destroyed in this clash still strikes back.
- A blow first wears down the target's ward; whatever the ward cannot absorb is taken from its fortitude.
- A blow weaker than 1% of the target's full ward glances off and does nothing. Strikes at a piece already destroyed in this clash are wasted.
- Rout: a piece hit while below 70% of its fortitude may break and be destroyed outright. The chance is 1 − remaining fortitude ÷ full fortitude.
- Flurry: after each strike, the attacker may strike again at a new random target (see below).
The battle ends when one side has no pieces left. If both sides still stand after six clashes, it is a stalemate.
| Result | When |
|---|---|
| Victory | The other side has no pieces left. |
| Defeat | Your side has no pieces left. |
| Stalemate | Both sides still stand after six clashes. Nobody plunders. |
Very large battles (over 120,000 pieces) are fought on a proportional sample of the armies and the result is scaled back up.
Flurry¶
Some units are built to destroy others. When a unit strikes a target it has a flurry value of v against, it strikes again with a chance of (v − 1) ÷ v, and again, and again: a flurry value of 5 gives an 80% chance of each extra strike, so five strikes on average. Each extra strike picks a new random target, which may be a different kind of piece.
Every unit except Scavenger Carts, Raven, Sun Prism and Delver Golem has a flurry value of 5 against Ravens, Sun Prisms and Delver Golems. The other flurries are:
| Attacker | Strikes again against (flurry value, chance of each extra strike) |
|---|---|
 Men-at-Arms |
Pack Train (3, 66.7%) |
 Lancers |
Archer Tower (10, 90%), Skirmishers (6, 83.3%) |
 Knights |
Rangers (5, 80%) |
 Eagle Riders |
Knights (7, 85.7%), Lancers (4, 75%), Men-at-Arms (4, 75%), Pack Train (3, 66.7%), Wagon Train (3, 66.7%) |
 Siege Train |
Archer Tower (20, 95%), Firebolt Tower (20, 95%), Flame Spire (10, 90%), Storm Pylon (10, 90%), Catapult Tower (5, 80%), Sunfire Bastion (5, 80%) |
 Battlemages |
Firebolt Tower (10, 90%), Eagle Riders (2, 50%) |
 War Colossus |
Raven (1,250, 99.9%), Sun Prism (1,250, 99.9%), Delver Golem (1,250, 99.9%), Pack Train (250, 99.6%), Wagon Train (250, 99.6%), Settler Caravan (250, 99.6%), Scavenger Carts (250, 99.6%), Skirmishers (200, 99.5%), Archer Tower (200, 99.5%), Firebolt Tower (200, 99.5%), Men-at-Arms (100, 99%), Flame Spire (100, 99%), Storm Pylon (100, 99%), Catapult Tower (50, 98%), Lancers (33, 97%), Knights (30, 96.7%), Rangers (30, 96.7%), Siege Train (25, 96%), Eagle Riders (15, 93.3%), Reavers (10, 90%), Battlemages (5, 80%) |
 Reavers |
Knights (7, 85.7%), Siege Train (4, 75%), Battlemages (3, 66.7%) |
 Rangers |
Skirmishers (3, 66.7%), Lancers (3, 66.7%), Men-at-Arms (2, 50%) |
After a victory¶
Plunder¶
If the attackers win (except when sundering), the surviving hosts plunder the stronghold. They can take at most a share of each resource, and only as much as their free load can carry:
| Defender | Share |
|---|---|
| An outlaw (honour −5,000 or lower) | 100% |
| Dormant (no activity for 7 days) | 50%, or 75% for a Wayfarer |
| Renown at least half the attacker's | 75% |
| Anyone else | 50% |
The load is filled in this order: iron up to a third of the free load, runestone up to half of what is left, aether into the rest, then more iron and runestone if room remains. In a War Council, the plunder is shared in proportion to each host's free load.
Reavers¶
After a victory, every attacking host with Reavers strips up to 30% of the new spoils into the Reavers' free load before the rest is left on the field.
Spoils fields¶
Every destroyed unit, on either side, leaves part of its cost on the battlefield as a spoils field: 30% of its iron and runestone cost in a default world. Fortifications that are not rebuilt leave spoils only if the charter says so (0% by default), and aether is included only in worlds with aether in spoils.
Spoils fields lie at the stronghold's coordinates and add up from one battle to the next. Anyone can send Scavenger Carts or Rangers to collect them.
Fortification rebuild¶
About 70% of the defender's destroyed fortifications are rebuilt for free after the battle (see Fortifications). The Master Mason restores half of the rest.
Skyholds¶
A battle at a stronghold that has no Skyhold yet may tear one out of the ground: 1% chance per 100,000 spoils left by the battle (including what Reavers took), up to 20%. The Skyhold floats above the defending stronghold and belongs to its lord. A higher chance gives a wider Skyhold. See Skyholds.
| Spoils left by the battle | Chance of a Skyhold | Span (paces) | Most plots it can use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100,000 | 1% | 2,300–3,300 | 5–10 |
| 250,000 | 2% | 2,600–3,600 | 6–12 |
| 500,000 | 5% | 3,500–4,500 | 12–20 |
| 1,000,000 | 10% | 5,000–6,000 | 25–36 |
| 1,500,000 | 15% | 6,500–7,500 | 42–56 |
| 2,000,000 | 20% | 8,000–9,000 | 64–81 |
The Healers' Lodge¶
If the defender has a Healers' Lodge and loses at least 5% of the value of the units at home, part of each fallen unit type is carried to a camp of wounded: 30% at Lodge 1, plus 1% per further level, up to 45%, raised by kindred buildings and arts.
The wounded wait 72 hours. Order their restoration from the stronghold overview before then: it takes 2 hours ÷ the Lodge level (÷ the economy speed, at least 10 minutes), and then they rejoin the stronghold. A camp that is never restored is lost. Units lost in another battle before the restoration starts join the same camp, and the 72 hours start again.
Ordered retreat¶
In the Hosts panel you can turn on ordered retreat. When a battle starts at one of your strongholds and the attackers are at least 5 times stronger than its defenders (3 times with the Marshal), its mobile units slip away before the fight, for an aether fee of twice their base march aether, if the stronghold has that much aether. They come back after the battle; fortifications and immobile units stay and fight.
Strength is measured as √(might × (fortitude + ward)) summed over every piece.
Honour and renown¶
Battles change honour and the renown statistics:
- Against a defender with at least half your renown you gain honour equal to the renown you destroyed.
- Against an active defender with less than a fifth of your renown you lose that much honour (at least 1).
- The defender gains honour equal to the renown they destroyed, if the attacker has at least half the defender's renown.
- Battles against NPC and dormant realms change no honour.
Renown destroyed and lost count 1 for every 1,000 resources of units and fortifications. See Protections and honour.