Select a city and open Rally orders, or select a leader, for group orders. Select a troop and open Unit orders for just that troop. Then choose a mission and tap a gold-highlighted land tile when the map asks you to pick a destination. To give one mission to All cities, All Sergeants or your Leader at once, tap the rally flag beside the city icon and choose the group; its badge shows the group you chose last.
⌖ExploreAuto target captures discovered neutral cities first, then explores fog. Once your empire is established or most of the map is charted, a few scouts finish discovery while the main army searches toward enemy territory.
⚔AttackPush toward your destination and fight along the way. Auto target favors capitals, but may choose a nearer city or split troops across targets. Tap the rival capital to target it explicitly.
♜DefendProtect an area. Move to within 1 tile of your destination, then take the best post there: the most cover (a Mountain, then a Forest) with the least enemy fire, rather than another of your cities when a tile is open. Defending a city, troops guard it from the tiles around it while you can afford a troop, so it can still recruit. Attack enemies within 2 tiles of that point if your weapon can reach them.
⌂HoldOccupy a spot. Travel to the exact tile and camp; if a friendly troop is there, settle beside it on the best cover nearby, outside your other cities when a safe free tile is open. Fight from the camp without chasing enemies away from it.
- Will Defend and Hold attack?
- Yes. Both can initiate attacks on your turn, including while travelling. A mission first captures a city under the troop, otherwise takes an eligible attack, otherwise moves toward its destination. It waits if none is available. It skips attacks whose immediate counterattack would kill it.
- How is their fighting different?
- Defend only attacks enemies within 2 tiles of the protected point, even with a longer-range weapon. Hold lets ranged troops fire at their full range. Once a melee troop reaches the camp or an adjacent tile, Hold only attacks enemies within 1 tile of the camp, so a kill cannot pull it away. A defending melee troop can advance up to 2 tiles from its point after a kill.
- For example: a Catapult at its destination
- With Hold, it can fire at an enemy 3 tiles away. With Defend, that enemy is outside the protected area, so it waits instead if there is no closer target. All distances include diagonals.
- When do troops act?
- All troops and officers carry out missions at the start of their turn, before planning. End turn finishes planning; Auto-finish first performs the management jobs you select. New recruits defend during the opponent’s turn and begin their mission at your next turn’s start. Every mission uses normal action limits; a Catapult can move or fire, never both. Changing orders adds no actions. Troops avoid stopping in a friendly city that is not their destination when another tile still makes progress, so its slot stays free for recruits. Archers, dragons and other ranged troops choose where to fire from: they may step out of a city or up into range first, then shoot that turn, but never away from their mission or into fire that could kill them. While you can afford a troop, only a killing shot keeps one in its own city; otherwise it steps out, even without a shot. A Catapult, which moves or fires, steps out instead of firing. Defend or Hold troops waiting beside their spot step off it, and Defend troops leave the city they defend for the ring around it while you can afford a troop. Troops stay when you cannot afford a troop this turn and an enemy could reach the city. Troops holding that city fire from it.
- What happens during the enemy’s turn?
- Troops do not fire just because an enemy moves nearby. Any surviving troop can strike back when attacked if the attacker is within its weapon range, even if it already used its own attack. This retaliation works with every mission.
- Choosing and keeping a destination
- Auto target lets each troop choose a city again each turn; it does not mean the closest city is always chosen. A tile you tap stays its destination until you change the order. For Defend or Hold, Hold here uses the selected piece’s tile; a rally-flag Defend or Hold needs a tapped tile. City rally orders also apply to future recruits, Leaders and Sergeants, except troops that join a nearby squad.