Morale and Routing
Morale is not health. A broken army does not die; it refuses to fight.
Morale is not health
Morale is your army's will to stay in the fight. Morale at nothing kills nobody; it makes the army refuse to stay. Every force enters a battle at full morale.
The battle panel shows only YOUR army's morale. Your allies' morale and the enemy's are hidden, and a spy cannot learn them either; you can only sense that the other side is close to breaking from the losses on the field.
Morale states
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Steady | The army is sound. |
| Pressured | Strained, but holding. |
| Shaken | Seriously worn. |
| Wavering | On the edge of breaking. |
| Routing | Broken. Waiting for the withdrawal to be confirmed. |
What moves morale?
| Lifts it | Lowers it |
|---|---|
| The enemy taking heavy losses | Your own losses |
| Reinforcement arriving | Being outnumbered and outmatched |
| Supply holding up | Supply running out |
| The wall standing (defender) | The wall standing and losing nothing of its stone (attacker) |
| The wall being breached (attacker) | The wall being breached (defender) |
| The wall's stone wearing away (attacker) | The siege dragging on (defender) |
| Each round's own recovery | — |
Priests and the garrison at home
Priests add no morale; they reduce what a bad round takes away (Support Units). A garrison fighting in its own city is also less affected by bad rounds, for as long as the wall stands and the city can keep it supplied (Supply and Logistics). Once the wall is breached, the support it gave goes too.
When does an army break?
What a round costs you is measured against the size of your army at that moment. Light losses cost a little will, a heavy round a great deal. A round in which a large part of your army falls at once can break it on the spot.
What you did to the ENEMY in the same round counts too, though it lifts morale only in part. An army that deals out more than it takes holds; the side losing the exchange breaks first. In an even fight both armies can leave the field together.
So a beaten army usually leaves the field while it is still an army, and its survivors come home. The winner pays for the field as well.
Routing
An army whose morale collapses does not vanish on the spot. It breaks, and enters a pending rout.
At the next round boundary it is asked again — after arrivals and their morale have been counted. If it is still broken it leaves the field without fighting that round.
The two stages are deliberate: one bad round does not wipe an army out, and a broken army does not have to survive the fight that broke it.
What stops a rout?
| Relief sent | Result |
|---|---|
| A handful of men | Nothing. The rout is confirmed at the first boundary. |
| A small column beside what is left | Keeps the army in the field one more round; then the rout comes. |
| A column that makes you clearly the stronger side | The army rallies, and often turns the battle. |
Routed troops are not casualties
An army that withdraws is not an army that was destroyed: the survivors leave with their remaining ammunition and their remaining support stores.
If the ATTACKER breaks, the survivors march home the way they came. If the DEFENDER breaks it marches nowhere — it is already home; it stops fighting and the men stay in the city.
Losing a battle and losing an army are not the same thing: an army that breaks in time comes back, one ground down to the last man does not.
The figures come from the game's own content. Balance updates can move some numbers; the rules themselves are as written here.