During Battles, the population of a territory may spontaneously take arms to help defend it. This process is automatic and not under the control of players.
Auto-defense conditions[]
Auto-defense can only happen in settled territories with a population. It happens automatically if the 2 conditions are met:
- the military Strength score of all the defending formations in the battle is below 50% that of the attackers
- the military Strength score of all the defenders + the potential popular auto-defense is superior or equal that of the attackers.
Auto-defense content[]
The size of the auto-defense is based on the territory's total population: if triggered, it is about 75% of the number of active population in the territory, minus the amount of any existing Militia.
The unit types are simple Warriors for stone-age territories, upgraded to Peons for any later period. Peons are similar to Snouts but with less reach and less melee skills.
Deployment and behavior[]
Auto-defense forces will deploy randomly next to houses of the settlement, and will move to actively engage enemies.
The auto-defense troops spawn as a separate battle-temporary formation similar to fortification towers. It only exists for the duration of the battle and it disappears after it's ended regardless of the outcome. The units do not drop any equipment, and the formation cannot move nor retreat.
Although unrealistic, unlike with a Militia losses suffered by the auto-defense formation will not deplete the actual active population of the territory.