Troop orders
The army barracks provide three order types: attack, covert espionage and support. An attack starts a battle; surviving winners may return with loot, a surviving marshal may reduce authority, and an attack consisting only of spies becomes normal scouting, visible to the defender. Covert espionage accepts spies only, moves at half speed and remains invisible to the defender. Support sends troops to defend your own or an alliance member’s settlement.
Targets and protection
An attack requires at least 10 units in total. You cannot attack or spy on your own or an alliance member’s settlements; you can send them support. The starting settlement is protected from attacks and espionage for the first 120 h, followed by seven days of protection from conquest only. Additional settlements are not covered. A hostile order against another player ends the first phase early and starts the seven-day phase; an order carrying a marshal removes both phases. Orders against abandoned settlements do not remove protection. A player in active sleep mode also cannot be attacked or spied on.
Protection against much stronger players
You cannot attack or spy on a player whose protection points are less than one tenth of yours. This 10:1 protection covers all their settlements. An action is allowed at an exact 10:1 ratio.
Protection points are the sum of all settlement points plus 2500 points for each settlement after the first. Troops and stored resources are not included.
A weaker player may attack or spy on an opponent who is more than 10 times stronger. However, successfully dispatching troops removes their 10:1 protection against that particular opponent for 7 real days. That opponent may attack and spy on all their settlements. Protection against other players remains.
Each new qualifying dispatch by the weaker player starts a new 7-day period. Retaliatory actions by the stronger player do not extend it. Recalling a dispatched order does not restore protection.
The stronger opponent immediately receives a system notification with the initiating player’s name and the protection loss expiry time. This also applies to stealth espionage: the espionage order itself may remain undetected, but the protection loss notification identifies who initiated a hostile action.
Sending reinforcements does not remove 10:1 protection. This protection does not apply to abandoned settlements without a player owner or mysterious valleys.
Beginner and sleep mode protections apply separately. The right to retaliate does not remove them. Morale works as usual in permitted battles.
The 10:1 ratio and retaliation period are checked when troops are dispatched. Orders already dispatched legally continue even if the ratio changes or the retaliation period expires during travel.
Sleep mode
Sleep mode activates 48 hours after it is requested. The request can be cancelled while more than 12 hours remain before activation; attacks and espionage are blocked from the moment it is requested. While active, all settlements are protected from new attacks and espionage, and the player cannot start construction, research, training, trade or troop commands; existing queues and resource production continue. After waking, attacks and espionage remain blocked for 24 hours. Up to 90 sleep days may be used in any rolling 365-day period.
Movement, warnings and loot
A troop moves at the pace of its slowest unit. The Speed value in the unit table is the number of minutes needed to cross one map field, so fewer minutes mean greater speed. The settlement overview warns about an incoming visible command, while its details appear under Army Barracks → Units → Incoming. You can recall your outgoing troops before 90 seconds have elapsed since departure and before their scheduled arrival. Returning takes as long as they have already travelled; returning troops cannot be turned around again. Recall is blocked during active sleep, but is allowed while sleep is pending or after waking under the same time limits. Surviving winners carry loot according to their combined capacity; iron, wood and clay are taken only up to the available amounts, and resources protected by the shelter remain untouched. Loot is credited only when the troops return home.
