Military

Your military protects you from attack, and allows you to attack other countries. Military units are not required to take tiles which are unoccupied. Your military becomes more advanced as you research better materials and processes, and you may also perform specialised research into military technology which will make you stronger still.

Defensive Garrisoning

Each tile has a garrison associated with it, whose job is primarily defensive. By default this will be a set proportion of the tile's basic production which is specified on the Nation Manager panel, and the current 'best' unit (using the weights for attack strength, armour and health you select). You can use the Military tool to adjust the garrisoning level for an individual tile, or choose a different unit type.

If you change the garrisoning level on a tile, or you are attacked and lose units, you will not see the effect immediately. The tile will gain or lose ten units per hour until the appropriate level is reached. You may however force an immediate dismissal if you wish. Gaining units requires you to pay their build cost (cash and resources) so if you have run out your military may be stalled – and you are likely to suffer an upkeep crisis too, see below.

When you take a tile, the units you used to attack with will move onto the new tile. If your default level is different from that, or if you attacked with a mobile brigade, the tile will begin to gain or lose units. The tile you attacked from may become under-staffed also and begin to gain units.

Military units are treated as part of the population that does not produce useful income, so if you have a garrison level of 120 units on a tile with 180 production you will only receive taxes for 60. Likewise, if you station 80 units on a tile with 20 production you will have to pay the equivalent of 60 people's taxes. This is in addition to the unit upkeep.

Unit Upkeep

Each unit you own comes with a daily upkeep (each in-game day). If you cannot pay, the unit will be lost – so reaching zero money (or running out of a vital resource) means that it is likely that your military will all be disbanded and your nation will be in grave trouble.

Brigades

As well as the defensive units that a tile generates, you may also create mobile brigades. To begin with, you must create brigades by taking defenders off a tile, using the Tile Manager. You can then combine, modify or move brigades by selecting Edit Brigade on the Tile Manager. A brigade contains one or more squads and acts as a unit for movement, attack and defence. Units within a brigade cost twice the normal upkeep.

When asked to move, brigades find a path to the target tile and move there at the speed of the slowest squad within it. Brigades will not pass through the land of another nation, or through land which is too far from your capital (twice your influence).

Within the brigade editor, you can manage the squads within the brigade: merge them, merge them into the tile's defensive garrison (but note that this does not automatically increase the desired garrison level), disband them, split a squad into two or take squads into a new brigade.

Attacking

When you attack an unoccupied tile, if it is within your sphere of influence, it is automatically added to your nation. To occupy a tile you must attack from a tile you own; attacking with a brigade or moving a brigade onto an unoccupied tile does not at the tile to your nation. Tiles outside your sphere of influence may not be attacked, although you may move brigades onto them if they are within twice the influence radius.

If you wish to take a tile from another nation, you will have to battle for it. When you use the Attack tool on another nation's tile, you will see the Battle Options screen, where you can choose:

• From which tile you would like to attack, if more than one of your tiles is adjacent to the target tile. The garrison on that tile will be used for the attack unless you choose a different brigade to attack with.
• How many units to attack with. A larger force gives you a higher chance of victory, but may result in heavier losses if you lose. You can also choose to use one of the brigades that is stationed on the tile you have chosen.
• How long to continue fighting for. Victory/Defeat will keep fighting until one side reaches zero units, for a complete victory or a cruching defeat. One round only performs a single round of combat, allowing you to continue or desist after seeing the result. Depletion will keep fighting until you win (i.e. the opponent reaches zero units), or until your squad is reduced to below your default garrison level. Battle will automatically be stopped, whatever option you choose, if your attackers do zero damage in a round.

The other nation will be informed of your attack and the result.

If you win, you take over the tile (or, if attacking with a brigade from an unowned tile, the tile will become unowned). Depending on the size of the forces and the length of the battle, improvements may or may not survive your assault.

If you are attacking with a brigade, or if one or more brigades are defending the tile in addition to the units assigned to defence, units not in the first squad (on either side) will receive a penalty (dependent on their ammunition class) to their damage.