Your troops follow rules you cannot see: a leash, a corridor, a shared pace. Knowing them explains why your army stops — or runs off.
The three stances
Every combat unit carries a stance, and neutral is the default. The point most players get wrong: the leash and the return to post apply only to a target the unit picked up BY ITSELF. A target you assign with a right click is pursued without limit until it dies — no stance changes that. The post is where the unit last stood idle; move further than 320 pixels from it and it drops its self-chosen target and marches back. The one exception: an enemy that is nearly destroyed anyway gets finished off beyond the leash.
| Stance | Picks targets | Leash around post | Pursues beyond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passive | only within weapon range | — | — |
| Neutral (default) | within sight range | 320 px | below remaining HP of 25 % |
| Aggressive | within sight range | none | — |
Attack-move and the corridor band
An attack-move does not merely send the force to a point, it clears the way there. To keep that from turning into a chase, a band surrounds the march route: what stands inside is engaged, and a target leaving the band is released — the march continues. Its width is a share of sight range, adjustable in 3 steps and at least 120 pixels; with a mixed selection everyone uses the sight of the farthest-seeing unit. Two rules override it: anything within weapon range is always attacked, even beside the corridor, and whoever is fired upon answers. During an attack-move the stance leash does not apply — otherwise the force marches straight through the enemy instead of fighting him.
| Setting | Share of sight range |
|---|---|
| Small | 60 % |
| Medium (default) | 100 % |
| Full | 175 % |
Formation and shape
A movement order puts the force into a shape; ALT plus the mouse wheel cycles through 5 of them, and the preview shows what you will get before you click. In a formation nobody outruns the straggler: whoever pulls ahead brakes until the group is together again — the pace is that of the slowest unit. The path is computed once and shared by all instead of searched per unit, which is why even a large army sets off immediately. Inside a formation nobody evades his own comrades; each holds his place, and that is what keeps the shape intact. A short click makes the block move on in parallel, a dragged stroke lays out a line in which the force staggers along the direction of march.
| Shape | What for |
|---|---|
| Echelons | default, staggered by role |
| Line | full firing width in the open |
| Wedge | breakthrough, tip first |
| Column | marching through chokepoints and ramps |
| Box | marching through unsafe ground, support inside |
Guarding and rally points
ALT plus right click on one of your own units puts the guard at its side: it follows and attacks whatever comes near. The range for that is the same as the neutral stance leash, only measured around the protected unit instead of a post. A slow guard cannot keep up closely with a faster charge — the gap grows, and that is not a fault but the difference in speed. Any movement or attack order cancels the guard again. Rally points, by contrast, belong to the building: each factory has its own, and fresh units walk there instead of standing in the gateway and blocking the next one.
Deploying instead of driving
5 units deploy and then hit many times harder — up to 12 times in the most extreme case. The price is mobility: deployed, the unit is rooted and no longer pursues anything, and the heavy ones also carry a minimum range below which they are blind. During an attack-move they now handle this themselves: on contact they set up, and after the fight they pack up and move on. With an ordinary move order they do not — there you want to march through, not get stuck on every scout. Whatever you deploy by hand stays put until you pack it up again.
| Unit | Range mobile | Range deployed | Damage/s mobile | Damage/s deployed | Minimum range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siege Train | 130 | 500 | 10 | 20 | 160 |
| Breaker | 120 | 355 | 8.8 | 19 | 110 |
| Trench Gunner | 95 | 150 | 3.3 | 41 | — |
| Basilisk | 115 | 300 | 15 | 18 | — |
| Bastion Walker | 170 | 210 | 26 | 37 | — |
Transport and garrison
5 factions have a transport, one does not — its creatures walk. Infantry boards on command, leaves the field and rides along; unloading happens at a point of your choosing. The important difference from the bunker shows up in a loss: a destroyed transport DROPS its passengers — what is lost is the vehicle, not the troops. A destroyed bunker takes its garrison with it, and that is the price for being untouchable inside it and firing at greater range.
| Faction | Unit | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| The Steel Union | APC | 5 |
| The Scrap Legion | Smuggler | 5 |
| The Aegis Order | Phalanx | 5 |
| The Collective | Freight Walker | 5 |
| The Blight | none | — |
| The Orbitals | Lift Ferry | 5 |