User Guide

the now vacant square after the fight. If there are multiple units in the square, however,
the attacker returns to its original square.
A Note on Capturing Units
You can capture artillery units (Catapult, Cannons, and such), but only if you already
have the advance that would allow you to build the unit.That is, if your civilization
doesn’t yet understand how a unit works, you can’t capture it and use it.
Retreat
“He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.” Few units in the game adhere
to that maxim, but those that do can be very useful to a resourceful ruler.When a fast
ground unit (the Horseman is a good example) attacks or is attacked, it fights until it
has one remaining hit point,then moves away from the battlefield.Of course,if the unit
is surrounded by inaccessible squares (oceans and enemies), it has nowhere to run and
cannot retreat.When the battle involves an equally nimble opponent (such as another
Horseman), retreat is not possible.
Hit Points and Damage
Hit points are graphically indicated by the colored health bar near each unit. Both the
length of the health bar (the number of segments) and the color are significant.As a unit
loses hit points in an attack, its health bar gets shorter. In addition, when the unit is
reduced to approximately two-thirds of its full strength, the health bar changes from
green to yellow.When a unit’s hit points are reduced to around one-third of its full
strength, the bar changes from yellow to red.
Hit points represent a unit’s relative durability in combat situations. Newly built units
generally have 3 hit points.Veteran units have 4, and elite units have 5.A unit with 3 hit
points can take three points of damage before being destroyed.
Successful attackers that have movement points remaining after combat can continue
moving normally—and some can even attack again.However,successful attackers often
sustain damage in each battle, and resting between fights is recommended.
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