Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

[Darryl]

Here's a real dumb way to lose a battle. Attacked a lightly defended province on my way to siege the enemy capital. My attackers:

Atlas the Tartarian Cyclops with 4E and 182 HP. Armed with a Flamebaeu, Robe of Shadows, Boots of Quickness, Girdle of Might, Ring of Regeneration. At battle start casts Invulnerability.

Polyphemus the Tartarian Cyclops with 3E, 2A and 182 HP. Armed with Gate Cleaver, Robe of Shadows, Boots of Quickness, Ring of Regeneration. At start of battle casts Invulnerability.

Uranus the Tartarian Titan with 3S, 2D, 2B and 180 HP. Armed with Herald Lance and Robe of Invulnerability. At start of battle casts personal Luck, Body Etherial.

I also picked up 2 Draconians because the force conquered a province with "Dragon Jaws" so I could recruit draconians. They were set on "Attack Rear".

The enemy had 25 troops and 2 Commanders, mostly militia and archers.

Well things were going well, my force waded thru the defending force with no problem and Atlas was about to swing at the priest annoying me with his banishment attempts when......

"The Armies of Arcoscephale have been routed"

WHAT???? They were left with...

1 Crossbowman
4 archers
2 militia
1 Centurion
1 Hydra Tamer
1 Indie Priest

3 of the Archers, 2 Militia, and the crossbowman were running off the field.

So 3 titans armed to the teeth were routed by 1 priest a Hydra Tamer with no armor, a Centurion and an Archer after killing or routing most of the force. Of course I expected the 2 Draconians may not survive, but I didn't realize that would make 3 unharmed "could'a been pretenders" rout.

My pretender is named "Zeus" and I half think Atlas is getting him back for that whole "hold up the Earth" thing...

Anyone got something to top that?

Darryl, still upset

[Gateway103]

Ah yes, your commanders automatically starts to rout when all the troops (i.e. your Draconians) either die or rout. Exceptions are if commanders are in berserk mode, has a slave collar, is an immortal pretender fighting in friendly dominion, or can't rout (e.g paralysed), and maybe a few more cases.

So the lesson is, if you are killing enemies with Super Combatants, don't tag troops around, unless you tag a lot more of them, leave some in the back to prevent auto-routing, or otherwise make sure they don't all get slaughtered/routed...

More than once did my Wyrm pretender rout when his weak retinue routs... So I know the feeling.

-Gateway103

[Yossar]

The worst is when a Moloch routs when his auto-summoned imps die.