Manual · The Realm
Doctrines
The standing way of war each computer house takes up at setup — Warden, Raider, or Opportunist — and why no banner guarantees one.
How it works
What a doctrine is
A doctrine is the standing method of war a computer house follows for one campaign, chosen at setup — before the first turn, from the options the world offers. It is a policy, not a rules change: a doctrine never invents a rule, it only chooses among legal commands differently. Every house, every troop, and every cost plays by the same rules under any doctrine.
Your own house follows no doctrine. Doctrine governs the computer's choices at its decision points; the banner you command fights exactly as you order it.
The three doctrines
Warden holds crossings and stable towns, repairs its supply, and counterattacks overextended forces. It is the standing default — the doctrine a campaign falls back to when no other is chosen.
Raider severs tenuous roads, plucks undefended holdings and isolated companies, and declines costly sieges. Opportunist keeps its options open and strikes wherever a rival looks thin, walking back ground that has not settled. All three read the same lawful state you can read; none of them sees more than you do.
Reading the rival
The authored March offers its rival two doctrines — Warden, the default, or Raider — chosen at setup. Generated realms offer all three, to any house. Because the choice is per campaign, a banner's literary temperament tells you nothing about its doctrine: patient Vane can raid, restless Rowan can hold walls. Read the rival from behaviour instead — a house that refuses wall assaults and takes undefended towns is showing you one doctrine; a house that stands on a crossing and repairs its supply is showing you another.
Two tells are worth their weight in horses. A rival that walks ground you took but have not secured is playing Raider or Opportunist at your expense — settle your captures. A rival that declines a siege it could attempt is telling you which assaults it believes are costly; believe it too, and bring engineers.
Rules, exactly
Exact values from the current build — not advice, not flavour.
- Warden
- Holds crossings and stable towns, repairs its supply, and counterattacks overextended forces. — The default when no other is chosen.
- Raider
- Severs tenuous roads, plucks undefended holdings and isolated companies, and declines costly sieges.
- Opportunist
- Keeps its options open and strikes wherever a rival looks thin, walking back ground that has not settled.