Recruit Rampart

Capture three fortresses; merely surviving a failed assault does NOT advance. Recruit into a column. Three or more orthogonally connected equal tiers upgrade to one stronger veteran, then gravity settles the army. Nominate a selected tier2+ veteran as the banner AFTER your final recruitment; recruiting again clears the nomination so you can review the changed formation.

Each unit contributes max(0, 3^tier − fortress armour). Armour is charged per unit, so one upgraded veteran fights better than three scattered rookies. The exact effective attack and assault result are shown. An underpowered March loses the attack shortfall+2 health and leaves the fortress uncaptured. Exhausting recruitment below its threshold ends the expedition.

On capture, the nominated banner returns at full tier as your NEXT recruit in the new fortress. Other tier2+ veterans remain but drop one tier; rookies leave. Up to4 unused recruitment slots carry forward on top of10 new ones, rewarding early decisive marches. A returned banner consumes a slot but does not advance the ordinary recruit cycle. Every fifth ordinary recruit is tier2; others tier1. Retry repeats this fixed campaign.