Question: simultaneous movement

[Dogboy]

What determines where battles will occur if two armies move past one another? I realize that friendly movement occurs first, so let's assume both armies are moving into enemy territory.

Can a single team A commander in Team A province 1 move into Team B province 2 and stop a large team B army from moving from Team B province 2 into Team A province 1?

How about a commander in Team A province 3 moving into Team B province 2 -- can he stop a Team B enemy army moving from 2 into Team A province 1?

How about a stealthy commander in Team B province 2 who comes out of hiding to "attack province"? Can he stop the army in 2 from moving into Team A province 1?

I've seen several discussions on the topic, but no resoultion, and nothing in the FAQ as far as I could see.

Thanks!

[bbz]

question 1: yes but if the armies are small they might miss each other and just conquer the enemy's territory. On the other hand its quite possible for the commander to stop the advancing army(that's why commander blocking is considered an exploit in most games since you can use a scout and block a big army's movement for a long time)

question 2 no he cannot stop them in that case. Only if hes going straight against them.

question 3 No it wont stop the army from moving. But IIRC if you cast a magic attack ritual(horde from hell for example) the commander will join and make the attack in the magical phase of battle.
Otherwise the battle will occur after the troops of person B have moved away.

P.s Also most of the quesions people ask can be tested for 2 minutes in the dominions SP game. There is a really good tool as well which helps you answer the tougher ones.(Debug mod) It drops the price for wish to 1 gem, and you can summon a commander with 9power in all magic paths. And with him and with infinite gems you can test a lot of things.

An extra info on magic attack rituals: If you have 3 province A,B and C and use army with map move of 2 to get from A to C(assuming that requires 2 map move) If your opponent uses a magic attack on province B(and takes control of B) your army wont be able to move in C and will stay at A.

[Dogboy]

Belated thank you, bbz, for your helpful reply! Much appreciated. So, with the exception of magic attacks, all moves except those involving movement past each other occur, then battles happen. Got it. Thanks!

[parone]

dogboy, that is true, sortof, as far as you got. but the truth is, movement mechanics are something often speculated upon even by very experienced players. they remain somewhat mystical. i tell you this because you are bound to see some odd things if you keep playing...

[Edi]

There are also movement related fixes coming in the next patch.

[Tarrax]

Originally Posted by Edi

There are also movement related fixes coming in the next patch.

That's cool. I didn't realize there was a new patch in works. Would these movement fixes also address the "one-hidden-scout-holding-up-a-1000-man army" problem? Or it would just fix the cross-moving armies?

[Edi]

Both

[Dogboy]

Thanks again, guys!

[Tarrax]

That's cool. So if I understand this right, when my opponent has a scout in my province and in the same turn: he attacks that province with the scout and I move the 100-man army that's in the same province to another province. After this fix, the vast majority of the time, he won't be able to block my army: my army will move on and he will attack my empty province. Is this correct?

[TheDemon]

Originally Posted by Tarrax

That's cool. So if I understand this right, when my opponent has a scout in my province and in the same turn: he attacks that province with the scout and I move the 100-man army that's in the same province to another province. After this fix, the vast majority of the time, he won't be able to block my army: my army will move on and he will attack my empty province. Is this correct?

Incorrect.

As of the game right now, attacking the province your army is in with a hidden scout in that province will NOT affect your movement. In fact, your army will move out of that province before the scout attacks. There is no such thing as a "one-hidden-scout-holding-up-a-1000-man army" problem. This very thread explains that a hidden attacker in the same province will not stop an army from moving. It's the OP's 3rd question.

What people are talking about when they refer to 'scout blocking' is using the pushback rules to attack with a scout from the adjacent province your army is ordered to move to. By doing this, it is possible that the scout will be the one allowed to move and the army will be "blocked" by the opposing move of a single scout. (not guaranteed: it's random chance)

A scout is used because it's the cheapest commander in the game. Any commander or even small armies will work however.

This is the A->B and B->A situation ONLY.