A newbie asks...

[sector24]

PD is available instantly, but never moves and only defends the province it is built in. It's not a "unit" and has no upkeep, it's just static defense that joins the battle if you are attacked.

[LDiCesare]

PD values vary vastly per nation. A 20 PD is not a bad idea for Abysia, but it's certainly a very bad idea for Machaka for instance.

[Redeyes]

Often PDs can be actively detiremental, if the weaker troops in the PD causes your elite troops or thugs to rout.

[Kobal2]

Yes, PD appears immediately as you buy it. More buying, more units, effective immediately. You cannot see it outside of battle (the manual tells you what nations gets what units though), nor can you take units from it or move it around or get your money back in any way. MA Tien Chi also gains points of PD overtime as a side effect of its dominion, but it's a really marginal increase.

The PD soldiers replenish automatically to full at the end of the battle if you win it.

Not sure what you're talking about re: "a few odd units that I don't recall building", but it's not PD. Some commanders automatically generate troops around them though - for example, the Celestial General creates human soldiers wherever he goes, the Vampire Queen summons vampires once in a blue moon etc... It's usually mentioned in the unit's flavour text.

[Bananadine]

One time I took over half a guy's nation with scouts. He was mad

[thejeff]

You see them only in battle. They're there as soon as you pay for them and will return in every battle. You'll never see them on the overland map, you can't put them in regular armies and take them away.

The few odd units may have fled from other battles?

[JonBrave]

As ever, thanks, much clearer! I suspect the random units are down to any number of possible mental oversights But clearly not PD.

So if I win a battle in my PD province, my PD is straight back to whatever I bought. If I lose --- or the AI loses against me --- do I assume the "province winning" power inherits PD back at 0?

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes, if someone wins a province it wipes out PD and Temples. Those are considered to be loyal to your pretender.
If you are going to lose a province and want to "salt the earth" (deny them resources) then castles, labs, population, and peace (unrest) have to be destroyed manually by you before you leave.

[JonBrave]

Gandalf, do you ever sleep? Are you ever not here?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

Gandalf, do you ever sleep? Are you ever not here?

That used to be true, but then they stopped paying me.

Now its more like 1-2 days on, and 2-4 days off depending on health.