Field Manual/Combat & Front Lines/Province Capture

Province Capture

The actual front line — standing there is the order.

THE CAPTURE MARKER

Every province has a capture marker (500 m radius, the 1 km zone shown on the map). A hostile stack entering it starts a capture attempt automatically — no separate order exists; standing there is the order. An unclaimed province can be captured by anyone; an owned one only by someone at war with the current owner. Capture takes 1 in-game hour of uncontested presence by a single attacking side.

ONLY INFANTRY CAPTURES

A stack only counts on the marker if it holds at least one capture-capable infantry unit standing on its own feet: Riflemen, Auto-Riflemen, Anti-Tank, Engineers, Mortar Crews, Snipers, Medics or Special Operations. Tanks, artillery and other vehicles can't take ground alone, and infantry still riding in a transport doesn't count — unload it. The same rule applies to the owner: their own infantry standing on the marker contests the capture.

A STATE MACHINE, NOT A COUNTDOWN

Diagram: capture progress as a state machine — contested pauses progress, a new sole attacker cancels the original attempt, zero attackers in the zone hard-resets to zero, an uncontested hour flips ownership immediately

Two attackers, or an attacker and the owner's infantry, in the zone at once → contested: progress pauses, preserved. A different attacker becomes sole occupant → the original attempt is cancelled outright; no partial credit transfers. The capturing side ends up with no eligible infantry in the zone → cancelled, back to zero. The hour accumulates uncontested → ownership flips immediately.