Let shaken troops hesitate or refuse orders, but never refuse to run

Low morale should make an order feel risky, but a unit that refuses every order is a bug, not a story. Here is a three-way answer, obey, hesitate or refuse, that depends on the order and the situation, and keeps the way out of a lost fight always open.

Why this works

Frightened people still run. Letting shaken troops delay or refuse some orders feels true, while keeping the order that saves them always possible means a breaking army can still be saved, and the player is never trapped by a rule.

When not to use it

Frustrating in a light, quick game where players want to be obeyed. Hesitation then feels like a bug. Also wrong for soldiers who are bound by fear or loyalty beyond morale, such as fanatics. Give them their own rule, or show the morale clearly.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• A diagram of every state
• 15 lines of example code with 5 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Let shaken troops hesitate or refuse orders, but never refuse to run" (read_entry low-morale-units-answer-orders-but-always-retreat) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP