What does retreating do exactly?

[Zangetsu]

My lvl 10 hero and his 2 armies was attacked. I lost the battle but managed to flee with my hero. I should have read the popup but I didnt. He disapeared from teh map and there is a red skull on him now. He is still counting towards my hero cap. I googled and tried the encylopedia there doesnt seem to be any info out there on fleeing from combat. Whats going on anyone know?

[snuggleform]

If you are being attacked , there's a less than 100% chance that your units will survive the retreat. No one knows the exact % or how it is calculated. I read a claim somewhere that your retreating units SOMETIMES take a few turns to show back up at your capital, so maybe that is what you are experiencing. But usually say if you have a scout that gets ambushed and you retreat him from the field he will just die for good.

If you were the one attacking and you retreat, all your retreating units will survive.

[David McMurdo]

On this note, I wish there was a way to end the battle once your army is in total flight, instead of you having to sit there and watch it. Choosing to surrender doesn't work.

[Astasia]

If they survive the retreat after being attacked then they disappear and show up at one of your nearby cities after a few turns. They still count against your hero count while they are "lost" that way. If they die, the hero slot is instantly freed up, you can hire a new hero or you can revive the dead one if you have the body.

There is a third option, the enemy can capture them and hold them in prison. I don't 100% know what happens in this case, the enemy has never captured one of my heroes.

[Zangetsu]

Update: My hero respawned at the nearest city with full health about 4 turns later.

[Rauharo]

But doesn't this mean in consequence: When you let a unit retreat, it will be automatically dead after the battle if you lost the battle?

[Gaius]

Originally posted by Astasia:

If they survive the retreat after being attacked then they disappear and show up at one of your nearby cities after a few turns. They still count against your hero count while they are "lost" that way. If they die, the hero slot is instantly freed up, you can hire a new hero or you can revive the dead one if you have the body.

There is a third option, the enemy can capture them and hold them in prison. I don't 100% know what happens in this case, the enemy has never captured one of my heroes.

This. Never happened to my heroes (I often fight to the death with full armies), but scouts I often choose to flee and they appear in the nearest city with 1 HP after a few turns.