Units lose all AP when opponent breaks

[FroBodine]

How come when you have multiple units attacking an enemy unit, and one of your units causes that enemy unit to break, your other unit loses all its AP? It cannot take any action that turn.

They have not acted yet, but their opponent they were in melee against broke and routed as a result of a different unit attacking it. So, why can't the unit that hasn't attacked yet take any action?

I don't understand why this game mechanic is the way it is.

[GiveWarAchance]

All your attackers become pursuers so they are entranced with chasing down the badguys you just routed. The good part is they often get in multiple cheapshots on the badguys as they are running away which helps to ensure they don't awaken from their rout, and it messes with the morale of all the other enemy units nearby. It is a good thing.

[rbodleyscott]

How come when you have multiple units attacking an enemy unit, and one of your units causes that enemy unit to break, your other unit loses all its AP? It cannot take any action that turn.

They have not acted yet, but their opponent they were in melee against broke and routed as a result of a different unit attacking it. So, why can't the unit that hasn't attacked yet take any action?

I don't understand why this game mechanic is the way it is.

Because they were fighting in melee this turn. In reality it is all assumed to be happening simultaneously even though you have to activate them one at a time for obvious practical reasons. Activating a melee is not an "attack", it is just activating the adjudication of an on-going melee.

All units that start a turn in close combat are deemed to have fought in close combat that turn, and hence have their AP reduced to 0. Activating a melee does not use any AP. So if a unit that is fighting multiple enemy units routs, it is deemed to have in fact fought all of them this turn (and they have fought it), even if it routed before some of the combats were adjudicated.

To reiterate (because it is a mistake I often see in You Tube videos), activating a melee in an on-going close combat is not an "attack" - the melee is simply a continuation of the close combat that was initiated in a previous turn when a unit charged. The melee is going to get adjudicated whether you activate it or not, you are only choosing the order in which the melees are adjudicated. (And if you don't activate one yourself, it will get adjudicated automatically by the system when you end your turn). In all such cases, the melee is simply on-going. Neither side is initiating a new "attack".

[FroBodine]

Thank you for the detailed response, Richard. Very much appreciated.

Thank you also, GiveWar. However, my unit in question did not have the "Pursuing" note on it's unit details, so that's why I asked this question. I understand the pursue rules, annoying as they are!

[GiveWarAchance]

Ya definitely rbodley's answer is the one to go with. I'm usually too overjoyed at enemy routing to carefully examine what's going on in detail.