Independent provinces

What independents are, the setting that makes them stronger, how to find out what holds a province, and what the manual does not say about their armies.

verified 6.37updated 2026-10-02 · Jake3 min read

The independents are the provinces that no player owns. They are the first thing every nation fights, since early expansion is taken from them. They are also a part of the game the manual describes very little. This page gathers everything it does say, and is clear about the rest.

What the manual says

There is one passage about them, in the game settings. Players can change how available gold is, how often magic sites appear, and the strength of independents, among other settings. The manual’s own example is that a high independent strength slows everybody’s expansion, because players need bigger armies to take the next province. It also delays the time before enemy nations meet.

That is the whole explanation. The manual gives no unit list for independents and no sizes, and does not say how the strength setting changes a province’s defenders.

The setting

The command-line help lists the setting as a strength of independents from 0 to 9, with a stated default of 5. On the setup screen it sits among the other world options, with a tooltip.

The manual does not say what 0 means, whether it removes defenders, or how the values 1 to 9 compare with each other.

Finding out what a province holds

You can scout a province before you attack it. The manual’s scouting passage says what each kind of look reveals.

• A scout in the province reveals the owner, military information, fort construction and province history.
• A spy in the province adds the province defence level and more accurate military information than a scout.
• Scrying a province reveals very accurate military information, the province defence level and more.
• Owning a province reveals everything about it.

Province defence covers the level a province reports. That page also notes that the manual does not say whether an independent province’s defenders follow the same rules.

Taking an independent province

The manual has no section on conquering independents. What applies to any province is covered elsewhere: Combat and Siege describe the fight, and Dominion explains why a captured province can still be held by another faith. Province attributes covers what a province you own gives you.

Independent units

The Inspector classes some units as independents, meaning units that no nation recruits. Independent units lists them from the game’s data. The manual does not say which independents appear in which province, or how a province gets its defenders when a game is created.

One more passing mention: some dominions hide a province’s name and owner. A scout standing next door sees such a province listed as independent with a made-up name, and only entering it shows the truth.

What the manual leaves out

• Defender makeup. No unit lists, numbers or tables for independent provinces, by terrain, era or setting.
• How strength scales. Nothing on what each of the 0 to 9 values does.
• Default value. The command-line help says 5. No other manual passage confirms it.
• Defence rules. Whether independent defenders follow the province defence rules is not stated.
• Special provinces. How the guards of a throne or a magic site combine with ordinary defence is not stated.
• Behaviour over time. Nothing on independents rebuilding, recruiting or moving.