So I found out by mistake, a very specific issue with a very specific chain of events which revolves around making a city very, very upset with you. And then taking a contract for a caravan guard to that city. Now, everything needs to line up correctly for this to chain together, but it can be a very frustrating and LONG encounter when it happens.
What did you do before and while it appeared? Step by Step.
1: Early on, get a contract as a caravan guard from City A: Seestadt.
2: Randomly get the prompt to kill the guards on the journey and steal all the gems the merchant is carrying.
3: Of course you do it, because gems are worth more than the contract, and your men don’t pay themselves. City A: Seestadt gets hostile.
4: Carry on with life as normal, filling contracts, pillaging and raiding, all the while, Avoiding those crotchety fisherman at Seestadt.
5: At some point in the game, get ANOTHER caravan contract from City B, which doesn’t specify the city you’re traveling to.
6: Oh crap, it’s Seestadt.
7: When your caravan approaches Seestadt. There are 3 armies of Militia.
8: Fight the first Battle, which I believe is 2 of the armies combined, numbering 27 Militia. Kick the crap out of them without losing anyone.
9: Battles will pop up 1-3 times after you win the first battle with the message, the enemy has retreated. After each battle, it kicks you back to the campaign map, when you unpause it immediately starts another of those battles which ends as soon as it loads.
10: When the instant enemy retreat battles stop happening, you will encounter ANOTHER militia army. This one you have to fight as a normal battle, the instant retreat thing doesn’t happen this time.
11: When the battle loads, the previous militia army you fought, will now be sided with you. So on your side of the battlefield, you will have 47 allied troops. You get to control 12 of them. The allied AI controlled troops will jump around without purpose, the two Militia Captains will constantly blow their horns. BUT, they won’t actually attack the enemy AI militia, And the enemy AI won’t attack the allied AI because they’re militia bro’s <3. They end up making the fight last about 40 mins to an hour, depending on how the fight goes.
12: When you win that fight, you will have another couple of those instant enemy retreat battles, make it to Seestadt, collect your money, and run the hell away from there in fear.
I guess the issue, is the militia AI on both Allied and Enemy teams don’t see each other as enemies as they’re technically the exact same units, and why they joined up with me after I mercilessly slaughtered them all, is beyond me. As I said it’s incredibly specific, but can make for a very, very long series of events.