🚪Portcullis

The Portcullis is the answer to the wall-builder’s oldest problem: a Palasade run that keeps the enemy out also keeps you in. The Portcullis is a single-tile gate that slots into any wall line — drag a run and drop a Portcullis where the road goes through, and the wall stays whole while your army keeps its road. It costs 25 Paper, folds in eight seconds, and stands 650 HP tough, a little sturdier than the wall around it. Both provinces build it, and each raises it in its own skin.

The winch

A Portcullis has three settings, chosen from its panel:

• Auto (the default) — the gate lifts when a friendly fold comes within a few tiles and no enemy is close, and drops again once the road is clear. Most of the time you never touch it.
• Open — pinned up. Use it when you are cycling workers or a large army through and don’t want the grill dropping mid-column.
• Shut — pinned down. Seal the line before a push arrives, then set it back to Auto when the dust settles.

A shut Portcullis is a wall: nothing walks through, in either direction. An open one is a doorway a single tile wide, so mind the column — a big army takes a moment to file through, and a Pelter volley on the gate tile finds a crowd.

Strategy

• Every wall needs one. A run without a gate is a run you will have to un-fold to leave. Put the Portcullis on the side your army actually uses, not the side that looks prettiest.
• It is a target. Enemies path to the gate because it is the only way in. Cover it with a Parapet and the attackers spend their time under fire.
• Auto is smart but not clever. It reads nearby enemies; a Poacher at long range doesn’t count. If you know a raid is coming, shut it yourself.
• Rotate it with R. Like the Palasade, the Portcullis takes its facing from the wall run, and R turns it while placing.