So if there are a couple routed units on a planet and I attack them what happens? Do I still fight my 3 rounds of combat with the route side just not getting any dice or extra card abilities? What happens with damage that is not enough to kill a routed unit?

Routed units are not valid targets for combat damage unless, during the process of combat, all units become routed. Note the qualifier - if you check page 4 of the Rules Reference, you'll see that all the business of rolling dice and using cards is skipped entirely if all defending units are already routed.

If the defender does not have unrouted units or bastions in the area at the start of a combat, the attacker immediately wins the combat. Players skip the preparation and execution steps and move directly to substep b) of the resolution step.

Damage insufficient to kill a routed unit is generally ignored beyond actually routing the unit. Technically, damage only persists until the end of an execution round (though routing lasts longer), and as of yet there are few if any ways to deal damage beyond standard stuff in the Assess Damage step and orbital strikes. So any damage a routed unit has taken from one execution round to the next (or one combat to another in the same turn) does not persist.

But are they killed?

Routed units are not valid targets for combat damage unless, during the process of combat, all units become routed. Note the qualifier - if you check page 4 of the Rules Reference, you'll see that all the business of rolling dice and using cards is skipped entirely if all defending units are already routed.

If the defender does not have unrouted units or bastions in the area at the start of a combat, the attacker immediately wins the combat. Players skip the preparation and execution steps and move directly to substep b) of the resolution step.

But are they killed or what?
I can't find anything about that in the rules.
If you skip the retreats step i assume they are destroyed, but cant be sure about this!
: /

Surviving units must retreat when they lose a combat. Retreating is technically not part of the combat resolution; it happens after the combat ends. The defender would immediately lose the combat. The players skip to combat step 3 (Resolution), substep B (Capture Structures). Then, after combat ends with step 3 (Resolution), substep C (Clean Up), the defender retreats. Each of the defender's units will only get destroyed if there is no area to which it can retreat.

nop
Retreats are part of the step 3 (resolution) part a (determine winner)
Learn to play guide, page 12:

" Resolution:

...

a. Determine Winner : The player with the highest total
morale value wins the combat (defender wins ties), and
the enemy units must retreat (explained later)."

So you skip the retreat part if you go straight to step 3 part 2.

So, I assumed if you skip the retreat step, all defender units in the area are destroyed, because they were all routed at the beginning of the battle,
and they cannot retreat, but I really want to find anything "official" about this.

I played only once and the game was decided thanks to this "rule"

The retreat step is not actually skipped. Step 3a ("Determine Winner") is skipped, but since there is still declared a winner (automatically) the loser must still retreat. Check page 11 of the Rules Reference; retreating is necessary whenever someone loses a combat. (Several things can induce retreating outside of losing a combat, but that will always be the principal reason for such.) I would guess that the reason for this is that actually counting morale from units is unnecessary when one side has zero morale anyway.

Notably, the Learn to Play guide doesn't mention either this stipulation or the one about automatic concession that was noted above, so I'm moderately surprised that your group presumably checked the Rules Reference for the latter situation but not the former. This is most likely due to ease of use; the Rules Reference is quite definitive, but in most situations you don't need to concern yourself with edge cases such as these.

then you cannot kill lonely routed units?

Routed units can still be killed either if you have a way to do damage (either through combat or an orbital strike) to them, or if there is some separate effect which specifically targets them. As noted above, the former (damage) is skipped in combat if all defending units are routed at the beginning of combat.

So if a unit has 3 health. Gets routed with 2 wounds, and in a later execution step is "unrouted via a card" the unit starts again with 3 health and not 1 health?

(2 damage from previous combat).

Thanks!!

You never keep tally of the damage suffered.

- if a unt is unrouted and at full health, it can be destroyed (damage greater than or equal to its health value) or routed (damage lower than the health value)

- if a unit is routed, it can only be destroyed (by taking damage greater than or equal to its health value)

The question is:

If there is an area with routed units (all of them)...
Can you kill them by attacking that area?

If they retreat automatically you cannot kill them.

In both runewars and starcraft, if you atack an area with only routed units you kill them all, without retreating and instantly.
This game is obviuosly based in those games.

I understand what you are saying, is just I dont like how it sounds, it's not logical at all.
My point is that you create a contested area and destroy all enemy forces in that area without rolling dice or drawing cards.

Please! Official answer??

PD: "life points" are not modified when a unit is routed. You cant rout it again, that's all (and I think this is only for triggering card effects purpose only)

The Rule Reference explicitly mentions this scenario under bullet point 3 in Combat.

How much more official an answer do you need?

Yes the rules do explicitly tell you what to do in that scenario but those instructions don't explicitly tell you what to do with the routed units, hence the question.

Resolution step A tells you how to determine winner and states the loser must retreat his units, as this happens during step A what do you do with the routed units when you skip that step?

As there are no explicit instructions we need to infer that it will work the same as if we didn't skip Step A, thus routed units keep retreating until there is no where to retreat or they rally.

I'll quote myself here, since as noted above a winner is declared automatically.

The retreat step is not actually skipped. Step 3a ("Determine Winner") is skipped, but since there is still declared a winner (automatically) the loser must still retreat. Check page 11 of the Rules Reference; retreating is necessary whenever someone loses a combat. (Several things can induce retreating outside of losing a combat, but that will always be the principal reason for such.) I would guess that the reason for this is that actually counting morale from units is unnecessary when one side has zero morale anyway.

And the very first line on the section about Retreats (in its own paragraph, even) is

When a player loses a combat, all of his units in the contested area must retreat.

Wait, so routed units don't add their dices to the combat? If you attack an army with 1 routed unit and one non-routed unit, only the non-routed unit adds their combat dices?

Wait, so routed units don't add their dices to the combat? If you attack an army with 1 routed unit and one non-routed unit, only the non-routed unit adds their combat dices?

yes this is correct