I have completed all campaign chapters recently in AoM:RE.
In the Atlantis #10, I sent out 10 citizen heroes to mine gold, and they met a wave of Prometheans. I simply let the citizens to fight those Prometheans, but it was frustrating.
Even all Prometheans are taken down by citizens, and no death in citizens, the default behaviour of citizen is run-away rather than fight next enemy nearby. I had to micro-control all citizen heroes until all Prometheans dead.
I think the devs should change villagers to continue to fight next enemy nearby after they receive a combat command, until it is cancelled, or received a evacuation/shelter signal.
Another thing, maybe villager weapon can change from fists to bow at distance, like in AoE3, villagers can use guns or javelins to take down a few troops who harasses villagers, rather than walking closed to the enemy and fight.