I thought nobles die when half the escort is killed!? :/
That's only on worlds without archers. Archer worlds have a completely different algorithm when calculating losses than non-archer worlds.
Example:
non-archer world:
Attacker Units: 0 0 7000 0 3000 0 0 0 0 0
Losses: 0 0 7000 0 3000 0 0 0 0 0
Defender Units: 10000 10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Losses: 9799 9799 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
archer world:
Attacker Units: 0 0 7000 0 0 3000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Losses: 0 0 6689 0 0 2542 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Defender Units: 10000 10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Losses: 10000 10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Not only does the nuke not clear the defense on the archer world, but the axes and lc do not die in equal proportions.
2542 / 3 * 7 = 5931.33
On a non-archer world if you send 7000 axes and 3000 lc and 2542 lc die it is guaranteed that 5931 axes also died, such is not the case on archer worlds and it depends on the makeup of the defense.
For a noble to die on an archer world half of the infantry portion of the escort must die due to the noble being infantry, when you send no infantry the entire escort must die unless the defense is sword-heavy, a more extreme example below:
Attacker Units: 0 0 0 0 0 3000 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Losses: 0 0 0 0 0 3000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Defender Units: 8666 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Losses: 8666 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
I cant replicate it in the sim. No church, no wall and the same luck as in the rep... and still all HC (+noble) die...
Try with 12 luck, 11.2 is actually 12. (anything from 11.1-12.0 is actually 12 when simulating)
I would join and sim myself but I don't know of any church worlds that are still open to players to join.