Attacking units outside a city

I do not consider units outside of a town fair game.  An attack against a player or alliance is still a hostile action whether it is inside or outside a city. 

Nope the way i read it he is asking about attacking players armies that are outside a city, such as making sov claims or guarding a resource point...

Yep, it's definitely a whole new ballpark now.  Back then it was some action that could be had with limited impact on the defenders.  Now there's sovereignty in the mix as well as what appears to be a huge dependence on gathering resources for low-level players who would be the only defenders, often against much higher ranked attackers unaffected by the losses of such bloodsport.

Back when this was proposed, the playing field was much more even and it was easy to opt out of participation by not defending caravans which were even cheaper to replace back then.