I'm sure by now I've been losing troops to refuge as well.

Here's a suggestion Evony: Is there any way you can make it to where there is zero upkeep for at least the duration of the "emergency maintenance"? This way, we'd have one less thing to worry about during the multi-hour downtime.

But of course, this would require forward thinking on your part. After the past few days, I'm not so sure such a thing exists.