The player guide.

Chapter 01

Your first fort

You begin with 100 gold, one fort and a rating of 1 in every starting land resource. Your first decisions are about creating income and the capacity to build and research.

1. Build Farm 1. It supports other buildings through level 5. Farms raise the level each building can reach; they are not a troop-food system.
2. Build a Gold Mine. Each level adds 4 gold per Gold land point every 30-minute tick, before bonuses and final rounding.
3. Build Scholar Hall 1. It opens research and adds 6 Scholarship per hour per Knowledge point.
4. Research Woodcraft 1, then build a Lumber Yard. The Yard adds local income and Building capacity, plus Training capacity once Barracks exists.
5. Reach Woodcraft 2, then research Stonecraft 1. This unlocks Quarry. A Quarry helps later buildings finish sooner.
6. Add Barracks when you want troops. Soldiers can train and defend before your Domain can march.

In the game, open Guide → Tutorial to switch optional early guidance on or off. Twenty useful milestones each offer a one-time 5-gold reward, capped at 100 gold per Domain. The full First Settler checklist remains available from the same guide.

The exact next cost, requirements and time are shown in the game before you place an order. This guide is a reference, not an instruction to spend every coin immediately.

Chapter 02

Gold and local capacity

Gold belongs to your Domain. Fort income pays on 30-minute UTC boundaries. Raid rewards, salvage and other activities can add gold between those ticks.

Work belongs to a fort. Building, Training and Scholarship are local capacities measured per hour. Improving capacity reduces the time useful work takes there.

• Gold Mine: local recurring income.
• Lumber Yard: gold, Building and Training contributions, based on Wood land and Woodcraft.
• Quarry: Building contribution, based on Stone land and Stonecraft.
• Metalworks: gold, Building and Training, based on Metal land and the relevant research.
• Scholar Hall: research capacity, based on Knowledge land and Hall level.
• Barracks: troop training and +1 local gold per level before bonuses.

A fort’s final outputs round down to whole numbers. Work progress keeps enough precision for timers to run accurately. Gold in your wallet is not itself part of your Domain rating.

After your second fort

Markets and Merchant Routes create another source of income. Different sites favour different development choices, so a research fort does not need to look like an army-producing fort.

Chapter 03

Orders, queues and refunds

Each fort can build one project, research one project and train one batch at a time.

• Building and Research: up to five waiting orders alongside the active project. Waiting work starts when its requirements and funding are met.
• Payment: Building and Research gold is taken when a project starts. Waiting orders do not reserve that gold.
• Training: up to five batches including the active one. You pay the full batch cost upfront; the whole batch completes together.
• Cancellation: active Building and Research return 100% of their paid gold. Training returns 75%, rounded down. Unpaid waiting orders have nothing to refund.

You can plan an unlock when its prerequisites are already in progress or properly queued. Removing required work can make a dependent item unavailable. A planned requirement is not the same as a completed requirement.

Chapter 04

Research for the whole Domain

Scholar Halls run research locally, but completed discoveries apply across your Domain. An unlocked building can be built at other forts once their local requirements and costs are met.

Woodcraft, Stonecraft, Metalworking, Advanced Metalworking and Masonry give their relevant 1% per-level benefits. Military Organisation adds 5% Training per level; Logistics adds 5% base army speed. Combat research strengthens relevant troops and defences.

Research has no level cap. Entry Hall requirements still apply. Logistics has staged requirements through its early levels; reaching Logistics 20 doubles base speed rather than ending the research.

First-level research reference

These costs and prerequisites are generated from the game’s current rule files. Durations depend on the researching fort’s Scholarship.

Chapter 05

Scouting, armies and battles

Logistics 2 unlocks departures. Scouts become trainable at Barracks 1 with Logistics 2; they have no attack power. Send them to discover locations and refresh intelligence before committing an army.

Select a location and use its troop controls to choose your source army and quantities. Groups travel at the speed of their slowest troop type, improved by Logistics. Marches can be recalled before arrival, with a return based on the time already travelled.

Arriving is separate from attacking. Select the enemy and review the attack. The Battle Planner helps compare forces, but old scouting information can become out of date.

• Frontline: Soldiers, Pikemen and Swordsmen protect more vulnerable troops behind them.
• Ranged and artillery: Archers, Crossbowmen, Musketeers, Siege Engines and Cannon need the right support.
• Flanks: Assassins and Cavalry threaten particular army compositions.
• Support: Scouts, Settlers and Salvage Crews do not fight or provide cheap frontline cover.

A battle is resolved in one action. The losing force is destroyed; the winner may take casualties. Exact ties favour the defender. The report shows losses, rewards, debris and points.

Walls protect defenders while their barrier stands. Walls at level N require Quarry N. Fixed defences share the Building queue and recover after damage; they are not troop batches.

Chapter 06

Your first Settler

A Settler is the start of a second fort, not just another troop. Follow useful development through Lumber, Quarry, Metalworks and the Scholar Hall while improving the research needed for Logistics 8.

The final training requirements

• Buildings at the training fort: Barracks 4, Lumber Yard 4, Metalworks 2, Scholar Hall 3.
• Domain research: Logistics 8, Metalworking 1, Stonecraft 4, Woodcraft 6.
• Training price: 200 gold for one Settler. Duration depends on local Training capacity.

Reaching Logistics 8 also requires its supporting research and Hall levels. That route takes you to Scholar Hall 8 and a productive supporting economy; it is not just eight consecutive Logistics clicks.

Found fort two

1. Scout an empty, buildable settlement site and compare its resources.
2. Train a Settler and keep another 50 gold for founding.
3. Send the Settler to that site and wait for arrival.
4. Select the site and choose Found Fort. This consumes the Settler and the founding gold.

Fort two costs 50 gold to found; each later founding price doubles. New forts share discoveries, but need their own local buildings and capacities. Unlike your starting fort, their resource ratings depend on the chosen site.

Chapter 07

Camps, caves and gem mines

NPC forts and encampments

Challenge computer-controlled targets for rewards, then use Salvage Crews to collect finite debris and possible Treasure. A successful fort attack can lead to an occupation. Occupied NPCs can raise resistance; watch their timers and garrison strength.

Caves and relics

Discover a cave and send an eligible force to explore it. Exploration is first come, first served and does not guarantee a relic. Gold and relic outcomes are separate; only available relics can be found.

Relics are unique across the realm and provide temporary benefits at the ruler’s location. They live on the ruler’s special shelf and eventually return to the world through the NPC thief system.

Shared gem mines

A guarded mine must be opened by defeating its defenders. Once open, it has twenty attendance places. Entered Salvage Crews work under a truce, earning chances of gems while the mine lasts. Entry holds 500 gold; arrival commits the fee. A reservation recalled before arrival is refunded.

Public attendance shows who is taking part. At closure, rewards are resolved and crews begin their normal journey to the nearest owned fort. Gems are earned in play, not bought for money.

Chapter 08

Your ruler, collections and rating

Build Quarters to begin the ruler progression. Choose a King or Queen, then develop Quarters further to unlock equipment. Your ruler has one actual location; equipment and relics follow the ruler’s existing transport rules.

Quarters also holds collections such as Minekeeper badges, banners, crowns and fort appearances. Banners and crowns personalise your Domain. Earned-gem enchanted forts can carry local bonuses; reassignment has an activation delay.

Your Domain rating reflects completed development, recurring income, research and surviving troops, with a balance component. Completed work updates it when it finishes, rather than waiting for the next gold payout. Losing troops lowers the army portion.

Campaign points separately recognise NPC troops actually destroyed, including kills in defeats. They are not compensation for your own casualties and do not replace Domain rating.

The current private build has test unlocks, not live cosmetic payments. Final public pricing has not been announced.