The world, cities, your home
The game takes place on the real world map: 208 countries with thousands of cities inside them. You settle in a city and build a home there; parties own the cities, develop them and collect tax. Where you live genuinely matters.
The world and its cities
The map on the home page is a real map, not decoration. Zoom out and you see the world; touch a country and you see its cities.
The colours on the map mean ownership: if a city belongs to a party, it is painted in that party's colour. If there is a war, you see that on the map too.
Not every country is open to play. A closed country is not drawn on the map at all — you cannot settle there, open a business there, or declare war on it.
Your home
In the city you settle in you have a home. A home has five levels, and its name changes at every one:
- Tent
- Shack
- Apartment Flat
- Detached House
- Mansion
You upgrade your home with your own money. So why bother? There are two reasons:
- You take a share of the city's development. As the city you live in improves, that reaches you as Finance and Politics. The better your home, the bigger your share. Someone in a Mansion takes several times what someone in a Tent takes.
- It helps defend the city. The homes in a city raise that city's health in war. So just by living there, you are protecting the city.
Part of the money you pay while building a home goes to the treasury of the party that owns the city. This is the answer to why parties try to attract players: population is income.
Moving
You can move to another city, but it is a serious decision:
- Moving costs money, and that money goes to nobody — it burns.
- After you move you cannot move again for a while.
- Most importantly: your home resets. You start again from a tent in the new city.
This is deliberate. If a player could flee a city every week when its tax went up, cities would mean nothing. Settling is a commitment.
There is no way to leave a city entirely; you only move to another one.
Owning a city
Cities are not owned by players but by parties. A party takes a city through war. Ownership brings three things:
- Tax income — a share from everyone who collects business income in that city.
- Licence income — a share from everyone who buys or upgrades a business there.
- Deed income — a share from everyone who builds a home there.
But ownership is not free: every city draws a daily expense from the party treasury. A party whose treasury runs dry cannot pay, and the city falls under lien.
In a city under lien the bonuses are cut: income drops, defence weakens, the share the residents receive shrinks. The result is predictable — people move away. A party that lets its treasury rot loses not just its bonuses but its population.
Things that provide convenience (shortened waits, discounts) are not touched by a lien. What gets cut is production, not the player's comfort.
Construction: developing a city
There are ten different buildings you can raise in a city you own. Each goes up level by level, costs money and takes time — it joins a queue, it does not finish instantly.
- Industrial Zone — businesses in the city earn more.
- City Parks — the city population's defence contribution grows.
- City Infrastructure — businesses in the city build and upgrade faster.
- University — residents' research finishes sooner.
- Municipal Housing — moving to the city becomes cheaper and the wait shorter.
- Fire Station — the city's daily expense falls.
- Courthouse — raises the tax ceiling and lowers the fee for changing tax.
- Headquarters — extends the range of the party's vehicles.
- Harbour — shortens the business collection wait. Coastal cities only.
- Victory Monument — purely decorative. It changes no number, it is just beautiful.
Construction survives conquest: if you take a city from someone, their buildings become yours. Construction still in progress is cancelled.
Tax
The party that owns a city sets a tax rate. Everyone who collects business income in that city pays it, and the money goes to the party treasury.
The party leader, or a member with the "can manage the city" permission, changes the tax. Changing it also costs money, so it is not a button to play with.
The balance here is one of the loveliest parts of the game: raise the tax and you earn more, but people go to another city. Nobody wants to open a business in a heavily taxed city. And an emptied city is weak in war. So greed is punished directly.
Tips
- Settle in a developed city first. As the city improves your share grows; there is no return on living in an empty one.
- Watch for the lien mark. Living in a city under lien is a loss; the bonuses are cut.
- Think about your home before moving. Moving resets it. Going from a Mansion back to a tent is rarely worth the move.
- Pick a city that matches your sector. A business that matches the city's natural sector earns more; details in Money, market, business.
- If you are in a city-owning party, keep the tax reasonable. A crowded city with moderate tax earns more than an empty one with high tax.