How a match goes

From the lobby to the verdict: seats, the muster, the battle and how it ends.

Finding a rival

• Quick Match meets the next player who looks for one, on the map of whoever raised the banner: a ruler waiting shows theirs, else yours goes up on a random map (one of the game's starter maps, which the Maps screen lists) or one you pick (a seed, or a map from the Maps screen). Quick Match moves your rating when both players are signed in, its map is a seed’s (not a player’s), it lasted 3 minutes or more and both sides really fought.
• Private matches carry a 4-digit code to share with a friend. Their creator picks the rules and may pick the map.
• Play a bot picks one: Bot-Easy (Level 1 · Basics), Bot-Normal or Bot-Hard. One of each always waits on a random map; a difficulty greyed has every bot in battle. You may pick the map too (a seed, a map from the Maps screen, or one of yours): the bot then opens a room of its own on it and keeps its rules. They see only what their side sees. Your first match? Your first win walks you through one against Bot-Easy.

Joining, a match connects from the lobby; Cancel (or Esc) brings you back to the list, and a room that is gone or full says so there.

The muster

Once both seats are taken, each ruler sees the map and the rules, and calls Ready. A countdown of 3 seconds, and the battle begins. Leave goes back to the lobby before it: nobody fought, so nobody wins.

The battle

You play blue or red; each starts at its castle with a host of troops and an opening build capital. Take provinces for their gold, build, train, and push the front. Esc opens the War Tent (settings, retreat): the battle goes on meanwhile.

How it ends

• The castle falls: whoever razes the rival’s castle wins.
• Retreat: from the War Tent; it is a defeat.
• Idle: after 3 minutes without touching the game, a warning; 60 seconds later the idle player loses. Both idle: nobody wins.
• Leaving the field: leaving the room during the battle loses the game at once. A lost connection (a closed tab, a dropped network) keeps your seat 60 seconds while the match runs on: reload the page or sign in elsewhere to come back. Not back by then, you have left the field and lose. This is apart from idleness: a player still connected but not playing is the idle rule above.

After the verdict, the result sheet shows buildings, units and provinces. Offer a rematch, or open the match history. A signed-in player keeps every match in their history with its replay, rated or not: against a bot or a guest too. Only a match with no signed-in player is kept nowhere.