This is not a graphically intensive game, and you don't get to watch animated armies clash in glorious battle. Instead, you get a quick and steady stream of consequential decisions.
Here are some considerations you'll need to juggle:
- All 40 playable realms start in different parts of the same map, with asymmetric starting conditions.
- Campaigns last hundreds of turns, and every realm has a unique set of cities it seeks to capture.
- You are not racing against the AI-controlled realms, and their reasoning is itemized in a way you can interact with.
- There are no arbitrary limits to how much you can expand, but even the largest realm still only gets one action per turn.
- A realm's capital cannot be moved, and any realm that loses its capital is immediately destroyed.
- Cities are surrounded by different terrains, which affect their economy, possible random events, and the ability of different armies to fight over them.
- The way battle works is stark: attacking and defending consumes soldiers like a currency. But there are systems for efficiency and surprise breakthroughs.
- Spying is an alternative or supplement to battle, and its success chance depends on the happiness of the locals.
- The kinds of military units available to you depend on who lives in your realm, as different cultures customarily fight in different styles.
- Most unit types gain experience through use, which unlocks upgrades. Units with more possible upgrades are weaker at the start, but stronger later on.
- There is no one-size-fits-all army composition, and changing your composition is easy. But any time you do so, you become temporarily vulnerable.
- Trade earns money, but the realm you're trading with earns just as much.
- You can quickly raise an army through conscription, but it consumes population.
- Almost all projects to enhance your cities are temporary and mutually exclusive.
- There are no AI bonuses: everybody plays by the same rules.
- A variety of random events will sometimes upset even the most well-laid plans.
