The Chronicle of Karguun · Chapter 13

Playing Alone

Files and seasons

• Choose Single player on the front page, or in the menu of any page of the realm. A file is one world of yours; you may keep several.
• A file is played in seasons. A season begins with a fresh world and your province founded anew, and ends on its last day, when your province falls, or whenever you end it yourself.
• A new season may change the world's setup: its size, how skilled and how warlike your rivals are, how long it lasts, and whether you start with a bonus.

Time

• Time stands still until you choose a speed in the bar at the top: from a day every 60 seconds to a day every 1 second.
• The jump buttons let a day, a week or a month pass at once, or run until the next big moment.
• Time stops by itself for the moments you choose: when you are attacked, when war is declared, when your protection ends, when a dragon flies at you, when you meet a goal, and when the last month begins. The Throne then tells you what happened while time ran.
• Time also stands still while no page of the file is open, so nothing happens behind your back.

Leading your kingdom

• You are monarch for the whole season; there is no vote. Your kingdom-mates are AI rulers who follow your orders on the Command page.
• Posture: let them play as they please, or order them to Grow, Defend, go to War, or Follow my targets (attack only the provinces you mark).
• Marks: point out up to 5 enemy provinces from the World or a kingdom's page. Your kingdom-mates attack them first and send their mystics to look at them. A province that falls drops off.
• Aid: call for gold and food, and your kingdom-mates send what they can spare until the call is filled.
• Rival kingdoms are led by AI monarchs, each with a temperament of its own.

Goals and score

• Each season gives you 4 goals, such as reaching a size, winning a war or slaying a dragon. The Throne and the Season page show how far along each is.
• The score adds your land, your honour, your place and your kingdom's place among the first three, and the goals you met, then multiplies it by the difficulty you chose. Places, and goals that must hold to the end, count in full only on the season's last day: a season ended halfway counts half of them. A province that falls keeps 50% of its score.
• Each file keeps every season's score and shows the best.

Testing tools

• A file may have its testing tools switched on: a Tests page with shortcuts such as days at once, gold and troops, or a rival attacking you now.
• A season in which they are used is marked, and its score is not counted among the best.