Claiming minimums (per activity)
A loop must meet both minimums to claim territory:
A linear route needs 500 m to build a Wall.
Track validation (anti-cheat)
Your track is always saved; these checks only decide whether it can claim:
Exceeding a limit sends the march to review — nothing is deleted, and genuine routes clear review.
Effort curve
Effort compares your pace to your own 30-day average for that activity:
The curve scales linearly between those points. Everything effort touches — fortification, rank points, invasion damage and defence — uses this same modifier.
Territory tiers
Fortification accumulates from every campaign through a territory (effort × km). Tier thresholds:Decay timers
A territory drops one tier if you don’t campaign through it within its window. Higher tiers hold out longer:Walls
- Re-running within ~50 m of a wall’s route counts as maintaining it.
- Upgrade to Reinforced: run the route twice within the window, or once at ≥1.5× effort.
- Consistent maintenance extends a wall’s grace period (up to a 30-day ceiling).
Invasions
- Your loop must overlap a rival’s territory by at least ~50 m of route to start a siege.
- Damage per invading run: effort × distance through the overlap (defenders rebuild by the same formula).
- Defence at zero → the land transfers automatically.
- A capture that would leave the defender a sliver keeps remainders of at least 1,000 m²; smaller fragments transfer whole.
Rank ladder
Rank points = effort × km, accumulated permanently:
Baron and above are milestone-gated — the point thresholds apply, and Baron additionally requires the lifetime-area feat above.
The Treasury — upkeep & looting
Unpaid upkeep never charges you twice — the holding simply decays faster. When a holding is captured, only its uncollected tribute can be looted; banked coffers are untouchable.
Sellswords (mercenaries)
Hired steel, paid in Gold — always capped below what earned effort can do:
Hiring any sellsword raises the Sellsword’s Mark on your house — a visible flag on your holdings and a Herald announcement that you’ve taken foreign steel. While marked, your holdings are a slightly richer target (a bounty of up to +15% loot for rivals who strike you, scaled by how contested your ground already is). The Mark clears 24 h after your last contract ends. Garrisons can be hired for a holding already under siege — reinforcing a siege is what they’re for — but their strength is always capped below your weakest earned wall: effort remains the real defence.
Scouting & Spoils
Send scouts to reveal distant ground before you march. See Scouting & Spoils for how it plays.
Writs are bought with earned Gold, never real money — scouting is information and convenience, never power in battle. A revealed treasure still has to be marched and held to be taken, and rivals scouting the same area see the same treasure.