Joining a Realm

A realm is a single game world: one map, one set of players, one clock, one story that runs from start to finish. Your account can belong to many realms at once, and each one is completely separate. This page explains what a realm is and what happens when you join one.

Independent worlds

Everything you build, fight for, and rank up in one realm stays in that realm. Joining another realm does not move your colony, your army, or your score with you. It gives you a clean start in a different world with different neighbors. Many players run a slow realm for steady long-term play and a fast realm for something more intense at the same time.

Each realm has its own map: a large coordinate grid where every colony and outpost sits at a position. Distance on that map is real. A neighbor a short hop away is a very different threat than someone on the far side of the world, because travel between two points takes time measured in ticks.

Realm speed and lifecycle

Every realm runs at its own tick speed, set when the realm is created. A fast realm resolves everything quickly; a slow realm plays out over a longer stretch. The speed is fixed for the life of that world.

A realm also has a lifecycle. Over its lifetime a realm moves through states:

• Created. The world exists but has not started running yet.
• Running. The clock is ticking and play is live. This is where you spend almost all of your time.
• Paused. The clock is temporarily stopped. Nothing advances until it resumes.
• Ended. The world has concluded. The story of that realm is finished, and standings are final.

You do not have to manage any of this. It just helps to know that a realm is a world with a beginning and an end, not something that runs forever.

How you join

Realms have different join policies, so not every world is open to walk into:

• Public. Anyone can join directly.
• Restricted. Joining has conditions or requires approval.
• Invite-only. You can only join if you are invited.

Pick a realm whose speed and policy fit how much time you want to spend. A public slow realm is the gentlest place to learn.

Your starter colony

When you join a realm you are given one starter colony, placed automatically at a random valid location on that realm's map. That spot is your home. Everything begins there: your economy, your first structures, your first squad. You do not choose the coordinates, and that is intentional. It keeps every player starting on equal footing.

From that single colony you grow outward, capture outposts, and eventually contest territory with the players around you.

See also: Welcome to Realm Conquest for the core loop, and The Map and Screen for how to read the world once you are in it.