TeraLoMania

Worlds & getting started

Your community's admins create a world and set the map size (radius 3 to 25 tiles) and game speed. The map is randomly generated from grassland, forest, mountains, farmland and water.

• You join by founding your first village in one of the six corners of the map – which is why there are at most 6 players per world. Water, forest, food and stone are guaranteed to be nearby.
• Your village starts in the Stone Age with 10 inhabitants and gets its 6 neighbouring tiles for free.
• You're protected from attacks for the first 48 hours.

Villages, tiles & visibility

• A maximum of 3 villages per player and world. You found further villages with a settler unit that marches to the target tile. New villages inherit all technologies you've already researched.
• Every tile has 6 building plots. On claimed tiles, these start out as gathering spots for that terrain's resource, until you build on them.
• You claim further tiles with boundary markers, paid for in wood and stone; range grows with your age and buildings.
• A fog of war applies: villages see 1 tile away, and stationed scouts see 2 tiles. Scouts reveal the map and warn of approaching armies.
• You set up pastures on grassland – one animal type per tile: sheep, cattle, goats, pigs or poultry.

Resources & processing

The basics are wood (forest), stone (mountains), food (farmland), water, tools and money. New technologies unlock secondary resources: grain, vegetables, fruit, hemp, clay, ores, coal, oil, and later uranium and silicon.

31 recipes let you process raw materials further – into planks, bricks, metal bars, fabric, clothing, flour, bread and cheese, into weapons and armour, and in later ages into microchips, superconductors and antimatter.

Villagers

• Every villager has a name, family relationships and 9 skills: wood, stone, food, water, research, crafting, construction, exploration and medicine. Double the skill value means double the output.
• You assign each one a job: fieldwork, research, toolmaking, processing, construction, working in production buildings, training or doctor. Without researchers and builders, research and construction grind to a halt.
• The village grows when housing is available and enough food and water are in storage. Every inhabitant – including every soldier – continuously consumes food and water.
• A varied diet, herbs, doctors and clothing keep the village healthy. From 25 inhabitants onward, cultural cohesion – made up of religion, education and entertainment – matters; if it's low, villagers emigrate.

Technologies, buildings & ages

You research each technology once, and it has a permanent effect on the whole village. Buildings can be built multiple times; each one occupies a building plot. Construction and research orders are queued in lists of up to 8 entries.

The 22 ages: Stone Age, Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages/Renaissance, Early Modern Period, Industrial Age, Modern Age, Aviation Age, Atomic Age, Space Age, Information Age, Near Future, Transhumanism, Interplanetary Civilisation, Terraforming, Megastructures, Interstellar Age, and Extreme Late Technology Age.

Government & taxes

Exactly one form of government is active at a time. It determines how high you can set taxes and comes with its own pros and cons. Taxes fill the treasury, and soldiers cost ongoing wages.

Military & combat

There are 8 troop types: club fighter, spearman, archer, pikeman, swordsman, elite swordsman, knight and catapult crew. Every soldier costs a weapon, armour and food, and needs a barracks slot. Troops can be reinforced with armour and shields and grouped into armies – an army moves as fast as its slowest unit.

• An attack is only possible after a declaration of war and a 6-hour preparation period.
• Plunder: you seize 25% of every stored resource, or up to 15% more with siege equipment.
• Conquer: the village changes hands, consuming the attacking army in the process. If you already have 3 villages, it's plundered instead.
• A battle lasts 3 to 8 rounds: ranged combat first, then melee, with a bit of randomness. Walls, towers and the villagers themselves strengthen the defence.
• The loser loses every troop involved. Some losses count as wounded and heal back home. Every battle produces a battle report.

Diplomacy & market

• The default is peace. A declaration of war is one-sided; alliances, peace treaties, non-aggression pacts, vassalage and faction invitations all need the other side's consent.
• Pacts and factions must be cancelled before war becomes possible. A vassal pays ongoing tribute and is protected by their liege in return.
• You can belong to one faction per world. Resources can be gifted at any time.
• On the worldwide market, you offer raw materials, goods or money to trade or sell. The offer is reserved immediately and can be cancelled as long as no one has accepted it.

Time flow, ranking & game end

TeraLoMania runs in real time on a 5-minute tick. Production, research and construction keep going while you're offline – the elapsed time is calculated the next time you log in.

Points are awarded for the age you've reached, inhabitants, buildings, claimed tiles, military strength and resources.