The Army Screen

The head line

At the top of the page you read how many soldiers stand in this city and how much gold their upkeep costs each hour. Both are for the city you are in only; the armies of your other cities are not added in. The upkeep is the very amount the treasury pays every hour, including the higher upkeep of an army that is out on a campaign or holding a city (Army Upkeep).

The New order button on the right opens the order window from this city; the window is described in Orders from the Army screen.

Land and sea

Two large cards sit under the heading: Land and Sea. The Land card counts the soldiers in the city, the Sea card its warships and transport ships. If your city is occupied the Land card says "city occupied"; if your harbour is blockaded the Sea card says "harbour blockaded". Whichever card you press, the rest of the page belongs to that side.

On land stand the soldiers, siege engines and load carts, the armies on the march, the occupier holding your city and the land battles. At sea stand the warships and transport ships, the fleets and shipments under sail, the fleet holding your harbour and the sea battles. A pirate raid that lands is on land; a pirate blockade or ambush is at sea. Under the cards each side has three tabs: your own units, the enemy and the battles.

The road strip

The strip under the cards tells you about your city's roads on the side you chose. If nothing is coming or going, it says "Nobody on the road" beside a green dot. Otherwise every road is a row: what it is, where it goes from and to, what it carries and how long until it arrives. The row of an army out on a campaign also shows its upkeep multiplier.

An army marching at you shows up in this strip too, with a red frame: while it is still on the road, not when it arrives (Defending). How many soldiers it has is a lookout's estimate, and which units it is made of stays hidden.

The arrow at the end of a row opens how much of the journey is behind it, when it left and when it arrives, and a link to the panel the journey belongs to. The button for a road you can call back sits on the row itself: it appears when the campaign or convoy is at a stage where it can be turned round. In the phone app the strip only tells you whether anything is on a road and opens the Roads screen.

Your own units

The Your land forces and Your navy tabs list the units standing on that side by role: front line, ranged, flank, siege, support and warship. Beside each role you read how many stand there; every unit shows its picture, its number and its name side by side. When part of a unit is away, under its name you read how many are away, and below that a thin bar: the solid part is those at home or in the harbour, the faded part those away, and pointing at it gives both numbers. Ships carrying goods or moving to another city count as away too. When all of a unit is away, its picture is faded; if soldiers are in training, the top of the card says how many are on their way.

The By number button lists the same units in one list, starting with the most numerous. Transport ships and load carts stand in a group of their own in both views and do not count as soldiers: they are not part of the soldier count in the heading.

Order from here, under the card, opens the order window from this city. Disband appears only when units are standing at home (Disbanding soldiers). Soldiers are not recruited on this page: soldiers are trained at the Barracks and ships at the War Harbour.

The enemy

The Occupying forces tab shows the units of the army holding your city, and the Blockading fleet tab the ships of the navy holding your harbour, one by one and with whose they are. When there is an enemy on that side, the tab shows how many soldiers or ships; when there is none, the tab says so.

Under the enemy stands the way to throw it out. On land, Rise up: the free troops in your city attack the occupier (Occupation). At sea, Break the Blockade: the free warships in your harbour attack the blockading fleet (Port Occupation). Both ask you to confirm. The Try in the simulator button beside them opens the attack simulator for Pro members (below).

Battle reports

The third tab of each side is that side's battles: Land battles and Sea battles. The tab lists this city's wars: those still being fought on top, and below them the wars that ended most recently. Each row shows the kind of war (pirates, raid, occupation, defence…), the target, the result, how many rounds it lasted and how it ended; pressing the row opens the battle report.

At the head of the card you read how many of your latest wars you won. All history opens the older ones too.

The places you hold

If you hold a city or have a base in an ally's city, their cards stand on the Land side; if you hold a port, its card stands on the Sea side, above the road strip: a place you hold comes before everything else on its side. Its garrison, its store and the orders given from there are inside the card (Occupation).

Pro: all cities on one page

With Pro the Army screen opens on All cities: where your soldiers are, and which city stands empty, read across all your cities at once. Three boxes sit at the top: the soldiers standing in your cities, how many of them are on the road, and the hourly upkeep of your army in every city. The soldiers standing in cities include those out on a mission; each city's figure is the one the This city view above gives. The Needs your eye box lists the cities with an enemy army marching on them, under siege, facing a pirate raid or blockade, or held by another player; for an enemy or pirates it says how long until they arrive, and how many soldiers stand in the city. Those cities come first, then the city you are in, then the rest.

This view has the Land and Sea cards too, with four tabs under them: the force on that side, the enemy, the battles and the Attack simulator. In the force tab every city is a block: its name, its island and, if it has a problem or soldiers out, that; the soldiers or ships it has on that side, its upkeep and its units with their pictures, by role. By role and By number switch all the blocks together. From the three-dot menu of each block you give an order from that city (Order from here), send soldiers there from another city (Send soldiers here; only if you have more than one city), disband the soldiers standing at home, or open This city's Army page; pressing the city's name opens the same page and the screen turns to This city. Below the blocks stand all the roads on that side (nearest arrival first), and the buttons that call your armies back are here too. The enemy tab lists every one of your cities that is occupied or blockaded. No soldiers are recruited here either. Transport ships and carts are not counted as soldiers. Your browser remembers the view you chose last. Without Pro the Army screen is always the page of the city you are in; the switch shows for you too, but its All cities option leads to the Pro page. You could see everything on the page by visiting each city in turn; Pro only shows it together and gives you no advantage in play.

Pro: the attack simulator

When your city is occupied or your harbour blockaded, you can ask the simulator whether your force is enough before you attack. The Try in the simulator button in the enemy tab and the Attack simulator tab in the All cities view open it. On land it weighs an uprising against the occupier holding the city; at sea, breaking the blockade against the fleet holding the harbour. The list of units starts with what stands in the city; you can add the units you plan to train. When you press Try the battle, the server fights the battle by the game's own rules.

The answer is one of three words: Attack, Too close to call or Wait, with a sign beside it and one sentence. Under it the chance of winning is given not as one number but as a range; on the bar the range is a hatched band and the likeliest result a line. Both sides' losses are given as ranges too. If your force falls short, the Have you trained enough? line tells you how many more units to train for a safe victory.

The simulator does not speak with certainty, and it says so openly. It fights the battle several times, counting the enemy somewhat stronger and somewhat weaker; the margin of error is written under the answer. The enemy's research, gods and morale are unknown; relief can arrive for either side while the battle is fought; neither side's Armoury, research or gods are part of the simulation. The simulator guides you; it does not read the battle in advance. It only saves you time and gives you no advantage in play.