Game features

How RealmConquest Works

A persistent browser strategy MMO where every action queues on a tick clock. Build colonies, command squads, capture outposts, and compete for realm control. No install required, free to play. All the classic browser-strategy gameplay long-time strategy fans remember, rebuilt for 2026.

01 Tick System

The Tick Clock

RealmConquest does not run in real time. It runs on a tick clock. Once per hour, the game advances one tick. Every action you queue (moving a squad, queuing a construction project, ordering an attack) resolves at the next tick boundary. Between ticks, nothing happens. You plan, submit, and wait.

This is the mechanic that makes the game work. Most real-time strategy games reward whoever can click fastest. Turn-based games reward whoever thinks furthest ahead. You can be a serious player on twenty minutes a day because there is nothing to react to between ticks, only decisions to make before the next one.

Each realm sets its own tick interval. The default is one hour. Faster realms run at shorter intervals for a more intense pace; slower realms give players days between ticks for a more deliberate, long-form competition. The tick rate is one of the variables that defines the feel of a realm.

02 Colonies

Your Colony

Every player starts with a single colony placed on the shared world map. Your colony is your base of operations, your production centre, and the thing you cannot afford to lose. If your colony is destroyed, your run in that realm ends.

Colonies generate two resources each tick: metal and energy. Metal is the construction resource: you spend it to build structures and train squads. Energy is the operational resource: it powers squad movement and sustains your forces in the field. The ratio of your metal output to your energy output shapes your strategic options. A colony optimised for metal can build faster; a colony optimised for energy can project power further.

Structures built at your colony increase resource output, unlock unit types, improve defences, or extend your map vision. Construction takes ticks to complete. Choosing what to build (and when) is one of the core decisions of the early game.

03 Outposts

Outposts and Territory

Outposts are resource nodes scattered across the world map. They start the game unoccupied. Any squad that moves onto an outpost's tile captures it for its owner. Captured outposts generate resources each tick just like a colony, adding directly to your income.

Outposts are the primary driver of economic expansion. A player with three outposts generates significantly more resources per tick than a player with one colony alone. More resources means more squads, faster construction, and a wider operational range. Controlling outposts is how you pull ahead.

The catch is that outposts can be taken back. A rival squad reaching an outpost you hold flips it to their control at the next tick. Outposts near your colony are relatively safe; outposts deep in contested territory require active defence. The map is contested. Nothing you capture is permanent.

04 Squads

Squads and Combat

Squads are the military units of RealmConquest. You train them at your colony, assign them orders, and send them across the map. A squad can move to any tile on the map. The travel time depends on the distance and the squad's speed. Movement is continuous between ticks; squads arrive when they arrive, not only at tick boundaries.

Combat is different. When two opposing squads occupy the same tile at a tick boundary, they fight. The outcome is determined by the resource-vs-energy formula: the attacker's energy is weighed against the defender's metal, with unit count, structure bonuses, and terrain modifiers applied. The formula is transparent: you can calculate the expected outcome before committing to an engagement.

Squads that lose a battle take casualties and retreat. A squad reduced to zero units is destroyed. If the defending squad is eliminated and the tile holds a colony or outpost, the attacker captures it. Losing your colony means losing your position in the realm.

05 Alliances

Alliances

RealmConquest is a multiplayer game and alliances are its social layer. Forming an alliance with another player shares map vision between both parties: you see each other's squads, colonies, and outposts in real time. Alliance members can coordinate squad movements, share resources, and defend each other's territory.

Most realms are won by alliances, not individuals. A coordinated alliance can concentrate force across the map in ways that a solo player cannot match regardless of how well they have optimised their colony. The political game (who to trust, when to expand your alliance, when to break a pact) runs parallel to the economic and military game and is often just as decisive.

Alliances are not permanent and they are not enforced by the game. A player can leave an alliance at any time. Trust is built through action and lost through betrayal. Some of the most memorable moments in this genre come from late-realm alliance dynamics, which is exactly why the mechanic has survived unchanged since the genre's earliest days.

06 Realms

Realms: Independent Game Worlds

A realm is an independent game world. It has its own player roster, its own map, its own tick rate, and its own win condition. Players join realms separately. Your colony in one realm has no connection to your colony in another. Each realm is a fresh competition.

One RealmConquest account can be active in any number of realms simultaneously. If you want to play a fast, aggressive realm at two-hour ticks while also running a longer campaign at twelve-hour ticks, you can do both from the same account. Realm selection is a meaningful choice: different tick rates, different maps, and different rulesets suit different play styles.

Realms have a defined end state. When a win condition is met (territorial control, score threshold, or last-alliance-standing) the realm closes and the result is recorded. A new realm then opens with a fresh map and a clean slate. The game never goes stale because the competition always resets.

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