Game systems
Ages of Conflict Mechanics: How the Systems Connect
Every rule below comes from the developer's own posts or store pages. The developer has not published a rulebook or formulas. Each system is described in the devlog when it changes, so this page does something different from the update history: it follows one conflict from spark to aftermath and shows where each system plugs in. Each claim carries the post and date it comes from. Numbers are as of that post, and the latest release is v4.5.2 (October 31, 2026). We have not tested the full version ourselves; details below come from the developer's devlog and store pages.
The basic split: the AI runs the world, you edit it
Steam describes a game where you observe customised AI nations and says outright that it is "not a Strategy Game". The same page says you can edit borders, terrain, nation stats and AI behaviour while a simulation runs (Steam).
The first God Mode, in v1.01 (2022), could force an attack or a revolt, but the developer wrote that it was not meant to be a playable mode and that a war you start runs without your input afterwards (v1.01). v2.3.0 (2023-07-07) moved the editor's tools into the running game: spawning nations, redrawing territory and terrain, placing and removing cities (v2.3.0). Whether any mode lets you steer one country through a campaign is not stated in the sources used here (FAQ).
Pacing
In the default setting one second of normal speed equals two months of game time; since v2.4.1 (2023-09-30) time is counted in months, because year-based counting ran into the tens of thousands on long simulations. An optional Days scale (v4.0.6, 2025-05-16) runs seven days per second. The developer calls the two scales separate and says switching in the middle of a run is not wise (v2.4.1, v4.0.6).
One conflict from spark to aftermath
| Stage | What the developer describes | Post |
|---|---|---|
| Spark | Since v4.0.0 an action by one nation has a high chance of setting off its neighbours, so fighting concentrates in hotspots instead of striking uniformly at random; random events still occur worldwide. | v4.0.0, 2025-01-17 |
| Cost | Gold moves in ticks of five seconds at normal speed. The main wartime expense is each nation's Combat Efficiency (CE), which had no gold cost before. | v4.3.0, 2025-10-17 |
| Swing | Major Battles can break through a front line and change a war's course quickly. The soldiers drawn along fronts since v4.5.0 are visual only. | v4.3.0; v4.5.0, 2026-07-20 |
| End | A nation counts as "broke" below 20 gold, and a war must have run at least three seconds first. The change was made so wars stop ending for no visible reason. | v4.3.2, 2025-11-13 |
| Settlement | Conquered land is shown as occupied. The game keeps each tile's rightful owner, and the occupier can pay gold to integrate it. An optional World AI rule lets a nation annex everything once it takes an enemy capital. | v4.4.0, 2026-04-23; v2.3.5 |
| Aftermath | Wars, and cities changing hands, push a city's revolt progress up; a revolt can spawn once its owner ends a war. A losing nation that lost territory can end up as a puppet. | v4.0.0; v3.2.1 |
The rest of this page expands the rows that need more than a line.
Occupation and integration
Since v3.4.0 (2024-10-02) land that changes hands in a war is drawn striped. v4.4.0 added memory: reclaimed land goes back to normal, while land an occupier keeps stays marked until it is won back or the occupier pays to integrate it, one occupied nation at a time. A nation wiped out still remembers its land, so if it returns through a revolt its borders are rebuilt from those tiles unless the occupier integrated them first. The developer says holding occupied land carries no penalty and that the system is not fully realised yet. Display options hide peacetime occupations or integration pop-ups, or switch integration off, and a button in the Economy panel integrates every current occupation at once (v3.4.0, v4.4.0).
Gold, as a system of bonuses and costs
v4.3.0 rebuilt the economy around bonuses and expenses applied each tick. Some are fixed (income from land and cores, upkeep of ordinary cities); a few depend on the nation's circumstances, such as a harsh environment. A nation's Economy tab itemises its gains and costs, and it also lists spending on Combat Efficiency and revolt suppression.
Combat Efficiency has several modes. By default nations buy cheap CE in peacetime and expensive CE when at war. Progressive mode behaves the same but moves one step per turn. Static and the CE lock keep a chosen value (the cost is still calculated the Dynamic way), and Random reshuffles it every turn. Temporary events, such as war reparations or severe winters, can swing a nation's position, and a scenario maker can add a permanent bonus or penalty, limited to ±100 in v4.3.1.
The developer notes there is far less gold in this model than before, so that a thousand is "very good", and that creating a core now starts at 200 gold and rises as cores are added. The Maximum Gold cap from the v3.4.3 model was removed (v3.4.3, v4.3.0, v4.3.1).
Alliances, unions and unity
An alliance builds Unity through wars, new members, donations and defeating other nations. It loses Unity when members leave, when revolts break out, when a union holds puppets, and when members are disloyal. Once Unity passes a first threshold the alliance becomes a Union, drawn like a near-complete nation although its members still pursue their own interests; a higher one lets it merge into a single nation. Members have a Loyalty value too, and a low-loyalty member can leave. All of this depends on the God Mode toggles "Unifications" and "Leave Alliances" being switched on. The default size limit rose from four members to ten, and v4.2.2 lets you set Unity by hand to force a merger or a split (v4.2.0, v4.2.2, 2025).
Puppets: three kinds of subject
A puppet can appear after a war if the defender is in a bad position; from v3.2.1 the nation must actually have lost land in that war. Subjects donate gold to their overlord over time, which fills an integration meter that eventually lets the overlord demand land (v3.2.0, 2024-05-02). v4.4.0 split the role into three:
| Type (v4.4.0) | Donates gold | Land can be seized | Alliances |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vassal | Yes | Yes | Not stated in that post |
| Puppet | Yes | No | Not stated in that post |
| Satellite | No | No | Can join while puppeted |
Two further values steer the relationship. Autonomy below 10 means the subject can no longer object to land seizures, and above 90 it may leave freely; it drops when the puppet is declared on and rises if the puppet outgrows its liege. Loyalty decides whether it donates at all, and a disloyal subject may revolt. Old scenarios converted every puppet to a vassal of medium loyalty. The developer calls the whole thing unfinished, with the numbers partly guesswork (v4.4.0).
Revolts and cores
Since v4.0.0 every city tracks Revolt Progress. It rises with war declarations, passively during wars, and when a city changes owner, and a revolt can appear once progress is above 100 and the current owner finishes a war. v4.0.3 draws cities above 70% progress smoking and tinted red. If a nation destroys a rebel nation that broke away from it, a core appears where the rebel capital was (from v1.01); cores do not raise revolt chance and cannot spawn rebels. v4.5.0 made revolt borders follow terrain such as mountains, deserts and crossings, and lets you preview a city's possible border by holding ALT over it. Terrain types themselves are covered on the maps page (v4.0.3, v4.5.0).
What we did not test
- We did not buy or play the full version, so none of the above has been checked on screen. The Steam version costs money and we have not purchased it. See Is Ages of Conflict free?.
- We did not play the browser demo, the downloadable demo or the mobile apps for this page. This is a reading of published posts, not a review.
- Dates and numbers are as of each post. A later post may have changed them, and we have not compared them against the v4.5.2 interface.
Not stated by the developer
- Formulas: income amounts, war outcomes, the effect of Combat Efficiency, revolt-progress rates.
- Which of these systems exist in the free browser demo. The itch.io page labels only its free download build v1.4.3 and does not itemise either demo's contents.
- Whether Vassals and ordinary Puppets can join alliances under the v4.4.0 rules. Only Satellites are described as able to; the v3.2.0 post said puppets could not.
Sources
All retrieved 1 November 2026.
- Ages of Conflict devlog, itch.io: posts linked in each section
- Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator, Steam store page
- Ages of Conflict, itch.io game page
- Steam community announcements (same patch notes)
Related: Maps and scenarios, Update history, FAQ.