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Congratulations
Your people have launched their first rocket. From up there, they call out to you:
“Dear sky God, we are searching for you, what should we do?”
Pick a power in the tray, then hold on the land to use it. Water runs downhill, carries sand and feeds plants. Lava burns, then cools to rock, faster in water.
Mouse: right-drag turns the view, middle-drag or Shift-drag moves it, wheel zooms. WASD moves, Q/E turns, keys 1–9 and 0 pick powers.
Sun: the Sun slider sets the time of day; touching it stops the automatic cycle, and "Sun moves itself" in Settings starts it again. It only changes the light.
Save power (in Settings) halves how often reflections, rain, smoke and plants are refreshed and lets the water run at half pace when frames are slow. It is on for Medium and Low quality and off for High. The game also stops completely while its tab is hidden.
Detail: the simulation runs on the graphics card. "Sim detail" in Settings sets its grid (Ultra is 2048 x 2048 on desktop); it lowers itself if the frame rate stays poor.
Weather: sea air blows over the island and rains out over high ground, as snow above the snowline. Rain and meltwater feed the rivers. Rain seeds clouds; Fire lights plants, spreads with the wind and dies in rain or water.
Touch: two fingers move, pinch and twist the view. With Look selected one finger turns it.
Spring places a permanent water source. Tap an existing one to remove it. Grab lifts sand, water or lava; use it again to drop what you carry. Undo restores the land to before your last stroke.
The people: you see them as settlements, not individuals. A settlement needs fresh water, green land and safe ground. It starts as a few huts, cuts the forest around it, lays out fields, sends settlers to found new places and grows roads between them. Eras follow: foragers, fire users (after seeing fire), farmers, builders, then medieval castles, industry and the modern city. A marker over a settlement shows a prayer: blue for water, red for fire, yellow for food. Answering it earns belief; frightening them earns it faster but they stop growing. Press People, or click a settlement with Look selected, to see what it has and what it still needs for the next age.
Resources: settlements gather timber from woodland, stone from bare rock, fish from boats and ore from the dark ore outcrops on rocky ground. Later ages need them. Finished roads carry carts and raise what a settlement can feed.
Guided growth: free play in which your powers cost belief. When your people launch their first rocket they ask you what to do next: let them go, guide them to Mars, or give them the power to terraform their own world. Reaching Mars unlocks it as a map.
Mood: every settlement weighs water, food, safety, faith, trade and clean air. Content people multiply faster and believe more; a settlement that stays miserable riots, or goes over to the rivals. The People panel shows what is missing.
Farms and harvest: fields turn from green to gold through the year and are harvested late in autumn. Moist fields give a rich harvest that feeds the settlement until the next one; dry fields fail. Blessing a settlement before the harvest helps. Barns, orchards and windmills appear among the fields.
Sea and industry: settlements near deep water build a pier, and ships find lanes between harbours, which adds trade; storms can sink them, lighthouses help. Quarries, lumber camps and mines add stone, timber and ore. Industrial towns run trains on their roads and make smog, which sours the mood and kills plants until the Future age cleans the air.
Erosion: running water carries sand downstream and slowly wears bare rock away, so rivers deepen their beds and build up sand where they slow. "Water erosion" in the World panel switches it off and on.
Wonders: each age your people can raise one great monument near their largest settlement. It consumes resources as it rises and goes faster while that settlement is blessed. Finished wonders add belief and room. Score opens the chronicle of your game and your best results per map.
War: when relations collapse, armies march and besiege settlements; castles blunt a siege. Blessing the rivals mends relations, striking them worsens them. Coloured lines mark each people's land (Borders, in Settings).
Rivals: once your people farm, a second people lands. Kindness and distance keep the peace and bring a trade road; crowding and wrath lead to raids. Answer their prayers often enough and they join you.
Miracles cost belief: pick one, then click the land where it should happen (Calm sky acts at once). Lightning strikes that spot, Quake splits the ground there, Bless sends shafts of light over the nearest settlement, Meteor blasts a crater. Dam (in the tray) takes two clicks, one for each end, and raises a stone wall between them. After the Modern age, a rocket launched from a pad outside your largest settlement opens the Future age. Temples appear in settlements and add belief. 1x 2x 4x set the speed of time. Seasons turn over a four-minute year: winter brings the snow lower and slows growth.
Animals: deer roam in herds, graze the green land, breed where it is lush and run from fire; foragers hunt them. Farming settlements keep sheep by their fields.
Next age
splash-question.jpgYour people have launched their first rocket. From up there, they call out to you:
“Dear sky God, we are searching for you, what should we do?”
