Territory, Culture, and Influence
Claims, automatic expansion, border pressure, stability, and land limits.
territory_and_influenceH3 territory
The world is divided into small H3 cells so multiple players can share a real town or city. Claims normally grow from adjacent owned land, and cells must contain enough usable land.
Influence is the city's expansion budget
Each city earns and holds its own Influence. The first few claims are free; afterward, claim cost rises in steps up to a maximum. Manual claims, automatic cultural expansion, and reinforcement spend the city responsible for that territory, so a distant colony cannot drain another city's expansion budget.
Culture pressure
Settlements project pressure into nearby eligible cells. Once pressure reaches the threshold and the cooldown is ready, the leading civilization can acquire neutral land by paying Influence. Contested pressure slows or changes the result.
Borders and stability
New or contested cells can have lower stability. Reinforcement spends Influence to strengthen an important border. Territory capacity, administrative reach, distance, and occupation can limit healthy expansion.
Growth uses surplus gradually
A city protects roughly six game-hours of basic population Food. While the reserve is healthy, half of positive surplus is transferred continuously into GROW and the other half remains in the stockpile. The top bar reports the stockpile's resulting rate, while the Food card lists the separate growth allocation. Growth pauses while a low reserve refills, and completing a citizen never removes a second large Food payment.