Decay

*This is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*
**Decay** is the deterioration of an island during the days the Monarch isn't there.

## Context

Islands in *Two Crowns* are persistent, i.e., they won't reset neither when the Monarch sails away from them nor even if the Crown is lost. Instead of this, time goes by and decay happens slowly.

## Effects

1. As soon as the Monarch leaves an island, walls start decaying, being destroyed one by one, from the outermost to the innermost walls, where higher tiers can endure larger number of days. Stumps are left on their spot, as if they were demolished by the Greed.
2. When all walls on at least one side of the town have decayed, subjects start losing their tools, remaining as villagers and wandering around the Kingdom.
3. When all walls on the entire land have been fully corroded, the lighthouse on that island (if built) will start decaying. For the details and consequences of that process, see: Lighthouse § Decaying.

**It does *not* affect**
* Villagers: no villagers will lose their last coin.
* Towers: no towers will be destroyed, but archers won't be on top of them. As soon as the Monarch arrives again on an island, if there are any hunter archers available, they will prioritize filling all towers slots. On late game, uncovered towers can be in a vulnerable situation if they lose the support of ground troops after some of the outer-walls are destroyed.
* Farms: farms will be intact, but with no crop fields around them. A mill house located on a side with active greed portal in a sector whose walls were destroyed by the decay, will expose the farmers, as they will work on that unprotected place and try to stay there over night.
* Banker: the amount of coins left with the banker does not change.

## Severity

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>  | Losing your crown would start a new reign in the same Kingdoms with a passage of time decay and erosion.—Gordon Van Dyke   | „
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Losing your crown would start a new reign in the same Kingdoms with a passage of time decay and erosion.Gordon Van Dyke
The decay period is related to the overall day count. If the Monarch loses the crown, an heir will keep up the Kingdom from the first island. The overall day count is reset, and an additional decay, equivalent to one hundred days, is applied to all previously unlocked islands.

Decay still happens after defeating the Greed on an island, confirming that it is caused by time and not (or not only) by the greed.

There are handicaps for the first two islands, making the decay less severe there.

## Dealing with

The primary way to resist decay effects is to build more and stronger walls, as they are the first structures to decay.
An iron wall can survive thirty days. The total decay resistance of an island is noted on the map.

If the Monarch intends to pass a great number of days away from an island, it's probably more useful to make generous deposits at the bank, so that new tools can be quickly bought for subjects when returning there, rather than to build strong walls on every single dirt mound before leaving (which also takes time and coins).

## Achievement

Reviving a land after two hundred days of decay, grants the "Their Savior" achievement.

## History

 2018-12-11
 Introduced.

## References

1. ↑ On *Twitter*, 18 April 2018.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gordon Van Dyke on Jack Pattillo live's.