Introduction

Epicinium is a simultaneous turn-based strategy game, in which players wage war while trying to preserve the environment. This page is meant as an introduction to the rules, units, buildings and gameplay.

If you are already familiar with the mechanics of the game, maybe you would like to find our page on Units, Buildings, Terrain tiles, Gold income or building Power.

More in-depth information on how the game works is found on the page where we explain phases, Chaos, Weather effects or damage mechanics.

We also have a Frequently Asked Questions page. Still can't find what you're looking for? Ask in the discord!

## Gameplay

Epicinium is played on a square grid, containing different kinds of tiles. Each tile consists of either a building or terrain tile, and a maximum of 1 ground unit can be on a tile.

All players start with a set number of units and buildings. A player wins if all enemy city tiles have been destroyed or captured. The final game score is dependent on the number of 'natural' tiles left on the map, creating a dynamic in which you have to choose between generating more economy and risking losing, or playing environment-friendly to win with a higher score. More info on this can be found on the rating page.

## Movement and combat

Generally, all units can move a set number of tiles. If a unit encounters an enemy unit in its path, it will shoot at that unit. If the enemy unit survives, it will fire back. Units that survive combat have their hitpoints restored to full after combat. There are several different scenarios in which units fire at other units, more information can be found on our units page.

Not all units can fire, and some units have unique abilities that deal different kinds of damage or alter terrain.

Both players give orders during the planning phase of a turn. The planning phase has a time limit, default 60 seconds. During this phase, any order you give to your units will appear in the queue in the bottom right of your screen. Orders are performed in the order that you set them in the queue. You are only able to queue 5 orders.

On the right side of the screen the player colors are set in some order. This is also the order in which the players will act in this turn. First order 1 is performed for everyone in this order, then order 2, until order 5.

It is also possible to give long-term orders, for example movement to a far away space. The path of the unit will be in blue, and the spaces that the unit can move to this turn will be in red. The unit will follow along the path until you change its order. Orders that are long-term will appear above the queue in the next turn, and not count towards the maximum of 5 orders per turn.

## Fog of war

Like many strategy games, Epicinium contains fog of war. This means that a player can only see their own units, and not the enemy's. In custom games, players can choose global vision to see the whole map permanently. More info on vision can be found on our vision page.

## Unit types

There are 4 main types of units: Infantry, tanks, zeppelins and settlers.

* Tanks have high hp but no gunfire. They do have a devastating special ability shell that destroys buildings and units alike. Since they are so heavy, they damage terrain and buildings that they pass through.
* Zeppelins are very slow, but can drop gas that spreads to a 3x3 square, killing all infantry in it.
* Infantry consists of militia, riflemen, gunners and sappers. All of these have different movement speeds, hitpoints and special abilities. Except for militia, all infantry can capture enemy buildings.
* Settlers are used to create new cities, towns and farms. They have no combat abilities and are very fragile, so it is wise to keep them away from the enemy.

## Building an army

There are many different buildings in Epicinium, all of which can create unique units or generate income in a different way. However, next to the gold cost of units, each building needs power to create units. Power is gained at the end of each turn, more on power can be found here. When building a unit or other building, a building loses power. For some buildings, power also generates income so it may be wise to not use those to create units.

Gold is generated by cities, towns, industry and farms. Each of these buildings creates a different amount of gold, and is useful in a different way. Cities and Towns are more environment-friendly. Industry generates gold quickly but damage the environment, especially the surrounding spaces. Farms generate the most gold out of every building, but they take a turn to set up, do not generate income in winter and take up 9 tiles.

Each building is capable of producing units, but most specialized units require special buildings.

* Cities, farms, outposts and towns can create only basic units.
* Barracks are specialized in infantry, creating riflemen, gunners and sappers.
* Industry created the heavy-armored tanks.
* Airfields create zeppelins.

## Weather effects

On the surface, all seasons except for winter seem the same. In winter, some tiles are transformed into snow tiles which reduce your movement. However, there are many more aspects to the game that set each season apart. More on this can be found on the seasonal pages.

If a game lasts long enough, global warming will start to show its effects. These effects range from turning tiles into deserts to setting forests on fire and freezing your troops to death in the snow. More information can be found on our weather page.

## Getting started

In the lobby, there are multiple options. Pressing the 'tutorial' button will immediately start the tutorial map. If you feel more like playing against other players, pressing the '1v1' button will put you into a lobby. The next player to press the 1v1 button will automatically join your lobby, and you can play against each other. If you do not feel like waiting for other players, you can choose 'custom game' or 'versus ai' to play against the AI. There are three choices of AI, each with their own unique strategy. Each AI can also be set to easy, medium or hard difficulty.