First-hour goal
Do one clean learning cycle so you can explain what changed each tick:
- Build
- Market
- War
- Outcomes
If you complete that loop once, your next hours are much easier.
Before you start
- Open your dashboard: Nation dashboard
- Confirm your active nation and baseline values (cash, infra, population, food, and upkeep pressure)
- Check current tick state so you know whether your actions resolve now or at the next tick
The first-hour loop
1) Build
- Queue one small build adjustment.
- Do not queue many changes at once on your first cycle.
- Goal: see exactly how queue progress appears at tick resolution.
2) Market
- Open Market.
- Place one small order you can easily monitor.
- Goal: learn order lifecycle (created -> open -> settled/canceled).
3) War
- Open War.
- If you can safely test, run a minimal war action (declare or one attack in an active war).
- Goal: understand war actions as tick-based outcomes, not instant stat edits.
4) Outcomes
- Open Outcomes (last tick window).
- Match each change to one of your actions (build, market, war).
- Goal: finish the cycle knowing what changed and why.
Tick timing rule
The world runs on 2-hour ticks. Many actions register immediately, but authoritative state changes are resolved on tick. If a value looks unchanged right away, check Outcomes after the next tick before assuming failure.
Common “blocked” reason codes (AUTH_REQUIRED, NATION_OWNERSHIP_REQUIRED, LOCK_HELD)
AUTH_REQUIRED means your session is missing or expired. Re-authenticate, then retry the action from a fresh page load.
NATION_OWNERSHIP_REQUIRED means the selected nation is not owned by your account. Switch current nation to one you own, then retry.
LOCK_HELD means a server-side lock is active while a conflicting operation is being processed. Wait briefly and retry after lock release or after the next tick.
Full list and fixes: Reason codes
Success check for your first hour
You are done with onboarding when you can answer:
- What did I queue before tick?
- What resolved on tick?
- Which outcomes came from build vs market vs war?
- What is my next action before the next 2-hour tick?