How it works
Your node listens and the game keeps score of what it hears. To do anything with a hex you have to be standing in it with your radio. There is no simulation layer: if there is no signal, there is no ground.
- Surveyed. You pinged and nobody answered. That still counts. It shows you were there, and a quiet hex on the map tells people something too.
- Scouted. Your node heard real traffic in this hex. You do not own it yet, and anyone else can scout it as well.
- Claimed. You spent some time in the hex. About three minutes while moving around, or a second visit at least six hours after the first. Driving through does not count. From here on the hex is yours and it starts earning points.
- Hardened. You either kept getting detections there or paid points for it. Harder for others to take, and it fades more slowly.
- Fortified. The top level. Costs 500 points, which is a lot on purpose, or it happens on its own while an HQ or a repeater you run is up nearby. If you already have a repeater on a hill, you already have a foothold.
The minutes, hours and point costs will get tuned while the beta finds its balance. The app always shows the current numbers. The idea behind them stays the same: you prove you were somewhere by being there, not by sending more packets.
Two things worth knowing before you play
- The duty cycle sets the pace. On 868 MHz in the EU you get 1 % of the airtime, and the game is built around that. Pings are capped per hour and each one is a single byte. Sending more pings gets you nothing extra, so there is no reason to hammer the channel. Holding a hex takes time, which is what makes it worth something.
- Hexes fade. If nobody keeps a hex alive it drops back down the ladder over days, roughly a week for Scouted, two for Claimed, three for Hardened and a month for Fortified (all tunable). You do not conquer ground once and keep it. You keep it by coming back.
Repeaters and fixed nodes count
The node you carry is your scout, but you can register more: an HQ, a repeater, a low-power node. Each one sits where it physically is and holds the ground around it for as long as it is up and other nodes can hear it. When repeaters run by members of the same faction confirm a link between them, the faction's shared treasury earns from it. Take a node offline and its grip loosens.
What others can see about you
These are real radios, so when you take ground, other players can see that it happened. What gets published is the hex you were in and nothing finer, and that rule is the same for everyone, you included. If you would rather not be so easy to follow, you will be able to delay when your new gains show up (live, or 2 hours, 6 hours or a day later). That setting is coming with the first-run setup.
Fair questions
What does it change on my node?
On Meshtastic, one thing: a secondary channel called MeshTorry, added through
the app or by hand. On MeshCore, nothing. No firmware, region or role changes on either,
and your existing channels keep working as they did.
What does it actually transmit?
Only when you ping. On Meshtastic that is a single character (.) on the game
channel with hop limit 2. It is small on purpose; the useful part is the relay ack that
comes back. On MeshCore it is a DISCOVER_REQ control frame, so nearby repeaters
answer you directly instead of a channel message going out to everyone. Apart from that the
node just listens.
Does it hammer the duty cycle?
No. Pings are capped per hour (200 right now, tunable) and each one is a byte. Pinging more often gets you nothing, because a hex is claimed by being there, not by sending packets. Listening costs the mesh nothing.
Can anyone see where I am?
Only which hex you were in. That is the whole game. Exact positions are never published, and you will be able to delay when your new hexes show up. Nodes that are heard but not playing get the same treatment: a dot in a hex, nothing finer. More in Privacy.
Where does it work?
Anywhere there is a mesh. The game does not know or care which country you are in. Any Meshtastic or MeshCore network, on whatever frequencies your region uses, as long as there are nodes around to hear. Slovenia is where it started and where most of the map is right now, but it is one shared world, and the first hexes in a new area go to whoever gets there first.
Does it cost anything?
No. Self-hosted, no ads, no paid advantage, no tracking. You need a radio, and you have one.
Do I need a faction?
No, solo works fine. Factions hold ground together and share a treasury. You join one by invitation from its leader, and big factions get taxed harder so small groups stay competitive.