LotSK is a kingdom building game, featuring turn based hex grid combat, exploration and resource gathering.

## About This Game
The game action takes place in a medieval fantasy setting. The players get to
develop their starting town with resources collected from the nearby lands, to
raise increasingly powerful armies which they use to advance their conquest.

Starting conditions

The player begins as a lord of a small castle on a remote island. With the
help of a few poorly armed fighting men, or by itself, it battles bandits and
monsters, to collect resources and help the people of the island.

Castle Building

The castle building happens in steps, called seasons. Each season, the player
gets to organize and manage the town with all economic actions taking effect
at the end of each season. Season length varies based on kingdom size, with
larger kingdoms having longer seasons.

Armies

The player builds weapons in the castle. These weapons can be equipped on
soldiers trained in the barracks. It is the equipment given to the soldier
that defines it’s abilities. Soldiers can wear 5 different pieces of armor and
use 1 weapon in each hand. The number of items available to the player, which
is initially low, grows fast forcing the player to balance the increased
weapon costs with the cost of recruiting more soldiers.

Exploration

The player commands armies lead by lords. Initially, only one army can be
moved around, on a grid based map. Moving the army reveals more territory with
new challenges and opportunities.
The large maps contain quest givers which offer missions taking place in
smaller areas. These areas are otherwise hidden. Completing quests allows the
player to advance deeper into the world.

Combat

The combat happens on a hex grid, with the units involved taking turns to act
based on their speed.

Progress

There are two aspects of progress in the game.
One is the economic progress. Developing a castle, and later on conquering
other castles and developing those, will advance the kingdom technology
allowing the player to get its hands on more powerful equipment, or in larger
quantities.
The second one is the advancement of each army commander, the lords, by
gaining experience. Experience is used to train skills that improve the battle
abilities of an army, either by allowing a more numerous and specialized
force, or by boosting the individual soldiers strength.

Player vs Player interaction

For the first few steps a new player makes, there is no pressure from other
players. The first castle the player owns acts as a sanctuary which cannot be
touched by others. As the player progresses, it can choose to get more
involved with other players, by running missions on islands accessible by
everyone.
Eventually, player conflict becomes inevitable.
Players will find each other on the map and may choose to attack. The
engagements happen either directly, by two armies meeting, indirectly, when an
army is inside a mission area and the other one finds it, or with an army
attacking a player owned castle.

Objectives

The game does not have an ending. The objective of each player is to hold the
most advanced castle it can for as long as it can.

Lords of the Shattered Kingdom