Skirmish II — Play the test build

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Sandbox AI · Easy AI · Normal

Pick a mode and press Restart to begin a fresh match in it (same seed).

Quality

Quality changes only the picture — sprites, sharpness, shadows. The game is identical on every device, from an old Chromebook to a gaming PC.

Test build · M13 + Base44 art test (buildings) — the classic keyboard arrives: the grid hotkeys (Q / W open a villager's build pages, the letter on each button places or trains, A drops off a villager's load, Ctrl+letter jumps to a building kind) and edge scrolling — rest the mouse at the screen edge and the camera pans. The Lobby Browser in the classic shape: search and filter the open games, watch every server's connection quality, then join or create. Rooms work the way the classic lobbies do: create a Public room (listed, anyone can join) or a Private one (🔒 listed, password to enter), configure the guest seat — a human, an AI at Easy or Normal, or closed — and the match starts when both players press Start (an AI seat is always ready, so the full room → loading → match flow works solo for testing). The game itself loads only once a match begins — the lobby stays light. Two-human matches run in lockstep: both browsers simulate the same game from the same seed and exchange only orders. On top of the M7 generated Arabia with fog of war, the M6 ages and technologies and the M5 match (scripted AI opponent or Sandbox, Conquest victory and defeat). The buildings wear the first Base44 art test set (original art generated from our own prompts) while its look is judged; the remaining placeholder art is being replaced piece by piece with our own.

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How to play

Click a villager to select it; drag to select a group; Shift+click adds or removes one; double-click selects every villager on screen. Click empty ground to deselect. One selection holds at most 60 units.
Right-click a tree, bush, gold or stone to gather it; right-click the ground to move. Orders go only to the selected villagers. Shift+right-click queues the order — the unit finishes what it is doing, then runs the queued ones in order. Right-clicking the minimap orders there too.
Control groups: Ctrl+1–9 stores the selection, the number recalls it, pressing it twice centers the camera, Shift+number adds the group to the selection. . selects the next idle villager, , the next idle soldier (watch the counters in the top bar), H jumps to the Town Center.
Drag right button / WASD / arrows to pan, mouse wheel to zoom. Click the minimap to jump the camera. Move the mouse to the screen edge and the camera scrolls that way, too — corners scroll diagonally.
Hotkeys — the classic grid: with a villager selected, Q opens the economic buildings and W the military buildings; the letter shown on each button then places it — so Q, E raises a House. With a building selected, Q / W / E run its buttons left to right (Town Center: Villager, Loom, Feudal Age). A villager pressing A drops off what it carries. Ctrl+Z / I / G / S / B / A jump to your Lumber Camp, Mill, Mining Camp, Blacksmith, Barracks or Archery Range — add Shift to select all of that kind.
Commands panel (bottom-left): with a villager selected, build a House (25 wood, +5 population room), the three camps (100 wood each — villagers drop their loads at the nearest building that takes them: Lumber Camp for wood, Mill for food, Mining Camp for gold and stone), a Farm (60 wood, 175 food — needs a Mill first) or a Barracks (175 wood). Select the Town Center to train villagers (50 food) — training stalls at the population cap.
Force drop-off: with loaded villagers selected, right-click your Town Center or a camp — they haul what they carry in right away, then walk back to their work on their own.
Ages & research: at the Town Center, research Loom (50 gold — villagers +15 HP and armor) and advance to the Feudal Age (500 food; needs any 2 Dark-Age buildings besides Houses and Farms). Research shares the Town Center queue with villager training. Feudal unlocks the Archery Range (Archers move there from the Barracks), the Stable (Scout Cavalry) and the Blacksmith (Fletching, Scale Mail, Padded Archer Armor) — and the Barracks gains the Man-at-Arms upgrade. Your age shows in the top bar.
Rally points: with the Town Center, Barracks, Archery Range or Stable selected, right-click the map to set where new units walk to. Right-click a resource and new villagers go straight to work on it.
Combat: you start with a Scout Cavalry and sheep nearby. Walk any unit next to a sheep to claim it; right-click an animal with a unit selected to attack and hunt it — the carcass feeds your villagers (a hunter carries 35). Boars fight back and chase whoever hurt them; lure one toward your village instead of fighting it alone.
Select the Barracks to train Militia (60 food, 20 gold); Archers (25 wood, 45 gold) train at the Archery Range once you reach the Feudal Age. Idle Militia and Archers guard against boars on their own; damaged units show an HP bar.
The match: Sandbox builds in peace. Against the AI, an enemy village mirrors yours across the map — it gathers, builds and attacks in waves, wearing red (you wear blue). Win by Conquest: destroy its Town Center, every building and every unit. Lose all of yours and the match is lost. Click the enemy Town Center to check its health.
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