How to play BlocWar
BlocWar is a free text-based war game you play in your browser. You run a country for one season (a calendar month): grow your land, build an economy, raise an army, and take land from rivals, alone or with a clan. This guide covers everything you need for your first season.
The basics
Everything you do costs turns. You get one every 12 minutes, so 120 a day, the same for everyone. You spend them to explore new land, construct buildings, attack, and run spy missions. There is no real-time grind: turns build up while you're away, so a short session or two a day is enough to compete.
Your score is your networth: land, buildings, army, and stockpiles combined. The highest networth at the end of the season wins.
Each country starts with 250 acres, $100,000 cash, 2,400 people, a small army and 90 buildings.
Your first day
- Pick a government. It shapes your whole season (table below). You can change it once per season, at a cost of 24 turns. Not sure? The Republic has no weaknesses.
- Explore. Spend turns on new land while it's cheap. The first 5 days of every season are a building phase with no attacks, so this is the safest time to grow.
- Build on your new land. Empty land earns almost nothing. Aim for a mix: enterprise zones and residences for money, farms so your people don't starve, and construction sites to build faster.
- Keep food above zero. Starving countries lose people and units every turn.
- Ask the advisor. Your country report shows what's holding you back, in plain words.
| Government | Effects |
|---|---|
| Republic Balanced. Good at everything, great at nothing. | +5% cash income, +5% max population |
| Military Junta Built for war. The economy pays for it. | +10% offense, −10% unit prices, −10% cash income |
| Technocracy Science first. Thin on the front lines. | +50% tech points, −5% building costs, −8% defense |
| Corporate State Money talks. Armies cost more to keep. | +12% cash income, −10% building costs, +15% army upkeep |
| Fortress State Hard to crack. Slow to grow. | +15% defense, −10% army upkeep, −25% land per explore |
| Agrarian Commune Feeds the world. Not much of a fighter. | +20% food production, +3% max population, −10% offense |
| Frontier Republic Always expanding. The borders are thin. | +20% land per explore, −10% defense |
| Shadow State Eyes everywhere. Fewer people trust it. | +35% spy strength, +10% unit production, −2% max population |
Turns
Turns build up while you're away. Free players bank up to 120 (one day). Premium players bank up to 360 (three days), so a missed weekend doesn't cost them. Turns can't be bought.
A good habit: log in once or twice a day and spend your turns. Logging in more often barely helps, because turns are capped.
Land, buildings and money
Land is the base of everything. You get it by exploring (turns plus cash, getting pricier as you grow) or by taking it from others. Each acre holds one building:
| Building | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enterprise zone | +cash every turn |
| Residence | +max population |
| Industrial complex | Produces military units |
| Military base | Cheaper units and upkeep |
| Research lab | Tech points for research |
| Farm | +food every turn |
| Oil well | +oil every turn |
| Construction site | Build more per turn, cheaper buildings |
Bigger countries cost more to run per acre, so growth has to be backed by income. There is no single best build: in our simulations, the best plans that skip any one building type finish within about 15% of the best overall.
Your military
| Unit | Offense | Defense | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Troops | 1 | 1 | $180 |
| Jets | 2 | 0 | $170 |
| Turrets | 0 | 2 | $170 |
| Tanks | 4 | 3 | $560 |
Troops do a bit of both, jets only attack, turrets only defend, and tanks are strong at both but cost the most to keep. Industrial complexes produce units for free every turn; military bases make buying and keeping units cheaper. Every unit has upkeep, and jets and tanks burn oil.
Attacking
An attack costs 2 turns and some readiness, which recovers over time. If your offense beats their defense, you take land, and some of the buildings on it come with it.
There are 4 kinds of attack. Each sends different units and meets a different part of their defense:
| Kind | You send | They defend with | A win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard strike | troops, jets, tanks | troops, turrets, tanks | takes land; 40% of buildings on it captured intact |
| Ground invasion | troops, tanks | troops, turrets, tanks | takes 30% more land; 70% of buildings on it captured intact |
| Air raid | jets | turrets, home guard | destroys up to 5% of their buildings |
| Raid | troops | troops, home guard | steals up to 4% of their cash and food |
- Ground invasions pay the most, but jets stay home and you lose more units.
- Air raids take nothing for you. They wreck buildings and turrets, which softens a target for the next strike. Each building takes 20 jets.
- Raids punish countries that sit on a pile of cash. Each troop carries up to $200 and 10 food.
- Home guard. Every acre gives 2 defense against air raids and raids, so a handful of units can't win one.
- Pick your size. Hitting much smaller countries pays very little. Hitting bigger ones pays up to 1.5× as much.
- Scout first. Without a spy report you only see a rough range for a target's defense.
- Spread it out. Each hit on the same target in 24 hours pays less than the one before. Land grabs, air raids and raids are counted separately.
- Revenge pays. Hitting back someone who hit you in the last 24 hours gains 25% more land.
- Strike together. Hitting a target a clanmate beat in the last hour gains 10% more land per clanmate (up to 2).
New countries that join mid-season get 72 hours of protection, and start close to the average size so they aren't easy prey.
Research
Research labs make tech points that you put into tracks. Each track tops out at +20%, with diminishing returns, and growing your land dilutes it, so bigger countries need more labs to keep up.
| Track | What it does |
|---|---|
| Business | +cash income |
| Residential | +max population |
| Agriculture | +food production |
| Industrial | +unit production |
| Weapons | +offense |
| Fortification | +defense |
| Medical | Fewer units lost in battle |
| Exploration | +land per explore turn |
| Espionage | +spy strength |
| Missile defense | Chance to shoot down missiles |
| Warfare | Unlocks missiles, +missile damage |
Spies and missiles
Each spy mission costs 1 turn. Your chance depends on your spy strength against theirs; a failed mission loses some of your spies.
- Spy report: See their full status.
- Sabotage food: Destroy 6% of their food (at least 20 turns of what they eat). An army short on food defends 15% worse.
- Sabotage oil: Destroy 6% of their oil.
- Sabotage buildings: Destroy 1.5% of their buildings.
Missiles unlock with Warfare research. You can stock up to 10, and Missile defense research can shoot them down.
- Cruise missile: Destroys 3% of their buildings and 4% of their turrets.
- Chemical warhead: Kills 10% of their population and 5% of their troops.
- Nuclear missile: Wipes out 5% of their land and 20% of their population.
The market
Buy and sell food, oil, and units with other players. Player prices always sit between the public buy and sell prices, so trading with players beats the public market. Sales carry a 5% fee, and you can have 10 offers open at once.
Clans, wars and the map
Joining a clan is free, and so is founding one. Clans share a chat, a target board, and a treasury that funds projects every member benefits from:
- Intel network: +spy strength for every member.
- Missile shield: +chance to shoot down missiles.
- Logistics: Lower army upkeep.
- Granary: +food production.
- Bulwark: +defense.
Clans can declare war on each other. In a declared war, hitting smaller enemies still pays in full. Each clan picks a front on the war map; the clan that takes the most land there holds the region and every member gets its bonus:
- The Old Capital: +3% income.
- Northern Oil Fields: +5% oil production.
- The Breadbasket: +5% food production.
- Iron Port: +5% unit production.
- Signal Ridge: +5% spy strength.
Leaving a clan means a 24-hour wait before joining another, and you can't join a clan you were at war with until that war ends.
Seasons and rankings
Each season is one calendar month (UTC). Everyone starts fresh, so a new player has the same shot as a veteran.
- Days 1–5: building phase, no attacks.
- Middle of the month: open war.
- Last 3 days: no new countries, final push for the rankings.
At the end, the top countries and clans go into the Hall of fame, and players earn medals that stay on their profile. Results are checked for cheating before they're final. See the current rankings.
Independent nations are computer-run countries that keep the world busy. They're always labelled, and they never join clans.
Fair play and Premium
BlocWar is free to play and never sells power. Nobody can buy turns, cash, land, units, or resources. Premium banks more turns and adds cosmetics; that's all. One country per person, no bots or scripts. Read the fair-play rules.
Quick answers
- Is BlocWar free?
- Yes. Everything that affects winning is free.
- Do I need to download anything?
- No. It runs in any browser, on a phone or a computer.
- How much time does it take?
- A short session or two a day. Turns build up while you're away, and logging in more often barely helps.
- Can I join in the middle of a season?
- Yes. Late joiners start close to the average size and get 72 hours of protection. New countries can't be founded in the last 3 days.
- Is it like Earth 2025?
- It's in the same tradition of turn-based browser war games, with clans, seasons, and fair Premium. More here.