📖 Help & Guide
Everything you need to know about Way of Citizen: how to install it as an app, what every building and unit costs and does, and how the commander works.
📲 Install the app
💰 Resources
🏗️ Buildings
⚔️ Army & Espionage
🎖️ The Commander
⚙️ Game mechanics
🌍 More features
All help pages
📚 All help pages at a glance
The main areas have their own detailed help pages with all numbers, requirements and formulas. They require a login because they also show your own values.
🏗️
Buildings
Every building with description, requirements, inputs and outputs per level, plus build cost and build time for each single level.
🔬
Research
All research lines with effect, cost and bonus per level – including which lines only become visible through other progress.
⚔️
Units
All troop types and ships with attack, defence, cost, upkeep and their requirements.
🕵️
Diplomacy & espionage
How spy missions work and how detection and defence are calculated – including your own current values.
🤝
Alliances
Alliance research, alliance buildings, treasury, power radius and the rules for pacts and wars.
📲 Install the app (Android & iPhone)
Way of Citizen runs entirely in the browser - no app store needed. But you can pin it to your home screen like an app, with its own icon and no browser bar. Just like you may have already done.
🤖 Android (Chrome)
- Open wayofcitizen.de in Chrome and log in.
- Tap the three dots (⋮) top right and choose "Install app" or "Add to Home screen".
- Confirm - done! The icon now sits on your home screen and opens the game without a browser bar.
🍎 iPhone/iPad (Safari)
- Open wayofcitizen.de in Safari (not Chrome - on iOS this only works in Safari) and log in.
- Tap the Share icon at the bottom (a square with an arrow pointing up).
- Scroll down in the menu and tap "Add to Home Screen", then "Add".
🔔 As an installed app you get push notifications (e.g. when attacked) even while the game isn't open - you need to allow them once in the settings.
💰 Resources at a glance
Your city manages five values, all visible at the top of the game header - population, food, and water additionally show their current limit.
👥 Citizens
Grows automatically, capped by the housing capacity of your residential buildings.
💰 Gold
Your main currency - for buildings, troops, and research. No cap.
🌾 Food
Feeds your population (farms). If it runs out, you lose citizens. Storage is capped by your warehouse.
🔩 Steel
Needed for mechanized units (steel factory). No cap.
🚰 Water
Consumed by population and farms (well/desalination plant). If it runs out, you lose citizens just like a famine. Storage is capped by your water tank.
🏗️ Buildings at a glance
All buildings with their base cost for level 1 (each further level costs 25% more) and what they do. Requirements show what you need to have built first.
| Name | Cost (Lvl. 1) | Requires | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🏛️ Town Hall | 💰 150 | none | Unlocks more buildings and speeds up construction. From level 20 you can found another city. |
| 🏠 Residential Building | 💰 100 | Town Hall 1 | Increases your city's maximum population. |
| 🏪 Trading House | 💰 200 | Town Hall 3, Residential Building 1 | A second income source alongside the farm, also supplies food and raises the marketplace trade capacity. Required for police station, customs office, city wall and marketplace. |
| 🌾 Farm | 💰 150 | Town Hall 2, Residential Building 1 | Produces food for your population – if food runs short, the city starves and loses citizens. |
| 🚔 Police Station | 💰 300 | Town Hall 3, Trading House 1, Residential Building 3 | Lowers your city's crime (−8%/level) and thereby the ongoing gold loss from crime damage. Note: each level costs 30 gold upkeep per hour – 1–2 levels are enough early on. |
| 🛍️ Marketplace | 💰 180 | Town Hall 4, Residential Building 3, Farm 5 | Raises trade capacity, lowers food consumption and pays out gold automatically every night, growing with its level. |
| 📋 Customs Office | 💰 250 | Town Hall 6, Police Station 3, Residential Building 2, Trading House 2 | A trade bonus, and from here on trains customs officers who intercept incoming enemy diplomats (spies) before their mission even begins. |
| 🏦 Tax Office | 💰 2,000 | Town Hall 10, Residential Building 8 | Collects your citizens' taxes: +5% tax income per level, up to +100% at level 20. The more residents, the more it pays off. Upkeep only 5 gold per level. |
| 🧱 City Wall | 💰 400 | Town Hall 5, Police Station 4, Farm 2, Trading House 3 | A defense bonus independent of the army. Applies to every attack on your city, no matter which troop types the attacker sends. Also intercepts incoming spies as a third line of defense. |
| 🔐 Vault | 💰 2,500 | Warehouse 5 | A safe reserve: 5,000 gold per level cannot be plundered, so 100,000 gold at level 20. Food, steel and water are protected by the warehouse. |
| 🛡️ Militia Depot | 💰 3,000 | Police Station 5, Residential Building 10 | Arms your citizens: in an attack, 1% of your residents per level help defend (1 defense each), so 20% at level 20. Those who fight can fall – losses like your troops. You can switch the militia on and off at any time. |
| 🎯 Artillery Position | 💰 6,000 | Construction Yard 10, Weapons Factory 3 | Shells approaching attackers: 1% of the attacking troops per level fall before the battle, so 20% at level 20. The fallen do not fight and do not return. It does not hit drones or commanders. |
| 📡 Early Warning Radar | 💰 3,000 | Construction Yard 4, Town Hall 10 | Shows what is heading for your city: first a rough troop count of approaching attacks, from level 5 the troop class, from level 10 the troops per class, from level 15 the exact units and at level 20 the balance of power. Also in the push notification. |
| 🏬 Warehouse | 💰 350 | Town Hall 7, City Wall 3 | Reduces how much gold and how many citizens a successful attacker loots (up to 30%). Also increases your food and steel storage. |
| ⛺ Barracks | 💰 500 | Town Hall 8, Police Station 2 | Raises the attack power of your entire army (+1%/level). |
| 🕊️ Embassy | 💰 800 | Town Hall 10, Residential Building 10 | Trains diplomats – officially for trade and peace, but usable as spies against other cities too (see the Embassy tab). |
| 🔬 Research Lab | 💰 800 | Town Hall 3 | Unlocks research in the first place – the higher the level, the more research lines are open. Every level additionally speeds up all research by 0.5%, in every city that has a lab. |
| 🏋️ Training Camp | 💰 250 | Town Hall 3 | A prerequisite for training army units. Muscle troops from level 1, Ranged from level 5, Recon from level 10. |
| 🏭 Military Factory | 💰 800 | Town Hall 6, Barracks 3 | A prerequisite for heavy troops. Siege from level 1, Sabotage from level 5. |
| ⚙️ Steel Mill | 💰 1,000 | Town Hall 14, Warehouse 6 | Produces steel - needed for mechanized units. Unlocks the Weapons Factory from level 3. |
| 🔫 Weapons Factory | 💰 2,000 | Steel Mill 3, Town Hall 17, Military Factory 1 | A prerequisite for mechanized units, which cost steel in addition to gold. |
| 🏢 Command Center | 💰 6,000 | Town Hall 10, Barracks 5 | A prerequisite for recruiting a commander. |
| 🛒 Equipment Shop | 💰 5,000 | Town Hall 12, Barracks 5 | Unlocks buying equipment for the commander (helmet, pistol, kevlar vest, steel-toe boots) – expensive, but with noticeable combat and carrying capacity bonuses. |
| 🗿 World Wonder | 💰 50,000 | Town Hall 20, Embassy 5, Weapons Factory 6 | A one-off prestige building for cities that have already built out everything else: +50% population growth, -50% crime growth, fixed income (750 gold + 500 food), +1 gold/citizen, -0.25 food consumption/citizen, and counts strongly toward alliance sector control (see the map). |
| 🚀 Rocket Launch Facility | 💰 3,400,000 | Town Hall 25, 🔬 Rocket Fuel 1 | Opens the space program: build the rocket engine here, then a rocket, and launch it. |
| 🔥 Rocket Engine | 💰 150,000 | Rocket Launch Facility 1 | Required for Rocket Science and building a rocket. |
| 🛰️ Rocket | 💰 500,000 | Rocket Launch Facility 1, Rocket Engine 1, 🔬 Rocket Science 2 | A launch-ready rocket - the launch itself costs additional gold and is a one-time event. |
| ☀️ Solar Collector | 💰 50,000 | none | Produces energy - needed by the Asteroid Mine, the Replicator, and the Teleporter. |
| ⚛️ Quantum Reactor | 💰 500,000 | Solar Collector 10, 🔬 Energy Technology 3 | Generates 100 energy per level, uses 30 cooling water per level and hour and needs 15 colonists per level. The Quantum Technology research raises its output by up to 50 %. |
| ⛏️ Asteroid Mine | 💰 80,000 | Solar Collector 1 | Mines large amounts of regular steel from asteroids – 120 steel per level and hour, consumes energy and needs 10 colonists per level as crew. Can be sent back to Earth by rocket. |
| 🍽️ Replicator | 💰 90,000 | Solar Collector 1, 🔬 Energy Technology 1 | Replicates food from pure energy – 80 food per level and hour, plus 8 colonists per level as crew. Makes the space station gradually independent of food deliveries from Earth. |
| 🏕️ Habitat | 💰 60,000 | none | Housing for colonists sent up by supply rocket. They are also the crew for every facility on the station – without a habitat nothing keeps running. |
| 🧬 Research Station | 💰 200,000 | Habitat 1 | The space station's research department: unlocks powerful space-exclusive research (e.g. Imperialism). Not to be confused with the Research Lab on Earth. Each level also speeds up all your research by 3% (up to +15%), provided the station is fully crewed. |
| 🌀 Teleporter | 💰 400,000 | 🔬 Energy Technology 3 | Instant resource transfer between the space station and ANY of your own cities - no more waiting for supply rockets, but costs energy per transfer. |
| 🛠️ Shipyard | 💰 250,000 | Solar Collector 3, Asteroid Mine 2 | Spaceships are built here. Needs energy and 15 colonists per level as crew; every level shortens ship build time by 2 %. |
| 🔆 Laser mining robot | 💰 70,000 | Solar Collector 4, Asteroid Mine 3, 🔬 Energy Technology 2 | Cuts gold out of the asteroids in orbit with lasers – 2,500 gold per level and hour. The coldest rocks carry ice that vaporises while cutting and is captured: 40 water per level and hour as a by-product. Needs 20 energy and 18 colonists per level. |
| 🛰️ Satellite centre | 💰 400,000 | Solar Collector 12, Research Station 3 | Scans the troop movements of foreign Earth cities – ongoing attacks, return flights and relocations. Every scan costs a lot of energy, every level extends the range on the world map and penetrates the enemy SDI defence better. Needs 25 energy and 10 colonists per level. |
| 🛡️ Deflector shield | 💰 150,000 | Solar Collector 5 | Energy shield around the space station – the counterpart to the city wall. Each level adds +40 defence for the whole station and +5 % chance to shoot down an incoming spy probe. Needs 20 energy and 12 colonists per level. |
| 📦 Inertial Storage | 💰 50,000 | none | Stores cargo floating freely in weightlessness instead of stacked – each level adds 1 million storage for food, steel AND water. Level 1 is already in place when the space station is built; further levels cost steel from the asteroid mine. |
| 🏛️ Colony Hub | 💰 400,000 | none | Heart of the colony, like the town hall on Earth: unlocks the planet buildings and shortens construction time with every level. Plus basic supply per level: 2,000 water, 150 food, 20 energy and 200,000 storage. |
| 🫧 Habitat Dome | 💰 250,000 | Colony Hub 1 | Pressurised domes for colonists: +400 housing per level. |
| 🥬 Hydroponic Garden | 💰 200,000 | Colony Hub 1 | Food without soil: 600 per level and hour, needs water and energy. |
| 🕳️ Deep Well | 💰 200,000 | Colony Hub 1 | Pumps water from the planet crust: 1,500 per level and hour. |
| ♨️ Geothermal Plant | 💰 300,000 | Colony Hub 2 | Energy from the planet's heat: 50 per level and hour for all consumers of the colony. |
| 🔥 Ore Smelter | 💰 350,000 | Colony Hub 3 | Smelts steel from planet rock: 400 per level and hour, needs energy. |
| ⛏️ Ore Drill | 💰 500,000 | Colony Hub 5 | Mines Mars ore like any other resource: 80 per level and hour, needs energy. |
| ⚗️ Transmutation Refinery | 💰 800,000 | Ore Drill 5 | Converts Mars ore into gold or steel free of charge – you set the ratio with the slider on the planet. Up to 150 ore per level and hour, needs energy. |
| 💹 Colonial Exchange | 💰 400,000 | Habitat Dome 5 | Trading floor of the colonists: 1,500 gold per level and hour. |
| 🏗️ Silo Complex | 💰 300,000 | Colony Hub 3 | Storage of the colony: 500,000 more room for food, steel and water per level. |
| 🛬 Spaceport | 💰 600,000 | Colony Hub 8 | Builds the known spaceships on the planet – counts like the station's shipyard for them. |
| 🛡️ Planetary Shield | 💰 500,000 | Spaceport 3 | Shield over the colony: +60 defence per level and +5% chance to shoot down enemy probes. Needs energy. |
| 🎯 Orbital Battery | 💰 700,000 | Planetary Shield 3 | Guns in orbit: +100 defence per level against attacks from space. Needs energy. |
| 🌍 Terraformer | 💰 2,000,000 | Colony Hub 10 | Makes new land usable: +6 building slots per level (uses one itself, so +5 net). Needs a lot of energy. |
| 🧫 Xeno Lab | 💰 1,000,000 | Colony Hub 6 | Studies alien life: +1% research speed per level for your whole empire. |
| 🚰 Well | 💰 120 | Town Hall 1 | Produces water for your population and your farms – if water runs short, cities lose citizens just like in a famine. |
| 💧 Water Tank | 💰 200 | Town Hall 1, Residential Building 1 | Increases water storage – otherwise, production beyond capacity is lost. |
| 🌊 Desalination Plant | 💰 900 | Town Hall 10, Warehouse 3, Water Tank 5, Marketplace 3 | A second water source alongside the well, for cities with high water demand. |
| 🛠️ Construction Yard | 💰 800 | Steel Mill 5 | Required for defense structures (barbed wire, NATO fence, tank trap, minefield). |
| 🔗 Barbed Wire Barrier | 💰 600 | Construction Yard 1 | First, cheapest defense line. Works like the city wall against every attack, regardless of your own army. |
| 🚫 NATO Fence | 💰 1,500 | Barbed Wire Barrier 5 | Reinforced security fence, builds on the Barbed Wire Barrier. Increases the defense bonus further (twice as much per level). |
| 🔺 Tank Trap | 💰 3,000 | NATO Fence 5 | Massive concrete barriers against armored attackers, builds on the NATO Fence. |
| 💣 Minefield | 💰 5,000 | Tank Trap 5 | Final and strongest defense line, builds on the Tank Trap. |
| 📡 SDI defence | 💰 25,000 | Construction Yard 3 | Ground-based radar defence against satellite reconnaissance from space. Each level gives a 6 % chance to block a scan of your troop movements (max. 90 %). From level 8 it can also trace the scanner and tell you who has been watching you. |
⚔️ Army & espionage units
Attack and defense units form a rock-paper-scissors cycle (Muscle beats Ranged, Ranged beats Scout, Scout beats Siege, Siege beats Sabotage, Sabotage beats Mechanized, Mechanized beats Muscle). Looters, Tankers, Trucks, and the Commander stand outside this cycle.
| Name | Class | Role | Cost (Lvl. 1) | Attack | Defense | Upkeep | Requires | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥊 Thug Squad |  Muskel |
Attack | 💰 500 + 🌾150 + 👥1 | 5 | 2 | 0.07/h | Training Camp 1 | Melee attacker. Overruns Ranged defenders. |
| 🛡️ Guard Militia | Muskel |
Defense | 💰 400 + 🌾120 + 👥1 | 2 | 4 | 0.06/h | Training Camp 1 | Basic city guard. |
| 🎯 Snipers |  Fernkampf |
Attack | 💰 700 + 🌾210 + 👥2 | 7 | 2 | 0.09/h | Training Camp 5, 🔬 Weapons Studies 5 | Hits Recon units from a distance before they can evade. |
| 🔭 Sharpshooter Post | Fernkampf |
Defense | 💰 550 + 🌾165 + 👥1 | 3 | 6 | 0.08/h | Training Camp 5, 🔬 Siege Tactics 5 | Defends from an elevated position. |
| 🏍️ Scouts |  Aufklärung |
Attack | 💰 600 + 🌾180 + 👥2 | 6 | 2 | 0.08/h | Training Camp 10, 🔬 Weapons Studies 10 | Fast enough to catch heavy siege troops by surprise. |
| 🚔 Border Patrol | Aufklärung |
Defense | 💰 500 + 🌾150 + 👥1 | 2 | 5 | 0.07/h | Training Camp 10, 🔬 Siege Tactics 10 | Mobile defense unit. |
| 🎒 Looters |  Plünderer |
Attack | 💰 800 + 🌾240 + 👥2 | 2 | 1 | 0.10/h | Training Camp 1, 🔬 Weapons Studies 1 | Weak combat power, but available early and with high carrying capacity for gold, food and steel from raided cities. Decent speed. |
| 💣 Demolition Experts |  Belagerung |
Attack | 💰 1,200 + 🌾360 + 👥3 | 11 | 4 | 0.15/h | Military Factory 1, 🔬 Weapons Studies 1 | Heavy weapons, overwhelms saboteurs through sheer force. |
| 🧱 Siege Breakers | Belagerung |
Defense | 💰 900 + 🌾270 + 👥2 | 4 | 9 | 0.13/h | Military Factory 1, 🔬 Siege Tactics 1 | Fortifications against heavy attacks. |
| 🥷 Saboteurs |  Sabotage |
Attack | 💰 900 + 🌾270 + 👥2 | 9 | 3 | 0.12/h | Military Factory 5, 🔬 Weapons Studies 5 | Infiltrates and cripples heavy cavalry. |
| 🕵️ Watch Guard | Sabotage |
Defense | 💰 750 + 🌾225 + 👥2 | 4 | 8 | 0.10/h | Military Factory 5, 🔬 Siege Tactics 5 | Detects intruders early. |
| 🚁 Attack Helicopter |  Mechanisiert |
Attack | 💰 1,500 + 🔩30 + 🌾450 + 👥4 | 14 | 5 | 0.19/h | Weapons Factory 1, 🔬 Weapons Studies 10 | Fast air support, breaks through Muscle formations in a storming assault. |
| 🚙 Armored Personnel Carrier | Mechanisiert |
Defense | 💰 1,100 + 🔩20 + 🌾330 + 👥3 | 6 | 12 | 0.15/h | Weapons Factory 1, 🔬 Siege Tactics 10 | Armored, mechanized defenders. |
| 🚛 Tanker Truck |  Tankwagen |
Attack | 💰 1,400 + 🌾420 + 👥4 | 3 | 2 | 0.18/h | Military Factory 1, 🔬 Weapons Studies 1 | Barely armed and no serious combat power, but relatively fast and with high water-carrying capacity – lets you loot water from the target city in an attack. Without a tanker truck in the raiding party, the target city's water stays untouched. |
| 🚚 Truck |  LKW |
Attack | 💰 1,700 + 🌾510 + 👥4 | 3 | 2 | 0.21/h | Military Factory 1, 🔬 Weapons Studies 1 | Weak combat stats, but fairly fast and with the highest cargo capacity in the fleet – perfect for hauling off large amounts of gold, food and steel when raiding enemy cities. |
| 🛩️ Tactical Combat Drone |  Drohne |
Attack | 💰 2,800 + 🔩150 + 🌾840 + 👥7 | 22 | 2 | 0.33/h | Weapons Factory 3, 🔬 Weapons Studies 15 | Unmanned, on target extremely fast and with the highest attack value in the game. In exchange it is useless on defense, has the highest upkeep of any unit and almost no cargo space - someone else has to haul the loot home. It sits outside the rock-paper-scissors system: it counters no class and is countered by none. |
| 🎖️ Commander |  Kommandant |
Attack | 💰 15,000 | 80 | 80 | 0.00/h | Command Center 1 | Elite lone fighter with high attack, defense, and carrying power. Sent on attacks like a regular troop or left home to defend. Dies for sure if his side loses a battle it was clearly outmatched in, and can then be revived cheaply. |
Espionage units
Diplomats (embassy) carry out covert missions against other cities; customs officers (customs office) intercept enemy diplomats entering your own border.
| Name | Cost (Lvl. 1) | Requires | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🕊️ Diplomat | 💰 800 | Embassy | Officially a diplomat, actually usable for espionage missions. |
| 🛂 Customs Officer | 💰 500 | Customs Office | Intercepts incoming enemy diplomats at the border. |
🎖️ The Commander
One-time recruitment: 15,000 gold (requires a command center).
Combat stats: 80 attack, 80 defense - far stronger than any regular unit.
If he dies in a clearly outmatched defeat, he can be revived for 3,000 gold (takes 6 hours). Purchased equipment is kept.
The commander is a single elite unit with high attack, defense, and carrying power. You can send him on an attack like a regular troop, or leave him home to defend. If his side loses a battle it was clearly outmatched in (less than half as strong as the opponent), he dies – he can then be revived cheaply (takes 6 hours). Equipment from the equipment shop is kept even after death.
Equipment
Purchasable in the equipment shop, affects the whole army, not just the commander.
| Name | Class | Cost (Lvl. 1) | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🪖 Helmet | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 12,000 | +1% defense for the entire army |
| 🪖 Bronze Helmet | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 0 | +1.8% defense for the entire army - exclusive meteor shower find |
| 🪖 Damned Helm | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 0 | +2.3% defense for the whole army - craftable from Damnation loot |
| 🪖 Paladin Helm | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 0 | +2.6% defense for the whole army - exclusive 1st place reward from the Paladin Event |
| 🪖 Space Helmet | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 0 | +3.2% defense for the whole army - traded for Mars ore in the Space Program |
| 🪖 Storm Hood | 🎩 Headgear | 💰 0 | +0.3% gold income and +0.8% build speed in your commander's city – from the Long Night |
| 🔫 Pistol | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 18,000 | +1.5% attack for the entire army |
| 🔫 Bronze Pistol | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 0 | +2.7% attack for the entire army - exclusive meteor shower find |
| 🔫 Damned Pistol | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 0 | +3.5% attack for the whole army - craftable from Damnation loot |
| 🔫 Paladin Pistol | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 0 | +4% attack for the whole army - exclusive 1st place reward from the Paladin Event |
| 🔫 Space Pistol | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 0 | +4.8% attack for the whole army - traded for Mars ore in the Space Program |
| 🔦 Storm Lantern | ⚔️ Weapons | 💰 0 | +0.7% gold income and +0.2% food – trade even at night |
| 🦺 Kevlar Vest | 🦺 Vest | 💰 22,500 | +2% defense for the entire army |
| 🦺 Bronze Kevlar Vest | 🦺 Vest | 💰 0 | +3.5% defense for the entire army - exclusive meteor shower find |
| 🦺 Damned Kevlar Vest | 🦺 Vest | 💰 0 | +4.5% defense for the whole army - craftable from Damnation loot |
| 🦺 Paladin Kevlar Vest | 🦺 Vest | 💰 0 | +5.2% defense for the whole army - exclusive 1st place reward from the Paladin Event |
| 🦺 Space Kevlar Vest | 🦺 Vest | 💰 0 | +6.2% defense for the whole army - traded for Mars ore in the Space Program |
| 🧥 Oilskin Coat | 🦺 Vest | 💰 0 | +0.5% gold, +0.3% food, +0.6% build speed – the balanced piece of the set |
| 🥾 Steel-Toe Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 9,000 | +300 carrying capacity |
| 🥾 Bronze Steel-Toe Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 0 | +550 carrying capacity - exclusive meteor shower find |
| 🥾 Damned Steel-Toe Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 0 | +700 carrying capacity - craftable from Damnation loot |
| 🥾 Paladin Steel-Toe Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 0 | +800 carrying capacity - exclusive 1st place reward from the Paladin Event |
| 🥾 Space Steel-Toe Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 0 | +1000 carrying capacity - traded for Mars ore in the Space Program |
| 🥾 Wading Boots | 👢 Shoes | 💰 0 | +0.2% food and +1.0% build speed – building even in the mud |
| 🎒 Army Backpack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 15,000 | +500 carrying capacity |
| 🎒 Bronze Army Backpack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 0 | +900 carrying capacity - exclusive meteor shower find |
| 🎒 Damned Army Backpack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 0 | +1150 carrying capacity - craftable from Damnation loot |
| 🎒 Paladin Army Backpack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 0 | +1300 carrying capacity - exclusive 1st place reward from the Paladin Event |
| 🎒 Space Army Backpack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 0 | +1600 carrying capacity - traded for Mars ore in the Space Program |
| 🎒 Emergency Ration Pack | 🎒 Backpack | 💰 0 | +1.0% gold, +0.3% food, +0.6% build speed – the strongest single piece |
| 👑 Crown of the Damned | 📦 Miscellaneous | 💰 0 | +2% attack AND +2% defense for the whole army - exclusive single item, craftable only from Shards of the Damned Crown (top 3 in the world boss ranking) |
⚙️ Game mechanics
An overview of game mechanics that don't fit neatly into a table.
🛡️ Beginner protection
New players are automatically protected from attacks and espionage for 3 days. The protection only ends if you attack or spy on someone yourself - you have to confirm that explicitly first.
🏖️ Vacation mode
Activatable in Settings: 14 days of protection from attacks and espionage, but you can't attack or spy on anyone yourself during that time either. Usable up to 2x per year, expires on its own, no early deactivation.
🏛️ Tax rates
5 adjustable tax tiers (Economy tab): higher taxes bring in more gold but raise crime faster and slow population inflow. Lower taxes bring in less gold but keep crime down and boost inflow. Basis: 1 gold per hour for every 5 residents (before city size and tax tier). Customs office (+1% per level) and tax office (+5% per level) raise tax income further. Residents also boost trade – how much each resident brings you in total is shown in the Economy tab.
⚠️ Crime & emigration
At 70% crime you get a warning, at 80% population actively starts emigrating instead of just growing more slowly. A sufficiently developed police station works existing crime back down, proportionally: high values drop quickly, the last few points take longer. Lower taxes and the right research help on top. The surcharge from high taxes deliberately cannot be offset by police - there, crime settles at a level that rises with your population, until you lower the taxes again. A small town copes with high taxes far better than a metropolis.
🏗️ Build queue & finishing for free
Each city builds several buildings at once (premium adds slots), defence structures use their own queue. When a construction or demolition order has less than 60 seconds left, a second button appears next to "Cancel": "Finish for free". It completes the order right away — no gold, no items, no premium, you simply skip waiting out the last minute. The button only shows up during that last minute and disappears afterwards; it deliberately sits well apart from "Cancel" so you do not hit the wrong one.
👑 Empire Overview (Premium)
If you run several cities, this page shows everything at once: the economy and stockpiles of each city, which building, defense and training queues are currently free, your total army, units on the move, and everything waiting to be claimed. Everything is linked so you never have to click through your cities one by one. The overview only shows and links - it grants no gameplay advantage, it saves clicks. It can be unlocked by purchasing a Premium account.
🌍 More features
Way of Citizen has a lot more to offer:
💰
Real-Time Economy
Gold, food and steel accrue minute by minute instead of just once an hour – your city produces around the clock, even while you're offline.
⚔️
Rock-Paper-Scissors Army
6 troop classes counter each other in a circle: Muscle beats Ranged, Ranged beats Recon, and so on – smart composition beats raw troop numbers.
🕊️
Espionage & Diplomacy
Diplomats spy, sabotage and steal in enemy cities – undetected, or with consequences if the enemy's customs officers catch them at the border.
🤝
Alliances
Team up with other players, run joint research, defend sectors on the world map, and bail each other out with gold.
🗺️
Interactive World Map
A zoomable world map with size-scaled cities – find targets, plan attacks with real travel time, and defend your territory.
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Research Tree
10 research lines with up to 20 levels improve trade, growth, build speed, defense, water and food consumption and more – permanent bonuses that make your city and army stronger over the long run.
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Marketplace
Trade gold, food and steel directly with the state or on the open market with other players – at fair, dynamic rates.
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Rankings & Seasons
Measure yourself against every player in seasonal rankings and secure your spot at the top.
On top of that: private messages & battle reports, daily quests and achievements with rewards, a war room for coordinated alliance attacks, a referral program with a premium reward for you and your friends, an optional premium subscription for convenience features, and a support ticket system for issues.