Node Zone is a real-time online strategy game you play in your browser. Place cities to expand your territory, grow your nation with buildings, and switch between diplomacy and war as up to 32 nations (players, bots and city-states) race toward a victory condition. No install or sign-up needed.
Enter your name in the lobby (up to 16 characters).
To jump right in, press Quick play. It joins a waiting quick-play room or creates one. Quick play uses a medium map, 16 seats and 16 city-states, and starts automatically when full or after 2 minutes.
To choose the rules yourself, press Create custom game, or pick a waiting game from the list to join.
In the waiting room, choose your nation's color (32 colors) and pattern. The host sets the map size, max players, bot aggression and number of city-states, and can regenerate the map preview.
The match begins when the host presses "Start game". Empty seats are filled with bots.
Games in progress can be watched from "Games to watch" (you can't join a started game as a player).
Map
Max players
Max city-states
Small
8
8
Medium
16
16
Large
32
32
Bot aggression
Passive: focuses on expanding and building; rarely attacks unless far ahead.
Standard: expands, and attacks weak neighbors or neighbors busy fighting someone else.
Aggressive: keeps attacking neighbors from early on.
Each bot also has a personality — Settler, Merchant, General, Balanced or Pacifist — that changes what it builds and how it handles diplomacy.
2. Setup phase and your first city
The first 20 seconds are a setup phase with time frozen. Just click the map to place your first city for free. Click somewhere else to move it.
If you haven't placed a city when setup ends, you'll spectate that game. Pick your spot by terrain — coasts give more gold and research, plains grow troops faster. You start with 1,000 gold.
3. Three resources
Resource
Used for
Troops
Accumulate in each city and are used to march, attack and defend. Each city has a troop cap.
Gold
Placing cities, constructing buildings and launching missiles.
Research points
Research and perks.
The top bar shows your current amounts and how much they grow per second.
4. Cities and territory
The area within radius 300 of a city is its territory. Where territories overlap, the city placed first owns it.
Cities within 1,000 of each other are joined by links. Links can't cross sea or mountains. Troops march along links.
After your first city, new cities must link to one of your existing cities, and can't go where their territory would be under 40% of a full circle.
A city costs 500 × the number of cities you own (500 for the 2nd, 1,000 for the 3rd…) and takes 10 seconds to complete.
Land fully enclosed by your links becomes an enclave where other nations can't place cities.
Base city output
Max troops 100, troops +0.5/s, gold +5/s, research +3/s, fortification +0.25. Buildings add to this.
City level
Buildings raise a city's development. Each time it reaches 1,000, 2,000, 3,000… the city levels up, gaining max troops +100, troop growth +10%, gold +10%, research +10%, defense +0.1 and more. A captured city loses its development and its level is halved.
5. Terrain
A city's output is adjusted by the mix of terrain in its territory.
Terrain
Cities / buildings
Links
Effect
Plains
Yes
Pass
Troop growth ×1.5
Hills
Yes
Pass
Defense ×1.2
Mountains
No
Blocked
Defense ×1.5, troop growth ×0.8, gold ×0.8
Sea
No
Blocked
Gold ×2.0, research ×2.0 (coastal cities earn more)
6. Buildings
Buildings go inside your cities' territory. Every type costs the same: 400 × your total number of buildings after building it, so each one costs more than the last. Construction takes 5 seconds.
Key
Building
Effect
2
Factory
Gold +20/s
3
Trading post
Earns gold and research from neighboring cities and buildings; much more from other nations (0 while at war, ×2 under a non-aggression pact)
4
Barracks
Max troops +200, troops +1/s
5
Fort
Max troops +400, fortification +0.5
6
Lab
Research +20/s
7
Harbor
Gold +15/s, research +15/s, troops +0.5/s. Near the sea only; one per city
8
SAM turret
Intercepts missiles within radius 400 (10 s cooldown). Requires Rocketry
9
Missile silo
Lets you launch missiles (10 s cooldown). Requires Rocketry
0
Monument
Only available once you meet a victory condition; you win when it's complete (see Victory conditions)
SAM turrets and missile silos are priced separately at 5,000 × the number of those two you own, and take 20 seconds. A monument costs 100,000 and takes 120 seconds.
7. Controls
Input
Action
Drag
Pan the map
Mouse wheel
Zoom in / out
1–0
Select a city or building tool (same as the bottom bar). Press the same key again to cancel
Click (with a tool)
Place a city or building there
Click (a city)
Select it and open its details panel
Select a city, then click another
Send 50% of its troops
Shift + click
Send 100% of its troops
Right-click
Diplomacy menu on foreign territory; missile menu once you have Rocketry
Q / W
Select ballistic / nuclear missile, then click a target to launch
8. Marching and combat
Select one of your cities and click a linked city to send troops. If the destination can be reached through your own cities, troops take the shortest route there.
You can only attack a nation's cities while you are at war with it.
If the attacking troops exceed defending troops × the defense factor, you capture the city. The defense factor comes from terrain, the city and forts, and can be lowered with the Siegecraft research.
You take over the city, its territory and buildings, but each building may be destroyed in the fighting (forts 50%, others 25%).
Opposing armies that meet on a link fight on the spot.
9. Auto-offensive and garrisons
Select a city of a nation you're at war with and press "Auto-offensive on (name)". Your cities bordering that nation will keep sending troops at cities they judge they can take, and cities behind the front feed troops forward.
Each city keeps a garrison; troops above it are automatically moved to cities that are short. The garrison size is set automatically by what borders the city (100% next to an enemy at war, for example), or you can set the percentage yourself with "Set garrison" in the city panel. You can also exclude a city from automatic marches with "No auto-march from here".
10. Diplomacy
Right-click a foreign territory to open the diplomacy menu. You start at peace with everyone.
Action
Details
Declare war
Any time, without consent (not during a non-aggression pact). Trade with that nation from trading posts and harbors drops to 0.
Non-aggression pact
If accepted, neither side can declare war for 3 minutes, and trade between you doubles. You can propose an extension in the last 30 seconds.
Peace
Ends a war and starts a 3-minute non-aggression pact.
Proposals expire if not answered within 30 seconds. Incoming proposals appear at the bottom left. You can't make treaties with city-states (gray neutral nations) — you can only declare war on them.
11. Research
Open "Research" in the top bar and pick one of three random options with research points. The first costs 1,000 and each pick costs 1.1× the last. Owning many cities makes research and perks more expensive.
Research
Effect (per level)
⚡ March speed
March speed +50/s (max Lv9)
🔀 March lanes
+1 army at a time on one route (unlimited at Lv5)
💥 Siegecraft
When attacking, enemy fortification -5% (max Lv19)
🏙️ City expansion
Max troops +50 in all cities
🪖 Conscription
Troop growth +10%
💰 Economy
Gold output +10%
💡 Science
Research output +10%
🏗️ Architecture
Building cost -5% (max Lv19)
🧭 Surveying
City placement cost -10% (max Lv9)
Rocketry
Available any time, outside the draw. Lv1 (10,000) unlocks SAM turrets, missile silos and ballistic missiles; Lv2 (100,000) unlocks nuclear missiles
12. Perks
Perks are powerful traits that shape your strategy. They cost research points: 1,000 for the first, then ×10 for each one after. Pick one of three random cards; each card can be rerolled once. Perks can't be removed.
Perk
Main effect
Pirate
Coastal troop growth and defense up; harbor output ×2 (can't take with Bandit)
Bandit
Hills and mountains boost troops and defense, forts are stronger, and you can build on mountains
Raider
Capturing a city destroys all its buildings and gives you gold and research for them (can't take with War ethics)
War ethics
Captured cities keep their buildings and level
Citadel
City defense +0.5, max troops +200, gold +2/s per city and fort, forts half price
War economy
Barracks and forts produce gold and research based on nearby factories and labs (×2 at war)
Industrial espionage
Trading posts and harbors also produce research equal to half their gold
Mercenaries
Trading posts, harbors and factories add troops based on their gold output
Expansionist
City placement cost halved (can't take with Administrator)
Administrator
Building cost halved (except SAM turrets and missile silos)
Trading nation
Trading post output ×2
Grand lab
Lab output ×2; cities with a lab gain research and gold per building
Robot soldiers
Factories and labs add troops and max troops based on their output
Concentrated industry
The more factories in one city, the more each of them produces
Rocketeer
Rocketry, SAM turrets, missile silos and missiles all half price
Defensive doctrine
When war is declared on you: troop growth ×2 and defense +0.5 for 3 minutes. If you declare war: no gold or research for 3 minutes
Arms manufacture
Factories boost troop growth of barracks in the same city
Random perk
Gain a random perk, plus research output ×1.2
In game, open "Perks" in the top bar to see the exact effect of every perk.
13. Missiles
With Rocketry and a missile silo, right-click a target (or press Q / W and click) to launch a missile for gold. It launches from the silo nearest the target.
Type
Blast radius
Cost
Ballistic missile
100
10,000
Nuclear missile
600
100,000
Buildings in the blast are destroyed, cities lose troops based on their defense, and marching armies are wiped out. Your own cities and buildings are hit too.
Cities themselves survive and don't change hands — only marching troops can capture.
You can't fire where the blast would hit a nation you have a non-aggression pact with. Hitting a nation without a pact starts a war.
Missiles flying past an enemy SAM turret may be intercepted.
14. Victory conditions
The first nation to meet any one condition wins. Check your progress with "Victory conditions" in the top bar.
Condition
Details
Domination
Win the moment you own 80% of all cities on the map (including ones under construction and city-states). Not checked while there are fewer than 10 cities.
Science victory
Acquire 4 perks to unlock the monument; win when it's complete.
Tech monopoly victory
Own under 30% of all cities while producing more than "50% + your share of cities" of all research to unlock the monument; win when it's complete.
Market monopoly victory
The same as tech monopoly, but with gold output.
The moment you start a monument, every nation declares war on you and your pacts are cancelled. If the city holding the monument is captured, the monument is destroyed — so it comes down to holding out for 120 seconds. You can build only one.
15. Defeat and spectating
You're defeated when you have no completed cities left. Your rank and points are fixed at that moment, and you can choose to leave or keep spectating. Spectators can still pan the map and view the player list and city details.
16. Node points and the store
After a match you earn Node Points (NP) and Node Score (NS) for your rank, survival and achievements (such as winning without missiles, growing a large city, or never losing a city). Leaving mid-match earns nothing. In matches with bots, a multiplier (×0.5 or ×0.8) applies to NS only.
NP is spent in the store to unlock patterns.
NS only goes up and determines your place in the Ranking tab (top 100 shown).
The store sells patterns for NP (Stripes, Grid and Polka dots 50; Checker to Herringbone 100; Brick to Hexagons 200; Cat and Lion 500; animated patterns 1,000). Unlocked patterns can be chosen in the waiting room. Guests earn points too, but clearing your browser data may lose them.
17. FAQ
Can I play alone?
Yes. Create a custom game and start right away — the remaining seats fill with bots.
Can I play on a smartphone?
The game is designed for mouse and keyboard, so we recommend a desktop browser.
Can I join a game in progress?
Not as a player, but you can spectate it.
I can't earn enough gold.
Build factories first, or harbors if you're on the coast. Once you border other nations, add trading posts — a non-aggression pact doubles trade income.
I can't capture a city.
Cities on hills or with forts are hard to take. Build barracks for more troops, research Siegecraft, or break through weaker cities on the plains first.
Node Zone