In the annual specials, the game takes place on a map of Ancient Europe divided into  87 regions.  In 2021 special, Tides of Conquest, Victory Points are stored in villages and can be gained or lost. 

Regions, settling and control

Each of 87 independent regions can be controlled by an alliance, giving its villages in the region Victory Points over time. In addition, the alliance members can use the ancient power (artefact) of the region.   

So, how can you take over a region? First, it has to be unlocked. This happens once the top 5 biggest alliances in the region have at least 4,000 population altogether in the region. The population of other alliances, players without an alliance, on vacation or banned, as well as Natar villages, is not taken into account. Once the region is unlocked, it cannot be locked again; however, if the population drops below 4k, then the region stops producing victory points, and the regional power will deactivate.

It is only possible to settle new villages in regions that are unlocked or are neighbouring unlocked regions. The only exception to this rule are a few regions near the center of the world, where new players are spawned and where it is always possible to settle new villages. 

If one alliance manage to have over 50% of the population in the region (only the top 5 alliance villages in the region are counted), the alliance will start taking control of the region. This takes 24 hours on regular servers, 16 hours on x2 and 12 on x3 speed. If they manage to hold the majority, they will control the region.

Information about the population of the region and the top 5 alliance shares is shown in the Statistics  > Region tab and in any Embassy located in the region. Keep in mind that the column "Regional population" in the statistics shows the population of the top 1 alliance in the region, not the total population in the region.

Here's an overview of regional mechanics:

Ancient powers and victory points

The alliance controlling region gets access to the ancient power of the region if it has one. Any player of that alliance may activate the ancient power. In order to do it, the player needs to have a Treasury at level 10 (for small, village-related powers) or 20 (for account-related powers). You can activate the power in any village; it doesn't have to be located in the same region as the power.  

You can activate one power in each village, but only one of the powers can be used for the whole account. Once activated, the power lasts for 24 hours (regardless of server speed); afterwards, it can be reactivated if the alliance still has access to the power. One activation is free each day; each additional activation costs 5 (for village powers) or 10 (for account powers) Gold.

The power can also be deactivated under the following circumstances:

• If you quit your alliance
• If you lost the village where it was activated
• If your alliance lost access to the power

Ancient powers, although very useful, are not the only benefit of controlling regions. If you want to win, your alliance needs to gather victory points. Every day an alliance controls a region, it earns victory points. The amount depends on the region:  

• Unique power – 400 points per day 
• Big power – 1200 points per day 
• Small power – 1000 points per day 
• No power – 2000 or 4000 points per day 

If the regional population drops below 4000, the region stops producing VP and doesn't offer the regional power.

The region is still conquerable / unlocked/conquered/secured, the mechanics of conquering cooldowns is unaffected. The only change is that VP-production stops and the powers of that region are not visible in treasuries.

Example 1:

The region is unlocked but drops below 4000 population again

• While below 4000 population, an alliance achieves >50% regional control
• The conquer cooldown starts. Still the regional message of "too low population" is shown
• 4000 population is achieved again.
• The conquer cooldown is visible now.

Example 2:

• The region is unlocked.
• Alliance A conquered the region.
• Player B uses ancient power.
• Region drops below 4000 population.
• Alliance A do not get VP from that region, and the players cannot use the ancient power of that region.
• Player B still has ancient power active; it is not cancelled. He just cannot reactivate it after the effect runs out.
• Region emerges above 4000 population.
• Alliance A start to get VP production again and the alliance players can activate ancient powers again. 

Overview Map

Click the map to open bigger version of it.

 The map above shows the battlefield of annual special servers. It is ancient Europe, divided into regions. The map shows all regions colour-coded by their ancient power. Each power type is shown in a different colour, with slight differences between small, big and unique versions, for better readability. The map also notes the Victory Points production per day of each region.  

We have used short names for the ancient powers, here's an explanation of what they mean:

• Architect – stronger buildings
• Boots – faster troops
• Confusion – cranny + random aim
• Diet – less hungry troops
• Eyes – better spies
• Storage – great warehouse and great granary plans
• Trainer – faster troop training

See the details about ancient powers in the artefact effects article. The effects are the same, however Annual Special servers do not have an artefact of the fool (random) power.