Build the Ages Ancient China A river city builder · in the browser

Founding a city · open to all settlers

Ancient China

Found a walled city on the Yellow River. Moor river junks and barges, trade their cargo, tap your banks, send journeys out to chart new regions, and grow one river wharf into a great capital of the Silk Road. Then do it again on the next river.

Found a city How it plays
  • Plays in the browser
  • Saves on your device, or sign in to save across devices
  • No account
  • Free to play

Six systems · one river

What you do

  1. 01Riverfront

    Moor the traffic

    River junks and barges tie up at your wharves for provisions, repairs and a hot meal, and pay on departure. One wharf, one vessel at a time; every wharf needs an open side for the approach.

  2. 02Trade

    Trade the cargo

    Vessels sell what their home city exports and buy what it imports, caravan goods included. Set Buy and Sell per good, hold copper for a foundry, and ride the booms.

  3. 03Income

    Tap the banks

    Every building earns cash by the minute into its own bank. A glowing coin means it is ready: tap it and watch the cash fly home. Banks keep filling while you are away.

  4. 04Timers

    Build on the clock

    Buildings take real time to open, from ninety seconds to four hours by tier, and upgrades take longer still. Queue a build, go live your life, come back to a brighter city. Heavenly Favor skips the wait.

  5. 05Journeys

    Set out

    Send journeys from your wharves to any of eight regions. They come back with cargo, charts, Heavenly Favor and discoveries for the Chronicle: vessels, peoples, antiquities.

  6. 06Chinese world

    Claim new lands

    Clear rings of unclaimed land around your county hall as the city grows, then found the next city in one of eight regions: dry Guanzhong, the Zhongtiao mines, the bays of Qi, the waters of Jiangnan, the Dunhuang oasis. One purse across all of them.

There is always something on the fire

Come back for

  • Missions

    Fifty goals in seven chapters, three live at a time. Finish one, come back and claim the cash, Heavenly Favor and rank it pays.

  • Achievements

    Twenty-four lifetime achievements in bronze, silver and gold, from your first fifty vessels to the whole Chronicle, each tier paying Heavenly Favor.

  • Daily reward

    A seven-day streak of cash, crates and Heavenly Favor, with a banner token on day seven. Miss a day and you can mend the streak.

  • Civic rank

    Villager to Magistrate and on to Chancellor of the Realm. Ranks are earned across every region and grant real powers: collect all banks at once, a fourth mission, a bonus on every rate.

  • The Chronicle

    Twenty-four vessels, twelve peoples of the Chinese world and the Silk Road and sixteen antiquities to find, with a story for each. Completing a set pays Heavenly Favor and a title.

  • Territory

    Every city starts on a small plot. Buy the next ring of unclaimed land, wait for the workers to clear it, and the city grows outward, ring by ring, in every region.

Unlocked by renown and building count

Five tiers

  1. L1

    River Village

    One river wharf and 6,000 cash. Build a wharf, a storehouse and a well, then serve your first vessels.

  2. L2

    Market Town

    A courier relay, a walled market, courtyard houses and a great canal. Merchant houses begin to trust you, and the second region opens.

  3. L3

    Walled City

    An academy, a bank, a shop street and a boatyard. Residents run businesses; you lend cash at interest.

  4. L4

    Commandery Seat

    A spirit terrace and the Silk Road Gate. Long-haul tower junks arrive.

  5. L5

    Great Capital

    The end of the road: a capital the whole Silk Road passes through.

Premium currency

Heavenly Favor

Earned by missions, daily rewards and journeys, and offered in the Store. Spend it to skip a build, call a journey home, open a region before you have the charts, or dress the city in a region banner. The game is free to play; nothing in it needs Heavenly Favor.

Purchases use real money, handled securely by Stripe Checkout and charged in US dollars. Items arrive in your city as soon as the payment goes through.

Heavenly Favor every new founder starts with
20
Regions to unlock, with cash or Favor
8
Favor skips eight minutes of any build, upgrade or clearing
1
Things to find for the Chronicle
52

Keys · saves · screens

River notes

Controls

Space
Pause
0 · F
Fit the city, focus the selection
B S M F
Build, City, Market, Fleet
E G J R
Journeys, Chinese World, Missions, Chronicle
Wheel
Zoom the world; drag to pan
Esc
Close a panel, stop placing

Saves

Your profile saves to your browser every few seconds and when you leave the tab. Timers run on the clock, so builds finish and banks fill while you are gone.

One profile per browser, every region inside it. Export and import it from Settings, or sign in to keep a cloud save and pick up on another device. Without an account your save stays on your device.

Screens

Built for a desktop browser at 1280 px and wider with WebGL on; a landscape tablet works, and on a phone the panels fold into a bottom bar and sheets.

Current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Reduced-motion settings are honoured, and the effects tier steps down on slower machines.

Questions

What kind of game is this?

A calm river city builder. You start with one river wharf in the Zhou period and grow a city over weeks of short visits. Timers run on the real clock, so it keeps working while you are away.

Is it free?

Yes. Every building, region, mission and achievement can be reached with cash and patience. Heavenly Favor can also be bought with real money in the Store to skip waits; prices are shown in US dollars before you pay.

Do I need an account?

No. Your city saves in your browser. Sign in only if you want a cloud save on more than one device.

How true to history is it?

The places, trade goods, buildings and peoples are real, and the buildings and titles are drawn from the Chinese world between the Zhou and Han dynasties, about 1000 BC to AD 200. Centuries are compressed for play, and vessels reach every region, even the oases of the Silk Road, where real trade went by caravan. It is a game about rivers and trade, not a full portrait of ancient society, and it leaves out much of the harder history.

How is the Mandate of Heaven used?

The Mandate of Heaven is the old idea that a government holds power only while it governs well. In the game it is a score raised by how you answer small omens. Heavenly Favor is the name of a game currency, and nothing in the game makes light of anyone's beliefs.

Who are the peoples in the Chronicle?

Real cultures of the Chinese world and the Silk Road, among them the Yue, the Xiongnu, the Sogdians, the people of Dian and Nanyue, and envoys of Gojoseon and Parthia. Each is written as a people with their own skills and history.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. On a phone the panels become sheets over a bottom bar, and the world pans by drag and zooms by pinch. A desktop screen shows more at once.

Ready to found a city

City name. Pick one on the title screen, or take the one the register hands you.

Found a city

Register AC-0000 will be assigned at the founding