TECHNICAL MANUAL // 05

Spawn Groups

Painting starting positions and player count considerations

What Spawn Groups Do

Spawn groups define where each player starts a game. When a game begins, the server assigns each player to a spawn group and places their initial troops on that group’s territories. Without spawn groups, starting positions are randomly scattered across the map.

Spawn groups are optional. If you don’t define any, the server distributes territories randomly among players. This works fine for casual play, but well-designed spawn groups produce more balanced and replayable games.

Painting Spawns

The Spawns tab shows numbered group buttons (one per potential player). Tap a button to select that group, then double-tap territories on the canvas to assign them to the active group.

Each territory can belong to at most one spawn group. Assigning a territory to a new group removes it from the previous one. Nodes show their group number and colour when assigned.

Map canvas with territories coloured by spawn group — Four spawn groups painted on the map. Each group gets a distinct colour and number. Player 1 (blue) starts in the north, Player 2 (teal) in the west, etc.

The Spawns Panel

The panel shows:

Group buttons — numbered 0 through N, where N is set by your max player count. Tap to select a group for painting; tap again to deselect.
Assigned summary — lists which territories belong to each group, with node counts.
Clear Group — removes all territories from the selected group.
Clear All — removes all spawn assignments.

The spawns panel showing group buttons and assignment summary — The spawns panel. Default (8 groups) and limited (4 groups) configurations shown side by side.

Tips

Give each group the same number of territories. Starting with 3 territories while someone else starts with 5 is not a balanced game. Aim for equal group sizes.
Separate spawn groups geographically. Players who start adjacent to each other will fight immediately, before diplomacy has a chance to develop. Spread groups out so everyone has room to breathe.
Consider bonus zone access. Ideally, each spawn group is adjacent to at least one bonus zone they can contest. Starting far from any bonus creates a slow, frustrating opening.
Test with fewer players. If your map supports 2–6 players, make sure the spawn groups for a 2-player game are still well-separated. The server assigns groups from lowest to highest, so groups 0 and 1 are the first two used.