The Campaign Map
The campaign map represents the world of Icario. It consists of a large hex grid of provinces of varying size. These are connected together directly, not implicitly - just because two provinces are adjacent doesn't mean you can move between them unless a traversible connection exists. This guide will cover using the map and strategy - which ground is worth taking, where your armies can actually go, and what you can and can't see coming.
Provinces and footprints
The map is made of provinces (territories). Each has a footprint of one to three hexes, so provinces come in different sizes. Larger provinces are more valuable: a province's resource output, industry and defensive strength are all a linear function of its size, so a fat three-cell province is worth roughly three times a lone single-cell one - and is defended that much more heavily when you try to conquer it.
The connection graph
Provinces are joined by connections, not by simply touching on the map. Two provinces sitting side by side are only neighbours if a link is drawn between them. Armies and sightlines travel only along these links.
The map is designed so that every capitol can reach every other - there are no marooned islands - with plenty of extra links on top, and every capitol gets at least four connections of its own. When you plan a march or judge a threat, trace the links, not the raw distance. A province hexes connections away with no link between you might be further away than one across the map that you're wired straight into.
Terrain and affinity
Every province has a terrain type, elevation, and resource affinity - how rich its ground is in metal or ichor. Affinity is where your raw income comes from: the more a province leans toward a resource, the more of it you collect each turn from holding it (see Economy & Production). Some provinces also carry an inherent industry rating (how fast it can build and produce) and/or a science base.
Terrain isn't just economic flavour - it decides what you can build there (a metal-rich seam is needed for a mine, high ground for certain structures; see Buildings) and it shapes the battlefield if a fight breaks out on that hex. The battle-scale meaning of terrain and elevation is covered in Terrain & Environment.
Capitols
Your capitol is your home province and the heart of the whole game - holding your original capitol is required for the default victory condition, and losing it shuts your economy down (see the overview). Capitols are handed a strong opening position: each has a full three-hex footprint, and each is guaranteed at least two small single-hex provinces right on its doorstep - easy first conquests to expand into.
Because the graph gives every capitol four or more connections, you always have several directions to grow and several you must watch. A capitol is never a dead end.
Gem deposits
Some provinces hold a gem deposit, drawn as a tinted diamond on the map. Deposits are rare and valuable: holding one feeds a slow income of that gem type into your inventory each turn - which a Gem Mine built on the province multiplies several times over. Gems are the only way to field Icaroids carrying certain powerful abilities (the full economics are in Economy & Production; what gems actually do is in the glyphs guide).
Deposits are visible on the map no matter your fog level - they're marked strategic targets, so everyone can see where the gems are. Expect them to be contested.
Strategic fog of war
You don't see the whole map. Provinces you have sight of are shown live; the rest are dim or hidden. Strategic sight spreads out from what you own along the connection graph - you see your provinces and the ones a hop or two away along your links - and certain sensor buildings (watchtowers, sensor webs, spires) extend that reach further, some revealing full detail and some only a partial outline.
Fog hides more than terrain. Enemy army sizes are withheld from you entirely: you can see that a hostile force is present and its rough size, but never its exact headcount - only your own armies report their true numbers. Pushing your sight forward with sensor structures is worth real investment on a front where you suspect an incoming attack. This is the strategic cousin of battlefield vision and detection.
Reading the board
Put together, the map can dictate the best place to engage an enemy: defend big provinces and chokepoints, attack or trade small ones, and solidify control over your prized gem deposits. Whatever you do, don't lose your capitol! Next, consider reading up on the Armies & Movement to actually control and conquer territory.