One clock. Many coasts.

Every tile in Endtide is a real heightmap against the same rising sea. One global clock drives every battle; the only thing that changes is where the water comes from. Terrain is not a backdrop. It is the problem.

COASTthe default war

Coast

The sea on one front and land at your back. Water comes from the open edge and takes every connected cell below the waterline, so the war is a line you draw and defend: wall the low ground, hold the gaps, decide early which basin you are willing to lose.

A coastal tile, the sea flooding the low southern half
Coast. Pre-alpha capture.
ISLANDno retreat
An island tile ringed by rising water
Island. Pre-alpha capture.

Island

Every direction is a front. There is no inland to trade for time, so islands become ringwalls: a crest of stone all the way around, farms and habitats in the bowl, and a number you check every morning — how much freeboard is left.

Some islands can never be held. Those get domed, sealed, and kept: still producing, still yours, under the water line.

RIVERthe sea reaches inland

River

Inland is not safe. A river connected to the ocean rises with it: the sea is its base level, so as the global water climbs the river backs up, swells, and pushes down the valley in telegraphed surges. The flooding is directional and follows the channel.

Rivers earn a verb the coast never gets: you can channel and divert moving water, not just stand in front of it.

A river valley tile, water pushing down the channel
River. Pre-alpha capture.
FLOOD SIGNATURESeight ways to drown

Within each biome, sub-biomes reshape how the water arrives. Each one is a different geometry of trouble, and a different correct answer.

Fjord sub-biome terrain
Fjord. A deep cut between high walls. One narrow front, brutal depth.
Compartment coast sub-biome terrain
Compartment coast. Rocky spurs split the shore into rooms. Lose one, seal the next.
Barrier lagoon sub-biome terrain
Barrier lagoon. An outer bar takes the first hit. The lagoon behind decides if you did enough.
Volcanic high sub-biome terrain
Volcanic high. One steep cone. The heights are safe. The ring below is not.
Atoll sub-biome terrain
Atoll. A ring of almost nothing, with the sea on every side from the first minute.
Karst sub-biome terrain
Karst. Towers and sinkholes. The water comes up as much as it comes in.
Canyon sub-biome terrain
Canyon. The river in a slot. All of the push, none of the room.
Delta sub-biome terrain
Delta. Many mouths, many breaches. Channel it, or lose it everywhere at once.
FOUNDINGwhy this tile

Found with purpose

On the world map every founding is a strategic act, and the game asks you to say the quiet part out loud. A trade seat feeds the cities around it. A barrier anchor against a mountain range keeps the strategic flood out of the land behind it for as long as its walls hold. A science farm turns population into permanent research. And a dome candidate is a city you found knowing it will drown, because even sealed under the sea it keeps paying for the walls of the cities that will not.

The hex world map with founded cities glowing warm
The planet, early years. Every warm hex is a promise.

See it flood for yourself

One short letter when the playtest opens.