Getting Started
Your Role
Section titled “Your Role”You are the manager of Wayward Crown. You cannot directly control any adventurer’s movement or attacks — they act autonomously based on their personality, needs, and current state.
What you can do:
- Place bounty flags to attract adventurers to specific locations with gold rewards
- Construct buildings to recruit specific classes and provide equipment and resting places
- Research skills at the Library to strengthen all adventurers
- Manage the economy to keep income and expenses balanced so the guild stays operational
Your First Game
Section titled “Your First Game”1. Initial Construction
Section titled “1. Initial Construction”You start the game with 1,500 gold and a castle. Build in this order:
- Barracks (150g) — Recruits warriors, your most basic fighting force
- Market (300g) — Provides a steady tax income
- Inn (120g) — Lets injured adventurers rest and recover HP
- Guard Post (120g) — Recruits guards to patrol and protect buildings
2. Post Bounties
Section titled “2. Post Bounties”Click the bounty button on the left panel to place flags on the map:
- Explore Bounty — Reveals the Fog of War and discovers new areas
- Kill Bounty — Sends adventurers to eliminate a designated target
- Defend Bounty — Assigns adventurers to patrol and guard one of your buildings or the Castle
3. Observe and Adapt
Section titled “3. Observe and Adapt”Adventurers will automatically:
- Buy potions and equipment from shops near the castle
- Accept bounties that match their personality
- Engage enemies in combat when encountered
- Return to rest when their HP is low
- Explore unknown areas and loot treasure chests
4. Respond to Threats
Section titled “4. Respond to Threats”As the game progresses, various random events will occur:
- Monster Invasion: A large wave of enemies attacks the castle
- Blood Moon: Enemy attack power increases
- Dragon Nest: A dragon nest appears in the distance and must be destroyed
Make sure you have enough fighters and arrow towers to defend!
Economic Management
Section titled “Economic Management”Income Sources
Section titled “Income Sources”| Source | Amount | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Market income | 30g × Market level | Every 72 seconds of game time |
| Tax | 20% of what adventurers spend or earn | When adventurers buy, study, kill or open chests |
Taxes and market income wait in the building’s till until a tax collector carries them to the castle.
Major Expenses
Section titled “Major Expenses”| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Building construction | 0 – 300g (each extra copy of a type costs 50% more) |
| Building upgrades | 140 – 600g |
| Bounty rewards | Custom (default 200g) |
| Skill research | 150 – 900g |
Difficulty Settings
Section titled “Difficulty Settings”You can adjust the following when starting a new game:
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enemy ratio | Number of enemies per adventurer | 2 |
| Enemy HP multiplier | Enemy HP multiplier | 1.0x |
| Gold multiplier | Gold earning multiplier | 1.0x |
| Enemy strongholds | Number of enemy strongholds on the map | 3 |
| Map size | Map edge length (250 – 1000) | 1000 |
| Sandbox stronghold race | Restrict generated strongholds to one race | Any |
| Sandbox difficulty | Easy, normal or hard: one raider fewer or two more in every lair raid | Normal |
| Boss challenge | Chief Gnashfang comes once, after 20 minutes | Off |
Easy and hard never change enemy health: easy takes one raider off every lair raid and hard adds two; on a campaign level, chosen on its mission screen, a scripted wave is also 75% or 125% of its size and the level starts with 125% or 85% of its gold. With no guild left and no gold for one, the crown makes up the difference (at most once every five minutes). Difficulty also sets how long the kingdom has to prepare for the pressures it brings on itself, both the quiet start and the warning before a pack comes: 125% of the usual time on easy, 80% on hard. The warning always comes.
Controls
Section titled “Controls”| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Scroll wheel | Zoom the map |
| Right-click drag | Pan the camera |
| Left-click an entity | View detailed info |
| Left-click the map | Place a building / bounty |
| Left-click drag | Draw a road (with the road tool) |
| Right-click without dragging | Open the bounty menu |
| Space | Pause / resume |
| 1 / 2 / 3 | Game speed (also resumes a paused game) |
| Esc | Cancel building or bounty placement; otherwise open the game menu (save, load, settings, restart level, main menu) |
| Shift + left-click | Place a building and keep it selected |
| Double-click the map | Post the bounty that fits what is there |
| Ctrl+S / Ctrl+O | Save / load the game |
| Click the minimap | Jump to that location |
| Home | Show the castle |
| P | The castle paths window (on maps with castle paths) |
| K / C | The kingdom overview / the chronicle |
| L | The rolls: every hero, guild, work and building’s custom, with filters |
| M | The map’s layers: supply, gold on its way, works, known threats, spell reach |
| Click a pop-up about a place | Show that place |
| Click the gold | Open the kingdom overview |
| F | Search the build menu |
| Q / W | Arm the first / second royal spell |
| A / S / D / G / H | Take up a bounty type, in the order the panel lists them (the same key again puts it away) |
| B | Take up the building last placed again |
| F6, then Tab | Take the keyboard into the next panel and walk its controls (Esc goes back to the map) |
Every key above but Esc can be changed under Settings > Keys; a key given to two actions works for the first in the list, and the settings say so; a key already in use is refused. A keypad digit counts as the digit. A key held down acts once.
A short hint comes the first time something new can be done: a site, a till to empty, a flag nobody takes, a castle ready to rise, a path to take, a speciality to choose, a spell ready. Each comes once, goes to the chronicle so it can be read again, the advisor setting silences its pop-up, and Settings > Show the hints again lets them all come back. Later ones come with the systems they belong to: the map’s layers once a lair is known, the crew’s order of work when works queue up, gold held up, a pressure the kingdom has brought on itself, a hero whose guild is gone, a hero thinking of leaving.