Frequently Asked Questions
What is Isotoria?
Isotoria is a turn based strategy game where you build and grow a country.
How do turns work?
You store turns on your dashboard. You spend them when you press Play or Explore Land.
New countries start with 100 turns. After that, turns are added when you open the dashboard. They are not added in the background while you browse other pages. Visit the dashboard to collect new turns.
By default, you gain 1 turn every 30 minutes of real time. You can store up to 200 turns. Once you hit that cap, extra time does not bank until you spend some turns.
Only full 30 minute blocks count. If 29 minutes have passed since your last turn was added, you get 0 turns on that visit. That time is not lost. The clock keeps running from your last accrual until a full block is reached.
When turns are added, any leftover time beyond full 30 minute blocks does not carry over. For example, if 45 minutes have passed, you receive 1 turn and the timer restarts from that dashboard visit. The extra 15 minutes do not count toward your next turn.
What is the difference between Play and Explore Land?
Both buttons are on your dashboard. Each one uses the number in the Turns field (default is 1).
Play runs a full turn for your country. Your economy updates: cash, food, oil, tech, population, military training from factories, construction progress, and networth.
Explore Land only spends turns to find new land. It does not run your economy. You need enough stored turns or you will see an error.
After either action, you return to the dashboard with a success or error message.
How much land do I gain when I explore?
Each explore turn gives land based on how much land you already own.
When your land is low, you gain up to 6 land per explore turn. For every 2,500 land you already have, each explore turn gives 1 less land. You always gain at least 1 land per explore turn.
Examples:
- 0 to 2,499 land: 6 land per explore turn
- 2,500 to 4,999 land: 5 land per explore turn
- 5,000 to 7,499 land: 4 land per explore turn
- 12,500 to 14,999 land: 1 land per explore turn
New land is added to your total land and to your unused land, which you can use to build.
How is cash income calculated?
Cash income is added each time you press Play. It comes from your buildings:
- Each enterprise zone gives 160 cash per turn
- Each residence gives 45 cash per turn
That total is multiplied by your government cash bonus and by a tech bonus. The tech bonus is 1 plus your tech points divided by 100,000. More tech means more cash over time.
Your government type changes the cash bonus. Democracy gives the largest cash bonus. Communism gives the smallest.
How is bank interest calculated?
Bank interest is also added each Play turn, after cash income is applied. It has two parts:
- 0.15% of the cash you have on hand at that moment in the turn
- 18 cash per bank building
Your turn summary groups cash income and bank interest together as one cash change.
How is food production calculated?
Each Play turn, your farms produce food. Each farm gives 120 food per turn before bonuses.
That amount is multiplied by your government food bonus and by a tech bonus. The food tech bonus is 1 plus your tech points divided by 200,000.
Your population and military also eat food each turn. If you produce less than you consume, your food stock drops. If food goes below zero, people can starve and your population can fall.
How is oil production calculated?
Each oil rig gives 30 oil per Play turn before bonuses. Oil also gets a tech bonus, so more tech means more oil from the same number of rigs. Government does not change oil production.
How are tech points calculated?
Each Play turn, each research lab gives 35 tech points before your government tech bonus is applied.
Technocracy gives the largest tech bonus. Fascism and dictatorship give smaller tech bonuses.
Tech points help your future cash income and food production. They do not speed up tech gain from labs.
How does population growth work?
Population changes each Play turn based on food and residences.
If you had a food surplus that turn, you grow based on residences. Each residence can add up to 18 people per turn, multiplied by your government growth bonus. Democracy gives the largest growth bonus.
If you had a food shortage that turn, you lose population equal to 8% of the shortage. For example, a shortage of 500 food can cost 40 people.
If your food stock goes negative, starvation can also cut population before growth is applied. Your population cannot fall below 1,000.
What is the difference between Train Units and Industrial Production Focus?
Both are on the Military page.
Train Units is an instant purchase. You pick a unit type, enter a quantity, and pay cash right away. Units are added immediately. Costs per unit:
- Troops: $110
- Turrets: $1,100
- Spies: $2,400
- Tanks: $2,900
- Jets: $3,500
Industrial Production Focus is a setting, not a purchase. You choose which unit type your industrial complexes should build. Each Play turn, your complexes train units of that focused type only. You need industrial complexes for this to matter. With at least one complex, you train max(1, complexes × 0.8) units per turn of the focused type.
Use Train Units when you need units now and have cash. Use Industrial Focus for steady unit output each time you play turns.
How does construction work?
On the Build and Destroy page, you can queue new buildings or destroy ones you already have.
When you queue a build, you pay cash and reserve land right away. The building is not usable yet. Construction only moves forward when you press Play on the dashboard. Explore does not advance construction.
Each building takes 1 Play turn. Jobs are processed in queue order. The oldest job starts first, and later jobs wait until earlier jobs are done. If you queue 20 farms, that job takes 20 turns to finish.
You can cancel a queued job to get a full cash refund and your reserved land back. Destroying a finished building is instant and frees land for new builds.
How is networth calculated?
Networth is your country score on the rankings page. It is recalculated at the end of each Play turn. Training units, exploring, building, and destroying do not update networth until you play turns again (or until a build completes during a play turn).
Networth is the sum of four parts:
Resources: Cash divided by 100, plus food divided by 50, plus oil divided by 35, plus tech divided by 20. Negative cash, food, or oil count as zero for this part.
Buildings: The total count of all seven building types (residences, enterprise zones, industrial complexes, research labs, farms, oil rigs, and banks) multiplied by 14. Land set aside for construction does not count until the build finishes.
Military: Troops count as 1 point each. Jets count as 7. Turrets count as 5. Tanks count as 8. Spies count as 6.
Land: Your total land multiplied by 6.
Rankings sort by networth first. Land is the tiebreaker.
How do I grow my country?
Play turns to produce resources. Explore when you need more land. Build structures on your land. Set an industrial production focus. Trade on the markets when you need resources. Train military units when you need strength. Each choice affects your income and networth.
Where do I buy and sell?
The private market trades with the government at fixed rates. The public market lets you list resources for other players and buy their listings.
Is the game free?
Yes. You can create an account and play.