The campaign: four seasons
Four seasons of one continuous war, about 14 story operations reached in the order you choose, several endings, and Valley Mode when the story is done.
The campaign follows Tilly, her crew and Old Marta through four seasons of the same war in the Lowmarch. It takes about 10 to 15 hours. Each season is a chapter, but nothing is reset between them: the valley you leave in autumn is the valley you come back to in summer, with every crater and ruin still in it. See One continuous war.
Four chapters
| Season | Chapter | What it brings in | The story |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn | Dusting off Marta | Aiming, the firing table, bracketing, spotters, fog of war | Tilly arrives; the front is about to break. |
| Winter | The Long Line | Supply, depots, digs, smoke, recon planes, your first move to a new siding | Cold, short days; letters from the villages behind the lines. |
| Spring | Two Rivers | The third army, sound-ranging that hunts you, counter-battery duels | The Mustard Company enters; old friendships are tested. |
| Summer | The Last Shell | Night fighting, star shells, special ammunition | Peace talks begin; the final choice. |
Each chapter hands you a little more of the gun and the war around it. The handbook covers each part on its own page: Ballistics and the firing table, Fog of war, Supply, Digging a new line, Exposure and moving the gun, Finding enemy guns, The three armies and Shells.
How a season runs
Each season opens about three or four story operations at fixed places in the valley, about 14 across the whole campaign. Officer requests appear wherever the front is active. You reach all of them by rail, in the order you choose. The season ends when its key operations are done, while the war carries on everywhere else.
When a season turns, its title card appears over the live world, and the war does not stop for it. If it turned while you were away, you see it when you come back. The land turns with it: ochre fields and a low golden sun in autumn, snow and blue shadows in winter, flowering orchards and rain in spring, dry yellow fields and star shells in summer. See Seasons and weather.
In single player the story also drives the wider war: story beats move the front.
Places can be lost
The war does not wait for you, so the place of a story operation can fall while Marta is somewhere else. The story never dead-ends. A lost operation turns into a written variant at a nearby place, and the ruins stay on the map. If your side takes the place back later, a short aftermath can follow. See Operations and requests and Letters.
How it ends
There are several endings. Which one you reach is shaped by how the war went and by how you fought it. Restraint and mercy count as much as accuracy. The handbook leaves the rest for you to find.
Valley Mode
After the campaign, Valley Mode keeps the valley's war running with no end. You can also start a new valley from a seed, and share that seed with other players. It is a sandbox for The shot, with no story pressure. Simulated gunners on both sides push the fronts, so the war map keeps moving while you play.