---
title: Eagle Round Flow
description: How Eagle strategic rounds advance, including simultaneous player action.
---

<!--
Source map:
- Phase enum: src/main/protobuf/net/eagle0/eagle/common/round_phase.proto.
- Phase advancement: src/main/scala/net/eagle0/eagle/library/RoundPhaseAdvancer.scala.
- Command availability by phase: src/main/scala/net/eagle0/eagle/library/actions/availability/AvailableCommandsFactory.scala.
- Result visibility/filtering: src/main/scala/net/eagle0/eagle/library/ActionResultFilter.scala and src/main/scala/net/eagle0/eagle/library/util/view_filters/.
-->

Eagle is a simultaneous-turn strategy game. During a phase, every faction gets the chance to act in parallel. The game does not fully resolve the phase just because one player chooses a command; it waits until every required player choice has been made, then advances the phase and reveals the results each faction is allowed to know.

That means two things matter:

- Your orders are not a private single-player timeline. Other factions may be choosing their own commands at the same time.
- You do not automatically see every action in the world. You see your faction's results, your allies' visible results, and information your faction has earned through scouting, battle revelations, diplomacy, or province control.

## Round Shape

Most rounds follow this broad rhythm:

1. Upkeep and automatic world changes happen.
2. Vassals and players issue strategic commands.
3. Marching armies arrive, attacks are decided, and battles are requested.
4. Shardok battles resolve outside the strategic map.
5. Eagle applies battle results, aftermath choices, diplomacy, recon, and end-of-round changes.

Some phases are player-facing. Others are bookkeeping phases that advance automatically unless a special decision is needed.

## One Round Is One Month

The strategic date advances once per complete Eagle round, not once per command. A
command submitted during Player Commands belongs to the current month's round. The
server then continues through the remaining phases and starts the next round, whose
New Round processing advances the date by one month.

In a one-player game, the automatic phases may finish so quickly that it looks as
though the command itself advanced the month. If a decision or battle is pending,
the game remains in the same round and month until that work is complete.

## Phase Diagram

This diagram groups the detailed phases into their player-visible states:

```text
New Round and upkeep
        |
        v
Province movement and events
        |
        +----> Riot or recruitment decision? ----> wait for commands
        |
        v
Vassal Commands -> Player Commands --------------> wait for every required faction
        |
        v
Conquest setup -> Attack Decision -> Defense Decision
                                      |
                                      v
                           Battle Request and food use
                                      |
                                      v
                           Battle Resolution ----------> wait for all Shardok battles
                                      |
                                      v
                           Battle Aftermath -----------> wait for pending choices
                                      |
                                      v
                           Diplomacy Resolution -------> wait for pending replies
                                      |
                                      v
                              Recon Resolution
                                      |
                                      +-----------------> next month's New Round
```

"Wait" means the phase does not advance yet. The server may be waiting for your
choice, another faction's choice, or an external Shardok battle result.

## Automatic Upkeep

These phases usually advance without direct player input:

### New Round

The game starts a new strategic round. Provinces, heroes, factions, and long-running state are updated for the new date.

### Prisoner Exchange

The game resolves automatic prisoner exchange state.

### Province Events

Province events such as local problems or opportunities are processed.

### Forced Turn Back

Armies that must turn back do so before normal movement resolution.

### Province Move Resolution

Moving armies arrive at their destinations, supplies move, and incoming hostile groups are created where armies meet resistance.

### Hero Departures

The game checks affiliated heroes for [low-loyalty departure](/heroes/#loyalty-departure). Any hero with loyalty below 50 may leave at any time, and lower loyalty means a greater risk. A departing hero becomes an unaffiliated traveler in the same province and does not take the province's supplies.

### Unaffiliated Hero Actions

Unaffiliated heroes may move, appear, escape, or otherwise act without belonging to a faction.

### Hostile Army Setup

The game prepares hostile army groups before conquest or battle decisions.

### Uncontested Conquest

If an attacker reaches a province with no defending force, the conquest can resolve without a Shardok battle.

### Truce Turn Back

Armies affected by truces may turn back instead of fighting.

### Battle Request

Eagle creates Shardok battles for provinces where attackers and defenders must fight.

### Food Consumption

Armies consume food before or around battle handling.

### Battle Resolution

Eagle waits for outstanding Shardok battles to report results. If there are none, the phase advances automatically.

### Recon Resolution

Recon results are applied after the relevant strategic activity has completed.

## Player Decision Phases

These phases can pause until required players have submitted decisions.

### Handle Riot

If your province has a riot, you may need to decide how to respond before the round can continue.

### Please Recruit Me

Some unaffiliated heroes may ask to join a faction. The phase waits while available recruitment decisions remain.

### Vassal Commands

Vassals choose province actions for provinces they rule. Vassals lead provinces and make their own choices, so these commands can happen before the direct player command phase.

### Player Commands

This is the main strategic command phase. Each player acts for provinces and heroes they can command directly. Every player is acting within the same phase, so your command is submitted into a shared strategic moment rather than immediately revealing a global timeline.

See [Eagle commands](/commands/) for the command reference.

### Attack Decision

When an army reaches a hostile province, the attacking side may need to choose whether to attack.

### Defense Decision

The defending side may need to decide how to respond to an incoming attack.

### Battle Aftermath

After Shardok results return to Eagle, winners may need to decide what happens to conquered provinces, captured heroes, or multiple allied claimants.

### Diplomacy Resolution

Diplomatic offers are resolved after players choose how to answer them. Offers can be accepted, rejected, invalidated, or lead to consequences such as imprisonment.

## Simultaneous Information

For a focused explanation of public, hidden, and potentially stale observations, see [Information and Recon](/concepts/information-and-recon/).

The important habit is to think in phases, not in a fully visible turn order.

If two factions both issue orders during Player Commands, those orders belong to the same command phase. When the phase ends, each faction receives the filtered results it is allowed to observe. Your own actions are visible to you. Allied and nearby events may be visible depending on game state. Enemy actions may be hidden until scouts, battles, diplomacy, or later consequences reveal them.

This is why Eagle often feels less like "I move, then you move" and more like issuing orders into a living world, then discovering what happened.
