Season Passes for on chain grand strategy MMO Eternum go live on April 30th to mark the start of Season One, which comes with a host of new features for casual and hardcore gamers to enjoy.

What’s New in Eternum Season One?

Compared to the preview season, Season One brings plenty of new features for both new and returning Eternum players to enjoy. The new additions include:

  • Real-time battles
  • Upgraded Troop Tiers
  • Overhauled Physics
  • Autonomous NPCs
  • Simplified but In-depth Production for new players and veterans to make the most out of
  • Better infrastructure for scaling and upgraded graphics
  • Mobile companion app
  • Villages
  • Easier onboarding
  • Ability to run local version
  • Real economy

With the introduction of real-time battles, there is no more need to wait for any timers, as combat is now instantaneous. Players will need to quickly adapt and strategize now as troops consume stamina in combat, preventing you from spamming attacks and thus forcing you to tactically plan out your moves to achieve victory.

Upgraded troop tiers makes it so that there are 3 tiers per troop class, which now enables Archer, Knight, and Paladin T2 and T3 units to be up to 7 times more powerful than base units. Overhauled physics significantly shake up player strategies while bringing way more depth to gameplay, as now only one troop can exist on a hex at a time, so you can’t have troops go through other troops anymore. Units need to either go around or try to take out the enemies head on, allowing players to set up proper strong defenses. The terrain on which troops are on is also important, so you’ll want to place them on hexes with favorable biome types to gain a positional advantage.

Autonomous NPCs can now be found roaming the map as AI-powered mercenaries, bandits, and rogue factions. This addition means that you will now have non-scripted PvE encounters for more dynamic gameplay. These NPCs are powered by the Daydreams agent framework, and they might have some tokens and loot that you can take for yourself by successfully defeating them.

Production has been simplified thanks to the new Labor system, which adds in a new universal resource that can be converted into any resource. This make it easier for casual players to enjoy the game, but since the system is made to be deflationary, you’ll also find that it comes with a certain inefficiency loss, as converting stone to labor and then back to stone will give you less stone than you had before. The complex raw resource system is still included though for those who want to maximize production efficiency.

Access to the high-stakes title is now way less limited than before. In Season 0, more than 800 players were able to jump into the civilization-building MMO. For this new season though, the game’s infrastructure has been significantly improved to become capable of handling 20x more players than before, all while featuring upgraded graphics, faster loading and sync times, better UX, and “nostalgic charm” that are all said to help make this web3-powered game “the best-looking browser strategy game out there.”

If you’re not able to continue playing on PC but have some things you would still like to do, then the new companion app is here to help, as it lets you make certain key actions on the go.

For those who don’t want to jump straight into a Realm, say hello to Villages, an easier and less riskier way to start playing. By paying a small amount for a Village, you can start playing right away on your browser and not worry about having it destroyed by anyone, making it a simpler way for anyone to casually start playing.

Further improving accessibility are new wallet options such as MetaMask and Phantom. Next to easier onboarding, since this is an open source game, you can actually run a local version of the game client if you want to. This is said to improve performance and give players the ability to add mods and tools.

The start of Season One means the start of the game’s real economy, meaning you can earn but also lose $LORDS tokens. This means you might need to be quite a dedicated player and make wise decisions to fill up your token treasury. Or you might just have to be a little lucky. If you think you have what it takes to fight for a 1 million $LORDS tokens in this AI agent-infused on-chain world, then here is how you can get started.

How to Play to Earn in Eternum Season One

There are two ways to begin your play to earn journey in Eternum Season One: start with a Village, or play with a Realm for the full experience.

A Village gives you a quick and cheaper way to jump into the game to get an idea of how everything works. You can build your economy, raise one single army, and explore at your leisure. Since Villages can’t be conquered, you don’t have to worry about losing your place in this on-chain world, as you will always be able to continue playing with the same Village. While Villages can’t be conquered, they can be pillaged, so you’ll want to be ready for any attacks.

If you want the full experience though, you will want to get yourself a Realm, which is a city-state that can be leveled up to unlock various perks while allowing you to form and lead multiple armies. The catch however is that Realms can be conquered, so if yours gets destroyed, it’s gone forever, and so are all the resources and $LORDS tokens you may have stocked up. If you’re willing to take the risk for potential rewards, you can get a Realm at any point during the season. Each Realm may also differ in the unique resources it has, which could impact your tactics. According to the official X article, Realms can be bought on Realms.World.

On April 30th, Season Passes are set to go live, while “Settling Mode” begins on May 7th. Following these two phases is the “Empire Mode” on May 14th, which is when the Starknet-powered game officially begins. You will need to get a Season Pass after mint on Realms.World if you want to play with a Realm.