The four eras

Each era is its own world with its own cities and ladder. The core game is the same in all four; each era adds its own twists.

Era I · Before the Flag

Pre-colonial kingdoms

Rule a real kingdom or federation from its founding century to the Scramble for Africa. Ten peoples: Kingdom of Benin, Kingdom of Lagos, Oyo Empire, Sokoto Caliphate, Old Calabar, Nri and the Igbo towns, The Delta houses, Kano, Kanem–Bornu, Tiv.

• Five ages from the founding century to the Scramble for Africa, up to town-centre level 15.
• Raiders and boss armies from each people’s real neighbours and rivals; colonial columns at the end.
• The Scramble ends with sign or stand.
• Lose Approval for three days and the kingmakers crown someone else.

Era II · Independence

1960–1970

Eight cities from independence night through the war. Grow your city, and when the war comes, win four of its seven battles: for independence in the south, for one nation in the north. Eight cities: Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Calabar.

• The war comes with the city’s growth, not a clock. From town-centre level 4 the council warns that it is coming; then a battle comes each time the town centre reaches a new level from 5 to 11: 7 battles, each named after a real place near the city.
• Win 4 and you win the war. In the south that makes your city its own republic; in the north it holds the nation together.
• It is fiction set in real places: no real leader appears, and neither side is painted as the villain. What really happened is told when it ends.
• Like Era III, it runs on the present-day rules (power, officials instead of chiefs) and ends at town-centre level 12.

Era III · Khaki to Agbada

1999–2010

Ten cities from the return of democracy in 1999: NEPA taking the light, the first mobile phones, the bank shake-up, the creeks and the amnesty. The era ends at town-centre level 12. Ten cities: Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Warri, Calabar, Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri.

• Present-day rules (power, churches and mosques, elections) without the future: no light rail, drones, solar roofs, space centre or nuclear programme, and no GDP ladder or world stage.
• Warri, Onitsha and Aba are run by a council chairman rather than a governor; Abuja by a minister.

Era IV · Naija Now

The present day

Ten cities in a hard decade. Turn it around: rail, ports, power, tech hubs, then the world stage. Ten cities: Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna, Benin City, Calabar, Aba.

• Power: every building draws power; build and upgrade power stations or face blackouts.
• Faith: churches and mosques both count; keep them roughly balanced.
• Elections every four real weeks: Approval 45 or more to win. If Trust stays under 20 for three days, the House of Assembly impeaches you.
• Statecraft: levies on imports and exports, diplomats, and a nuclear programme that brings clean power, then sanctions and talks at the UN, and finally a deterrent that makes raiders think twice. It never strikes anyone.
• The world stage: your city’s GDP climbs past real countries, and milestones open as it grows: host the Africa Cup of Nations, chair ECOWAS, host an African Union summit, launch a satellite, invitation to the G20, fly an astronaut, seat on the UN Security Council, land on the Moon.
• Megaprojects at levels 13 to 15: three fictional wonders of the future.
• Raids are by area boys with bottles, sticks and Molotov cocktails, and the police arrest them into vans.