How Ironbarrow works while you are away: offline progress explained

The idea behind Ironbarrow is simple: you should not have to stare at the screen. The game runs on a server clock, so your city keeps working after you close the tab. Here is exactly what that means.

What keeps running

• Production: every building produces once per tick, and a tick is 5 seconds.
• Construction: upgrades in your queue keep counting down.
• Training: soldiers in your Barracks, Stables and Siege Workshop keep being trained.
• Marches: armies you sent out keep walking and fight when they arrive.

When you come back, you see a summary of everything you earned.

The 12 hour limit

Your city produces while you are away for up to 12 hours. After that, production pauses until you return. Premium removes the limit, so a Premium city keeps producing however long you are gone.

That limit shapes a good routine: check in morning and evening and you lose nothing.

Prepare before you leave

1. Queue your longest upgrades. You can line up 3 (6 with Premium).
2. Train a batch of troops, or set a few troop types to train automatically.
3. Check your food. Soldiers eat every tick, and if food runs out they desert. Make sure the farms can keep up.
4. Check your storage. When a resource reaches your storage limit, production of it stops. Upgrade the Warehouse first. Your capital has no limit, but colonies do.
5. Keep soldiers at home. Barbarian warbands can march on your capital while you are away, so walls and defenders matter. See barbarian camps and raids.

Why upgrades and training are the best use of time

Upgrades and training are paid in advance and run on their own, so they are the best thing to leave running overnight. Resources pile up in storage, and the return trip is mostly about spending them well.

A simple daily rhythm

• Morning: collect your daily reward, spend resources, queue long upgrades.
• Lunch: a quick check, claim quests, send workers out.
• Evening: train troops, plan attacks, talk to your alliance.
• Before bed: queue the longest upgrades and a big batch of troops.

New to the game? Start with the beginner's guide, then play free and see how much your city did overnight.

#offline #idle #beginners