How to Play Open Historia

Open Historia is a free, open-source grand strategy game where you command nations on an interactive world map. You negotiate with AI-powered nations through natural language chat, deploy troops, respond to AI-generated historical events, and shape the world through war, diplomacy, and expansion.

It's built as a community-driven alternative to Pax Historia — with a full vector map editor, a scenario hub for sharing custom worlds, and cross-platform support on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

Interactive World Map

The map is your primary interface. Click any nation to select it and open its detail panel. Watch as territory, borders, and nations shift as history unfolds. The map supports pan, zoom, and click-to-inspect — every region, city, and unit is interactive.

AI Diplomacy

Click any country and start chatting with it — literally. Open Historia's AI diplomacy system lets you negotiate with AI-controlled nations through natural language. Declare war, propose alliances, demand territory, threaten, or broker peace — the AI responds dynamically based on your relationship, relative strength, and the current world situation.

You can also request an AI intelligence briefing on any nation to understand its military strength, economy, allies, and posture before engaging.

AI-Generated Events

As you play, the game generates dynamic historical events shaped by your decisions and the evolving world state. A booming economy might attract immigration; an aggressive neighbor might provoke a border crisis; a neglected province might rebel. Each event presents choices with real consequences.

AI Advisor

Stuck on strategy? Consult your AI advisor for strategic guidance, economic analysis, situation summaries, and war planning. The advisor analyzes the current game state and offers actionable recommendations — which nation to ally with, where to deploy troops, how to stabilize a crumbling economy.

Troop Deployment & Combat

You deploy, move, and position armies on the map. Deployments are "pending" until the AI resolves them — meaning you set your orders and the AI computes the outcome based on troop strength, terrain, and strategy. Scenarios control which troop types exist in their era (infantry, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, etc.).

Open Historia includes a full vector map editor built into the scenario editor. You can:

• Draw regions: Create new territories with freehand drawing tools
• Split and merge borders: Redraw the political map however you want
• Paint owners: Assign regions to specific nations
• Place cities: Import from the 70k+ city database or place manually
• Sign your map: Add creator metadata to your custom worlds
• Apply & Play: Hit one button to switch from editing to playing on your new map

Open the map editor from any scenario by clicking Open Map Editor, or visit /?editor=1 for the standalone editor.

Modern Day is the built-in default scenario. The Scenario Hub (accessible from the in-game Community tab) hosts community-created scenarios including:

• World War II — 1939 — global war from the German invasion of Poland
• Medieval — 1200 AD — feudal Europe, crusades, and medieval empires
• Rome — 117 AD — the Roman Empire at its greatest extent
• Mongol World — 1300 AD — the Mongol Empire and its neighbors
• New World — 1650 — colonial powers, the Discovery of America, and global trade
• Bronze Age — 1200 BC — the Late Bronze Age on the eve of the Collapse

Browse scenarios, vote on your favorites, import with one click, and publish your own creations. Each scenario includes its own map, starting conditions, troop types, and historical context.

A typical turn in Open Historia looks like this:

1. Survey: Review your nation's status — economy, military, diplomacy, and any pending events or threats.
2. Consult the Advisor: Ask the AI advisor for strategic recommendations based on the current situation.
3. Diplomacy: Chat with neighboring nations — negotiate, threaten, ally, or gather intelligence.
4. Deploy Troops: Position armies for defense, offense, or deterrence.
5. Respond to Events: Make decisions on AI-generated events that arise during the turn.
6. Advance: End your turn and watch the AI resolve combat, process economic changes, and generate new events.

• Start with Modern Day: The default scenario is the most polished and easiest to learn on.
• Use the AI advisor often: It's like having a co-pilot that understands the game state.
• Diplomacy is powerful: A well-timed alliance can be more valuable than an expensive war.
• Experiment with scenarios: Each era has different troop types, economies, and diplomatic dynamics.
• Try the map editor: Even if you don't publish, editing maps helps you understand territory and borders.
• Read AI intelligence briefings: Before engaging any nation, get a briefing to understand its strength.