Lands, Capitals and sieges
From the Polandball Go Wiki
Patch 5.0, "Capitals & Cities", released on October 15, 2026, turned territory from a scatter of squares into a system of settlements. Each player now has one Land with a Capital at its heart, can found more cities as the Capital grows, and defends each of them with waves of guards. Attacking one of those seats is a siege.
The basics of squares, Reach and taking land are on Territories. This page is about what a player builds on that land. Everything here comes from the game's own 5.0 article.
1 One Land per player#
A Land is everything one player holds: all their squares under one name, with one Capital and one garrison. Lands have a rank that rises with the number of settlements in them:
- Homeland: where every Land starts.
- Dominion: at 2 settlements.
- Kingdom: at 4 settlements.
- Empire: at 6 settlements.
A new player places their Capital along the Founder's Road. It starts as a Hamlet on a plot of 9 squares, protected by 72 hours of Founding Peace.
2 Settlement tiers#
A settlement, whether the Capital or a city, grows through six tiers. Each step needs the settlement to hold a number of squares and costs Influence. In return it reaches farther and holds more guards. A Capital also boosts its owner's Influence.
- Hamlet: Reach 3. One guard, with the other four places filled by Militia. No requirement.
- Village: Reach 3, 5 guards. Needs 10 squares and 500 Influence. Capital bonus 5%.
- Town: Reach 4, 10 guards. Needs 30 squares and 2,000 Influence. Capital bonus 10%.
- City: Reach 6, 10 guards. Needs 75 squares and 6,000 Influence. Capital bonus 15%.
- Metropolis: Reach 8, 15 guards. Needs 150 squares and 15,000 Influence. Capital bonus 20%.
- Imperial City: Reach 10, 15 guards. Needs 300 squares and 40,000 Influence. Capital bonus 25%.
The last step is the biggest: 150 more squares and 25,000 more Influence than a Metropolis needs, for no extra guards. What it adds is the farthest Reach, the top Capital bonus, the most cities, and Walls, which give an Imperial City's defenders 10% more in a siege.
3 Guards and Militia#
Guards fight in waves of five. That gives one wave at a Hamlet or Village, two at a Town or City and three at a Metropolis or Imperial City.
A guard slot left empty is filled by Militia: your strongest balls that aren't already guarding, fighting at 70%. A Hamlet's four extra places are Militia from the start.
Guards are not taken out of the rest of the game. A guard can still play PvP and other modes. The one thing it can't do is attack land. The 5.0 article also names a mode called Rifts; nothing more is known about it.
How strongly guards fight also depends on the ground. They fight at full strength in the Heartland, the 3×3 around the seat, and at 85% in the Frontier, the rest of the Reach.
4 Founding cities#
Once your Capital reaches Town, you can found cities. The number allowed, and the land and Influence the article lists for each city, rise with the Capital's tier:
- Town Capital: 1 city, 60 squares and 1,000 Influence each.
- City Capital: 2 cities, 150 squares and 3,000 Influence each.
- Metropolis Capital: 3 cities, 300 squares and 8,000 Influence each.
- Imperial City Capital: 5 cities, 600 squares and 15,000 Influence each.
A city has to sit at least 6 squares from its owner's other seats, and at least 3 squares from anyone else's. Each city is a settlement in its own right, with its own tier, Reach and guards, and each one counts toward the Land's rank.
5 Moving a seat#
A settlement's seat, including the Capital, can be moved once every 7 days. A move costs a quarter of that tier's cost in Influence.
6 Sieges#
Attacking a settlement's seat is a siege, a longer fight than an ordinary land attack.
- You fight the guard waves in order. Your squad's HP carries over from one wave to the next.
- After each wave, you choose to press on or retreat.
- One Rally per siege brings in a replacement for a ball that has fallen.
- Each wave you clear banks a ring of land.
- Clearing the last wave sacks the seat and pays 500 Influence.
A sack costs the defender a tier. A sacked Hamlet is destroyed outright. If a Capital falls, the player's highest-tier city becomes the new Capital.
After a sack, all of the defender's seats get a 12-hour Siege Shield, and the settlement that was sacked can't be besieged again for 24 hours.
7 What the article leaves open#
The 5.0 article gives the numbers above but not every rule behind them. It doesn't say exactly how the 85% and 70% defense levels are applied in the duel, whether Walls stack with other bonuses, whether a ball's Protection resets between waves, or how many rounds a siege wave lasts. Any siege planner that fills those gaps is making assumptions, and the game hasn't confirmed them.
8 The conversion#
When 5.0 arrived, old territory became Lands automatically. Each player's Capital was placed where their squares were densest, at up to City tier, and garrisons were filled from each player's PvP defense team. Every Land got 72 hours of Founding Peace, and each player one free Capital move within 14 days.
9 On polbielytics#
A Land, a Capital or a city is a real place tied to a real player, and a garrison is a player's own balls. polbielytics never shows where any settlement is or who holds it. Lands, Capitals and settlements appear on the site only as totals by alliance.
See also Territories, Currencies, shops and events and the patch timeline.