Climbing a world: 50 maps, stronger rivals and how to keep winning
Last updated: October 23, 2026
Each Occupier world is a ladder of 50 maps. You start at the bottom, and every win unlocks the next rung. This guide explains what changes as you climb, so that the step from one tier to the next is not a surprise.
How maps unlock
In every world the first map is open from the start. Winning a map unlocks the one after it, and maps you have already won stay open, so you can play them again whenever you like. A loss costs nothing but time: the map stays where it is until you win it.
Your progress is kept per world. Winning in one world does not unlock maps in another, so you can climb the three worlds at your own pace and switch between them on the map page.
Five tiers of ten maps
The 50 maps come in five tiers of ten. Every tier adds ten islands: maps 1 to 10 have 10 islands, maps 11 to 20 have 20, and so on up to 50 islands on the last tier. Larger maps also spread over more space, so forces spend longer in flight and a slow decision costs more.
More rivals join as you climb. The first tier pits you against two AI commanders; each later tier adds one more, up to five rivals in the last tiers. With more commanders on the map, someone is always fighting someone, and the quiet corners disappear.
Rivals that grow stronger
AI commanders get faster and more productive the further along a world you are. On the first map they move and produce at half the normal pace; by map 10 they play at full strength. From then on each tier makes them ten percent stronger than the last.
That ramp makes the first tier a place to learn. Use it to try openings and timing without much pressure. By the second tier your rivals match you, and plans that relied on them being slow stop working.
Adjusting your play as maps grow
On small maps, a fast rush at the nearest rival can end a match in a couple of minutes. On large maps, that same rush leaves your home islands empty while three other commanders watch. Expand first, claim free islands near you, and attack only when your production is ahead.
Soil matters more on later tiers too. Larger maps mean longer matches, so an island set to make soil has more time to pay off, and the winner collects all the soil made in the match. Win first, though: soil only counts if you are the one who collects it. The soil guides explain how to balance it.
When you get stuck
If one map keeps beating you, change one thing at a time: a different starting island, a slower or faster first attack, or more troops left at home. Watch where you lost your first island, because that is usually where the match turned.
You can also take a break in another world. Each world wires its maps differently, as the map types guide explains, and a habit learned on one kind of map often unlocks a stubborn map on another.