Exploring is one of the main ways to grow your province. You send out soldiers and pay gold coins (gc) to claim new acres from a shared pool of unclaimed land. It matters because land is the base of everything else you build, and the price rises sharply once you are bigger than most of your kingdom.
In short
- Exploring costs soldiers and gold. Both are shown on the Explore page.
- Your acres come out of the Explore Pool (also called Available Uncharted Acres). It starts at 200 acres and grows by 2 acres per tick.
- The pool is soft capped at 1000 acres.
- Costs rise significantly when you are over the Kingdom Median in acres.
- During war, exploring costs 600% of normal.
How exploring works
On the Explore page you see five things:
- Exploration Costs (Soldiers)
- Exploration Costs (Gold)
- Available Uncharted Acres, also known as the Explore Pool
- Currently Exploring
- Maximum Explorable Now
If you have the soldiers and the gold, you can explore for acres to grow your province.
Kingdom Median
Explore costs increase significantly when you are over the Kingdom Median in acres. The Median is the middle value of acres among the provinces in your kingdom. Staying at or below it keeps exploring cheaper, and it also matters during war (see below).
The Explore Pool
Available Uncharted Acres, also known as the Explore Pool, is the land you can draw from when you explore. It behaves like this:
- Start: 200 acres at the start of the Age.
- Growth: 2 acres per tick.
- Soft cap: 1000 acres.
Numbers last updated 27 Sep 2026.
Pool after a war
When a war ends, both kingdoms get extra pool.
- Each province has 5% of its land removed and added to its Explore Pool.
- At least 100 acres are added to the pool, however few acres are lost.
- Any pool acres over the 1000-acre soft cap at war's end are added to your land.
Restrictions
You can only explore when all of these are true:
- You have the resources to cover the costs.
- At least 50% of your existing acres are built or under construction.
- The Explore Pool is greater than 0 acres.
- You are not exploring more than your current acres at once.
Kingdoms with fewer than 10 provinces have an explore penalty.
Effects of war on exploring
- Exploration costs rise to 600% during active war and during the End-of-War Cease-Fire.
- During the End-of-War Cease-Fire, provinces below the Kingdom Median pay 300% instead (this includes incoming explored acres).
- During the End-of-War Cease-Fire, when you are under the Median, explore time is reduced by 50%.