A multiplayer game has a mode, picked when it’s created: the Multiplayer mode column on the New Game screens’ last page, between the difficulties and their details, when you host a new game or find a match. BeaverBuddies ships Co-op, and Timber Empires adds PvE, PvP and Horde. The mode is saved with the game, and players who join get the host’s.
| Mode | Players | Against | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-op | 2 or more, one settlement | Nobody | None, just build |
| PvE | 1 or more, allied | The bandits | Clear every bandit camp |
| PvP | 2 or more | Each other and the bandits | The Victory setting |
| Horde | 1 or more | Each other and the undead raccoons | Seal every ruin, and outlast your rivals |
Playing alone, only PvE and Horde have a mode to pick: see Playing alone.
Co-op
Everyone builds one settlement together. Nobody owns districts, so everything is everyone’s: there’s no fog of war, no land claims, no border protection and science is shared. There are no bandits and no victory. Timber Empires’ buildings, troops and walls are all there to use.
PvE
Each player owns their districts, with their own land claims and science, but every player is everyone’s ally against the bandits. Allies see what each other sees, pass each other’s gates, climb each other’s ladders, heal and feed each other’s troops and build on each other’s claimed land (see Alliances).
The bandits camp around the map and raid each player from the First raid cycle. Clear every camp and everyone wins together. You can keep playing after.
PvP
Everyone for themselves. Each player owns their districts and everything on the Territory page applies. Players can make alliances with each other, and the bandits raid everyone. How the game is won is the Victory game setting.
Horde
A PvP match where the undead raccoons climb out of the ruins every few nights and come for everyone. After every horde you get rewards you can use right away: goods, buildings, siege machines. Seal every ruin to win. With rivals in the game, you also have to outlast them. With Shared colony on, it’s one colony built together. See Horde.
Hosting and matchmaking
- Hosting a new game. Multiplayer, Host new game, then the New Game screens as usual, picking the Multiplayer mode on the last page. In a map with one start, players take districts from the District Center’s “Owned by” in its panel, or build their own. With Mixed factions on, each player plays their own faction, and a player whose faction isn’t on the map yet places a free first District Center.
- Find a match. Pairs you with another player over Steam who picked the same Multiplayer mode. Each of you picks a faction, the host’s map is used, and both players place their own first District Center wherever they want: it’s built at once, with the beavers, food and water the game’s difficulty starts you with. Factions can always be mixed, and missing mods are downloaded from the Workshop before the match starts.
- Open matches. The list shows each match’s game mode.
- Starting. The game starts when the host first unpauses it: that’s when the AI opponents found and the bandit camps go down.
Playing alone
As an empire. With Play as an empire on (the default), your districts are yours: land claims, fog of war and owner colors all work, and the fog hides the bandit camps until you scout them. The bandits are your opponents, but there’s no victory: it’s a sandbox for the military side of the mod. It needs BeaverBuddies Co-Op/PvP Edition installed, even though nobody joins.
Against AIs. Add AI opponents in the game settings and it’s a PvP game against them, won by the Victory rules.
PvE. Host a PvE game and start it without waiting for anyone: clear every bandit camp to win.
Horde. Host a Horde game and start it without waiting for anyone: the undead raccoons come every few nights, with AI opponents as rivals if you add them.
Classic. With Play as an empire off, Timber Empires’ buildings, troops, walls and siege machines are all there, and the bandits still camp and raid, but there’s no ownership, no land claims and no fog of war.