In case you get stuck somewhere, clicking "FORGE" in the top-left will return you to the homescreen. Clicking your nation name in the top-right (when logged in) will return you to your nation dashboard.
FORGE is a persistent, browser-based nation simulation game. During Phase I (Version 0.0.0 until 1.0.0) game days will advance at an accelerated pace. You'll gain income and resources and be charged upkeep costs with each server "tick", which occurs every two hours.
Every nation is randomly assigned 5 resources upon creation:
The production of each resource is controlled individually by upgrading your farms, wells, quarries, and so on. Food and Fuel are regularly spent keeping your population fed and your cities powered. Construction resources are used when upgrading infrastructure, land, facilities, and when purchasing military assets. Strategic resources are harder to come by, you'll need allies in an alliance to defend yourself from your enemies. Your Luxury resource is key to your population's happiness.
The population of your nation is determined by the amount of Manors, Townhomes, and Apartments available. Apartments house the most people per unit but their residents earn less. Manors house fewer, wealthier residents. Townhomes fall in between. That's up to you.
Alliances are groups of nations who work together to provide military and economic assistance. Alliance leaders have full control by default, granting or revoking membership and managing the alliance bank ΞΓΓΆ and can delegate these powers to others. How an alliance is run and how it manages its resources are important things to consider before joining one.
Wars are handled on an alliance vs. alliance basis. Any member of any alliance can strike any member of any other alliance. The effectiveness of your attacks increases the closer in nation strength you and your target are. Will your alliance sacrifice efficiency to focus on key targets, or will you engage someone your own size? Nations without an alliance may only attack other alliance-less nations.