9 Tribes

9 Tribes is a turn-based strategy war game about how tribes evolve under pressure.

It takes some of the feeling I loved from early Civilization, then pushes in a different direction: less bureaucracy, more fighting, more adaptation, and more games where conquest is the point instead of a side activity.

What kind of game is this?

9 Tribes is an all-out war game where ecology and combat are the two levers that shape your tribe.

• Ecology grows your technology.
• Combat gives veteran units new abilities.
• Sacrifice and battlefield experience unlock powerful synergies.
• Every match creates a different military identity for every tribe.

This is not a traditional 4X game built around sprawling economy management or climbing a long linear tech tree. The focus is on war, adaptation, and momentum.

What makes each game different?

Each tribe has its own set roster of units. You are not building custom units from interchangeable parts.

What changes from game to game is the combination of:

• the technologies your tribe researches through ecology
• the abilities your veteran units learn through combat
• the synergies you unlock through sacrifice and progression

That means the same tribe can develop in very different ways from one match to the next.

What’s in the game?

• 9 distinct tribes with different strengths, terrain identities, units, and playstyles
• 30 technologies to research across 10 domains
• 66 synergies and emergent combinations to discover
• Single-player and multiplayer
• 3 difficulty settings
• 3 map sizes
• 3 game speeds
• A full Civilopedia explaining tribes, units, technologies, synergies, terrain, and core mechanics
• Custom artwork, animations, sound, and combat-driven presentation throughout the game

The idea behind it

Civilization was my favorite game growing up.

A lot of Civ-inspired games already exist, and many of them are very good. I did not want to make a standard clone. I wanted something with a familiar strategic feel, but with a different philosophy.

The ancient era was always the most exciting part to me. I wanted a game that stayed in that kind of space and took war more seriously. I wanted conquest to matter. I wanted combat to have more texture. And I wanted less time spent on busywork and more time spent making meaningful military decisions.

9 Tribes is my attempt at that.

Why you might like it

You may enjoy 9 Tribes if you want:

• a strategy game where war is the center of the experience
• tribes that evolve differently every match
• more tactical combat than a typical empire game
• less micromanagement and more action
• a game that is easy to start playing, but has a lot to learn

How to play it locally

You’ll need Node.js 18+.

git clone https://github.com/launchswitch/9tribes.git
cd 9tribes
npm install
npm --prefix web install
npm run host

Then open the local address shown in your terminal.

Current status

This repo contains the playable game, including browser play, AI opponents, multiplayer support, and the in-game Civilopedia.

License

MIT