One continuous war
No separate fights, no menus between places, no waiting. Where Old Marta stands on the rails decides which part of the war is yours.
Shellfall has no separate fights to pick from a list, no menus between places and no screens to wait through. The whole Lowmarch is one continuous, persistent war, and where Old Marta stands on the rail network decides which part of it you are fighting.
Your reach is your fight
Old Marta's range, up to 18 km with four charges, draws a circle on the map. Every stretch of front inside that circle is yours to influence. Drive along the rails and a different stretch comes into reach. See Charges and range.
The rails are how you choose
You choose where to fight by picking a siding on the map. The train travels there in compressed time, about 6 to 10 s per km, while the camera follows over the watercolour landscape. On the way you pass villages, depots and quiet stretches of front, hear the radio and receive letters. You can stop at any siding along the route. See The rail network.
Operations belong to places
Story orders and officer requests are tied to places. They appear on the map as pins with their distance by rail, and you take one on by driving within range. Several can be open at once, and leaving one does not end it: the war goes on without you. See Operations and requests.
The war never pauses
Every sector keeps fighting while you are elsewhere. The closer a sector is to the gun, the more detail the game follows it in. When you come back, the game catches up and shows you what happened while you were away.
| How far from Old Marta | How the war runs there | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Inside your range | In full: soldiers, charges, digs, enemy guns | Live under recon, last known elsewhere |
| Out to twice your range | In outline: each sector's strength, supply and morale; the front moves slowly | Map updates by radio and recon flights |
| Further away | Only the front line, moved by the rules of the war | The front on the war map, letters and reports |
Where to be is the strategy
Staying to finish a dig in the west may mean the Rustcoats break through in the east. Choosing your stretch of rail is the biggest decision in the game, alongside the shot itself. If you want to be where most of the fighting is, look for the hot zone.
Nothing pops in
Ground is only built and drawn when your gun or your recon reaches it. New ground appears through the soft edge of the fog of war, painted in as recon looks. If a place is not ready yet, the reveal simply waits at the edge while "Recon is developing the photographs…". There is never a separate screen to wait through. See Fog of war.
Stopping for the night
The game saves all the time. A natural place to stop is parking the train at a siding for the night, and next time you start exactly there. When you come back, you can also report straight to the hot zone instead. See The war clock.