AI jarls & solo play
A young world isn't empty. Computer-run jarls fill it out, trade like anyone else, and give you something to test yourself against.
Tier names below are placeholders and may change before launch. The behavior they describe is settled; the exact wording isn't.
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What AI jarls do
AI jarls exist for two jobs: filling out a young world so its market has real stock and real buyers before enough people arrive, and giving every jarl a predictable, fair target. They play by the same rules everyone else does. They buy and sell through the same Harbor Exchange, in the same Hacksilver, with no hidden income and no secret advantage. Their defenses follow a public formula based on their size and age, so beating one is never a mystery, just a matter of bringing enough strength.
There's one thing they never do: negotiate. AI jarls never send or accept Oaths, never offer aid, and never send a message beyond a plain system notice. That also means one can never break an Oath or lose Renown, since it never makes a promise to begin with. They're always clearly labeled as AI in every list you see them in, they never appear in the Moot's rankings, and they can never hold the High Seat.
When a real jarl's account goes dormant for long enough, their jarldom can be handed to a fixed-defense Steward instead of being left as an easy, unguarded target. The Lawspeaker's Log just says the isles are held by their steward, and nothing more.
The difficulty ladder
AI jarls come in five tiers. What changes between them is decision quality, not the resources they start with or the rules they follow.
| Tier | What changes |
|---|---|
| Oarsman | Slow, simple decisions. A big defense reserve, and it mostly ignores the market. |
| Steersman | A balanced portfolio, with occasional use of the market. |
| Shipmaster | Close to an optimal portfolio, a moderate reserve, and it actively targets Outlaw Crews. |
| Thane | Reads the Tide Calendar and times the market around it. In solo mode, it will hit a weak human neighbor. |
| Hersir | The best scripted play in the game, with a tight, efficient reserve. |
Playing solo
A solo world runs the same server, the same rules, and the same constants as everyone else's game, just with one human jarl and a set of AI jarls to play against, on a time-scaled clock so a session doesn't take as long to unfold. It's the same code path as the real game, not a separate simplified version.
Solo results don't count toward the public leagues, and a solo jarl can never take the High Seat. What you get instead is a place to learn: you unlock each harder tier of AI jarl only after you've beaten the one before it.