King of the Hill

King of the Hill is not a generic game-mode label. In its standard 1v1 source it builds a two-tier central plateau, places a settlement at its centre, and forces the later six Gold mines onto the hill. The central objective is therefore a real economic and territorial contest, reached by generated ramps rather than a flat-field rush.

Two-tier central hill and ramps · Pandora’s Box 2 Final Release · Standard-size 1v1 example Click to enlarge

The hill is valuable from the opening, but it is not the whole economy: close Gold, outer hunt, and the two player-side settlement layers still decide how safely you can challenge it.

The opening is deer-or-elk, 7–9 chickens, 4–5 berries, and two to three goats or cows. Close hunt at 60–80 m is deer or elk; far hunt at 75–100 m is boar or aurochs; a third 80–120 m package mixes deer and aurochs or elk and boar. Outer berries, herdables, wolves, and bears extend the land economy. No fishing system is defined.

Forests frame the four map edges, then three 50–60-tile forests are requested near each player. Eleven more global forest requests and hill forests complete the layout. Forests and ramps are deliberately kept apart, so paths to the plateau should remain usable even as Wood control changes.

A complete standard 1v1 request is 54,000 Gold: one 3,000-Gold medium mine per player, one 6,000-Gold close mine per player at 50–70 m, and three 6,000-Gold mines per player on the central hill. Hill mines avoid both hill edges and ramps, while close mines stay off the hill; the central Gold pattern is a source rule, not an interpretation of the title.

Outside King-of-the-Hill mode, a settlement is placed at the centre of the plateau. Each player also receives a backward 65–80 m settlement and an aggressive 65–125 m settlement, both clear of ramps and the upper hill. Two relics per player begin at least 80 m out. In KotH mode the separate centre settlement is not created, so the mode’s own objective can occupy that space.