The Capital: Urban Mandate title screen art: an illustrated city with towers, a domed city hall, an airport, a stadium, an amusement park and a harbor.

The Capital: Urban Mandate

  • Turn-Based City Strategy
  • In Development

Build the city. Make the system work.

A competitive turn-based city strategy game about planning, growth and the consequences of every decision.

Watch the trailer

Official trailer

See a mandate play out.

Plan, build, activate and watch the city respond: The Capital: Urban Mandate in motion, on its 3D city map.

Hosted on YouTube. The player only loads (from youtube-nocookie.com) when you press play.

The city map

Every decision stays on the map.

Each project you build appears in your city, street by street, with traffic, parks and landmarks. Switch between the 3D map and the classic 2D board at any time from the main menu.

3D city map from above: dozens of distinct buildings, parks, lakes, a stadium and an airship over a grid of streets with traffic.
The 3D city map
Close view of the 3D city: apartment blocks, shops, a market hall, an observation tower and a concert stage along busy streets.
City streets, up close

The core idea

You're building a system, not just a city.

Every project you place interacts with the ones around it. Some effects fire immediately, some react to their neighbors, and some wait for you to activate them. A good city is not a collection of buildings. It is a system that works.

  • Immediate effects when a project is built
  • Reactions triggered by adjacent projects
  • Activations you choose to power each round
Building phase screenshot: a market of four projects, each card showing immediate, adjacent and activation effects, next to the 3D city map with pins over each district.
Building phase

Four pillars

What every game is about

  • Build an Urban Engine

    Every project changes the value of the next one.

    Where you build matters. Adjacent projects trigger reactions, feed each other and turn separate buildings into one working engine.

  • Balance Growth

    Growth is easy. Making it work is the strategy.

    Population, Employment, Infrastructure, Energy and Finances are all connected. Push one too far and the rest of the city feels it.

  • Compete for Opportunities

    You cannot build everything.

    Every player draws from the same pool of projects. Initiative decides who chooses first, and holding a good position has a price.

  • Reshape Your Plan

    Some opportunities are worth changing the plan for.

    Prosperities are major opportunities that can pull your strategy in a new direction. Knowing when to pivot is part of the game.

Urban systems

Nothing in the city works alone.

Ten interconnected systems pull on each other. Growth in one creates pressure somewhere else, and it all adds up to Happiness.

  • Population
  • Employment
  • Public Services
  • Infrastructure
  • Energy
  • Finances
  • Culture
  • Tourism
  • Disasters
  • Happiness

Initiative

How much is choosing first worth to you?

Every round, players choose their Initiative. It decides who picks projects first. The better the position, the more it costs to hold, so every round is a trade-off between timing and resources.

Political phase screenshot: five Initiative cards from 1st to 5th, each with a different cost, over the 3D city, next to the projects available next round.
Political phase

Activations

One activation can echo across the entire city.

Energy and Tourists power activations. A single activation can set off reactions in neighboring projects, and a well-planned district turns one action into many.

  1. Spend Energy or Tourists
  2. Activate a project
  3. Neighbors react
  4. The city responds
Executive phase screenshot: the Observatory compares Finances, Public Services, Culture, Infrastructure, Energy, Population, Employment, Unemployment, Disasters and Happiness across cities, above the Activation panel, with the 3D city behind.
Executive phase

Prosperities

Some opportunities are worth changing the plan for.

Prosperities are landmark projects with their own requirements and rewards. They are the advanced layer of The Capital: Urban Mandate.

  • Isometric illustration of the World Wonder Prosperity

    Prosperity

    World Wonder

  • Isometric illustration of the Gran Subway Station Prosperity

    Prosperity

    Gran Subway Station

  • Isometric illustration of the Royal Flush Resort Prosperity

    Prosperity

    Royal Flush Resort

  • Isometric illustration of the Dreamland Park Prosperity

    Prosperity

    Dreamland Park

  • Isometric illustration of the International Airport Prosperity

    Prosperity

    International Airport

  • Isometric illustration of the Urban Renewal Company Prosperity

    Prosperity

    Urban Renewal Company

Full Prosperities

Every landmark plays by its own rules.

Full Prosperities do more than score points. They can change how your city works.

A Full Prosperity can change

  • Adjacency
  • Activation economy
  • Tourism
  • Energy efficiency
  • Risk
  • Resource conversion
  • Development incentives
  • End-game scoring
  • Future project value

Prosperity modes

Three ways to pursue them

  • Municipal Agenda

    Plan around a private sequence.

  • Federal Program

    Compete for shared landmark projects.

  • Private Initiative

    Manage your own portfolio of opportunities.

Choose your depth

Start with the core. Go as deep as you want.

  1. Level 1

    Core Game

    Learn the core systems first.

    Prosperities disabled

  2. Level 2

    Simplified Prosperities

    Unique requirements. One simple reward.

    A clear first step into landmark play

  3. Level 3Full depth

    Full Prosperities

    Every landmark plays by its own rules.

    The complete Prosperity experience

End game

Build for Happiness, not just growth.

The goal is not the biggest city. It is the city that works, where every system supports the others.

Build the city. Make the system work.

Currently in development

The Capital: Urban Mandate is in development at LootGeek Games.

Contact the studio