The island is alive — here's how it works
HOW TO PLAY
You're a prisoner in TEC1's SuperMax reality show. The world fights back, factions hold ground, and named hunters remember you. This is what each system does — and how to come out on top.
⚡ 60-second start
- Play like normal SCUM. Everything below happens around you automatically — you don't type commands.
- Build a base — that claims the grid sector it's in for your squad, and territory pays you real in-game money.
- Fights come to you. Enter a POI, get hunted by a nemesis, or get sieged — survive it for a reward.
- Pick a faction with
/join-factionfor standing, dividends, and safe passage on their ground.
🗺️ Territory & Grid War
The map is 25 sectors. Build a base in a sector and your squad controls it — one owner per sector, most bases wins.
How to win: hold sectors, cluster them (a connected block pays a bonus), and level them with more bases. Every held sector pays your squad in-game cash on a cycle. See the live board in #faction-territory or the Territory Income page.
🤝 Alliances & Diplomacy
Squads can make deals instead of fighting. Allies co-hold sectors and never contest each other; a pact is simple non-aggression; a vassal pays its overlord tribute in return for protection.
How to do it (in Discord): /diplomacy ally [tag], /diplomacy pact [tag], or /diplomacy submit [tag] to propose — the other squad runs /diplomacy accept [tag]. /diplomacy war [tag] puts a bounty on their land; /diplomacy peace [tag] ends it. See it all live on the War Map.
👑 The Four Factions
🧟 The Re-Animated · 🤖 TEC1 Sentries · 🔫 The Drifters · ☠️ The Condemned. Each controls sectors and fields its own themed NPCs.
How to win: /join-faction to pledge. Do things in their territory to earn reputation; good standing pays in-game cash dividends every 15 min (double on their ground) and buys you safe passage from their forces.
🎯 Nemesis Hunters
27 named hunters (Stalkers up to Deathless). Get marked and one stalks you — it whispers how close it is, then closes in with its crew. Escape it and it remembers, and comes back bigger.
How to win: stand your ground and break its crew. Kill enough of the hunter's pack and the hunt ends — you earn a long breather before anything hunts you again. Running only delays it.
🏰 POI Encounters
Walk into a named location (military site, town, bunker, junkyard…) and it fights back — a garrison, an ambush, a sniper, or a boss, themed to whoever controls that sector.
How to win: the bigger the POI and the higher your fame, the harder it hits. Clear it or outlast it — the bot tells you when it's over and gives you a breather. Friendly-faction ground leaves you alone.
🧟 Hordes & Sieges
Waves of the dead — and sometimes armed drifters — mass outside your base's bubble and close in. A siege is scaled to your squad's threat and comes from the faction that holds your ground.
How to win a horde: your base's flag radius auto-kills anything that spawns inside it — so they ring the perimeter and walk in. Hold the walls, thin them at the edge, and survive the timer (~10 min) for a cash + gear payout. Patience beats panic.
💰 Money, Fame & Insurance
Territory, dividends, and surviving events all pay real in-game cash to your bank. Your fame is your threat level — the higher it climbs, the harder the world comes for you.
Tip: insure your vehicles so a loss isn't permanent, and remember — being famous makes you a target. Big rewards, big heat.
🏆 The golden rules
Questions? Ask in Discord — the live boards in #faction-territory show who's winning right now.