Combolands difficulty: unlock ranks and diagnose stuck progress

Unlock the next rank with the right win

1. Start a new run and choose your Guild pair. Check the difficulty shown on that selection screen rather than assuming the last run’s setting carried over.
2. Select the highest level actually available to you. The player-reported progression rule is a win at that level, not simply a certain number of wins.
3. Finish the normal run and inspect its result. Note the difficulty the victory screen records. If it differs from what you selected, use the mismatch steps below.
4. Check the next run’s selection. A newly available next rank is the success signal. A Steam achievement alone and a selectable-looking label are not interchangeable proof.

The achievement checklist publishes separate victory requirements for Villager through Regent. Guild levels, city milestones and difficulty ranks are different progress tracks.

Explorer to Regent: the full-release rank order

Endy posted this order on August 28; the thread continued through September 21. The Steam victory achievements independently use the ten names from Villager to Regent. The player list describes rising targets and additional hazards or card restrictions, but this guide does not copy its dated target scores as current universal balance values.

Our beginner page retains a labeled pre-release Baron/Count screenshot. Those historical names should not be used to navigate the full-release difficulty selector.

Selected Villager, but the result says Explorer / tier 0?

Craaazy Steeeve reported five wins where selecting the apparently unlocked level still produced a tier-0 result. Verifying files, reinstalling and regenerating local data did not solve their case. On September 23 they reported success after explicitly choosing the lowest difficulty and winning a fresh run.

1. Compare the Guild-selection difficulty with the recorded victory difficulty. Save those two observations.
2. If your symptoms match the tutorial-win mismatch, explicitly select the lowest difficulty for a fresh run rather than relying on the preselected higher label.
3. Win that run and check whether the next rank and corresponding achievement now register.
4. If the mismatch persists, report both screens and your version in the existing discussion. Do not keep treating every apparently selected higher-level win as a registered one.

The reporter suspected the tutorial win had made a higher option appear without registering the prerequisite win. That is their hypothesis; the demonstrated result is that the fresh lowest-level win helped their save. It is not a reason to delete yours or a promise that all stuck progression has the same cause.

Difficulty unlocked, but Steam achievement still missing?

This is a separate symptom. Crux Games’ v1.0.6 notes added a startup check for pending achievements. Update the game, close it fully, reopen once and recheck Steam, as described in the achievement troubleshooting guide.

A startup achievement check is not evidence that it repairs the difficulty selector. Avoid deleting local or cloud saves: the stuck-level discussion records failed invasive attempts, not a verified need to reset progress.

Difficulty progression questions