Taskmaster: Zero to Hero questions and answers
These are the published Taskmaster: Zero to Hero questions, with the answer under each one.
Can an account sitter progress or claim Taskmaster?
Normal gameplay actions permitted to the sitter can progress task criteria. Claiming needs the reward-claim permission, using deposited items needs the item-use permission, and buying bundles with Gold needs the relevant Gold permission.
Can I claim a task after the world reaches game over?
Yes. Taskmaster claims remain available after game over, even when the action completing the task also ended the round. This preserves the final reward and the World Wonder level 100 achievement.
Can I complete and claim a later task early?
Yes. Every task is checked against your current state and recorded actions, whatever its place in the list, and actions you completed before looking at the task count too. As soon as a task is complete you can claim it, even before earlier tasks.
Do training tasks count troops that later die or leave?
Yes. These tasks count troops that completed training in the selected village, not only troops currently stationed there. A unit remains counted after dying, moving, or being consumed. Ordinary troop targets scale with world speed, while chief and settler targets stay fixed.
Does a task reward reimburse exactly what I personally spent?
No. The reward uses the task's standard defined cost, not your actual spending, remaining deficit, discounts, Plus, artefacts, or acceleration. Tribe-specific objectives use the frozen cost for that tribe.
Does switching the selected village change campaign order?
No. Your campaign progress applies across all your villages, so switching villages or capitals or founding a new village does not create another path. Village-specific objectives are checked against the selected village when progress is shown and again when claimed.
How are resource and Smart Time task rewards calculated?
The game adds the standard resource and time costs of all task parts, then applies the task's reward-band percentage. Each non-zero resource rounds up to the next 100 and total time rounds up to the next 60 seconds, then the totals are converted using the largest available item denominations first. Split field lessons share the original rounded group budget, so splitting does not add rewards.
How do I claim a completed task?
Claiming is manual. As soon as a task is complete you can claim it from its card or from its row in the Ready list, and when two or more rewards are ready, Claim all collects them in one press. Each claim records the task, deposits resource/time items in the Reward Bank and credits Gold rewards directly to your balance and history, and the suggested next task moves on past everything you have claimed. If a claimed reward was not delivered, the task shows as ready again so you can claim it once more, as long as the task is still part of the campaign. Completion alone never grants the reward automatically.
How does Taskmaster choose the next task?
Every task is open at once: you can finish any task in the list and claim it as soon as it is complete. The campaign still suggests a next task, the earliest one you have not claimed, and guides you to it. You can pick another task to follow instead; the guide follows it until you claim it, then returns to the suggested task. The campaign opens with the Rally Point and three fights before any building: raid a wild oasis, attack a Barbarian camp, and clear Hero Journey level 1. Each fight pays resources and Smart Time to help you build. For the first two the guide picks a nearby target your troops at home can beat, and on the send screen it suggests the army to send with a battle preview. The later oasis-capture lesson guides Full Attack and then Hero selection because capture requires the Hero in the sent force, surviving soldiers and every defender defeated. The Hero does not die; it may enter Coma and recover. Camp scouting follows the opening, and the level-2 camp clear is suggested after two fields of each resource reach level 10. When the catalog order changes, existing claims are preserved and the suggested task becomes the earliest newly ordered task you have not claimed.
How does Taskmaster know a task is complete?
If every plot is occupied, the guide explains how Main Building level 10 lets you completely demolish a completed flexible field of your choice in positions 5–18, then build the needed resource there. Finish any upgrade first. The guide never chooses or demolishes a field for you, and positions 1–4 are protected. Each task has one defined completion rule. Field lessons first ask for one field of each resource at level 1, then two of the named resource at the target level; only completed levels count, and your other field choices do not increase the target. The game checks live fields, individual buildings or either member of an interchangeable pair, storage capacity, research, upgrades, Hero existence, the Hero's current village and any required facility there, the highest Hero Journey level you have won, and village count, while cumulative or one-time actions such as training, demolition, premium use, alliance help, and Barbarian battles are recorded when settled.
How does the guide choose a target and the army for my first fights?
For the opening oasis and camp tasks, the guide looks for a wild oasis or an active Barbarian camp within 8 tiles of your selected village that your troops at home can beat, preferring the one that needs the fewest unit types, then the nearest. On the send screen for a wild oasis or a camp, "Recommended army" fills in the fastest unit types that are expected to win with at most a quarter of them lost (for a full attack, also defeating every defender); when no group of your troops manages that but some can still win, it fills the winning group with the lowest expected losses instead. A line previews the expected result, including whether the target is cleared. Only your own troops in the village count; reinforcements and the Hero are never included. The preview is the battle formula's expected result, not a guarantee, and it never shows the defenders' numbers. If nothing within 8 tiles can be beaten (for example while your army is away), the guide shows you the task's usual nearest target instead and skips the recommended-army step. The send screen for a wild oasis or a camp still shows the recommended army with its preview when your troops at home can win, or says they cannot win yet; other targets show neither.
How many tasks are in the current Zero-to-Hero campaign?
The current catalog contains 257 authored tasks: 247 on the main Spine and 10 in the optional epilogue. Tasks not eligible for your tribe or world rules are removed and your branch is renumbered in order, so current branches contain 250 to 252 tasks; the panel number is the task's position in your branch.
In what order do the Zero-to-Hero stages come?
The campaign is one fixed list, so you can plan ahead. Tasks 1 to 4 open it: the Rally Point, then your first oasis attack, your first barbarian camp attack and Journey level 1. Up to task 121 come Foundation and Growth: first fields and storage, Main Building and Marketplace, the Plus and Gold lessons, the military buildings with research and first training of each troop, the Hero's Mansion, scouting a barbarian camp, Town Hall, Embassy and Palace, settlers and your second village, a chief, the first troop upgrades, and fields up to level 10. Tasks 122 to 180 cover Specialization: clearing a level 2 barbarian camp, fields 11 to 15, the resource bonus buildings, Marketplace 20, the colony's military and trade buildings, troop training targets, every troop researched and trained, and upgrades to level 5. From task 181 come Mastery and Society & Combat: buildings to level 20, alliance tasks, your tribe's wall, upgrades to level 20, the colony's endgame buildings, Treasury 20, then demolishing six old buildings while taking two fields of each resource to level 20. Graduation follows, then the optional Conqueror's Path. Resource and Smart Time rewards are full until task 121, half until task 180 and a quarter after; Gold rewards keep their full amount. Tasks 1 to 189 are the same for everyone; later, a few tasks depend on your tribe or world, so your numbers may shift slightly.
What are the Barbarian Camp tasks in Zero to Hero?
The 6-task ladder is: attack a first camp as one of the campaign's opening fights, then read a camp scout report, then clear camps of at least levels 2, 3, 4, and 5. The first attack pays resources and Smart Time; the other five show their current Free Gold reward, calculated when claimed: by default 10, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Gold in that order. A higher-level clear also satisfies a lower rung, but the guide searches for the exact requested level and selects the nearest camp at that level.
What are the Zero-to-Hero reward bands?
Canonical reimbursement tasks use 100% through the two-fields-per-resource ladder at level 10, then 50% through the two-fields-per-resource ladder at level 15, and 25% afterward. Explicit no-reward checkpoints mint no items; these include storage checkpoints already paid by an earlier rung and the Hero-stationing lesson. Fixed Free Gold rewards ignore these percentages.
What do I need to graduate from Zero to Hero?
Claim every eligible core-path task, ending with the storage and field ladder that takes two fields of each resource to level 20 (Germanic players then also finish Brewery level 20), then claim the graduation task. Tasks for other tribes do not block you. Graduation marks the core campaign complete; the optional Conqueror's Path is open at any time and is not required. Graduation currently has no extra reward.
What is Taskmaster: Zero to Hero?
It is a guided campaign from early fields and buildings through troops, economy, alliance, expansion, Barbarians, and endgame goals. The Tasks window features your next task with its progress and full reward and leads you to the right screen, and it lists every other task so you can finish and claim them in any order. Each listed task shows its progress count where it has one, and any Gold it pays.
What is the optional Conqueror's Path epilogue?
It is an optional 10-task epilogue listed in its own section at the end of the Tasks window: station your Hero in a non-capital village containing a level-20 Treasury, capture an Artifact, conquer a special village, raise that Wonder village's Main Building to level 5, take two of its croplands to level 6, prepare the village for World Wonder level 1, build World Wonder level 1, prepare it for level 100, take two of its croplands to level 10, and build World Wonder level 100. You can complete and claim these feats at any time and in any order; none is required for core graduation.
Where do Zero-to-Hero rewards go?
Resource and time rewards go to the Reward Bank as resource packs and Smart Time items. Gold rewards go directly to your Gold balance and history. Resources do not automatically fill a village and time does not speed a queue; you choose when to use those items.
Which settings are frozen when I enter the Taskmaster campaign?
Enrollment freezes your tribe, troop-purchase path, capacity, world speed, training speed, campaign rules, and a standard reward calculation basis of 4 wood, 4 clay, 4 iron, and 6 crop fields. This basis does not set your village layout or the number of fields required by an objective. Later world-setting changes do not change your branch or reward basis.
Which tribes can enter the Taskmaster campaign?
The campaign supports Roman, Germanic, Greek, and Arab tribes. Tribe-specific building and troop objectives use the tribe frozen when you enroll.
Which Zero-to-Hero tasks give Free Gold, and how much?
23 tasks pay Free Gold instead of resources or Smart Time, and every tribe has all of them. Your first fights (an oasis, a barbarian camp and Journey level 1) pay resources and Smart Time, not Gold. By default the Gold tasks pay 5 Gold each for using the NPC exchange, activating each of the four production bonuses (wood, clay, iron and wheat), using Gold with Smart Time, using Gold to cover a building resource shortfall, and creating a Marketplace offer. They pay 10 Gold each for activating Plus Account, scouting a barbarian camp, sending resources to your new village, wiping out a level 2 camp, joining an alliance, delivering resources to an alliance member, and reinforcing an alliance member. Wiping out a level 3 camp pays 15 Gold and a level 4 camp 20 Gold. Researching every troop type, training every troop type, wiping out a level 5 camp and capturing an oasis pay 25 Gold each. On the optional Conqueror's Path, capturing an artefact pays 50 Gold and conquering a special village 100 Gold. By default that is 245 Gold on the main path and 395 Gold in all. The game can change these amounts; the amount is fixed when you claim, and Gold tasks can be claimed only after your account is activated.
Why is a completed Free Gold task still not claimable?
A Free Gold reward can be claimed only after your account is active. An account with Apple or Google sign-in linked is active, with no activation email needed; an email account becomes active when you verify its email. Until then the completed task stays in the Ready list with an activation note, and Claim all leaves it for later; after activation it becomes claimable. When such a task is completed, its popup tells you how to activate: a guest account is asked to save the account, and an email account can resend the activation email or, where Google and Apple sign-in is available, link one of them from Account security instead, which also activates it. While your account is not active, the guide also lets you skip a Gold task, finished or not, and moves on to the next one; a skipped task stays in your list and its Gold can still be claimed after activation, when the guide brings it back. Resource and Smart Time rewards do not use this requirement.