Short answer: Ringfort is asynchronous. You can play a full ring by yourself. Nobody else has to be online at the same time.
What you fight today
Opponents are pre-simulated fort lineups bundled with the game — fictional names, items, and difficulty matched to where you are in the climb. Ring 1 is onboarding; from ring 2 up, normal and elite lineups scale with your power. Your own runs stay on your machine.
That is the product right now: a six-fort ring, shop and place, then watch both neighbours fight you — without a lobby.
Is it PvP? Is it offline?
- It is not live PvP. There is no waiting room of strangers.
- It is not a promise that the whole game works with the network unplugged. Steam and the client may still need a connection even when opponents are local data.
- Real player lineups may replace the sims later. Until then, the preset lineups are what you play.
Why this design
Most auto-battlers assume a lobby. Ringfort starts from a ring of six forts that all fight at once. Preset sims keep that loop available whenever you sit down — useful if you bounced off live-lobby auto-battlers but still want the build puzzle.
More on the ring shape: Why six forts fight at once. Game page: Ringfort. Build example: Grave Forge (Undead + Dwarf).