Keep the caravan
moving.

What happens while the app is closed?

Combat, boss regeneration, and stage progress pause as soon as Ink Caravan is closed, backgrounded, covered by another app, or otherwise inactive. The current enemy and stage are waiting when you return.

Why was a stroke not accepted?

Ink Caravan compares stroke order, direction, placement, and shape with the expected bundled character. Follow the numbered guide on a new character, draw one stroke at a time, and use assisted completion if needed.

Can I continue if writing is difficult?

Yes. Guided study and assisted completion remain available. Assistance awards reduced practice credit, but the idle game never requires rapid or repeated dynamic action.

Why do I not hear Mandarin playback?

Check the device volume and Silent Mode, then try normal or slow playback again. Audio uses an available zh-CN system voice, so the installed voice and pronunciation can vary by device. Mandarin playback temporarily pauses the original ambient music. Music can be turned off from Settings.

How does Water Sprite work?

Water Sprite is already unlocked when a new game begins and attacks once every second for one base damage while the app is active. Write the defining names of later companions to awaken them. The fourteen permanent soft-pastel allies contribute to combat without separate visible damage labels on the battlefield.

Where can I tap to attack?

Tap the active battlefield around the enemy and above the bottom dock. Each accepted tap deals one damage. Active combat damage appears above the enemy as one lightly overlapping vertical stream of unsigned whole-number values; new values enter beneath older values, float a short distance, and fade without a minus sign, decimal, oval, or visible per-ally attribution.

While Ink Caravan is active, companions attack automatically and each tap on the battlefield deals one damage; combat, boss regeneration, and stage progress stop whenever the app is inactive.

When can I awaken more allies?

Ink Caravan includes fourteen permanent soft-pastel allies: Water Sprite starts unlocked and thirteen later allies awaken by writing their defining names, including nine chapter-matched species-name allies introduced from stages 20 through 100.

Those nine new names are Strawberry Hamster at stage 20, Cloud Sheep at 30, Dandelion Duck at 40, Honey Bee at 50, Clover Frog at 60, Bamboo Panda at 70, Acorn Squirrel at 80, Tulip Dancer at 90, and Coconut Crab at 100. Reaching a stage makes its writing challenge available; completing the Simplified Chinese species name awakens that ally permanently.

What changes across 200 stages?

Stages 1–100 use soft-pastel scenery and monsters. Stages 101–200 use stained-glass scenery and monsters. The stage-200 adult boss is the campaign finale.

When do bosses appear?

In each ten-stage cycle, randomized themed mobs appear at positions 1–4 and 6–9, a junior boss appears at position 5, and an adult boss appears at position 10. Mob health is ten times the stage number, junior-boss health is fifty times the stage number, and adult-boss health is one hundred times the stage number. Adult bosses also restore ten times the current stage number in HP after every five active seconds, up to maximum HP.

How do abilities work?

A ready ability opens a writing challenge. Completing the expected word applies a meaning-matched effect—for example, 来 calls an ally and 大 grows companions.

Where are writing and companion controls?

The icon-only bottom dock contains moon-and-stars Trail, tent-shaped Caravan, character-book Words, and Settings controls. Tap an icon to raise its menu over the still-visible battle, then tap its active icon again to collapse it.

Caravan places two companion cards in each row. Companion levels are not displayed, and the improvement action is named Strengthen. The bottom-right gear opens Settings, including music and the confirmed gameplay-reset control.

What does “due” mean?

Successful and unsuccessful checks update a local review schedule for the whole word or phrase. Open the character-book Words panel to practice a due item, inspect Pinyin and meaning, or replay its audio.

What happens after stage 200?

After the stage-200 adult boss is defeated, starting a new route resets combat progression while preserving vocabulary mastery and prior character exposure.

Where is progress stored?

Progress is stored in the app’s local container. There is no Ink Caravan account, cloud sync, multiplayer, or import/export feature. Removing the app removes its local data, subject to Apple-managed device backup and restore behavior.

Reset Gameplay in Settings erases stages, gold, companion strengthening, companions, practice history, and word mastery after an explicit confirmation. This cannot be undone.