Reus 2 – Tier List for Sage City (Early Game)

I like the Sage but I find myself always spamming fruit in a forest. So I wanted to visualize how all the other biotica compared.

Tier List for Sage City

By Logkaiero.

Limitation of Tier Lists:

Tier lists for this game have to be pretty restricted in scope, so this is for a Sage’s city, and in the 0th and 1st era–so only looking at level one biotica. And it’s for the purpose of achieving his Turning Points–which means getting as much food as you can. (If you’re trying to also achieve an era-specific goal, or maximize prosperity, that could significantly change the rankings.)

The chart doesn’t assume a starting perk. If you have the Sage’s, all the plants go up a tier. If you have the Huntress’, all the herbivores (and the Pear tree) go up a tier. If you have the Pirate’s, the Jellyfish (not in the chart) becomes A tier, especially if you need science, too.

S Tier:

Apple & Banana: high max yields (70 Food), Apple has fruit tag and only needs two other spaces to max out its symbiosis; Banana has both the fruit and undergrowth tag, making it even better for the neolithic era.

A Tier:

Tuna has a high max yield (80) and a relatively easy symbiosis. Potato is in an unideal biome, but has a great symbiosis, especially if it’s on the edge of the taiga, next to some barely or blackberries. Barley has the best minimum yield of a level 1 biotica, though it’s in unideal biomes for the Sage–unless you have the huntress starting perk, in which case, the savannah is an excellent biome. Red Deer has a great minimum yield.

B Tier:

Pangolin is excellent if you also need gold, otherwise, it’s still solid if you can afford the BD cost. The zebra is S tier with the huntress starting perk, but otherwise requires heavy investment in savannah animals to maximize. The blueberry would be excellent except for requiring a mineral. The pear is also nearly perfect, except for not having the undergrowth tag and requiring 2 distinct tags. Similarly, Blackberry has great tags, but can be finnicky to pull off, since only Rowan among these biotica has a lost tag. If you’re rolling in extra Biodiversity, then Papaya and Jungle Fowl are A tier.

C Tier:

I don’t know why the Sandgrouse costs a BD point; it doesn’t feel that strong to me, especially compared to barley. (Maybe it would have been too spammable with the Ostrich?) The rest require minerals or ruggedness, which isn’t ideal for the Sage’s demand for food. These can be solid choices though if you do need some minerals in your city.

D Tier:

I would only use these as a first choice if I needed somethings else (biodiversity, science) as much as I needed food. The seabass is here because getting 3 distinct critters is isn’t easily doable in the early game unless you also want gold (from clownfish and suckerfish). I’ve never used the Jerboa except for the beginning of desert cities where I need the sand cat.

The Ostrich is very fun, but it’s space intensive and doesn’t have a lot of options for efficient “barren” titles unless you’ll also trying to build up wealth. But if you’re low on eon, and won’t be able to develop the area for a while, it’s excellent to plop down the Ostrich as a place holder, especially if there’s already a nearby mountain.

F Tier:

Poor little vole; he’s only useful if you’re desperate for biodiversity, he detracts from ruggedness, and his symbiosis wants predators and minerals, neither of which help the Sage city on its own.

Click to enlarge…

Update

Zebra – If you can afford two zebra (7 BD total), it can count as one of the adjacent herbivores for each other, because unlike the stoat, it doesn’t say “other herbivore”.

So you can have:

• Herb #1 – Herb #2 – Zebra – Zebra – Herb #3 – Herb #1

That’s a total of 6 animals, with two sets benefitting from the Huntress starting perk. I think it’s a pretty efficient cluster of herbivore-based-food.

Squirrel and Vole – Good point that they can help for the herbivore project.

Jerboa – I started off with the Jerboa at the bottom with the vole, and I agree in that, I think it should have the “barren” trait instead of the sand cat, which is already sitting pretty with a 25 max yield.

Seabass – I think you’re right that for early game in a food-only city, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get an ideal symbiosis. You would need 3 unlocks for the ocean, which almost certainly isn’t happening. So I’m persuaded it should be lowered a tier for these parameters.

I hope this was helpful to you!