Early-Game Optimization
A significant difference between the performance of an average newcomer and a very experienced player comes from small optimizations and from taking advantage of imbalances that allow a faction to start snowballing as early as possible. Important examples include handling fights with Necros correctly and using optimal Aspect spore settling and bribes.
General Early-Game Priorities
Influence and Expansion
Any quest that gives hundreds of Influence is worth beelining for. Getting your second territory and/or second city are major power spikes, and reaching them faster allows your faction to scale faster.
Foundling and Oneiroi Quests
The Foundling and Oneiroi quests that give the Desiccated Larynx and Bone Panpipes trinkets can massively improve your army in the early game.
If you see their units on the map, it can be worth taking a suboptimal path to reach them. Even if they are in someone else’s territory, the items are valuable enough that it can be worth pacifying the minor faction.
Quest Item Rewards
Even if you do not have the correct type of hero, an early quest that gives a purple or gold item is usually worth completing if it allows you to reach 1,500 Dust or 6,000 Dust.
Aspect and Lord Settlement
Aspects and Lords strongly benefit from settling only in territories with minor factions.
Aspects
Aspects want to:
- Settle next to a village.
- Plant a spore next to the village.
- Bribe the village to obtain the free unit.
- Use their free assimilation to increase their population as soon as possible.
Lords
Lords get a significant amount of their power from Lords’ Estates.
They usually want to settle diagonally from a village, with 2 hexagons between them. This allows them to level the Soul Repository by placing the repository and 2 other districts adjacent to it.
Tahuks
Tahuks benefit significantly from using their Science strength to research military technologies as quickly as possible and then leveraging that military strength for tempo against other empires.
There are several important timings associated with this strategy.
Dust and Trading Posts
If you think it is possible to save 1,500 Dust by the end of the first Monsoon, do so and research Trading Posts.
Each mercenary hero is incredibly impactful.
As a general rule, major-faction heroes are almost always better than minor-faction heroes, except for Ustotaks, Sister Fen, and Gneist.
Kin
Kin have some very strong timing possibilities involving Chosen and Zeal, although executing these timings as effectively as the other factions’ technology timings has a very high skill floor.
Peaceful Masses
Peaceful Masses provides:
+20 Influence per pacified village under Protectorate
This is a particularly strong snowballing option.
Custom Faction Population Effects
The following population effects were collected for Custom Factions.
| Population | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ametrine | +2 Science when in Artisans |
| Aspect | +1 Influence per population type present in the same category; +1 Influence when at Peace |
| Blackhammer | +2 Industry when in Scribes |
| FaugherofBoar | +1 Industry when in Artisans; +2 Damage on Militia; +2 Defense on Militia |
| Foundling | +3 Science if another population type is present in the same category; -2 Approval if another population type is present in the same category |
| Gorog | +2 Industry; -2 Food when in Citizens |
| Green Scion | +4 Food when in Citizens |
| Hoy and ladhran | +2 Influence when in Citizens; +2 Influence when in Scribes |
| Hydracorn | +3 Influence; -3 Approval when in Citizens |
| Horatio | +1 Food per population type present in the same category; +2 Influence |
| Kin of Sheredyn | +2 Industry when in Artisan |
| Last Lord | +2 Dust; -3 Approval when in Citizens |
| Tahuk | +1 Science |
| Necrophage | +2 Dust; +1 Food if in Citizens; +2 Industry if in Artisans; +1 Influence if in Scribes |
| Noquensii | +3 Influence if in Scribes |
| Orchling | +3 Dust if another population type is present in the same category; -2 Approval if another population type is present in the same category |
| Oneiroi | +2 Dust if in Citizens; +2 Dust if in Artisans |
| Sollusk | +3 Industry; -2 Approval if another population type is present in the same category |
| The Consortium | +4 Dust if Trading Post is present in the City |
| Unseeing Seer | +2 Dust if in Citizens; +2 Science if in Scribes |
| Xavius | +4 Approval if another population type is present in the same category |
Custom Faction Population Effects Visibility
The population effects for Custom Factions are currently not being displayed correctly. This is something that is being improved.
Be the first to comment