Old World – Ultimate Vassal Families Guide

In this guide, we just gave a brief mention to each of the vassal families that the playable nations have access to. In this section, we’ll go into each one in more detail.

Definitive Guide to Vassal Families

The Artisans

• +4 culture per turn in all Artisan cities.
• New Siege and Ship units start with the Ingenuity promotion (+20% attack strength).
• Mines and Lumbermills in Artisan cities are 20% more productive.
• When you found the family seat, you get a free worker, and all urban improvements in the family seat take -2 turns to build.

Keeping the Artisans happy

The artisans don’t like pillaged tiles in their territory (-20 relationship penalty). They love all luxuries and any luxury you send them will grant an additional +20 relationship bonus, over and above the normal boost. They also love the law “Guilds” and if you adopt it, you’ll see a +50 relationship boost.

Where luxuries are concerned, their favorites are gems and dyes.

The Champions

• City defense bonuses.
• +2 Training Points per turn in each city.
• All units trained in Champions cities get the “Steadfast” promotion, giving a +25% bonus vs. Barbarians(to both attack and defense!).
• And the Family Seat (first Champions city founded) gets a freeWarrior, giving you an “extra”combat unit early on, which isnaturally ideally suited to killing barbarians.

Keeping the Champions happy

You’ll get a +40 relationship bonus if they have the most military units of any vassal family, and a +20 bonus if you adopt the law “Volunteers.” They also have a preference for Wine and Dye luxuries. You’ll get a -40 relationship penalty if they have the smallest number of military units of any vassal family.

The Clerics

• -1 unhappiness per turn in Cleric cities.
• Can build improvements on Sand tiles.
• Monasteries and Temples built around Cleric cities gain a +20% bonus to their output.
• And when you found the family seat, you also found a religion.

Keeping the Clerics happy

You get a +20 relationship bonus per holy city this family controls, but a -20 penalty for each city without a religion. The Clerics have a love of Incense and Lavender, and they love the law Divine Rule, which provides a +30 relationship bonus if you adopt it.

The Hunters

• +2 Training Points per turn in each Hunter city.
• Ranged units trained in Hunter’s cities start with the “Sentinel” promotion, which gives them a +20% bonus when inside their own borders.
• And all Hunter’s cities get a +100% bonus to the output of camp and net tiles.
• When you found the first Hunter’s city, you get +50 each, wood, stone, and iron, and the family seat may perform the “Hunt” city project.

Keeping the Hunters happy

You’ll get a +20 relationship bonus for having defended cities (a Hunter family unit inside the city’s borders), but suffer a -10 penalty anytime there are hostile units inside your territory (this does not count barbarian raiders, btw).

The Hunters love the Exploration law, and you’ll get a +10 relationship bonus for adopting it. Their preferred luxuries are Honey and Fur.

The Landownern

• All Landowner cities get +2 growth per turn.
• All Landowner cities get +2 culture from each crop resource.
• All Landowner cities get a 50% reduction in the time it takes to train rural specialists.
• When you found the family seat, you gain +2 citizens.

Keeping the Landowners happy

The Landowners like to have the most cities, and you’ll get a +40 relationship bonus if they do, and suffer a -40 penalty if they don’t.

They also like Serfdom, and adopting that law grants you a +20 bonus, but they don’t abide being ruled by children and you will suffer a -20 relationship penalty if your ruler is not an adult. Luxury-wise, they prefer Honey and Olives.

The Patrons

• +2 Civics per turn in family cities.
• +2 culture per turn in specialists in family cities.
• Can hurry projects with money.
• The family seat gets -1 Discontent level per Culture Event.
• And on founding you get a free Court Minister (who adds per turn Civics points for you).

Keeping the Patrons happy

The Patrons like it when members of their family are appointed as governors (+10 relationship bonus for each Patron family member governor), and they like it when you build Wonders (+20 per Wonder). They also like the law Calligraphy (+40 bonus), and they like it when the nation’s leader or heir is from their family (+20). Where luxuries are concerned, they prefer Gems and Incense.

The Riders

• All Riders cities generate +2 extra Training Points per turn.
• Riders cities are always considered to be connected.
• New mounted Unites start with the Saddleborn promotion (+25%to attack strength if flanking).
• Can build units that normally require the presence of horses, camels or elephants, even if none are present (family seat only).
• On founding the Family seat, you gain a Scout.

Keeping the Riders happy

The Riders like being in charge.

You’ll get a +10 relationship bonus for every Riders general in the field, and you’ll get a +20bonus if you run “Vassalage.” Unfortunately, you’ll suffer a -40 penalty if your spouse is from a foreign Nation.

Where luxuries are concerned, the Riders gravitate toward Salt and Furs.

The Sages

• Sage cities generate +2 Civics per turn and +1 science per turn, per specialist.
• Sage cities enjoy a -20% cost reduction for urban specialists.
• The Sages family seat unlocks “Inquiry” which can speed your research further.
• On founding the family seat for this family, you get a free (random) technology.

Keeping the Sages happy

If your ruler marries a member of one of the barbarian tribes, you’ll suffer a -40 relationship penalty. You get a +40 bonus if the Sages have more specialists than anyone else, and they love the law “Freedom” so you’ll get a +10 bonus for enacting it.

Where luxuries are concerned, the Sages gravitate toward Salt and Lavender.

The Statesmen

• All Statemen cities generate +1 Order per turn.
• All family cities generate +1 Civic per Family Opinion Level.
• The Family Seat can conduct a Decree.
• All family cities gain Treasure 1 on founding.
• On founding the Family Seat, you gain +400 Civics.

Keeping the Statesmen happy

The Statesmen are unhappy when the ruler of the nation is unmarried (-20), and they don’t like it when they don’t have a seat on the Council (-20) — Council positions being Ambassador, Chancellor or Spymaster. They do like the law “Constitution” though (+10 relationship bonus) and they enjoy Wine and Pearls where luxuries are concerned.

The Traders

• If Trader cities contain any bullion specials (gold/silver), you gain +20 gold per turn from those tiles once you improve them.
• -10 years on the upgrade time of Hamlets.
• The family seat can build the Caravan unit.
• On founding the family seat, you get a free Court Merchant.

Keeping the Traders happy

You get a +10 relationship bonus with this family for each connected city, but a -20 penalty for each damaged city. They love the laws Trade League and Monetary Reform, and adopting either will give you a +20 relationship bonus.

Where luxuries are concerned, their favorites are Olives and Pearls.