The available Terrain can greatly effect the strategies of empires. Each terrain type provides bonuses to FIDS to a faction when near a city.
Some factions possess traits that effect the FIDS of certain terrain tiles:
- The Wild Walkers faction gain +1 Industry on terrain with forests due to their "Living Towns" faction trait.
- The Broken Lords faction gain +1 Dust on terrain with Dust due to their "Dust Efficient" faction trait, and cannot see/gather/use Food due to their "Appetite for Dust" faction trait.
- The Necrophages faction lose -1 Food on terrain with Food due to their "Agriculturally Challenged" faction trait.
- The Vaulters faction gain +1 Science on terrain with Science due to their "Knack for Knowledge" faction trait.
- The Forgotten faction cannot see/gather/use Science due to their "Science Phobic" faction trait.
- The Morgawr faction gain +1 Industry and +1 Science on terrain with River, and +2 Industry and +2 Science on terrain with Sea or Lake due to their "Hydrophilic" faction trait.
- The Kapaku faction can only see/gather/use Food on Volcanic terrain due to their "Born of Ash" faction trait, while all other factions cannot see/gather/use Food on Volcanic terrain.
There are also many Technologies, City Improvements, and Hero Skills that apply bonuses to the FIDS output of different types of terrain.
Basic Terrain Types[]
Note: In ELCP for Kapaku the food gain of all volcanic tiles reduced by 1.
Base Terrain Modifiers[]
There are a number of Technologies, City Improvements, and Hero Skills that provide bonus FIDSI output to basic terrain tiles.
Technology[]
No More Ties
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As the Morgawr grow more powerful, their mental strength and physical enhancements allow them to cut the ties that bind them to water. | |||||||||||
Effects:
+1 on ground tiles |
City Improvements[]
Fish Farm
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Costs:
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Nets and cages by the shores of lakes and along reefs increase fish yields, raising Food production. | |||||||||
Effects:
Need an exploited lake or sea tile to be built |
Fertilizer Plant
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Costs:
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Chemical and biological fertilizers, applied in industrial quantities to the soil, greatly increase Food production. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Canal System
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Costs:
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The creation of a network for rapidly transporting goods gives an immediate Industry bonus to your City. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Lumber Mill
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Costs:
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Better machines for transforming bucked and limbed logs into cants and flitches increase the amount of Industry produced on forest tiles. | |||||||||
Effects:
Need an exploited forest tile to be built |
Automated Production
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Costs:
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Centralized stocks of raw materials, distribution centers, and co-located factories increase Industrial output. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Dust Filtration
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Costs:
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When ice melts and rivers and seas grow warmer in the summer season, a combination of magnetics and very fine filters can be used to harvest Dust directly from the waters. | |||||||||
Effects:
Need an exploited lake or sea tile to be built |
Dust Transmuter
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Costs:
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A marvel of magic and alchemy, this glowing edifice is magically linked to pylons throughout the city. By exciting existing Dust in the ground, baser elements can, over time, transmute into Dust. | |||||||||
Effects:
+10 on terrain with Dust |
Dust Revitalizer
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Costs:
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New methods and alchemies for extracting Dust are particularly useful where it has already been found, as Dust that is supposedly dormant can be infused with power. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Geomic Labs
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Costs:
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This new science, based on the study of the natural rock formations of Auriga, brings a wealth of new knowledge to the city. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Verda's Temple
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Costs:
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The subtleties of Dust are numerous and easy to overlook. Only through its methodical study will its secrets be discovered. This temple, replete with terrifying contraptions, will aid that endeavor. | |||||||||
Effects:
+2 on terrain with science |
Large-Scale Aquatic Center
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Costs:
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A dedicated facility investigating all things aquatic from lake fish to seabed flora confers an immediate Science bonus for every non-river water tile. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Imperial Funding
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Costs:
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By judiciously doling out money to private concerns or universities, the Empire can speed research in promising new sciences. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Hero Skills[]
Wild Walkers - Woodland Forager: +1 on terrain with forest.
Broken Lords - Dust Diviner: +1/1/1 on terrain with Dust per level.
Forgotten - Arboreal Dust Dowser: +1/2/2 on terrain with forest.
Kapaku - Volcanology: +2 on Volcanic terrain at first level, +1 and +1 on Volcanic terrain at second level.
Anomalies[]
Anomalies are unique terrain features that appear semi-randomly across the land of Auriga. Many of these strange features are remnants of the many experiments performed by the Endless during their time on Auriga.
The bonuses provided by anomalies is in addition to the base FIDSI output of the tile they are on, making them very valuable for city development, especially during a city's founding. One should ideally place a city on as many anomalies as they can (within reason) when founding a new city to reap the benefits of boosted FIDSI and Approval.
Note however that many anomalies have restrictions on what types of regions and tiles they can appear on. For example, Ice Sculptures only appear in Arctic regions, while the Life Tree only appears on forest tiles.
Anomaly Modifiers[]
As with basic terrain, there are a handful of City Improvements and Hero Skills provide bonuses to the output of terrain with anomalies.
City Improvements[]
Cryometric Monitors
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Costs:
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Recent scientific improvements allow careful and accurate measurement of temperature fluctuations. Studying this data leads to improved ability to predict the arrival of the next Dark Season. | |||||||||
Effects:
-40% Margin of error for season predictability on empire |
Hero Skills[]
Ardent Mages - Scientific Literacy: +2/3/3 on terrain with anomaly.
Roving Clans - Traveling Salesman: +2/3/3 on terrain with anomaly.
Additional Terrain Features[]
Rivers[]
Rivers provide +1 Food to whatever tile they pass through. Additionally, the Mastermind and Morgawr Heroes have reduced movement cost on river tiles.
There are also a number of City Improvements and Hero Skills that can greatly improve the FIDSI output of tiles with rivers.
City Improvements[]
Irrigation Networks
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Costs:
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Modern materials and machines allow the creation of vast networks of irrigation, making arable land more productive and rendering dry land arable. | |||||||||
Effects:
Need an exploited river tile to be built |
Dust Dredger
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Costs:
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Sifting with sophisticated nets in wells, rivers and floodplains helps isolate this precious magical resource, increasing city Dust production. | |||||||||
Effects:
Need an exploited river tile to be built |
Hydromatic Laboratory
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Costs:
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New laboratories can be built that take advantage of a river's current. These provide power for experiments as well as a wealth of information about the river itself. | |||||||||
Effects:
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Hero Skills[]
Broken Lords - Aquatic Dust: +1/2/2 on terrain with river.
Drakken - Irrigation Expert: +1/2/2 on terrain with river.
Lava Flows[]
Lava flows provide +1 Industry on the tiles they pass through. They also harm units that pass over them; units that walk over lava flows lose 25% of their max Life, while units that end their turn on a lava flow in battle lose 10% of their max Life. Kapaku units do not experience this due to the Inner Fire capacity, and the Daemon also doesn't due to the Flamewalker capacity. The Flamewalker capacity can be given to other units by equipping them with the Flamewalkers.
Additionally, the Lava Works city improvement further increases the FIDSI output from Lava flow tiles.
Cliffs[]
Cliffs separate terrain tiles with substantial differences in height and block the movement of armies. However, if all units in the army have the Fly capacity, they can pass over cliffs freely.
Roads[]
Roads are automatically generated between cities in adjacent regions upon building the Right of Way city improvement unlocked by researching Imperial Highways. Paved roads are generated within the region of a city that has built Right of Way, while unpaved roads are generated in a region with a city that has not built Right of Way, but is adjacent to one that has.
Paved Roads in friendly and allied tiles reduce movement to 0.5, and can be further reduced by researching Endless Mechanisms. In order for Trade Routes to form between cities on land, there must be a continuous path of paved roads between the two cities.
Points of Interest[]
Points of Interest are various terrain features that can be interacted with in some way beyond what can be done with, say, a river. Points of interest include places that can act as the basis for regional buildings, or as part of a quest.
Foundations[]
Some ancient architect laid a foundation here that has stood the test of time. Given its location and the quality of the work, it is an ideal place to build a Watchtower.
Foundations are revealed upon reaching Era II, and there are usually 2 to 4 within a region. Watchtowers (Watchtower, Lookout Towers, Remotuscope Factory) and Defensive Towers (Tower of Truth, Tower of Fidelity) can be built on these foundations.
Ruins[]
Ruins are spread throughout the map. They are ancient structures left by the Endless that, when searched, have a chance to produce a reward that depends on the type of ruin, and a Hero that searches ruins will receive a reward of 8 XP. Additionally, searching a Sunken Ruin will consume the remaining Movement of the army.
Exploring ruins will have one of the following effects:
- 20%: Quest
- 60%: Instant reward
- 20%: Nothing
The Search Party tech and Indiana Bones hero skill each reduce the chance of getting nothing by 10% and increase the chance to get a Quest or Reward by 5%.
The Drakken gain +2 Science and +3 Influence on terrain with Ruins due to their "Endless Excavation" faction trait.
The Allayi receive a small amount of Pearls on a successful Ruins search due to their "Pearl Sensitive" faction trait.
The Kapaku gain +2 Science on terrain with Ruins and receive an amount of Science on a successful Ruins search due to their "Endless Fascination" faction trait. Additionally, the Kapaku receive the Aurigan Archive and Inner Peace technologies for completing the last two chapters of their faction quest, which provide +8 Science and +15 Influence on terrain with Ruins respectively.
Resources[]
Terrain tiles with Strategic Resources provide +1 Science and terrain tiles with Luxury Resources provide +1 Dust. Such tiles (and therefore effects) are only revealed upon reaching the appropriate Era for the resource. Additionally, building the Advanced Quarry in a city provides an additional +50 Industry on terrain with Strategic Resource.
Villages[]
Every region contains 1 to 3 Minor Faction Villages, all of the same type of Minor Faction, with an Empire's starting region always only having 1 village. Villages start out neutral, and will over time produce roaming armies that will attack units and pillage buildings. These villages can be pacified either by attacking and defeating the village, bribing them with a sum of Dust , or completing a quest for them. Note that the last two options require the Language Square technology to do, and completing a pacification quest will pacify all villages in a region, making it more effective for regions with multiple villages. Once a village is pacified, it will no longer produce roaming armies, and if there is a city in that region, then the owner of the city will gain 1 per pacified village (though this doesn't count towards the city's total population), as well as the ability to assimilate the minor faction for a passive bonus and the ability to make that faction's units.