Austrin are very specific civ but properly played are OP and probably the best civ for domination victory (not conquest, the key of domination is having 66% land and here Austrin really shine), being able to reach extremely high research speed resulting in +2 combat strength every 2-3 turns. Whatever you beeline, keep in mind trade routes are ruling here, and you reaaly want all those wonders for +1 routes.
The main feature of Austrin is :
- no roads can be build, but all base terrain types work as connection in terms of trade (there are some exception with barrow land or sth similar
- settlements are limited to populaton 6 (capital 8)
- Austrin can mount pegasus. Your melees and adepts can go to 2 movement as soon as you manage to hunt a pegasus.
and as a consequence:
- cities would work maximum 6 tiles (often 4+ 2 specialists) or even 6 specialists
- 1 move units are basically weak, inlcuding adepts (except pegasus)
- your settlements are very cheap to maintain - they also hacve -50% maintanace - so you can spam them like crazy
- as soon as you meet any AI and open borders you get international routes (Sorah and Ecks)
- cities not on borders don’t even need a garrison, as their happiness cap at some point would be higher than 6 anyway
- you save quite a lot resources, as you don’t need many buildings, especially happiness / health
- you can sell slaves to barbs more often, small cities regrow faster
- cities are rather low on hammers
LEADERS
Both leaders benefit from civ trait giving +1 movement and visibility range to recons.
You can choose defensive + trait of your choice, which can save you a lot of timber, but personaly I strongly recommend Sorah and Ecks. Why?
- S&E can prepare expedition so any recon unit can make a settlement
- S&E can swap cities, which is huge. You can construct buildings in high production city (near bonuses giving +20% hammers) while building construction yard in new settlement. Then swap cities
- S&E has trader trait and that mean food and hammers from trade routes. From some point you would not even have to work food tiles without enchantments! Trade routes would be your basic source of food / hammers / commerce, so this trait is essential. In the extremely early stage you would get like 3-4 hammers per city from routes and this makes huge difference in small cities
- S&E starts with cartography and with all tiles working as trade connection it means open borders with any civ you meet giving you already mentioned 3-4 hammers from trade routes
- Lategame with around 10 traderoutes food / hammers / commerce from trade routes is just crazy
What offers Deirdra?
Defensive trait helps a lot with leveling up rouges to bards, so often you can advance in culture tree faster, meaning earlier Harmatt and wisps
Loremaster trait allows unlocking windswords and seekers earlier as Austrin uniques are unlocked by spellresearch
Adaptive trait is great and you can save thousands of wood with choosing creative / merchant trait (carnivals / exotic markets)
BUT
Deirdra is haevily dependent on farm resources! In worst case any food resource, but you really need rice/wheat/corn. While S&E can ignore food to some degree having it ffrom routes, Deirdra must burn one or 2 citizens for food tile if no corn/wheat/rice around
UNITS
Sincerely, very low variety of units you would have. The main problem here is most uniques are unlocked by spell research (!) or guild research. For the long part of initial stage you would be limited to low quality units making you very vulnerable early game.
First of all – melee – basically weak. But at least it is cheap and if you need garrison – build it. They serve well for city defence with land protector promotion Not very useful for other purposes, because of speed and lack of roads, but still keep 2 or three for offence purposes. They have usual +20% city attack and temporary can have 2 movement - dash ability - but it makes them fatigued for some turns. Note: they can mount pegasus! So you really can turn them to sth usefull.
Secondly – archery. In fact their unique archer is pretty good (but unlocked by spellresearch), but requires lumber and this disqualifies archer spam even for defense purposes – use highlanders instead for garrison (or religious melees) and any archer you have make for offensive – starting with promotion of +1 movement.
Your Legend is pegasus rider (you may want some more riders later, but not necessairy). And this guy is really fantastic. He can fly, so can stay on mountain peaks preparing to attack, use it a lot. Promote him into causing fear – so he can attack barb forts, make goblins and similar to leave lair, destroy lair and retreat to mountains. Then you can finish off barbs with other units. And you want to destroy as many lairs as possible as fast as possible – see unique improvements.
But Austrin really shine at reckons. Their basic scout is not very strong, but very effective and can be cheaply upgraded to wisps, who are really nice units and would be the core of you army (though are limited in muber to as far as I remember 12). +1 movement and +1 sight allow you to explore safely huge parts of map. Gain as many experience as possible on wolves and similar, on savages and so on, because promotions make recon very flexible, variable, strong units (IMO the best class in game). Reckons can hide, reckons can ignore city defenses, reckons can fear, reckons can kill the weakest in stack and so on.
Just make sure some of your first units would be bards to help with culture, also prepare some units to ignore city defenses.
Also your hero, Harmatt is recon, so benefits from +1 movement/sight! Unlike other reckons, Harmatt can mount a pegasus!
Windsword is available later but is a fantastic reckon unit and you should spam it as crazy.
And remember – you will reach such a research speed, that all your units will get +2 strength every 2-3 turns at some stage, making them unstoppable.
Worth to mention also disciples, they have unique Skyrover with +3 affinity from air mana, what makes it absolutely devastating unit, but it comes late in priests guild (6th tech) and usually you would clear the map before you even unlock it. If you unlock it, watch opponents dying. I know other civs also have sth similar here, but no other civ is so effective in securing mana nodes without going deep into mage guild.
NOTE: Skyrovers can summon pegasus! If you want aerial stable on demand or have a mage who is not mounted yet, just pay 200 faith and get a pegasus.
One thing to note: Austrin unique units love affinity to air mana, including hero (+2 per mana). This brings us to…..
MAGIC
If you want to play with magic, change civilization. Mages are slow and don’t fit to Austrin playstyle, though you need some lately for auras (of course, on mounted pegasi). But still your main goal is securing mana nodes. Kind of weird situation when you don’t necessairy need magic, but need nodes.
Every node you secure (and you have easy way to do it, as reckons can settle cities with Sorah and Ecks leader) make air node. Even if you secure other type, unbind, make air node. Affinity for units is just too important and you don’t even need other types. The only exception is life mana - the first tech of life mana is enchantment for +2 culture per city - bot you don't need more than one node of life mana (just kill Elohim, bannor or sth)
The same with spellresearch – focus heavily on air spells.
Gentle rain spell research is available for free if you go arcane knowledge early enough and you really want arcane knowledge as 4th tech (after warrior caste and profits, beeline it)
It gives you 2 essential enchantments:
- +2 culture per city
- +1 food from every farming resources (including duplicates) --> absolutely crucial for Deirdra
Later
- Air minaret natural wonder giving +1 air mana
- Aura effect making you immune to fear
- Offensive spells – not the greatest, but good enough
- Units enchantments +1 affinity to air mana (so Harmatt gets +3, skyrovers +4)
Also note more first strikes / ignoring first strikes comes as an enchantment here, not aura effect
CITIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
As stated, cities are limited to 6 pop (capital to 8 pop). Have lower maintanace and you should try to settle them close to each other, so every hammer / commerce resorce is worked. Early on try to settle close to food also, later you can skip it (as you would have plenty of food from routes or enchantments) and focus only on luxuries.
A) Improvemnts
Austrins consume huge amounts of wood, so make sure you secure a lot of lumbermills, then some trade posts and quarries. The way Sorah and Ecks works would lead you to the point when the only tiles you will work would be those with secondary yields – mainly lumber followed by stone.
But the real king of improvements is fortified outpost – every time you destroy lair, this improvement is created, giving you +2hammers/stone/commerce on top of it usul output. Plan your cities directly next to them and don't fogbust to much. Let the barb make another fort near already cleared one, so you can have clusters of fortified outposts.
B) Buildings
Most of them you don’t need, except those giving culture. There are some though I have to mention.
Exotic market – fantastic unique building IMO absolutely the best unique building in game, this building alone makes the whole Austrin research. Main feature of this market replacement is giving 2 commerce per every unique luxury and +1 for every above the first of that type. And because as Austrin you would basically always run 100% science or 30% culture and 70% science, this translates in early midgame to 30+ beakers and 15+ culture, midgame above 50, lategame 100+ science. ONE BUILDING! Believe me, you don’t even need salons, exotic market transforms every little settlement into hypersalon!
And to make thing even more juicy - unlike regular market, this one DOES NOT NEED TAVERN FIRST!
BTW. This is not salon. This is just a tiny 6pop Austrin luxury district with a little weak expansion (isolated island start, so little luxuries yet)
Empyrean temple – just look what this temple (+20% scie/culture) can do with exotic market
Woodcutters into sawmills - lumber lumber lumber. We need lots of lumber
Food caravan - just in case you somehow are gold negative, this solves everything. Substracts food, gives gold. And as you expand you would have too much food anyway from enchantment or in case of Sorah - trade routes
C) Districts
Spam merchant districts as much as possible. Especially capital (warehouse as Deirdra, warehous or trading center as Sorah). Get merchant guild early to specialize them. 1 food and 3 plainhill forest make a fantastic warehouse. 2+ luxuries cities make fantastic luxury district (if you multiply luxuries, you would get more from exotic markets, remember!), coastal / hammer heavy make great world trade centers. Remember that mid-late game even a settlement for 3 resourceless plain hills make a great city in case of Austrin!
Early game you want some noble districts, just to increase units cap, usually my 2nd and 3rd cities are nobles, one of them going warrior next and producing garrison highlander all the time. Place them near culture resource and in case of warrior district close to 2 or more fortified outposts.
When it comes to sage districts, basically you don't need it, except mountain + wine or similar. Still consider at least one just to generate great sages. With gentle rain enchantment you are able to have enough food to turn all citizens to sages and great sage = another air mana node.
Anyway, great majority should be merchant districts to collects lumber/ stone and multiply resources
FAITH
Most of temple effects are useless to Austrin, except the very fantastic empyrean. The obvious choice.
And radiant guards are sth Austrin are lacking – good defensive unit for city garrison. Note also religipus units of empyrean can buy random great person! And because you will not generate many, random great engineer for double gold is always welcome!
The only choice you may consider is ashen veil / order to change alignment.
GUILDS
Rangers is the obvious first pick.
- it unlocks better recon unit
- it unlocks your hero
- it unlock easy little culture from animals
- it gives you aerial stable which you can simply spam everywhere by capturing griffons!! This is substantial to transfer mages / slower units between cities!
NOTE! Austrins can build aerial stables earlier than other civs! (usual civ unlocks it as 7th tech in ranger guilds, austrins as 5th)
- it gives spider pens and elephant conservations = even more luxuries to boost exotic markets, every copy counts
Second pick is usually also obvious – merchant – to unlock merchant district specialization and later allows trade focused civic. You should progress in ranger guild first anyway, but sometimes it is worth taking mining / priests before
Guilds of 3-4 pick
Artisan guild - unlock and forget.
Gold / silver / gems / amber - more luxuries to multiply via luxury districts. If you lack other luxuries, go for it, mining expeditions for more luxuries is also very nice
Priest chapter
Unlock and develop to Skyrovers. Not always you would advance so far before fiinishing enemies, but this guys are really cool. If you have a lot of incense around, consider taking it as 2nd guild - incense work as luxury so clear maths: what will you give more - connecting all incense or doubling other luxuries in luxury districts?
Slavery
Rare case to go 2nd, but low pop fast growing cities screams for whipping also this guild unlocks some reckons.
But sincereley, slavery guild works fantastic with Austrin as 3rd/4th guild, and not because of slavery civic.
All because at this stage you sould be crazy rich. Absolutely crazy reach and you should be constantly expanding for even more luxuries, while having not good production, especially as Deirdra.
Slavery guild offers you:
- absolutely great hammer building - slaver compound, giving hammers for every culture level. And because you will run 70/30, your exotic markets will produce big amount of culture as well (so you can advance in slavery guild too)
- more hammers from quarries, you should work quarries anyway
- buying units (hiring defence for founded/conquered cities), buying buildings and buying wonders (yes, you can buy a wonder via buying slaves).
Each slave costs you 100 gold and as you advance in this guild, it is getting cheaper (80 and 60).
So basically:
- settle city and use any unit to buy a slave. Use this slave to buy another one and so on as long you have cash.
- use those slaves to improve resources the same turn
- next turn rush exotic market with those slaves. On turn3 your fresh city generates big science and big culture. So simple, and so effective, because xotic markets are so cheap.
If you don't have gold for slaves, just lower slider temporary, so your exotic markets produce huge amounts of cash
I haven't tested Austrin with Cult of Esus, but I don't see any need for it even
Useless guilds:
Herbalists - health is not a problem for Austrin
Mage guild - reagents are not luxuries
I hope this is a little help for some people who usually play more typical civs.
Have fun!
The main feature of Austrin is :
- no roads can be build, but all base terrain types work as connection in terms of trade (there are some exception with barrow land or sth similar
- settlements are limited to populaton 6 (capital 8)
- Austrin can mount pegasus. Your melees and adepts can go to 2 movement as soon as you manage to hunt a pegasus.
and as a consequence:
- cities would work maximum 6 tiles (often 4+ 2 specialists) or even 6 specialists
- 1 move units are basically weak, inlcuding adepts (except pegasus)
- your settlements are very cheap to maintain - they also hacve -50% maintanace - so you can spam them like crazy
- as soon as you meet any AI and open borders you get international routes (Sorah and Ecks)
- cities not on borders don’t even need a garrison, as their happiness cap at some point would be higher than 6 anyway
- you save quite a lot resources, as you don’t need many buildings, especially happiness / health
- you can sell slaves to barbs more often, small cities regrow faster
- cities are rather low on hammers
LEADERS
Both leaders benefit from civ trait giving +1 movement and visibility range to recons.
You can choose defensive + trait of your choice, which can save you a lot of timber, but personaly I strongly recommend Sorah and Ecks. Why?
- S&E can prepare expedition so any recon unit can make a settlement
- S&E can swap cities, which is huge. You can construct buildings in high production city (near bonuses giving +20% hammers) while building construction yard in new settlement. Then swap cities
- S&E has trader trait and that mean food and hammers from trade routes. From some point you would not even have to work food tiles without enchantments! Trade routes would be your basic source of food / hammers / commerce, so this trait is essential. In the extremely early stage you would get like 3-4 hammers per city from routes and this makes huge difference in small cities
- S&E starts with cartography and with all tiles working as trade connection it means open borders with any civ you meet giving you already mentioned 3-4 hammers from trade routes
- Lategame with around 10 traderoutes food / hammers / commerce from trade routes is just crazy
What offers Deirdra?
Defensive trait helps a lot with leveling up rouges to bards, so often you can advance in culture tree faster, meaning earlier Harmatt and wisps
Loremaster trait allows unlocking windswords and seekers earlier as Austrin uniques are unlocked by spellresearch
Adaptive trait is great and you can save thousands of wood with choosing creative / merchant trait (carnivals / exotic markets)
BUT
Deirdra is haevily dependent on farm resources! In worst case any food resource, but you really need rice/wheat/corn. While S&E can ignore food to some degree having it ffrom routes, Deirdra must burn one or 2 citizens for food tile if no corn/wheat/rice around
UNITS
Sincerely, very low variety of units you would have. The main problem here is most uniques are unlocked by spell research (!) or guild research. For the long part of initial stage you would be limited to low quality units making you very vulnerable early game.
First of all – melee – basically weak. But at least it is cheap and if you need garrison – build it. They serve well for city defence with land protector promotion Not very useful for other purposes, because of speed and lack of roads, but still keep 2 or three for offence purposes. They have usual +20% city attack and temporary can have 2 movement - dash ability - but it makes them fatigued for some turns. Note: they can mount pegasus! So you really can turn them to sth usefull.
Secondly – archery. In fact their unique archer is pretty good (but unlocked by spellresearch), but requires lumber and this disqualifies archer spam even for defense purposes – use highlanders instead for garrison (or religious melees) and any archer you have make for offensive – starting with promotion of +1 movement.
Your Legend is pegasus rider (you may want some more riders later, but not necessairy). And this guy is really fantastic. He can fly, so can stay on mountain peaks preparing to attack, use it a lot. Promote him into causing fear – so he can attack barb forts, make goblins and similar to leave lair, destroy lair and retreat to mountains. Then you can finish off barbs with other units. And you want to destroy as many lairs as possible as fast as possible – see unique improvements.
But Austrin really shine at reckons. Their basic scout is not very strong, but very effective and can be cheaply upgraded to wisps, who are really nice units and would be the core of you army (though are limited in muber to as far as I remember 12). +1 movement and +1 sight allow you to explore safely huge parts of map. Gain as many experience as possible on wolves and similar, on savages and so on, because promotions make recon very flexible, variable, strong units (IMO the best class in game). Reckons can hide, reckons can ignore city defenses, reckons can fear, reckons can kill the weakest in stack and so on.
Just make sure some of your first units would be bards to help with culture, also prepare some units to ignore city defenses.
Also your hero, Harmatt is recon, so benefits from +1 movement/sight! Unlike other reckons, Harmatt can mount a pegasus!
Windsword is available later but is a fantastic reckon unit and you should spam it as crazy.
And remember – you will reach such a research speed, that all your units will get +2 strength every 2-3 turns at some stage, making them unstoppable.
Worth to mention also disciples, they have unique Skyrover with +3 affinity from air mana, what makes it absolutely devastating unit, but it comes late in priests guild (6th tech) and usually you would clear the map before you even unlock it. If you unlock it, watch opponents dying. I know other civs also have sth similar here, but no other civ is so effective in securing mana nodes without going deep into mage guild.
NOTE: Skyrovers can summon pegasus! If you want aerial stable on demand or have a mage who is not mounted yet, just pay 200 faith and get a pegasus.
One thing to note: Austrin unique units love affinity to air mana, including hero (+2 per mana). This brings us to…..
MAGIC
If you want to play with magic, change civilization. Mages are slow and don’t fit to Austrin playstyle, though you need some lately for auras (of course, on mounted pegasi). But still your main goal is securing mana nodes. Kind of weird situation when you don’t necessairy need magic, but need nodes.
Every node you secure (and you have easy way to do it, as reckons can settle cities with Sorah and Ecks leader) make air node. Even if you secure other type, unbind, make air node. Affinity for units is just too important and you don’t even need other types. The only exception is life mana - the first tech of life mana is enchantment for +2 culture per city - bot you don't need more than one node of life mana (just kill Elohim, bannor or sth)
The same with spellresearch – focus heavily on air spells.
Gentle rain spell research is available for free if you go arcane knowledge early enough and you really want arcane knowledge as 4th tech (after warrior caste and profits, beeline it)
It gives you 2 essential enchantments:
- +2 culture per city
- +1 food from every farming resources (including duplicates) --> absolutely crucial for Deirdra
Later
- Air minaret natural wonder giving +1 air mana
- Aura effect making you immune to fear
- Offensive spells – not the greatest, but good enough
- Units enchantments +1 affinity to air mana (so Harmatt gets +3, skyrovers +4)
Also note more first strikes / ignoring first strikes comes as an enchantment here, not aura effect
CITIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
As stated, cities are limited to 6 pop (capital to 8 pop). Have lower maintanace and you should try to settle them close to each other, so every hammer / commerce resorce is worked. Early on try to settle close to food also, later you can skip it (as you would have plenty of food from routes or enchantments) and focus only on luxuries.
A) Improvemnts
Austrins consume huge amounts of wood, so make sure you secure a lot of lumbermills, then some trade posts and quarries. The way Sorah and Ecks works would lead you to the point when the only tiles you will work would be those with secondary yields – mainly lumber followed by stone.
But the real king of improvements is fortified outpost – every time you destroy lair, this improvement is created, giving you +2hammers/stone/commerce on top of it usul output. Plan your cities directly next to them and don't fogbust to much. Let the barb make another fort near already cleared one, so you can have clusters of fortified outposts.
B) Buildings
Most of them you don’t need, except those giving culture. There are some though I have to mention.
Exotic market – fantastic unique building IMO absolutely the best unique building in game, this building alone makes the whole Austrin research. Main feature of this market replacement is giving 2 commerce per every unique luxury and +1 for every above the first of that type. And because as Austrin you would basically always run 100% science or 30% culture and 70% science, this translates in early midgame to 30+ beakers and 15+ culture, midgame above 50, lategame 100+ science. ONE BUILDING! Believe me, you don’t even need salons, exotic market transforms every little settlement into hypersalon!
And to make thing even more juicy - unlike regular market, this one DOES NOT NEED TAVERN FIRST!
BTW. This is not salon. This is just a tiny 6pop Austrin luxury district with a little weak expansion (isolated island start, so little luxuries yet)
Spoiler :
Empyrean temple – just look what this temple (+20% scie/culture) can do with exotic market
Woodcutters into sawmills - lumber lumber lumber. We need lots of lumber
Food caravan - just in case you somehow are gold negative, this solves everything. Substracts food, gives gold. And as you expand you would have too much food anyway from enchantment or in case of Sorah - trade routes
C) Districts
Spam merchant districts as much as possible. Especially capital (warehouse as Deirdra, warehous or trading center as Sorah). Get merchant guild early to specialize them. 1 food and 3 plainhill forest make a fantastic warehouse. 2+ luxuries cities make fantastic luxury district (if you multiply luxuries, you would get more from exotic markets, remember!), coastal / hammer heavy make great world trade centers. Remember that mid-late game even a settlement for 3 resourceless plain hills make a great city in case of Austrin!
Early game you want some noble districts, just to increase units cap, usually my 2nd and 3rd cities are nobles, one of them going warrior next and producing garrison highlander all the time. Place them near culture resource and in case of warrior district close to 2 or more fortified outposts.
When it comes to sage districts, basically you don't need it, except mountain + wine or similar. Still consider at least one just to generate great sages. With gentle rain enchantment you are able to have enough food to turn all citizens to sages and great sage = another air mana node.
Anyway, great majority should be merchant districts to collects lumber/ stone and multiply resources
FAITH
Most of temple effects are useless to Austrin, except the very fantastic empyrean. The obvious choice.
And radiant guards are sth Austrin are lacking – good defensive unit for city garrison. Note also religipus units of empyrean can buy random great person! And because you will not generate many, random great engineer for double gold is always welcome!
The only choice you may consider is ashen veil / order to change alignment.
GUILDS
Rangers is the obvious first pick.
- it unlocks better recon unit
- it unlocks your hero
- it unlock easy little culture from animals
- it gives you aerial stable which you can simply spam everywhere by capturing griffons!! This is substantial to transfer mages / slower units between cities!
NOTE! Austrins can build aerial stables earlier than other civs! (usual civ unlocks it as 7th tech in ranger guilds, austrins as 5th)
- it gives spider pens and elephant conservations = even more luxuries to boost exotic markets, every copy counts
Second pick is usually also obvious – merchant – to unlock merchant district specialization and later allows trade focused civic. You should progress in ranger guild first anyway, but sometimes it is worth taking mining / priests before
Guilds of 3-4 pick
Artisan guild - unlock and forget.
Gold / silver / gems / amber - more luxuries to multiply via luxury districts. If you lack other luxuries, go for it, mining expeditions for more luxuries is also very nice
Priest chapter
Unlock and develop to Skyrovers. Not always you would advance so far before fiinishing enemies, but this guys are really cool. If you have a lot of incense around, consider taking it as 2nd guild - incense work as luxury so clear maths: what will you give more - connecting all incense or doubling other luxuries in luxury districts?
Slavery
Rare case to go 2nd, but low pop fast growing cities screams for whipping also this guild unlocks some reckons.
But sincereley, slavery guild works fantastic with Austrin as 3rd/4th guild, and not because of slavery civic.
All because at this stage you sould be crazy rich. Absolutely crazy reach and you should be constantly expanding for even more luxuries, while having not good production, especially as Deirdra.
Slavery guild offers you:
- absolutely great hammer building - slaver compound, giving hammers for every culture level. And because you will run 70/30, your exotic markets will produce big amount of culture as well (so you can advance in slavery guild too)
- more hammers from quarries, you should work quarries anyway
- buying units (hiring defence for founded/conquered cities), buying buildings and buying wonders (yes, you can buy a wonder via buying slaves).
Each slave costs you 100 gold and as you advance in this guild, it is getting cheaper (80 and 60).
So basically:
- settle city and use any unit to buy a slave. Use this slave to buy another one and so on as long you have cash.
- use those slaves to improve resources the same turn
- next turn rush exotic market with those slaves. On turn3 your fresh city generates big science and big culture. So simple, and so effective, because xotic markets are so cheap.
If you don't have gold for slaves, just lower slider temporary, so your exotic markets produce huge amounts of cash
I haven't tested Austrin with Cult of Esus, but I don't see any need for it even
Useless guilds:
Herbalists - health is not a problem for Austrin
Mage guild - reagents are not luxuries
I hope this is a little help for some people who usually play more typical civs.
Have fun!
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