Is there a very good builder faction?
- Thread starter Sloty
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PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
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You can try the elves or the Khazad.
The Lyosafar + FOL will give you cities of great size and their archers will keep you reasonably safe. Plus their world spell can ward of an invasion in the early or mid game reasonably.
The Swatalflar (or what ever the dam spelling is) + COE can give you invisible armies and generally quite a good number of hidden nationality units (including their hero) that can make life miserable for an enemy army before it ever reaches your lands.
The Lyosafar + FOL will give you cities of great size and their archers will keep you reasonably safe. Plus their world spell can ward of an invasion in the early or mid game reasonably.
The Swatalflar (or what ever the dam spelling is) + COE can give you invisible armies and generally quite a good number of hidden nationality units (including their hero) that can make life miserable for an enemy army before it ever reaches your lands.
Selrahc
Chieftain
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2009
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- 80
There are a few economic powerhouse civs, and a few civs that don't quite measure up to that but are still very fun builder civs.
Ljosalfar are probably the archetypal builder civ. They're nearly impossible to invade, and they get big powerful cities. Svartalfar are similar but a lot more offensively focused. If you're going for a pure builder game, stick with the Ljos. Game highlights include aggressively terraforming the land and growing cities of incredible size. A size 35 city is well within reason for the elves.
Hanah Lanun are the kings of economic dominance in any map with high water. For pure commerce output they are very hard to beat. Game highlights include maximising use of coastal spaces, both for their inherent output as well as for pirate coves. As well the Lanun will be in a great position to do some heavy overseas colonization.
Khazad under Kandros Fir are another incredible builder economy. Their production can't be beat, and their use of aristograrian with financial gives them an insane level of food and commerce as well. Game highlights include managing gold reserves to control founding new cities, and then reaping the benefit of the best production in the game.
Those three civilizations are the kings of the builders. An honourable mention goes to:
The Kuriotates. A big part of the builder game is building the greatest cities imaginable, and this is the area where the Kuriotates shine. They have one of the best leaders in the game and they set up very fast. The city limit means that they can't compete with the big boys in total economic power, but a builder game with them is a very enjoyable experience.
The Sidar. The sidar super specialists mean that you will have cities that are the envy of the world, and they can be obtained peacefully by stockpiling priest or arcane units (Veil priests in particular). Play a standard builder game, but enjoy creating the greatest city or cities in the world at it's core. The bad point of the Sidar is that the lack of financial, or any mechanic other than the Shades means that the rest of their empire will be fairly lacklustre, and in my experience the top factions will set up faster and continue to be better overall.
The Calabim under Flauros. Financial aristograrianism, but on a civilization that converts population into production (governors manor) means that the Calabim are excellent builders in every way. And outside of the builders, they have one of the best military forces in the game in the form of vampires. If part of the building game that you enjoy is setting up an unbeatable military defence force, then Calabim might be one to consider. As pure builders though they're probably a little way behind the true top dogs, being more focussed on population increases than finances.
Ljosalfar are probably the archetypal builder civ. They're nearly impossible to invade, and they get big powerful cities. Svartalfar are similar but a lot more offensively focused. If you're going for a pure builder game, stick with the Ljos. Game highlights include aggressively terraforming the land and growing cities of incredible size. A size 35 city is well within reason for the elves.
Hanah Lanun are the kings of economic dominance in any map with high water. For pure commerce output they are very hard to beat. Game highlights include maximising use of coastal spaces, both for their inherent output as well as for pirate coves. As well the Lanun will be in a great position to do some heavy overseas colonization.
Khazad under Kandros Fir are another incredible builder economy. Their production can't be beat, and their use of aristograrian with financial gives them an insane level of food and commerce as well. Game highlights include managing gold reserves to control founding new cities, and then reaping the benefit of the best production in the game.
Those three civilizations are the kings of the builders. An honourable mention goes to:
The Kuriotates. A big part of the builder game is building the greatest cities imaginable, and this is the area where the Kuriotates shine. They have one of the best leaders in the game and they set up very fast. The city limit means that they can't compete with the big boys in total economic power, but a builder game with them is a very enjoyable experience.
The Sidar. The sidar super specialists mean that you will have cities that are the envy of the world, and they can be obtained peacefully by stockpiling priest or arcane units (Veil priests in particular). Play a standard builder game, but enjoy creating the greatest city or cities in the world at it's core. The bad point of the Sidar is that the lack of financial, or any mechanic other than the Shades means that the rest of their empire will be fairly lacklustre, and in my experience the top factions will set up faster and continue to be better overall.
The Calabim under Flauros. Financial aristograrianism, but on a civilization that converts population into production (governors manor) means that the Calabim are excellent builders in every way. And outside of the builders, they have one of the best military forces in the game in the form of vampires. If part of the building game that you enjoy is setting up an unbeatable military defence force, then Calabim might be one to consider. As pure builders though they're probably a little way behind the true top dogs, being more focussed on population increases than finances.
FfH is so good, that this becomes an interesting question. I agree that the Ljosalfar are the archetypical builder, with one exception - their slow workers are a real pain. You need a lot of workers to get the advantages of being a builder, but if you build too many, you may not build a lot of settlers, and on high levels, you may have shunted expansion. So I usually build the settlers, and therefore they are builders, but they can take awhile to get going because of the workers.
Although it is probably a minority opinion, I do like the defensive trait (Amelenchior, for instance) for the Ljosalfar, because the key to them is surviving the early stage. Once they get going, nothing stops them except the other great builders, and the Ljos are among the best.
I think all of the late game powers to some degree are 'builders', meaning, for instance, the Bannor and the Amurites; if they get their 'thing' going, they are very tough but the Ljosalfar are probably stronger earlier. In both cases, you want to build, avoid early wars if possible, and then annihilate the world when you are ready!
Best wishes,
Breunor
Although it is probably a minority opinion, I do like the defensive trait (Amelenchior, for instance) for the Ljosalfar, because the key to them is surviving the early stage. Once they get going, nothing stops them except the other great builders, and the Ljos are among the best.
I think all of the late game powers to some degree are 'builders', meaning, for instance, the Bannor and the Amurites; if they get their 'thing' going, they are very tough but the Ljosalfar are probably stronger earlier. In both cases, you want to build, avoid early wars if possible, and then annihilate the world when you are ready!
Best wishes,
Breunor
More about the fun factor of building.
I don't care for the elves, since I love catapults. But you can play the "beautiful city" game as the elves by terraforming your land to be exactly what you want it to be which can give feeling of satisfaction.
Sheaim with the female leader can be a fun builder game. Build Planar Gates in all of your cities and watch the dimensional immigrants pour in based on all of the buildings in your cities.
Kuriotates. There is reduced reward for expanding your empire beyond your mega-cities, so Kuriotates are fun builders. Try a cultural victory, since your extra large cities will be able to support more artists when you start pushing for big culture and you only need 3 cultural cities. If you emphasized the cottages and fully upgraded them, turning up the culture slider is another way to get lots of culture near the end game. Great Merchants and Great Scientists are your goal in the early game, since academies in your few cities boost research immensely and great merchants are always just good.
I don't care for the elves, since I love catapults. But you can play the "beautiful city" game as the elves by terraforming your land to be exactly what you want it to be which can give feeling of satisfaction.
Sheaim with the female leader can be a fun builder game. Build Planar Gates in all of your cities and watch the dimensional immigrants pour in based on all of the buildings in your cities.
Kuriotates. There is reduced reward for expanding your empire beyond your mega-cities, so Kuriotates are fun builders. Try a cultural victory, since your extra large cities will be able to support more artists when you start pushing for big culture and you only need 3 cultural cities. If you emphasized the cottages and fully upgraded them, turning up the culture slider is another way to get lots of culture near the end game. Great Merchants and Great Scientists are your goal in the early game, since academies in your few cities boost research immensely and great merchants are always just good.
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