Xtended 5.0 Quick Guide

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Xtended 5.0 Quick Guide

Disclaimer:

These posts are short guide explaining the suggested gameplay of each civilisation, their strength and weakness, and also synergy with Magic school and Guild. The posts were made based on Single Player, Monarch, Medium sized maps. I aim to make each civ play in unique way, somewhat resemble the lore and provide the game with asymmetry gameplay. Feel free to discuss!

NOTE: Some of the description in this quick guide is using version 5.1 which I am working on and maybe release it this week end.


Civilisations

Bannor

Bannor is a strong, huge empire. It focuses on military discipline and strength. Even their arcane units gain +2 strength from military techs, thus making military techs is a must for Bannor to research.

Each Bannor units start with armour of a kind, making them more durable than units of the same tier. They, however, require lots of yield, such as leather, metal or lumber. It is advisable for Bannor player to cultivate their units, focusing on quality rather than quantity. Of course, if need is arisen, Bannor can recruit cheap Fanatics to act as shock trooper. Beware that Fanatics have low defense!

Bannor has great synergy with the Order. They get extra unit: Cleric, a Disciple unit with Medic I-III, giving Bannor access to non magical healing rivalled only by high priests or Luonnotar.

However, Bannor following Order is difficult to develop magic. Order despises arcane research. Bannor adepts also do not start with one free promotion and do not gain XP by casting spells. Thus, it is advisable for Bannor player to either play low magic strategy, using limited spells and summons to help them win war, or deliberately ignore magic, only researching enchantments to help their empire's growth.


Malakim

Malakim starts with Lightbringer who can spread Empyrean to their cities in Turn 1. This means, Malakim can adopt Empyrean early thus gaining +1 happiness civilisation wide. They can also accumulate faith early. Considering this, it is better for Malakim player to beeline toward Ancient Chants and adopt a religion, preferably Empyrean. When devoutly following the Empyrean, Malakim can build Citadel of Light which shoot fire toward approaching enemies.

Malakim does not need road to connect resources and cities. This can be double edge sword for them. On one hand, it makes easier for Malakim player to access resources (as long as it is inside their territory, they will gain access) and create trade routes. Domestic trade routes will be automatically established if both cities are inside continuous cultural territory. Foreign trade routes will be automatically established if there is open border agreement and both civs share border.

On the other, no road means slower movement for Malakim units, even inside their territory. Malakim player needs to utilise mounted units for faster mobility, such as Carpet Rider, Camel Archer or Lancer. Yet again, no road inside Malakim territory also means that Raider civs also have to spend turns to reach their cities.


Elohim

Three out of seven Elohim units are Disciple, making Elohim is perfect for pursuing Altar victory. This is further enhanced by Elohim's series of unique buildings which provide extra priest slots and Prophet GPP. Elohim player might be interested in building their economy around priests and farming Great Prophet.

One of their units, Dovoveo, has +2 Life affinity thus opening a new strategy for mana-rich Elohim. They can rely on Dovoveo army to attack enemies and then cast Pacify to prevent retaliation during enemy's turn. Mana-rich Elohim also benefits from going deep in magic by unlocking their other unit, Shrine Maiden, down in Life magic school tree.

Elohim's biggest weakness might be in middle game, before they unlock Tier 4 units. During this period, other civs can strengthen their units using gear but Elohim can not because their Monks refuse to wear any. But of course, the Monks' humbleness open other ways to use the abundant yields like for potions or buildings.


Luchuirp

Luchuirp's main army is consisted of golems. While they are powerful, golems do not benefit from +2 strength from military techs, can not use gears and can not level up. Thus, in the long turn, golems will lose their initial benefits against high level, well equipped units. To keep up, Luchuirp player should focus on golem-related techs (usually in Civilian or Magic tech tree) and build lots of them. Quantity over quality.

Artificers help mitigate golems' weaknesses by boosting golems with powerful combataura. It is imperative to level up Artificers and attach at least one Artificer for every few golems. Artificers do gain free xp per turn but the best way to grow them is by weakening enemy units with golems and then allow the Artificers to deliver the final blow and farm the xp.

High tier golems are scattered all over tech trees so it might be impossible for Luchuirp army to host all types of golems. Instead, it is better to beeline on one or two types and build their army around these high tier golems. Adepts can help maintain golem army by casting Repair (but their Repair spell is not as efficient as Artificer's).

Luchuirp also has various UBs which will help their golems, all unlocked at Sorcery but each requires different mana type. Since Luchuirp starts with Fire mana, it is reasonable to expect Luchuirp golems to shoot fireballs in middle and late game thanks to Blasting Workshop. Other buildings provide other benefit, ranging from +1 move to increased strength. Combined with Artificers' combataura, these buildings can give boost to golems, allowing them to catch up with other civs' military strength.


Kuriotates

Kuriotates has unique economy with their Sprawling trait. Instead of lots of cities, Kuriotates will have several metropolises, with considerable distance between them. To protect these metropolises, Kuriotates relies on their unique units.

Homeguard starts with Homeland I, II, III, giving it +30% strength inside their border. Centaurs are mounted units with extra mobility thanks to their Sprint ability. Centaur Archer is both mobile and strong in defence, and should be the back bone of Kuriotates army in middle to late game. Considering the importance of Centaur, Kuriotates player might want to focus on researching mounted techs and build Ride of Nine Kings wonder.

With regard to religion, Kuriotates benefits from any and their culturally high level metropolises will increase the effects of any Tribute rituals, except the Fellowship one. Kuriotates have synergy with Mechant Guild, receiving unique Centaur Guard from the guild. Centaur Guards start with base movement of 3, making them even more mobile than their brethen.


Ljosalfar

Ljosalfar devotes most of its military prowess in archery units. Fyrdwell is one of few archery units with movement of 2. Flurry starts with Blitz and Marksman, fit to snipe weaker units in enemy stack. Unlike other civs which use archery units as city defenders, Ljosalfar's archers are capable attackers. Player might want to select Skirmish discipline to give extra mobility for Ljosalfar archers.

Ljosalfar has great synergy with the Fellowship of the Leaves. Elves are agile in the forest and can build improvements without destroying the forest. Many promotions for archers give further benefits when in forest. For guild, the first to unlock should be Ranger's Guild since it allows player to take advantage of Deer, an essential resource to unlock Fyrdwell. Ranger's Guild also increases leather and lumber yields, required to build most of Ljosalfar army.

While Nature magic will help Ljosalfar maintaining their economy and provide more muscle through various summons, Nature magic's lack of direct damage spells hurts Ljosalfar, especially during sieges. To mitigate this, Ljosalfar player should acquire another types of mana, preferably one that will not burn their forests.


Mercurians

To thrive as the Mercurians, player needs to prepare before hand. Pre-Mercurians, you need to build second city in good spot and build necessary wonders and buildings there. When this city is thriving enough, you can switch to Mercurians.

Mercurians has two type of units: human and angelic. Since their higher tier units are all angelic and have to be upgraded from lower tier Angels, the only way for Mercurians to increase their strength is by building lots of lower tier human units and suicide killing them, making them reborn as Angels. Thus, it is important for Mercurians player to build various military buildings, both to increase their military support and to give free xp to newly built units.

To gain further benefit from this strategy, Mercurians has access to Spirit Guide promotion through Herald (the unit) or Herald staff (the gear). Spirit Guide will transfer a killed unit's xp to other unit. Then that killed unit is going to reborn as Angel, with its full xp intact.

 

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Khazad

Khazad loves gold. This is reflected in Dwarven Vault mechanic, automatically built in Khazad cities. The vaults evaluate the amount of gold empire wide and divide that with the number of cities. If the amount of gold per city is above certain threshold, the vaults will give benefits to the cities. If the amount is low, the citizen will be unhappy.

Khazad has great synergy with Artisan's Guild since mine grants access to silver, gold, gems and ambers, which then transformed into money using buildings further down in the guild line. Since most of Khazad units require metal yield, they find the best synergy with Runes of Kilmorph, mainly for ROK's affinity with metals and mined resources, giving them even more money and metals.

One drawback of Khazad is their lack of magical aptitude. Khazad can build only adepts. They also start with Nature magic which has zero direct damage spells. Since it might be better to just use dwarven army instead of summons, Khazad can use alchemy to transform their excess mana to gold in 2:1 rate.


Sidar

Sidar is good civ for players who love to turtle. With their unique GE, Hidden City, Sidar cities have extra protection against enemy units attacking them. Further mastery in Air magic can strengthen the mist protecting their cities.

Sidar version of Training Yards, Barracks and War Academies do not increase unit supply slot but can train units stationed in the city. Thus, Sidar tends to employ fewer units but each of their units will have higher level than other civs.

Sidar can transform high level units into Shade through Wane ritual and settle the Shade as a great specialist. With extra yeild for specialist from Sidar palace, focusing strategy toward Specialist economy is viable for Sidar player.


Lanun

Lanun thrives in coastal areas. They get +1 food in water tiles from Lanun palace and their UB for Harbor, Sea Haven, provides more gold for each sea resources.

Lanun has good synergy with Cult of Esus with three of their unique units are unlocked in this guild. While this does not necessarily make Lanun player evil, adopting Cult of Esus does enable various dirty tricks to employ.

Other guild important to Lanun might be the Merchant Quarter. Adopting this guild will provide Lanun player access to various trade-related buildings and ships. When mastering the guild, Lanun can build War Tortoise, amphibian unit strong both in waters and lands.

Lanun's weakness is its military strength, especially early and mid game. Lanun has lower than average unit strength and variety. Their Wench can cast Charm Person to mitigate this somewhat but still, Lanun player needs to seek for strong military units from other sources.


Grigori

Grigori's main strength is their Adventurers. After battle, Adventurer has a chance to gain Hero promotion. This is strong in itself, yet for Adventurer, there is more. Each Adventurer has unique racial or origin promotion. After gaining Hero promotion, Adventurer can be upgraded to high tier unit according to their race or origin, without tech or yield requirements. This upgrade does cost hefty amount of gold, though, so be prepared!

While Adventurers are available for every civ lucky enough to attain them, Grigori starts with one Adventurer and will gain another one upon completing their Rising Legend project. Furthermore, Grigori Militias have the chance to be Adventurers after combat, making it is possible for Grigori to amass stacks of Adventurers and upgrade them to various high tier units.

Grigori are agnostics, thus unable to adopt religion. They are quite advanced in non-religious social organisation though, reflected in their extra Guild from their starting tech. Grigori also get more imperial culture from Great Bard's Tale, which player can spend to unlock Guild techs or to buy new traits. Spending some imperial culture on Healer's Circle will provide Grigori with healing potions and skills, which usually are being covered by priests and high priests.


Hippus

Hippus is all about mounted unit, even more so than Kuriotates. The majority of Hippus units start with mount, giving them extra movement. Beelining for mounted techs and finally building Ride of the Nine Kings will be beneficial for Hippus player.

Special for Hippus, their arcane units also start with movement of 2, making them the fastest adepts in Erebus. They can keep up with Hippus fast movement to some extent and it is possible to use them for hit-and-run tactics.

The main weakness of Hippus is their mounted units do not receive defensive bonus. Therefore, Hippus units are vulnerable toward enemy retaliation attacks after their first charge. Also, while Hippus gains benefit from religion, employing disciple units will slow their army unless Hippus player pays gold to buy mounts for the disciple units.


Amurites

Amurites relies on magic in every aspect of their life, including military. While arcane units are still rare in Amurites society, almost every Amurites military unit can perform magical feat. Expect their archers to rain fireball instead of arrows or their scouts to vanish suddenly and re-appear in their capital.

Amurites start with two mana: Mind mana from their palace and another one according to their leader's magic mastery. This makes Amurites has wide range of magical knowledge, more than any other civilisations.

As master of the arcane, Amurites benefits the most from Magi Circle. They will be able to build various mana vaults and research spells from many magic schools. This of course help Amurites a lot, until they meet a magic resistant civilisation.

 

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Doviello

Doviello is very focused on melee units. Their melee units have the chance to be upgraded to higher tier units after combat. This could lead to early advantage for Doviello, which is important to get since Doviello is weak in later stage of the game.

Being unable to build Sage District and other advanced scientific buildings, Doviello is very limited in scientific advancements. Doviello will have to make up this disadvantage by using brute force, defeating enemies before they can complete more advanced research and build better troops.

Another long term weakness of the Doviello is that most of their units can not wear sophisticated gears. This will make Doviello at disadvantage when facing advanced empires with great supply of weapons and armours. The best strategy for Doviello is to build lots of cheap melee units, throw them to the enemies and hope that some will survive the battle as higher tier units.


Balseraphs

As nation of performers and tricksters, Balseraphs excels in happiness and cultural achievement. They can use slaves to build various cages, increasing happiness and culture in the city. Even their Training Yard UB, the Arena, provides culture. This makes it easier for Balseraphs player to overwhelm neighbouring cities and flip them, making them join Balseraphs empire.

Balseraphs has good synergy with the Octopus Overlords, especially in pursuing Cultural victory. Balseraph OO is a culture powerhouse; with Dance of Ectasy, their cities will produce tons of culture per turn. Balseraphs also has good synergy with Slavers Quarter. Their unique unit, Taskmaster, can capture slaves but Slavery makes every Balseraphs units capable of capturing slaves. Slaves are valuable to build various cages and to rush production.

The main weakness of Balseraphs is their early military strength. Balseraphs starts with mutated Freak, which can provide either great soldiers or awful ones. Clown is a weaker version of Archers and it's hard to defend cities using them. Until unlocking stronger units, Balseraphs player needs to be cautious against external threat.


Clan of Embers

Clan of Embers is a congregation of various Goblin, Orc, Lizardmen and Ogre tribes. Their main strength is their brute power. Clan's early units are considerably stronger than other civs. Early game, the Clan's raw military power is unrivaled.

With Warrens, Clan player gain two units for the cost of one. This highlights Clan's early game power. Rush and destroy is a valid strategy for Clan of Embers.

The Clan's weakness lies in mid and late game. Clan can not build advanced scientific buildings. On top of that, their Barbarian trait reduces any culture, arcane and science output by -20%, making them the worst researcher, even worse than the Doviello. Thus, while it is possible for Clan player to research high end units, it is very rare for Clan of Ember to do so.


Svartalfar

Svartalfar possess a wide range of military units but they rely on recon units to wreak havoc upon their enemies. With their Sinister trait, Svartalfar recon units are stronger than other civilisations. Combined this with Ambush discipline and Svartalfar player can wage guerrilla warfare against stronger enemies.

Svartalfar requires lots of leather to build their army thus adopting Ranger's Guild is advisable. Other than that, Svartalfar should adopt Cult of Esus and unlock their Assassin unit. This reliance toward stealth makes Svartalfar vulnerable to Empyrean civs because the Empyrean disciples can cast Revelation which negate any kind of stealth so beware!

Svartalfar benefits from forests more than their brethen, the Ljosalfar. Their magical studies allow Svartalfar to gain small arcane research for each forest on their territory.


Calabim

Everything in Calabim society exists to support their Vampire overlords. Morois are excellent for shock troopers. Bloodpets can scout, and in later game, can be consumed by Vampires to replenish their health. Even general population can be sacrificed for bolstering Vampires' xp.

After levelling up, Vampire units can be inaugurated into one of three Calabim Vampire Courts. White Court excels at dominating enemies. Red Court relies on raw strength. Black Court raises undead army to support their reign. Since Calabim starts with Death mana, which focuses on buffing undead, Black Court seems natural for Vampire units but either White or Red can open interesting options for Calabim player.

Calabim is truly the empire of Vampire. By Vampire, it is every unit with Vampirism, not only the Vampire units. Vampirism is the foundation of Calabim, providing them with great strength. However, Vampirism is also the main weakness of Calabim. Units with Vampirism are vulnerable to Fire and Holy damages.


Sheaim

Sheaim is the master of undead and demons. They have limited human units: Thrall, Queenguard and Emyr. The bulk of their army is formed from demonic units summoned by Planar Gates in Sheaim cities. Therefore, the main objective of Sheaim player is to build many Planar Gates and drive the Armageddon Counter high.

While Sheaim army gains +2 str from military techs, their arcane pursuit often left them little time for mundane research. Fortunately, Sheaim demonic units have Chaos affinity thus Sheaim player can strengthen them by hoarding Chaos mana. One of the source of said mana is Ceridwen's Favour, Sheaim UB unlocked in Way of the Wicked.

Because of their reliance to Planar Gate demons, Sheaim is weak in early to mid-game. Until their efforts to raise demonic army succeeds, Sheaim has to rely on human soldiers and various undead they control through Death magic.


Illians

Illians exists to serve their lord attain godhood. They have pseudo-religion, the White Hand, which has its own temple and disciple units. Illians are agnostics, unable to adopt religion, but can accumulate Faith to power the disciples of White Hand's miracles. Thus, it is important for the Illians to unlock Priest Chapter and reap the benefit from the While Hand early. Illians player can cast the White Hand ritual repeatedly if they lost their three Priests of Winter.

Illians has great synergy with Ice terrain. They consume less food, thus scarce food in Ice does not bother them. Their units benefits greatly from Ice terrain, like Winter Blades who can hidden themselves in Ice or Frostlings who fight better in Ice.

Outside their icy plains, Illians' strength are not as great. Therefore, Illians player need to consider their expansion efforts carefully, maybe performing the rituals of Winters first then strike the enemies. Delving deep in the Ice branch of Water magic also helps since there are magic rituals which transform terrains into Ice.


Infernals

The Infernals will come to Erebus when an Ashen Veil civilisation gains the Infernal Pact. Being demonic, the Infernals are not affected by food and instead grow their cities through harvesting the souls of the damned. Whenever evil empires lost their units, those units will reborn as Manes for the Infernals. Thus the most prevalent strategy for Infernals player is to spread the Ashen Veil and urge other evil empires to wage war.

To further their cause, Infernals' Soul Hunters can create Manes after combat. It might be best to micro manage battle, allowing Soul Hunters to deliver the finishing blow and harvest the fallen soul. Other demons in the Infernals army posses various ability or promotion to help in conquering Erebus.

Infernals has great synergy with Chaos magic. All demons have affinity to Chaos, making Chaos mana as important resource to hoard. Using Chaos magic, Infernals will also gain access to stronger demons, making their army even more fearsome.

 

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Religions


The Order

The Order worships Junil and seeks to establish his Oath of Dominion to protect Erebus from Armageddon.

The Order excels at organisation, both in civilian and in military sense. By adopting the Order, a civilisation will have reduced maintenance cost, thanks to their efficient priests. On the other hand, it will be easier for Order civilisations to mobilise their general populace to arms and even to declare Holy War against other civilisation.

The Order's miracle includes Bless and Guardian Angel further emphasising their militaristic nature. The Order also hates mages, thus any civilisation adopting the Order will find it hard to conduct arcane research. At times, the Confessors might even launch Arcane Inquisition toward practitioners of magics.


The Empyrean

Servants of Lugus, the Empyrean's main goal is to deliver Light of Redemption to corners of Erebus.

While the Order acts, the Empyrean talks. That saying is accurate to some degree. The Empyrean is less militant than the Order and their priesthood values debates and discussions. The presence of the Empyrean therefore will boost science and GPP rate. With Liberty, Empyrean civilisations can freely assigns unlimited citizens as Bards, Sages, Merchants or Engineers.

The Empyrean are not all talks, though. When the time needs it, the Empyrean can also act. Vicars hold holy and fiery power against their enemies. Empyrean's miracles such as Sunlight and Searing Light can immobilise enemy units, allowing Radiant Guards and Rathas to destroy them.


Runes of Kilmorph

Traditionally seen as Dwarven religion, Runes of Kilmorph has spread to other lands. Its believers' ultimate goal is for whole Erebus to sing the Hymn to Earthmother.

Runes of Kilmorph's core tenets are Dedication, Perseverance and Perfection of Self. Runes of Kilmorph implores the believers to be better and excellent in their craft. As such, civilisations adopting Runes of Kilmorph will see increases in its production and income. The priesthood affinity toward earth also helps in mining and crafts.

Runes of Kilmorph's blessings are mainly production-oriented, such as Rush Production and Gift of Kilmorph. When faced with hostile enemies, the Stonewardens will invokes Spiritual Shield and graft runes to strengthen it. However, much of the powers of this religion is defensive in nature.


Fellowship of the Leaves

The ascension of Cernunnos as God of Nature brings revitalisation of the Fellowship of the Leaves. Despite that, the religion still lacking in central tenets, making sects in the religion have different and often contending views on the religion. It is ultimately agreed, however, that Fellowship of the Leaves celebrates the strength and might that nature has bestowed to individuals.

The Fellowship of the Leaves' main focus is on Ancient Forests. Unlike other religions which generate Faith through tribute to their god, Fellowship of the Leaves generates Faith through Ancient Forests. It has miracles such as Enchanted and Mythical Forests to transform forests into Ancient Forests, which in turn generates Faith and protect them from invaders.

Fawns and their older brothers, Satyrs, are capable recon units. They can cast Mesmerize Animals, gaining control over hostile animals units. Thus, for civilisations lacking recon units, adopting the Fellowship might be a worthy option to consider.


Octopus Overlords

Born from the nightmare of Danalin, the believers of the Octopus Overlords recite Chants of Madness and conjure otherworldly nightmare to Erebus.

At first glance, the Octopus Overlords is a great, liberating religion which allows its believers to explore their minds and creativity. Thus, the presence of Octopus Overlords in a civilisation is usually accompanied by bursts of creativity and inventions. However, under those bright moments, lurks dark secret of the religion. For each artist or inventor supported by the Cultists, there are men and women who are killed, driven insane, addicted, submerged in unholy waters or worse. In the hand of the Cultists, even dancing festivals can result in dreaded nightmare.

As manifestation of Danalin's nightmare, the Octopus Overlords claim supremacy over waters. However, Condatis, the true archangel of Danalin, is seeking to free her lord from the nightmare. When one OO civilisation founded the religion, Condatis will appear to its enemy for favour. Thus, the great battle over waters is commenced and civilisations will be drawn and drowned in the conflict.


The Ashen Veil

Religious movement heralding the triumph of Agares, the Ashen Veil campaigns for the Ending.

The Ashen Veil is about corruption. Their scientific activities turned into abhorred experiments. The religious rituals turned into blood sacrifice. Songs and poetry turned into demon summoning chants. No civilisation will be happy with the Ashen Veil but the powers wielded by the Ritualists tempt many great leaders and cruel tyrants.

Wreathed in unholy fire, Ritualists channel the unholy power of Agares, burning and scorching, summoning demons and whispering curses. The rituals of Ashen Veils are either openly hostile or have terrible effects outweighing the benefits. But the seductive voice of Agares is tempting, only the wisest can withstand against it.

 

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Magic School

Life

Life magic focuses on healing and protective auras. The positive energy of Life is channeled through enchantments and rituals to empower cities and military units. Life magic also seeks the blessings of gods such as Sirona and Junil, though not bound to their religious teachings.

Offensively, Life magic channels positive energy to damage enemies. Life spells have the chance to deal massive damage and the ultimate Life spell, Judgement, will pass Verdict debuff to enemies hit.

Life magic also learn angelic language thus enabling the practitioners to summon angelic hosts. The ultimate summons will call either a Holy Avenger or a Guardian Angel to help further the cause campaigned by the army.


Nature

Nature magic is unique in eschewing direct damage spells. Instead of channeling magical energy through damage spells, Nature magic nurtures and empowers. Practitioners of Nature magic can enchant growth, providing the empire with endless supply of leather, lumber, metal and stone.

Nature magic relies on animal and beast summons to strengthen their army before summoning Earth elementals using higher level magic. It also enchants friendly animals and beasts with poison claws and regenerative powers, or even Iron Skin which gets stronger with each Nature mana controlled.

Terraforming is the domain of Nature magic. With enough knowledge, Nature mages can rejuvenate barren lands or even vitalise corrupted lands.


Air

Air magic manipulates winds and lightning for the benefits of the civilisation. Practitioners of Air magic can do various things, starting from conjuring gentle rain to increase yield from grain resources to manipulating the climate of the land. With sufficient knowledge of wind, Air mages can hamper enemy movements while at the same time increase the mobility of allies.

Air magic spells tap lightning energy and direct it to the enemy. Lightning spells require precision thus can only target few enemies. However, each enemy struck by lightning has the chance to get stunned for few turns.

When the need arises, Air mages can summon Lightning and Air elementals to destroy their enemies. A truly dedicated Air mage even able to petition the assistance of Sylph, beautiful servants of Tali.


Fire

Blazing fire possesses unrivalled destructive force since time immemorial. Even after the fall of the Fire Goddess, Fire magic continues to thrive in Erebus. Using the essence of Fire, mages enchant their allies with unrivalled courage, strengthen them with physical force or even wreath them in living flame.

Fire spells are hard to control but this made them fit for destruction. Even simple Fireball can burn more enemies than spells from other school. When a Fire mage has unraveled deeper knowledge of Fire magic, he would be able to conjure Meteor Shower upon the doomed enemies.

While most fiery angels have fallen with their goddess, some still persist in the form of various Fire elementals. Embers are fickle, weak elemental but can be helpful in destroying large number of enemies through their suicide attacks. Fire elementals are stronger and more organised than their little brothers and mages often conjure them in dire time. However, the ultimate summoning might call the great Fire Drake, supposedly scions of Acheron before the dragon went mad.


Water

The school of Water magic is divided into two branches: liquid Water drawing powers from Danalin and solid Ice of Mulcarn. The Water branch is focused on harvesting the bounty of the sea. But if needed, Water magic can cause flood and destruction to enemy.

Ice magic is more battle oriented. Using Ice magic, mages could drastically reduce their enemies' body temperature, causing them harm and slowing their movement. Higher level Ice spells such as Cold Grip and Frozen Death could affect more enemies in range.

Both Water and Ice provide summons to assist the practitioners of this school. Water summons include Water elemental and the elusive Sea Dragon. Ice summons are mainly Ice elementals, with the greatest of Ice mage might call upon the mighty Frost Titan.


Mind

While other schools focus their attention on manipulating the material world, Mind magic focuses on manipulating the mind and flow of magic itself. Mind magic enchantments can heavily disrupt or even destroy enemy's magic, tampering with the citizens' minds and ultimately corrupting the flow of magic for other schools' practitioners.

While does not employ damage spells, Mind mages are very dangerous in combat. They will attack enemies' mind, calming bloodlust, pacifying hostilities and even dominating the mind, turning foe into friend. Even enemy's mages have to be very careful around Mind mages.

Unlike other schools, Mind magic does not summon reinforcements. Instead, it conjure illusions to fight hostile army. When they feel that their Phantom Warriors are no longer powerful enough to battle the enemies, Mind mages can strengthen the Phantom Warriors using Phantasmagoria ritual, making them terribly terrifying.


Chaos

Chaos magic harnesses the unholy power of Entropy but instead of controlling it, Chaos magic distorts it and makes it run wild. Most of Chaos spells and enchantments are unpredictable or have serious side effects. Yet, many seek this chaotic power, seduced by the possibility of wielding the unworldly power.

Chaos spells shoot unholy power which then explode in the middle of enemy's ranks. Not only wounding soldiers, this chaotic explosion also displaces them, destroying their formation and making them easy prey for the Chaos mages' allies. The ultimate spell, Greater Rift, even tears the fabric of reality and destroy everything caught in the spell. Not many mages are crazy enough to cast it but those who do are crazy enough to take delight in the destruction.

Delighted with the workings of Chaos magic, Aeron and Camulos manifested and favoured them with knowledge to summon demonic army. Not ones to turn down power, Chaos mages readily accepted the offer from the gods.


Death

Death magic harnesses the unholy powers in a rigid and meticulous way. If Chaos magic is unpredictable, Death magic is very orderly and precise. Death mages pride themselves in twisting and corrupting the nature using trickles of negative energy. Through Death magic, mages send curses and hexes to cripple their enemies.

In the name of efficiency, Death mages condone the practice of necromancy. Corpses and skeletons are no more than materials for their rituals thus the resulting Skeleton Soldiers are as acceptable as Luchuirp's golems. With advanced techniques, Death mages can enslaved soul as Spectres or even corrupt angels and elementals, turning them into Wraiths.

One tantalising aspect of Death magic is the possibility of gaining immortality through Lichdom. Mages study the depth of Death magic to find the most efficient and assuring way to protect their soul, thus making them both immortal and more receptive to the flow of unholy powers.

 

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Guilds

Artisans Guild

Artisans Guild focuses on mining metals and precious resources, and then turn these into valuable weapons, armours or jewelries. Unlock this guild if you:
- have Mine as your civ's favourite improvement.
- have lots of hills and want to know what resources on them.
- need lots and lots of metal.
- want easy source of gold by processing
- want the best weapons and armours in the game.

Points of note:
- Forge (building) and Alchemical Contraption (tech) give unhealthiness.
- Mithril weapons and armours require Mithril, which you can get using Great Engineer or Runekeeper's miracle.


Rangers Guild

Rangers Guild focuses on recon, hunting animals and harvesting from the nature. Unlock this guild if you:
- have Camp as your civ's favourite improvement.
- require lots of leather or lumber.
- want to gain access on Deer, Fur, Ivory.
- want to hunt animals and use them to build animal cages (+happy, +culture).
- want to train War Elephants.
- want to build Aerial Stable to lift your unit from one city to another.

Points of note:
- You need to unlock this guild to allow your recon units to capture animals.


Magi Circle

Magi Circle advances the study of arcane knowledge. Not only this guild speeds arcane research but they also provide various beneficial magic items. Unlock this guild if you:
- want to delve on magic deeper than what Mage Guild can afford.
- want to increase your mana income.
- want to convert mana to production (through Conjure Matter spell).
- want to buy various magic items to strengthen your units.
- want to build Obsidian Gate/The Nexus to airlift your unit.

Points of Note:
- Higher tier Conjure Matter spells convert mana to production more efficiently.
- Some buildings unlocked by this guild require daily gold maintenance.
- Unlocking Elemental Mastery, Conjuration Mastery and Astral Mastery increases your magic power in various ways.


Healers Circle

Healers Circle provides non magical and non divine healing for non-Evil leaders. Unlock this guild if you:
- have Plantation as your civ's favourite improvement.
- need lots of herbs.
- want to access healing potion and other type of potions.
- want to get extra health from settling Healers in your cities.
- want to get extra health and happiness from Benevolence.

Points of Note:
- Grigori should start with this Guild to unlock Grigori Medic and Lunnotar.


Merchants Quarter

Merchants Quarter allows you to specialise Merchant Districts in your cities. Unlock this guild if you:
- have Trading Post as your civ's favourite improvement.
- want to make gold from most resources.
- want to gain more benefits from sea tiles and sea resources.
- want to build naval units.

Points of Note:
- If you have Pasture as your civ's favourite, you might want to consider unlocking this guild.
- Remember that some resources might need other techs before you can claim them.


Slavers Quarter

Slavers Quarter provides alternative way to rush production. It is unavailable for Good leaders. Unlock this guild if you:
- have Quarries as your civ's favourite improvement.
- are warmonger and want to capture Slaves.
- need to recruit mercenaries.
- want to rush building using population (through Slavery civic).
- want to rush building using gold (through buying Slaves and sacrifice them).

Points of Note:
- Unlocking Slavers Quarter will make your people unhappy. The deeper you go, the more unhappy they will be.
- Mercenaries will make you lose gold each time they attack. Use them wisely.


Cult of Esus

Cult of Esus is a pseudo-religion which focuses on subterfuge and espionage. Unlock this guild if you:
- have important units unlocked by this guild.
- want to use espionage to sabotage your enemies and friends alike.

Point of Note:
- Thief units can be caught and executed when performing missions.


Priest Chapter

Priest Chapter represents the organised priesthood of all kind of religions. It is possible to adopt without unlocking this guild but you will be unable to build priests and high priests. Unlock this guild if you:
- are Faithful. Faithful leaders get free Great Prophet from unlocking the guild.
- have many disciple units in your army.
- want to use Priests and High Priests.
- want to accumulate more Faith.
- want to pursue Altar of Luonnotar victory.

Points of Note:
- before you can unlock Righteousness, Commune with Nature or Malevolent Designs, you need to acquire third Sacred Knowledge of your religion.

 

[esvath]

Reserved for others.

 

[esvath]

FAQ:

1. Guilds
1a: How do I unlock Guilds?
Research Barter, Currency, Trade or Guilds in Civilian tech tree. After completing the tech, you will be able to choose a new guild to unlock.

1b: How do I advance Guilds?
Accumulate Empire culture using these methods:
- build lots of buildings which grant culture in your cities.
- use Great Bard's Tale of Legend ability.
- fight with units with Bard or Gladiator class.
After you have gathered enough culture, spend them in Guild screen to advance a particular guild.

1c. How many Guilds can I have in a game?
You will have maximum four guilds in your empire, unless you play as Grigori. Grigori has one extra guild, with maximum of five.


2. Religion
2a: How do I adopt a Religion?
You need to research Ancient Chants. After acquiring the technology, you will be able to choose one religion to spread in your capital.

2b. How do I acquire Sacred Knowledge?
Sacred Knowledge can be obtained by accumulating Faith per turn. Half of your Faith income is used to unlock Sacred Knowledge. The other half is accumulated to power miracles or enchantments.
Mouse over on the Faith symbol in the upper left for further information.

2c. How do I accumulate Faith?
- each city with your religion will gives +1 Faith.
- complete Tribute to... to get more. Note that Fellowship of Leaves civs do not get faith from this!
- For FOL, each Ancient Forest will give you Faith.
- some buildings grant Faith (most Pagan Temples etc).
- some units grant Faith per turn (especially The White Hand's disciple units).
- sacrifice Great Prophet. Note that Faith gained by sacrificing Great Prophet is not directly contributing to Sacred Knowledge. You can spend the faith accumulated by clicking on the Sacred Knowledge in techtree.


3. Magic
3a. How do I research spells?
You have to obtain the mana type first then accumulate arcane research through buildings.
Excess mana will be converted to arcane research.
Svartalfar gets small arcane research from forests and ancient forests.

3b. How do I cast spells?
Use your adepts for tier 1 spells, mages for tier 2 and archmages for the most powerful spells. You need mana to power your spells.

3c. How do I increase spell damage?
Do one or more of the following:
- use higher tier spells (Greater Fireball does more base damage than Fireball).
- choose discipline/class/promotions which increase spell damage.
- hoard the appropriate mana type for bonus damage (Fire for Fireball etc).
- complete global enchantments which increase spell damage.

3d. How do I decrease spell damage against my units?
Magic:
- your arcane units start with combat aura which provide magic resistance.
- some arcane knowledges unlock enchantment which give magic resistance or resistance toward certain damage types.
Religion:
- ROK with Rune of Warding.
- Empyrean with Armor of Dawn etc.
Promotion:
- Combat IV and V gives +5% magic resistance each.
- Elemental Resistance (Defense/Divine discipline).
- Cold/Fire/Lightning Resist etc will reduce spell damage.
- Some gears will give extra protection from spell damage.


4. How do I capture animals?
Unlock Ranger's Guild and use recon units to attack and capture animals.


5. Equipment
5a. How do I equip my unit with gear?
Click on the sword icon on unit panel to open pop up window for gear.
Remember that only level 3 units can use gear.

5b. My unit is level 3+ but the pop up window is empty or only have low quality gear?
Do one or more of the following:
- Research Weaponry or other techs/arcane knowledge to unlock better gears.
- Promote your unit according to what kind of gear you want them to use. Each Discipline grant access to certain types of weapon/armor.
--- Offense Discipline allow the unit to use Simple and Martial weapons.
--- Defense Discipline allow the unit to use only Simple weapons but all type of armors, etc.


6. Creating Unit from Combat
My class/gear/unit gives me a chance to create unit from combat (Dark Priest class or Skull Dagger gear or Soul Hunter unit etc). But I have never succeeded in creating skeleton/spectre/manes after combat. What gives?
You need to have empty supply slot to trigger this effect.

Even if the created unit is not going to use supply slot, you need one empty supply slot before you can create unit from combat.


7. Traits
7a. What's new on leader traits?
There are several:
- There are new traits, check the in game civpedia.
- You can buy traits using empire culture (the ones you use to unlock Guild tech).

7b. I can buy traits? How?
- See the the left part of the main screen, under the place shows various summons/enchantments you can cast.
- OR, visit the Guild screen and choose Trait on the bottom of the screen.
- Click the desired trait to buy it using empire culture.

7c. Why there are few traits available for some leaders?
There are five basic traits (Aggressive, Imperial, Creative, Arcane and Faithful). You need to buy basic traits first before you can buy the advanced ones. Check in game civpedia to learn more about traits.

 

[esvath]

Completed the short guide! Feel free to discuss or ask question about Xtended 5.0 here.

 

[Jojo_Fr]

Excellent guide. I learned things, especially about the ways to increase the magic resistance.

Thank you.

 

[esvath]

Excellent guide. I learned things, especially about the ways to increase the magic resistance.

Thank you.

You are welcome! I am glad that this helps.

 

[Cor'e =)]

Awesome work! It would be nice if you also added the install guide. (Civilizations or Civilisations?)

 

[Jojo_Fr]

Esvasth,

In the past I remember that the Faith was gained differently according to the Religion you had. For exemple, ashen veil followers gained for each Undead or Demon unit they had, I guess.

It seems this feature as disapparead and now it's the same mechanics for any religion. Am I right ?

 

[esvath]

Esvasth,

In the past I remember that the Faith was gained differently according to the Religion you had. For exemple, ashen veil followers gained for each Undead or Demon unit they had, I guess.

It seems this feature as disapparead and now it's the same mechanics for any religion. Am I right ?

Correct.

Faith is generated mostly by performing Tribute to <your God>, constructing buildings and Lost Temple in your city area. The only exception is FOL, you gain faith from each Ancient Forests in your territory.

 

[esvath]

Awesome work! It would be nice if you also added the install guide.

Thanks.

The installation guide is on download thread, but I'll put it here as well. I assume you have no more problems with installation, right? The scrolling problem with multi monitors is old problem inherent with CIV4, so there is nothing I can do.

(Civilizations or Civilisations?)

It's "civilisation" here in UK

 

[Icezera]

Just curious why the newer civs aren't included in this guide? Are they not compatible with AI or something?

 

[esvath]

Just curious why the newer civs aren't included in this guide? Are they not compatible with AI or something?

It's just I haven't found their feels so the current implementation of the new civs is rather ... bland. Maybe only the Austrin is good enough imho but even then, I'd like to revisit them in the future.

So, while the classic civs are very much "feature locked", the new civs need more work ahead. There is no need to make a quick guide for something that might be changed drastically.

 

[Linvega]

Correct.

Faith is generated mostly by performing Tribute to <your God>, constructing buildings and Lost Temple in your city area. The only exception is FOL, you gain faith from each Ancient Forests in your territory.

May I ask why? Always having the same way of generating faith seems a bit bland. It's not too bad since the religions are pretty flavourful otherwise though.

It's just I haven't found their feels so the current implementation of the new civs is rather ... bland. Maybe only the Austrin is good enough imho but even then, I'd like to revisit them in the future.

So, while the classic civs are very much "feature locked", the new civs need more work ahead. There is no need to make a quick guide for something that might be changed drastically.

What do you think about a "flavour for the flavourless" thread, where the point is specifically to play the new civs and talk about ways to make them more interesting? I'm currently playing the Aos Si anyway and it does play out a bit bland compared to how interesting the court mechanic is in principle. So I could start out the thread with what I think could be done about them.

 

[esvath]

May I ask why? Always having the same way of generating faith seems a bit bland. It's not too bad since the religions are pretty flavourful otherwise though.

If the religions have too different ways of generating faith, this would be hard to balance. Atm, Order gets +2 faith per city while other religions get +1 faith and +1 something else. FOL gets faith from Ancient forests but no faith from tributes while everyone else get faith from tribute (and get more from bigger cities). These subtle differences are enough imho, since these are also flavourful. Order as more militant faith, FOL does not care with cities etc.

What do you think about a "flavour for the flavourless" thread, where the point is specifically to play the new civs and talk about ways to make them more interesting? I'm currently playing the Aos Si anyway and it does play out a bit bland compared to how interesting the court mechanic is in principle. So I could start out the thread with what I think could be done about them.

Yes, please, if you can start a thread and describe your opinion on the new civs, what is interesting about them or what should be their unique mechanic, that will be great!

Personally, I think I get the idea on Austrin and Aos Si, to lesser extent Jotnar and Mazatl. Scions and Aristarkh are already flavourful, imho, it's just that lots of their mechanics are need updates to make them competitive. Dural? I have no idea, lol.

Oh and I think, I want to cut Frozen out.

 

[Linvega]

Yes, please, if you can start a thread and describe your opinion on the new civs, what is interesting about them or what should be their unique mechanic, that will be great!

Personally, I think I get the idea on Austrin and Aos Si, to lesser extent Jotnar and Mazatl. Scions and Aristarkh are already flavourful, imho, it's just that lots of their mechanics are need updates to make them competitive. Dural? I have no idea, lol.

Oh and I think, I want to cut Frozen out.

Okay, I might try out Dural, though I already have some ideas, I'll write it into the other thread.
Oh, and you didn't mention the Aos Si in the other thread, should I start a new thread about them instead or write my ideas there anyway? I do think that some things could/should be changed for them.
But two questions first:
1. The winter court seems all-out terrible. Is there some trick to it that I haven't noticed or is it really that bad?
2. The court restoration world projects don't seem to do anything. What is their point?