~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAQ/STRATEGY GUIDE TO
The Settlers:
Rise of an Empire
Game by
Ubisoft
Blue Byte
This guide written by
SOLDYNE
Version 2.00
February 16, 2009
VERSION HISTORY:
1.00 - First creation February 1, 2009.
1.01 - Corrected a mistake with my explaination of trading buttons.
Corrected my terrible spelling of batallion.
Added some info about troops and dyes.
2.00 - Campaign section is complete.  Added new section for extra stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(TO GO TO ANY SECTION USE THE FIND COMMAND AND COPY/PASTE THE ENTIRE LINE OF
THE SECTION YOU ARE LOOKING FOR)
(DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT $200)
I.   INTRODUCTION
II.  OVERVIEW
III. BUTTONS AND INTERFACE
[A]  MAIN MENU
[B]  HOTKEYS and CONTROLS
[C]  SINGLEPLAYER
[D]  MAIN GAME INTERFACE
[1]  CITY INFORMATION BUTTON
[2]  TREASURY BUTTON
[3]  STOREHOUSE STOCK BUTTON
[4]  FOOD BUTTON BUTTON BUTTON
[5]  cLOTHING BUTTON
[6]  CLEANING SUPPLIES BUTTON
[7]  ENTERTAINMENT BUTTON
[8]  DECORATIONS BUTTON
[9]  PROSPERITY BUTTON
[10] MILITARY BUTTON
[11] MENU BUTTON
[12] CHAT BUTTON
[13] CONSTRUCTION PANEL BUTTONS
[14] MINI MAP BUTTONS
[15] BIULDING INFORMATION WINDOW
[16] CURRENT QUEST DETAILS BUTTON
[17] QUEST LOGS BUTTON
IV.  THE KNIGHTS
[A]  MARCUS
[B]  ALANDRA
[C]  ELIAS
[D]  KESTRAL
[E]  HAKIM
[F]  THORDAL
[G]  PROMOTIONS
V.   THE BUILDINGS
[A]  DEFENSE AND ROADS
[1]  WOODEN WALL/GATE
[2]  STONE WALL/GATE
[3]  TRAIL/STONE ROAD
[B]  RESOURCE GATHERING
[1]  WOODCUTTER
[2]  HUNTER
[3]  STONECUTTER
[4]  FISHER
[5]  IRON MINER
[6]  GRAIN FARM
[7]  CATTLE FARM
[8]  SHEEP FARM
[9]  BEEKEEPER
[10] HERB GATHERER
[C]  RETAIL
[1]  BUTCHER
[2]  BAKER
[3]  SMOKEHOUE
[4]  DAIRY
[5]  TANNER
[6]  WEAVER
[7]  BROOM MAKER
[8]  SOAP MAKER
[9]  PHARMACY
[10] TAVERN
[11] BATH HOUSE
[12] THEATER
[13] BANNER MAKER
[14] CARPENTER
[15] BLACKSMITH
[16] CANDLE MAKER
[17] SWORDSMITH
[18] BOW MAKER
[D]  MILITARY
[1]  SWORDMAN BARRACKS
[2]  BOWMAN BARRACKS
[3]  SIEGE ENGINE WORKSHOP
[4]  OUTPOST
[E]  SPECIAL
[1]  CASTLE
[2]  CATHEDRAL
[3]  STOREHOUSE
VI.  LIFE IN THE CITY
[A]  ECONOMY AND STRIKING
[B]  FESTIVALS AND FAMILIES
[C]  TRADING AND DIPLOMACY
[D]  RUINS AND SHIPWRECKS
VII. THE MILITARY
[A]  BATALLIONS AND REPUTATION
[B]  THIEVES
[C]  SIEGE WEAPONS
[D]  EXPANSIONS AND OUTPOSTS
[E]  MERCENARIES
[F]  BANDITS
[G]  WILD ANIMALS
VIII.THE CAMPAIGN
[A]  VESTHOLM
[B]  CHALLIA
[C]  GALLOS
[D]  NARFANG
[E]  DRENGIR
[F]  REKKYR
[G]  GETH
[H]  SEYDIIR
[I]  HUSRAN
[J]  JUAHAR
[K]  TIOS
[L]  SAHIR
[M]  MONTECITO
[N]  GUERANNA
[O]  VESTHOLM
[P]  ROSSOTERRES
IX.  EXTRA STUFF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I.  INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to my guide on The Settlers 6:  Rise of an Empire.  I would first
like to give Ubisoft and Blue Byte a grand "Thank You" for creating such a fun
game with detailed graphics and great sound and music.
I would like to say that this is my 4th FAQ/STRATEGY guide.  I purchased the
Gold Edition, so, I write this guide from that perspective (game version
1.6.4827).
If anyone finds that any info in this guide is erroneous, my explainations
are difficult to understand, or you just have some new info to add then drop
me a line at Soldyne@Yahoo.com and have the subject read:
ABOUT YOUR SETTLERS GUIDE!
This is because I have many filters on my email account and this will let me
know that your email is worth opening.  I should not have to say this but,
PLEASE make sure you computer is clean of viruses and such before sending
me any messages.  Thank You!
Now for some legal stuff:
This guide is Copyrighted under law and cannot be reproduced by others without
express writen permission from me.  You may not link directly to this document
or display a copy of it on any website.  I worked long and hard to get this
information and I would like to be credited for my work.
A Note About Pronouns:
I will tend to use masculine pronouns throughout my document.  This is not
intended to disrespect or in any way ostrisize the female population.  It is
just how I write.  Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
OK, now onto the good stuff!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
II.  OVERVIEW
The Settlers 6:  Rise of an Empire is best described as a real time strategy
game with a mix of resource management and city building thrown in.  there is
a single player campaign mode and a multiplayer mode.  I do not play multi-
player mode very much for any game so this guide will concentrate its
content on the singler player game and of course give general information
about game mechanics.
if you are interested in the multiplayer aspect of the game you are welcome
to go to the official Settlers website at
http://thesettlers.us.ubi.com/home.php
and join the forum discussions.
As I said previously, I purchased the Gold Edition.  At first the Gold Edition
seems to be without a manual, however, if you go into your install directory
you can find an electronic .pdf manual buried in the Ubisoft game structure.
I did not find it until after I beat the game, but, oh well!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
III. BUTTONS AND INTERFACE
After installing and running the game you are presented with a long but
very well done intro movie and some nice, fitting music.  The intro movie
can be skipped with a few mouse clicks, after which you will be presented with
the main menu.
[A]  MAIN MENU
Here on the right hand side of the screen you have 7 buttons:  Singleplayer,
LAN Game, Multiplayer, Profile, Options, Credits, Exit Game.  Just below the
final button you should see a number, this is the game version.
Singleplayer will bring you to the main story of the game.
LAN Game and Multiplayer will begin a multiplayer game (not discussed in this
guide)
Profile will bring you to another screen where you can edit, delete, create
and select profiles.  A profile is sort of a way of keeping different peoples
games seperate from each other mainly for use during singleplayer.  This
way two or more people can play the main game without interferring with
the other person's progress.  If only one person is playing this game then
this screen holds little use.
Options will take you to the game settings like Video, Sound, Mouse Controls
and it can show you all the shortcuts (hotkeys) that you can use in the game.
We will go over a few of them shortly.  The game should automatically
configure itself for your systems requirements.  If not, then you can alter
them here.
Credits will take you to a list of all the people that made this game
possilbe.
Exit Game will...well...cause you to exit the game.  What more do you want?
[B]  HOTKEYS and CONTROLS
I will not cover all the shortcuts here, you can easily read the list in
the game yourself.  In fact, most of the shortcuts have buttons in the game
that do the same thing.  What I will talk about are the most useful of the
hotkeys:
NOTE:  It is best if you play this game with a mouse that has a mouse wheel.
There are a few ways to move around the map you can either move your mouse
cursor to the edge of the map or you can hold down the right mouse button and
move the mouse.  You can alter the speed of scrolling in the Game Options
menu.  You could also click on the mini map, but, this is not very accurate.
To zoom in or zoom out you can spin the mouse wheel.
To rotate the angle of the camera you can hold Control+mouse wheel.
To rotate bulidings you can hold Shift+mouse wheel.
[C]  SINGLEPLAYER
Once you have decided to start playing the game and have chosen Singleplayer
you will see a second menu with buttons named Campaign, Custom Game, Load.
Campaign will take you to the world map and will show you all the maps that
you have unlocked on the current profile as well as any cinematic movies.
Here you can replay any map that you have played before.  Doing so will not
affect the story in any way.
Custom Game will allow you to play a map that is not linked to the main story
in any way.  These maps are one shot games that provide various levels of
challenges and fun.  The Gold Edition shiped with a map editor which will
allow you to create your own custom maps.  This editor is not supported by
Ubisoft or Blue Byte and I have not used it myself so I will not cover it
in this guide.  If you are interested in making your own maps you are welcome
to experiment and I am certain that someone on the official forums has
plenty of advice for new map makers.
Load Game will of course load up a previously saved game.
[D]  MAIN GAME INTERFACE
When you start your singlplayer game you will see the world infront of you in
full color, 3D graphics surrounded by lots of buttons all over place.  Of
course the manual can tell you what each button is but I will add my own
experience to the descriptions here (as a supplement to the manual).
Please note, that if you are starting from map 1 "Vestholm", then not all
of the buttons will be available right away.  This is due to two factors.
One, the first few levels are tutorial levels so some aspects are locked out.
Two, some buttons are for advanced cities which require you to upgrade your
village before they become available.
At any time during the game you can hover your mouse over just about anything
and you will get a temporary popup that will give you a breif description of
the item.
We will start in the upper left hand corner and work our way around clockwise.
[1]  CITY INFORMATION BUTTON
The first button which is always available is the City Information button.
This button is followed by a progress bar which monitors your City
Reputation (discussed later) which is measured as a percentage.  To the left
of the bar is 0% and the right is 100%.
If you click on the City Information button you will get a drop down menu
which shows your current and max population, your current and max number of
families (called wives in the game)(To be discussed later), your current
and max number of soldiers and your current reputation.
Just below this button will be temporary icons that pop up during the game
which show you different things which are affecting your cities reputation.
If the icon is green it is a poitive effect, if the icon is red it is a
negative effect.
Also, after a festival, you will get a quick pop up under this button that
shows how many new weddings you had (thus increasing the number of families/
wives in your city).
[2]  TREASURY BUTTON
This Gold Coin button shows your currnent gold stock piles.  If you click
the button you will get a drop down that shows you your potential income
due to taxes and your potential maintenance due to your military.
These figures are not always accurate.  For example, The estimated tax
has to physically be collected by your tax collectors which can be killed
by enemy soldiers.  The tax is also determined by current retail income
which can obviously change as settlers engage in commerce.  Soldier's pay
can obviously change if you recruit more troops or lose them in battle.
Any time you gain or lose funds a temporary pop up box will be displayed
with an icon showing the source.
[3]  STOREHOUSE STOCK BUTTON
The wagon icon button is followed by your two most imporant resources, stone
and wood.  If you click on the button you will get an overview of your
current storehouse's holdings on all of your resources (these will all be
discussed later).  at the very botton of this popup is your storehouses
current total and max total storage capacity.
[4]  FOOD BUTTON
The apple icon button shows the total amount of finished food product
availabe for sale and eating in your entire village.  If you click on the
button you will get a detailed drop down of how much of each kind of food
you have availabe (discussed more later).  Food is required for your city
so if you ever hit 0 then this button will have a red outline warning you
of impending famine.
[5]  cLOTHING BUTTON
The shirt icon button shows the total amount of finished clothing
available for sale and use in your entire village.  If you click on the
button you will get a detailed drop down of how much of each kind of clothing
you have (discussed more later).
[6]  CLEANING SUPPLIES BUTTON
The brush icon button shows the total amount of finished cleaning
products for sale and use in your entire village.  If you click on the
button you will get a detailed drop down of how much of each kind of item
you have (discussed more later).  This button is only available after town
upgrades.
[7]  ENTERTAINMENT BUTTON
The musical icon button shows the total amount of entertainment
available for sale and use in your entire village.  If you click on the
button you will get a detailed drop down of how much of each kind of fun
you have (discussed more later).  This button is only available after town
upgrades.
[8]  DECORATIONS BUTTON
The decoration icon button shows the total number of buildings in
your village that have been decorated.  If you click on the button
you can see how many buildings have been decorated which which decorations
and you can see the total number of decoratable buildings in your
village (discussed more later).  This button is only available after
town upgrades.
[9]  PROSPERITY BUTTON
The treasure chest icon button will give you a drop down of your town's
prosperity measured as a total number of rich or poor buildings as well as
giving you a total number of taxable buildings in your city (discussed more
later).  This button is only availabe after town upgrades.
[10] MILITARY BUTTON
The crossed swords icon button will give you a drop down of your current
military supplies such as number of swords and bows available.  This button
is not for current numbers of soldiers which can be found in the City
Information drop down.
[11] MENU BUTTON
In the upper right hand corner is the Menu button.  This will let you pause
the game as well as access saving and loading features and exiting the game.
[12] CHAT BUTTON
below the Menu button is a chat button.  this is only available if you are in
a multiplayer game.  This will let you send messages to other players during
your game.
[13] CONSTRUCTION PANEL BUTTONS
On the right side of the screen you will see a list of buttons.  Most of the
button icons on this panel will match the button icons from the top of
the screen.  These buttons will open up side menus which let you build
certain buildings.  The Resource Gathering, Food production, and Clothing
production buildings are available from the beginning.  Cleaning supplies,
entertainment, decorations and military support buildings require upgrades
before they become available.
The last two buttons are the Defense and Roads button and the Demolition
button.  The Defense and Roads button will let you build wooden or stone
walls and gates as well as lay down trails or stone roads.  All of these
options are available from the start except stone roads which require
upgrades.
The demolition button will destroy most any building (except the castle,
cathedral, and store house) as well as any trails or roads.
[14] MINI MAP BUTTONS
In the lower right had corner of the screen is the mini map and its associated
buttons.
The mini map will show you an overview of the entire map and all the
territories you have explored.  any areas which have not been explored will
be covered in dark grey.  Any areas you have explored but do not own will be
shown in light grey.  You can also see small icons on the mini map which
correspond to locations of raw materials.  This can be very useful for
planning your expansion strategies later.
If you hover you mouse over any territory you can see its name displayed
below the mini map.  This is very useful when you have a quest that wants you
to go to a certain area.
If you click on the mini map you can center your main view on the area you
clicked on.  This is not very accurate but it is much faster than scrolling
around from one side of the map to the other.
The blue button to the left of the mini map will alter the kind of map you see
in the mini map screen.  the default is a territory map which shows only
the resource icons and the colored boarders of owned territories (both
freindly and enemy).  It will also show the gerneral position of buildings
and military units.
if you toggle this button it will show you a terrain map which gives you an
idea of where cliffs, fertile ground, forests and rivers are located.
The crossed swords button will select all of your military units inlcuding
all swordsmen, bowmen, your knight, seige engines, and all of your thieves.
If your military is spead out and you want to converge on a single spot,
then this can be a very useful button.  if your thieves or your knight are
doing something useful then this might make things a little tricky.  There
will be a more in depth discussion of military units later in this guide.
There will also be some buttons that appear to the left of the mini map
when any military unit is selected:
A Hand (stand ground), complex crossed swords (attack-move), wagon wheel
(dismount segie engine).  All of this will be discussed in more detail
in the Military Chapter later.
The face icon button is the button to select only your knight.  When you
do this you will get more buttons that appear to the left of the mini map.
From top to bottom the new buttons are:  The knights active ability (discussed
later), Build an Outpost (only available if your knight is in an unclaimed
territory) followed by the default military commands.
The button on the top of the mini map is the Promotion Button.  This
tells you what rank you knight currently is, what requirements your knight
needs to get promoted and if you meet the requirements and your knight
is in the market place it allows you to promote your knight, thus upgrading
your village.  Details will be discussed later.
The next button is your production menu.  Clicking on this will open up a
complex menu which lists all the possible buildings that gather resources,
produce final products or have something to do with infrastructure.
In any of these sub menus you can click on the icon and then select whether or
not to allow this building to continue to produce, or to stop selling its wares
and stockpile the equipment (either for a quest or just to stop using
resources).  This menu can also tell you how many of each kind of building you
have in your city.  For example, if you want to know why you are running low
on wool, this menu might show you that you only have 1 active sheep farm, but,
3 active weavers, allowing you locate one of your weavers and replace it with
a tanner for example.
The production menu is much more useful in the later part of the story when
your city has grown large or when you have specific quests that ask you to
stockpile certain goods.
The shaking hands icon button is the Diplomacy button.  Clicking on this will
bring up a menu that lists all the other factions on the current map and
what your relationship is with each one and if you have any kind of trade
relations with them.  This menu is mostly just for show as you can easily
see on your mini map what your relationship is with another faction.  Allied
territories are visible on the mini map and enemies are not.  Trade will
be discussed more later.
The next button is the weather button.  This button will show you what month
and thus what season you are in.  On many maps this is very important as
some resources are not availabe in the winter, such as fishing, harvesting,
and beekeeping.  Also, rivers and lakes can freeze in the winter months
allowing new tactics and strategies to be used in combat.
The final button surrounding the mini map is the time button.  pressing this
button will alter the speed at which the game is played.  The game defaults to
the standard x1 speed.  Clicking once will double this to x2 and clicking
again will increase to x3.  Clicking one more time will reset the speed to
x1 again.  To pause the game you should press the menu button.
[15] BUILDING INFORMATION WINDOW
This popup window will be displayed at the bottom of the screen whenever
you click on a building.  in this window you will see what needs and desires
the settlers in this build have and how close they are to needing more of it.
It can also show you what upgrade level the building is (and thus how many
settlers call this building home) as well as what business this building does.
To the right of this window are two buttons.  The person icon button will
center the screen on a settler who works in this building and will toggle
through all the settlers who work in this building.  The building icon button
will center  the screen on this building.
The Castle, Storehouse, and Cathedral have different building information
windows which will be discussed later.
[16] CURRENT QUEST DETAILS BUTTON
The Quest Details window will display a portrait of the person who is
requesting the quest as well as a breif description of what the quest is.
The arrow to the right of the portrait will replay the audio file associated
with the quest (to refresh your memory).
Depending on the quest you may see a magnifying glass button which will center
your view, or put a ping on your mini map, to show you where to you need to go
in order to complete the quest.
Some quests require you to send goods.  If so, then a cart with an arrow will
appear to allow you to dispatch said goods.  If you do not have enough to
comply with the request this button will do nothing.
[17] QUEST LOGS BUTTON
Above the Quest Details window on the left hand side of the screen will
be a bunch of buttons for other quests you might currently have.  Clicking
on any of these will display the current quest details for that quest.
Clicking on the same quest again will minimize the current quest details and
give you more visible map area.  If you currently have no quests, then this
area will contain no buttons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IV.  THE KNIGHTS
In this game you take the role of a king overseeing many lands.  You don't
directly rule every single village.  That duty falls to your knights.
Your knights double as both a powerful military unit and your representive
to your subjects.  They are your village mayors, your foriegn diplomats, and
your army's general.
All knights share certain abilities and responsibilities.  Firstly, They are
the only unit which can claim new territory.  They do this by moving into
an unclaimed land and then a button will become available next to the
mini map which will allow you to spend gold and wood to build an outpost.
The cost of the outpost is always different depending on the map and
particular territory.  Usually, territories with more resources cost more
to expand to.
Knights are also the only ones which can perform trade actions.  To do this
you must order your knight to move next to a freindly village's storehouse.
When they are in position new buttons will appear which allow you to purchase
certain goods that the village sells.  If your knight moves too far away from
the storehouse then the trade buttons disappear.
Knights are also the only ones that can explore ruins and shipwrecks.  If you
order your knight to move next to a ruin (destroyed building with a hand icon)
then a button should appear.  Pressing this button will make a horse drawn
cart appear which will carry gold to your castle.  The amount of gold can
range from 80-400 depending on which ruin you are exploring.
Finally, your knight is sometimes required to interact with certain
quest related events.  This is done the same way as exploring ruins.  This
could be anything from breaking someone out of a prison, to digging a water
well in the desert.
All knights are essentially immortal.  They are exceptional fighters and
their strength is dictated by your cities moral.  low moral means low
strength, and high moral means high strength.  If your knight every falls in
battle they will be magically moved to the castle where they must heal.  Once
they are sufficiently healed they will reappear at the castle ready to head
back out into the wilderness.
Knights do not require any food, clothing, or supplies of any kind.  They are
your fastest unit and due to their regenerative abilities make for excellent,
early spies (at least until you can make thieves).
In addition to all of these abilities each knight has a certain set of
abilities which makes them unique.  Each knight has one passive ability which
is always active and always provides some kind of boost to the village.  Each
knight also has an active ability which requires a button to be pressed and
usually only affects a small radius around the knight.  Active abilities
need time to recharge after each use.
[A]  MARCUS
Marcus is one of your initial knights.  He is known as the Lord of Chivalry.
Marcus' passive ability is to reduce the gold cost to recruit new soldiers.
Marcus' active ability is to replenish troops torches without being near
a castle or outpost
My Rating:  C
Marcus' passive ability is not really a major benifit.  If you follow my
guide and build your settlement well gold will not be a major issue by
the time you need to recruit a large army.  His passive ability is nice.
Being able to replenish torches can be useful sometimes, but, most of the
time you will have enough troops with you to do what you need to, and, most
of the time your target will be an outpost.  Once you take the enemy outpost
your troops torches will replenish anyway, so, this is just a small time
saver and not really a must have ability.  He is probably the best knight
to use until you unlock Hakim.
[B]  ALANDRA
Alandra is also one of your initial knights.  She is known as the Lady of
Healing.
Alandra's passive ability is to increase the gold recieved from sermon
collections by 20%.
Alandra's active ability is to heal sick settlers in the village market
place.
My Rating:  D
A 20% boost to sermon income sounds like a great idea, but, holding a sermon
also stops your settlers from working and early on the 20% boost is not really
all that much.  Later on when you can get a decent sermon income you will
be rolling in gold anyway so there is no point to holding a sermon just for
extra cash.  Her active ability is completely worthless for the first half
of the game.  Settlers only get sick when the population is high or a quest
activates a plague on a certain map.  At that point you will have the
ability to create medicine or purchase medicine from a trader or ally.
The only good thing about this ability is that it saves time but not enough
to matter.
Personally, though, I like this character from a roleplaying perspective.
She is the most paladin like of all the knights and seems to have the most
noble of intentions for the most part (with the exception of certain story
elements which will be discussed below).
[C]  ELIAS
Elias is available starting with Map number 3.  He is known as the Lord of
Trade.
Elias' passive ability is to increase the income from selling goods to your
allies and decrease the cost of purchasing.
Elias' active ability is to feed hungry striking settlers at your town square.
My Rating:  D
His passive ability is pretty much worthless.  By the time you have enough
excess stock to sell to an ally, you wont need the money.  When it comes to
making purchases it does not happen all that often. His active ability
may come in handy on one or two difficult maps, but, the point of this guide
is to help you design your settlements so they are efficient and to avoid
striking settlers and famine.  Thus, if you follow the guide you won't need
his active ability at all.  In fact, I would say that if you do need his
ability then you should restart the map and try again, and this time choose
a different knight.
[D]  KESTRAL
Kestral becomes available on map 4.  Kestral is known as the Lady of Plunder.
Kestral's passive ability is to increase the amount of taxes collected
without negative effects.
Kestral's active ability is to steal the full income of a building without
any negative effects.
My Rating:  C
Kestral's abilities are all about money.  As per the story line she is a
mercenary so money is very important to her.  Her passive ability can be a
great boon for any city just starting out which can help increase the speed at
which new settlments grow.  Her active ability is just a variation of her
passive ability which pretty makes her a "one-trick-pony".  Her rating would
be higher if she could do something other than just steal gold.  Ultimately,
her skills become less useful as the city grows, but, on many maps getting
started fast is more important than long term income.
[E]  HAKIM
Hakim is available on map 5.  Hakim is known as the Lord of Wisdom.
Hakim's passive ability allows you to upgrade any building for less resources.
Hakim's active ability is to cause a nearby enemy battallion to convert over
to your side permenantly.
My Rating:  A+
Of all the knights this guy kicks major butt.  Being able to upgrade all
buildings for fewer resources is an amazing ability and can kick start a
new settlement like nothing else.  Fast growth of a city is key to many maps.
His active ability is just amazing compared to everyone else.  You could
essentially have a full contingent of military forces on your side before
you are even able to build them yourself and they cost no resources to gain.
You still have to pay them of course.  Many people think that using Hakim
is almost akin to cheating!
[F]  THORDAL
Thordal is available starting on map 6 and is the final knight.  Thordal is
known as the Lord of Song.
Thordal's passive ability allows your settlers to gain more families after a
festival (meet more wives).
Thordal's active ability allows him to entertain settlers near him with his
bard-like singing.
My Rating:  B
Thordal's passive ability is quite nice.  More families (wives) in your
settlement will increase the overal efficiency which is one of your main
goals on every map.  I have never been able to max out families on any city
so this ability actually has some use on every map.  His active ability is
much like Elias' ability.  If your settlers can't find any entertainment, then
you have designed your city poorly.  His rating of a B just goes to show how
useful I think his passive ability is.
[G]  PROMOTIONS
Promoting your knight is the process which allows your city to be upgraded.
All cities start out by only being able to build a few kind of buildings.
Every pomotion allows you to build new building types and, most importantly,
to build new military units.  The early tutorial maps limit the number of
promotions you can get, but, later maps have no limits.  There is a point of
dimishing returns however, when getting promoted gives your city no more
benifits towards winning the map.
To get promoted your settlement must meet various criteria at each level.
When your settlement has achieved all the needed requirements you must move
your knight to the marketplace and then press the promotion button next to
the mini map (it should be glowing green).  This will cause the promotion
proclaimation to appear with a button at the bottom.  Pressing that button
will promote your knight and subsequently upgrade your settlement.
Level 1 -
Title - Lord/Lady
Requirements - None
Rights - All Resource Buildings
All Food Retailers
All Clothing Retailers
Wooden and Stone Walls
Trails
Needs - Food
Notes - This is the default level.  The first thing you should do here
is to build your woodcutters, food suppliers and retailers and one tanner.
Also, you should be able to upgrade your castle right from the start of most
maps.  If you have a stone quarry in your first territory start minning it.
Level 2
Title - Sheriff
Requirements - 10 Settlers, 6 Clothes, Level 2 Castle
Rights - Sword Smith, Sword Barracks, Cleaning Retailers, Thief
Troop Salaries
Needs - Clothing
Notes - As soon as you are promoted you should build one soap maker and
one broom maker.  If you don't have any stone quarries then explore and expand
to find one.  Also, on maps with heavy military activity you should seek out an
iron mine and start building your sword smith and barracks.  Right before you
get promoted you should start thinking about beekeepers and stocking honey.
If you have decent stone income you should upgrade your storehouse and
cathedral as high as you can.  You will eventually want level 4 in all three
of your special buildings and there is no reason not to have them early.
Level 3
Title - Baron/Baroness
Requirements - 30 Settlers, 12 Cleaning,
Level 2 Castle/Storehouse/Cathedral
Rights - Medicine, Bow Maker, Bow Barracks, Tavern, Festival,
Stone Roads
Needs - Cleaning
Notes - Now you have Bowmen and are ready to take on the world...maybe.
You also have access to the festival.  I suggest holding one if you can afford
it to help increase efficiency.  by now you might be starting to stock up on
some raw materials.  This is when you should start thinking about building 2
of every building because it will help you get promoted to level 5, which is
the hardest promotion to get.
Level 4
Title - Count/Countess
Requirements - 50 Settlers, 18 mead (2 taverns), level 3 Castle
Rights - Baths, Siege Workshop, Battering Ram, Mounted Catapult
ammo carts, Tax manipulation
Needs - entertainment, wealth
Notes - Build 2 bathhouses right away.  If you are attacking any enemy
forts with stone walls, the ram is your opportunity to do so.  If you are being
attacked you can build some stone walls and mount some catapults assuming you
can afford them.  The next level is the hardest to achieve because you need to
have 20 buildings at the rich level.  The best advice here is to put your
taxes and your troop salary to 0.  The no tax boost to reputation should
counteract the no troop payment and so long as you don't hold too many
festivals you should be fine for money until you are promoted again.  All
retailers will eventually become rich over time, the trick is to make sure you
have at least 20 retailers (thus the 2 of each retailer idea).  If you are
close to the 20 mark but not quite there, then look at your storehouse and
see what raw materials you are heavy on and build something that uses it.
Unless you want catapults at level 6, then I recommend not bothering with
your promotions any longer.  Keep upgrading your special buildings though as
they provide useful benefits beyond promotion requirements.
Level 5
Title - Marquis
Requirements - 70 Settlers, 20 Rich retailers,
Level 3 Castle/Store/Cathedral
Rights - Theater, Banner Maker, Siege Tower
Needs - Decorations
Notes - At this point in the game, the only real reason to get to
level 5 or above is if you plan on attacking a lot of stone fortresses.  In
those cases, you will want catapults which are the next level.  Otherwise,
Level 5, 6 and 7 really don't offer anything that can help you win the map.
Settlements can easily get by without decorations and the theater is not
required to get the entertainment bonus to reputation.
Level 6
Title - Duke/Duchess
Requirements - 90 Settlers, 9 Buildings with Banners, Level 4 All
Rights - catapults, carpenter, candle maker, blacksmith
Needs - nothing new
Notes - Ah, the elusive catapults.  A few of these in your army and
you can take down those stone walls in a matter of minuets.  If you don't need
catapults then this promotion offers nothing of use.  The decorations are
nice, but they don't help you win maps.
Level 7
Title - Archduke/Archduchess
Requirements - 150 settlers, 30 rich buildings,
30 fully decorated buildings, level 4 All
Rights - none
Needs - nothing new
Notes - as you can see this promotion does absolutely nothing.  the 150
settlers requirement is not only difficult to reach but it also seems to be
the threshold for a "large" settlement where plague starts to break out
regularly.  30 rich buildings is also absurdly difficult.  the 30 fully
decorated buildings is something that just takes time.  Really, there is
absolutely no reason to get this promotion except to say you did it at
least once (I did!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
V.   THE BUILDINGS
Except for the castle, storehouse and cathedral which are always built for
you at the start of every map, all buildings must be built from the
ground up and require some amount of wood or stone.
Whenever you wish to build a building you will be able to place down a
plot of open land which reserves this area for the building.  A settler
will then emerge from your storehouse pulling behind him the required
materials to build the structure.  When he gets to the plot he will begin
constucting the building.  Either he will build it from scratch or he will
build on an extention if it is an upgrade.
All plots can be rotated by holding down Control plus moving the mouse wheel.
All plots will also try to automatically align themselves to any nearby
trails or roads.
Except for the castle, storehouse cathedral and walls, every settler that
builds a building or upgrade will stay with the building as a new resident and
becomes a permenant member of your settlement.
All buildings have a set amount of health and all of them can be attacked by
catapults or soldiers with torches.  Even your Castle made of stone can be
burned by a torch.
If any of your buildings catch fire then they can continue to burn until
their health is reduced to 0.  Normally the residence of the building will
respond automatically to the fire by running to the marketplace and grabbing
a bucket of water.  If you want to speed up the process or if your main
buildings are on fire then you can click the burining building and select
the new button that will call all nearby settlers to put out the fire.
After a building is done burning, the residents will repair it automatically.
You can speed this up by clicking on the damaged building and pressing the
new button to call all nearby settlers to repair the building.  As far as I can
tell, repairing a building does not cost any resources.  You can also repair
damaged walls.
[A]  DEFENSE AND ROADS
Walls allow you to defend your settlement much more easily than just with a
loose grouping of troops.  Without a wall, the enemy troops can just run right
past your troops and burn down your storehouse, cathedral or castle.  Putting
up a wall can slow them down, cause them to use up all their torches, or just
make them give up and go home without a fight.
The gate will automatically allow all allies to pass in or out of
the gate without hesitation but will not allow enemies through.  If an enemy
gets inside your gate either by destroying a piece of wall or with a
siege tower then they can open the gate from the inside to let their allies in.
When building a wall you can select either the end of a gate or the end of
a wall and press the wall button that appears to drag more wall section to be
built.  If you build the wall section close to a cliff or impassible terrain
then you will get a special icon that looks like a wall section with a red
arrow pointing diagonally down.  If you build the wall section when you see
this icon then the wall will automatically meld with the impassible terrain
making a seal at that point.  If you dont make a seal then enemy troops may be
able to walk around your wall.
[1]  WOODEN WALL/GATE
The wooden wall is also known as a wooden palisade.
The gate portion costs 10 wood.
each section of wall costs 1 wood.
The wooden palisade can be attacked by rams, catapults and soldiers with
torches.
Troops cannot stand on the wall.
No weapons can be mounted on the wall
[2]  STONE WALL/GATE
The stone gate costs 16 stone.
The stone gate can be upgraded with a Stone Trap which costs 100 gold and
5 stone.  The stone trap will cause damage to enemies that are trying to enter
your gate.
The stone wall costs 1 stone per section.
The stone wall can only be attacked with rams or catapults.
Troops (especially archers) can stand on the wall for extra defense.
Wall towers (inbetween sections of wall) can be upgraded with mounted
catapults.  A mounted catapult costs 200 gold and 5 iron.
These mounted catapults are able to attack any siege engine
within a very large range.  They come prebuilt with 10 stones of ammo and
can be automatically resupplied by nearby ammo carts.
a Stone Wall with one or two mounted catapults is pretty much invincible as it
will be able to destroy any attacking catapult or ram before the siege engine
can destroy the wall or gate.  I have not been able to target a mounted
catapult even with another catapult. The enemy AI will retreat most of the time
when they see you have mounted catapults because they know it is a lost cause.
I take that back...I did see the AI attack one of my catapults once, but,
his catapult was destoryed at the same time mine was so it was a draw.  I
still have not been able to target one myself though.
[3]  TRAIL/STONE ROAD
Trails are free to build and will increase the settlers speed by a visible
amount.  You can click and drag a straight section of trail almost anywhere
that a settler could walk.  If you click and drag short pieces in different
directions you can make a curved trail.
If the trail turns red that means there is some other object blocking it.
trails will automatically delete any trees or small rocks that are in its
way when you finalize your decision.
The stone road requires town upgrades and costs 1 stone per section.  The cost
will be displayed as you are laying out the road.  You can overlay a stone
road on a trail to upgrade it.  Stone roads impove the speed of travelers
even more than trails so it is very useful to upgrade trails to your
outter most buildings as soon as possible to increase the rate of resource
gathering.
[B]  RESOURCE GATHERING
All resource gathering buildings work the same way.  They send out a settler
from the building which travels to the nearest resource within a large radius
of the building.  The settler engages in some animation and then takes the
resource back to the building.  When the building is full of resources, one of
the settlers living in the building will take the resources back to the
storehouse where a retailer will use it to make finished goods.
You will know what resources are within radius of your building because all
acceptable resources within radius will be surrounded by a green highlight.
If that highlight is not there then the resource is too far away for the
gatherer to go.
All resource buildings start at level 1.  Each building can be upgraded
to level 3.  Each upgrade adds another settler/worker and also increases
their efficiency, thus gathering and delivering raw materials at a faster rate.
The storage of the building also increases as does the mode of transport.  At
level 1 the settler will transport the goods on their back and walk to the
storehouse (slow).  At level 2 the settler will use a cart (faster).  At level
3 they will use a horse drawn cart (fastest and greatest capacity).  There is
rarely ever a reason not to upgrade a building to level 3.
All resource gathering settlers only have 1 need;  food.  resource gathers will
never have a need for clothing, entertainment, or cleaning supplies.
As a general rule, you should always place resource gathering buildings on the
outskirts of your village, away from the marketplace.  the marketplace should
be reserved for your retail buildings.
[1]  WOODCUTTER
Level 1 - 2 wood
3 storage
Level 2    - 3 wood
6 storage
Level 3 - 4 wood
9 storage
Wood is your primary resource in this game (not gold like other games).
Most everything in this game requires some amount of wood to be built
or upgraded.  Those few things that don't need wood will need stone instead.
Woodcutters obviously need trees in order to cut wood.  One tree equals 1 unit
of wood.  Trees do grow back over time.  It is possible to have too many
woodcutters near each other and thus they deforest an area.  The trees will
grow back eventually, but, the key is to spread out your woodcutters so
the growth rate is equal to the deforestation rate.
most settlements can start with 3-4 woodcutters for early growth and
then go down to 1 or 2 after the settlement is up and running.
Trees do not have an icon on the mini map but are quite obvious to find.
If you build a building or trail over a tree it will be gone forever even if
you destroy the building or trail.  You have been warned.
Wood is also used by broom makers and carpenters, but, they use so little
wood that you should not really notice it.
[2]  HUNTER
Level 1 - 2 wood
3 storage
Level 2    - 3 wood
6 storage
Level 3 - 4 wood
9 storage
Hunters are one of four sources of food for your settlers.  They hunt wild
game animals.  The general icon for game animals is a Deer, but, the game
animals could be moose, reindeer, boar, or anything else the designers think
could make good eating.  Regaurdless of the type of animal being hunted,
the icon will always be the same.
Game animals are used for Food (meat), Clothing (Hides) and Soap (animal fat).
Unfortunately any one of these retail items will use up an entire animal
carcass (1 unit of game animal).
Most settlements of any size can be sustained with 3 hunters each with their
own game animal resource.
Game animals will repopulate themselves over time, but, it is possible to
overhunt in an area.  The general rule of thumb is to put one hunter per
icon.
[3]  STONECUTTER
Level 1 - 2 wood
3 storage
Level 2    - 3 wood
6 storage
Level 3 - 4 wood
9 storage
Stone is your second most needed resource.  It is needed to build stone
walls which are the ultimate in city defense.  Stone is also used to upgrade
your three main buildings and to build roads.
Stone quarries show up on the mini map.  Stone does not replenish itself.  Each
quarry starts with 250 stone.
Generally, one would put 2 stone cutters next to each quarry.  This will double
your stone income.  This is important when your quarries are in outter
territories.  If your outter territories are taken over by the enemy then
all of your bulidings in that area are destroyed.  mining out a quarry quickly
reduces the risk of losing the quarry to the enemy.
Most of your settlements can get by with a single stone quarry for all of
your upgrade needs.  If you plan on building long stone wall sections or
lots of stone roads then a second stone quarry should be mined.  The only
time you would need more stone is if you were using catapults or mounted
catapults and needed to make stone ammo carts.
once the stone quarry is depleted then you should destroy the stone cutter
huts.  There is no point in having settlers standing around doing nothing all
day.
[4]  FISHER
Level 1 - 2 wood
3 storage
Level 2    - 3 wood
6 storage
Level 3 - 4 wood
9 storage
Fish is another source of food in the game.  Fish are shown on the mini map
by a fish icon.
Fish are like game in that they can be over fished but they
do respawn over time.  On many maps, the water will freeze in the winter
preventing the fishermen from getting to the fish.  This is generally not a
problem as the fishermen are very adept at gathering fish during the
warmer months and you usually have enough supplies to last the winter.
most settlements can get by with a single fishermans hut and even this may
cause an excess of fish.
Fish are only used by the Smokehouse as food.
[5]  IRON MINER
Level 1 - 2 wood
3 storage
Level 2    - 3 wood
6 storage
Level 3 - 4 wood
9 storage
Iron mines are just like stone quarries except they produce iron ore instead