💡 Hints

122 hints4 sources8 improvement hints

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Base game

1
Units on terrain with Trees get a defensive bonus against Ranged Attacks.
2
Units on Flat and Clear terrain are vulnerable to attacks from Mounted Units.
3
Melee Infantry can Fortify, gaining a defensive bonus while they remain on their current Tile.
4
Land Units can move quickly across water that your Cities and Anchored Boats control.
5
Hold [Show + Trade + Network] to see your Trade Network and Connections to the Capital.
6
Training stockpiles are capped at 2000. Above this value, they will be converted to Orders.
7
You can only use 3 of your Nation's 4 Families each game. Experiment to find out which combinations work best!
8
Unused Civics and Training in your Cities are added to your Nation's stockpile.
9
If you don't want to use all of your Orders, you can end your turn by pressing [End + Turn].
10
Your Workers can chop Wood from nearby Trees. The trees will regrow in several years if they aren't completely removed.
11
If you don't have enough resources to start a Unit or Improvement, Alt + Click to automatically buy what you're missing (assuming you have enough Money).
12
Building an Improvement on a Hill will increase the time it takes to finish by one turn.
13
Barbarians are xenophobic Tribes hostile to all Nations. There are no diplomatic consequences for attacking their Units or taking over their land. They have no allies, including other Tribes.
14
If your territory has scant supplies of Wood, consider training military Units that rely on Stone or Iron. Concentrate your limited Wood supply on building Rural Tile Improvements.
15
Quarries built next to Mountains produce more Stone for each adjacent Mountain Tile. Quarries gain a minor increase when they are built in Arid Terrain.
16
Lumbermills built adjacent to Camps gain increased Wood output, as the hunters control predators and forge trails through the forest.
17
Being at War against several opponents can leave your armies overwhelmed, unable to execute enough Orders to fight effectively on every front. Use diplomacy to avoid this fate.
18
Researching your way to the Lumbermill Improvement takes time. You may need to send Workers to forests and thickets outside your borders, to Chop Wood from Trees and Scrub.
19
Expect demand for Food to rise as your Cities grow and mature.
20
Upgrading Units to more advanced technology is materially expensive, but it can rapidly increase your military might.
21
Roads help Units move farther with each Order spent, especially when the Road passes through difficult terrain. They also extend your Trade Network.
22
Ranged Units gain an extra Tile of range if positioned on Hills, unless their target is also on a Hill.
23
Stationing a Unit on a conquered City Site marks the territory as yours. Failing to guard the site may result in it being claimed by a new Tribal Settlement or settled by your rivals.
24
Growing your number of Orders should be a priority. The more territory and Units that you control, the more Orders your Nation will need to function and to defend itself.
25
The power of each Law tends to increase as your Nation grows. When choosing what to research, do not neglect unlocking new Laws.
26
A City may build ships if it controls water Tiles labeled as Coast.
27
Scouts can keep an eye on a large number of Tiles. They can provide valuable intelligence regarding enemy strength and movements.
28
Cities with high Growth train new Settlers, Workers, and Scouts more rapidly.
29
The rate at which military Units are produced by a City is tied directly to its Training output.
30
The rate at which Projects are completed at a City depends on its Civics output.
31
Urban Specialists can be upgraded multiple times, greatly increasing the output of an Urban Improvement.
32
Most Urban Improvement types require Stone to construct. Expect high demand for Stone as the game matures and you unlock new technologies.
33
Ranged Units are efficient in battle, often attacking an enemy without having to spend Orders on movement.
34
To predict the number of orders needed for a Unit to go from one tile to another by way of a third Tile, select the Unit and Ctrl + Click on the third Tile.
35
Militia and Conscript Units cannot be Promoted, but they are produced with Growth instead of Training. Cities with high Growth output may be able to train them rapidly.
36
Many Mounted Units have the Rout ability. When they slay an enemy Unit, they occupy that Unit's Tile if there is another Unit available to attack from the newly occupied Tile. Although they cannot move again, routing Units can chain together multiple Rout attacks.
37
Consider spending Training to give Promotions to some of your Units. Units who have engaged in combat and earned Experience cost less Training to promote.
38
Tribes are not Nations. When at War with you, only their Units near your Units or territory pose a threat, unless you anger them enough for them to launch a Tribal Invasion.
39
Coastal Cities control less land than inland Cities, but they tend to be less vulnerable to attack.
40
Colder air forces clouds to drop their rain as they gain altitude to move over mountains. Most mountains have a lush band, where the rain falls, and a rain shadow on the opposite side, depending on regional wind patterns.
41
Consider dealing with Events early in your turn. Some Event options require you to spend Orders.
42
A Tribal Alliance allows you to found Cities peacefully next to your Ally's Settlements.
43
Civics stockpiles are capped at 2000. Above this value, they will be converted to Science.
44
Damaged Workers take extra turns to build Improvements.
45
Ctrl + Click to Force March a Unit to move past its Fatigue range.
46
Hold [Hide + Vegetation] to hide Trees and Scrub.
47
Hold [Show + Zoc] to highlight Zones of Control.
48
Hold [Show + Danger + Tiles] to highlight Tiles which enemy Units can target.
49
Hold [Show + Trade + Network] to highlight Cities Connected to your Capital.
50
Hold [Show + Idle + Units] to highlight Units which can still be used.
51
Hold [Show + Resources + Improvements] to highlight Resources and Tile Improvements.
52
If your Leader is not able to complete an Ambition before death, it becomes a Legacy. Legacies count towards an Ambition Victory but are worth less Legitimacy.
53
Prosperity, chosen under Advanced Setup, affects the number of empty City Sites near your Capital.
54
Non-coastal Urban Improvements must be adjacent to the City Tile or to two other Urban Improvements.
55
Urban Improvements on the coast need only be adjacent to one other Urban Improvement on the same coast or the City Tile.
56
With a Worker selected, hold [CTRL] and move the cursor over a Tile to see what Improvements can be built there.
57
Scouts are Hidden while on a Trees Tile in Neutral or Friendly territory.
58
Hold [SHIFT] or [MIDDLE-CLICK] to Freeze Tooltips.
59
With a unit selected, hover the mouse cursor over enemy Units to preview combat damage. Hold [ALT] to preview even for non-enemy Units.
60
Hold down [SHIFT] when moving a Unit to assign a multi-turn destination. The Unit will move (to the edge of its Fatigue range) towards that Tile each turn.
61
Pressing [ESC] will close the topmost tooltip or window.
62
When a City's Happiness meter is filled, its overall Happiness Level goes up, which increases Growth and reduces Maintenance.
63
Family Classes determine what effects a Family has on its Cities, as well as what Laws, Luxuries, and other conditions keep them happy.
64
You can increase Happiness by connecting your Cities with Roads, recruiting Priests, and building Baths. Certain other combinations of Improvements, Specialists, and laws reduce Discontent as well.
65
Scouts, Settlers, and Workers can Harvest Resources for a quick supply of Goods.
66
A Forced March permits a Unit to continue moving on the current turn when Fatigued, at the cost of 100 Training and twice as many Orders per additional Move.
67
A Fatigued Unit can only Move again on the current turn through a Forced March.
68
Flank an enemy Unit by attacking it while another friendly Unit is on the opposite side.
69
Governors can be appointed in Cities by spending Civics. Their stats apply a multiplier to the City Yields and their Traits can add other bonuses.
70
Shrines provide various benefits and can help to spread Paganism.
71
Hold [Hide + Improvements] to hide all Improvements.
72
Legitimacy is obtained by achieving Ambitions and acquiring better Cognomens (such as the Great). Higher Legitimacy improves Family Opinions and produces more Orders per turn.
73
Adopting a State Religion improves that Religion's Opinion of your Nation and also both increases Happiness and enables the recruitment of Disciples in your Cities of that Religion.
74
Luxuries can be traded to a City to increase Happiness. They can also be traded to other Nations, Tribes, and Families to improve their Opinion of your Nation.
75
Tribal Mercenary Units can be hired from Tribes by Carthage and by Nations with Orator Leaders.
76
A Disciple can spread your State Religion to other Cities. With the Orthodoxy law, they can also purge other Religions from your Cities.
77
Establishing a Theology grants additional bonuses to a World Religion. Theologies are established using Disciples.
78
A Hamlet and its upgrades, Village and Town, produce extra Money if brought into your Trade Network.
79
The Trade Network consists of all Tiles connected to your Capital City.
80
Cities and their Urban Tiles can be connected with one another over Roads, Rivers, or open water.
81
You can check the Trade Network overlay with the button beside the mini-map or by holding the Show + Trade + Network key.
82
You can verify that a City is connected to your Trade Network by checking that the icon is displayed under its City banner.
83
To find how many movement steps a Unit requires to go from one Tile to another, select the Unit and hover over the destination Tile with the mouse.
84
Urban Improvements require extra Stone when built on Hills.
85
Workers take an extra turn to build Improvements outside their Family's territory.
86
Your Nation can build its unique Units in Cities with Developing Culture and a Stronghold.
87
Beware of the map edges. Raiders could be lurking beyond!
88
Any given Character can have a maximum of three good Traits like Vigilant, and three bad Traits like Greedy.
89
Character's Attributes like Courage, Discipline, Charisma, and Wisdom can be changed by events and affect a Character's abilities as a Leader, Governor, or General.
90
Hold [Show + Current + Yields] to highlight Tile Yields.
91
Keep your Family Heads happy! Influence them directly, or have other important Characters Intercede on your behalf.
92
The Cities of Families with a high Opinion of you cost less Maintenance, and their Units fight more effectively.
93
The Cities of Families with a low Opinion of you cost more Maintenance. Their Units fight less effectively too!
94
Angry Families can rebel against your rule, spawning Rebel Units around their Cities. Your Units from that Family are not as effective when fighting against their own Rebels.
95
Family Opinion is directly influenced by Family and Religion Head Characters.
96
It may become difficult to keep all Families happy if they follow different Religions.
97
You can improve your relations with Leaders of other Nations by conducting Trade Missions with them.
98
Scouts can establish Agent Networks in Foreign Cities. Subsequently, you can assign Characters as Agents to gain visibility of the City and its territory. Agents can also perform Treachery or Insurrection Missions on their Cities.
99
Don't forget to assign Councilors. They perform essential Missions for your Nation, and they raise their Family's Opinion of you.
100
You need an Ambassador to conduct diplomacy with other Nations and Tribes. Ambassador can also perform the Trade Mission and High Synod Missions.
101
You need a Chancellor to perform the Family Gifts, Imprison, and Pacify City Missions.
102
You need a Spymaster to perform the Infiltrate Nation, Slander Nation, Assassinate, and Steal Research Missions.
104
With a Worker selected, hold down [SHIFT] to queue up multiple moves and Improvements.
107
To see what Tiles are visible from rival player known locations, select a player and press the Forward Slash [/] key.
108
If your computer has a low powered CPU and becomes slow between turns, consider enabling the Slow AI option (in the UI section) to leave more resources available to other tasks on the computer.
109
To customize the Nations, Dynasties, Leader Archetypes, Difficulty, and Development of your opponents in a single player game, start a Hotseat game with just one human player.
110
Tooltips can show extra details for experienced players. Enable Advanced Help Text in the UI options.

Behind the Throne

1
A Grand Vizier won't be able to build new Settlers and military Units if the necessary national resource stockpiles are too low.
2
Being Stressed prevents Missions to Influence people! You can Indulge in Revelry to remove stress.
3
Slums might eventually become profitable Hamlets... but in the meantime they are a recruiting ground for Rebels.
4
To gain Victory Points from Opulence, a City requires Estates, and Estates require Luxuries sent to the City.

Empires of the Indus

1
Jungle requires the Land Consolidation Technology to cut down.
2
Maurya, Yuezhi, and Tamilakam share Hinduism as their Pagan Religion.
3
A Hinduism Disciple cannot spread Hinduism, but can found Theologies and build Improvements such as the Hindu Monastery.
4
A Hinduism Disciple gives Civics when placed on a Shrine.
5
Coalition Nations, such as Tamilakam, have a different bonus depending on the current Family Supremacy.
6
In a Coalition Nation, such as Tamilakam, each Character in a Job or Council position will contribute to their Family's Control.
7
In a Coalition Nation, such as Tamilakam, a Family with higher Control than the leading Family will try to take the throne, making their Family Seat the Capital and their Family Head the Leader.
8
Huns are a particularly dangerous Tribe. They use the same AI as Player Nations.

Sacred & the Profane

1
The Magus, Kohen, Presbyter and Elect Traits mark out Characters as Clergy of their respective Religion.
2
A member of the Clergy can remove Religious Dissent from a City, such as with the Quell Zoroastrian Dissent Mission.
3
A Governor can remove Religious Dissent from their City, such as with the Suppress Zoroastrian Dissent Project.

Improvement hints

Shown on the improvement's own tooltip in-game, not on the loading screen.

Camp
Provides yields depending on the resource it's built on. If built on Elephants or Camels, will allow the City to build units that require those resources, once the necessary technology is acquired. Extra effective next to a Lumbermill.
Farm
Boosts Food, which units consume every turn. If built over resources like Wheat or Barley or next to a Granary, also increases Growth, which makes cities produce Settlers or Workers faster. Can be further improved by developing a Farmer.
Granary
Provides Growth and boosts adjacent Farms. Most effective when surrounded by Farms. Granaries do not have any associated Specialist.
Grove
Usually built on a Luxury resource, provides different yields depending on the resource.
Lumbermill
The only Improvement that provides Wood. Extra effective when built on a river.
Mine
Boosts Iron production, which is needed for many military units. Higher output on Hills. Provides Money instead if built on Silver, Gold, Salt or Gems. Can be developed with a Miner, which increases Training.
Pasture
Provides Orders if built on Horses, or Food and Growth on other resources.
Quarry
Boosts Stone production, which is needed to construct most buildings and some units. Can be further developed with Stonecutter, which grants more stone and additional Civics.