Regions
At the start of the game, you control a single Region. Regions are the most vital element of the game economy – they define your borders, allow you to put your people to work, and let you build Units and Buildings. The Capital at the heart of a Region will feel pretty familiar to players comfortable with other 4X games, particularly at the start. Grow your Region’s population to work more tiles, collect more resources, and become an industrial powerhouse. At a high level, the Region’s Population determines how many workers you can assign, while the territory controlled by the Region determines what those workers can be assigned to. Early on, many of your workers will be “foraging”, gathering from the land directly. This type of gathering is 1:1, so if you have 3 Forests, you can assign up to 3 workers to foraging in those Forests. This is fine for getting started, but to really get your economy rolling you will want to build Improvements, such as Farms and Hunting Camps … or Oil Wells and Computer Factories when you reach the more advanced Ages. Improvements dramatically boost the value of workers in a Region, providing Goods that are worth significantly more than what foraging alone can generate (of course if you have the right National Spirit perhaps there are some alternative strategies you can find…). Regions can also be strengthened by constructing “Capital Buildings”, which are permanent upgrades to the Region. These represent infrastructure, monuments, and other ways to improve your Region as a whole. Like Improvements, there are a huge range of these, providing additional resource income, army enhancements, and other bonuses.
Towns
In addition to settling new Regions, you also settle new Towns. Towns are part of a Region, smaller population centers that boost the central Capital. Each Town also influences the expansion of a Region’s borders, so they present a lot of choices for defining the “shape” of a Region. Do you want to steer your Region towards some vital resources, or to claim disputed territory from another Nation? Do you try to maximize the total area your Region can control, or focus on a more compact, easily defensible setup? Each game will require you to adapt your strategic positioning differently.
Outposts
Regions and Vassals are not the only way to control territory on the map. You can also send out Pioneers and have them build Outposts. When built, Outposts immediately bring all the tiles in a 1-hex radius under your control. Because they have much looser restrictions of where they can be placed, you can even build them right up against another Nation’s territory to stake a claim. Of course, Outposts are a lot easier to take down than Capitals or even Towns, so make sure you are prepared to defend them against roaming Barbarians and other Nations alike. The basic Outpost can also build Trade Posts within its territory, allowing you to send valuable Goods to any of your Regions. Because these Trade Posts do not require workers, they can be an extremely potent way to supercharge your economy, particularly when available workers are scarce. Later in the game, more advanced Outpost types become available such as Castles or Missions. These allow you to provide extra abilities to your outposts and can make them a larger part of your overall strategy.