Structures and Resources

Structures

A Structure in the game basically marks the territories from which a specific faction had flourished. Every faction start the game with two dwellings (free of charge) in two separate locations of their own terrain (except for the Chaos Magicians with only one starting dwelling, and Nomads with 3 starting dwellings). From these dwellings, you gradually expand your empire by terraforming adjacent terrains, putting up more dwellings, and upgrading them to different structures to earn you resources in the concluding rounds of the game.

Structures can be upgraded step by step. The costs for each upgrade are depicted on the Faction board (clicking the faction icon, and then the small green “i” icon at the lower left part of the screen) and illustrates some upgrade flow (depicted by the green arrows) along with their upgrade costs.

It is important to know that when upgrading a structure, you are replacing that previous structure with a new one, and that "replaced" structure must be placed back to your faction board (as it was played in the actual Board Game). This is not fully explained in the mobile version of the game since it may have seemed unnecessary with its full automation.

In the actual Board Game, whenever you build a structure in the game, you take that particular structure from your faction board and place it on the terrain board. Upon doing so, you are revealing some resource on the faction board (where the newly built structure was previously sitting). This particular resource can then be earned in every income phase, as long as it is revealed in your faction board. This is done automatically by the digital version of the game, but we’ve found out that it is necessary to explain that to new players in order to figure out how they are earning the resources every income phase and where to earn the particular resources they would need.

When a structure is placed back as you upgrade it (say for instance putting back a “Dwelling” in the faction board upon upgrading it to a “Trading House”), it covers up again the particular resource that it used to grant you every income phase. On the other hand, you earn the particular resource that the new Structure that you’ve just put up. For example: a dwelling gives you 1 worker per income phase. As you upgrade it to a Trading House, you won’t be able to receive the worker any longer, and instead, you will earn 1 power token and 2 coins every income phase. The new (upgraded) Structure is then placed on the same space on the game board where the previous structure was built.

There are four possible upgrades (two of which can only be done once per game).

Dwelling >>> Trading House

Upgrading a Dwelling to a Trading house costs 2 Workers and 6 Coins. If there is at least one opponent’s Structure directly adjacent to that Dwelling, you only need to pay 3 Coins instead of 6. If the current Scoring tile depicts a Trading house, get 3 Victory points for this upgrade.

Trading House >>> Stronghold

Upgrading a Trading House to a Stronghold costs a number of Workers and Coins depending on the faction. After building its Stronghold, each faction gains a specific special ability. If the current Scoring tile depicts a goal of building a Stronghold, you’ll get 5 Victory points for this upgrade.

Trading House >>> Temple

Upgrading a Trading house to a Temple costs 2 Workers and 5 Coins. As a reward, immediately choose and take one Favor tile (two Favor Tiles for Chaos Magicians) and immediately take advantage of the bonuses gained from this Favor tile, or use it during the current Action phase, (whichever is applicable). (Note: Engineers pay less and Swarmlings pay more when upgrading to a Trading House or Temple.)

Temple >>> Sanctuary

Upgrading a Temple to a Sanctuary costs a number of Workers and Coins depending on the faction. This is also awarded with another Favor tile (two Favor Tiles for Chaos Magicians). If the current Scoring tile depicts a Sanctuary, get 5 Victory points for this upgrade.

Resources

Image below shows the different resources in the game and how they are usually earned.

Worker – usually earned by building dwellings. Every active dwelling (meaning it is present on the terrain board) rewards you with one worker per income phase. Alternatively, you can also earn workers from Bonus Cards, Favor Tiles, Founding a Town, as well as convert them from other resources such as 1 Priest to 1 Worker, 3 permanently removed Power Tokens to 1 Worker, or 4 Available Power Tokens (in the third bowl of power) to 2 workers.

Coins – usually earned by building Trading Houses (by upgrading a dwelling). Every active Trading House (meaning it is present on the terrain board) rewards you with two coins per income phase along with 1 power token. Alternatively, you can also earn coins from Bonus Cards, Favor Tiles, Founding a Town, as well as convert them from other resources such as 1 worker for 1 coin, 4 Available Power Tokens (in the third bowl of power) for 7 coins.

Priests – usually earned by building Temples and Sanctuaries (by upgrading a Trading House or a Temple). Every active Temple / Sanctuary (meaning it is present on the terrain board) rewards you with 1 Priest per income phase. Alternatively, you can also earn Priests as a reward from Founding a Town, or by converting other resources such as sacrificing 3 permanently removed Power Tokens to 1 Priest, or 3 Available Power Tokens (in the third bowl of power) for 1 priest.

Power Token – Usually earned by leeching on other factions’ structures at the expense of trading your own victory points. Otherwise, you can also earn them from Trading Houses (1 per income phase), or upon passing through doorways in the Cult Track. They are also rewarded in Bonus Cards, and Favor Tiles. Power token work in a slightly different manner as the other resources and has its own complications in its generation and uses. Check Power Token page for an in-depth understanding of how it works.

Spade – Spades are somewhat a unique resource in the game. They are mainly used to terraform terrains in order to expand your empire. They are however not kept from your inventory and must be used immediately upon obtaining them. Spades can be acquired in a variety of ways. You may exchange Workers for Spades. The Exchange track of your Faction board displays the Exchange rate: At the beginning of the game, this is usually 3 Workers for 1 Spade. You can also convert Power Tokens for spades, or earn them from Bonus Cards.