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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Intro Banner

Introduction to the Cultural Settlements Guide
Cultural Settlements are a recent feature that has added a new way to play Forge of Empires. Settlements take one aspect of the game (including city building, negotiating, and fighting) and amplify it. The player builds a small village associated with this feature and receives rewards based on their performance.

I am writing this with the assumption that you have read and understood the announcements (Vikings, Feudal Japan, Egyptians, Aztecs, Mughals). Also, I'm assuming you know how to place, sell, and move buildings, as well as how to buy expansions. Currently, the Viking, Feudal Japan, Egyptian, Aztec, and Mughal settlements are available. You can only play one settlement at a time. The first three settlements (the Viking, Feudal Japan, and Egyptian settlements) are unlocked with the Iron Age technology “Plowing,” but the fifth settlement (Mughals) is unlocked with the Late Middle Ages technology "Higher Education," and the fourth settlement (Aztecs) is unlocked with the Colonial Age technology “Colonies."

Please note that for the guide, I type the names of buildings or resources without accents or special symbols for ease of editing and writing.

On a mobile device, most pictures, charts, and tables will be viewed best when the device is horizontal (landscape).

As each of the settlements are different in their own ways, below you will find a short description of each and what is unique about that particular settlement.
SettlementsDescriptionRewardsPlay Time
Vikings Logo

Vikings Settlement​
The Viking settlement was the first released and is, therefore, your "basic" settlement model. It relies heavily on coin production.This settlement offers 2 unique buildings: Yggdrasil (main building, 3x3, 9 levels) and the Greater Runestone (secondary building, 2x2, 5 levels). Their stats (at max level), can be viewed in Part 5.The Viking settlement has a medium timeframe of 15-8 days per settlement (if finished in first place; the time decreases the more settlements you play).
Japan Logo

Feudal Japan Settlement​
The Feudal Japan settlement took the Viking settlement model and added a new feature called the Merchant that allows for goods to quickly be gained early in the settlement.This settlement also offers 2 unique buildings: the Shinto Temple (main building, 3x4, 9 mlevels) and the Timeless Dojo (secondary building, 3x3, 5 levels). Their stats (at max level), can be viewed in Part 5.The Feudal Japan settlement has a short timeframe of 14-7 days per settlement (if finished in first place; the time decreases the more settlements you play).
Egypt Logo

Ancient Egypt Settlement​
The Ancient Egyptian Settlement is quite different from the first two, as you will need to fight. The currency (Deben) is used to build roads and train units. You use the units to fight for "loot" which can then be used to produce goods.This settlement offers 2 unique buildings: the Royal Bathouse (main building, 3x4, 6 levels) and the Ancient Obelisk (secondary building, 2x2, 4 levels). Their stats (at max level) can be viewed in Part 5.The Ancient Egyptian settlement has a long timeframe of 28-14 days per settlement (if finished in first place; the time decreases the more settlements you play).
Aztec Logo

Aztec Settlement​
The Aztec Settlement is similar to Egyptians and Vikings, with larger buildings and longer playtime, but there is also a greater concern on producing the settlement currency. This settlement also adds the Courtyard which can be used to obtain goods early in the settlement.This settlement offers 2 unique buildings: the Sun Temple (main building, 4x3, 9 levels) and the Jade Statue (secondary building, 2x2, 5 levels). Their stats (at max level) can be viewed in Part 5.The Aztec settlement has a medium timeframe of 18-9 days per settlement (if finished in first place; the time decreases the more settlements you play).
Mughal Logo

Mughal Settlement​
The Mughal Settlement is very similar to Vikings, but with larger buildings. There's no minigame, and there is more of a focus on coin and diplomacy production.This settlement offers 2 unique buildings: the Mughal's Temple (main building, 4x4, 6 levels) and the Minaret (secondary building, 2x2, 4 levels). Their stats (at max level) can be viewed in Part 5.The Mughal settlement has a medium timeframe of 23-11 days per settlement (if finished in first place, the time decreases the more settlements you play).

This guide is split up into several parts:
Part 1: The First Day
Part 2: Beginning the Expansion
Part 3: Establishing a Village
Part 4: Race to the Finish
Part 5: Beyond the Settlements
Part 6: Alternate Ways to Play/Archive
Part 7: Cultural Settlements FAQ
Part 8: Settlement Fun Facts
Part 9: Author’s Notes
 
Last edited:

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 1: The First Day
Each settlement has a different questline, which can be found below.
#Vikings
1Have 3 Shacks
2Have 4 Runestones
3Have an Axe Smith
4Have 55 Diplomacy or gather 20 Axes
5Have 2 Shrines
6Have a Mead Brewery
7Have 195 Diplomacy or gather 30 Mead
8Have 2 Huts
9Have 280 Diplomacy or gather 40 Axes
10Have a Beast Hunter
11Have 375 Diplomacy or gather 50 Horns
12Have 4 Clan Totems or gather 50 Mead
13Have a Market
14Have 595 Diplomacy or gather 60 Horns
15Have a Wool Farm
16Have a Clan House
17Have 855 Diplomacy or gather 60 Wool
18Have an Old Willow
19Have a Mead Hall
20Collect 10 of each Cultural Good and 2500 Copper Coins
#Feudal Japan
1Have 3 Gassho-zukuri Huts
2Have 5 Toro
3Have a Soy Bean Field
4Have 45 Diplomacy or gather 10 Soy
5Have 1 Shinto Shrine
6Have 1 Gallery
7Gather 10 Paintings
8Have 100 Diplomacy or Gather 20 Paintings
9Have 1 Armorer
10Have 2 Decorated or Sacred Torii Gates
11Have 325 Diplomacy
12Have 1 Instrument Workshop
13Have 2 Shinden-Zukuri Manors
14Have 525 Diplomacy or Gather 30 Instruments
15Have 2 Zen Gardens
16Have 1 Dojo
17Gather 2000 Koban Coins and 10 of each Cultural Good
#Egyptians
1Have 4 Clay Huts
2Have 1 Grain Farm
3Have 1 Training Camp
4Finish 1 Egyptian Battle
5Gather 5 Barley
6Have 60 Diplomacy ⛏
7Have 2 Divine Statues
8Gather 10 Pottery
9Have 2 Multi-Story Clay Houses or Gather 30 Barley ⛏
10Have 360 Diplomacy or Gather 30 Pottery
11Have 2 Water Gardens
12Have 1 Flower Farm ⛏
13Have 3 Residential Blocks
14Have 1 Elephant Stable
15Have 1230 Diplomacy or Gather 40 Flowers ⛏
16Have 1 Place of Prayer
17Have 1 Procession
18Have 1610 Diplomacy ⛏
19Have 2 Luxury Estates and Have 1 Oasis
20Gather 300 Loot and Gather 20 Sacrificial Offerings
21Have 1820 Diplomacy ⛏
22Have 1 Pyramid
23Gather 30,000 Deben and 30 of each Cultural Good
⛏ = Gives Impediment Removal Item (described in depth later in the guide)
#Aztecs
1Have 3 Macehualtin Huts
2Have 5 Honoring Sculptures
3Have 1 Vegetable Garden
4Have 55 Diplomacy or Gather 10 Vegetables
5Have 2 Simple Shrines ⛏
6Have 1 Quetzal Aviary
7Have 195 Diplomacy or Gather 20 Headdresses
8Have 2 Yaoteguihua Residences ⛏
9Have 280 Diplomacy
10Have 2 Maize Farms
11Have 4 Decorative Statues or Have 4 Ornamental Statues ⛏
12Have 480 Diplomacy or Gather 30 Maize
13Have 1 Texcotzingo
14Have 595 Diplomacy ⛏
15Have 2 Stone Carvers
16Have 2 Pipiltin Palaces
17Have 855 Diplomacy or Gather 40 Stone Figures⛏
18Have 1 Sun Stone
19Have 1 Great Temple
20Gather 3000 Cocoa Beans and 20 of Each Cultural Good
⛏ = Gives Impediment Removal Item (described in depth later in the guide)
#Mughals
1Have 6 Bhavans
2Have 3 Alleys and have 102 diplomacy
3Have 1 Rice Paddy and gather 10 Basmati ⛏
4Have 3 Water Canals and have 214 diplomacy
5Have 1 Saree Weaver
6Gather 10 Saree ⛏⛏
7Gather 500 Rupees
8Have 2 Shanti Ghar
9Have 2 Chhatri
10Gather 1500 Rupees and have 540 diplomacy ⛏
11Have 1 Spice Trader
12Gather 10 Spices
13Have 2 Baldachin ⛏
14Gather 2000 Rupees and have 870 diplomacy
15Gather 20 Basmati and gather 20 Saree
16Have 1 Lotus Flower Farm
17Gather 10 Lotus ⛏
18Have 1 Charbagh
19Have 1 Haveli and gather 4000 Rupees
20Have 1500 diplomacy and gather 50 of each Cultural Good
⛏ = Gives Impediment Removal Item (described in depth later in the guide)

The first time entering a new Cultural Settlement is very important. It is where you first see the arrangement of impediments and set up your city for the rest of the settlement. A good starting layout can set you on a path towards finishing in first. These layouts can change based on impediments, but the ones below are very good examples of ways to start off. Remember that these layouts can be flipped to allow for impediments or future expansion. I also apologize for the different image sizes, but the charts on this forum are slightly broken. Click/tap on the image to see it larger.
Viking Settlement Layout Charts

Viking Layout 1
Pros: Enough Runestones to complete the first quest automatically and the first tech, relatively good copper production. Easy expansion in all directions.

Cons: Runestone space could be used for something better (for example a house which would give more copper).

Viking Layout 2
Pros: More houses to allow for more copper production, easy expansion in all directions.

Cons: To get enough diplomacy for the first quest and the first tech, you will have to remove roads (not a major problem, though).

Note: Chart was created by @Eylo and adapted by @UBERhelp1

Viking Layout 3
Pros: Two goods buildings to help you get off to a good start, easy expansion in 3 directions.

Cons: Copper production will be tricky, it would be best to do this layout for the first 8 hours if impediments permit. Additionally, you don't have enough diplomacy to complete the first quest automatically without removing roads.
Feudal Japan Layout Charts

Japan Layout 1
Pros: Enough houses and toros to get you going quite well, easy expansion to the top and left. Decent coin production.

Cons: Lots of toros take up space that can be used better, for example adding more houses.

Japan Layout 2
Pros: Two soy fields will get this settlement off to a fast start. Easy expansion to the top and side.

Cons: Low coin production, would be best to do this layout for only the beginning then switch as soon as possible to a different setup.

Japan Layout 3
Pros: Lots of houses for high coin production, easy expansion to the top and left.

Cons: Roads will have to be deleted to make space for toros to complete a quest and the first tech (not a big problem though).

Note: Chart was created by @Eylo and adapted by @UBERhelp1
Ancient Egypt Layout Charts
Egypt Layout 1
Pros: High(er) Deben production for training troops. Two barracks (one for Khopesh Fighters and the other for Nubian Archers). Allows for more diverse armies. Easy expansion to the bottom and right.

Cons: Khopesh fighters are less useful than another Nubian Archer barracks would be.
Egypt Layout 2
Pros: Two Nubian Archer barracks for strong troops at the beginning. Easy expansion to the bottom, top, and right. Easy places to fit Divine Statues once they are unlocked (move houses on left side, delete the plants).

Cons: Less diverse armies and not as high production of Deben. To complete the third quest you will have to build/delete a Training Camp if you want to use this layout.
Aztec Layout Charts
Aztec Layout 1
Pros: Two goods buildings right at the start will help you get goods faster to unlock the Courtyard as soon as possible. Minimum road usage helps save beans as well.

Cons: Low bean production means that one will run out of beans quickly, and will have to transition to a new layout after a short time.
Aztec Layout 2
Pros: High bean production for the space and minimum road usage is optimal for devoting as many beans as possible to goods. Also, makes for an easy switch to placing in shrines.

Cons: Might end up behind in goods compared to the first layout in the short term.
Aztec Layout 3
Pros: Three goods buildings at the start is the highest number of goods buildings you can have to unlock techs as soon as possible, also the layout with the fewest roads to save beans.

Cons: A very low bean production means you will have to switch to a different layout soon.
Mughal Layout Chart
Mughal Layout 1
Pros: Well, you don't really have a choice with this one. This is the most houses you can fit with the fewest roads. You need to have tons of houses to produce the Rupees needed for the Rice Paddy.

Cons: You can only have one Rice Paddy, which means that unfortunately the start of the settlement will be very slow.

Click on images to see them larger.
Feudal Japan Layout Chart 1 developed in coordination with @Super Catanian
The Viking and Feudal Japan Layout Charts 2 and 3 (respectively) were created by @Eylo and adapted by @UBERhelp1
Ideas for layout charts and color by @Super Catanian and @Algona


Remember that using two goods buildings at the start to get ahead could cause problems with currency later on, so make sure you choose what will work best for you and your schedule. In Egyptians, it is generally good practice to get military buildings at the beginning due to the need for loot to produce goods.

With the Egyptian settlement, to complete quest #3, you must build a training camp. Doing so will unlock the Siege Camp. After completing quest 3, you receive 10 unattached units. You do not want to lose these and should try to keep them alive for as long as possible. To complete quest #4, you will have to fight a battle in the Siege Camp, most likely using these unattached units. Do not auto-battle, as you want to control your own troops and keep as many alive as you can. For the first day, it is better to fight only the easy battle (or medium if you are good at fighting and have enough unharmed units). For more information about fighting, the units, and the Siege Camp, see Part 3.

Set the goods building(s) to whatever production is closest to the next time you will be online. You can see your stock of Cultural Goods (and Loot during an Egyptian settlement) by using the barrel icon on the top of the screen.
Goods Stock

Also, you will be able to see the remaining goods you need for the settlement as a whole and each technology individually by clicking on the icon in the embassy’s window, as seen below. It also shows diplomacy requirements, which settlement you are currently on, and your x4 multiplier chance.
Remaining Goods

The button in the embassy screen to reach the goods information screen

Embassy Button

The goods information screen, in this case for a Viking settlement.
 
Last edited:

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 2: Beginning the Expansion

After Part 1, you should now have a basic village. Now, you want to expand to have more land to place buildings to produce more goods, coins, and provide population.

Use 6 of the axes to place 2 more expansions. These will depend on where your impediments are. Try to pick one with no impediments. Fill these expansions with more shacks and a second axe smith (if you haven’t built one already). Next, unlock the first technology (shrines). Note that you will need both 10 axes and 55 diplomacy. Replace as many houses with shrines as possible until you can’t sell any more houses and place down another shrine.
Use the 10 soy to purchase the first technology, giving you shrines. Arrange a shrine like this:
Japan Expand

Then, keep producing soy until you have 35 soy. Then, you can buy the second technology (gallery). This will give you access to the merchant and let you get many additional goods.
Use 14 Barley to unlock the first technology, (if you need more diplomacy, delete houses, do not delete roads due to their cost). Then, place 2 more expansions using the remaining 6 Barley. Depending on your layout of impediments and your needs, you can put down more military barracks (if you struggle with fighting or are low on loot) or another goods building (but remember you will need more loot).

After you decide which strategy you want to follow, fill as much of the space as you can with Divine Statues. If you haven't already, unlock all the slots in the military buildings you have and consistently train units so that you have as many as possible. Since Deben (the currency) is only used for either training units or roads, not goods, you want to maximize your unit training so you can do more fights for more loot.
The goal at the start of the settlement is to unlock the Courtyard as soon as possible, since you will be able to get more goods as a result. Expansions cost (at least) 10 goods for each in the Aztec settlement, so place them strategically and do not place more than you need.

To start, gather 15 Vegetables to unlock the first technology, Simple Shrines, and replace as many houses as possible with Shrines for higher Bean production. Then, produce 30 Vegetables to unlock the second technology, Quetzal Aviary. After building an Aviary and complete the corresponding quest, you will unlock the Courtyard minigame. For more information on the Courtyard, see Part 3.

Depending on your luck in the minigame, you will be able to place some expansions with the goods you gain. Remember to place them in the order of Vegetables, Headdresses, Maize, and finally Stone Figures. Choose expansions with impediments that will not disrupt your layout too much, or choose ones where you plan on removing the impediments.

Remember to try and balance your Bean production to the amount of goods buildings that you have!
Instead of expanding at the start, you want to rush the tech tree. The goal is to get the Chhatri as soon as possible, since it is the first Rupee producing diplomacy building. You'll have to balance producing Basmati and Saree to do so.

Once unlocking the Shanti Ghar, you'll want to change your layout to get as many as possible. Until then, you get stuck with only the one goods building since that is all the 20 houses can support.

As any player will notice, the settlements contain impediments that block buildings from being placed on top of them. These impediments always spawn in random spots around the settlement, but there are some similarities in the Viking and Feudal Japan Settlements.
  1. Impediments always block 13 tiles
  2. There are always 9 impediments
  3. The types of impediments always stay the same (2 2x1, 2 1x2, and 5 1x1)
  4. There is a maximum of 1 impediment per expansion
  5. A 1x2 or 2x1 impediment will never overlap into an adjacent expansion.
  6. If one has a choice between an expansion with an impediment or without, it is usually more beneficial to choose the one without.
In the Egyptian, Aztec, and Mughal settlements, there are impediments in every expansion except the starting ones. Throughout the questline, you will receive some impediment removal items (see Part 1 for the questline information). These are one-use items that allow you to remove any impediment in any expansion that you currently own. You can not undo this action, so be sure you choose wisely! It can be helpful to try and plan ahead to see which impediments will be best to remove. To use these items, go into the build menu and tap/click on the impediment you want to remove.

Remember to try and buy expansions without impediments as you will have more room to grow. For example, this would be a bad expansion to buy unless it was needed. (Sorry about my bad photo editing skills).
Bad Expansion
The impediment would block any building bigger than 1x1 or 2x1 to be placed in the bottom portion of the expansion (the red space). It is helpful to buy expansions with no impediments or impediments along the outermost edges.
Good Expansion
This leaves much more room to grow. There are still (and will always be) spaces that can only hold 1x1 or 2x1 buildings, but it is a good idea to try and minimize these whenever possible. Speaking of expansions, the following is the cost of all the expansions that can be purchased with goods.
Good​
_1_
_2_
_3_
_4_
_5_
_6_
_7_
_8_
_9_
10_
11_
12_
13_
14_
15_
16_
Axes​
1​
5​
12​
21​
32​
41​
48​
55​
62​
69​
76​
82​
89​
96​
103​
110​
Mead​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
21​
32​
41​
48​
55​
62​
69​
76​
82​
89​
96​
Horns​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
21​
32​
41​
48​
55​
62​
69​
76​
82​
Wool​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
21​
32​
41​
48​
55​
62​
69​
Good​
_1_
_2_
_3_
_4_
_5_
_6_
_7_
_8_
_9_
10_
11_
12_
Soy​
8​
19​
31​
46​
51​
56​
60​
65​
70​
74​
79​
84​
Paintings​
8​
8​
19​
31​
46​
51​
56​
60​
65​
70​
74​
79​
Armor​
8​
8​
8​
8​
19​
31​
46​
51​
56​
60​
65​
70​
Instrum.​
8​
8​
8​
8​
8​
8​
19​
31​
46​
51​
56​
60​
Good​
_1_
_2_
_3_
_4_
_5_
_6_
_7_
_8_
_9_
10_
11_
12_
13_
14_
15_
16_
17_
18_
19_
20_
Barley​
1​
5​
12​
17​
24​
31​
38​
41​
44​
48​
51​
54​
57​
61​
64​
67​
71​
74​
77​
81​
Pottery​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
17​
24​
31​
38​
41​
44​
48​
51​
54​
57​
61​
64​
67​
Flowers​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
17​
24​
31​
38​
41​
44​
48​
51​
54​
57​
S. Off.​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
1​
5​
12​
17​
24​
31​
38​
41​
44​
48​
Good​
_1_
_2_
_3_
_4_
_5_
_6_
_7_
_8_
_9_
10_
11_
12_
13_
14_
15_
16_
17_
Vegetables​
10​
15​
28​
41​
55​
66​
71​
75​
80​
84​
88​
93​
97​
102​
106​
111​
115​
Headdress​
10​
10​
10​
15​
28​
41​
55​
66​
71​
75​
80​
84​
88​
93​
97​
102​
106​
Maize​
10​
10​
10​
10​
10​
15​
28​
41​
55​
66​
71​
75​
80​
84​
88​
93​
97​
S. Figures​
10​
10​
10​
10​
10​
10​
10​
15​
28​
41​
55​
66​
71​
75​
80​
84​
88​
Good​
_1_
_2_
_3_
_4_
_5_
_6_
_7_
_8_
_9_
10_
11_
12_
13_
14_
15_
16_
17_
18_
19_
20_
21_
22_
23_
Basmati​
5​
10​
15​
23​
30​
39​
48​
55​
58​
60​
63​
66​
69​
71​
74​
77​
80​
82​
85​
88​
91​
93​
96​
Saree​
5​
5​
5​
5​
10​
15​
23​
30​
39​
48​
55​
58​
60​
63​
66​
69​
71​
74​
77​
80​
82​
85​
88​
Spices​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
10​
15​
23​
30​
39​
48​
55​
58​
60​
63​
66​
69​
71​
74​
77​
80​
Lotus​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
5​
10​
15​
23​
30​
39​
48​
55​
58​
60​
63​
66​
69​
71​

Each time an expansion is bought, the price for all the goods goes up. For example, if I wanted to buy the 10th Viking expansion, I can see via the chart above that it will cost either 69 axes or 55 mead or 41 horns or 21 wool. Buying this expansion will then move the costs for each good up a certain amount.

Starting as soon as you can, use an 8-8-4 hour goods production schedule. This will give 25 goods/good building per day. Put your coin-producing diplomacy buildings on the same schedule, except in the 4 hour period. If possible, put the coin-producing diplomacy buildings on 5-15 minute productions to boost income of coins. This will give the best output possible for a normal player. If one wanted to they could do 8-8-8 productions, giving a maximum output of 30 goods/good building per day, but that requires a much more rigid time frame that doesn’t fit the majority of players. If one was less active, they could settle for a 8-8 production schedule that would give 20 goods/good building per day.

In these settlements, you really have 2 things that will happen regarding your coin supply: you have too many coins or not enough. I tend to lean towards getting more early rather than running out later. This means building as many coin-producing buildings (such as shrines) as possible. I then produce in the shortest time period possible, trying to boost the number of coins I collect as much as possible. This also usually means having the lowest possible excess population. After one has a large stock of coins, they can remove most of those buildings and replace them with more goods buildings.

I also like to fill any empty space in my settlement by placing 1x1 diplomacy buildings. They help with diplomacy needs later on. However, these buildings shouldn’t be permanent. Only place them when there is no way to squeeze in anything else.

Here is what a settlement could look like after this step (along with another expansion):
Intermediate Setup

As you can see, not a tile of space is wasted. Every building is producing at its maximum potential. In fact, the net population at this time is 0.

There is a basic rule that helps a lot when a player is wondering whether to place another goods building or not: generally, it takes 3 expansions to keep a goods building running on a consistent basis, without the balance of coins taking too many dips down or up. Also, when planning out your city, do not forget that the Embassy produces currency every 24 hours.
 
Last edited:

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 3: Establishing a Village

For all Viking settlements, the total amount of goods needed is 938, for all Feudal Japan settlements 875, and for all Egyptian settlements 1549 (not including expansions or the final quest). The technologies all cost the same amount of goods across settlements, but the number of each specific good differs. The number in parenthesis is the amount of diplomacy required. For unlocking new buildings, you will need both the required amount of Cultural Goods and Diplomacy.
Tech #Tech NameGoods NeededDiplomacy Needed
1Shrines1055
2Mead Brewery34120
3Huts52195
4Beast Hunter69280
5Clan Totem86375
6Market103480
7Wool Farm120595
8Clan House137720
9Old Willow155855
10Mead Hall1721000
Tech #Tech NameGoods NeededDiplomacy Needed
1Shinto Shrine1045
2Gallery35100
3Armorer + Shoin-Zukuri House75165
4Decorated + Sacred Torii Gate105240
5Instrument Workshop + Tea House130325
6Shinden-Zukuri Manor155420
7Zen Garden180525
8Dojo205640
Tech #TechGoods NeededDiplomacy Needed
1Divine Statue1460
2Pottery30160
3Chariot/Multistory50250
4Palms70360
5Water Garden85480
6Flower Farm100610
7Decorated Palms120750
8Residential Block140900
9Elephant Stable1551060
10Place of Prayer1701230
11Procession1901420
12Estate/Oasis2051610
13Pyramid2201820
Tech #TechGoods NeededDiplomacy Needed
1Simple Shrine1555
2Quetzal Aviary30120
3Yaoteguihua Residences60195
4Maize Farm100280
5Decorative/Ornamental Statues115375
6Texcotzingo140480
7Stone Carver160595
8Pipiltin Palace185720
9Sun Stone210855
10Great Temple2301000
Tech #TechGoods NeededDiplomacy Needed
1Water Canal5102
2Saree Weaver20214
3Shanti Ghar50307
4Chhatri85400
5Spice Trader130540
6Baldachin160700
7Lotus Flowers Farm190870
8Charbagh2201050
9Haveli2501260
10Great Temple2301000

In the spoiler below find out more about the unique aspects of each settlement.
The Viking Settlement has no unique features, it is essentially the 'base model' of settlements. Each of the others changes or tweaks how the settlements are played.

The Merchant is one of the best features of the Feudal Japan settlement, allowing the player to get goods much faster.
Unlock Merchant

In the Feudal Japan settlements, there is the Merchant - a building (unlocked after Quest 6) that lets you undergo negotiations (like GE or DC) that let you gain more goods. They can be affected by the multiplier as well! The Merchant allows you 3 negotiations every day, with each empty slot replaced at the end of the day. Trade for as many goods as possible - even if you don't need them, they can be used for expansions. The Merchant will let you essentially gain goods that you may not have even unlocked yet. For example, you may even be able to acquire all the goods of a certain type (except the last quest) with the Merchant, letting you bypass needing to build that goods building (except the last quest).

Also, you can use the Merchant to get goods for expansions. Since you can get all the goods, you can buy expansions at the lowest price possible (8 goods) for as long as possible. If you get lucky with a few offers at the beginning of the settlement, you could get almost your entire city set up for the endgame (expansion-wise) at the start - speeding up the settlement timeframe massively.

A more in-depth description of how the Merchant works can be found in the spoiler below.
In order to unlock The Merchant, you'll need 45 Soy. This is 10 for the Shinto Shrines, and 35 for the Gallery. Do not focus on getting expansions until after, it's not worth it yet. Remember that you want to unlock The Merchant as soon as possible.

If you are being as efficient as possible, you should have four or five Gasshō-zukuri Huts, one Shinto Shrine, and one Soy Bean Field right before unlocking The Merchant. Gaps should be filled with Tōrōs.

When it's time to unlock the Gallery, due to Impediments, you may or may not have enough Diplomacy to do so. It does not matter, since you'll be selling the Soy Bean Field anyways to make room for the Gallery. Then build Tōrōs if necessary to have enough Diplomacy to unlock the Gallery.

Once you build the Gallery where the Soy Bean Field was, you'll have The Merchant. Time to negotiate! Make sure you grab the three offers to start off. These offers will give you goods you can use to start placing expansions. When placing the expansions, use whatever Cultural Goods you earned in the following order: Soy, Paintings, Armor, and Instruments. The reason why is because the cost of expansions increases with every purchase, starting with Soy and ending with Instruments. To see expansion costs, see Part 2.
Here's an example:
Say that you earned the following three of the Cultural Goods from The Merchant: Soy, Armor, and Instruments. If you were to use the Instruments first, the Soy expansion would increase in price, leaving only the Armor expansion available for purchase (a total of 2 new expansions). But if you use the Soy first, the Armor and Instruments expansions would not increase in price just yet, letting you buy 3 expansions at once.
Of course, this might depend on what The Merchant gives you; you might not be as lucky. Nevertheless, as soon as you unlock The Merchant, always buy expansions in the order mentioned above to get as many expansions as possible.

Having the Cultural Goods needed to place expansions is futile if you don't know where to place them. Unlike the Vikings, where the starting area (and Embassy) was already in the center of the available expansions, the Feudal Japan grid has an irregular shape in terms of available expansions. Because of this, remodeling has to be done.
Due to Impediments, exactly where you can place these expansions varies a bit. However, as also mentioned in this Guide, they should be placed where there are no Impediments, or if they are in the outermost edges of the expansions. You want to maintain an overall rectangular area to place Buildings in, seeing as how expanding in an irregular way calls for weird road configurations, wasting what little space there is.
No matter what The Merchant offers, you'll be able to place two expansions right away. Keep the rectangular shape by placing both them either north or west of the starting area; again, depending on Impediments. Move some Buildings around to place the Embassy near the center of future expansions.
If you placed the expansions to the west of the starting area, place the Embassy in the northern edge of the enlarged building space. If the expansions were placed north, on the western edge.
If you followed the flipped Basic Layout 1 of Feudal Japan, you don't need to do this; the Embassy is already in an optimal location.
If you have enough Cultural Goods for a third expansion, place it as close as possible to the Embassy's new location; again, depending on Impediments.
Time to use those expansions! Since the Embassy is now in a more central location, one can build multiple branches of roads from it, rather than relying on a singular long road. While the Gallery is still under construction, place down more Gasshō-zukuri Huts, Shinto Shrines, and replace the Soy Bean Field if needed. Your Settlement has now exploded in productivity, and you're ready to keep following the rest of the Guide!

Written by @Super Catanian

The Merchant does not have the same refresh time for every player - in fact, the time new orders will appear is the same time of day as when the player unlocked the Merchant after Quest 6. There is no way to change this time, so it can be useful to plan when you will unlock the Merchant so the refresh occurs at a good time for your schedule.

Unlock Merchant

Note that if you age up, during a settlement, the Merchant will then require goods of the new age.

In Ancient Egypt, one of the primary activities the player takes part in are fights. The ability to fight is unlocked after Quest 3, where the player receives access to the Siege Camp.
The Siege Camp is very similar to the Feudal Japan Settlements' Merchant. It can be accessed in the top-left corner of the settlement, at the entrance to the big pyramid.
Egypt Siege Camp

Like the Merchant, the player receives 3 fights a day that are ranked in difficulty from easy (left) to hard (right). The harder the fight, the more loot the player is able to receive. The x4 bonus works with the loot as well, so hopefully, you will get lucky!
Egypt Fight Select
At the beginning of the settlement, you should be able to do 1-2 fights per day. Make sure to conserve your units as much as possible, as they take 4 hours to re-train besides the Deben cost. As the settlement progresses, you will be able to do more fights to support more goods buildings. Try to win as many fights as you can without losing too many units. You will need more loot as the settlement progresses, and the more you gain early on the faster you will be able to finish the settlement.

In the Ancient Egyptian settlement, coins are used only for training troops and for placing roads. You only need enough to keep your troops trained and have some extra to build roads. Remember that it costs 10 loot per good. Loot is the limiting factor in goods production for Egypt, so always make sure you are fighting as many fights as you are able to (without losing a lot of troops) to keep up your supply of loot.

Don't forget to unlock the unit slots in the barracks - this will allow you to have more units to fight with, enabling you to do more fights per day.

Try to use units that have boosts against the enemy - for example, if the enemy army is all Nubian Archers, you should try to use camels or chariots. This way, you will be able to complete the fights easier and with fewer losses. Note that the attacking boosts from your city will not affect settlement troops. See the charts below for information about the troops, their bonuses, and training times/costs.

One thing that this settlement requires is manual fighting. If you are inexperienced in this because you are used to auto battling, then manual fighting might take a little bit to get used to. Move units into hexes where they gain boosts (such as moving your War Elephants onto plains). Try to have your units fight those that you have a bonus against (for example using Khopesh Fighters to attack War Elephants). This way, you will be able to kill the enemy units faster and lose fewer troops.

Honestly, you should be able to do medium fights as soon as you have the attached units to make an army (or sooner, using the unattached units if you are good at manually fighting). Nubian Archers are extremely useful, as they can easily bring down Khopesh Fighters with the swarm bonus and War Elephants. However, you do have to be careful with unit bonuses.
Egypt Unit Stats

The units' special abilities are explained in depth below.
UnitAbilityDescription
Khopesh FighterSwarmGives the unit an additional 30 defense points when adjacent to other Khopesh Fighters. This boost stacks.
Mounted Camel ArcherContact!This unit always retaliates against units in range.
Nubian ArcherStealth (Bushes)When in bushes, this unit can only be attacked by adjacent melee attacks.
War ChariotClose QuartersGains 30 attack points when attacking an adjacent tile.
War ElephantKeen EyeWhen this unit attacks, it has a 20% chance of doing double the damage.
Loot, the reward for fighting, is used to produce goods (10 Deben per good). This means that to run a Cultural Goods Building on an 8/8/4 hour schedule, you will need 250 loot per goods building per day. Make sure you plan accordingly so that you don't run out of loot.

Finally, when reorganizing your Egyptian village, delete goods buildings if you have to while reorganizing. If you delete barracks, you will lose all the unlocked slots and troops linked to that building, which will cost a lot of Deben and time to regain.

In the Aztec Settlement, the player unlocks the Courtyard after completing the 6th quest. This minigame allows the player to gain extra goods, though the x4 multiplier does not apply.
The Courtyard

The Courtyard minigame is similar to the classic game Minesweeper, except that the goal is to hit the "mines," which in this case are goods. Every day, the player is offered three plays for this minigame. Only one good type can be gotten per play, randomly chosen.

The player can win up to 9-12 goods per try, but depending on how they win they can earn less. The number of free turns available is one more than the number of goods available, so some strategy is needed to try and get all the goods available for free (additional turns can be bought for the price of 10 diamonds, and the number of goods gained can be doubled for 5 diamonds per extra good). While it is unlikely that the player will get all the possible goods every time, the player should always come away with at least some goods.

As you can see in the image below, the minigame is on a 7x11 board, and the number of turns and maximum number of goods are shown to the top-left of the board.
Aztecs Minigame

There are also some strategies that can be used to help one get as many goods as possible from the minigame, however due to the random nature of the minigame, they may not work every time.
When making the first move, choose one of the squares in the corners of the board. This gives you the best chance of uncovering a large area of empty tiles, which gives you a definite advantage. If you fail to uncover a large area on your first turn, choose another corner. If you uncover nothing after taking the corners, take tiles towards the middle of the board or work with what you already have.

Once you have a larger area to work with, other strategies are easy to use. A tile with a [1] that is on a corner will always have a good diagonal to it (See highlighted tile being pointed to by the blue arrow in the image below).

As in the image below, since there is a good in the upper highlighted tile, the [1] tile that has the green arrow on it can not have a good anywhere else adjacent to it (where the X's are). This means that the only place for the bottom-most [1] tile to have a good is in the lower highlighted tile. The only other place the good could have been would be the tile pointed to by the red arrow, but that possibility was eliminated.
Aztecs Minigame Example


Recognizing patterns like those mentioned above can really help you to get the maximum goods from the minigame. However, since there are so many different patterns, I will not be listing those all here. If you need more help with the minigame, I would recommend looking at Minesweeper strategies, except that you are trying to find the goods!

As with the Feudal Japan Settlement's Merchant, if the player wins multiple types of goods and wants to use them on expansions, the expansions should be bought using the goods in this order: Vegetables, Headdresses, Maize, and finally Stone Figures. This ensures that expansions are as cheap as possible. For more information on expansion costs, see Part 2.

In the Mughal Settlement, there is no minigame. However, there are buildings with chain bonuses and set bonuses that can change how you play the settlement.
There's two diplomacy buildings, the Alley and Water Canal, that chain to the Embassy. When doing so, they provide extra diplomacy. The Alley chains to the front, while the Water Canals connect to the sides of the Embassy. While this is useful for unlocking technologies, you shouldn't build your city around this. The chains get in the way, and don't produce anything. Only use the chains while trying to boost your diplomacy.

Besides the chains though, the Embassy has a set mechanic. When placing the Chhatri, Baldachin, and/or Charbagh next to the Embassy, the Embassy will produce some random settlement goods. With one unique building, 5 goods; with two unique buildings, 10; and with three, 25. Once unlocking these buildings, make sure to have one of each touching the Embassy to get this bonus.

Generally, if one can plan out what goods they need, it will be easier to produce only the needed goods, without over-producing an unnecessary good. There is no trading in the settlements, so it is imperative to only produce the needed goods.

For example, if one only needs 200 axes to unlock all of their buildings and build a few expansions, there is no need to produce more. After they have produced their 200 axes, they could sell their axe smith and replace it with a goods building that is needed. While they could keep the smith and use it for more expansions, at that point the cost is so high for axe expansions that it would be a waste of space, time, copper and efficiency.

To get the coins to produce goods, try to choose the shortest possible production option in diplomacy buildings. The shortest production options are more efficient than the longer ones if the player has the time to collect and restart the productions every time they finish. If one is using a 8-8-4 production schedule, I find the best time to farm short productions is during the 4 hour period. This enables a player to get ahead on coins if they aren’t producing quite enough, or just gives the player more coins for the future.

If you are too low on diplomacy in the Viking or Feudal Japan Settlements, try replacing roads with runestones or toros. Then, unlock the building and replace the road. This lets you leave buildings as is, without having to rebuild the city to meet diplomacy needs. However, since the roads in the Egyptian, Aztec, and Mughal Settlements cost currency to build, it is better to delete houses, fill the resulting space with diplomacy buildings, unlock the technology, and rebuild the houses.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 4: Race to the Finish

This section mainly consists of basic tips to get you through to the end.

One doesn’t need to follow the quests to see where they are in terms of being on track for completing the settlement. The quests merely provide a guide of what the player’s next goal should be. The only true benefits the questlines give are the goods-acquiring minigame (for those settlements that have them) and the last quest, which once completed will end the settlement. Therefore, the questlines do not need to be seen as a set of directions for how to run your settlement. While progressing through your settlement, these quests are often completed by default.

The settlements are all about space and time management. The most efficiency possible in the least amount of space is what you should strive for. If it is possible, it is more efficient to use diplomacy buildings rather than residential to gain coins. This enables you to fill expansions with disconnected residentials for population. Later on, it can become beneficial to connect these for even more coins, as shown in this image:
Viking PEG

There are only 3 buildings not connected to roads here. The axe smith is being rebuilt due to a rebuild of the city, but all the first 3 goods buildings are present. The city produces enough to support its own needs of copper coins, with extra. This makes it easy to add more goods buildings, as no more copper coin-producing buildings need to be added, saving on space.
Japan PEG

As you can see in the image above, the village has all its buildings connected - which if possible, is a most welcome goal to achieve, as it will bring in the most resources that can be used later. This level of expansion was enabled by the Merchant in only a few days - after a couple lucky trades with the Merchant, all the 8 good expansions were bought, before even the third tech was unlocked! This city shows the power of the Merchant, if you get lucky enough.
Aztec PEG

As you can see, I need a lot of vegetables for the next tech! I built a lot of diplomacy buildings to help unlock the tech, as well as to unlock the next couple (I have the goods via the Courtyard Minigame, stuck on vegetables though!)
Mughal PEG
*There is no Egyptian Pre-Endgame Layout image here because it will vary greatly for each player due to their fighting/goods-producing needs, even more so than the other settlements.

As the settlement progresses, one has to decide on the balance between diplomacy buildings and goods buildings (and barracks, in Ancient Egypt). If the balance tips to one side too far, especially close to the end of the game, a player can find themself scrambling to get more coins or to place goods buildings to use a surplus of coins. The screenshots below are examples of what an endgame layout might look like.
Viking EL
Japan EL

Image by @Super Catanian
Egypt EL

Screenshot by @Super Catanian
Aztec EL
Mughal EL

For fitting buildings, there are certain strategies that work nice. Houses work well when disconnected in the early-mid settlements, and three-tile-wide buildings fill up 12 tile wide spaces well. However, the impediments and your needs will often interfere with your layout! For example, in the picture below I have only 3 huts in a row with a Mead Brewery because that is the only place where I could fit my second Brewery. Basically, try use these techniques but feel free to alter them to your specific needs.
Huts Strategy

For finishing the settlement, you need to produce some of the settlement's currency and some of each of its cultural goods. This means that you will need at least one of each cultural good building and some building that produces coins (whether residential or diplomacy buildings). Since the Egyptian settlement has a much higher coin requirement for the last quest, expect to build some pyramids (final diplomacy building unlocked) to complete this requirement faster. For the quests, it can often be easier to set your productions for the cultural goods and coins ahead of time so that you can finish in a shorter length of time.

For the Mughal settlement, to get the required 1500 diplomacy for the final quest, try to get the goods requirement finished first. Then try to fit in as many diplomacy buildings as you can!

Finishing the settlement as early as possible is better, as you get more fragments to the secondary building and are able to start the next one sooner, thus reducing your total time needed to complete all the settlements.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 5: Beyond the Settlements

Each time a settlement is completed, the timer for the amount of time you have to finish it decreases. Also, the odds of getting 4x the amount of produced Cultural Goods increases. This will massively increase the average goods/collection ratio, making it easier to finish settlements in the diminishing time frame.

If you can’t finish in time for bonus rewards, keep trying. Finishing the settlement at all will help you by giving you Emissaries or Upgrade Kits for the main building. Also, if you run out of time to get a place for time-based rewards while halfway through the settlement, just finish up the settlement. You can always get more fragments later, once the x4 bonus increase lets you complete the settlements much faster.

The rewards that are constant across all settlements, and depend on the time in which the player finishes can be found below.
1st Place2nd Place3rd PlaceLast
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Last
15 fragments (total)​
6 fragments (total)​
2 fragments​
0 fragments​
Main Settlement Reward​
Main Settlement Reward​
Main Settlement Reward​
Main Settlement Reward​

The timed rewards can be seen below:
SettlementReward
Viking SettlementRunestone Fragments
Japan SettlementTimeless Dojo Fragments
Ancient Egypt SettlementAncient Obelisk Fragments
Aztec SettlementJade Statue Fragments
Mughal SettlementMinaret Fragments

The main rewards for completing settlements are as follows:
  1. Yggdrasil Level 1
  2. Emissary Harald Hardrada (1 FP) and an Emissary Slot
  3. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  4. Emissary Erik the Red (Medals)
  5. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  6. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  7. Emissary Leif Erikson (Supplies) and an Emissary Slot
  8. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  9. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  10. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  11. Emissary Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Coins)
  12. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  13. Emissary Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir (1 Military Unit) and an Emissary Slot
  14. Emissary Aud the Deep-Minded (2 Goods)
  15. Yggdrasil Upgrade
  16. 50 FP (for all later settlements)
Note: Rewards correspond to your age (units/goods/amounts of coins/supplies).
  1. Shinto Temple Level 1
  2. Emissary Oda Nobunaga (1 FP) and an Emissary Slot
  3. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  4. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  5. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  6. Emissary Tomoe Gozen (1 Military Unit)
  7. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  8. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  9. Emissary Takeda Shingen (2 Goods) and an Emissary Slot
  10. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  11. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  12. Emissary Oda Oichi (1 FP)
  13. Shinto Temple Upgrade
  14. 50 FP (for all later settlements)
Note: Rewards correspond to your age (units/goods).
  1. Royal Bathhouse Level 1
  2. Emissary Euclid of Alexandria (1 FP) and an Emissary Slot
  3. Royal Bathhouse Upgrade
  4. Royal Bathhouse Upgrade
  5. Emissary Mentuhotep (Supplies)
  6. Royal Bathhouse Upgrade
  7. Emissary Hemetre (3 Goods) and an Emissary Slot
  8. Royal Bathhouse Upgrade
  9. Emissary Maatkare Mutemhat (2 Units)
  10. Royal Bathhouse Upgrade
  11. 60 FP (for all later settlements)
Note: Rewards correspond to your age (units/goods/supplies).
  1. Sun Temple Level 1
  2. Emissary Chimali (1 FP) and an Emissary Slot
  3. Sun Temple Upgrade
  4. Sun Temple Upgrade
  5. Sun Temple Upgrade
  6. Emissary Ichtaca (Supplies)
  7. Sun Temple Upgrade
  8. Sun Temple Upgrade
  9. Emissary Amoxtli (1 Unit) and an Emissary Slot
  10. Sun Temple Upgrade
  11. Sun Temple Upgrade
  12. Emissary Acamapichtli (2 Goods)
  13. Sun Temple Upgrade
  14. 55 FP (for all later settlements)
Note: Rewards correspond to your age (units/goods/supplies).
  1. Mughal's Temple Level 1
  2. Emissary Babur (1 FP) and an Emissary Slot
  3. Mughal's Temple Upgrade
  4. Mughal's Temple Upgrade
  5. Emissary Mumtaz Mahal (Medals)
  6. Mughal's Temple Upgrade
  7. Emissary Hamida Banu Begum (3 Goods) and an Emissary Slot
  8. Mughal's Temple Upgrade
  9. Emissary Shah Jahan (3 Goods of previous age)
  10. Mughal's Temple Upgrade
  11. 60 FP (for all later settlements)
Note: Rewards correspond to your age (medals/goods)

The stats of the buildings the player receives from the settlements can be found below.
Building (at max level)FPFP/TileOther Resources
Yggdrasil (3x3)
Yggdrasil
8.8930% Attack Boost for Attacking Armies, 20 Goods, Coins, Supplies, Medals,
Greater Runestone (2x2)
Runestone
2.502% Attack Boost for Attacking Armies, 1 Good, Coins, Medals
Building (at max level)FPFP/TileOther Resources
Shinto Temple (3x4)
Shinto Temple
121.00Coins, Supplies, Medals, Goods, 25% Supply Boost
Timeless Dojo (3x3)
Timeless Dojo
4.44Coins, Medals, Goods, 1 unattached unit of the Timeless Dojo's age
Building (at max level)FPFP/TileOther Resources
Royal Bathhouse (3x4)
Royal Bathhouse
121.0010 unattached units of the Royal Bathhouse’s age, 30 Guild Goods, Coins
Ancient Obelisk (2x2)
Ancient Obelisk
2.50Coins, Goods, 6% Defense Boost for Attacking Armies
Building (at max level)FPFP/TileOther Resources
Sun Temple (4x3)
Sun Temple
100.8340 Goods, 30% Defense Boost for Attacking Armies, Coins
Jade Statue (2x2)
Jade Statue
30.755 Goods, 10 Guild Goods
Building (at max level)FPFP/TileOther Resources
Mughal's Temple (4x4)
Mughal Temple
301.87515 Goods, Coins, Supplies
Minaret (2x2)
Minaret
30.755 Goods, Coins, Supplies

The amount of time between 1st/2nd/3rd place decreases as more settlements are completed, as can be seen in the chart below, which also shows the time frame for each settlement:
Viking Time Chart
Japan Time Chart
Egypt Time Chart
Aztec Time Chart
Mughal Time Chart

Thanks to the global chat on Angkor (us26), I learned that, with a Timeless Dojo Level 5, you can get special troops from certain ages. This includes the barbarians from the EMA bonus questline and any other bonus troops that the player can not normally get. As long as the Timeless Dojo is of that certain age, you can get the troops. This also works with the Royal Bathhouse.
Bonus Area Units

Image courtesy of @MaliceKooper
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 6: Alternate Ways to Play/Archive

The main goal of this section is to combat the boredom of a repetitive task or just give players new ways to complete/play the settlement, and to give an archive of things in this guide that were never finished, gave much of a purpose, or anything, but could still be useful to some players.

Since there are many settlements available, the player can switch between each one to avoid burning out on doing the same one over and over. This is great because it helps keep the Cultural Settlements fresh and enjoyable. Additionally, you will be able to see the rewards of multiple settlements at the same time, enriching the look and production of your city. However, this can stretch out the time needed to finish each settlement's main building.

Also, with the introduction of the Flying Island GB, you have a chance to get "shards" in your settlements every four hours. Collecting these will give you rewards. Even if you decide not to play the settlements, if you have the Flying Island leave a settlement open and check it every day to collect the shards.

Below, you can find an archive of unused or outdated charts that might still be useful or interesting to players.
*This was before the game introduced the ability for the player to see the goods needed for everything.

From the very beginning of the settlement, I’d recommend creating a spreadsheet (or just write down) the goods required to unlock technologies. This will let you plan ahead and see what goods you still need to produce, and what goods you can produce less of or not at all. The images below (made as a 50k view special!) are example spreadsheets of this that can just help you plan and prepare for your settlement. Feel free to download and/or print them!
Viking SettlementFeudal Japan SettlementAncient Egypt Settlement
Vikings SS
Japan SS
Egypt SS
Click images for full size!
As you can see in the chart, below, the efficiency of production options decreases massively from the 5 minute production. For example, it is (on average) nearly 5 times more efficient to produce the 5 minute option rather than the 24 hour one. Note that, while the Mead Hall is extremely efficient, it should never be used as it is the last building to be unlocked, thus leaving the player with only the last few quests to complete.
Viking Efficiency
Japan Efficiency
For celebrating 25,000 views, I created the charts you see below. The charts sum up the result of a total of over 300,000 trials (using a program I wrote) where I tested the average hits, productions, and coin costs for the settlements. While there is no main conclusion to be drawn from these on the best way to play the settlement as a lot varies on the player's ability to be online at certain times, I think the data is still interesting. Note that the Feudal Japan data was created without the Merchant, as the variability of that feature could skew the data too far. Also, note that your data may vary as this is all based on probability.
Vikings 4x
Japan 4x
Vikings Av. Prod.
Japan Av. Prod.
Vikings Av. Coin
Japan Av. Coin
As seen in the chart below, if one was to take the relative number of goods needed for a technology, and factor in which of the goods buildings were available, one could see the relative total number of goods. It is relative because in reality, the goods for a technology wouldn’t all be equal amounts. Also, this doesn’t factor in any expansion costs.
Vikings Needed Goods
Japan Needed

*An error occurred and the names of techs 3 and 5 were erased. They are : 3. Armorer/House and 5. Workshop/Tea
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 7: Settlements FAQ

This section is devoted to answering some questions that many players have been asking about the settlements.

Q: I have all the goods to unlock a technology, but it says that I need diamonds to unlock it.
A: Make sure that you have the required diplomacy amount (the bar at the bottom). Should you not have enough diplomacy, try replacing roads with 1x1 diplomacy buildings.

Q: I just bought an expansion with axes (or other good). Why did the cost of all the other expansions increase?
A: Buying one good expansion increases the cost of all the others. See the charts in Part 3: Establishing a Village for the specific prices for each settlement.

Q: I just got a second emissary, but it says I have to pay 800 diamonds to use it. Why?
A: You get 1 free emissary slot every 2 emissaries. You have to choose which ones you want to use. You can buy more slots if you so wish, allowing you to use more emissaries at the same time. See Part 5: Beyond the Settlements for more details.

Q: Why should I even play the cultural settlements? It seems like a big waste of time to me.
A: Settlements can give some insanely good rewards - including buildings more than 2x better than SoKs for FP production, not including their other benefits. The settlements also give emissaries that will provide an addition to the Town Hall’s production. Even if you don’t want to go through with them to the end, try looking at Part 5 for information on the settlement rewards and Part 6 to see how to play the settlements without getting bored.

Q: This is way too much of a grind. It will take literally months to get a fully leveled Yggdrasil (or other settlement buildings).
A: Play them. Yes, they are a grind, but the rewards are worth the investment in the long term - and this is a long-term game. Even if you don’t want to go through with them to the end, try looking at Part 6: Alternate Ways to Play to see how to play the settlements without getting burned out.

Q: This is just a way for more and more players to be coerced into forking over money in the form of diamonds.
A: All the settlements can be completed in time without any diamond usage at all, however it can present a difficult challenge depending on the settlement.

Q: I can't find where the ____ Settlement screen went. Only the _____ one is showing.
A: Use the buttons on the left of the screen to switch between different Cultural Settlements.

Q: Where can I find my current stock of loot in the Ancient Egypt Settlement?
A: The barrel icon at the top of the screen (see Part 1 for a screenshot of this icon).

Q: Is there anywhere I can discuss my settlement progress?
A: Of course! The Cultural Settlements Progress Thread. [link]

Q: Where can I find more information on the settlements, maybe answers to questions I have?
A: Make sure to check out the official wiki and the support article on settlements.

Q: Where else can I find information on the Viking settlements?
A: There are quite a few other places with information! Check out the official wiki (can find information on all the settlements here), the quick guide to gold that @amiar wrote, the strategy posted by @xivarmy, and the post by Nicomarx59 that @RoyalAdnan quoted in his post. However, I am not responsible for any other guide written by other players and/or the accuracy of the information found in those guides. Also note that there are more resources out there, but these are some of the better ones.

Q: Where could I find further information on the Egyptian settlements?
A: As explained in the above answer, you can find information on all the settlements on the official wiki. Additionally, if you like math and statistics, @Muhabir's mathematical analysis of the settlements (on the international forums) is an interesting read.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 8: Settlement Fun Facts

This section is devoted to showing some interesting/random facts about the cultural settlements that I found while researching that didn’t quite fit in with this guide, but I still wanted to share them with you guys. Most of these are related to something visual or translations. Also, some of these may have been fixed since I put them here... but I'm just going to leave them.

1. The orcas that are swimming in the ocean can still be seen after they dive into the water - their tail is just barely visible, as seen in the pictures below. When the animation restarts, this spot disappears. The first image is during the animation, the second shows the spot where the tail is.
Orcas First
Before | After
Orcas Second

2. The person shooting arrows in the Beast Hunter’s animation appears to always miss. Makes you wonder how they hunt any beasts at all...

3. When a production is started in a Shrine, creepy voices can be heard murmuring. Could these be the spirits of the Vikings’ ancestors?

4. On Beta, the original prices/production times of productions, buildings, and really everything in the Viking Settlement was extremely different. For example, Shrines used to only produce in 4 hour sessions - you didn’t get to choose the time like it was a normal production building. This caused people to set timers to wake themselves up (even in the middle of the night) to not miss a production. Shacks produced 10 copper in 4 hours, and goods productions cost 100/230/520 copper. Thankfully, this was changed to what it is today.

5. For a few months after the settlements were released, when buildings for the main city were shown in the Cultural Settlements, such as Yggdrasil, the costs were shown as below:
OG Building Costs
Notice how instead of population, it showed the cost as 0 Vikings. The same applied to the Runestone. Back in the main city, when you moused over the item in your inventory it showed population instead of Vikings.

6. One of my personal favorites: There is a little snowman just below the village and to the right of the boats. It is even decorated with a little Viking helmet and spear.
Viking Snowman

7. The Viking ship is named "Langskip" which is the Norwegian/Icelandic word for "Longships," the kind of boats the Vikings utilized.

8. The Feudal Japan boat is named "Yakatabune" (or, in Japanese, 屋形船) which is the Japanese word for "Houseboat."

9. "Yggdrasil" is the tree of life in Norse mythology, and it is pronounced "igh-drah-sihl." This tree holds together the nine worlds of Norse myth. (The nine levels of the Yggdrasil building can be referencing this fact.) Its name can be taken to mean "terrible steed" or "horse of the hanged," referring to a myth about Odin (a Norse god), or "yew-column." It is portrayed as an ash tree.

10. Shinto, found in the name of the "Shinto Shrine" means "the way of the gods." The Shinto religion is as old as Japan itself and is Japan's major religion besides Buddhism.

11. Koban, the type of coins found in the Feudal Japan settlement, means "oval."

12. The time period of the Feudal Japan settlement is the "Sengoku" period, and "Sengoku" means "warring states." Seems odd, then, that this settlement is based around negotiations. "Sengoku" in Japanese is 戦国 (戦 meaning war [sen] and 国 meaning country, or land [goku]).

13. Bathing was a very important ritual/activity in the lives of the Ancient Egyptians. It is fitting, therefore, that the main Egyptian Settlement building is a bathhouse!

14. Khopesh, from the name of the Egyptian Settlement light troops, are types of curved swords that evolved from battle-axes.

15. Deben, the Ancient Egyptian currency, was a unit of weight that doubled as currency. (from @Super Catanian)

16. The questgiver of the Aztec Settlements, Moctezuma, is based on the historical figure of Moctezuma II. He was the leader of the Aztecs when they first came into contact with the Spanish Conquistadors, but was later killed during the conquest.

17. The Aztecs referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenocha, which led to the naming of the country Mexico and the city Tenochtitlan (Mexico City now). The name of Aztecs was invented by the Europeans!

18. Coffee or cocoa beans were actually used as a currency in the Aztec empire. They were seen as a gift from the gods.

19. The Aztecs kept records of taxes, sacrifices, and more using an advanced system of drawings and hieroglyphs, and even had a calendar with 365 days in a year!

20. We all know the questlines the settlements have… but have you ever read the stories they tell? Now you can, all in one place. This is the 100,000 views special, and as always thank you all so much.
#Quest Text
1a.My Thane! You have been chosen by my people as the ally who will help us in building a thriving village! Thanks for following our call. Let's start with something simple.
1b.My Thane! Wonderful. The people in these houses can soon start working.
2a.My Thane! To develop this village, we need the cornerstones for bigger and better buildings. If my people trusted you more, we could start bigger projects!
2b.My Thane! If you keep making my people happy, they will be more motivated to work on complex building projects.
3a.My Thane! We will also need a few key resources to enable the development of this village.
3b.My Thane! Fine axes are not meant only for war. They can also help in chopping trees!
4a.My Thane! You will need a better relationship with my people to continue. I am sorry my Thane, but we are a wary folk.
4b.My Thane! You were the right person for this undertaking.
5a.My Thane! Praying to our Gods is an important aspect of our daily life, Ragnarok may come too soon if we forget about our Gods.
5b.My Thane! May Odin protect our village!
6a.My Thane! Vikings love mead! And we need lots of it ...
6b.My Thane! I am looking forward to enjoying a good drink later!
7a.My Thane! Do you think you can expand upon the friendship we have established so far?
7b.My Thane! It is good that we have met you. Let's hope that your help is not one of Loki's plots!
8a.My Thane! Bigger houses mean more people. More people means a bigger workforce. Make it happen!
8b.My Thane! This village used to be a quiet place. Now I can hear children play on the streets all the time. I like this change.
9a.My Thane! Wolves are howling in the night. Remains of bears have been found, too. Help me to distract my people from dark omens!
9b.My Thane! This should keep them occupied for a while.
10a.My Thane! Instead of being afraid of the beasts, we can also hunt them and face our fear. We can train some of our people to do so.
10b.My Thane! I am looking forward to joining a hunting party soon. Thanks for helping in this matter!
11a.My Thane! With your help, we are shaping a strong identity. If we decorate the village with many signs of our culture, it will make our spirits stronger.
11b.My Thane! One day, I swear I will take you to the mountains to be close to our Gods. You will be able to feel their presence. It will be glorious!
12a.My Thane! We used to be random settlers who took advantage of this place. Now we are becoming a real clan. And the other clans will learn to respect us! Let us put signs of our identity throughout the village.
12b.My Thane! Marvellous! Our artisans really know how to make me proud while wandering the streets.
13a.My Thane! Now that we have a name, other clans may want to visit us to trade. I'd like to have a beautiful market for this purpose.
13b.My Thane! I collect arrowheads of the most exotic designs. Let's hope that foreign merchants will bring new samples to fill my collection.
14a.My Thane! I apologize, but my people become more and more demanding. They appreciate your help, but also expect you to invest more into our friendship.
14b.My Thane! Be assured, I always talk highly of you in front of my people.
15a.My Thane! I know our village is already looking like a cold place, but winter is coming and it is certainly going to be harsh. We should stock up on our wool.
15b.My Thane! Let the workers do their job in spinning as much wool as they can before winter hits us.
16a.My Thane! Since this village was founded, children grew up, started their own families, and still kept living with their parents. We need bigger homes that allow generations of families to stay together.
16b.My Thane! I know these houses were costly, but they are also awe-inspiring to look at.
17a.My Thane! Very soon, our village will be self-sustainable! Help me empower this place before you leave us.
17b.My Thane! Even though you have to attend to other duties at some point in time, I hope you will keep visiting us every once in a while.
18a.My Thane! In our tradition, we gather around old trees to tell the stories of our ancestors. This way, our parents, grandparents, and heroes will live on forever.
18b.My Thane! Meet me by the old willow whenever you want and I will tell you the story of my father who used to be a remarkable warchief.
19a.My Thane! A while ago, you helped us in building mead breweries. Well, we have the mead, but in our tradition we prefer drinking the mead in an appropriate place.
19b.My Thane! All the festivities we will have during winter! Like that, it will be easy to pass the time when everything around us is frozen.
20a.My Thane! You went to great lengths to help us and we are very close in being able to care for ourselves. Please, aid us in the last preparations before you depart.
20b.My Thane! I will memorialize you as the best friend of this village. As long as I am able to talk, I will tell your story by the old willow so that our children remember your grandness.
#Quest Text
1a.My Daimyo! It is great to have you here. This place used to be a thriving village. Many reputable samurai came here to enjoy our local beverages. Please, restore our former state!
1b.My Daimyo! This is a good start. Peasants are the foundation of any society.
2a.My Daimyo! The spirits will not find their way here without proper beacons. We need lanterns to guide them.
2b.My Daimyo! Now this village will be protected by the spirits of nature.
3a.My Daimyo! Our people need to become self-sustainable. It would be a great deed if you could set up a soybean field.
3b.My Daimyo! I can't wait to enjoy a good miso soup, but patience is a virtue of utmost importance.
4a.My Daimyo! This village needs to be prospering a lot more before we can achieve true greatness. Please help me to show my people that you can be trusted.
4b.My Daimyo! We should be able to worship the spirits properly soon enough.
5a.My Daimyo! Being able to connect to the spirits around us is important to our culture. Would you enable us to do so?
5b.My Daimyo! My father taught me a method of listening closely to the whispers of the shinto spirits. I will visit our new shrine soon!
6a.My Daimyo! Now that the basics are covered, I believe it is time to embrace the art of my culture. My people like to decorate their homes with paintings and the like.
6b.My Daimyo! I saw an artist creating a painting about friendship. It was dedicated to you!
7a.My Daimyo! I hope I am not interrupting by asking you to issue the acquisition of some paintings? I found a wealthy samurai who would like to purchase some.
7b.My Daimyo! The customer was very pleased. This shall be your honor as well.
8a.My Daimyo! Before we can prepare our next step, we need to ensure that all visitors that come to visit our village know how proud we are of it.
8b.My Daimyo! Marvelous. I recognize your sense for strategy.
9a.My Daimyo! With more samurai from the area coming here, it would be great to pick up the craft that made this village reputable. We used to create the best armor!
9b.My Daimyo! Samurai obtaining armor from our village can call themselves privileged!
10a.My Daimyo! Our types of gates, called torii, mark sacred passages. If we had some, we could expand our shinto practices.
10b.My Daimyo! Despite a lot of our former glory being restored, we still have a long way to go.
11a.My Daimyo! I must ask you to improve the relationship between you and my people. It shall be the foundation for future endeavors.
11b.My Daimyo! We tend to be wary. But you are gaining our trust.
12a.My Daimyo! Between the mountains, it can become very silent. While this is a good environment for meditation, we are missing the tunes of traditional instruments.
12b.My Daimyo! I am looking forward to training my skills on the shamisen.
13a.My Daimyo! This village is regaining its former glory. But we need proper homes for wealthy samurai to be able to reside here.
13b.My Daimyo! One day, I will live in such a house myself!
14a.My Daimyo! I must ask you again to make our village more prosperous. We will have a powerful daimyo visiting soon and it would be beneficial to shine in our best light.
14b.My Daimyo! I heard that the daimyo was impressed. Maybe he is willing to lead us once you decide to leave us.
15a.My Daimyo! My father used to say, "You can measure the prosperity of society by the beauty of its gardens." Unfortunately, we don't have any gardens.
15b.My Daimyo! Well done. My father would be proud of us.
16a.My Daimyo! The samurai that reside here keep demanding a dojo, a place where they can train collectively.
16b.My Daimyo! While I am not a samurai, I hope they will allow me to watch their training sessions.
17a.My Daimyo! Time has passed by so fast. It seems like we will soon be able to care for ourselves. Could you please make sure that we are prepared during our transition to a new daimyo?
17b.My Daimyo! Thank you. I will always honor your name!
#Quest Text
1a.Foreigner! I will allow you to help me build one of the most awe-inspiring cities of Egypt. Be my benevolent guest.
1b.Foreigner! These people will help to build and maintain the cornerstones of this city.
2a.Foreigner! I cannot allow my people to starve or depend on the import of food.
2b.Foreigner! With the water of the nearby river my people should soon be able to have prospering fields.
3a.Foreigner! The desert can be a harsh environment. Luckily, our enemies have all the resources that we might need to flourish! Let us prepare for battle.
3b.Foreigner! Khopesh Fighters will be the backbone of our army.
4a.Foreigner! Now that we have a small, but dedicated army - we should make use of it by attacking a weak enemy.
4b.Foreigner! Your skills in strategizing are effective, yet rough and unelegant.
5a.Foreigner! There is so much loot that our soldiers were able to take from the enemy. I am sure there must have been sacks full of precious seeds among all of it.
5b.Foreigner! This should help the citizens to survive the next few weeks.
6a.Foreigner! I do not trust foreigners easily. Prove tome that the city of my people is as important to you as it is to me.
6b.Foreigner! You might have changed my attitude towards you ... a little.
7a.Foreigner! Divine Statues gaze upon my people and will guide them in their daily lives. We should have some of these.
7b.Foreigner! Ra has listened to our prayers and blessed us by providing us a rich harvest.
8a.Foreigner! This city does not look like much yet. However, my culture deems a beautiful environment as important.
8b.Foreigner! This pottery will make the city look a lot better. Although it's not enough yet.
9a.Foreigner! These small clay huts we had so far do not help in making the city look pompous. Multi-story houses would be a first step in that direction.
9b.Foreigner! Any help by you is appreciated in the eyes of Ra.
10a.Foreigner! Do my people trust you yet? Yes, because they are simple. Do I trust you fully by now? Not quite.
10b.Foreigner! I can see your good intent, at least.
11a.Foreigner! Living in the desert does not mean neglecting having a few bits of green in the city.
11b.Foreigner! Quite beautiful, these trees will cast shadows to cool a warm day.
12a.Foreigner! Flowers! I want flowers to decorate my home. I am sure you can help with that.
12b.Foreigner! Why do these flowers take so long to grow? This is boring!
13a.Foreigner! We could build huge quarters for people to live in, forming little communities where every inhabitant can support each other.
13b.Foreigner! Now this whole undertaking starts to deserve the title of "city".
14a.Foreigner! If we want to be successful in battle, we should adopt the strategy of our enemies. How about using elephants?
14b.Foreigner! Be sure to not get trampled by those beasts!
15a.Foreigner! Do you feel like being a tool or a friend to me? Actually, you decide according to your actions.
15b.Foreigner! I think I can consider you to be a friend of Egypt.
16a.Foreigner! The gods will forsake us if we don't obey their laws. Holding rituals is a matter we must take on!
16b.Foreigner! Most marvelous! I certainly respect the priests that can evoke their miracles.
17a.Foreigner! Now that Ra is watching us closely, we should build places for the common populace to worship our Gods. I imagine places for the ceremonies under the open sky.
17b.Foreigner! My people love it. Worshiping has always helped to forget about the daily cruelties of life.
18a.Foreigner! Since we already figured out that you are a friend, maybe you want to move on to becoming a really close friend?
18b.Foreigner! Hm, I am mildly impressed.
19a.Foreigner! Due to the size of this city, we should announce a few ministers to delegate administrative efforts. They will require a certain level of ... lifestyle.
19b.Foreigner! I know a few people who I would want to function as ministers. I should appoint them soon.
20a.Foreigner! A good leader can find a balance between peace and war. Both are necessary from time to time.
20b.Foreigner! I am wondering. What do you prefer? Fighting your enemies or negotiating peace with them?
21a.Foreigner! This night I had a dream. Ra has been watching you and wanted to test your honesty. Be loyal to my city and you shall be rewarded.
21b.Foreigner! I have the feeling the sun is brighter than usual. Ra has blessed us!
22a.Foreigner! Some day, I will not be alive to serve my people any longer. To prepare myself for the afterlife, I need a place to ascend from. A pyramid!
22b.Foreigner! Yes, this pyramid seems to be suitable for my needs.
23a.Foreigner! Ra spoke to me again. Soon he wants me to rule this city without your help, so there are only a few days left until you have to depart.
23b.Foreigner! I think I can speak in the name of my Gods that you have done a truly great deed by visiting us and helping to build up this wonderful city.
#Quest Text
1a.Explorer! You have traveled far to study our culture. I am generous and grant you access to this piece of land. Build a new village for me and I'll share my knowledge with you.
1b.Explorer! The first people are moving in. This is the start of something great.
2a.Explorer! To show our gratitude for the new houses we need to place Sculptures.
2b.Explorer! That should be enough Sculptures for now.
3a.Explorer! Our gratitude was recognized. The soil is perfect to grow different kinds of plants.
3b.Explorer! Our hard work is bearing fruit! This is delicious.
4a.Explorer! I need to think about the future of this village. There is still a lot to do.
4b.Explorer! Every task done is one task less.
5a.Explorer! Shrines! We need Shrines. The priests will pray for this village and us.
5b.Explorer! You should not disturb their prayers.
6a.Explorer! Our priests need appropriate equipment to honor our gods! And I could use another headdress as well.
6b.Explorer! All these birds with their colors. What a wonderful view.
7a.Explorer! It seems the gods are not happy with us after all. We need to change that!
7b.Explorer! Our gods seem pleased for now.
8a.Explorer! Our village grows and the people get wealthy. They demand improved houses to represent their status.
8b.Explorer! You have come far. But there is still much to learn.
9a.Explorer! There is still room to improve my village, don't you think?
9b.Explorer! It seems the people like the changes.
10a.Explorer! Let us celebrate our achievements with traditional food.
10b.Explorer! How tasty. I bet you have never tasted such a delicious meal before.
11a.Explorer! All those small Sculptures. We need something bigger! Something more... fitting.
11b.Explorer! Yes. This is way better!
12a.Explorer! There are still some people who do not trust you. Show them different.
12b.Explorer! It seems you know what you are doing. There are no doubts left.
13a.Explorer! Hm.. I remember the days bathing surrounded by wonderful plants as I was younger.
13b.Explorer! It seems I got distracted. Back to work.
14a.Explorer! We need to share our wonderful gardens with our gods!
14b.Explorer! The priests say the gods are happy with us.
15a.Explorer! If you want the village to become wealthier you will need items for trading.
15b.Explorer! No doubt that we will make a lot of cocoa beans with these items.
16a.Explorer! Now that there are wealthy Aztecs living in this village they need proper housing.
16b.Explorer! Now everyone can see how flourishing this village is.
17a.Explorer! The village grows and grows. Wonderful! But do you think you could improve it even further?
17b.Explorer! Apparently you can. I am impressed!
18a.Explorer! The sun is wonderful. Bright and warm. We should honor it.
18b.Explorer! How beautiful. Just as beautiful as the real sun, don't you think?
19a.Explorer! The last bit of knowledge I can share with you is the importance of a Great Temple.
19b.Explorer! Magnificent.
20a.Explorer! Before your departure, we should pray to the gods one last time.
20b.Explorer! I wish you a safe journey home. May the sun guide your way.
#Quest Text
1a.Friend! I've heard only great things about you. I invited you to my palace to help me build up the most beautiful city in my empire.
1b. Friend! What a great start!
2a.Friend! I would like to have a street to the main entrance of the palace. It would make bathing in the river way easier.
2b.Friend! I will allow everyone to use this Alley. It is a wonderful addition to this beautiful city.
3a. Friend! Now that we have more residents here, they of course need food. We have the best places to grow basmati rice. It is very delicious. Have you ever tried it?
3b.Friend! The best basmati rice in the whole empire. The people will be happy.
4a.Friend! To attract more people into the city later, we need to improve its diplomatic standing. Adding Water Canals to the palace should be a good start.
4b.Friend! How beautiful! The more Water Canals we add to the palace, the more diplomatic standing the city gains.
5a.Friend! A new type of clothing is very popular at the moment. It is called a Saree and is very colorful. Please take care that we produce enough of these.
5b.Friend! With enough weavers, we won't need to buy and import additional Sarees.
6a.Friend! I am very excited to see all those colors in the city. My wife also wants to wear one of the blue Sarees.
6b.Friend! What a wonderful invention!
7a.Friend! To build up a big city we need a lot of money. It is time to bring in the taxes.
7b.Friend! With this money, we can improve the city even more.
8a.Friend! We're getting more and more people moving into the city. We desperately need to build more houses.
8b.Friend! New houses are always something nice.
9a.Friend! Do you know what also would be nice? A place to lie down and have a comfortable sleep during the hottest parts of the day.
9b.Friend! There are so many pillows in the Chhatri. That was the best sleep I've had in the longest time. You should try it too.
10a.Friend! There are some more improvements we can make to the city. But we need more money for them.
10b.Friend! Now that we have the money we need, I can start inviting new traders to the city.
11a.Friend! Spices! Every good dish needs them. And we need to build a place for the Spice Traders I invited to stay here. So we will always have a good source for flavor.
11b.Friend! Of course we can't be the only ones who should taste all these different flavors. We need more Spices for the people.
12a.Friend! The first delivery of Spices will be ours. We will eat very well this evening.
12b.Friend! Can you smell this? Aah, all those different Spices do fill the air with such powerful scents.
13a. Friend! All this hard work made me tired. I would like to take a break from my duties from time to time. We should solve this problem.
13b.Friend! This place is really comfortable. I will stay here for five more minutes.. maybe ten.. probably twenty.
14a.Friend! The city made good progress. We should celebrate that!
14b.Friend! Haha, yes! Only a few more things and we can celebrate our work.
15a.Friend! Tasty food and colorful things to look at! that is what we still need for the celebration.
15b.Friend! Wonderful! The festival will take place this evening.
16a.Friend! My wife was a bit sad after yesterday's festival. She was missing lotus flowers for decoration. It was a tradition at her parent's place to use them.
16b.Friend! She will be happy when I tell her that we now can grow lotus in the city.
17a.Friend! When I go to my beloved wife to bring her the good news, I would like to gift her a lotus flower.
17b.Friend! Perfect. Now, please excuse me. I need to visit my wife. Let us meet tomorrow again.
18a.Friend! We should incorporate the lotus even more. Wonderful water gardens that can be visited by everyone.
18b.Friend! This Charbagh will increase the diplomatic standing of our city even more.
19a.Friend! Now that there are so many wonderful things in our city, we need to start expanding. We need more living space so more people can move here.
19b.Friend! I wonder how many more people will move into the city in the future when they hear or see those Haveli.
20a.Friend! Before we can call this city finished, we should celebrate one more time.
20b.Friend! Very well. The city turned out more beautiful than I ever thought possible and the people are happy. Just like me. You have done well.
EndFriend! Thank you very much, friend. This now is the greatest city in the whole Mughal Empire.

21. The Mughal Settlement's currency, the Rupee, is the only settlement currency that is still in use today, with there being a Indian, Mauritian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Seychellois, and Sri Lankan Rupee.

22. Mughal architecture is most notable for big "onion" domes and minarets (the towers).

23. The fourth and last emissary of the Mughal Settlement, Shah Jahan, was a Mughal Emperor. He commissioned the well known Taj Mahal, and the Mughal Empire peaked under his rule.
 
Last edited:

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Part 9: Author's Note

As new settlements are released, most likely with their own new challenges, I will update this guide.

I’d like to thank all the original posters that commented on the first version of this guide (since removed). Your feedback helped a lot and inspired me to work harder to create a better, finished product. I’d also like to thank the official wiki, which provided some of the information I could not access on my own. I also can't thank the comments on this guide enough, you have made this guide much more well rounded.

Want to read more guides about the game written by me? Check out the list below for more!

For my own reference and just for fun, in the spoiler below you can find a list of all the changes to the guide.
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.204
    • Massive fixes for broken links
    • All images backed up from broken links
    • A lot of work behind the scenes
    • Better images to explain the points
    • No real content changes other than images
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.203
    • Added Mughal Settlement story
    • Added Mughal Settlement pre-endgame and endgame layouts
    • Will fix the Endgame Layout for Feudal Japan soon!
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.202
    • Added information on Mughals
    • Added charts, pictures, and graphs for Mughals
    • Grammar/spelling fixes
    • Corrected old information
    • More fun facts
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.201
    • New formatting of titles (no one cares, but I like it)
    • 100k views bonus! Chart of settlement stories for all the settlements! Thank you all!
    • Added Aztecs Pre-Endgame and Endgame layouts (finally)
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.200
    • Added information on Aztecs
    • Added charts, pictures, and graphs for Aztecs
    • In-depth tips on the Aztec minigame (the Courtyard)
    • More fun facts! (also removed/rewrote stupid ones)
    • Massive reorganization/style updates
    • Removed expansion cost graphs, replaced with charts (easier to read)
    • Moved the 50k view charts to the archive (game added goods info screen)
    • Moved questlines to Part 1 (it fits better there rather than the intro)
    • Crazy amounts of grammar and spelling fixes
    • Corrected information all over the guide that was wrong or outdated
    • Removed references to and from removed information
    • Removed outdated and irrelevant information
    • Added more links to parts to connect information
    • Added information on the goods info screen accessed from the Embassy
    • Greater preparations for future settlements' information
    • Full backup of guide created for easier editing and history
    • Started the next view special…
    • And more!
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.192
    • Various grammar and spelling fixes
    • Changed reporting of numbers to a consistent amount of decimal places
    • Updated all images to be link-based, so no more images are uploaded, enabling full back-up of guide
    • Preparations for future settlements
    • Small-device- or small-screen-size- friendly changes (split larger charts)
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.191
    • Various grammar and spelling fixes
    • Removed Changelog-ed titles for a cleaner version
    • Updated some strategies
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.19
    • Various grammar and spelling fixes
    • Slight organizational and visual changes (for example the titles of the sections are now in changelog tags to make them stand out)
    • Added the question of where loot is to the FAQ section
    • Some minor content updates and fixes
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.18
    • Added Egyptian charts and graphs
    • In-depth descriptions of Egyptian units, their abilities, stats, and costs
    • 2 new fun facts relating to the Egypt settlement
    • Updated the strategies to include information on the Egyptian settlement
    • Fixed various grammatical/topical errors
    • Super Catanian is now the official editor
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.17
    • Added in an in-depth section written by Super Catanian about the Merchant feature in the Feudal Japan settlement
    • Reorganized some sections for more clarity
    • Various grammatical fixes
    • Changes to layout charts
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.16
    • Added remainder of graphs
    • Added one more fun fact (#8)
    • Now the "Basic Layout 1" tables are updated with better-looking roads, color, and formating to make buildings easier to distinguish
    • I tried to add colored text to the entire guide but it broke everything... maybe a future update.
    • Updated the "Awesome People" list (Added Algona)
    • Working on adding more fun facts (mostly just translations and myths involved with various building names found in the settlements)
    • Added text about getting special units from settlement buildings
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.15
    • Feudal Japan on live now!
    • Finished most text changes for Japanese Settlement
    • Added some screenshots for Japanese Settlement
    • Still working on Japanese Settlement graphs, should be released soon
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.14
    • Prepping for Feudal Japan release
    • Editing guide to allow for easier updating in the future
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.13
    • Changed a few things in the FAQ
    • Linked to the post that RoyalAdnan wrote that contains Nicomarx59's guide
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.12
    • Added some questions/answers to the FAQ
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.11
    • Updated guide to reflect some changes made to the last quest in Vikings
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.1
    • Now all spoilers are named so you know what's in them before clicking.
    • Changed some lists to charts (most notably the tech costs)
    • Added links in the actual guide to some places to get more info to the guide
    • Added links to parts of the guide wherever said parts may be mentioned
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v2.0
    • New thread
    • All parts added, updated with new content, and overall improved
  • Cultural Settlements Guide v1.0
    • Guide posted
    • First 4 parts added

Special thanks to the following people:
@Super Catanian for finding all my mistakes and making the layout chart for the Feudal Japan settlement (and of course being the Editor! :p)
@DreadfulCadillac for the constant support
@Algona for helping with the layout charts
@MaliceKooper for the EMA Barbarians screenshot

Also, this guide is still not complete. As more settlements are released, I hope to update this with strategies to combat all the new challenges the players might face.

Please note: This is a public guide, but do not plagiarize it nor claim any parts of it as your own. This includes the guide format, pictures, charts, strategies, or any other information without first obtaining permission from the author(s). Thank you for your understanding.

Finally, thanks for reading, and any feedback or comments are appreciated. Should anyone have a technique they want to share with the community that was not mentioned, it would be greatly appreciated.

-UBER



 
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DeletedUser32824

No problem. Was just looking through guides and said "Hey! I should link that." :)

Nice job with it, btw.
Thanks. Wanted to make a quick guide for some guildies who were convinced diamonds were required for gold!
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Guide Update to Version 2.1
I updated the guide! This is a minor update, so nothing too special, just visual fixes, and some organization.
Here's what's new!
  • Now all spoilers are named so you know what's in them before clicking.
  • Changed some lists to charts (most notably the tech costs)
  • Added links in the actual guide to some places to get more info to the guide
  • Added links to parts of the guide wherever said parts may be mentioned
 

qaccy

Well-Known Member
Just want to come in here to give @UBERhelp1 and anyone else a heads up that beta has 'fixed' the final settlement quest to require 1200 diplomacy along with 4 (down from 6) goods buildings. Both of these conditions must be met at the same time, so deleting diplomacy buildings to make room for the goods will no longer work once this change reaches the live servers.

EDIT: Completing the quest this way requires at least 8 expansions to be placed (plus the 4 you start with) for 50 clan totems, 3 huts, and 4 mead breweries.

If you instead use old willows and clan houses, in exchange for the much longer build time you only require 5 expansions for 1 clan house, 1 shack, 4 axes/beast hunters, and 11 willows plus 2 runestones.

However, I can't imagine there being enough time at the end of later settlements to afford the 8-hour build time and still reach gold. Plus, if you're reaching gold it's likely you've already placed a lot of expansions anyway so you have space to use for the 1-hour buildings. It is quite remarkable though how much space you could save with the 8-hour ones. 187 squares total for the 1-hour build (embassy included), but only 135 for 8-hour!
 
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