Amplitude has done an amazing job structuring Endless Legend's game play and options for multiplayer. If you're tired of stomping on the AI, multiplayer is the best way to up the challenge.

Here's some recommendations to improve your multiplayer experience:

Make Sure You Have Time to Play

A 3+ player game of Endless Legend is going to take 3 to 6 hours. Following the recommendations below will keep it on the low side of this but even three or four hours is a significant time commitment. If you want to play a game start to finish, make sure your mom/spouse isn't going to call you to dinner anytime soon.

If you don't have time for a full game, try dropping into a public game and taking over an AI for a few turns. Another option is a two-player duel on a tiny map.

I've also created a mod (Battle for Auriga - more info here) with the specific goal of adapting Endless Legend to a multiplayer format that can be finished in under 3 hours.

Fast Speed Only

The "Fast" game speed setting reduces the  cost of items, the  cost of research and thresholds necessary for Economic and Diplomatic victories. It is an absolute must if you plan on completing a game. Considering that turns take 2.5 minutes on average (including overtime for battles), a "Normal" pace game will take at least 150 turns which is roughly 6 hours. Even if you have the stomach, your opponents won't. Fast pacing removes nothing from the game and using the proper map (see below) scales the game appropriately.

Pick the Right Map

The key to a good MP game is having the right map size and region count. If the map is too big, players will be isolated until late in the game. You ideally want to have 3 or 4 regions per player, especially at the higher player counts. Smaller maps also help overall performance.

• Avoid Continents and Islands maps as the naval game is bare bones in Endless Legend and lots of water adds nothing but isolation to the mix.
• Set cliffs to "Few" to (hopefully) keep the World Generator from making too many cliff choke-points.
• Finally, Spread Empire Spawn will ask the World Generator to do its best to spread out the starting locations. However you will start next to an opponent occasionally.
  
  

Here's some recommended settings:

Play Factions You Are Comfortable With

Endless Legend is unique in the way each of it's factions not only have strengths and weaknesses, but also add faction-specific game play mechanics. Multiplayer is not a good place to learn how to convert villages with the Cultists or figure out the Marketplace using the Roving Clans. Choosing a faction you've played some solo games with will allow you to enjoy the game and be more successful.

Ditch the AIs

Don't be tempted to create a game larger than the number of human players and add AIs to fill the gaps. The current AI is predicable, exploitable and easily defeated. Multiplayer games with a lot of AIs often focus on a race to farm cities, resources and techs from the AI, so leave them out.

Use Timers and Manage Your Time

Waiting for other players is a given with any turn-based multiplayer game. Endless Legend does the best it can to reduce downtime through simultaneous turns but timers are a requirement to keep Jimmy from spending ten minutes customizing his Stalwarts. I recommend a only using an "End Turn Timer" (30 seconds), but other combinations of timers can work to keep everything moving along. Fixed turn length timers are nice for moving the game along quickly, but can become an issue later in the game when you have a lot of cities and armies to manage. It's also very important to set all of the Battle timers (30 seconds each) and set Battle Animation Speed to "Fastest" as manual battles at the default settings are very slow and can extend well beyond the End Turn timer.

Players used to single player pace can have trouble adjusting to timers. Here's a few tips to manage your time.

• Do important, time-sensitive stuff first on your turn. This means moving armies (especially those in/near danger), setting up empire plan and fill empty queues first.
  
  
• Fill City and Research queues in case you can't adjust them every turn.
  
  
• Delay starting/focusing on battles until the important stuff is done. You can zoom out of battles by clicking outside the battlefield to do other things while the battle is going on. Clicking on the sword icon or within the battlefield zooms you back in.
  
  
• Clicking "End Turn" doesn't mean your turn is over. You can do things while you are waiting for other players to finish their turn. This is a great time to adjust unit designs and upgrade heroes.
  
  

Be Prepared For a Different Game

Probably the biggest difference between single player and multiplayer games is in the way the "eXterminate" portion plays. In multiplayer games, you'll learn to appreciate some of the mechanics that are not important in single player because the current AI is not very good at managing its military. Unlike the AI, human opponents will get aggressive early, defend their cities, avoid your archers in tactical battles and adjust their strategy to counter you. Don't play "Endlesscraft" on your home turf, be prepared to fight early and often.

• Invest in units early in the game so that you don't get caught by a rush. You'll need  and Strategics to build them, so invest in these with early research and construction.
  
  
• Keep your units and heroes upgraded with latest tech and retrofit whenever possible. Remember that Mercenaries and Cultist Converts cannot be upgraded and are outclassed later in the game. Due to army size limits and reinforcement mechanics, high tech units will tear through larger numbers of lower tech units.
  
  
• You should always try to maintain a Defensive army that can compete with your opponent's forces. This army will be used to break sieges and remind opponents that you're not an easy target. When you are not at war they can deal with pesky Minor Faction armies. Keeping this army near boarder cities will ensure they can reinforce a surprise attack.
  
  
• Garrisoning troops in cities is key to stopping an invading opponent from ninja-raiding your cities. Don't overlook City Defense techs that turn your cities into fortresses.
  
  
• With larger armies come more  upkeep, something you barely notice in single-player and winters can hit you hard. Make sure you have enough cash coming in.
  
  
• Don't forget to keep units healthy. Garrisoning units or hanging out near Watchtowers speeds healing significantly.
  
  
• Supremacy (eliminating opponent's capitols and holding your own) is the fastest path to victory. Take extra care defending your capitol and keep an eye out for opportunities to take your opponents' capitols.
  
  
• Don't skimp on map vision, movement speed and roads.
  
  
• Use the Status Screen (F10) to keep an eye on your opponent's progress. As of Shadows release, access to this information will require a Spy in the enemy empire. A sharp spike in Military growth is often followed by an invasion. However, still use high-vision scouts or Spies to determine the exact makeup and stats of opponents' forces.
  
  
• Techs, Empire Plans and Hero Skills that reduce the cost of building units are very powerful when combined. Make sure these abilities are available to you.

Diplomacy beyond the Diplomatic Screen

Whenever three or more people get together, politics come into play. Don't limit your negotiations to the in-game Diplomacy features. Politicking is a fun feature of multiplayer strategy games and you can be sure your opponents are doing it, even if you aren't. Unexpected wars will break out, backs will get stabbed and opponents will ally to tackle stronger empires. Never forget that there can be only one winner...

To whisper chat, click on the empire's icon below the End Turn button or use ...

/w playername typeYourSecretMessageHere

Friends, Groups and Pre-Arranged Games

Building up a network of players is important to be able to play the game more often. If you enjoy a game, send Friend invites your opponents. Join groups (such as the Endless Legend Multiplayer Steam Group) and look out for scheduled games.

Deal With Desyncs

The current version of Endless Legend occasionally puts players' local game out of sync with the host (a "desync"). This requires the host to go back to lobby and restart the game form his copy. Less frequently the game will need to be rolled back a turn or two. Be aware that this may happen and stay in the lobby until the game restarts. If you are the host click the "Resync" button and restart as errors will often follow a game continued in a desynced state.