Well, as the title already alludes to, the Broken Lords play quite different than the other factions. They have only 4 resources, striking the F out of the FIDSE. They do not automatically grow population. (Keep that in mind, it makes them micromanage, more!) And lastly, they are the only faction I'd disadvise using their hero to go exploring in the first stages of the game, for now.



How to choose where to build my city as a broke Lord?

Simple answer: Where the dust is at. The broken Lords get +1 dust on any terrain that has at least 1 dust, already.

Complex answer: Do NOT underestimate rivers. They seem to be worthless, at the start, but dust dredges and the lvl1 admin hero skill of the broken Lords (+1 dust/level on fields with rivers) make them very very powerful. Best you can do is to have forests on a plain with a river-delta, excluding any anomalies.



Since rivers stretch for longer distances, keep in mind that you want to extend your city along rivers, in most cases.



Now the first city is built, I got a hero and an army, what to do?

First thing: Buy population. The broken Lords do not grow population, they buy them. The button is close to the left of the population distribution and you should hit it as often as possible the first few rounds. The dust cost/pop grows pretty steeply, so after ~6 pop, building a new city should be a valid option to take into account.



Second thing: Assign your hero to the city if there's no ruins to search within 1-2 turns distance. The admin hero of the broken Lords is especially powerful if your first city has rivers. Otherwise the first level skill point is wasted. In the latter case, you can move the hero around and try to search ruins for dust and gain XP to level up to lvl 2 (+1 dust/level on all fields yielding dust). In the end, a broken Lord hero can give you a total of 7 dust on a field that previously yielded no dust (grassy plain with river -> no initial dust; +3 dust for the river by hero skill, +3 dust for having dust by hero skill, +1 dust for having dust by faction affinity).



Third thing: Science! You start with the empire mint (build it, as well as the memorial, in this order). Next thing you should research is slavery, reducing your buyout cost for buildings and units by a whole quarter. As a dust-based faction this is a must-have. Instead of researching parley, I recommend using bribes (you should have a three-digit-dust income by turn 10, if you're doing fine).

Next to research would be the dust dredgers to make your river-fields valuable. Only applies if you do have rivers around your city.



Generally, I'd recommend expanding your city by building new city-extensions, so you gain more and more dust-income-fields. (Every field with dust counts +1 by faction affinity and +x for admin hero skill for you. A good design of the city will give you 3 new fields to harvest for each expansion, yielding 3*(+1+x) dust per expansion, which beats almost anything else...) Buying them out beyond maybe the first two is very costly and the dust-cost even after getting slavery researched is far less efficient than directly using industry, so you should weigh whether you want to expand your pop (all pop harvests dust) or your city (all pop produces industry).



Midterm-strategy

Before the first winter, you do not necessarily need to have expanded, but you should have a high-pop city with some extensions going, a three-digit dust-income and maybe save on a hero and a settler, so you can directly install a second city + admin hero. With enough dust, having heroes (and researching the tech to get them) should be a major point on the agenda. You also need, in the long term, one hero to scout all the ruins and get you the dust for more expansion.

The first city should be lucrative enough to allow you to buy out the second city to maybe 5 pop with 1 pop/turn. So from this point on, your main strategy is to expand to other regions with sufficient dust, start on the main quest, buy out all pesky and not very peaceful tribes, gather your hoard... and make dust! A noble's life is not cheap to maintain.



Best minor faction to get

Hands down, you need to get the delvers. These little dwarves share your love for dust and will increase your dust-economy percentually, giving you such a huge boost that you'll learn to love these little bearded fellows!



Warfare in early game

For the broken lords, the early game warfare is a bad thing to attempt. You need the dust for growth, not for repairing your armies. Following the main quest will help you out in tech-era II, when you get the special tech to boost regeneration in a region for pacified villages, but before that, you need to spend money to repair heroes and armies each and every time you bring them to field and they get dented.

Also, missing standard ranged units, they are rather weak, at the moment. So I recommend postponing warfare to era II. All else is a material slaughter you might win, but that will leave you off the worse for wear.



Empire Plan

How to use your empire points? Get more dust! Getting more dust per pop allows you the fast expansion that you sorely lacked in the first 20 turns before winter. Put everything to generate dust, buy out settlers for new cities (one after a time, buying out some pop there as well and getting maybe a hero for the more lucrative spots), then expand with the power of the immeasurable wealth that is yours to take.

Nosferatiel wrote:




Third thing: Science! You start with the empire mint (build it, as well as the monument, in this order).

Somebody's been playing too much Civ.

Varadhon wrote:
Somebody's been playing too much Civ.

Less than 90 hours Civ V is too much?

Civ V despite its stupid simplicity isn't that bad a game and can teach you some worthwhile 4x strategies.

Adventurer_Blitz wrote:
Civ V despite its stupid simplicity isn't that bad a game and can teach you some worthwhile 4x strategies.

This wasn't actually a swipe at Civ . . . more a comment on its pervasive influence. Most people build the "monument" city improvement first in Civ 5 (it's often the only one available). However, the Broken Lords have no such city improvement. They have a "founder's memorial" instead. In Civ terms, it's actually more like the palace than the monument.