With Roving Clans your affinity is that you can move your cities around. To succeed as Roving Clans you must take advantage of this.



Quick Tips:



1. Search Party: Use it!



Search Party, in practice, seems to lower the chance of finding nothing at all in ruins by -10% ... That doesn't sound like much, but that means 1 in 3 is suddenly 1 in 5. (*Second hand information, not sure if it's accurate)

Combined with your movement speed, Roving Clans will get the biggest payout out of this tech. Early in your quest you need to purchase a second hero and this will give you the Dust to do it! Settle in a spot with enough science that assures you can pick it up in 2-3 turns---Use that two or three turns to defeat the village in your first quest, and then pack up your city and plant yourself near some food and industry!



Split your guys, and get to collecting that loot!



2. City Phases: Growth Phase & Output Phase.



As Roving Clans think of your cities as going through two phases. "Growth Phase" focused on industry and food for building structures, and "Output Phase" when the structures are complete enough to begin dust output or unit production. For the Growth Phase you'll probably want to spend a little time with some science (as mentioned above) but then abandon the spot for one with food and industry. After your satisfied you can trot the city into whatever FIDS you want that city to produce or exploit.



This advantage does nothing for you if you don't use it!



3. Riddle of (Glass)Steel



If you park your Setseke on top of a resource node, be it strategic or luxury, and then pack up to move somewhere else? It leaves an Extractor behind! There are times when this will save you enough turns in industry that it's worth packing up and moving. Don't be afraid to leap-frog to it.



4. Setseke Leap Frogging



Remember to never leave your cities undeployed when you are changing locations---If you are trying to get somewhere that's going to take you two turns there is no reason to waste a turn undeployed.

Plop down in whatever spot you end up in on the way to your intended destination and grow your population, make science, or make dust.



5. Minor Factions: DEAL WITH THEM!



It's really easy to focus completely on growth and output and forsake your military early game. But don't! After you buy your first hero on the market you should look into grabbing some mercs and squashing those pesky village people! Don't let them get out control, because it will slow you down.



6. Buy in bulk, sell in Bulk



Doing this will effectively crash the market. The more of something that goes on the market the less value it has. You can wreck prices for other players. You have access to the market before anyone else--you can grab up early game resources while they are real cheap and sell them later on for more Dust.



7. Aquapulvistics!



This Era I tech generates a lot of dust. It's fantastic to have. If you have a city that is done building and is hence transitioning to "output phase" this allows you to put it on a penusla, a coast, a stretch of river! it works well with your mobility.



8. Mercenary Market vs. Roving Clan Units.



Roving Clan units are powerful in the right hands but not being able to declare war makes them an expense that you probably won't want outside of really fast scouts for picking up ruins. For this reason I favor using mercenaries and assimilated minor faction units as my base defenders and hit squads.



9. Privateer Armies = More Governors.



Reliance on Merc armies means you won't need generals. You can't attach heros to them. Roving Clans can start using privateer armies at Era II. Everyone else has to wait till Era IV. They also have the trait, Mercenary Comforts---this doubles the HP of a privateer army and gives it + 1 movement.



Soooo... Stock up on Governors, and crank out even more output!



10. Industry + Mercenary Market for Profit.



An alternative to simply gathering Dust! (See what I did there?!) The Mercenary Market is for more than just defending yourself or attacking others. If you find yourself with some really high industry tiles or at least one city that can crank out units decked out in your current tier of iron items? Then you can make a tidy profit cranking them out and selling them. This is a nifty strategy for Wild Walkers too!



11. The Dreaded Market Ban!



Market Ban will do one of two things in multiplayer: Make others sheepish about offending you, or make their reason for breathing killing you. There is usually a point every game where you will want to Market Ban everyone. This is when you are invading with privateer armies or you are starting to pull ahead with an economy victory and want to shut down your opponents access to boosters so they can't catch up.



Keep in mind that for most of the game you want -most- empires using the market. You get a cut, after all. The times to market ban are: Diplomatic recoil against hostile actions towards you, using the market ban slow someone down you suspect they are nearing their victory condition, and to troll the Cult.



12. Murder your Allies in Cold Blood, without Declaring War.



So Make Trade not War is kind of a lie. You can still use your privateer armies to kill people, even if they are allied with you. The AI doesn't seem to notice---Most players will assume it's you since you're the most likely to use Privateers and you get the tech the earliest. If there are other Roving Clans players? Walk around and attack from their direction. Frame them!



13. Harrasment



A particularly strong strategy against the Cult of the Eternal End. You have the fastest units---a naked dervish with a movement speed accessory can roam around and demolish the cultists villages with relative impunity. If you meet resistance that's fine; just send more than one and split them into different directions. Remember that you can engage in battle even thought being at war, outside of regions anyone ones---when at Cold War.



It's important to take advantage of "Charge" when using a Dervish in battle--Charge gives you more damage per tile moved from before the attack---It's going to lose a toe to toe fight. Rotate out which ones retreat back to further tiles and which ones attack. You will squeeze out more damage this way.



14. Assimilation.



If you assimilate a faction who's villages are found in only one region you own, and you pack up your city and move---You will waste your influence! Keep this in mind when moving your cities!



Silics can give you more resources to sell and are great at defending your cities. Bos can keep up with your native faction units, if you use them, and their bonus helps you grow your cities. Rumblers can be good with the production strategy. Kizanji can help with influence to broker deals with other empires. Gauron give a +% bonus to hp, which works well with Mecenary Comforts, their units can also keep pace with yours.

nice advice

I don't play multiplayer at all, and the lore and ambience of Roving Clans make them one of my favourite factions. Thanks for the great guide, will need to try this out!



One thing I normally do as a priority at the start, is equip my first two units with the first movement charm, it normally costs 27 per unit, but it adds +1 movement. Since (on my settings) it takes until turn 15 before the minor factions spawn, that gives an extra 14/15 turns of movement per unit, which can net a lot of extra dust (especially with search party researched).

You're welcome! <3 I'll get around to writing more, soonish, I've been catching up with my friends in Realm Reborn lately and playing some Xcom since B15 of the Longwar mod came out, so I've been distracted!

But, anyhow, there is more to come!



When I stop procrastinating >.>