I have been playing custom factions for a long time and I wanted to do a short guide to help people get started.



Custom factions is one of the features that make the game so interesting and replayable.

You can customize your factions to some extent.

Units, main quest and a unique trait which defines each faction cannot be changed.

For the rest you have 80 point (85 points for Cultists, may be a bug) to spend, minus a certain amount of points for your unique faction trait, which costs between 10 and 25 points depending on the faction.

Traits with a negative effect have a negative cost, thus you can get more positive traits if you decide to include some of those.



Diplomacy:



- Advanced Diarchy (5): Empire plans are unlocked 1 era earlier. + 1 Free empire plan tier on empire.

The first part of the trait is not extremely strong, as even if you unlock more advanced tiers, you are unlikely to have enough influence points to acquire them.

The second part of the trait is not very clear and can be interpreted in many ways, but does not seem to be working at all anyway. Even if it was only a free 20 influence on every empire plan, it would make the trait interesting.

Advanced diarchy is currently not worth taking, but if the trait was fixed it would be decent for 5 points.



- Cuts both ways (10): Receives 8% dust of every transaction fee paid by other empires.

Transactions fees account for 20 % of the sales prices, meaning you will receive 1.6 % of the total amount. I have not played a lot with this trait, but it appears that it is not much, especially at the beginning of the game.

I created a game to test it in endless difficulty, and only managed to get 3.1 dust during the first 20 turns.

Not a very interesting trait, I am afraid.



- Insider trading (5): Additional information about the marketplace use.

This trait will give you the details of every transaction on the market. It is rather convenient and has a strategic interest but no real economic impact.

Not a very interesting trait.



- Keys to the market (10): Can use the market ban option. Prevents from being the target of a market ban.

Well, the market ban option is a diplomatic option, same as for example closing borders. Once market ban, you lose access to every section of the market, including heroes, which may be a pain in the ass. You can then remove the market ban but it costs 400 influence (I do not know if this number vary depending on the situation).

It may be interesting for multiplayer games but seems rather wasted on IA because you cannot really blackmail them.

Roving Clans IA will market ban you if you kill one of their units or declare war on them. Being immune to it may prove good, however it is very situational as you won"t necessary have a Roving Clan neighbour.

Not a very interesting trait overall.



- Make trade, not war (-5): Cannot declare war.

If you take this trait you cannot declare war. You can however, if you want, kill units on your own territory or neutral territory, and you can do everything you want if someone declares war on you. Note that this trait is exclusive with Pitiless.

In a multiplayer, this is a very risky trait to pick as your opponents can settle new cities next to you and let them undefended, without fear of you attacking them.

Not a very interesting trait overall.



- Peace and prosperity (10): Commercial and research agreements are free.

Well, I have never signed such treaties. In higher difficulties, your opponents despise you and won't have anything to you with you, so I doubt this is very useful. Also, I doubt the influence cost is the issue when you want to do this kind of deal.

Not an interesting trait.



- Pitiless (-10): No peace/alliance. No diplomatic technologies. No bribe and talk technologies.

In a world where your opponent just don't like you, not having diplomatic technologies is not a big deal. You will be able to research more interesting technologies unstead. This is sad because you cannot parley with villages to maybe get interesting quest rewards, but anyway your opponents will just destroy every village anyway. Note however that pitiless is not for everyone as some faction quests require you to actually parley : Ardents Mages and Cultists. Maybe I am forgetting some others. Also, for some reason (may be a bug) I am not able to take Pitiless with Drakken.

10 free points at almost no cost, this is a good deal for any faction which does not require parley for the main quest.



- Well connected (15) : Gives the empire the knowledge of the strating positions of every player.

This knowledge is certainly not worth 15 points. If another empire is just next to you, you will know it thanks to the region borders. Otherwise, well, you don't care !

Not an interesting trait.



- Naïve (5/10): + 4 (+8) approval per peace on cities. + 4 (+8) approval per alliance on cities.

Well, there are more reliable ways to generate approval.

Not an interesting trait.



Economy:



- Agriculturally challenged (-10): - 1 food on terrain with food.

Not that this trait can not be taken by broken lords (it would be too easy !). Most terrains have food, so you are giving up on 5-7 food right from the beginning.

You really don't want to take this trait.



- Brace yourself (-5): - 50 % dust from city upkeep during winter season. -25 % trade route bonuses on city trade routes during winter season.

Roughly, one can say that Winter season will only lasts 20 % of the total time. An overall - 10 % dust from city upkeep seems very reasonnable, as this is only part of your total expenses. Heroes and armies may cost more. The malus to trade routes is not significant enough to notice, except if you are completely focused on trade routes.

This is a good trait if you need some additional points.



- Cellulose mutation (20): Decreases the cost of a district.

This trait reduces by 33% the industry cost of districts and allows to build a district for every worker in your cities (unstead of every other worker). As food is usually the limiting factor when building new districts, this trait become very interesting. Note that it is especially powerful when you have a lot of industry, because otherwise building will have higher priority.

This is one of the most powerful traits out there.



- Cull the herd (10): + 2 food per worker per pacified village.

Note that converted villages do not work for this trait. This trait will give you between + 2 and + 6 food per worker in your cities, when the villages are pacified. It may look strong, but do not forget that you only benefit from thoses bonuses when you are using your worker for food, which may not happen very often. Also, remember that you will only have one a single village in your starting region.

I do not recommend this trait unless you have a food-oriented strategy.



to be continued...

Cellulose mutation also reduces the population limit required, though?



One pop = one centre and one district with CM -VS- one centre only normally

Two pop = one centre and two districts with CM -VS- one centre and one district normally

Three pop = one centre and three districts with CM -VS- one centre and one district normally

Four pop = one centre and four districts with CM -VS- one centre and two districts normally



What this effectively means is that your growth is less limited by food and more by industry (hence why it is on the default Necrophages, who also suck at food).



Cellulose mutation on cultist affinity (with forest tiles) is pretty crazy.



I'm usually okay with taking the hit on dust and/or science, since you're more limited by food and industry anyway, and the science city improvements are plenty to get you through the game, as are the dust improvements.

Tigregalis wrote:
Cellulose mutation also reduces the population limit required, though?

You are perfectly right. I did not know that. I imagine this trait become one of the best out there.

Cellulose mutation on Broken Lords in the endgame = every tile of the region has a district...





About Cull the Herd: the thing about is that it makes putting one single worker on food a lot more economically viable. 4 food makes little difference in the long run, 8 or 10 is a bigger deal.

Cull the Herd is great. I tried putting it on the Cultists actually, hoping that converted villages would count to the total - nope. Oh well.

Celullose mutation is the strongest imho. I also like landcapist +1 industry or food. For minus the -35 starting dust only 2 pojnts though

This is a great guide. As I'm bored, let me add my thoughts:



* Make Trade Not War: If this trait is public (like if you're playing Roving Clans), this is a really good way to ensure your survival. Players prioritize enemies that might launch unexpected offensives.

* Cellulose Mutation: A fantastic mid-game choice.

* Businessmen: Almost always outperforms Entrepreneur.

* Offense First, Defense First, Will of the Hive: Any of these are priced appropriately-- will, for being involved in a single, early war. Pick based on what percents will benefit your units (offense first on stalwarts == waste)

* Language Square: Getting more quests earlier == more titan bones

* Mill Foundry: There's some benefit to building this before your Founder's thingie.

* Brace Yourself: Too many points given for this, it's almost a no-brainer. Just play with it a bit so you don't get caught off-guard when winter comes.

* Fast Travelers: I don't think this gets enough play. Faster search == opening boost; faster travel == less armies you need to build to defend your empire.

* Imperial Coinage: If you buy this, you can buy 10 titan bones around turn 10. I think that should be enough said.

* Landscapist: Completely outperforms entrepreneur and knack for knowledge, for fewer points. Were you planning on settling near anomalies? If not, please avoid.

* Meticulous Analysis: A bargain at the price. Speeds up exploration immensely, never mind the eventual strategic benefits.

* Dust starved etc: Not a bad idea to do this if you need a few points, or have a few points. It doesn't really matter in the end.

Can you guys please update this thread?



My "Fam" and friend will be using custom factions in our next game, and your collective knowledge would be a great help to us and others...



Thanks a bunch.



Marc

I think it's all pretty much still valid. The only thing I'd revise is that starting Imperial Coinage is no longer worth it, because of changes made to the market.



Another great one that nobody mentioned is Veins of Auriga.

Hmmm. Maybe if I get some time I'll write up a guide!