Natev, the time to reach tier two is unaffected, because I place my first city with the same considerations as I always do (getting most out of anomalies and otherwise a healthy mix of food, industry, dust, and science if possible) and play FIDSI until tier two when the things that makes FDSI work become available - and even then I only switch if I've determined that some of the regions I'm colonizing support the strategy by having dust rich nice areas.

Bump. Too useful to be this hard to find.

Sir-Rogers wrote:
I will append to this, for the only reason being that X amount of industry equals X^2 amount of dust incoming due to unit selling. This isn't the exact formula of course, but you get the point. Industry income if converted to dust that way actually gets you more dust than an equal amount of dust income would from your FIDS values.

Problem with this is that the early game I feel actually benefits Dust incomes more than Production incomes, and depending on the faction played (Specially BL's, that can play DSI easily), Dust incomes usually are greater than production.



At Era 1: you have the Empire Mint and the Mill foundry, for "pure" vs gains

At Empire plan 1: You only have 3/pop gains against 20% reduction on units. Won't be much (it's faction dependant) but it's there.



At Era 2: you have two more industry researches (forgot their name)... but problem here is that both are terrain-based (If I recall, one adds industry on forests, so forget about it on any other tileset; and the other one was somewhat similar) Meanwhile, on Dust based economies you get two most researses: Prisoners, Slaves, and Volunteers (25% reduction on both unit and building buyouts) and Imperial Highways (+ + movement)

At Empire plan 2: You have +25% building buyout reduction vs 33% building production. Production here is more powerful, obviously, but you algo got PSV research.



Producction is essentially "free", while dust trades the extra price for the sake of quickness and usefulness. Maybe that giantic endgame industrial city can pop two units per turn for free... but probably by that time you can buyout one unit (or maybe two)... in the city that needs them right now.



Industry gains are city wide. If you settle in a good place you can make a city a giant factory that can pop units every single turn... by mid-late game; but if you cannot settle in one of those places you won't pop units or buildings every turn. Dust, on the other side, is faction wide, and you can use it where is needed since turn 1. You can concentrate all of it on a single city, or quickly buyout needed units/buildings on newly founded/captured cities.



Finally, I find that by late game main problem is not vs ... but the strategic resources (or mainly the lack of enough resources for all your needs). On industry based economies you'll have to "produce-sell" normal units (non resource based) to get that dust for the marketplace... on dust-based economies you just go to the marketplace and buy the mats.

Jojo_Fr wrote:
All these analyses are interesting, but the only true way to prove a theory is to test it in reality, and reality it's a multiplayer vs competitives players.



For now, without patch, I doubt any non massive industrial focused civ could rivalise vs the industry focus.

I will append to this, for the only reason being that X amount of industry equals X^2 amount of dust incoming due to unit selling. This isn't the exact formula of course, but you get the point. Industry income if converted to dust that way actually gets you more dust than an equal amount of dust income would from your FIDS values.

All these analyses are interesting, but the only true way to prove a theory is to test it in reality, and reality it's a multiplayer vs competitives players.



For now, without patch, I doubt any non massive industrial focused civ could rivalise vs the industry focus.

nnwork wrote:
I'm a bit skeptical about how the FDSI approach fares in the late game when buyout prices reach pretty high. As has been pointed out, the value of industry increases in the later eras compared to dust due to increasing buyout prices. Granted, the solid fast progress early game might be enough to give an edge but I'm not sure if it's wise to neglect industry completely. Personally I've found that a balanced approach works well but this surely is well worth trying out.



Very interesting approach and a good read, thanks for putting this together.

Played a normal speed Dust "Broken" Lords militaristic aproach yesterday, and found endgame was way faster. I didn't raze a single city, and by turn 150 or so I was able to buyout in a single turn about half the buildings my BL's had unlocked and the captured cities didn't had built already... it was just a capture-buyout almost all dust buildings plus extra ones (mainly onesso I got those cities out of rebelion in a single turn, plus mines). Main problem wasn't , but strategic resources.

An important factor that I think you missed, is that there are two heroes with food boost and industry boost (2,3 for the wild walker, 3,2 for the necrophage) that are incredibly good city managers. Frankly, the dust economy requires too much of an investment in influence, while an industry economy can be run with almost no investment of any sort. Also, a primarily dust economy requires glassteel, which is the resource that you want to be equipping units with, because having initiative is head and shoulders above a little extra attack.



The only faction where the analysis favors dust is the broken lords, but their method of economy is just broken in general. I find them the hardest faction to play on endless difficulty, because their terrible (inefficient, non-regerating) unit types combine poorly with their inefficient economy (2k dustfor the 8th (depends on game time) population unit that will produce 15 dust a turn after bonuses, can't justify the 100+ turn payout) to produce a product that just can't compete with the AI's massive numerical bonuses.

Added a section in my reserved post #3 with notes on how the industry and dust economy stack up in the late game.

I'm a bit skeptical about how the FDSI approach fares in the late game when buyout prices reach pretty high. As has been pointed out, the value of industry increases in the later eras compared to dust due to increasing buyout prices. Granted, the solid fast progress early game might be enough to give an edge but I'm not sure if it's wise to neglect industry completely. Personally I've found that a balanced approach works well but this surely is well worth trying out.



Very interesting approach and a good read, thanks for putting this together.

Oh, that makes sense.



I'm running a comparison right now between tier 1 industry focus vs tier 1 dust focus, I think it might be an interesting contrast.

An important decision early in the game for anybody except the Broken Lords is whether you intend to run a FIDSI or a FDSI economy. A FDSI economy is one in which the player essentially ignores industry production in favour of producing dust and buying out everything that is needed. What little industry production is provided by the terrain and exploitation is a nice bonus, but that's all it is.



The Broken Lords are the ultimate in this regard, as they are essentially a DSI economy when played to maximize their advantages, but they are not the only ones who can benefit from dumping industry. The following is a primer for those that are NOT Broken Lords.





The basics:



In many cases a FDSI economy has huge advantages over FIDSI, but the choice must be made, and the earlier it is made the better. Going FDSI from the very start of the game is not an option unless you start in an area with a lot of dust-generating anomalies, so the normal approach is to play FIDSI with an eye to switching over to FDSI at a time that corresponds with the start of an empire plan.



You are unlikely to be able to switch fully from FIDSI to FDSI at turn 20 for the first empire plan (obvious exception: Drakken that gets a good river/ruin start), and to get the most out of FDSI you need a second era tech anyhow, but with preparation it can almost always be done at turn 40. (Normal speed).



The idea in the FDSI economy is to have all the people at all times set to exploit dust except when intensive growth spurts are needed, the player desperately needs to catch up in science, or producing settlers, and then using buyout on everything else that needs to be built, whether units or buildings. If you are going for a wonder victory you will have to build the wonder with industry, but all other buildings can be bought.



It can be effectively used from era two onwards. You'll get your most important buildings built quickly (one turn from discovery to use if you've got the resources), and your military produced where you need it in war or at a region you use as your recruitment center, depending on your preferences.



With regards to the latter, since governors get XP based on what they build in addition to the tiny amount they gain per turn, if you use a single region to buy most of your military, that governor is going to earn a lot of XP, reaching the higher levels of skill faster than your other governors, which can be really useful if you use your best/biggest city province with a good governor as recruitment center. Just saying.





The essential techs to start using the FDSI economy are:



Prisoners, Slaves, and Volunteers

Alchemical Armor

Glory of Empire (if not using Drakken Governors or other ways of gaining substantial amounts of early-game influence)





The essential empire plans to start using the FDSI economy are:

Economy plan T2.

Science plan T2.



Note that while it is possible to go FDSI with only the techs or only the empire plans, it only really comes together when you've got the empire plans and the Prisoners, Slaves, and Volunteers buyout tech.





How the cost reduction works:



Tech 25% buyout to both buildings and units from T2

Military plan 20% industry cost on units from T1

Economy plan 25% plan buyout on buildings from T2

Science plan 33% industry cost on buildings from T2



To show you an example of how they work together, let us look at a T2 building, the Watchtower.

[code]

IndCost Buyout

T 160 332

TE 160 221

TS 108 205

TES 108 137

[/code]



As can be seen, the price for a Watchtower in dust when you've gone fully FDSI is only 27% greater than the cost in industry. In general, the more expensive an item is, the greater the percentage-wise difference is between the industry and dust cost. Here are the most common building costs in the different eras for comparison:



[code]

Typical T1 | Typical T2 | Typical T3 | Typical T4 | Typical T5

I D | I D | I D | I D | I D

T 75 134 | 250 566 | 600 1618 | 1200 3717 | 2000 6860

TE 75 89 | 250 378 | 600 1079 | 1200 2478 | 2000 4574

TS 51 83 | 168 350 | 402 1001 | 804 2299 | 1340 4243

TES 51 55 | 168 234 | 402 667 | 804 1533 | 1340 2829

[/code]





It is clear from the building example that if you have a somewhat higher dust income per population in the city than industry, have T2 empire plans for both economy and science, and have the T2 buyout tech, you will gain a substantial advantage in pure economical terms by buying out buildings with dust generated by your population rather than having the population working at industry during the early eras – and it is in the early eras that the foundation for victory or defeat is laid.



Moreover, since buyout out only takes one turn, it means that you can finish the buildings that are most important in your empire rapidly regardless of which city they are in. As an example, if you unlock a new tech giving some wonderful building, your most important city is probably going to have it active the very next turn, and defensive buildings can be built as and when needed... There are many advantages.



For units it is another matter. Units only benefit from the tech and the military plan, so you end up paying a bit a dust cost that is a bit more than twice the industry cost. Settlers are even worse - they have an increased buyout cost compared to other units.



This is where the game REALLY comes through for those wanting run a FDSI economy from the second era and onwards! It is ever so much easier to increase the amount of dust generated per population than to increase the industry.



If we ignore governors for the moment, as you cannot assume to have governors with specific faction/class available when you need them in general, these are the modifiers that will dominate the industry and dust game where work assignments are concerned from the second era onwards, which is the first era where you can stack the relevant empire plan modifiers and have the influence to do so. (Unless you are Drakken.)





Dust and Industry throughout the Eras



Key: p = population of workers assigned to task.



Second Era

4D/p base.

3D/p from T1 economy plan.

2D/p from T2 Alchemical Armor glasssteel trinket.

2D/river in summer from T1 Aquapulvetics.

3D/sea_lake in summer from T1Aquapulvetics.

5D from T1 Empire Mint.

15% D from T1 Empire Mint.

10% D when fervent from T2 Central Market.



4I/p base.

6I from T1 Mill Foundry.

1I/forest from T2 Management Sciences.

1I/exploitation from T2 Management Sciences.

1I/terrain_with_industry during summer from T2 Canal System.

15% I from T1 Mill Foundry.





Third Era

4D/p from T3 Dust Depository.

20D from T3 Dust Refinery.

30% D from Dust Refinery.



1I/p from T3 Uncommon Armor adamantium trinket.





Fourth Era

3I/p from T4 Production Line.

3I/terrain_with_industry from T4 Borer's Guild.



Fifth Era

2D/p and 2I/p from T5 Imperial News Network.

5D/terrain_with_dust from T5 Dust Revitalizer.

50D from T5 Town Criers.

40% D from T5 Town Criers.

2I/p from T5 Marvellous Armor adamantium trinket replacing the third era version.





Sixth Era

100% D from T6 Dust-Driven Distillery.

100% I from T6 Endless Alloys.





If lucky you might get the quest for the T3 glasssteel armour tech giving the 4D/p trinket or the quest for the T3 adamantium armour tech which has the 4I/p trinket. Since neither of these can be assumed to happen, they should not factor into the player's decision with regards to whether he goes FIDSI or FDSI.



The 2nd era stats really says it all. With Alchemical Armor tech, you can run 9D/p or better from the 2nd era onwards, while you are limited to 4I/p in 2nd, 5I/p in third, and 8I/p in the fourth era. All of these with a 15% bonus. And by the fourth era when industry begins to catch up, dust has already got a whopping additional 30% bonus in the third era.



There are decent industry buildings to increase the production from terrain already in the second era, but cities are small at that time so the gain is comparatively small at that point in time compared with the extra techs you have to research to build them, whereas even if you go full industry, you are going to pick up most or all of the dust techs because upkeep costs and heroes cannot be bought for industry.



If the choice was made based on the fourth and fith era figures where industry has had a chance to catch up, FDSI would not appear that attractive compared to FIDSI, but one of the great strengths of FDSI is how frontloaded it is. Already from the beginning of the second era you gain with proper preparation most of the modifiers that makes it great, and early game advantages have a tendency to snowball in Endless Legend.



The advantage is so great than that even buying out military units rather than building them with industry makes sense most of the time; You'll end up paying a bit more than twice the cost, but your men will also be earning twice the pay as well during the mid-game.



Settlers remain the exception. In direct dust to industry costs, settlers will always be considerably more expensive because of a higher buyout multiplier. There is another consideration for settlers, namely that they block growth while being built. Taken together, you are probably better off building settlers rather than buying them in the early phases of the FDSI economy in the second era when your coffers are not overflowing.



Either way, the FDSI economy really kicks off the moment the player is able to afford running T2 empire plans in economy and science continuously with the necessary techs, buying out all buildings.

Thanks for the guide, pi2r! I admit skepticism-- since moving from dust focused BLs to industry focused BLs, I feel like I've sped up considerably, but that could be just increasing familiarity with the game. I wouldn't be surprised if certain starts were more conducive to a buyout build.



How fast are you reaching tier 2? In a normal game?

Pi2r wrote:
I quite understand your ambivalence regarding Canal System and Management Sciences. They do provide a decent benefit for their cost at the point they can first become available

...at the time they first become available, any building unlocked by one of those techs almost certainly generates less industry than a Mill Foundry, and costs over 3 times as much to build. It could plausibly take around 30 turns for its output to add up to its construction cost (that's just the direct cost, not the opportunity cost, and ignores strategic resources and upkeep). Calling that "a decent benefit for their cost" seems like a stretch to me.



They do improve somewhat later on, when cities are larger, opportunity costs are lower, and you have building cost reductions, but they're pretty bad on turn 30.

Aquapulvetics is one of those that I don't really consider belonging to either FIDSI or FDSI approaches. If you've got a lot of rivers where you are building your cities or playing on maps with lots of water in general, you'll probably get it regardless of approach, and if not, not.



I quite understand your ambivalence regarding Canal System and Management Sciences. They do provide a decent benefit for their cost at the point they can first become available and long time they pay off big time in an industry approach, but those benefits are tied to buildings, and there are so many other priorities that also need to be satisfied at that time.



As I mentioned earlier, one of the very strong things about the FDSI approach is that it is very front-loaded. At the time in the second era where a full industry approach would require you to build buildings to improve your industry, the FDSI approach instead has you buy a glasssteel trinket for each governor to improve the dust economy (given you have glassteel, of course), gains a buyout bonus directly from tech with no building, or gains the other bonuses from empire plans - again without buildings and thus not tying up the construction queues, though of course not without other costs.



And when you buyout a new building rather than patiently building it over several turns, its effects work from the very moment you buyout, even if the dust cost is effectively amortized over an equal amount of turns, a benefit that is really hard to measure.

Pi2r wrote:
Note that I'm here operating on the basic assumption that everybody else picks up the main economic techs regardless of playing style, because they need to pay the bills, and thus don't consider them part of the cost of running FDSI over FIDSI

I normally get Empire Mint and (probably) Dust Refinery--the buildings that add flat dust and % dust. I don't normally get Dust Depository (+4 dust/worker), Slavery (buyout cost reduction), Town Criers (era 5), or the tier 2 economic empire plan (buyout cost reduction). I also skip Aquapulvetics as often as not.



And I don't necessarily get Canal System and Management Sciences (era 2 industry techs)--industry's valuable, but their output seems pretty small relative to their cost, especially at the point in the game when they first become available. Most recently I've been leaning towards getting Management Sciences but not Canal System, but I'm still waffling. And while I could definitely skip Production Line if I were going dust-based, and probably Uncommon Armor as well, Borer's Guild is linked to a building that increases strategic resource output...perhaps not essential, but something I'd miss even in a dust economy.



So it's not clear to me that a dust economy will necessarily save on research, and it definitely requires extra influence for empire plans.

Thanks, Antistone. You make some good points.



Especially that I forgot to mention that the ratio between industry cost and buyout cost gets worse the more expensive the building, and it is something that bears mention for completeness sake. I don't consider this important to the question of whether to choose FIDSI or FDSI, because I've never been in a situation playing FDSI where it would be an advantage to pick up the missing industry techs, build their buildings, and switch back to playing FIDSI, but it could happen for somebody wishing to rush a wonder victory or some other edge case I've not not considering. (Note that I'm here operating on the basic assumption that everybody else picks up the main economic techs regardless of playing style, because they need to pay the bills, and thus don't consider them part of the cost of running FDSI over FIDSI, while I consider the main industry techs a cost of FIDSI over FDSI, only picking up the Mill Foundry early in the game to help before transitioning to FDSI. This seems sound to me, but opinions might differ on this.)



Even when you get to the fifth era, a 2000 I building which is reduced to 1340 I only costs 2829 D, so we are talking ratios approaching those from mid-game units, which I am perfectly willing to buy outright at that ratio, and so far I've found that my singleplayer games have been effectively won barring actually reaching the victory condition sometime during the fourth era, building on getting a solid start during the first three eras. (I only play on Impossible - the situation might differ in Endless difficulty. And as for multiplayer, I can make no predictions. Multiplayer is a game of its own where balancing and achieving victory is concerned.)



I'll hustle up examples for the other eras and add them to the first post later tonight, lest people be misled.



EDIT: This has now been done.

You've made a better case than I was expecting coming into the thread, so kudos for that.



However, your discussion of industry vs dust costs makes it sound like the buyout cost has a linear relation to the industry cost, but I was under the impression it increased faster than that; that means looking only at the earlier and less expensive buildings could be very misleading, as the ratio will get worse for more expensive items. Have you done a similar cost comparison for the buildings in eras 3, 4, and 5?



You also comment that "industry-oriented governors" would be a reason to avoid a dust-centric economy, but the only industry-oriented heroes I'm aware of are the Wild Walkers, and their most important skill by far is actually building cost reduction, which should be just as valuable for dust buyouts as for regular construction (actually more valuable for dust buyouts, if buyout costs are non-linear), and after that skill they've got direct links to city upkeep reduction and Inspirational Leader, so I'd guess they would actually do pretty well in a dust economy as long as you skip the +% industry skill at the top of their tree.



Also probably worth pointing out that wonders can't be bought with dust, so having strong industry in at least one city would be important for a wonder victory.

Addendum: So expensive in the late game? Can it truly be worth it?



My playing experience until now is that if you arrive in the late game in a good shape in the first place, you've pretty much won the game already, at least where singleplayer is concerned, but it is true that the buyout costs for buildings become pretty high by then, so how does it really stack up if the outcome is still in doubt?



The answer is to a large degree in the list of modifiers shown in the first post, but perhaps I should summarize them here to show what it looks like in the late game. Do note that the following is the best that can be achieved for D and I respectively. In practice, you are not going to have governors everywhere that have the picked up all the dust or industry relevant skills from their faction line as well as the Inspirational Leader and Cool Operator Common skills unless it is an exceptionally long game.



As will be seen, in the long game dust has a substantial advantage to production when compared to industry with respects to the bonuses to production from terrain, production from workers, from base production added by buildings, and from the multiplicative percentage bonuses applied to all three sources of production.



Does this stack up enough to make paying through the nose in buyout costs worth it? As far as I am concerned, the answer is a resounding YES, but only when you've actually located and expanded your cities to support a FDSI economy, prioritising dust over industry.



If you've built your cities to prioritise industry over dust, running a full FIDSI economy is the only rational choice.



Finally, it should be noted that the base industry production from terrain isn't wasted as you'll always be producing something in all your cities. (Make sure always to have something queued up in each city at the end of its production queue that won't complete that turn. Military units are a good choice for this if you've run out of buildings to build). And even when running FDSI, you are almost certainly going to pick up Borer's Guild, not so much for the 3I/terrain_with_industry as for the +1 strategic resource. So if you are uncomfortable with running a full FDSI approach or ever feel a need to go hybrid or go back, you'll only have to pick up Production Line, build the building, and equip a governor with an adamantium production trinket, and you'll be producing a very respectable industry output when assigning workers to work industry. I haven't felt any need to do so in any of my singleplayer games (except for faster building of a wonder, which is a special case), but you might feel differently, and the option is always there.







A note on the interaction between terrain, tech, and empire plans



The additive bonuses to production from terrain listed below is in addition to what the terrain grants by itself.



Note that the game does not take into account bonuses provided by districts, other techs or empire plans for eligibility purposes, only the terrain matters.





Dust in the late game:



5D for terrain with dust.

1D for terrain with dust if playing Broken Lords.

3D for terrain with dust and a Broken Lord's governor.

2D for terrain with river in summer.

3D for terrain with sealake in summer.



Note that rivers can occur in terrain without native dust, so some river provinces will produce only 2D in summer, while seas and lakes always provide at least 1 dust and are thus automatically eligible for both the 5D and 3D boost. That's why cities hugging the coast or on a peninsula are some of the greatest dust generators in the late game, as you'll have every coastal hex providing at least 9D during summer.



The single largest dust producing hex in the game that isn't an anamoly is a river mouth in a city ruled by a Broken Lord, as it can earn a whopping 1 (sea or lake) + 1 (coastal waters) + 8 (dust) + 5 (river) + 2 (river in summer) + 3 (sealake) = 20 D during summer. Err, well, 21 D during summer if you also build the Cargo Docks on the hex, but that's a one-time pleasure, and an extra 1D if playing the Broken Lords, but this primer was really intended for factions other than the Broken Lords, as Broken Lords should already know how awesome it is to run a DSI economy, assuming they locate and expand their cities correctly.



To put it in simple terms, while rivers are nice in general and awesome if governed by Broken Lords, coastal hexes are extremely good in the late game regardless of governor. Also worth noting is that a Broken Lords governor will never provide a bonus less than 8D to any dust producing terrain regardless of season and terrain.





18 D/p from Dust Efficiency 3 governor OR any Cultist (I don't remember any cultists with Dust Efficiency? If there was one, he'd be higher than this, of course).

16-17 D/p from Dust Efficiency 1-2 governors.

15 D/p without any Dust Efficiency or Cultist governor.

[add+2ifT3glasssteelwasfoundinquest]





75D from buildings – as much as the boost provided by 15 regular terrains with dust with non-Broken Lord governor.



+95% D from buildings (when fervent, 85% otherwise).

+55% D from governor.



-24% I build cost if Wind Walker governor, resulting in lower dust buyout. (Since buyout costs increase superlinearly with industry costs, this is an even bigger deal for buying out with dust than it is for production with industry – but on the other hand, Wind Walkers don't have other skills affecting dust costs, which is why they are not ideal governors for the FDSI approach. Still powerful, though.)







Industry in the late game:



3I for terrain with industry.

1I for terrain with industry in summer.

1I for terrain with forest.

1I for terrain with forest in summer if playing Wind Walkers.

1I for terrain with forest and a Wind Walker governor.

1I for terrain that is an exploitation of a city rather than a district.



Forests, which are the best industry producing terrain around, top out with a bonus of 8 I during summertime if they are exploitations governed by Wind Walkers and played by Wind Walkers.



Non-forests only reach 3-5 I depending on season and exploitation status regardless of governor, so around half of the best case scenario.



Note that the best case scenario for industry where terrain is concerned is the same amount of production as a Broken Lords governor can achieve as a minimum in any dust producing terrain in any season, while the general case for industry is around half the Broken Lords minimum.





17 I/p if your name is Exid the Chosen (Industry Efficiency 3 Cultist)

14 I/p from Industry Efficiency 3 non-Cultist or non-Industry Efficient Cultist.

12-13I/p from Industry Efficiency 1-2 non-Cultists.

11 I/p without any Dust Efficiency or Cultist governor.

[add+2ifT3adamantiumwasfoundinquest]



6I from buildings – as much as the boost provided by 2 regular terrains with industry. This compares very unfavourably to the 75D from dust buildings in each city.



50I/district_with_strategic_resource, can only be built in one city in the empire. This is something that dust has no equivalent of, but it must be noted that that single city needs to encompass two strategic resources in districts for the city to provide more base industry from buildings (106) than dust gets with no requirements (75).



+15% I from buildings. This compares extremely unfavourably to the +95% for dust.

+65% I from governor. This compares favourably to the +55% for dust.



-24% I build cost if Wind Walker governor.

The best heroes for FDSI are:



Broken Lords for the best dust generation by far on terrain suited for dust production, for the bonus to strategic resources, and the percentage bonus to dust from all sources.



Cultists for their across the board efficiency increases, getting percentage multipliers to dust, science, and influence, and being able to easily switch from Faction skills to the Inspirational Leader Common skill. (They really make awesome governors.)



Drakken in the early game if starting on rivers for the faster growth and influence generation. They are much less impressive later on, but since you only get better influence production than they have inherently via skills in the fifth era, their 6 influence/district they provide remains valuable and better than most of the governors other races can provide, just not first rank like Broken Lords or Cultists. Under no circumstances will you ever choose a Drakken over a Broken Lord or Cultist for governor under FDSI unless it is a very good Drakken and a very poor Broken Lord or Cultist (and even then you'll think twice), because in the long run the Drakken is inferior.





The best hero traits for are: Dust Boost, Dust Efficiency, and, in the early game, Influence Boost.



While there are many good heroes to choose from, a few stand out as being especially awesome:



Ozek the Chosen has Influence Boost 3. This cultist is awesome. He is extra awesome if you pick him up in the early or mid-game where his extra influence on top of the already strong cultist skills matters the most.



Lord Peyton Quinn has Dust Efficiency 3.



Duke Unwin Weybridge and John Port, "The Shadow", both have Dust Boost 3.



Loremaster Semsanitnwona. Influence Boost 3 and Food Boost 2. While overshadowed by all Broken Lords and Cultists in the long run, this loremaster is the very good one I alluded to earlier. One of your early cities not really located all that great for dust production? This loremaster is a good choice, particularly in the early game.





Which is best: Dust Efficiency or Dust Boost?



Let us compare equal levels of Dust Efficiency, which increases the efficiency of workers, and Dust Boost, which provides a lump sump of dust and a percentagewise boost to all dust income in the city and scales with the hero's level, L.



Dust Efficiency x provides x D/p.

Dust Boost x provides 2x D/L and L% D in general.



The first observation is that it is obvious that unless p>2L, Dust Efficiency can never be better than Dust Boost. When the worker population is greater than twice the hero's level, it depends mostly on the city's terrain which is better. When the worker population is much greater than twice the hero's level, it is almost always better.



A second is that Dust Boost also provides its bonus if you have to divert workers to food or science production for any reason.



My personal opinion is that overall I prefer Dust Boost to Dust Efficiency, when they have the same magnitude, because while later in the game cities populations will significantly outstrip their governor's levels in many cases, early in the game when I am most strapped for cash and kickstarting FDSI, populations are normally low compared to their governor's level.



If you are hiring a new lowlevel hero to govern some recently conquered huge city, Dust Efficiency is probably the best, though.



But in general, the magnitude of the trait is more important than which of the two it is. I'll take Dust Efficiency 3 over Dust Boost 1 any day of the week regardless of whether governing a large or small city.





Conclusion:



One might conclude from the former that I think a FDSI economy is always preferable to choose to FIDSI: More versatility, fewer techs required to really get rocking, the game being highly frontloaded in favour of FDSI, and, where buildings are concerned, just being a plain more efficient use of resources even when disregarding everything else.



That's not the case, because I understated the importance of terrain in the above.



After all, the important measure for whether FDSI beats FIDSI from a purely economical perspective is the total production of I and D respectively (or total per population for comparing between cities) and most definitely not the production of the individual worker. The workers' production make up a significant amount of the production of D and I when assigned to them and sometimes the majority, but the terrain cannot be ignored, and the income from terrain and exploitation remains important throughout the game. Dust gets a huge bonus with one tech in T1 early for rivers and sea in one tech, industry gets smaller but wider bonuses in T2 for terrain, forests, and exploitation in two techs, and a big one on terrain in T4, should you choose it.



In other words, if you are going to be building your cities in industry heavy areas with little dust production using industry oriented governors, going FDSI would be madness.



But if you see some nice areas early on that could make for decent dust generation long term and are on the look out for the right sort of heroes, FDSI is a very, very powerful approach. Rivers or coasts near one or more anomalies? Much of the terrain in one area producing dust and being generally nice without being a total killer for your growth while playing FIDSI during the early stage of the game? FDSI may very well work out.



Normally you won't really know how whether switching to FDSI will be a good idea until you've scouted the neighbouring regions, so for your first city, just choose the best city site in your original region like you'd normally do and then make up your mind once you've seen the neighbourhood. Going for a healthy mix of food, industry, science, and dust with multiple anomalies while keeping in mind that you might want to expand into a dust rich area later works fine for the this purpose.