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Shadows - Quick Start Guide

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9 years ago
Sep 3, 2015, 7:31:02 PM
Advanced tips:



  • So long as units are invisible, they can ignore closed borders-- but if you're detected, you'll be kicked out
  • You can pillage a resource and siege a city at the same time with a single army
  • Pillaging an extractor in a region under siege won't give any strategic resources
  • Roving Clans players can use Setseke Ho to kick any spies out of their city
  • Stealth grants camouflage, so you don't need both on one unit
  • Stealthed armies can enter battle as reserves without warning, so beware of ambush!
  • You can see if an infiltrated city is undergoing a roundup from its Security tooltip; this is a good time for any last-minute actions or exfiltration
  • Infiltration actions are guaranteed, even if they lead to your spy's capture
  • Even if your spy is disabled, you keep active vision on the city he or she had infiltrated, so you can re-infiltrate immediately
  • Your best defense against infiltration is to prevent others from ever acquiring vision on your city center via closed borders, but beware those pesky stealthed units
  • There's a new "graphs" option in game options that you can set to obscure information available from the Scores graph in the absence of infiltration
  • Two empires will only ever be formally "introduced" for purposes of diplomacy with detection of each others' units/cities, so that introductions won't tip your opponent off to the presence of any stealthy units
  • Via vision actions, you can hopscotch infiltrators across an empire to, say, a capital upon which you have never previously laid eyes

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9 years ago
Sep 3, 2015, 1:49:49 PM






AFFINITY & TRAITS

  • The Forgotten faction cannot see, gather or use Science. Instead, technologies can be bought out, instantly, by spending Dust.
  • They can copy enemy Technologies using their special “Steal Technology” Espionage action. This action replaces “Decrease Research Production”.
  • They can gain loot when destroying hostile Minor Faction villages.
  • They get a boost of +1 to Pillage and Siege Power for each unit in their armies.
  • Starting Technologies: “Pillage” and “Search Party”.







EXCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGIES

  • Experience bonus per turn on Heroes, and per infiltrated Hero.
  • Security bonus on all cities.
  • +100% on Dust income upon completing a pillage.
  • Bonus of 80% winter predictability, and -100% on cost of Infiltration in winter.







UNIQUE UNIT ABILITIES

  • Dual Wield: some Forgotten units can equip a weapon in each hand, with a slight Attack penalty on the left hand.
  • Stealth: Armies composed exclusively of Forgotten units are invisible everywhere.
  • Acrobat: Assassins can move through enemy units on the tactical map as though they were allies.
  • Faster Than Shadows: Mysts' attacks hit travel from their original target through up to 2 additional enemy units, dealing full damage.

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9 years ago
Sep 3, 2015, 1:47:42 PM






Information revealed by espionage



On the infiltrated city

  • Infiltrating a city enables you to see the inside of the city in real time as though it were yours (what is being constructed, what the garrison is, etc.), though you cannot control the city in any way.
  • Infiltrating a city allows you to perform actions against the infiltrated city: Target Governor / Decrease Fortifications / Decrease Production / Decrease Population.







On the infiltrated Empire

  • Infiltrating a city also means infiltrating an empire. It therefore gives you access to some very important strategical information such as:

    • The scores and victory-progressions of the infiltrated empire (assuming the option has been set in the game menu through the game settings menu)
    • The diplomatic relations, treaties and mood of the other empires towards the empire you have infiltrated. This is accessible through the Leader Screen.

  • Infiltrating an empire allows you to perform actions against the infiltrated city: Steal Technology (if Forgotten) / Decrease Science Production (if not Forgotten) / Steal Vision / Decrease Diplomatic Cost / Reveal Spy / Decrease Morale.









Infiltration



Infiltrating Cities

  • Heroes can now also be assigned to Spy on a foreign city, provided the city is visible. Your empire can only place one Spy in each opposing city.
  • Infiltrating has a cost in influence bound to your current Era and the scale of your empire, and also the target city population
  • Spies always start at level 1 of infiltration once infiltrated.







Unlocking Infiltration Actions

  • Once infiltrated, your Spy gains Infiltration Points every turn. Spies proceed to the next Infiltration Level when they have accumulated enough Infiltration Points.
  • Spies gain access to different Infiltration actions based on their current Infiltration Level.
  • Each category of action has a cost in influence that is bound to the current Era and the scale of your empire.
  • Each time a Spy performs an Infiltration Action it loses all its Infiltration Points and so returns to Infiltration Level 1.







Seniority

  • Each action triggered grants a bonus of “Infiltration Points per turn” to your Spy. This bonus is equal to the level of the action triggered. These bonuses stack: they represent the Seniority of your Spy for this specific infiltration of this specific city.
  • Seniority, Hero Skills and Hero Abilities are the only way that a Hero’s Infiltration Point gain can be accelerated.
  • The Seniority bonus is reset if your Spy leaves the city for any reason.





City Security

  • Spies always succeed in performing their Infiltration Actions. Their action may have consequences though, depending on the Security level of the City they have infiltrated.
  • The higher the Security is, the higher the odds that the Spy will be Wounded (-50% of Max Life), Disabled or even Captured.
  • Only if your Spy is captured, disabled or wounded is the targeted empire notified or their presence in a cities and so may well launch a roundup (see more below).
  • In general, if your spy remains unnoticed, the targeted empire is also notified but are not told where the Spy is or who sent it.
  • In most cases a low security means a higher chance that your Spy will remain unscathed and, ideally, unnoticed.





City Roundup

  • Any city can start a roundup at any time.
  • Once activated, the Roundup starts accumulating Security bonuses at the cost of 50% of the per pop city production.
  • After a few turns of activation, it will try to flush spies in the city, based on the current city security value (like if a spy was performing an action).









Special Cases



Spies in Cities Destroyed

  • Spies infiltrated in cities when they are destroyed are Disabled and sent back to the Academy.





Captured Spies in Empire Destroyed

  • Spies captured in empires that are destroyed are sent back to the Academy with no penalties.

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9 years ago
Sep 3, 2015, 1:42:48 PM






How It Works





Prerequisites

  • The Pillage army action can be unlocked through a new Technology in Era I.
  • Pillage is only possible in Cold War or War and not possible from the sea.
  • To pillage, an army must be located next to a pacified and rebuilt village, a watchtower or an extractor belonging to another empire. Converted villages cannot be pillaged.
  • As with Siege power, the Pillage Power of an army is directly bound to the level of its units and can be modified by Hero abilities granted by some items.









Pillage Power & Building Defence

  • Items and Hero skills increasing Siege Power also increase the Pillage Power, and vice-versa.
  • Each regional building has its own Pillage Defence value which depends on its type, level (for watch towers) and, where applicable, City improvements and Hero Governor items.
  • When a pillage is interrupted regional building regenerate Pillage Defence each turn at a rate determined by similar factors.









Pillage Effects



Once all the building’s Pillage Defence points have been depleted, the following effects are applied:





Watch Towers

  • Disables vision and regeneration for X turns (depending on game speed)
  • Instantly grants Dust and Life Points to each unit in the pillaging army (bound to the time of deactivation)







Extractors

  • Disables resource production for X turns (depending on game speed)
  • Instantly grants Dust and resources (bound to the time of deactivation). The resource type depends on the type of extractor.







Pacified-&-Built Villages

  • Disables any pacification bonuses granted by the village. If this village is the only non-pillaged village of an assimilated minor-faction then this factions assimilation bonuses are likewise removed.
  • Instantly grants Dust (bound to the time of deactivation) plus a random “loot” reward generated from the same set as ruins.

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9 years ago
Sep 3, 2015, 1:40:13 PM






How It Works





Stealth

  • Armies are invisible on all tiles if all units of the army have this ability







Camouflage

  • Armies are invisible on Forest tiles if all units of the army have this ability







Detection

  • Armies with Detection can see invisible armies (stealth and camouflage) within their range of vision
  • Watch Tower buildings can also see invisible armies within their range of vision

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