Choosing a culture

You choose one of four culture groups for each ruler before the match. The choice is public and fixed for the match. Every group uses the same resources, buildings and shared units; it changes some prices and rates, and it adds two special units that only that group trains.

Latin Kingdoms#

Hold and smash. Farms are cheaper and yield more work, walls cost less and fortifications (keeps, towers, walls, gates and palisades) withstand more damage. Heavy cavalry costs less. Markets cost more, and mounted units move more slowly.

Special units: the Knight Retinue, heavy shock cavalry from the stable in the Kingdom Age, and the Arbalester, a slow-firing crossbow soldier from the range in the Territorial Age.

Eastern Realms#

Form and endure. Spearmen and towers cost less, and fortifications stand a little longer. Rams and trebuchets cost more.

Special units: the Cataphract, armoured cavalry built to stay in a fight, from the stable in the Principality Age (the third age), and the Shield Guard, heavy infantry that holds a line against cavalry, from the barracks in the Territorial Age.

Sultanate Realms#

Trade and maneuver. Caravans are faster and cheaper, markets are cheaper, and every trade trip earns a commercial bonus. Levies and spearmen cost more, and fortifications fall sooner.

Special units: the Guard Cavalry, professional armoured cavalry, from the stable in the Sultanate Age (the third age), and the Composite Archer, a long-range archer, from the range in the Territorial Age.

Steppe Confederacies#

Raid and outmaneuver. Mounted units move faster, scouts cost less and raiders carry 30 % more loot. The Steppe is the weakest group at static defense: fortifications fall sooner, and towers and walls cost more.

Special units: the Horse Archer and the Steppe Lancer, fast cavalry from the stable in the Territorial Age. A Horse Archer on a move order shoots the nearest enemy in range without stopping; a shot made while it is moving, or within a second of stopping, does 60 % of its damage. Set it to passive to ride past without shooting.

Partners#

A partner's caravans arriving at your markets earn a little more: 10 % for the Sultanate Realms, 5 % for the other groups. The bonus needs a treaty with trade access and applies once per trip.

Compare the selected prices#

Prices in the generated reference already include each group's changes once; do not apply the same discount again. A bonus on a quoted caravan trip does not become spendable income until the trip actually pays.

These are development values with provisional balance, and the Horse Archer's moving shot is a provisional reading of "reduced accuracy". The special commands and formations (Lance Charge, Shield Wall, Harass and Feigned Retreat), subcultures, the groups' own architecture and art for the special units are later work; see Culture groups and subcultures.