Cultists
Praise the Queen! Cultists are no doubt one of the best factions for destroying your opponents, even their traits are based on razing enemies’ cities. But you need some practice to keep your weak Preachers and converted villages safe to be able to expand your One-City-Empire and to build up your power. Your enemies will be aware of your plans, they will be spying on you dreaming of capturing your fortified Capital.
Picking this faction for a multiplayer game we need to understand well our strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Looking at these features we can say that Cultists are good at force dominance, eliminating enemies with a horde of units from converted villages and strong metropolis. Their efficiency is razing cities with a brute force, getting free Stockpiles for faster production and research. Cultists can be very dangerous in Early and Mid game, but without many converted villages and stockpiles they are starting to fall behind due to technology and economic disadvantage closer to Late game.
So, the best victory condition for Cultists is of course Supremacy. If your playstyle is to be proactive and aggressive this faction fits you well. Sadly, it is barely the only type of victory in a competitive game with experienced players.
Now let’s see how to manage them well on all stages of the game.
At turn 1 you need to check how far the closest ruins, villages and neighboring regions are. Split the army, it is better to search ruins with Hero to get more experience. You can parley with some villages and get quests at turn 1 already, because you have Language Square researched from the start. You need to pacify villages as fast as possible to convert them later. Depending on terrain, anomalies, quests from the villages and ruins you need to decide if you want to stay in the spawned region or move to the neighboring area to get a better start. If you found a region with more villages (some quests can point it out) that can be pacified fast, better terrain where you can settle at turn 2-3, it’s better to move forward. Keep in mind that you must make a decision at turn 1!
When you have settled you need to build a Founder's Memorial and start researching technologies depending on what resources you have in your region or what type of FIDS (Food-Industry-Dust-Science) you want to increase first. Also you’ll get your first Faction Quest where you need to convert two villages for some good reward. You have to convert villages anyway to increase your FIDS in the city, so you’ll finish this Chapter sooner or later. Try to convert the villages that have all 6 tiles or good anomalies around it to get more FIDS. Also it is better to convert the villages in regions that have some resources, but at the start of the game FIDS are more important for you. Please keep in mind that each converted village will increase your city upkeep, the cost for your Empire Plan and the booster cost for your luxury resources! I don’t recommend you to convert more than two villages before turn 10.
You can’t get a good use of your mercenaries before turn 10, so it is better to sell them and get more Dust, but you need to research the Mercenary Market first. Be careful selling your units in the regions that border with your enemies, without any garrison your converted villages can be easily destroyed.
Your first Hero Andom the Seer has a good Influence boost and useful skills for your city, he can become a very efficient Governor. Try to get at least Level 3 on him as fast as possible and then assign him in your city. The best way to do that is to search ruins, parley with villages and defeat Minor Factions. Your first goal is to get max level at Impassioned Preacher skill to have +3 FIDSI per Population in your city.
When you reach turn 10 it is time to choose your Empire Plan for the next 10 turns. You need to stock the Influence to this moment to boost your economy further. By default it is better to pick Economy and Population and Science and Industry bonuses. Sometimes it is useful to choose a Military bonus if you want to rush someone early though.
Cultists can be the best faction at building Wonders and to be honest they rely on them very much, because they have only one city that produces FIDSI. Museum of Auriga provides very good effects for your Empire, so it is better to find resources to build it as fast as possible. From my experience I can say that the Museum of Auriga is often built by other factions at turn 15-16, but Cultists can build it at turn 11-13 already in a good case. They have good Governor Hero from the start and can additionally increase Industry production with converted villages, so the main problem that they can face is the lack of resources, which often can be solved by finishing Minor Factions or Cultists' Main Quests. You can start building the Museum of Auriga before turn 10 already, but my advice is not to build any Wonder if you can’t build it within 5 turns, otherwise you’ll lose too much time for nothing in case of failure.
Keep searching ruins and pearls with your Preachers and mercenaries and converting more villages, you can make more Preachers to do this more efficiently.
Chapter 2 of your Faction Quest is also easy to complete, because you have free Minor Faction units or you can buy them at least at the Marketplace. Chapter 3 will take some time, but you already have Cultists Hero in your city, so you only need to wait for 10 turns.
Try to succeed in building the Museum of Auriga and find resources for Industrial Megapole, the Wonder from Era II. It is often built at turn 21-22 by other factions, so you need to keep in mind these timings when trying to participate in it, but usually Cultists are able to build it even faster with an average start. Also you must have these improvements in your city: Husbandry Center, Center of Mineralogy, Canal Locks. The first two can be researched in Era I and the last is placed in Era II.
You have to manage your Influence well to be able to convert more villages and to stock some for the Empire Plan. At turn 20 you must pick Tier II Science and Industry for your Empire Plan, because you want this +33% Building production cost reduction bonus for your city. Tier II Empire and Expansion is pretty useless for Cultists, especially if you have the Museum of Auriga. You can also choose +3 Dust per Population bonus that will help to sustain the upkeep from villages. If you want to attack someone in the next 10 turns it can be very useful to pick Tier II Military.
Try to split up the Population in your city effectively to be able to research, build and grow faster!
It is time to prepare for your invasion into the enemies’ territory. Try to scout your opponent’s position, find the most vulnerable city for the first attack. The Industry production in your city should be pretty high already (about 300 Industry production) to construct units fast. You can produce units of assimilated Minor Factions or research Nameless Guard. It is better of course to enter Era III faster to have an army of level 3 units, usually you can do this before turn 30 with a decent start.
It is also the time to find at least one General hero for your army. There are a lot of good heroes at the Marketplace that you can hire. The best heroes for the army are Drakken Heroes with Health Boost capacity. This effect itself gives a lot of additional health to units, besides this Drakken Heroes have a lot of useful skills for the army. Other heroes with Health Boost capacity like a few heroes of Roving Clans or Allayi are also good as Generals. Another way to increase the health of your units is to have heroes with an Iron Taskmaster skill. Heroes of Forgotten, Necrophages, Cultists, Mykara can be your choice, but be sure that they have some battle capacities as well. The amount of health is determinative in battles, that’s why the rest of the heroes are not recommended in my opinion.
Continue to complete your Faction Quests. Chapter 4 can be difficult to progress though, because you will be asked to destroy a city in a region that can be far from you and that is the problem with trying to win by a Quest Victory playing Cultists. It is better to not focus on completing a quest if it can cause too much trouble.
Please notice that Cultists can have a level 3 district, so it is important to construct your city smart. The best form for your city is a triangle with a City Center or Industrial Megapole as a core.
At turn 30 you need to choose another Empire Plan for the next 10 turns.
If you have entered Era III it is better to pick Tier III Science and Industry, because you should have a lot of districts by this moment already and +2 Science on District will be helpful. You also need to pick Tier II Military, because you have to be aggressive in the Mid game. Tier III Empire and Expansion can be useful if you want to act fast and always have quick reinforcements, but you need a lot of Influence to choose all of these bonuses at the same time.
Entering the Mid game you need to keep in mind that starting from turn 30 most of the other Empires will have 4-6 cities already. No matter how good your city is, without stockpiles and a bunch of converted villages you will start falling behind heavily in research and economy. And the only way to have a lot of stockpiles and convert villages without fear is to destroy all the other cities that stand in the way of Cult of the Eternal End.
Starting from Mid game the timings are more variable, so it is harder to speak about defined turn periods. As I said earlier, Mid game is the time for your invasion, you should try to dominate your opponents and win the game by supremacy. Make sure that you have researched Destructive Analysis and Unskilled Labor before attacking someone.
Destructive Analysis is an exclusive technology of Cultists in Era II that allows you to get Science Stockpiles from razing cities and you must have it. Unskilled Labor is a technology from Era III that increases the effects on Stockpiles, so you will get free Industry and Science Stockpiles with +300 production, which will help you a lot. Once again, try to find a city that you can destroy without much effort just to get free Stockpiles and attack it as fast as you can.
There are also few technologies besides Stockpiles and Extractors that you must have in Era III. You have already researched three technologies that give you city improvements with +5 per Population to Food, Science and Industry. All of them you can build only once in your Empire, but Cultists have only one city, so all the improvements that can be built only once are extremely important for you, because they give very powerful effects. You should research Dust Alchemy, Statistical Methods and Public Works, every improvement from these technologies is important for your city.
Dust Refinery and Plow Factory also can help you a lot with Dust and Food. Borough Government and Unexpected Allies can be very important for your city defense. Skoros is one of the best Guardians in the game thanks to his Heal and Mind Control abilities, you must have him in your army. Also Era III alloys are much better than from Era II and not so bad even compared to Era V, so you can research it and equip your elite units with such weapons for the rest of the game.
You must try to build every Era Wonder, Alchemic Institute is no exception. It can give you up to +75 Science and also reduces research cost in past Eras. The problem is it requires 25 Palladian and Adamantian and Cultists are one of the factions which always have a lack of resources. When you have entered Era III you should check what new resources you have in regions nearby and convert more villages there if you need those resources. Also don’t forget to buy resources at the Marketplace!
You can and should definitely tame Urkans by force or with luxury resources, if they have settled nearby. These creatures will no doubt boost your army and city well.
If you have managed to overcome Chapter 4 of your Faction Quest the next Chapter will be easier to complete. You will be asked to research 10 technologies in Era III and I have already mentioned that Era III has many good technologies that you should get. It would be nice if you could finish this quest and also enter into the Era IV by turn 40.
You will be asked again to wait another 10 turns in Chapter 6, which is pretty annoying. Another reason why Quest Victory is not a good option for Cultists.
When you enter Era IV you should research Organized Labor first of all, because it will add +500 production to Stockpiles. Other technologies in Era IV can be variable, all improvements for Science, Industry and Food are pretty good in this Era, you can research and build them. Military technologies of Era IV can also help you in war. If you have a lot of Science Stockpiles you can reach Era V by turn 50 and strengthen your dominance.
My last advice in Mid game is to start roundup sometimes, because your city will often be an objective for spies.
Technologies of Era V can be also very useful, but you should rely on your game plan and win condition that you want to get. If your opponents didn’t surrender by this moment, but you feel that you still can pressure them and win by Supremacy it is better to intensify yourself with powerful Guardians and stronger elite units. Guardians of Era V for sure are the most terrifying in the battle, they can smash a bunch of units and defeat even Urkans, but their cost is pretty high. Atmos should be equipped with Tempest and Shard of the Lost to make him very dangerous in defending himself and let him get more Blood Rage. Neros should be equipped with Vortex of the Polar Ice and Stone of the Core to make his Tsunami Charge more deadly and get higher Initiative to attack first. You also need to research technologies that give your units additional experience when recruiting them. If you have reached Era VI you can try to research the Serum of Iteru first to increase your power. Also do not forget to stick together your free Minor Factions units from converted villages to form one big horde. While Dust Eclipse they can be especially dangerous!
If you still want to win not by a war, the fastest option can be Wonder Victory, but in a competitive match it will be hard to achieve. You need to complete the last Chapter of your Faction Quest to get the Temple of the Earth's Core. The last objective will be easy to complete, you will be asked to reach the level 3 with your City Center, try to finish this Chapter by turn 60.
Luckily Cultists can have very high Industry production with upgraded Stockpiles. In a good case you can build the Wonder in 10 turns or even faster. If you are lucky with map generation you can have regions with Titan Bones resource, which gives you +50% Industry Production, and Urces Minor Faction, which you can assimilate to get +5% Building Production Cost Reduction per converted village of this faction.
If you want to achieve Quest Victory you should keep in mind that to complete the Victory Quest you will be asked to wait for 4-5 turns 3 times! Be ready to play at least another 20 turns and to defend yourself while finishing objectives.
Achieving Scientific and Economic Victory will also take some time, but you still can try it if you have some troubles with completing your Faction Quest. Try to find Haunts or Delvers Minor Factions to increase your Science or Dust income. Moonleaf and Dustwater resources will also help you a lot. Still it is not the best win conditions for you at all and there is a high chance that someone will get ahead of you.
That is all I wanted to tell you about Cultist. Now play and have fun! Good luck!
