Multi Culture and Multi Race Empires

[Tokogawa [GER]]

I understand that sometimes having another Race apart from your main One in your Realm can be very useful. For example I currently have Ratkin as Main and Dwarfs from a Free City because said Dwarfs were Underground adapted and close by. Now I have Ratkin Cities and Ratkin Vassals overground and a Dwarf City and (usually small) Dwarf Vassals in the Underground. Them being able to farm the Mushrooms has proven to be very helpful in avoiding Huts and I can also see similar Benefits if I choose to take over a Vasall Free City when they are adapted to Ice or the Desert (Swamp doesnt need Adaption if you ask me)

BUT I would never done that to begin with if said Dwarfs didnt share the same Culture. Because currently I see no use of having different cultural Units in your Army. Another Free City nearby could have ended the same, as my Race in my Empire, but I chose to replace them with my Ratkin since they had a different Culture and I didnt want mystic Units in my barbaric Empire nor did I want a City that just produced more Mana/Knowledge just sitting there. Maybe if you prefer a specific Culture and youre currently playing another one so you can still do what you usually do. But then why even start as another Culture right?

Whats your Opinion on having multiple Races and/or Cultures in your Empire? Is it useful? Do you do it on purpose or does it sometimes just happen? Are there maybe even some sort of Meta-Plays you can do that way?

Another small Problem Ive seen is having to cast Transform Spells twice which can eat up valueable time and Ressources that might be better invested in other Spells, especially in Wartime

[Pantagruel]

In general the reasons for taking a second race are either (1) access to unit types you want and don't have, or (2) because you can conquer an advanced free city very early in the game (getting a tier 3 city with a major transformation on, say, turn 10, is a big advantage).

[Telos]

I think the OP has this backwards. If the available city is of the same culture as my main culture, then it usually won't add much: just more of the same units that I can already get, but of a different race that won't benefit as I cast racial transformations on my main race, so usually better to migrate to my main race or hold it as a vassal (though @Pantagruel is right that in early game, a foreign race with a useful major transformation may have a window where it is useful).

In contrast if the available city is of a different culture, then it opens the door to getting new units and buildings that aren't available to my main culture, so it's worth considering whether it can let you build anything useful that you can't get natively. Some especially plausible pickups are: (a) High culture, since their supports are quite good and can add a lot of spirit damage by awakening units from other cultures, and/or their T3 mages synergize well with a lot of things, (b) Mystic culture for a T3 mage that can be great against opponents that rely on buffs or summons, (c) Primal/Industrious Culture for access to a solid T3 polearm/shield, esp. if I already have aspect of root to heal it, or Primal's over-powered animists make a solid addition to many armies summoning a new T2 primal animal every 3 rounds, (d) Feudal/Dark/Barbarian if you want access to T3 charge.

[Gaius]

It's very useful. You end up with the capacity to create T3 units from multiple cultures. I just love to grab Reaver Dragoons or Dark's Dark Knights when I'm playing Mystic or Industrial.

That said, it would be nice to have a chance to change culture WITHOUT changing race, even if it was considered slightly evil and/or took many turns.

[Tokogawa [GER]]

Originally posted by Telos:

I think the OP has this backwards. If the available city is of the same culture as my main culture, then it usually won't add much: just more of the same units that I can already get, but of a different race that won't benefit as I cast racial transformations on my main race, so usually better to migrate to my main race or hold it as a vassal (though @Pantagruel is right that in early game, a foreign race with a useful major transformation may have a window where it is useful).

In contrast if the available city is of a different culture, then it opens the door to getting new units and buildings that aren't available to my main culture, so it's worth considering whether it can let you build anything useful that you can't get natively. Some especially plausible pickups are: (a) High culture, since their supports are quite good and can add a lot of spirit damage by awakening units from other cultures, and/or their T3 mages synergize well with a lot of things, (b) Mystic culture for a T3 mage that can be great against opponents that rely on buffs or summons, (c) Primal/Industrious Culture for access to a solid T3 polearm/shield, esp. if I already have aspect of root to heal it, or Primal's over-powered animists make a solid addition to many armies summoning a new T2 primal animal every 3 rounds, (d) Feudal/Dark/Barbarian if you want access to T3 charge.

Originally posted by Gaius:

It's very useful. You end up with the capacity to create T3 units from multiple cultures. I just love to grab Reaver Dragoons or Dark's Dark Knights when I'm playing Mystic or Industrial.

That said, it would be nice to have a chance to change culture WITHOUT changing race, even if it was considered slightly evil and/or took many turns.

Makes a lot of Sense actually. I really had my thinking backwards.

[Pantagruel]

Probably the most useful alternate cultures are high and mystic, because useful tome battle mages are pretty rare, while there's two quite good tome ranged units and a bunch of good tome melee or skirmish units.

[Aurumworks]

More choices to decide the fate of a city maybe?
Release (good++): Release them as a free city with a strong relation bonus. You were just here to force peace.
Release as vassal (good+): Make city a vassal of your empire. They are still mostly free to do as they please.
Absorb: They are now under your direct control but retain their identity.
Assimilate (evil): You force your culture on them and integrate them into your empire.
Appropriate (evil+): You replace the people with your own but the city stays the culture it originally was.
Migrate (evil+): You throw everyone and everything out, making the city part of your homogeneous empire.
Raze (evil++): MDK, plunder everything, burn what's left.