What's your favourite culture and why ?

[Aeon]

Mine is Mystic Attunement, because from mid game they can cast multiple spells per turn both on world map and during combat using astral echoes and mana that are plenty past early game.

[Elgareth]

Industrious will always have a place in my heart because I learned to love the Dvar back in Planetfall, and Industrious are basically the fantasy Dvar :D
Also I'm currently cheesing the second campaign map with them, as almost half of the map are mountains, so I have 10 pioneers digging up artifacts, production and gold every turn. Artefacts that go straight into my dragon- and artifact hoard, 1/3 of my gold and mana production comes from the artifacts :-D

From a style standpoint the Primal variants, I like druids/nature themes.

[Evelo]

Primal is my favorite, but I struggle the least with High. Wish I didn't suck with everything except High.

[Aeon]

Halflings riding eagles murdering everyone in the name of order. That was one of the best games I had with High culture :)

[~ Fabulous ~]

Reaver, as I can just attack attack attack without stop

[Daywalker]

Industrious. I like money.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Reaver.
War declartion without pentalty.
Overseers massive heal and subjugation ability.
Guns make a nice sound when fired.
I wish there damage was better but at least the remove the cannot move and fire weakness.

[Astasia]

Primal, mostly because of the terraforming mechanics. I also like the design and variations, and that they have a unique quest.

[utilityguy]

In terms of low need to min/max in order to have fun:

• Primal.

That ability for primal to summon the spirit Crocodile/whatever one time every turn has always felt amazing to use--well; Spam, and Primal Cultures get that spell pretty early into the game as long as they make a B-line towards the Spirit tree.

I would like to put high here, but my brain reminds me that I always have to do the annoying thing of keeping track of my culture's Good and Evil score and constantly play the game of keeping that score in neutral if I don't want to have a torturous slog of a start.

In terms of Culture I'd want to live in if I were isekai'd into the Age of Wonders 4 universe:

• High

Feudal with Magic, realistically, isn't gonna be that different from real life Feudal times. Dark culture, like, I'm dead lol. Reaver is Runner up if only because I currently live in a contemporary Reaver culture in real life, so adding magic to the mix would only be bad if... gestures broadly. Industrial is fine, probably would be cozy if it was in a cave, lead by a chill-vibes Dragon all about getting magic and gold from their hoarding addiction. Mystic... the focus on knowledge is nice, but they're a little too secretive of it for my tastes. Hard no on Barbarians, partly 'cause I'm also dead in that culture lol.

High has a focus on keeping the population happy and everything progressing faster because of the leader balancing the fine line of whateverness, while also the lore of that culture being a well-developed society (including basic daily infrastructure), so by that standard it would be one of the least horrible cultures to go about my daily life in.

[Hank]

It use to be High, but now has become Mystic Summoner
High has so many good things going for it.
The Neutral Agenda bonus is really easy to maintain giving you plenty of food and production for just maintaining high stability which easy for everyone but Dark.
Their Supports are amazing with a buff, a heal, a range attack that can apply distraction making Sneaky an easy racial pick.
The Leaders get the Awakener's AOE blast great for Dragon Lords and Eldritch Sovereign giving them another action.
The Dawn Defenders are a good front line tank that does good damage after awakened.

After the Update though? Mystic Summoner hands down.
I LOVE EVOLVE.
I love how animals come with a free 25% upkeep reduction.
I love how when spiderlings become matriarchs they become utterly insane.
I love how all it takes to reduce their upkeep to almost hitting the cap is a single Wildspeaker.
I love how summon animal makes the ANIMAL magical origin meaning they can be easily healed and buffed by mystic summoner.
I love the tome path for animals easily nabbing Artifice, Vigor, Sanctuary, Supremacy and Goddess of Nature.
I love how a single stack of 6 buffed to heck animals can murder 18 stacks of AI forces.
With the changes to Mystic I can just go Summoner, and instant get a Matriarch to murder everything in the early game.
Also you can easily go Tome of Arch Mage for the 30% damage boost and faster movement over the Crit Chance and Damage from Tome of Goddess of Nature because SUMMON ANIMAL makes them MAGICAL ORIGIN.

[Jet Magnum]

Barbarian for me. I love the aesthetic, I love the early Skirmisher units, I love early game shield units with a shield bash stun into Defense Mode that feels almost broken, and I love being able to drop Outposts with my Scouts without having to send a full army just to claim a Wonder or a distant Magic Material.

[Azunai]

I guess feudal if i had to pick one. I also enjoyed playing all of the others, though.

I like Knights in my video games and they are in feudal culture in this game. I also like their Defenders. Nothing fancy - just tough guys with big kiteshields.

Mechanics wise i like the simplicity. Lord of crops on the ruler and a quick levy camp early on give good growth so the capital can start building knigths fairly soon. Their damage bonus when standing next to an ally is simple to use and can be combined with similar racial traits that also give benefits from adjacency.

When played as a mount culture their defender becomes a cav unit. Add mounted glade runners and you have a nice mobile combined arms force of shield defenders, shock knights and archers.

[Aeon]

Originally posted by Hank:

It use to be High, but now has become Mystic Summoner
After the Update though? Mystic Summoner hands down.
I LOVE EVOLVE.
I love how animals come with a free 25% upkeep reduction.
I love how when spiderlings become matriarchs they become utterly insane.
I love how all it takes to reduce their upkeep to almost hitting the cap is a single Wildspeaker.
I love how summon animal makes the ANIMAL magical origin meaning they can be easily healed and buffed by mystic summoner.

I never thought of summoning evolving units then lvling them up with summoner's ability.

Nice ideea !

[Uma~Uma]

Originally posted by Hank:

It use to be High, but now has become Mystic Summoner
High has so many good things going for it.
The Neutral Agenda bonus is really easy to maintain giving you plenty of food and production for just maintaining high stability which easy for everyone but Dark.
Their Supports are amazing with a buff, a heal, a range attack that can apply distraction making Sneaky an easy racial pick.
The Leaders get the Awakener's AOE blast great for Dragon Lords and Eldritch Sovereign giving them another action.
The Dawn Defenders are a good front line tank that does good damage after awakened.

After the Update though? Mystic Summoner hands down.
I LOVE EVOLVE.
I love how animals come with a free 25% upkeep reduction.
I love how when spiderlings become matriarchs they become utterly insane.
I love how all it takes to reduce their upkeep to almost hitting the cap is a single Wildspeaker.
I love how summon animal makes the ANIMAL magical origin meaning they can be easily healed and buffed by mystic summoner.
I love the tome path for animals easily nabbing Artifice, Vigor, Sanctuary, Supremacy and Goddess of Nature.
I love how a single stack of 6 buffed to heck animals can murder 18 stacks of AI forces.
With the changes to Mystic I can just go Summoner, and instant get a Matriarch to murder everything in the early game.
Also you can easily go Tome of Arch Mage for the 30% damage boost and faster movement over the Crit Chance and Damage from Tome of Goddess of Nature because SUMMON ANIMAL makes them MAGICAL ORIGIN.

Same with me. If full normal units play-through I go with High. Other than that, I will go with Mystic Summoner too.

[Waschbär42]

Originally posted by Jet Magnum:

Barbarian for me. I love the aesthetic, I love the early Skirmisher units, I love early game shield units with a shield bash stun into Defense Mode that feels almost broken, and I love being able to drop Outposts with my Scouts without having to send a full army just to claim a Wonder or a distant Magic Material.

[Herr Gutentauben]

I like feudal for the bannermen, barbarian for the stun bash and high for the standard sacred theme. I can't find myself caring much about the others but if i have to pick a favourite it's high 100%.

If history has taught us something is that the good guys always win....right?