assimulation

[madgamer2]

how does it work

[Groo the one]

"Assimilation"

If you own a region (you have a city within) you

1) have to pacify minor faction(s) first

a) You can parley (if you have tech from research in tech area I) to get a quest from minor factions. If you complete quest, minor faction is pacified.

b) You can destroy minor faction village(s) and they are pacified. If you rebuild village(s) in city building screen, you have profit of.

c) You can give money ("bribe") to minor faction villages, to pacify them

2) In empire screen (push "F1" or click the 1st icon on the top left) you can choose to assimilate a minor faction ("box" to the lower left side). Assimilating costs some influence. You can choose which (available) minor faction to assimilate.

If you want to change to another minor faction to assimilate, you choose the faction you want to dismiss in empire screen and click it. Next screen you can choose the new one.

Note: You have profit of max 5 minor villages boni (boni stack up to 5 times per minor faction).

3) In the beginning you can (regularly) assimilate one minor faction only (same time). If you research the following techs, you can have up to 3 minor factions assimilated same time:

a) Native District (tech area II)
b) Cultural Indoctrination (tech area IV)

[Red Bat]

Want to add that due to both the unit types as well as the bonuses per assimilated village, you'd want to assimilate different races based on your own faction.

For example Hurnas is a great assimilation target for Allayi because they have ranged units (Allayi only gets ranged from heroes) who are winter immune, meaning they can keep up with your units in winter. However you might not always find a good amount of Hurnas villages nearby, so you might want to assimilate someone else instead.

Originally posted by Groo the one:

a) Native District (tech area II)
b) Cultural Indoctrination (tech area IV)

Drakken get equivalent techs one era earlier.

[the_charch]

i tend to go more for the bonusus and less for the units. eyeless ones if your low on approval, or extra food ect. and yeah avaible cities makes a differnce picking that minor faction you have only one of in your capital region verse the one that 2 of your expansion regions have makes a differnce.

[Groo the one]

Originally posted by the_charch:

...verse the one that 2 of your expansion regions have makes a differnce.

Is it my lack of understanding english language ? I don't understand the meaning of this part ?!

[Gilmoy]

Ah, he's just commenting on the max-5 limit to the assimilation bonus.
For each minor faction you assimilate, you get a bonus per pacified village of that minor, in all of your owned regions combined, up to 5 villages.

- In most games, your starting region has only 1 minor village, so assimilating it early means you get only 1x the assimilation bonus.

- If you wait a bit until you own a few regions, you might have the same minor village type in 2+ regions, totaling 2-4 villages of that type. Then that could be a better assimilation choice because you get 2-4x the bonus (up to a max of 5 villages).

I frequently juggle assimilation based on unit type, unit capacity, and bonus.

- I love flyers as fast pearl-snarfers. Also, they have the largest vision radius. It is very, very fun to have a flyer with Improved Vision 3 (+2 vision), +2 vision (empire plan expansion tier 1), and 5+ assimilated Jotus (+2.5 vision). You have to pan out so far to see his entire vision hex that the map goes cloth-y. I prefer Kazanji for the +5% influence and Chain Lightning; Haunts and Nidya tie for 2nd.

- I love cavalry units, because they have the movement speed (base 6) to keep up with my Improved Movement groups through Era II (infantry base 4 + 2). However, they really suffer vs. the AI's Cavalry Slayer builds, esp. Ardent Mages (or any faction with Justiceres).

- I neeeeeeed at least one healer type. I love Driders because they have the strongest base damage/healing. It takes some skill to control them -- never leave a bored Drider on autopilot in your backfield, she'll stun one of your front-line dudes for you :). Broken Lords can just build Dust Bishops instead, although their critical miss% makes them always a bit unreliable. The only other viable healer choice is Caecators; don't bother with Justiceres as healers.

- I often need at least one ranged unit, for factions that don't have one (esp. Broken Lords). Ranged anything can equip longbows for Flying Slayer 4, which counters Necrodrones (ugh). (Dust Bishops don't suffice because their attack rating remains forever low, so they'll always be on the half-or-zero table vs. strong enemy troops.)

Sadly, that's three assimilation slots already nigh-committed. I rarely have the luxury of choosing them solely based on bonus. You could always assimilate early for the bonus, and later dismiss and reassimilate for a better long-term fit (esp. to assimilate Silics for the +strategics in mid-late game).

NIfty: Hurnas and Vaulter/Mezari Marines with identical equipment have identical build cost, but you can get the minor faction discount for Hurnas if you build/buy them in a region with Hurnas villages (-5% build cost per village in region). Hurnas have Fast 1 (+1 battle speed) and higher init, for lower base damage (about -10 damage). Around Era III-IV with ~5 level gains and dust-1 upgrades, that damage gap becomes a non-issue, as your Hurnas hit for ~110 instead of ~125, which is nasty enough to win. Also, a lone Orc is the best sailor in Era III+ with the +3 movement from empire plan expansion tier 3, as it still gets full movement speed 6 in winter due to its movement immunity.

Tetikes cost way more than Marines (about 1.75x with identical equipment), but at medium levels they're worth that premium because they become viable threats to "attack" 2x per round. Their stats are high enough that they can be extra tanks in your front-line, their sky-high initiative lets them attack first, and the AI seems reluctant to attack them and incur their Free Counter riposte. Don't treat them as archers, but as pikemen: stick them up front and dare the enemy to hit them, and use their range 2 to dogpile (haha) on high-value targets. N.B. they're really good at beating down militia's fortification bonuses, as they can just go toe-to-toe and survive, and meanwhile their 2x damage per round saves you a couple rounds per militia while you overwhelm everybody else first. Another benefit of their high init is that they give you great flexibility to rearrange your lines and plug holes before the enemy can exploit into the gaps, which can solve some unfavorable battle board set-ups.

Part of the fun is that you never know what mix of minors you'll get from the map RNG. Use wacky combos of minors and win anyways. Tank up a Harmonite or Rumbler with tier-3 glassteel at least once, just so you can have a Harmonite with battle speed 2 and 110 initiative (hah!), and Beam enemy groups to death before they can get out of the way.