The Ultimate Sequel to the Tribe Guide - (Updated for the Ocean)

A newer version of my guide that I made a few years ago, to account for the entirety of the "Path of the Ocean" update, since I missed so much.

Introduction

Welcome to the reworked guide of Polytopia! I realized that my old guide was long overdue for a rework since things have changed since then, and I wanted to make it neater and add more to it anyways. Throughout the guide, I'll give an explanation of each tribe and how they should go about winning. The Special tribes take up so much space on the page. :')
With that being said, enjoy the updated guide!

Naval Update/ Path of the Ocean Balance Chnages

- New map type, Pangea: A massive island in the middle, with coastlines and water at the edge of the square.

- Lumber hut cost: 2 -> 3

- Road Technology also introduces Bridges: Costs 5 stars, acts as a road for anything on the water. Along side allowing for land units to move on them, they still provide the Aquatism defence bonus.

-Road cost: 2 -> 3

- Temples grow quicker, reduced from 3 turns - > 2 turns

- Tech tree: Moved ‘Burn Forest’ to Construction, and ‘Destroy’ to Chivalry.

- Parks now provide 1 star per turn in addition to giving points.

- Swordsmen lose the 'fortify' trait.

- Trade now unlocks the Market building, which replaces the old Customs House. Markets still cost 5 stars, and provide 2 stars per turn for each unique adjacent sawmill, windmill or forge. That income is then doubled if the market is next to a Port.



- Lighthouse: A building that appears on each of the four corners of the world. They are always covered by fog, even if they would otherwise be visible on turn 0. If a player removes the fog obscuring a lighthouse (either via a unit or with an explorer), their capital will gain one population, and a floor bearing the respective color of their tribe will be added to the lighthouse. If the tribe has no capital the population will go to their oldest city. Their main purpose if for the eye of god/ explorer achievement, which is now to find all four of them.



-Sailing is now a tier one tech. You can get on the water with a port, but you cannot harvest fish until you get the next tech.

-Ports cost increased from 5 -> 7 stars and give one population instead of two. When a troop moves onto a port, it becomes a raft.

- Fishing is now a tier one tech.

- Navigation now unlocks harvesting of Starfish and the ability to build bomber units. Starfish serve as a replacement for whales, and are able to be harvested for 10 stars. However, you now have to move a unit onto the starfish tile to harvest it on the next turn. Even if the starfish is within the borders of another tribe’s territory, if you get there first, you can harvest it.



- A new tech called aquaculture replaced whaling. This tech allows the construction of rammer units. Like land farms, aqua farms cost five stars and give two population. These aqua farms are also compatible with windmills.



NEW AQUATIC UNITS: Naval units were reworked to divide up the roles of the original Battleship, which essentially performed all roles of naval combat by itself before the update. Put simply, while the Bomber retained the bombardment role, exploration and ranged harassment were given to the Scout, and powerful close-quarters skirmishing to the Rammer.

- The scout unit replaces the sailboat. They have ranged attacks that can reach two squares. These units have the scout ability, which means they have the vision that battleships used to have.



- Rammers do not have any ranged attack, only melee.

- Battleships are now bombers. With the splash ability and the area of effect attack, the bomber feels a little like a dragon. However, the bomber doesn’t have dash, which means it cannot move and attack on the same turn. They also have the “Stiff” trait, meaning they do not retaliate when attacked.



- When a giant moves into a port, it becomes a juggernaut. These ships do not have a ranged attack. Instead, they have a new trait called “stomp.” Stomp creates a splash damage effect every time the juggernaut moves, damaging all enemies adjacent to the unit. Stomp damage is also applied when embarking or disembarking the juggernaut.

Tribe specific changes will be listed in their tabs respectively.

Xin-Xi/ Sha-po

The Xin-Xi are a Japanese based tribe that starts out with the climbing technology and 1.5x modifier to mountainous terrain and ores, meaning you'll be finding a lot more of those in their biome than normal. This makes it much easier for them to scout out ruins, villages, and possibly even your enemies.

Unfortunately, the Xin-Xi do not have a means of upgrading their city on turn 0 (off the bat). Having so many mountains also means that you'll be forcing your enemies to also gain climbing to be on equal footing with you, since they need climbing for the defense bonus and to get rid of the movement penalty.
Despite starting out with absolutely no turn 0 upgrades, they pick up speed in mid game, making forges and mines to further bolster their economy. This also allows for them to go for smithing much sooner than everyone else, giving them an edge when it comes to fighting in the mid-late game.

Imperius/ Lirepacci

The Imperius are a Greco-Roman based tribe that starts out with the organization technology and 2x modifier to fruits, while having a .5x modifier to animals. This means that animals are infrequent, while fruits will be your go-to for early game population increase, they are however still great since they can grab a turn 0 upgrade.

Unfortunately, since they start out with so many fruits in the area, they tend to lack other resources on those tiles once the fruits are gone, meaning it'll be a bit harder to setup farms and such early-mid game. They do however get the slight advantage of being one step closer to strategy, meaning capital vision and defenders.

Bardur/ Baergøff

The Bardur are a Scandinavian based tribe that starts out with the hunting technology and 1.5x modifier to fruits, while having absolutely no crops. This means that despite starting out with hunting, they have a surplus of fruits, making them still viable as a turn 0 upgradable capital.

Researching forestry makes it comically easy for them to get their economy going, as it seems like every crop they could've had was instead replaced with more forest. Hunting already gets them very close to forestry, meaning that despite not having organization off the bat, they are still going to grow their cities fast.
This also means that they get closer to both archery and mathematics, which can give them defence in their many forests, or give them a great long-ranged option. All of these options make them a super flexible tribe based on what you're dealing with.

Lumber huts have been nerfed to be a bit more costly, so this hits their starting economy pretty hard. This does not stop them from upgrading on turn 0, however.

Oumaji/ Khondor

The Oumaji are a North African/ Arabia based tribe that starts out with the riding technology and a .5x modifier to mountains, while having a .2x modifier to forests and animals. This makes their early game consist of spreading out fast instead of making a well leveled capital off the bat on turn 1-2.

They are turtle-slow to get much upgraded since riding doesn't lead to economy based technology, not to mention spreading out fast means that research will cost more.

The Oumaji can make use of forestry and farming LATER, but until they can quickly spread into other people's land to use their better resources. Until then, they are dead in the water, though roads can significantly help the rider until move around faster. \\

Later on, you also do get a head start on being closer to chivalry for knights.

Kickoo/ Ragoo

The Kickoo are a Polynesian based tribe that starts out with the fishing technology and 1.5x modifier to fish, while having a .5x modifier to mountains.

The Kickoo have been toned down a bit due to the naval update, but are still strong. At the start of the game; they have turn 0 upgrades through fish, and good resources, Ports and sailing. have been moved to the next tech tier, so they won't have access to the waters as fast.

Hoodrick/ Yorthwober

The Hoodrick are a Medieval-English based tribe that starts out with the archery technology and 1.5x modifier to forests, while having a .5x modifier to mountains.

They've got a decent start early game, straight up starting out with an archer, and increased defence on forest tiles; only nuance being that they need to play cautiously and not explore using the starting archer itself. The real fun beings once you get your economy going, being able to push a giant with archers in the back.

Ideally, early game is probably the best opportunity you'll have to take over your enemies, as they won't have the super advanced technology like chivalry if they weren't rushing it. The priority technology should depend on what your landscape has more of at the time. Whenever I do end up with theses guys, I'd take advantage of their many forests. This is harder to do though, since lumber huts have been nerfed; this makes them a not as reliable early game economy source.

They definitely thrive the most during the early-mid game. They can fall off pretty hard though, as the enemies will begin researching stronger units (faster depending on the tribe). Their other issue is that their starting technology is ok at best for starting off. It skips over hunting, and leads to spiritualism (not really useful).

Luxidoor/ Amux

The Luxidoor are a India based tribe that starts out with a level 2 capital with two population. All of their terrain and resources are unmodified.

The best strategy for them is to research whatever resource is most prominent in your landscape, and balance between getting your economy set up while spreading out. You have the advantage of being able to pick an economy tech while already having a level 2 city. All of these traits make them a simple, but adaptable tribe, and they're already one step closer to getting a giant on the square. With the buffs parks have received (giving +1 stars per turn per park), their economy has been buffed pretty substantially for the early-mid game.

Vengir/ Cultist

The Vengir are a Mordor based tribe that starts out with the smithing technology and .1x modifier to fruits, animal, AND fish; while having a 2x modifier to ores. This tribe has basically nothing going for them, other than two swordsmen on turn 0.

Their one and only strategy is to pick on their neighbors and wipe them off the face of the earth before they can fight back. Unfortunately for them, they are easily countered depending on who you're up against. They get easily countered by city walls and defenders. Worst part yet, nobody even wants their landscape to begin with, it's cheeks.

If left alone for a while however, they can actually get the chance to obtain important technologies and opposing enemies' landscapes.

Zebasi/ Anzala

The Zebasi are a Sub-Saharan Africa based tribe that starts out with the farming technology and .5x modifier to forests, mountains, and fruits.

Funny enough, the lack of forests and mountains actually gives them even more crop tiles to farm with. While the farms are more expensive to make, they save room while letting the tribe get a turn 0 level up. They'll also be one step closer to getting construction early on, which unfortunately isn't very useful until they need to start optimizing and compacting their population buildings (sawmill, lumber hut, etc.). They are also pretty flexible in which they can chose whatever tier 1 technology suits their environment the most.

Ai-Mo/ To-Lï

The Ai-Mo are a Nepal/ Tibetan based tribe that starts out with the meditation technology and 1.5x modifier to mountains, while having a .1x modifier to crops. It's safe to say that this landscape is kinda bad, but not nearly as bad as the Vengir fortunately.

They start with meditation off the bat, which means that they're already on track for the Alter of Peace monument, which is a good asset early on. Having meditation early on means they're good for glory, but that's about it. Philosophy doesn't really help out their economy or military compared to the other tribes. Mind benders are ok, and philosophy is more or so something that helps out mid to late game, as it decreases the cost of research by 33%.

Quetzali/ Iqaruz

The Quetzali are a Mesoamerican based tribe that starts out with the strategy technology and 2x modifier to fruits, while having a .1x modifier to crops. Unfortunately for them, they cannot upgrade their capital turn 0 while they struggle for pre-generated crops, but once they grab organization they do have the capability of harvesting as much corn as the eye can see. Since they already have access to strategy, they can already start messing with peace treaties, and are one step closer to having access to cloaks and embassies, which would both be extremely great to have early game military and economy wise.

While Shields aren't that good early on since there's no one really swinging on them, they're good to already have prepared, especially once you have to start dealing with the neighbors and city walls.

As mentioned before, cloaks are an extremely powerful unit to have access to before everyone else does.

Yădakk/ Ürkaz

The Yădakk are a Turkish/ Mongolian based tribe that starts out with the roads technology and 1.5x modifier to fruits, while having a .5x modifier to forests and mountains.

Having the speed of roads so early on allows for them to get to shrines and far away villages before anyone else other than the Oumaji and possibly Aquarion. Their landscape is a well off one as well, having a lack of mountains leaves more room for important buildings later on.

You're also one step closer to trade, which allows for markets to made earlier than usual, meaning a much higher income sooner. Bridges are another resource they now have access to off the bat. However, the aquatic update has hit them pretty, as roads are now more expensive; they are a lot less spammable early on now. This makes world generation and rng a much larger factor for them.

Special Tribes: Aquarion

The Aquarion are an Atlantis based tribe that starts out with the riding technology (now with the naval update), and has a .5x modifier to forests. Since this is a special tribe, I'll go over what has changed with them before the official overview.

Units:

NEW TRAITS:

- Amphibian: The Units without mounts (Swordsman, Warrior, Archer) now have a new name and the ability to walk on the water!
- Autoflood: You Will automatically flood the tile as you walk on it, similar to auto-freeze.
- Surprise: Same as cloaks, your enemies cannot retaliate!
- Drench: your attacks will flood the land as they hit.
- Flood: An active skill that allows your units to flood the land, expanding your oceans even further!
- Tentacles: You harm any enemy within a 3x3 radius.
- Static: Cannot become a veteran.
- Stiff: Cannot retaliate.

Aquarion now have the ability to make new cities from ocean ruins!

-Rider -> Amphibian:Gains the ability Float, has a lower base speed on land (can no longer use land roads).
-Knight -> Tridention: Float, range of 2, has a lower base speed on land (can no longer use land roads), persist has replace escape in the latest update.
-Giant -> Crab: Amphibious, Escape, Autoflood
-Rammer -> Shark: Dash, Surprise, Water
-Catapult -> Puffer: Drench, Water
-Yelly Belly: Water, Tentacles, Stiff, Static

Technology:

-Riding: Gain Amphibian
-Chivalry -> Spearing: Knight becomes Tridention
-Free Spirit -> Free Diving: Allows Riders and Tridentions to move in deep ocean.
-Farming -> Aquaculture: Gainthe ability to set up farms on the water.
-Roads -> Water Ways: Get an outpost similar to the Polaris called the "Atoll", but with water. Ypu can only build one of these per city as usual.

With the buffs to their early game, they now have the advantage of being able to spread out fast on maps focused around water (water world, archipelago). While they still can't upgrade their capital on turn 0, their oumaji-like change makes up for it. Because of their inability to upgrade on turn 0, their play style becomes balancing spreading, and researching technology (which isn't really a weakness, since a lot of tribes need to do this anyways). They still have the weakness of having a hard time upgrading small cities without higher tier technology.

The Aquarions shine more in mid-late game once you start researching technologies and growing your empire. This is significantly magnified once you are able to take advantage of Atolls and Aquafarms, your equivalent of outposts. The Mid-late game will also involve a lot of crabs, puffers, and sharks to really hammer home the wrath of the ocean. Everything will be flooded by the time you claim your victory.

Special Tribes: ∑∫ỹriȱŋ/ ₼idŋighţ

The ∑∫ỹriȱŋ (Romanized as Elyrion) are a Fairy Tale Elf based tribe that starts out with the forest magic technology, and has a 1.5x modifier to crops, while having a .5x modifier to mountains. Since this is a special tribe, I'll go over what has changed with hem before the official overview.

Units:

-Polytaurs: Basically a swordsman with less defence.
-Navalon: Melee Battleship
-Giant -> Fire Dragon: basically a Battleship with A.o.E, you need to protect it for six total turns to grow up.

Technology:

-Hunting -> Forest Magic: Enchants the Animal into a Polyatur rather than adding 1 population.
-Forestry: Adds sanctuary building, attracts an animal to enchant every two turns.

Since the Naval Update, the ∑∫ỹriȱŋ has also received a few balance changes:

- Since whaling is no longer a thing, they no longer have access to Navalons :(

The ∑∫ỹriȱŋ is a pretty nutty tribe early on, as they have the glass canon polyaturs to possibly wipe out a tribe before they can get their footing in the world (looking at you, Vengir).

The dragon egg needs baby sitting unfortunately, making it something you want to grab early on BEFORE you start getting sieged. Once the dragon fully grows, it'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with for larger armies due to its A.o.E fireball.
Their resource distribution is great as well, meaning they can both set up economy decently fast while spreading out using their polytaur forces. And on a final note, they have the unique ability of seeing ruins through the clouds, making it easy to b-line for them, or scout out where your opponents are. You also need to be cautious with the sactuary, as it can be exploited for infinite population if an enemy tribe gets their hands on it.

Special Tribes: Polaris

The Polaris are a Siberia/ North Canada based tribe that starts out with the Frost Work technology, and the landscape actually depends on the enemies' resource modifiers. Once the world is generated, then the Polaris spawn in and freeze over their starting capital and its territory. Since this is a special tribe, I'll go over what has changed with hem before the official overview.

Units:

-Archer -> Ice Archer: Does no damage, but freezes enemies to render them useless.
-Mooni: A sledding unit who moves faster on ice and slower on land, their only purpose is to freeze more land over.
-Battleship -> Ice Fortress: Moves faster on ice and slower on land, they're battleships that can move on land basically, even if slow.
-Giant -> Gaami: A unit that auto-freezes wherever it moves, really good at crowd control, will never move faster.
-Battle Sled: Moves faster on ice, loses dash and escape when moving on land. They're basically cheaper knights.

Technology:

-Fishing -> Frost Works: Moonis and Outpost, Outposts are just ports for the ice.
-Navigation -> Polar Warfare: Batlle Sleds and Ice Fortresses.
-Aquatism -> Polarism: Defence bonus on ice, non sled units can move 1 tile further on ice.
-Trading: Replaces Customs house with Ice Bank, which gives you three stars for every 20 frozen tiles in the square.

Since the Naval Update, the Polaris has also received a few balance changes:

- Mooni now has auto-freeze, but defense has been lowered to 1.
- Ice bank now gives 2 stars per 20 frozen tiles instead of 3.
- The Dash skill allows for the Break Ice skill.

The Play-style of the Polaris can vary, as the resources present depends on whatever tribes your adversaries are playing, meaning you'll have to adapt to your surroundings. You can spread out your ice kingdom quickly by using Moonis and Gaamis; while they do a great job at freezing the land and water, they can also be used offensively, to immobilize lots of opponents at a time and stop them from playing the game. If you can get a mooni to an enemy city fast enough, you can stunlock them until you get another unit over to siege the city. They play somewhat similarly to the other special tribes listed, where you can't lose if you get to the enemies really, really fast.

Special Tribes: Cymanti

The Cymanti are an Insect based tribe that starts out with the farming technology,and a shaman for the starting unit. They also have a 1.2x modifier to mountains. Since this is a special tribe, I'll go over what has changed with them before the overview.

Units:

-Rider -> Hexapod: Half hp until veteran, gains sneak and creep, meaning it can move without any penalties from enemies and terrain.
-Defender -> Kiton: Poisons enemies upon dealing damage.
-Archer -> Phychi: half hp, Poisons enemies upon dealing damage, can't be retaliated.
-Mind Bender -> Shaman: Can boost allies' movement and damage, wears off once either action is taken.
-All Ships -> Raychi: Melee Battleship, can still siege cities. Places down algae when it explodes on vacant water.
-Catapult -> Exida: Poison A.o.E.
-Knight -> Doomux: Loses out on the ability to clear armies by attacking, but can explode for big damage and place down spores on vacant land.
-Giant -> Centipede: Whenever you get a kill, you move forwards and a new segment replaces your old spot, making a train with many kills. You can be split in half and gain two centipedes, or explode your segments for huge damage. These explosions also place spores.

Technology:

-Archery: Gains Phychi instead of archer
-Strategy: Gains Kiton instead of defender
-Chivalry -> Shock tactics: Gains Doomux instead of Knight
-Construction -> Decomposition: The full cost of the building is returned at the end of your turn instead of being destroyed immediately.
-Roads: Mycelium can connect to another one up to three blocks away, even across algae; heals 4hp to adjacent allies.
-Sailing -> Hydrology: Replace Ports with algae; gives one population, land units can walk across them.
-Exploration -> Oceanology: Replaces Battleships with Raychi
-Trade: Replaces Customs house with Clathrus; can be placed in water, gives 1 star for every adjacent algae.

Since the Naval Update, the Cymanti has also received a few balance changes:

- The fishing and pescatism tech has been moved around to reflect the changes made to everything water related.
- Exida has had their movement buffed from 1 ->2, and now carry the Creep skill.

The Cymanti are pretty manageable early game until they start getting their stronger units. (or even their Hexapods) The Phychi is a reliable early game explorer, as it can fly above water, and grab water and ocean ruins before anyone is even close to getting sailing or navigation.
The Cymanti can make good use of a strategy called "Zerg Rush", where you don't focus too much on stronger units, but on cheap and weak units. The explosions form your units can spread spores and algae around for more population, and you can even level up a city on turn 1, since fungus takes two additional turns to fully grow.
You can make use of your Raychis to make a bridge of algae across water for your centipedes to get across too, making them overall reliable as attacking and sieging units. And to top it all off, the shaman can buff every one of these units for even more speed and damage.
This is a tribe that snowballs at a crazy pace, so they're one that need to be stomped out early game before they grow too much. Despite not being a turn 0 tribe, they can still level up once by turn 1, and twice by turn 2 or 3.

As for counters: They don't start with a very helpful technology, so they're usually waiting for their cities to upgrade via fungus. The Zerg rush strategy I mentioned earlier can also put a stunt in their empire's growth, giving you an advantage if they aren't conservative with resources. Because of their flimsier units, they can also struggle to capture cities into the mid/late game. DO NOT let centipedes grow, they will become a massive issue later, becoming harder to kill, and being able to block off entire areas from your army. The frailty of their units can be exploited with ranged units too.

Tips & Tricks

1.) Balancing Expansion and an Army.

Typically in any given game, your immediate goal is to spread out as fast as possible; take up every single ruin and village in your sights. Though the challenge really begins once you actually come across your opponent(s).

It's always good to start amassing units once you know where somebody is; it doesn't matter how big your empire is if you don't have anyone to defend it. At the same time, it's a strong economy that fuels a strong army, so you can't really neglect it for long if at all (looking at you vengir).

When it comes to balancing these factors and the best strategies, there a few other things I can recommend (slight recap too):

- Avoid buying technologies if you can't make good use of it on the same turn, you don't want to spend a turn twiddling your thumbs waiting on more stars.

- Your units should start building up once you're close to, or have seen your opponents. The army is the priority, followed by optimizing your resource gain.

- The most obvious thing is also practice, and more practice. You can't get good overnight, so make sure you find what strategy or tribe works best for you; that's the primary reason I made this guide. At the same time, variety is important. Variety guarantees you'll go up against unique scenarios, adapting you for the next challenge.

- Don't be afraid to watch other player's replays. You can learn a lot from watching other players, from how they optimize economy, to when they prioritize technology vs. armies.

BONUS FACT: You can guesstimate what tribes your opponents are using on turns 0 and 1, based on their score in the game leader boards.

Tier List / Conclusion

The tier list above is the outdated one, as the aquatic update has changed many things. The tier list below is up to date now. These tier lists are also based on larger FFAs, and maps with a good mix of land and sea (like continents, lakes, and archipelagos).


Reasons for important tier list changes:

- Bardur: Lumber hut change has hit them hard.

- Luxidoor: Park change allows for them to be a bit more flexible depending on their terrain.

- Aquarion: Tridenton and technology changes makes them more viable early game.

- Yaddak: Road Nerf hurt their starting gimmick a lot early game.

- Polaris: Mooni buff allows them to overtake maps a lot faster if unattended.

- Xin-Xi: I wasn't familiar with their game.


Each tier doesn't have a particular order, as there are certain factors that can make one tribe perform better than the other (example being Polaris on an archipelago and Bardur on a Water World).

Let me know if I missed anything, and enjoy!

TO-DO LIST/ Changelog:

To Do: Add some bonus tips at the end!

CHANGELOG:

v1: Updated/ replaces the old guide I released in 2019.

v1.1: Fixed some spelling errors and changed up the guide name, updated tribe skin names.

v1.2: Updated logs for everyone to make them easier to read, and of course documented information now that I've had time to look through the entirety of the past updates I've missed.

v1.3: Updated Hoodrick's page again.

v1.4: Added tips and tricks page.

v1.5: Added The Aquarion Rework

[TheFizzzz]

@KusoLP Done!

[KusoLP]

any work on a newer version with the water update?