Getting The Most Out Of RPG Tycoon

This guide will present different strategies, and give you access to data elements that are not readily available.

INTRODUCTION

This game does not currently have a tutorial or a game manual. Understanding what to do, how to do it, and why, can be quite problematical. If you're having these problems, don't feel bad. Everyone is, including myself. I wrote this guide to help myself, and everyone else, who would like to play this game to its fullest capacity, successfully & comfortably. No more exclamations of frustration, or outbursts of anguish.

This game may be of interest to: Fantasy players, City builders, and of course - Tycoon game players.

This guide is quite extensive because there are a lot of game elements (and subtleties) to cover, but after you absorb the material, you should be able to play the game with good understanding, and quite comfortably. There are many tables to help you see at a glance the information you need to play comfortably & successfully. Hopefully we will begin to see better YouTube videos by players who understand what they're doing.

SPOILER ALERT
In a guide like this there will necessarily be some spoilers. This game contains a lot of different game elements, but few puzzles, so this is not a very significant issue. The Quick Quest section contains the supply table, and the Special Buildings section contains information about the unlocks. If you wish to avoid spoilers, it may be best to avoid these two sections. You have been warned.


SECTIONS

1. INTRODUCTION
   
2. STARTING THE GAME - Getting Off To A Good Start
   
3. FAQS - What You Need To Know While Playing The Game
   
4. BUILDING YOUR KINGDOM - 4 Considerations
   
5. COMMON BUILDINGS - Stores
   
6. SPECIAL BUILDINGS - New Game Interactions
   
7. HERO FACILITIES - Improving Your Heroes
   
8. HEROES - Getting To Know Them
   
9. HERO TABLE - Stats For Every Hero
   
10. SPECIAL HEROES - And Additional Thoughts
    
11. MAINTAINING Y0UR KINGDOM - What You Need To Know And Do
    
12. QUESTING - Quick Quests
    
13. QUESTING - Epic Quests
    
14. VICTORY POINTS - How To Win The Game
    
15. GOALS FOR THE GAME - The Things You Need To Accomplish

PRIMARY GAME MECHANICS
RPG Tycoon makes heavy use of 2 primary game mechanics. To get the most out of this game, players should understand these mechanics. They are...

• The Random Number Generator
  
• Game progression Unlocks.

THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR
The random number generator is sort of a poor man's procedural generation. Having things appear, or act randomly adds to the games replayability, so no two games are ever the same. Elements that use the RNG in this game are...

• The objective group (in the upper left-hand corner)
  
• The quest missions
  
• The supply items
  
• The character traits
  
• The Epic Quest dice rolls
  
• The goods in the marketplace
  
• The Epic Quest encounters, and many more

The RNG can make your game easy, very difficult, or anything in-between. Sometimes it is kind to you, sometimes very tough. You'll just have to cope with it, and move on.

GAME PROGRESSION UNLOCKS
Players start off with very little at the beginning of the game, but as they play, these progression 'unlocks' release new game elements into the game that the players can make use of. Thus, the longer a game lasts - the more unlocks will be released to the player. Here are some of the major unlocks...

• Higher level characters become available
  
• Kingdom levels
  
• Buildings
  
• Questing experience
  
• Quest Epicness levels
  
• Character levels
  
• Settlements
  
• Followers
  
• Building improvements
  
• Quest missions
  
• Quest supplies, and many more.

The core of the gameplay centers around players achieving these unlocks as quickly & efficiently as possible. Doing so allows players to achieve the maximum success in the game, the maximum game experiences, and the maximum enjoyment. That being said, some players may feel that the game requires just too much grinding to accomplish these things. Too many repeated actions, not enough decision making. This is just how the game is designed.



KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Keyboard shortcuts are something I look for in every game I play. The menu keys are especially useful. You will need to learn them. Here are all the shortcut keys for this game.

SHORTCUT	MAIN	SECONDARY
Backspace	backspace
Esc	Esc
Enter	Enter
Map Up	Up	W
Map Down	Down	S
Map Left	Left	A
Map Right	Right	D
Zoom In	Pg Up
Zoom Out	Pg Down
Pause	Space
Play	1
Double Speed	2
Super Speed	3
Flip	F
Center Camera	C
Inventory Menu	I
Hero Menu	H
Kingdoms Menu	K
Relations Menu	R
Library Menu	L
Buildings Menu
Quest Menu	Q
Stats/Finance	T
Hide UI	U

TIP: You will be opening numerous windows during the game. When you're about to close a window, know where you're going next and hold your finger over the key that opens the next window. This way, as soon as you close your current window you can instantly click on the next one.

STARTING THE GAME - Getting Off To A Good Start

GAME SETUP

CITY - Name your city. Pick any name that appeals to you. Your saved games will be listed with your city name, so it may be advisable to play each game with a different city name, to tell the saves apart.

DURATION - Select how long you want the game to last.

• Short - 10 years. The hardest duration. You'll need to play fast, efficient, & focused.
  
  
• Standard - 25 Years. A compromise between the difficult quick game, and the easier long game - with all the goodies that you'll have time to unlock.
  
  
• Long - 50 Years. The easiest to play, and the best choice for new players. This will give you the time you need to unlock everything, and get to the really good stuff later in the game. It will make your game easier to play because you'll have the time to unlock things, build things, and grow as a kingdom, and to catch the other kingdoms in points. Note: Long duration is not unlocked until you have played 'Standard.'

OBJECTIVES - Select Enabled or Disabled

• Objectives guide your development through the game. Keep this enabled.
  
• You also earn gold for completing each group of 3 objectives as you play

TERRAIN STYLE - Select the terrain style for your kingdom (this doesn't affect game play)

• Grass - Ground is green
  
• Mud - Ground is brown
  
• Sand - Ground is sand colored
  
• Snow - Ground is white

GENERATION - Set percentage

• Determines the % of default terrain placed in your entire kingdom before the start of the game. There usually isn't much need to change this.

FAQs - What You Need To Know While Playing The Game

Here are the questions that you will most need answered...

• How do you beat the other kingdoms, and win the game?
  1. To start with, go to the Relations/Kingdoms window and compare your score in each individual area with scores of the other kingdoms. Then, you'll have an idea what to do to catch up.
     
  2. The most important scoring criterion in the game is GOLD.
     • Go on quick quests constantly. This is the fastest way to earn gold.
       
     • Create commercial buildings to bring in more money. Do this early to maximize gold.
       
     • Increase your number of settlements, and increase their happiness. Build upgrades.
       
     • Complete lots of quests - of all kinds.
  
  
• How do you get your kingdom to the next level?
  Your kingdom level increases when you get enough settlement followers in your kingdom. Grow their number, and keep them happy. Increasing your kingdom level gains access to new heroes, buildings, game interactions, decorations, and more.
  
  
• How do you get to the higher Epic Quests?
  After an Epic Quest, if you mouseover the Epicness Level bar on the Epic Quest screen you will see how many points you have, and how many points you need to get to the next level. Go on higher level quests to maximize this score. Go on lots & lots of epic quests.
  
  
• How come my hero is so 'AWFUL' on quests?
  This is a rather dubious description in the game. Don't worry about it. Every level 1 hero will be awful. At levels 4-5, your heroes' performance will be much improved. At level 6, your heroes will be going through quests like a hot knife through butter. So don't over-focus on the game's dubious performance evaluation. As you conduct more quests, your heroes will improve.

BUILDING YOUR KINGDOM - 4 Considerations

Your kingdom starts out on a single land tile (5x5 grid), and the rest of your potential kingdom is grayed out. You always start out on the front-left edge of your kingdom. You will eventually expand to about 8-12 land tiles as the game evolves.

When the game first starts, check out the 'grayed out' areas of your kingdom, and determine where and how you might like to expand with future land tiles. This may affect tile placement and design.

There are 4 things you will be building in your kingdom and each requires special consideration.

1. Roads
   
2. Buildings
   
3. Decorations
   
4. Land Tiles

1. BUILDING LAYOUT SCHEME

What do you build, and when?
• A simple & effective general strategy would be
  1. Build in a land tile from back to front.
     
  2. Create buildings along the back two edges of the tile.
     
  3. Create roads in the middle of the tile, connecting all the buildings, and leading to adjacent tiles.
     
  4. Apply decorations along the front two edges of the tile.
     
  5. Due to variations in building sizes, this can only be a general guideline.
• The most fundamental consideration is, do you have enough gold to build it (You most likely will if you've been going on quick quests constantly).
  
• Some Objectives require you to build a specific thing. Do this as soon as possible.
  
• Check your building options whenever your kingdom upgrades to a higher level, or you complete an objective group. New building items will be available, and the building icon will be flashing

Where do you build, and what should go where?

• Try to keep your commercial buildings together, to make shopping more efficient.
  
• Try to keep hero improvement buildings together (including the school), to make hero improvement more efficient.
  
• Try to keep special buildings generally centralized.
  
• Remember to keep all buildings connected to your road network.

2. ROAD LAYOUT
What do you need to accomplish?

• Connect with other tiles. Try to have a road path leading in all 4 cardinal directions (for tile expansion).
  
• Connect with all buildings. You get a connectivity bonus. Put a road tile on the blue square in front of each building, and connect that road tile to the rest of your road network.
  
• Optimize traffic flow. The settlement heroes need to be able to get to your stores quickly. Try to put stores next to each other as best you can. Include a bank with these.
  
• Allow for decorations. Decorations attract people to nearby buildings.
  
• Aesthetic considerations
  The terrain style ( ground color) has no affect on gameplay whatsoever. It merely provides a little color variety between games. Concurrently, whatever road tile you select will also have no affect on gameplay except for the cost per tile. You should try to pick a road tile that contrasts nicely with the terrain color. Combinations of different tiles are also possible.
  
  The available road tiles are:
  

  Road Tile	Gold Cost	Notes
  Cobbled Grass	-5g	The cheapest, and a good contrast for non-grass terrains
  Dirt Rd	-10g	The most common road tile
  Stone Rd	-25g	Think of this, and the roads below, as ' specialty ' tiles
  Wood Rd	-50g
  Brick Rd	-80g
  Marble Rd	-100
  Yellow Brick Rd	-500

3. DECORATION LAYOUT
What should you build, and where?

• The beauty score is shown in the lower right corner (to the right of the eye).
  
• The maximum beauty score you can have is 50.
  
• All beauty is not the equal. Each decoration item has a beauty score, and a cost.
  
• Your beauty score will slowly decay over time. It pays to monitor this. Don't let it fall below zero.
  
• The Library (Beautification) can slow the decay rate. Use it.
  
• Duplicating decoration items can be done as often as you like.
  
• Generally it's good to locate your buildings along the back tile edges, and place your decorations along the front edges.
  
• Try to put decorations next to important buildings

4. LAND TILES
How do you acquire them?

There are 3 ways to get new land tiles

1. Buy them the standard way. Be sure to use the library (Ever Expanding) to get discounts first.
   
2. Find 'Blueprint' items on Epic Quests. Note: activate just one at a time.
   
3. Buy them at the marketplace. They're expensive, but worth it. A great value!

When should you expand?

• The best time to expand is when your heroes are all occupied with tasks.
  
• When you have a blueprint item, or can afford it.
  
• When you're running out of room, and your city is beginning to look like the interior of a Borg cube.

Where do you expand expand - Follow these guidelines

• Pay attention to the edges of your kingdom's boundaries.
  
• Try to keep your commercial buildings together.
  
• Try to keep your hero improvement buildings together.
  
• Be sure you have an existing pathway leading to the new tile placement location.

COMMON BUILDINGS - Stores

"Stores are buildings that supply goods or services to adventurers and earn gold for your kingdom. You can place stores once your kingdom has reached level 2, or higher."

There are five different types of stores in the game...

• Drinks
• Food
• Shopping
• Rest
• Money

The key store types are Drinks, Food and Shopping, which are the most in demand from the settlements' adventurers (followers).

REST SERVICES will allow the adventurers to rest, and stay in your city longer. MONEY SERVICES will allow followers to replenish their gold supply, and continue spending money in your city.

The value of the store service is based on the level that it is unlocked at. As a store is used by followers, Its level will increase, and the value of its goods can also increase. Each time a store levels up, it gains an upgrade point. These points can be spent to upgrade a store's product quality, or prices.

INCREASING STORE TRAFFIC
There are several ways to increase store traffic...

• Make sure you have a road connecting to the store
  
• Assign a hero to work there for a while
  
• Install decorations near by
  
• Raise the goods quality in the store (from upgrades or adventure loot)

TABLE OF STORES
Below is a table of stores listing the store name, kingdom level to unlock, cost, maintenance, and follower happiness. Not all stores are equal. Some are cheaper than others, some make people happier, and some have lower maintenance costs per turn. For example, the coffee house at level 3, the winery at level 5, and the bank at level 5 all generate 10 follower happiness. Imagine a road of buildings with a bank on each end, and alternating wineries & coffee shops in between. Two of each of these 3 items on this road could generate +60 follower happiness!

It can be seen from looking at the table that the really powerful store items (+25 follower happiness) unlock at kingdom level 6. Getting to level 6 should be one of your main goals in the game.

GOODS	UNLOCK	COST	MAINT.	HAPPINESS
WEAPON STORE	Lvl 2	1000	7g	+5
TAVERN	Lvl 2	500	7g	+2
FISHING SHACK	Lvl 2	800	11g	+5
SANDWICH SHOP	Lvl 2	1000	11g	+5
ACCESSORY STORE	Lvl 2	1000	11g	+5
POTION STORE	Lvl 3	1500	18g	+5
CAFE	Lvl 3	1800	18g	+5
COFFEE PLACE	Lvl 3	1500	11g	+10
TOILET STORE	Lvl 3	2000	14g	+5
FURNITURE STORE	Lvl 4	3000	21g	+5
CARTOGRAPHY STORE	Lvl 4	3000	21g	+5
ICE CREAM PARLOR	Lvl 4	2500	18g	+5
GROCERY STORE	Lvl 4	3000	21g	+5
BAR	Lvl 4	3500	11g	+5
INN	Lvl 4	3500	32g	+5
BUTCHERS STORE	Lvl 5	4500	46g	+5
BOOK STORE	Lvl 5	4200	42g	+5
WINERY	Lvl 5	4500	39g	+10
BAKERY	Lvl 5	4200	42g	+5
BANK	Lvl 5	4000	35g	+10
ARMOR STORE	Lvl 6	5500	56g	+25
MUSIC STORE	Lvl 6	6500	56g	+25
DONUT STORE	Lvl 6	7000	53g	+5
CLOTHING STORE	Lvl 7	6500	60g	+25
TEA HOUSE	Lvl 7	7500	63g	+25
CAMPING STORE	Lvl 8	6500	67g	+25
GREAT HALL	Lvl 8	10000	84g	+25

SPECIAL BUILDINGS - New Game Interactions

SPECIAL BUILDINGS - There are a dozen special buildings. Why are special buildings special? Because, unlike store buildings, they allow new interactions within the game. Some are crucial, some are not. The key buildings you want to build are the Library, Marketplace, Guild Hall and, to a lesser extent, the School. The special buildings are

• Notice Board
  
• Library
  
• Marketplace
  
• Call Box
  
• Msg. Deflorean
  
• Balloon Store
  
• Hat Store
  
• School
  
• Pyramid
  
• Guild Hall
  
• Competition Plaza
  
• Tower of Achievements

NOTICE BOARD
Unlocks at level 3. Acquire bounties from your settlements. These are accessed via the Quest window, and are updated every month. Note: The procedure to set up this game element is as follows - build a notice board in your city, and upgrade each of your settlements with a notice board also. (The dev has confirmed that the unlocking of the bounties needs to be fixed).

LIBRARY
Unlocks at level 3. There are 17 different books. Most can be read twice, or more. Be sure to do this. The order researched makes a big difference in the quality of your game. The list below is in the recommended order. The first 7 are extremely important, the last 3 are not so important.

1. ALL BOOKED UP - Research multiple topics simultaneously (up to 3, + more later).
   
2. THE POWER OF WORDS - Increases the effectiveness of your research.
   
3. BEAUTIFICATION - Attractiveness takes longer to decay.
   
4. CUTTING CORNERS - Lowers maintenance costs of buildings by 10%.
   
5. EVER EXPANDING - Lowers the cost of your future land-tile purchases.
   
6. MANAGEMENT TRAINING - Raises capacity for claimed settlements by 2.
   
7. STOCK MARKET - Has nothing to do with finance. This Increases the quality of products in your commercial stores.
   
   
8. SETTLEMENT GRANT - Increases maximum followers from settlements.
   
9. SUPPLY & DEMAND - Adds a new supply item for quick quests.
   
10. FASTER RECOVERY - Increases the speed of training recovery.
    
11. HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER - Increases the effectiveness of training buildings.
    
12. MARKET CAPACITY - Adds another slot to the Marketplace.
    
13. CHEEP IMPORTS - Lowers minimum price for Marketplace items.
    
14. MARKET VALUE - Marketplace gets cheaper faster.
    
    
15. HOW TO RESEARCH - Lowers the time needed to research upgrades.
    
16. MONTHLY NEWSLETTER - Unlocks a new type of quest.
    
17. GONNA' NEED A BIGGER BOX - Doubles your kingdom inventory space.

MARKETPLACE
Unlocks at level 3. After the market is built the user can buy inventory items, but they are expensive. Access the market from the inventory screen, and click on the gold coin. You can sometimes buy maps to discover new settlements. Things available for purchase are...

• Weapons
  
• Armor
  
• Misc. Inventory items

Note: There are 3 books that can be researched to improve the Marketplace.

CALL BOX
Unlocks at Level 3. This box is a hero quarters, and allows you to create a new hero, including the MEDIC. Only one can be used per game. This 'quarters' allows you to exceed the Hero quarters limit of 5. Very very expensive, but the maintenance is only 7g. Note: Bigger on the inside than the outside (wink, wink).

MSG. DEFLOREAN
Unlocks at Level 3. This box is also a hero quarters, and allows you to create a new hero, including Marky. Only one can be used per game. This 'quarters' allows you to exceed the Hero quarters limit of 5. Very very expensive, but the maintenance is only 7g. Think of it as a car-shaped house.

BALLOON STORE
Unlocks at level 3. Settlement visitors walk around with balloons. Very expensive. Possibly more appropriate in Sandbox mode.

HAT STORE
Unlocks at level 4. Settlement visitors walk around with little hats. Very expensive. Possibly more appropriate in Sandbox mode.

SCHOOL
Unlocks at level 5. Allows you to train a new recruit. Note in the table below that the school has very high monthly maintenance (75g). If you're not interested in creating your own hero, you can do without this building. Save your gold.

• < Important > You must have a hero quarters built first, or your new recruit will leave.
  
• You can assign up to 4 heroes to train the new recruit.
  
• Each trainer will affect the stats of the new recruit.
  
• The new recruit will receive random traits.
  
• The number of trainers may increase the chances of a higher level new recruit

PYRAMID
Unlocks at level 5. (yet to be determined)

GUILD HALL
Unlocks at Level 6. After you've built the Guild Hall, you can access it from the Kingdom menu. There are three guilds that your heroes can join - but only 1 can be joined for the game. Each guild offers 3 levels of perks, and displays a Current mission, and a Side mission

• FIGHTERS GUILD - +15% Experience on quests.
  
• EXPLORERS GUILD - +15% Chance to recover an item.
  
• MERCHANTS GUILD - +15% Gold earned from stores.

COMPETITION PLAZA
Unlocks at level 7. (yet to be determined)

TOWER OF ACHIEVEMENTS
Unlocks at level 8. (yet to be determined)



SPECIAL BUILDINGS TABLE
The following table lists data for all the special buildings. Note that these buildings do not have a direct effect on adventurer happiness. Names in bold are of special importance to gameplay.

SPECIAL BUILDINGS	UNLOCK	COST	MAINT.	COMMENTS
NOTICE BOARD	Lvl 2	100	1g	Complete bounties
LIBRARY	Lvl 3	1200	15g	Read books to improve your Kingdom
MARKETPLACE	Lvl 3	2500	20g	Allows you to buy equipment & items
CALL BOX	Lvl 3	3000	7g	A Hero Quarters which allows the Medic
MSG. DEFLOREAN	Lvl 3	3000	7g	A Hero Quarters which allows Marky
BALLOON STORE	Lvl 3	4000	14g	People walk around with balloons
HAT STORE	Lvl 4	4000	14g	People walk around with little hats
SCHOOL	Lvl 5	6550	75g	Allows you to create your own Hero
PYRAMID	Lvl 5	4000	14g	(Unknown)
GUILD HALL	Lvl 6	8000	25g	Allows you to join a guild
COMPETITION PLAZA	Lvl 7	15000	70g	(Unknown)
TOWER OF ACHIEVEMENTS	Lvl 8	50000	0g	(Unknown)

HERO FACILITIES - Improving Your Heroes

HERO FACILITIES - Offer heroes places to satisfy their needs, improve their skills, or create new heroes. The effects of skill buildings can be enhanced by reading the library book Harder Better Faster Stronger. Read this several times before using the skill buildings, to make the most effective use of these buildings.

HERO 'NEEDS' BUILDINGS

• Clinic - Improves health condition
  
• Theater - Improves Entertainment need

HERO IMPROVEMENT BUILDINGS

• Barracks - Improves strength stat
  
• Church - Improves Charisma stat
  
• Stables - Improves Speed stat
  
• Art Gallery - Improves creativity stat
  
• Observatory - Improves Intelligence stat
  
• Archery Range - Improves Logic stat
  
• Pool - Improves (Unknown)

HERO CREATION BUILDING

• School - Create a new hero - Note: Must have hero quarters ready beforehand.

HERO QUARTERS - Unlocks at Kingdom level 1. Allows a new hero to be created. Limit is 5.

CLINIC - Unlocks at Kingdom level 1. Build the 1st one while your hero is on their first quest. Build another one later as you acquire more heroes. Easy to get backlogged here.

THEATER - Unlocks at Kingdom level 3. Fulfills the hero's basic entertainment need. Note: this building is HUGE (3x3). You will need to plan for it.

BARRACKS - Unlocks at Kingdom level 3. Probably the most useful of the skill buildings. Get everyone's' skill above at least 100. Useful for quests involving strength, and the Aggressive quest posture.

CHURCH - Unlocks at Kingdom level 3. The most often used help building. Most fighter types are weak in charisma. Get them all over 100. Useful for quests involving the Charisma trait, and the Relaxed quest posture.

STABLES - Unlocks at Kingdom level 5. Useful for heroes with low speed, and quests involving the need for speed.

ART GALLERY - Unlocks at Kingdom level 5. Will help with quests involving creativity, and the Adventurous quest posture.

OBSERVATORY - Unlocks at Kingdom level 5. Will help with quests involving intelligence, and the Careful quest posture.

ARCHERY RANGE - Unlocks at Kingdom Level 6. Will help with quests involving logic, and the Planned quest posture.

POOL- Unlocks at Kingdom Level 7. (Unknown)

SCHOOL - Unlocks at Kingdom Level 5. Allows you to create your own hero with a likely character class.

TABLE - Below is the Hero Facilities table. Note that facilities beginning at level 5 offer significant settlement happiness bonuses. Even if you don't feel that you need the improvement building, it may still be useful to create it due to the happiness bonus that you get. If you built just one of each (and you can usually build more) you would gain over 120 settlement happiness.

HERO FACILITY	UNLOCK	COST	MAINT.	HAPPY	USE
HERO QUARTERS	Lvl 1	400	11g	+5	Allows Creation of New Hero
CLINIC	Lvl 1	700	11g	+2	Restores Health
THEATER	Lvl 3	1500	14g	+2	Satisfies Entertainment Need
BARRACKS	Lvl 3	3000	35g	+5	Increases Strength
CHURCH	Lvl 3	3500	35g	+5	Increases Charisma
STABLES	Lvl 5	5000	46g	+15	Increases Speed
ART GALLERY	Lvl 5	5000	46g	+15	Increases Creativity
OBSERVATORY	Lvl 5	4000	42g	+15	Increases Intelligence
ARCHERY RANGE	Lvl 6	8000	60g	+30	Increases Logic
POOL	Lvl 7	10000	70g	+30	(Unknown)
SCHOOL	Lvl 5	6550	75g	>>	Create New Hero

HEROES - Getting To Know Them

HIRING A HERO
There are 11 different classes. What should you look for? Interesting choices here. Your quest party will fall somewhere on a line between focused stats and broad-balanced stats. Which is best? To begin with, when you have just 1 or 2 heroes, focused is best. Strength is the logical choice to begin with. As you add characters to your quest party, you will want to get a good balance of stat skills. You never know which stats will be tested on a quest. Another consideration, for advanced players, is that character class also determines what equipment the hero will be able to wear (see Questing/Equipment Restrictions).

CHARACTER CLASSES - List of Classes

• Ranger ------Chris is fairly strong (90), with good flexibility.
  
• Thief ---------Sarah is strong & fast.
  
• Rifleman ----James is a great choice at level 2, Kingdom 3.
  
• Spiritualist -A surprisingly good balance of stats - except for Strength.
  
• Valiant -------Bella is expensive, but hard to ignore her great stats - and performance.
  
• Guardian ----Michelle has speed, and will add Charisma (100) to your party.
  
• Knight -------At level 3, Robert & Chuck are good choices, if they have the ambidextrous trait.
  
• Gadgeteer - Charles brings Intelligence to your party.
  
• Brute ---------Great strength, but not much else until you get to Tom & Barry.
  
• Mage ---------Carl is a good early choice, and brings Intelligence and Mana.
  
• Witch ---------Not of much use, but they can bring lots of Mana.

CHARACTER TRAITS
Characters may have special character traits which are useful on their quests. A character may have from 0-3 of these traits. There are 11 of them. These are always nice to have, but again, some are more useful than others. Your individual play style will determine which traits you find most useful. Here's the list...

TRAIT	FUNCTION
AMBIDEXTROUS	Can equip any class of weapon & armor
COLLECTOR*	Raises the chance of getting loot in Epic Quests
CONSTRUCTIVE	Lowers time taken to build settlement improvements
FAST LEARNER	Earns more experience
LONE WOLF	Better performance in quick quests
OPPORTUNIST	Allows a re-roll chance during Epic Quests
SPRINTER	Completes quests faster
STRATEGIST*	Greater chance of success in Epic Quests
THICK SKIN	Takes less damage in quests
TIMEKEEPER	Ability to be punctual?
WEAPONS MASTER	Stat boost when equipped

Note: When a Collector bonus or Strategist bonus kicks in during an Epic Quest, the game will notify you.

MOST USEFUL TRAITS - Here are the traits that I consider most useful...

• OPPORTUNIST - By far the most useful trait. Always have this trait in a quest party
  
• COLLECTOR - Always good to get more loot.
  
• FAST LEARNER - Wish every hero could have this trait.
  
• AMBIDEXTROUS - No restrictions on equipment for these heroes.

HERO TABLE - Stats For Every Hero

TABLE - There are currently 33 heroes (and 5 additional specials). They are arranged here, and in the following section, by class in the subjective order that I found most useful.

NAME	CLASS	C LVL	K LVL	COST	MAINT'	HP	MP	ST	SP	INT	CHAR	LOG'	CREAT'
Chris the Courageous	Ranger	1	1	100	10	200	50	90	40	30	20	25	45
Lawrence the Strong	Ranger	1	1	300	20	100	50	300	20	20	20	35	70
Finkle the Keen	Ranger	3	2	310	30	150	80	20	120	35	25	75	55
Michelle the Protector	Guardian	1	1	250	25	100	200	50	180	150	100	10	35
Jasmine the Great	Guardian	3	2	350	25	150	110	40	40	150	90	10	40
Jess the Noble	Guardian	3	3	350	50	500	200	250	150	150	130	35	45
Sam the Quick	Rifleman	1	1	250	20	150	150	45	100	110	55	5	10
James the Marksman	Rifleman	2	3	400	50	250	200	100	150	200	100	80	50
Amy the Awesome	Thief	1	1	100	15	110	90	15	19	80	20	30	15
Sarah the Sneaky	Thief	1	1	150	10	150	100	100	80	15	25	10	20
Molly the Speedy	Thief	3	2	350	20	100	120	20	155	40	25	90	20
Darren the Useless	Knight	1	1	10	1	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Philip the Brave	Knight	1	1	100	10	130	130	20	20	30	30	20	30
Robert the Terrific	Knight	3	2	290	30	135	130	80	80	70	80	90	55
Chuck the Fierce	Knight	3	3	300	40	450	100	300	110	130	102	105	123
Steven the Sharp	Knight	4	4	800	100	500	150	200	210	230	210	230	250
Mark the Handy	Gadgeteer	1	1	110	35	90	110	20	15	100	30	50	115
Charles the Tinkerer	Gadgeteer	2	2	350	30	150	200	50	20	180	50	80	150
Tara the Bold	Valiant	1	1	150	10	150	110	40	40	50	20	10	40
Zanthia the Zealous	Valiant	2	2	320	40	110	160	10	40	50	20	110	60
Bella the Deathbringer	Valiant	4	4	800	100	500	150	200	210	230	210	230	250
Scott the Honest	Mage	1	1	100	10	80	150	10	30	40	15	40	30
Carl the Arrogant	Mage	1	1	200	20	150	300	50	55	95	50	45	10
Yuna the Caring	Spiritualist	1	1	150	20	100	100	20	30	100	120	30	55
Lauren the Lovable	Spiritualist	2	2	250	44	150	200	50	60	200	250	55	30
Luna the Considerate	Spiritualist	3	3	130	50	120	300	50	70	250	100	250	90
Teddy the Tough	Brute	1	1	200	20	350	50	150	10	10	10	30	20
Bob the Bold	Brute	2	2	300	30	350	90	120	30	20	10	30	40
Tom the Tall	Brute	3	3	300	20	350	50	180	20	50	10	85	80
Barry the Chunky	Brute	4	4	800	100	500	150	250	190	130	200	190	280
Iris the Incredible	Witch	1	1	100	10	80	150	10	20	50	10	50	10
Mary the Magnificent	Witch	2	2	300	35	180	250	30	20	50	10	50	50

SPECIAL HEROES - And Additional Thoughts

There are also 5 mysterious heroes that can be discovered. Find them if you can.

NAME	CLASS	C LVL	K LVL	COST	MAINT'	HP	MP	ST	SP	INT	CHAR	LOG'	CREAT'
Monstrosity	Monstrosity	1	3	1000	0	666	666	666	666	666	666	666	666
Architect	Architect	5	2	3000	10	50	50	10	10	10	10	10	10
The Medic	Medic	5	2	5000	10	320	100	100	10	30	10	30	50
Marky	Mcland	5	2	1500	30	100	80	50	200	90	200	50	100
Matt the Maker	Ranger	10	5	150000	1000	900	900	0	100	999	900	900	900

WHO SHOULD YOU HIRE, AND WHY? - The number of heroes can be confusing. There are so many, they all seem to look the same. Here are some guidelines.

• Pay attention to special traits.
  
• Try initially to hire someone strong with reasonable additional traits.
  
• Decide whether you'd like a man or woman.
  
• Consider the cost & maintenance of hiring the hero.
  
• Don't pay too much attention to their nicknames.
  
• Don't hire Darren the Useless. He really is useless. As a diversion, when you've become really good at this game, Try to win with Darren. It may be a fun challenge. LOL

RECOMMENDED HEROES - Early in the game
Based solely on stats, here are some heroes that I like to start with early in the game. These heroes will be level one or level two. As mentioned, look for special traits also.

HERO	CLASS	COST	MAINT	HP	ST
Chris the Courageous	Ranger	100	10	200	90
Sarah the Sneaky	Thief	150	10	150	100
James the Marksman	Rifleman	400	50	250	100
Tara the Bold	Valiant	150	10	150	40
Carl the Arrogant	Mage	200	20	150	50
Robert the Terrific	Knight	290	30	135	80
Charles the Tinkerer	Gadgeteer	350	30	150	50

MAINTAINING YOUR KINGDOM - What You Need To Know & Do

Here are some suggestions, ideas, and data to help in Maintaining Your City

MONEY

• The need for money. If you have a negative balance for 6 straight months, you lose the game.
  
• What can you do with money? Buy buildings, roads, decorations, equipment, misc. items, and it helps you to win the game.
  
• How do you get more money? Go on quests, build stores, Get lots of followers, and keep them happy.

COSTS

• How to improve sales.
  • Have lots of happy visitors
    
  • Place decorations near stores
    
  • Raise store quality
• Build duplicate shops? It seems to help improve sales. Go for it.
  
• Optimum product quality/price ratio? Product quality always starts really low. Find ways to improve it.
  
• Does shop adjacency hurt sales? This doesn't seem to have any negative effect at all.

GAMEPLAY
While questing, there are many things that you can and should do while your heroes are conducting their quests.

1. Monitor the status of your library research. You want to keep research ongoing at all times.
   
2. Check the status of your stores for upgrades. Focus on product quality! This will affect your final score. Tip: You can do this with the game on pause. This will help maximize your kingdom's efficiency. You get a pop-up when a store can be upgraded, but it's hard to notice.
   
3. This is the ideal time to add a land tile and/or some new buildings.
   
4. Monitor the status of your settlements (Relations). You want their happiness always to be close to maximum.
   
5. Monitor the status of your heroes - even if they are on a quest. Then you'll know what do to with them immediately when they return from whatever they were doing.
   
6. Monitor your Stats - especially the score column to see where you need improvement.
   
7. Read the notices on the upper right side of the screen. Keep aware of what's happening in the game. Tip: You can read these notices with the game paused.

LIBRARY RESEARCH
Build your library (special building) as soon as possible. This is a critical step towards success in your kingdom. Equally important is the order in which you research things. This can be HUGE in your kingdom development. There are 17 research topics and most topics can be researched twice (or more). This is the recommended order...

1. ALL BOOKED UP - This allows you to research multiple topics simultaneously. Get it up to the maximum of 3, or even higher.
   
2. THE POWER OF WORDS - Increases the effectiveness/power of your research.
   
3. BEAUTIFICATION - Attractiveness in your kingdom takes longer to decay. Get it to the max.
   
4. CUTTING CORNERS - Lowers the maintenance costs of your buildings by 10%
   
5. EVER EXPANDING - This lowers the cost of your land tiles. Over time, this can be HUGE. Get it to max (2)
   
6. STOCK MARKET - This isn't about finance. It increases the quality of the products in your stores, which start out quite low. Better quality will generate more sales!
   
7. SETTLEMENT GRANT - Increases maximum followers from your settlements. This earns you more money!
   
8. FASTER RECOVERY - Increases the rate of recovery from training buildings. Especially the Clinic.
   
9. SUPPLY & DEMAND - Adds a new supply item for quick quests. This will earn you more money also.
   
10. HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER - Increases the effectiveness of your training buildings.
    
11. MANAGEMENT TRAINING - Raises the capacity of claimed settlements by 2
    
12. MARKET CAPACITY - Adds another slot to the Marketplace
    
13. CHEAP IMPORTS - Lowers the prices for Marketplace items
    
14. MARKET VALUE - Marketplace gets cheaper faster
    
15. GONNA' NEED A BIGGER BOX - Doubles your Kingdom inventory space
    
16. MONTHLY NEWSLETTER - Unlocks a new type of quest
    
17. RESEARCH HOW TO RESEARCH - Lowers the time needed to research upgrades

SETTLEMENTS - In the Relations tab, you can see how many settlements you have to start with.

• You need to add settlements to your kingdom to bring in more gold, and make the Kingdom grow.
  
• The maximum settlements you can have is 14 (on easy level).
  
• The happier your settlements are, the more people they will send to your kingdom, the more gold you will earn, and the faster your city will grow.
  
• Upgrading each settlement with a Guild Hall increases their followers by 5%.

QUESTING - Quick Quests

QUICK QUESTS
Your kingdom is set up as a city surrounded by outlying settlements. Your heroes will undertake missions (quick quests) within the kingdom in order to promote the common good. Here is a list of the missions that your heroes may undertake, and their purpose.

There are 30 available Quick Quests. Completing these are the fastest way to gain experience for your heroes, The fastest way to acquire gold, and the fastest way to make settlements happy.

QUEST	PURPOSE
Ambassador	Represent the kingdom
Arrest	Take justice into your own hands
Beasts	They're big… and beasty
Children	Be a dear and babysit for a while
Delivery	The post office hasn't been invented yet
Diving	Search the depths of the ocean
Endurance	Training. Old school
Farmhand	Get stuck in and gather resources
Fishing	Teach a man to fish, he learns how to fish
Forging	Help create items for adventurers
Haunting	Investigate paranormal activity
Hiking	Go on a hike
Hunting	Hunt animals for trade
Incinerate	Watch the world burn
Mining	Help find resources
Mythics	Every settlement has a secret
Party	Hold a celebration
Raiders	Defend against raiders
Repair	Help a settlement make some repairs
Rescue	Rescue someone in distress
Ruins	Discover secrets of mysterious civilizations
Sailing	Sail the seas and defend from pirates
Scouting	Be on the lookout
Spelunk	Explore dark caves
Stockpile	Help fill their stockpile
Swamp	There's a disturbance in the swamp
Teaching	Spread the knowledge
Trading	Help a settlement perform a trade
Transport	Help move things around
Vermin	Kill it. Maybe with fire…

QUESTING SUPPLIES
In order to complete the quick quests successfully, the heroes will need to pack supplies. The good news here is that the supplies are free. The bad news is that you have to pack them in the exact right order. Here are the supplies needed for each quest. Acknowledgement & thanks to badian76 for his groundbreaking guide on quest supplies which, in part, inspired this guide.

QUEST	SLOT 1	SLOT 2	SLOT 3	SLOT 4	SLOT 5	SLOT 6
Ambassador	Papers	Identification	Nav' support	Camping Mat'	Stationary
Arrest	Identification	Weapons	Nav' Support	Torches	Bait
Beasts	Weapons	Climbing Gear	Horses	Camping Mat'	Traps
Children	Toys	Clothing	Accessories	Books	Stationary
Delivery	Nav' Support	Climbing Gear	Horses	Storage Cart
Diving	Storage Cart	Nav' Support	Books	Climbing Gear	Identification
Endurance	Food	Drink	Camping Mat'	Climbing Gear	Books
Farmhand	Farming Equip'	Storage Cart	Camping Mat'	Horses
Fishing	Bait	Traps	Drink	Storage Cart	Food
Forging	Tools	Junk	Lumber	Stone
Haunting	Religious Texts	Spell Scrolls	Weapons	Traps	bait
Hiking	Climbing Gear	Nav' Support	Food	Drink	Camping Mat'
Hunting	Camping Mat'	Weapons	Storage Cart	Traps	Bait
Incinerate	Lumber	Torches	Junk	Papers
Mining	Climbing Gear	Storage Cart	Stone	Tools	Torches
Mythics	Spell Scrolls	Nav' Support	Religious Texts	Papers	Accessories
Party	Food	Drink	Accessories	Toys
Raiders	Weapons	Armor	Spell Scrolls	Cannons	Horses	Bait
Repair	Tools	Storage Cart	Junk	books	Climbing Gear
Rescue	Horses	Nav' Support	Weapons
Ruins	Weapons	Spell Scrolls	Climbing Gear	Stationary
Sailing	Nav' Support	Drink	Food	Cannons	Mortar
Scouting	Nav' Support	Horses	Torches
Spelunk	Torches	Climbing Gear	Nav' Support	Food	Drink
Stockpile	Food	Drink	Weapons	Storage Cart	Farming Equip'
Swamp	Nav' Support	Horses	Weapons	Traps	Bait
Teaching	Books	Toys	Papers	Stationary	Religious Texts	Identification
Trading	Paintings	Gemstones	Storage Cart	Books	Toys	Junk
Transport	Nav' Support	Storage Cart	Camping Mat'
Vermin	Weapons	Armor	Horses	Lumber	Tools	Bait

QUESTING - Quest Postures & Epic Quests

QUESTING POSTURES
When you select one, that selection determines the primary posture for the current quest.

For Quick Quests, select the posture that most favors your hero. Tip: On the screen to select a quest posture, you can mouseover your hero to see what their stats are. Use this technique to select the best posture.

• Normal - General focus on all your heroes' stats
  
• Careful - Favors Intelligent heroes
  
• Planned -Favors Logical heroes
  
• Relaxed - Favors heroes with Charisma
  
• Aggressive - Favors heroes with Strength
  
• Adventurous - Favors Creative heroes

For Epic Quests, where the stats for all the heroes are varied, just select Normal.


EPIC QUESTS
While the purpose of the quick quests was to gain money, hero experience, and settlement followers, Epic Quests serve a broader agenda. They can gain you the following

1. Gold
   
2. Settlement Followers
   
3. Secret 'unlocks'
   
4. Weapons
   
5. Armor
   
6. Items (misc.)

The quest difficulty available, and the corresponding loot quality, is determined by the Epicness Level of the quest. The higher the difficulty of the quest, the better the loot that can be found. As heroes go on multiple epic quests, their quest epicness level will grow. You can see this bar at the end of an epic quest.

Epic Quests will also offer 1 or 2 'quest encounters' per quest. These will describe a situation and give the party multiple options for resolution. Each of which will require expertise in specific skills. The higher the character's stat in the required skill, the more dice they can roll. The total rolls of all heroes are combined to equal or surpass the quest 'threshold' total which is determined before the quest starts by the difficulty chosen.

VANQUISH QUEST
Vanquish Quests are used for tracking down villains. This also unlocks the 'Adventurous' quest posture.

WHAT CHARACTER CLASSES ARE THE BEST FOR QUESTING?
At the beginning of the game you won't have many heroes. Starting out with classes that favor heroes with hit points & strength is useful. As your hero stable expands through the course of the game, you will want to add classes that are strong in other skills - ultimately being a well-balanced party. To start with, these are the classes that seem most useful.

• RANGERS - Good HP & strength. Chris is my favorite hero to start the game with.
  
• RIFLEMAN - Good all-around stats. Get James as soon as you can.
  
• GUARDIAN - Good all-around stats. Michelle is a great early game hero.
  
• THIEF - Also has good all-around stats. Sarah is a great asset to have in your party.

Note: at 4th level the Valiant Bella, or the Knight Steven are both great. They both have the same stats!

EQUIPMENT RESTRICTIONS - Initially, you can have 30 items in your inventory. Reading a library book (Gonna Need Bigger Box) somehow allows you to double & quadruple your inventory. Go figure.

Weapons & Armor are complimentary types of equipment.

• WEAPONS - Enhance Strength, Intelligence, & Logic
  
• ARMOR - Enhances Speed, Creativity, & Charisma

In addition, both types of equipment have hero class restrictions regarding who can use them.

WEAPON	USABLE CLASS	USABLE CLASS	USABLE CLASS
Bow	Rangers	Guardians	Thieves
Daggers	Guardians	Thieves	Valiants
Gloves	Thieves	Gadgeteers	Brutes
Rifle	Rangers	Riflemen	Gadgeteers
Shield	Guardians	Valiants	Brutes
Staff	Gadgeteers	Mages	Witches
Sword	Guardians	Thieves	Knights
Talisman	Mages	Spiritualists	Witches

ARMOR	USABLE CLASS	USABLE CLASS	USABLE CLASS	USABLE CLASS
Armor	Guardians	Knights	Valiants	Brutes
Cloak	Rangers	Riflemen	Gadgeteers
Robe	Thieves	Mages	Witches
Shroud	Rangers	Thieves	Gadgeteers
Tunic	Riflemen	Mages	Spiritualists	Witches

Another subtle consideration for what class to employ is the availability of equipment for each class. Here's the data.

CLASS	WPNS	ARMOR	TOT' EQUIP'
Thief	4	2	6
Guardian	4	1	5
Gadgeteer	3	2	5
Ranger	2	2	4
Mage	2	2	4
Riflemen	1	2	3
Valiant	2	1	3
Witch	2	1	3
Knight	1	1	2
Spiritualist	1	1	2
Brute	2	0	2

In addition, all equipment have a color-coded quality, and minimum hero level restrictions.
Note: The character trait 'Ambidextrous' will override any hero class restrictions for that hero. You can see that Knights don't get much love in this game. Your best chance to play a Knight will be if you can find one who is ambidextrous. If you do, go for it!

SPECIAL LOOT ITEMS
The 3rd type of loot you can get on an epic quest is miscellaneous items. This questing loot contains some great items which can improve your kingdom, and save you money.

ITEM	DESCRIPTION
BLUEPRINT	Free land tile expansion
BREAD	Increases max mana for a character
CARPET	Improves a store's stock quality
CHEESE	Increases max health for a character
DIAMOND	Remove a settlement's threat level
GEM	Free upgrade for a settlement
MAP	Discovers a new settlement
MYSTERY BOOK	Arcane language - need Architect to read
PAPER	Unlocks a new quest mission
SUPPLY	Unlocks a new quest supply
VASE	Improves a store's stock prices

The 4 most useful quest items are:

• Blueprint - Finding these can save you a ton of gold.
  
• Carpet - All store stock quality needs to be drastically improved.
  
• Map - Getting 14 settlements is intrinsic to success in the game, for numerous reasons.
  
• Gem - You need to upgrade all settlements with at least Guild Halls.

VICTORY POINTS - How To Win The Game

Your victory point total is comprised of the following elements...

• Gold
  
• Kingdom Happiness*
  
• City Attractiveness
  
• Settlement Followers
  
• Quests Completed
  
• Settlements

GOLD
Collecting gold is what AI kingdoms are especially good at. Monitor their progress and keep up with them. Build lots of stores, find settlements, and keep your followers happy. These 3 things will improve your gold score, in the long run. The longer the game duration, the easier it will be to score well.

KINGDOM HAPPINESS
Happiness is a special case. It is an average of 4 different game elements...

• Happiness of your heroes
  
• Happiness of your settlement followers
  
• Attractiveness of your city
  
• Attractiveness of your settlements

AI KINGDOM FOCUS
The Kingdom AI seems to focus on certain key areas.

• Gold
  
• Completed quests

This suggests that they primarily conduct Quick Quests, which would generate high scores in these areas. In the Relations/Kingdom menu, keep tabs on how they are doing in these areas so you don't fall too far behind. They do reasonably well with settlement followers also.

CITY ATTRACTIVENESS
This is your city's beauty score, in the lower right-hand corner. The maximum score is 50. Keep it there.

SETTLEMENT FOLLOWERS
Get this as high as you can, and keep them happy. Acquire settlements (which is where the followers come from). Do everything in the game that gives you more followers. Build Guild Halls in all of the settlements.

QUESTS COMPLETED
Seen in the lower right-hand corner. The more quests you complete, the higher your score. Keep active!

SETTLEMENTS
There are lots of settlements in the game, but the maximum you can control is 14. Make sure you have 14 by the end of the game.

GOALS FOR THE GAME - Things You Need To Accomplish

What should you be trying to do in this game?

Here are some goals that will send you along the right path. These goals outline the direction that you go for the entire game. They are long-term goals. If you can accomplish them by the later stages of the game, you should do pretty well.

DURATION
During the game setup, pay attention to the duration setting. This is especially true for new players or players who don't have much experience in the game. Set the duration to 'LONG,' (i.e., 50 years). This game works by unlocking things as you level up, and the long duration will simply give you more time to accomplish your goals.

At the shorter duration levels, the game becomes more problematic. These will be selected by more experienced players who know what they're doing, and know how to quickly accomplish the necessary tasks.

Tip: The longer duration that you have to play, the easier the game will be !

GOAL 1 - Level up your kingdom, and keep doing it. Do this by acquiring followers.

GOAL 2 - Level up your characters, Send them on quick quests, and keep doing it.

GOAL 3 - Level up your Quest Epicness, and keep doing it. Keep going on epic quests to increase this.

GOAL 4 - Acquire as many followers as you can. Followers bring money.

GOAL 5 - Acquire as much gold as you can. Gold comes from store profits.

GOAL 6 - Acquire the maximum number of settlements (14), and upgrade them all with Guild Halls.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & THANKS
I would like to thank Katherineofsky who helped me get started on this guide, and gave me encouragement. She has written 4 guides of her own.

There are a few things about this game that I have yet to discover. As I find them, I will try to update this guide. If you find any mistakes in this guide, please let me know, and I will try to fix them. When future game updates come out, I will try to update this guide as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this guide. I hope it has added to your understanding of the game, and your enjoyment of it as well.

[DCYW]

Brief complete guide, I like it

[Astro Fold]

Great Guide!

[Ambermonk]

You're the one who got me started. Thanks again.

[KatherineOfSky]

Very thorough and complete guide! Super-helpful -- thanks for going through all the effort of putting it together!