In the pantheon of 4X games, The Battle of Polytopia is one of the more accessible options; with streamlined controls and a relatively small array of units and tactical options, it’s a game that new players can pick up and get into quickly, which is something you can rarely say for its peers.
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That said, there’s still a lot of nuance to the game's mechanics, with mistakes that are easy to make before you’ve mastered them. It’s a good idea to take the time to do so before you jump into multiplayer games, and these tips will give you a great headstart in that regard.
9 Always Pick Workshops
When you level up one of your cities for the first time, you’re given a choice: a Workshop that gives you an extra star each turn or an Explorer that reveals a large section of the map. While the intel that an Explorer provides can be valuable and save you a lot of time when grabbing early cities, the Workshop is almost always the correct choice.
This is because Polytopia, like most 4X games, is about building up a resource advantage over time and eventually ‘snowballing’ into a win. This is easier to do the earlier you start, making the seemingly tiny addition of one star a turn very significant in the long run.
8 Scout Towards The Centre Of The Map
When choosing where to send your early scouts at the beginning of a game, always zoom out the map and find the centre. Then, move your units toward that point. This is more effective than the alternatives since it allows you to claim contested cities from your opponents sooner, giving you an edge in the wars to come.
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The early game land grab is all about speed, and this is the most efficient way to give yourself the best chance at those crucial frontier cities. Utilise fast units like Riders alongside roads to speed this process up even further.
7 Rush To Roads
While unexciting at face value, particularly when compared to other technologies in the game, Roads is actually key to developing both an economic and military advantage in the early to mid-game. Roads have the dual function of linking your cities to your capital, giving you extra population, and speeding up the movement of your units.
These are both crucial elements that nudge you towards victory in a subtle way, boosting your growth while securing your empire with the potential for quick reinforcements. The Roads technology also leads into Trade, which unlocks Customs Houses, another incredibly important component of a strong empire, making Roads one of the first technologies you should grab in any given game.
6 Make Use Of Terrain
It’s easy to forget since they aren’t enabled by default, but certain units in Polytopia receive defensive bonuses on certain terrain, specifically mountains and forests. Enabled by the Climbing and Archery technologies, respectively, these bonuses can be crucial when trying to turn the tides in an otherwise evenly-matched war.
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Positioning units such as Defenders or Archers on these terrain features will create a defensive front that will be difficult for your opponents to penetrate, particularly when combined with additional ranged support from Catapults and naval units.
5 Don't Underestimate Defenders
Defenders seem weak at first: with standard movement and incredibly weak offence, they hardly look like the harbingers of a glorious victory. Look a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that those shields shimmer with a mirror shine, revealing all manner of applications.
Naturally, they’re incredibly good at holding captured cities, particularly those with city walls. Place them on defensive terrain, such as grown forests, for a buffer that will make it difficult for the enemy to advance. Finally, they make excellent naval units since they provide high health for a low star investment, making them the best option if you want to conquer the seas.
4 Don't Forget About Diagonals
This sounds glaringly obvious, but it can be surprisingly easy to forget one of the core mechanics of Polytopia when you’re just starting out: units can attack units that are diagonally adjacent to them, not just directly adjacent to them.
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Making this mistake can cause your forces to be flanked seemingly out of nowhere and is particularly important to avoid when dealing with enemy Riders, who can swoop in, deal damage and ride out all in one turn. Make sure to cover the blind spots of your more vulnerable ranged units by surrounding them with Defenders or melee units, including the diagonals.
3 Build A Strong Navy
The effectiveness of naval units varies greatly across different 4X games, but Polytopia is one in which they shine. Boasting high movement speed and powerful ranged attacks, naval units can easily lock down opposing coastal cities, bombarding them with constant fire that prevents them from maintaining a garrison to stop your conquest.
They are expensive to produce, costing 20 stars to upgrade into Battleships in addition to the costs of the unit you use as a base, but once you have a dominant fleet, you’ll be able to cover your opponents’ ports and prevent them from challenging your naval supremacy.
2 Use Customs Houses For A Strong Economy
Whatever strategy you use in Polytopia, one thing is certain: the more stars you have access to, the more effective it’ll be. The main source of stars in the game is from your cities and building them up, but there are alternative sources, too, of which the Customs House is the best.
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Providing two stars per turn for each adjacent Port, which are structures you’ll want to be investing in anyway; Customs Houses can give your economy a massive boost. In lands made up of fragmented islands, such as those of the Kickoo, they’re even more effective.
1 Complete Tasks For Rapid Growth
Researching certain technologies in Polytopia unlocks Tasks, essentially small challenges which, once completed, unlock a monument you can build. These Tasks range from killing ten enemy units to connecting five of your cities via roads to exploring every inch of the game’s map.
While some of these are easier than others (it’s unlikely you’ll be going five turns without a battle in a heated multiplayer game), it’s a good idea to let these Tasks guide your game plan to an extent since the monuments they unlock provide big, unconditional growth boosts to any of your cities, letting you round out your empire for that final mid to late game push.
NEXT: The Battle Of Polytopia: Every Tribe, Ranked
