Welcome to Níwenborh, Commanders!
Upon reaching the Drairthir Peninsula you will hasten to its new Capital, Níwenborh, home of the Dragoness and refuge from the chaos wrought in the aftermath of the civil war with the Shai-va.
Encircling the Dragoness’ throne at the heart of the Capital, are various sites where you can construct buildings. Alas, the capital is in a state of severe disrepair and in dire need of resources required to restore and upgrade its facilities.
Throughout the course of the campaign, you’ll have plenty of interesting buildings to discover, and in today’s post, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of these improvements.
The first sites we’ll be exploring are the Magic Amplifier, Training Grounds, Oracle, and Marketplace. These are some of the most vital buildings you can construct, as each one will dramatically affect your approach to quests going forward. We’ll also be looking at the various Camps from which you can recruit your units. Each camp has units associated with the environment from which they hail, and you’ll gradually unlock each one as you progress through the Drairthir Peninsula.
Camps and Crystals
Magic Amplifier – A mysterious structure brimming with powerful magics at the heart of the Capital. The Magic Amplifier will be the first building you construct as it enables the Commander to regain her physical form. Its upgrades are centred around improving the Commander and her revival spells. Mana Provisions will permanently increase the Commander’s mana pool by 5, while Beast Provisions will expand the maximum army size recruited in the capital by an extra unit. The Enchantment Crystal upgrades will allow the Commander to pick from more Revival Spells, and the Reinforced Amplifier will strengthen the Commander’s revival spells and starting statistics.
Forest Camp - Alongside the Magic Amplifier, the Forest Camp will be one of the first buildings you construct. Muddy yet lush and verdant, this humble camp is home to Centaurs, Tree Ents, Harpies, and Griffons.
Frosthyll Camp - Travelling to the frozen north will allow you to build the Frosthyll Camp, full of beasts and monsters acclimatised to the treacherous cold. Winter Elves, Mountain Things, Werewolf Grunts, and Undead Soldiers are among the recruitable units.
Ashen Camp - Venturing further east across the desert sands unlocks the Ashen Camp and the creatures that hail from the wastes and its oasis-like havens. Units include the Giant Crab, Desert Eye, Desert Viper, and majestic Phoenix.
Zildarya Camp – In spite of the lava-filled lands being corrupted by a demonic presence, there are still some locals that remain sentient enough to take up the Dragoness’s cause including the Imp, Succubus, Dark Skull, and vampiric Bat.
Getting Buffed
Having a balanced army is important but the Commander will also need to bolster her own strength and improve her abilities to achieve victory!
Both the Training Grounds and Oracle are excellent buildings for boosting the Commander’s power and versatility as their individual upgrade trees allow the player to manipulate Revival Spells to reduce their element of randomness.
Training Grounds – This building can be used to unlock and configure individual Talents for the Commander’s Revival Spells. The Deep Pockets Talent grants your army 5 additional rations at the start of a quest, while Fire Affinity bestows an additional 5 points of shield to every owned Zildarya unit. Talents are a passive buff to the Commander and her army and once purchased from the Training Grounds can be manually toggled on the Revival Spell menu in between quests.
Oracle - The Oracle’s upgrade tree allows the Commander to replace one of the randomized Turn Bonuses linked to their chosen Revival Spell. Turn Bonuses are activated during map exploration after running out of Steps and can provide several helpful bonuses. Mana Regeneration grants an additional 5 mana, while Bonus XP adds 40 XP in the next turn if chosen.
Marketplace - If you find that you’re low on a particular resource but have acquired an abundance of another, the Marketplace can be used to exchange resources, for a fee of course. For example, the normal trade rate between Iron and Granite is 2:1, so for every two Iron you trade, you’ll gain one Granite in return. Rarer materials have different exchange rates depending on the resources you are offering!
Supernatural Resources
After completing Quests and Challenges you’ll receive valuable resources. Remember, these resources have a variety of uses so you’ll have to consider your options, whether that be investing in building new structures, improving existing ones, or buying and upgrading units. The rarity and distribution of these resources will vary as you progress through the campaign so you’ll be gradually improving the Capital and its forces over time.
Carefully balancing the resources you bring back after a quest will be key. Keep an eye out for extra Victory Conditions during quests to earn bonus resources and valuable upgrade materials.
That’s all for now but we’ll be back in a few weeks’ time to bring you Part 2 of our spotlight on “Restoring the Capital”.
See you then!
- Crazy Goat Games & PQube
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