Game guides

Buildings

The economic and growth systems of RIS are more in-depth than in the base game.

Growing your settlements is now more challenging, making it take longer to upgrade them and creating a greater distinction between large cities and small towns. Many buildings are mutually exclusive: only one from each category can be built per settlement, so you will need to choose what's best for every region. Many buildings are already present at game start, but some of those might not be what you want or what is most efficient, so you may want to replace them. Every region has a building called 'Region Information Scroll'. This building shows useful information about the region, but it also houses many modifiers of mod mechanics that you should ignore.

Important Tip: put a building in the building queue (only one, to avoid confusion) and the real economic, growth and public order effects appear in the 'Settlement income' and 'Settlement details' tabs, highlighted in green and red.

Governments

To construct buildings, recruit, or make any money from a settlement, you first need one of these governments to be built:

Dependency - Meant for quick control and for AOR recruitment (see the recruitment system), but it puts severe limits on the region's profitability and its further development: dependency does not allow grain imports, colonies or resource export buildings, and it limits garrisons and law courts. Culture is also unlikely to switch from the local culture.

Indirect Rule - Allows a bit more profit and more buildings, such as basic grain imports, tier 2 garrisons, basic colonies and resource exports. Local culture is still strong, but less so than under Dependency.

Direct Rule - More profit, full building availability and full factional recruitment, at the cost of a higher upfront price and unhappiness from loss of autonomy; this unrest is higher at higher settlement levels. Local culture is present but weak enough to be converted given investment.

Homeland - The best government type, with easier recruitment of your factional troops, faster construction, a morale bonus, a tax bonus, full building options (except colonies), and heavy conversion to your own culture. However, Homeland is only available in regions considered your people's ancestral homeland. Some factions may have homeland regions outside their starting control, which, if taken, will allow the Homeland government type.

Abandon Settlement - This is not really a government but a button you can push to release control of the settlement. Your troops will withdraw and control will change to either rebels or another faction, based on whether the settlement was originally 'built' by an existing faction. Be careful! This may be a faction you are at war with, and gifting them a region will also spawn a few units in it for them.

Treasury

In your capital, and only your capital, you can build treasury buildings offering further economic buffs. If you change your capital, the old treasury will stop working on the next turn and can be destroyed. If you capture another faction's capital, that treasury will also give no bonus, so you should simply destroy it for the money; this represents you looting the enemy's treasury.

Walls

Besides increased defences in sieges, walls provide a bit of law and are required for higher-tier garrison buildings.

Military

See 'Recruitment System' for an in-depth explanation of unit recruitment. Apart from recruitment, garrisons are a major, though expensive, source of law, a stat that combats corruption. As garrisons represent the presence of your military more than a building, other factions' garrisons are destroyed when you capture a region.

Farms

There are 10 different farming building chains, 5 crop options and 5 animal husbandry options, but regions will only ever have 2 of them available to choose from, 1 crop and 1 husbandry farm (though some regions with a climate hostile to crops will only have the husbandry option). Which ones are available out of the 10 variants is determined by the local terrain, climate, water availability and your faction's agricultural knowledge. You can check the terrain, climate and water availability in the 'Region Information Scroll' building. Note that fertility does not give any growth in RIS; a region's natural suitability for growth is modelled through the farming and sanitation buildings. Generally, the crop variants offer better growth and the animal husbandry variants offer better income. The terrain not only determines what options you have available in a region but also how far it can be upgraded, so it is worth looking at the building browser before choosing. All farms can also be further boosted by the resources present, which is shown in text under the building effects, meaning what is best in one region may not necessarily be best everywhere. All additional bonuses from resources and such are already included in the effects listed, so a +5 farming figure can be made up of +4 base and +1 from a resource.

Grain Imports & Exports

You can force-boost growth in your settlements by importing grain, which is done by producing and consuming grain surplus points. All factions start with 1 point for free, and granaries (grain export buildings) produce additional points; these buildings are available in regions with the grain resource and with crop farms built. The maximum number of points you can reach is 16. You can check your current number of grain points in the Region Information Scroll of your capital. Grain imports consume these factionwide points to provide growth and happiness where they are built. Higher levels of both the grain import and grain export chains also require sea or river ports to move all that bulky grain.

Markets

These offer significant trade bonuses, especially in inland regions, as sea trade is very profitable in the base game while inland trade was underrepresented.

Ports

How far ports can be upgraded is limited by region, based on natural harbour availability. You can see what the limit is for a coastal region in the Region Information Scroll. However, by building the 'Harbour Improvement' you can exceed that natural limit by 1 level. This building self-destructs once completed, and your limit is raised from that point on. Note that ships also require either Training Grounds or Garrison 1. Ships can be upgraded by ports that have access to hemp, timber or pitch (all of these can be supplied factionwide to all your ports).

River Ports

Only available where there is a navigable river, and mutually exclusive with regular ports; this is shown in the Region Information Scroll building. Note that this river resource is not the same as the one used for farms and sanitation, as not every river that could be used for irrigation and sanitation was navigable.

Rural Industries

These are building chains enabled by having any of these resources available: Wine, Olives, Hemp, Dates, Fruit, Papyrus, Honey, Wild Animals, Horses, Camels, Timber, Elephants. You can only have 1 building of this category in any settlement. For the global effects some of these provide, see 'Resource Export/Supply'.

Urban Industries

These are building chains that, unlike rural industries, require large town level, and are enabled by having any of these resources available: Silk, Incense, Amber, Slave Trade, Spices, Medicinal Herbs & Perfumes, Fish, Glass, Dyes, Sheep, Flax, Cotton, Pottery, Hides, Grain. You can only have 1 building of this category in any settlement. For the global effects some of these provide, see 'Resource Export/Supply'.

Heavy Industries

These are building chains that tend to also have some negative effects, and are enabled by having any of these resources available: Salt, Pitch, Purple Dye, Sulphur, Iron, Copper, Livestock, Tin, Lead, Gemstones, Gold, Silver, Marble, Stone, Coal. You can only have 1 building of this category in any settlement. Though the export buildings for tin, iron, copper and lead do not count as a heavy industry but fall in their own 'special exports' category, enabling you to have both mines and 1 of these exports. For the global effects some of these provide, see 'Resource Export/Supply'.

Roads

Roads only start affecting trade from paved roads onwards, while highways only offer a trade bonus if connecting regions have roads at paved road level or above.

Sanitation

Sanitation has been split into a water & sanitation chain and a healing chain. Many factions do not get access to the final upgrades. For 'civilized' factions the water & sanitation line has greater growth potential, but it is more expensive, and regions without a source of fresh water will not be able to fully upgrade it. The healing chain can be buffed by more resources, though, and can be a more cost-effective option when those resources are present. It also offers valuable healing ancillaries.

Colonies

These are required for recruiting your own troops in foreign lands. Besides this, they are one of the best ways of converting a region to your culture, and they provide decent economic bonuses.

Civic

Civic buildings are powerful buildings that only unlock at city level. Many provide law, a powerful stat as it combats corruption, and academies greatly improve your characters. Note that construction bonuses for civic buildings refers to the base game 'civic' category and not just to these civic buildings, civic construction bonuses affect all buildings that are not walls, military (mic/garrison), temples.

Leisure

These are entertainment buildings that mainly provide happiness and culture conversion, but most also have additional effects.

Temples

The current temple system is a placeholder. As it stands, temples spread your own culture when the government is either direct rule or homeland, and on the highest tier they even spread your culture factionwide. A temple instead spreads the region's local culture when the 'builder' faction is not your own, in other words if it was pre-existing and its building culture does not match yours. Tip: hover over the building to see the building culture. Lastly, temples give additional happiness if your culture is the dominant culture in the region.

Unique Buildings

Some regions have a unique building with powerful bonuses, such as the Acropolis of Athens. These cannot be built or rebuilt, and they may have varying effects based on which faction holds them. Expect more of these in the future!

Recruitment System

Recruitment in RIS works differently from the base game. Be sure to review the changes carefully.

Unit Categories

Units are either factional troops, area of recruitment (AOR) troops, or mercenaries. You can tell which type a unit is by the icons in the bottom corner of the unit cards: AOR units have a headband icon, mercenaries have a coins icon, and factional troops have no icon.

Factional troops - These are the core units of your faction that, with enough investment, you can train anywhere, though there are a few exceptions.

AOR units - These are local troops you can levy. They require less investment to recruit, but as they are only available in their own regions, retraining them when the front moves can be challenging. Useful for covering deficiencies in your roster.

Mercenaries - These are, as in the base game, recruited directly by generals and cannot be trained or retrained, only merged. They are great in an emergency or, like AOR, to cover missing roles in your armies. But their upfront cost is nearly double that of comparable factional units.

Government & Colonies

Conquering a region alone won't allow troop recruitment there. You'll need to exert control over the land and its manpower by establishing a government first. If the region's population isn't of your ethnicity, building a colony is also required to unlock factional troops. Example: As Athens, conquering the Thebes region and building a government lets you recruit generic Greek troops there, but Athens-specific units require a colony. If you expand into Celtic regions, colonies are needed for all Greek units, since local Greek manpower is unavailable. Note: This mechanic applies only to the player. AI factions won't construct governments or colonies due to technical limitations.

Governments represent different levels of integration, limiting what units are available for recruitment. There are four types:

Dependency - All AOR units including elites, no factional units.

Indirect Rule - Basic and professional units for both factional and AOR, but no factional or AOR elites. Factional troops not also available as AOR require colony level 1.

Direct Rule - All factional units including elites, only basic AOR troops. Elite factional units require colony level 2 for non-local ethnicities.

Homeland - Full access to all factional units without colonies and at an earlier tier, no AOR troops (though those are likely the same as your factional troops in your homeland anyway).

Governments also affect other aspects of gameplay. Check building descriptions for details. Note that each level of colony also disables recruitment of AOR units, as your people's military culture takes over the region.

Tip: To see locally available AOR units and their requirements, check the 'Region Information Scroll' building. For factional troops, check the building details of the governments; direct rule and homeland show all factional units.

Military Infrastructure

Barracks, ranges, and stables have been replaced by the Military Industry Complex (MIC) building chain and the garrison building chain. What each level unlocks depends on the government and the AOR troops available in the region:

Training Grounds or any garrison building - Recruit levy and basic units

Basic Armoury - Unlock professional units, and in homelands your elites as well

Barracks and Armoury - Unlock elite units abroad (with colonies), and +1 experience

Barracks and Foundry Complex - Same as Barracks and Armoury, but with +1 recruitment point, and another +1 recruitment point if you have a foundry built. Each recruitment point reduces recruitment time by one turn.

So in regions with the homeland government type, elite units are available at Basic Armoury, meaning you can get your full roster at large town level in your homelands, while those top-tier units are only unlocked at minor city level elsewhere. Similarly, all AOR units, including elites, are unlocked at Basic Armoury.

Resource Restrictions on Recruitment

The best cavalry units and all camel units require the horses or camels resource, except in your homelands, where your factional heavy cavalry and camels are available even without these resources. You can build Fine Horse Exports or Camel Exports to supply these resources factionwide and effectively remove this restriction. Elephant units require the elephant resource to be available locally. There is no homeland exception, and elephants cannot be supplied factionwide.

Recruitment Times

Recruitment times are tied to the unit tier:

• Levy and basic units - 2 turns
• Professional units - 3 turns
• Elite units - 4 turns

As noted above, recruitment times can be reduced by building Barracks and Foundry Complex.

Resource Export/Supply

Some resource exploitation building chains include a special export/supply level at the end of their chain that offer unique strategic bonuses. You can only build one of each type across your realm. Effects on other buildings will, in moost cases, also be fulfilled by the resource being available locally, in which case the bonuses will not stack if you also have a export level built in your faction. These buildings will specify in their effects what regions they affect. (Faction) mean it affects all regions factionwide, or all specified buildings factionwide, (Capital) means it only affects your capital. Controlling and developing key settlements is essential to unlocking these powerful features:

Lead: +5% health bonus to all sanitation (tier 3-5) buildings, tax bonus for all Metalworkers.

Wine: +5% happiness factionwide.

Tin: +10% trade bonus factionwide, +10% trade to all Metalworkers (stacks with copper).

Copper: +10% trade to Metalworkers factionwide (stacks with tin), +1 armour for all blacksmiths (does not stack with other resources), tax bonus for all mints (central and local).

Iron: Enables Weaponsmith and Metalworkers construction anywhere, +1 weapon and +1 armour for all weaponsmiths (does not stack with other resources, except for weapons with coal), tax bonus for all Metalworkers (does not stack with lead).

Purple Dye: +5% law bonus to all cities (minor, large, huge), 10% trade bonus for all textiles buildings (tier 2-3, stacks with dyes on tier 3).

Dyes: 10% trade bonus for all textiles buildings (tier 2-3, stacks with purple dye on tier 3).

Marble: 10% construction cost reduction for all temples, 10% construction cost reduction for civic buildings in your capital.

Horses: Enables factional heavy cavalry recruitment factionwide, enables races on all racing & athletics buildings, enables upgrading racing & athletics buildings anywhere (tier 3-4).

Camels: Enables factional camel units production factionwide, enables races on all racing & athletics buildings (tier 1 some factions, tier 2 all factions).

Papyrus: law bonus for all law courts (tier 2-3) and academies (tier 2-3) (does not stack with parchment).

Livestock (parchment): law bonus for all law courts (tier 2-3) and academies (tier 2-3) (does not stack with papyrus).

Salt: +10% trade for all (tier 2-5) animal husbandry farms, +10% trade for all fish salting buildings, enables tier 3 fish salting buildings (some factions), and +2% tax bonus factionwide.

Silk: +10% trade bonus factionwide.

Incense: +10% happiness factionwide.

Amber: +10% culture conversion bonus factionwide.

Medicinal herbs & Perfumes: +5% health to all healers (tier 2-3, can stack with other resources on tier 3).

Wild Animals: +5% happiness bonus factionwide, bonus happiness for all arena's (Romans).

Pitch, Bitumen & Tars: +1 attack for ships on all ports (can stack with timber and hemp).

Hemp: +1 attack for ships on all ports (can stack with timber and pitch).

Timber: +1 attack for ships on all ports (can stack with pitch and hemp), -1% construction cost for most civilian buildings.

Slave Trade: +0.5% growth in homeland regions, tax bonus for all crop farms (tier 4-5, 3 for qanat), all mines, all stone quarries, all marble quarries, all salt exploitation, all sulphur exploitation, bonus happiness for all arena's (Romans), but -5% happiness factionwide.

Sulphur: +1 farming for cropfarms (tier 3-5, does not stack with grain/elephants).

Stone: +1 construction point in your capital, but also -10% tax in capital.

Honey: +2 health (10% happiness and 1% growth) in your capital.

Jewelry: +20% trade bonus in your capital.

Olive Oil: +1% population growth bonus in your capital.

Spices: +20% trade bonus in your capital.

Siege and Blockade Effects

When a settlement is under siege for 1 turn, the following penalties are applied:

• 5% tax penalty
• Trade suspended
• 2.5% penalty to population growth

Since 2 turns of being under siege and until the sixth turn, the penalties increase considerably:

• Additional 5% tax penalty
• Additional 2.5% penalty to population growth

Blockade Effects

• Trade suspended
• 2.5% penalty to population growth

Optimizing Campaign AI Performance

To ensure optimal AI behavior and maintain a dynamic campaign experience, it is advisable to save and reload your game frequently. This action addresses a known issue where the AI may become passive.

For best results, reload your saved game every 8 turns.