- For a full list of all villages, see List of villages.
Villages can be found all over the Overland map, be it Calradia, Eastern Europe, or the Northlands. Each one is tied to a nearby fortification, both financially and politically.
Goods[]
You can buy goods from the village or force them to give you their supplies; forcing them will lower your reputation with them. The reputation only lowers when you actually enter the loot screen, so if you accidentally choose the wrong option you can pick "Forget it" and avoid the reputation penalty. If the village populace sees your army as weak, they won't cooperate with your demands and will instead fight against you, their village being the battleground.
All villages refresh their inventory of goods for sale at the same time based on its Prosperity at that moment. This occurs at Time 15 (afternoon) once per 7 days.
Recruiting[]
Unless the villagers dislike you, you can "Recruit Volunteers" to your party. The amount and quality of the volunteers depend on your Renown and reputation with the village. If you decide to recruit them, you will pay 10 denars each to help them with their equipment. This fee is static, regardless of troop quality; if the proposed volunteers are of a higher tier, they will still cost 10 denars each, thus saving some upgrade money.
The troops you get are always from the faction the village is originally from.
You get another chance to recruit any time your reputation with the village changes, so recruit before helping a villager or progressing on a quest and recruit again after the reputation changes to gain additional volunteers.
If you have 10 or more reputation with the village while at war with its faction, you can still recruit from them, but this will result in less morale for that faction's troops.
If your relation is between 0-3, you can get 0-8 recruits. If it is 4 or higher, your relation will be divided by 2, then added to 6 to determine your maximum (e.g. at 10 you can get 0-11; at 20 you can get 0-16). For every 10 relation, you can recruit one higher tier of troops. The chance to get higher tiers is 10%.
Raids[]
Unlike fortifications, villages cannot hold a garrison. If the village is attacked, only the farmers are there to defend it. Building a Watch tower will lengthen the time it takes for a village to fall, thus allowing you to come to their rescue. The villagers will fight to assist you, although their resistance will not be very powerful. Looting a village will reset the prosperity of the village to 0, deteriorate the relationship with the kingdom by 5, with the lord of the village by 5 and with the village itself by more than 30.
If the village belongs to another faction, you can "Take a hostile action" and "Force the peasants to give you supplies" or "Steal cattle". If you're at war with that faction you can also "Loot and burn the village". The amount you steal depends on your looting skill and the current prosperity of the village. Doing this will always decrease your standing with the chosen village and faction it belongs to.
Raiding a village is an excellent way to get food and money, provided the village populace deems your army too strong to be defeated. Typically, there will be about 2000-2500 denars/thalers of goods, and a large amount of food, in addition to the village's cattle. However, raiding a village takes about half a day to a full day in game time, and leaves you vulnerable to being attacked by a stronger party, as you are unable to cancel the raid and run away.
Looted villages tend to start functioning again in between 10-20 in-game days. This can be loosely monitored by the visual representation of the village on the map. If the village is smoking, it has been recently raided. If it has been looted, but not smoking, it is close to being rebuilt. Note: being able to view the smoke requires having the "Particle Systems" option turned on.
Prosperity[]
Prosperity can be increased by completing the "Bring wheat to (village)" and "Deliver Cattle" quests, by building a Mill and by making sure villagers reach the town to trade and come back safely.
If a village is infested by bandits, its prosperity will drop every three days until the bandits are dealt with or leave on their own.
If the village is unremarkable or poorer, you can sometimes find an unemployed villager by asking "How is life here?". If you give 300 denars, your reputation with the village increases by 1. The owner of the village might tell you he approves or disapproves of your help, depending on his personality.
Prosp. | Introduction | Extended Description (non-desert) | Extended Description (desert) |
---|---|---|---|
The poverty of the village of {village} is unbearable. | Only a handful of people are strong enough to work in the fields, many of which are becoming overgrown with weeds. The rest are weak and malnourished, or have already fled elsewhere. The draft animals have long since starved or were eaten, although a few carcasses still lie on the outskirts, their bones knawed [sic] by wild beasts. | The palm groves are virtually abandoned, and the canals which irrigate them are clogged with silt. The handful of villagers you see look malnourished and restless. The draft animals have long since starved or were eaten, although a few carcasses still lie on the outskirts, their bones knawed [sic] by the wild jackals of the desert. | |
The village of {village} looks wretchedly poor and miserable. | |||
The village of {village} looks very poor and desolate. | Some farmers and animals are out in the fields, but their small numbers suggest that some villagers may be emigrating in search of food. Farm implements look rusty and broken. Brush and weeds seem to be reclaiming some of the outermost fields. | Few villagers can be seen tending to the palm groves, and in places, the desert dunes appear to be encroaching on the gardens. Many of the canals are clogged with silt, and the wells and cisterns are filled with sand. | |
The village of {village} looks poor and neglected. | |||
The village of {village} appears to be somewhat poor and struggling. | The fields and orchards are busy, with villagers engaged in the tasks of the seasons. Humans and animals alike look relatively healthy and well-fed. However, a small number of the outermost fields are left unsewn, and some walls are in ill repair, suggesting that there are still not quite enough hands to do all the work which needs to be done. | Men and women are busy tending the palm groves, climbing to the tops of trees to pollinate the fruit. Healthy animals draw the pumps and wheels that bring water to the fields. Some of the irrigation canals and cisterns, however, could use some maintenance. | |
The village of {village} seems unremarkable. | |||
The village of {village} seems to be flourishing. | The fields and orchards are humming with activity, with filled sacks of grain and drying meat testifying to the productivity of the village's cropland and pastureland. | The palm groves and orchards are humming with activity. Farmers call to each other cheerfully from the tops of the trees, where they pollinate the date fruit. The creak of wooden pumps, the bellowing of draft animals, and the rush of flowing water speak of an irrigation system that is thriving under the villagers' attention. | |
The village of {village} appears to be thriving. | |||
The village of {village} looks rich and well-maintained. | The fields and orchards are humming with activity, with freshly dug irrigation ditches suggest that the farmers have enough spare time and energy to expand area under cultivation. Seasonal laborers appear to be flocking here to help with the work and join in the general prosperity. | The palm groves are humming with activity, as farmers load up a bumper crop of dates for sale to the market. Men and women are hard at work digging new wells and canals, to bring additional land under irrigation. | |
The village of {village} looks very rich and prosperous. | |||
The village of {village}, surrounded by vast, fertile fields, looks immensely rich. |
Management[]
If the village belongs to you, you can "Manage this village" and build improvements. The time and money it requires to build them depends on the engineer skill. You can build:
Building | Effect | Cost for Engineer level: | Days for Engineer level: | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | ||
Mill | Increases prosperity in the village by 5%. | 6000 | 3000 | 63 | 33 |
Manor | Allows you to "Stay for some time" and rest, paying your troops half wages. | 8000 | 4000 | 83 | 43 |
Watch tower | The time needed to raid the village is increased by 50%. | 5000 | 2500 | 53 | 28 |
School | Increases your reputation with the village by 1 every month. | 9000 | 4500 | 77 | 38 |
Messenger Post | You will be alerted when there are enemies near the village. | 4000 | 2000 | 43 | 23 |
One of each improvement can be constructed at every village. Improvements persist even after a village is raided and looted. Note: the Mill increases initial prosperity and ideal prosperity by 5%. The initial increase is lost if the village is raided, but the ideal prosperity increase persists. Ideal prosperity is the "natural" level of prosperity for the village. In effect, the Mill increases prosperity by 5% permanently (in contrast to previous conclusions about the improvement).
Village Elder[]
You can talk to the Village Elder if you select "Go to the village center"; he's the only villager that is always stationary. He can:
- Give you tasks
- Sell you goods or cattle
- Tell you of recent enemy sightings
- Set a large fire on the outskirts of the village (reduces the number of guards in a nearby fortification when you try to free someone from prison), which will also be visible on the map (not visible if the "Particle Systems" option is turned off)
- Recruit volunteers