Embarking

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Embarkation screen with all upgrades

Embarking is when viceroys select where they want to go for their next mission and select what to bring with them.

Overview

After looking around the World Map, viceroys choose a tile for their next mission. This tile is defined by its biome and any adjacent map modifiers. When zoomed in, you can see more information about the tile before starting the mission in the Summary and Conditions tabs, including the expected experience points, the resource nodes available in that biome, and any special biome mechanics (for example, archaeology in the Scarlet Orchard). Once zoomed in, the next few things can be done in any order:

• Caravans: Select which caravan of villagers they want to start out with. Caravans consist of some random number of three Species, although one of the species will be unknown at this point. Caravans also bring with them a crate of standard starting goods and then a random assortment of other useful goods, which can include things like extra fuel or food.

• Embarkation Points: Select how they want to spend their embarkation points. Viceroys can bring extra food, fuel, or even blueprints with them once they are unlocked by purchasing Upgrades in the Smoldering City. These Blueprints have a baseline cost of embarkation points, and then will randomly cost one more or one fewer points each mission. (For example, one mission you may see the Herbalists' Camp cost 4 points, and the next one 5.)

• Difficulty: Select the Difficulty for the mission and preview the effects this will have, including any negative modifiers from Prestige difficulty levels.

Players can choose to zoom out and settle a different hex on the World Map at any point before locking in their choices. This also allows you to opt out of World Events before starting the settlement.

Caravans

Caravan menu

The caravan you pick before Embarking, along with the Embarkation points you spend, are going to determine the species and number of your starting villagers, as well as your starting resources. You only have 2 caravans available in the caravan menu when starting out. In order to unlock the third one, you have to acquire Pioneers’ Gate level 4 upgrade.

Only 1 or 2 of the starting species can be known before you start a settlement, never all 3. All 3 species are set in stone upon Embarkation - there is no way to affect what species your settlement is going to have after Embarkation.

Before World Events increase or decrease the number of starting villagers, every caravan has 6-8 villagers, as well as Base Goods, 2-4 Bonus Goods, and a 50% chance for 2 additional villagers. Additionally, all active World Event bonus resources will show up under Base Goods if you hover over the Base Goods icon (under the first species' icon, to the left of Bonus Goods). Pioneers' Gate level 8 and 12 upgrades increase the amount of Embarkation resources by 20% each, but they do not increase the amount of World Event goods. Additionally, Obsidian Archive level 20 will permanently increase the number of starting villagers by 1.

Base Goods

No upgrades	Full Citadel
30  Eggs	42  Eggs
20  Parts	28  Parts
4  Wildfire Essence	6  Wildfire Essence
10  Wood	14  Wood
20  Coal	28  Coal
—	7  Planks
—	7  Bricks
—	7  Fabric
—	14  Pipes

Bonus Goods

Caravan Foods (1-2) Food Amount Base Full Citadel  Eggs 20 28  Meat 20 28  Roots 20 28  Berries 20 28  Mushrooms 20 28  Vegetables 20 28  Insects 20 28  Fish 20 28	Caravan Other (1-2) Resource Amount Resource Amount Resource Amount Base Full Citadel Base Full Citadel Base Full Citadel  Amber 5 7  Crystalized Dew 10 14  Coats 20 28  Tools 10 14  Copper Bars 10 14  Jerky 20 28  Parts 5 7  Stone 20 28  Skewers 20 28  Barrels 20 28  Reed 20 28  Pie 20 28  Pottery 20 28  Leather 20 28  Pickled Goods 20 28  Waterskins 20 28  Clay 20 28  Biscuits 20 28  Planks 15 21  Plant Fiber 20 28  Pipes 5 7  Fabric 10 14  Oil 20 28  Porridge 20 28  Bricks 10 14  Grain 20 28  Sea Marrow 20 28  Scales 20 28  Boots 20 28  Paste 20 28  Algae 20 28	Bonus Villagers Villagers 2

Embarkation Costs

The cost of Embarkation Bonuses will change with every caravan, this is to encourage players to try out different starting patterns. They are as follows, per Discord user @cron3052:

Bonus	Cost
Amber	3 - 5
Blueprints	4 - 6
Bricks /  Fabric	2 - 4
Coal /  Oil	3 - 5
3 Cornerstone Rerolls	1 - 2
Delivery Lines	5 - 7
Eggs /  Roots /  Wood	1
Meat /  Vegetables	1 - 2
Pack of Provisions /  Parts	3 - 4
Planks	2 - 3
Reed /  Leather	2
Stone /  Clay	2
2 Villagers	2

Difficulty selection

Main article: Difficulty

Difficulty dropdown

Difficulty is selected in a dropdown menu in the bottom portion of the screen.

Not all options are available at all times. Starting out, the highest difficulty available is Viceroy. Once Viceroy is beaten, Prestige 1 is unlocked. After Prestige 1 - Prestige 2, and so on until Prestige 20.

Prestige 2 summary

You can find a short summary of all active difficulty effects by hovering over the magnifying glass found to the right of the difficulty dropdown.

All tiles on the World Map have a minimum difficulty associated with them. Within 8 tiles of the Citadel, minimum difficulty is Settler, which means you can choose any unlocked difficulty on the list. As you get further from the Citadel on the World Map, lower difficulties gradually become unavailable. For example, once you cross the 12 tiles threshold, Settler, Pioneer, and Veteran can no longer be selected (they show up as Too Far in the difficulty dropdown).

Difficulty thresholds are communicated with rings formed by a dark colored outline on some sides of the World Map hexes. The distance between the rings on the World Map is 2 tiles for Pioneer, Veteran, and Viceroy zones. The next three zones, Prestige 5, Prestige 10, and Prestige 15, grow by 3 tiles each. Past 23 tiles of distance from the Citadel, only Prestige 20 difficulty is available.

It is possible to enter a minimum difficulty zone for a not yet unlocked difficulty. For example, a player can enter the Prestige 10 zone with only Prestige 7 unlocked. Settling is still allowed in this scenario, but the difficulty selection will be limited to the highest unlocked difficulty until Prestige 11 is unlocked or the player returns to the Prestige 5 minimum difficulty. Sealed Forest settlements always enforce their minimum difficulty level, regardless of your highest beaten Prestige level.