Embarking
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
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.
| 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
|
|
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Embarkation Bonus budget
There are 2 different ways to pay for Embarkation Bonuses:
- with Embarkation Points (also regular Embarkation Points later)
- with Reserve Embarkation Points
All viceroys start with 3 Embarkation Points for each settlement. This base amount can be increased up to 10 with the help of upgrades from the Pioneers' Gate tree. Additionally, an unlimited amount of Reserve Embarkation Points can be gained from Royal Resupplies. World Events Followers of the Forsaken Gods and Shelled Mosquito Nest can also reward 4-5 Reserve Embarkation Points.
Reserve EPs are tracked separately from regular EPs, and their pool does not recharge. All Reserve Points gained need to be spent before the end of the cycle and will be reset to 0 if not used before the end of the cycle. Players have the freedom to decide whether to spend all Reserve Embarkation Points at once, or use them piecemeal. Regular Points' pool always gets spent first and recharges between settlements, but it decreases by 1 for each difficulty threshold passed on the World Map. You can always find out what the current penalty is by hovering over the number of regular EPs in the Embarkation Bonuses UI. Beyond the Prestige 20 threshold players will have no more than 2 points to spend from their regular budget. Reserve Embarkation Points' pool, on the other hand, is not affected by difficulty thresholds in any way. For more information on difficulty thresholds, see the Difficulty selection section.
Non-Reserve Embarkation Points should always be spent - their pool will always return to full capacity for the next settlement. Starting settlements with regular EPs left in the bank doesn't grant any advantages. The game will display a warning, should you attempt do to that: "Do you want to start the game? There are still points to be spent."
A maximum of 9 separate Embarkation Bonuses can be selected at any given time. Keep that in mind when hoarding Reserve Embarkation Points for your next seal. 59 is the maximum amount of points you could theoretically spend on a single settlement, choosing all of the most expensive options at their highest possible cost. There are no warnings for unspent Reserve EPs at any point.
Embarkation Bonus 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 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.
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.
