Era of Conquest pits players against each other and a vast array of enemy forces, commanding factions inspired by historical civilizations like ancient China, Korea, the Roman Empire, mediaeval France and even the Arabic states. But which of these myriad civilizations is the strongest?
Well, first of all, we should define what differentiates them. Each faction receives a unique starting hero, bonuses to the collection of resources such as grain or wood, and their own unique building aesthetic, inspired by their historical origins. They don’t really change the core story, which is of you escaping rebel forces, trying to discover who betrayed you and rebuilding your army but you do receive some unique voiceover lines from your chosen hero.
During our research, we noted that a few sites and fan forums indicated the civilization you pick doesn’t really matter. Many pointed out that the resource bonuses you receive from each civilization are negligible, and that unique heroes are also easily acquired through regular summoning regardless. While we don’t necessarily agree that’s completely the case, it’s true many bonuses are quite slim for resources.
It’s also worth noting that in the early game, there is a surprising amount of hand-holding as you build up your base. You’ll find yourself with an iron mine, quarry and logging station in quick succession and receive many free boosts. The bottom line is that it feels as though the time when these unique bonuses and heroes would shine doesn’t exist, especially as you’ll also receive your first free hero during the tutorial period anyway.
We also found that in terms of passive production, i.e. what your resource producers create, this bonus doesn’t seem to apply. And while increasing the rewards you gain is good, compared to the bonuses you’d usually get for production in other strategy games it feels a bit lacklustre.
Aesthetics-wise, although you get unique buildings, the actual design of the units you command doesn’t change. And we’re sure that someone, somewhere, is grousing about characters like Boudica – famous for her use of chariots in battle – wielding…a bow. To say nothing of conflating a famous Celt with Norman architecture when they were separated by a few centuries. So if you’re looking for historical accuracy this might not be your cup of tea.
How often do you think of the Roman Empire?
So, we’d argue that if you do want an easy pick for the strongest civilization, Rome is probably one of your better bets. Scipio receives a +20% bonus for iron production, which is more significant than the +10% split over different resources for factions like Britain. Plus, let’s be honest the buildings look pretty cool as well. As far as starting civilizations go, this is a pretty decent one, and well worth picking for your first time around playing so you can get to grips with the mechanics of Era of Conquest.
While some suggest Ivan IV (historically known as Ivan the Terrible) or other support heroes that provide tactical debuffs we’d note that Scipio’s unique skill “Roman Solid Shield” itself does solid damage and also provides the ability to inflict Silence, a powerful debuff that prevents other heroes using active skills. This means you can have a solid combat-based hero who inflicts one of the most powerful debuffs in the game.
Ultimately, Rome provides a solid starting hero and resource boost. But it should be noted that no matter what you pick you won’t be kneecapped by your choice as you can easily adapt with flexible heroes later on.
And if you assume this is at all influenced by formative years spent playing a ludicrous amount of Rome: Total War, you’d be absolutely correct. On a more helpful note, if you find yourself needing a boost while playing the game, why not try some of the active codes for Era of Conquest?
