Old World is a historical 4X strategy game by developers Mohawk Games. I reviewed Old World and previewed the Heroes of the Aegea DLC, and while the game is very enjoyable, some of the concepts of the game can be hard to grasp, especially for those new to the genre, so we thought it deserved a guide. We also have a guide detailing the nations Leaders and their vassal families which you can find here.
Old World is based on Classical Antiquity around the Mediterranean basin and Mesopotamia. Current nations in the game are Assyria, Babylon, Carthage, Egypt, Greece, Persia, Hatti and Rome. You can pick your nation and tweak the game setting how you like to suit your playstyle. If you’re not familiar with the basics, I’d strongly recommend playing through the tutorials in the game.
Wining Conditions
A few conditions have to be met to win a game in Old World; like in any 4X game, you just can’t walk to the finish line and be crowned the winner. So before starting a game, a good rule of thumb is to know your victory condition. For example, are you planning to win on ambitions, a conquest win, or a points victory?
The game plays out over two hundred years, each year being one turn. As you play the game, you collect Victory Points which vary depending on the map and the total number of city sites.
You must survive to the end of the 200th turn and have the highest number of victory points. Or you can win if you hit the max victory points before 200 turns are up. Also, having more victory points than half the total amount needed and having twice as many victory points as the nation in second place can swing you a win as well. As well as all of the previous win conditions I’ve mentioned you can also win by completing ten Ambitions. Pressing F1 opens the victory screen, where you can check it for details and progress.
Ambitions
Let’s talk about what Ambitions are in Old World. Basically, ambitions are goals generated through events and the personal desires of each nation’s leader. So working through the ambitions the game gives you within the allotted time is a good way to head to victory. Various ambitions pop up during gameplay; a few examples are: controlling four cities, killing ten enemy units, or founding a Religion.
Leaders And Vassel Families
Unlike other 4X strategy games, in Old World, the leader of your nation is not permanent. Instead, they marry, have kids, die, and there is succession. Through events, leaders can gain XP, level up, gain new traits, lose traits, and more. In every city in Old World, you must assign a powerful ruling family (Vassal) to that city. Each family is associated with a trait that gives the specific city various bonuses. Depending on the presence of unique resources or lack of, families can help define a city’s strengths and specialize it in one mode of production or another. (More on leader and vassal families in our next guide.)
Events
Old World has a deep dynamic event system that generates a story for your nation based on your decisions, accomplishments, and your characters in your nation. In a way, the events system is similar to a slice of history unfolding before your eyes. The events give your characters memories, traits, and relationships, which can trigger later events, so be careful what you choose.
Orders
The unique system of Old World is the system of commands or Orders. In other 4X games, you have the option to move every available unit every turn. However, with Old World, you have a limited pool of Orders.
Orders are shared between all of your units, be they civilian, military or worker and used to make them move and take action on the hex map. A large part of Old World is prioritizing and managing how you use your orders each turn.
It’s pretty common not to have enough orders to do actions with every unit, especially if you’re actively fighting a war. On the other hand, it’s also common to not use all of your orders up each turn. Any unused orders convert to gold at the end of your turn; you usually cannot bank or save them though there can be exceptions.
Want to know how many Orders you have each turn? Check the parchment scroll icon on your leaders’ icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Legitimacy
Being a leader in Old World comes with a lot of responsibility, and a leader must prove that they are worthy of the throne. Legitimacy is a measure of your leaders’ power and accomplishments. As you accomplish Ambitions, finish building Wonders, and gain renown such as The Peacemaker, The Wise or The Avenger, your Legitimacy increases, granting additional Orders each year and improving your standing with the people.
In essence, almost anything you do will have some effect on your leader’s legitimacy rating. This rating directly affects the number of orders you will receive per year. The more Legitimacy the leader has obtained, the more orders they can give out to their subjects and army units. The crown icon on the leader’s portrait is Legitimacy.
Unit Fatigue
You may be able to choose how many Orders you use per unit on the map. However, each unit has a Fatigue limit represented by the dots above the unit icon. Once a unit uses all its actions per turn, they become fatigued. Some actions do not cause fatigue, such as chopping wood with a worker, but they still cost an action.
Forced March
All units can perform additional move actions beyond their initial fatigue limit. For example, once a unit is fatigued, you can Force march them to move some extra tiles. Force March is activated by using some of your Training pool. This allows units to move a distance you can afford and still settle or attack. Check the red shield icon on the top toolbar to see how many training points you have available.
Exploration
Since Old World is a 4X strategy game, you still do the basics of 4X mechanics: Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate. So send your Scouts out to explore as much of the map as possible. Scouts will discover landmarks and earn you some Legitimacy at the same time. You get +2 Legitimacy if your scout is the first to discover a landmark. Apart from that, exploring will allow you to get a lay of the land. This, in turn, can help you understand its topography for any potential wars in the future.
Expand
Expanding in Old World is a must as you have to grow your Kingdom, and the AI will be rushing to do the same. So send your Settlers out to settle new cities. However, in Old World, you can’t just settle a new city anywhere. Instead, you use the predetermined tiles sites that the game highlights in green. Military units and scouts can camp on a city site and hold it until you can get a settler to it, but be aware that the AI is quick to occupy all the city sites.
Harvest Resources, Buy and Sell
While your scout and or units are out exploring, it is good to harvest every resource tile they can. Though each harvest yield won’t do much, it still makes a lot of difference when resources are scarce during the early parts of the game.
Unlike other 4X games, there are four basic resources in Old World. They are wood, stone, food and metal. On the top of the screen in the middle of the UI, you can see how much of each resource you have. You gain and lose resources during each turn due to improvements, building structures, and building projects consume them to build structures. You can also gain resources through various Techs on the Tech Tree and gain and lose them through events and treaties with other nations.
Using the UI at the top of the screen, you can buy or sell resources on the Market to gain gold. Of course, prices will fluctuate due to demand, so keep an eye out and try to buy when wood and such are cheaper.
That’s it for this Old World guide. Check back soon for our Old world guide on each nation’s leaders and the vassal families you can choose for your cities. In the meantime have fun conquering Old World!
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