Atlantida - General game info
Atlantida
2-5 players, 120-240 minutes, 12 years and older
AuthorFranklin Lautert (flautert)
Online since 2011-07-10
Developed byFranklin Lautert (flautert)
Boardgamegeek100374
Atlantida - Rules

Tips in video: Atlantida Guide

Basic Game
Advanced Game
Experimental Rules

Background

Around 9000 BC, Atlantis, a continental island outside the Pillars of Hercules, was home to an advanced civilization. The Atlanteans waged war and conquered the parts of Libya within the Pillars of Hercules as far as Egypt and the European continent as far as Tyrrhenia, and subjected its people to slavery. The Athenians led an alliance of resistors against the Atlantean empire, and as the alliance disintegrated, prevailed alone against the empire, liberating the occupied lands. As punishment to their audacity, Zeus sent a series of earthquakes and floods which in a single day ravaged their island and destroyed their once glorious empire. Irritated by their failure, father Poseidon did nothing to stop it.

Having regressed to a semi-barbaric state and divided in rival factions, sharing a small untouched part of the island, the Atlanteans were forgotten by the gods and their old enemies. A thousand years later, however, after consulting an oracle, the elders of the island came to know that complications in the Olympus would lead Zeus to sent lots of disgraces that would culminate in the island completely sinking. The task of each player is to lead his faction to rediscover part of the lost knowledge to allow the rebuilding of a fleet that could send his people to the safety of the continent.

Game Components

Game Board

It represents the island in hexagonal regions (hexes). All players’ cities lie in the only non-hexagonal region, at the left bottom of the island, later called main region. The cities are represented by the colored rectangles next to the shore. The picture above the rectangles represents the Great Theatre.

Player area

The player areas display each player’s number of population markers and resources. By hovering the mouse cursor over the upper-right symbol it is possible to see the player’s city – its buildings and units present at the moment. Hovering over the last resource symbol (the purple rectangle) allows seeing the player’s civilization advances. Over the foot icon we get his recent moves, and over the light green icon in the bottom left we get his food production. The compass will appear for only one of the players - the current starting player.

Player city

Each player can see his own city all the time. This area is used to move units into and around the city buildings.
All cities are in the island main region, and are represented by the rectangles with their faction's corresponding color.

Continent

The units in this area have been shipped from Atlantis to safety and can no longer return or be harmed. The goal of each player is to have his entire population here.

Hades

The units in this area have died during the game, for many different reasons. They can still have influence in the game by using some temples.
The word Hades is used to refer both to the land of the dead and the god that rules it.

Oracle

It displays the events that will occur at the end of each turn, until the end of the game. The event to occur in the current turn has a red frame.
You can get a brief description of each event by hovering the mouse cursor over its symbol.

Goal

The players are leaders of their factions. In this role, they organize their units to gather resources, develop new technologies and social features, and build weapons, buildings and ships, aiming to take all the population in safety to the continent.

Playing the game

The game is played over up to thirteen phases. The game ends immediately when a player manages to take all his population to the continent, without having any dead units. If no player manages to do that, the game ends after the collapse event, when the whole island sinks and all remaining units perish.

Units

There are only two unit types in the game:

Population Marker

Referred as PopMarker for shortness, it represents a considerable amount of people. It can be assigned to several sorts of tasks, like farming, mining, and combat. The PopMarkers can move freely within the city, but outside it they must be lead by a Leader unit or they will keep their position. Each of them needs one food per turn to be supported. At the start of the game, each faction gets four PopMarkers, and can grow their number without limit, provided enough food is available.

Leader

Represents a small group of political and military commanders, along with their bodyguards. Its amount of people is not relevant for food purposes, or for transportation to the continent. Unlike PopMarkers, they cannot be killed – a Leader unit can always retreat or find its way to its home city. A Leader cannot do any tasks alone (except for occupying some sites). Leaders are necessary for movement along the island, development of social advances and appointment of new leaders. Each player starts with one leader and can grow to have up to four of them.

Resources

There are several resource types in the game:

Stone

Represents different construction materials. It is used to build certain types of constructions in each player’s home city. It can be obtained in quarries, which can be built at no cost at one’s home city or can be found along the island.

Gold

Represents gold itself and any other type of metal. It is used to pay tribute to gods and also to produce military equipment and even, with the proper technology, to build ships. It can be obtained in mines along the island or within the population by taxation or by building an Agora.

Military Equipment

Represents weapons, armory and ammunition used to increase strength during combat. It can only be obtained by converting gold in a Forge or in a Housing. Also referred as ME for shortness.

Wood

Represents quality wood, which is very scarce in the island. It is used to build ships capable of taking population across the ocean to the continent. It can be obtained in forests along the island or by building a Garden.

Knowledge

Represents the scientific and cultural knowledge and experience of a civilization. It is used to develop scientific advances. It can be obtained by building a Academy, in Ruins or in Temples. Unlike the previous resources, it cannot be stolen or pillaged.

Food

Represents all resources used to feed the PopMarkers. Unlike the other resources, it cannot be accumulated, and has to be continually produced; the number beside its icon represents the difference between how much the faction is producing that turn minus its number of PopMarkers. Its excess may allow population increase, while its scarcity may cause death by starvation.
It is possible to see how its production is being calculated by hovering the mouse cursor over its icon.

Shipping Capacity

Represents the fleet size of a faction. It can be used to send units to the safety of the continent, if Astronomy was developed.
The ships are usually built in a Shipyard by spending wood (five wood per ship), but it is also possible to restore an ancient fleet with the help of Poseidon (see Temple of Poseidon). In both cases, the Navigation advance is required.
A player cannot have a shipping capacity greater than 8, but one can end up shipping more units in a turn with the help of advances and temples.

Important Concepts

Advances

Represent the development of scientific improvements that give advantages to a player’s faction. They can never be lost after being acquired. They are obtained by spending Knowledge points (usually six).

Buildings

Represent different constructions in a player’s city that give some kind of advantage or allow some sort of work. They can be destroyed during some events or when another construction is built over the original one. The city space is limited, and some buildings require more than one square. Usually, it is possible to build one building per PopMarker placed in the Housing building, and spend Stone according to the building size.

Hexes

Represent the island regions. All of them have a special site, referred as Main Site, which starts the game occupied by a creature. When a player invades a hex and kills its creature, he occupies the main site and can use the site's features to his advantage.
It is also possible to occupy the Surroundings of a hex. This may happen voluntarily – a player can move his units there if the main site is occupied by a creature or another player – or he can be expelled after being defeated by another player in the main site. There is never combat in a hex surroundings. However, there are no advantages to be in the surroundings - temples cannot be used and output from productive sites is reduced (see below). Nevertheless, it may be advantageous to place units in the surroundings aiming to invade the main site later, since they will join forces with the invading units. Also, one can move from the surroundings to any adjacent hex, which could work to "cross" a hex occupied by a creature in two turns.

Creatures

Each hex starts the game guarded by a creature. It will not allow that hex to be crossed or the main site to be occupied. It can be killed by a player after an invasion, in the Hunting step of the improvement phase. The creature slayer receives one Gold and one Knowledge.
The creatures' strengths are greater when going farther from the main region. Adjacent creatures have strength 4; two hexes distant, 5; three hexes: 6, four hexes, 7.
Exception: the Forests are always protected by a creature of strength 8, wherever they are.

Events

They happen at the end of each turn, and usually represent catastrophes that can be avoided in some degree. The thirteenth turn event is always collapse, which means the whole island will sink.


The Basic Game

All players receive one Leader, four PopMarkers and one Housing building in the center of the city, besides six ME and two of each of the other resources. The hexes' dispositions and the starting player are randomly chosen. The Compass in the player area marks the starting player.
The game starts at the movement phase of the starting player.
In short, a movement phase is executed by hovering the mouse cursor over a leader unit, choosing the number of units to be taken along in the pop-up menu, and then choosing the units' destination. The moved leader gets a white square and can no longer move that turn.
All players get to perform a movement with each of their leaders, in clockwise order.
Afterwards, each player executes the improvement phase. The player starts by freely rearranging his units that are in the home city. After clicking the confirm icon, all production is automatically performed. Then, he will usually make three decisions. First, he can spend Knowledge points in order to develop advances. Then, one building can be built for each PopMarker placed over his Housing building. Finally, he decides if and how much population will be increased, which is limited by food production.
After all players have executed this phase, the starting player will begin the movement phase of next turn.

Playing a turn

A turn has 2 phases, executed in the order shown below:

  1. Phase 1 - movement and combat: The player with the Compass moves all his leaders taking any amount of PopMarkers to a desired location. Then, the player pointed to by the Compass moves all his leaders, and so on. There is combat when a leader invades an occupied site.
  2. Phase 2 - improvement: Each player organizes the units in his city, produces resources, develops new advances, constructs new buildings, increases population and ships units, besides making use of special buildings and temples.

1st phase: Movement and Combat

Movement

Starting with the player who owns the Compass and continuing with the player pointed to by it and so on, each player gets to move a leader once, taking as many pop markers along as possible/desired. If a player has more than one leader, his movement phase continues until all his leaders have moved (or decided to remain on site).

The leader can take along up to ten PopMarkers which are in its region. If he is in his home city, all PopMarkers can be rearranged so that they are in that same square and can be moved together. If he occupies the Great Theatre, PopMarkers can also move to and from it as if it was part of the city.

After selecting the units to move, the possible destinations will have a red light cover. It is always possible to move to an adjacent hex and usually a player can move as far as two hexes. However, while enemy forces do not restrain movement, it is not possible to cross a hex occupied by a creature in only one movement (one could use one turn to go to a hex surroundings and another to go to an opposing hex).

To select a destination, the user must hover the mouse cursor over it and choose to Invade or Enter the hex.
The Enter option means the units will go to the hex surroundings. There is never combat there: the leader is marked and its move is over.
The Invade option will have the same effect if the main site is not occupied by another player – otherwise, there will be combat. In any case, if the player had units in that hex surroundings they will join the invading party towards the main site.


Combat

After invading, a player is given a window where he can choose resources to increase his strength in the combat. A player's base strength is one per PopMarker present, plus one if they are lead by at least one leader. The window will show the combatants’ strengths, which might be influenced by other factors such as buildings or temples. Each player can spend up to two ME per PopMarker present, limited by his stock. Each ME augments his group strength by one. Also, it is possible to sacrifice PopMarkers to increase strength. This will augment the strength by one per sacrificed unit, which will die after the combat regardless of its outcome. At least one PopMarker must not be sacrificed.
A lone Leader has no base strength value and cannot use ME, but can still engage in combat; also, advances, buildings and temples will still add to the player's total strength.

If the invaded area is occupied by an opponent, the attacker defines the resources to be spent and finishes his move. The defender will play next, defining his parameter without seeing the attacker’s parameters. After he finishes his move, the combatant with the higher strength wins and stays at the main site, while the defeated group goes to the surroundings. In case of a tie, the defender wins. If the difference between the winner’s strength and the loser’s is smaller than 3 there are no casualties; otherwise, one unit of the losing group will perish for every 3 points of strength difference. These casualties are independent from the sacrifice of units.

An attacked player can always retreat instead of engaging in combat. In this case, his units go immediately to the hex surroundings and the attacker’s ones go to the main site. The attacker’s selected resources will be fully spent in this case. For instance: if the attacker selected five ME and two PopMarkers to sacrifice and the defender retreats, he wins the battle but spends five ME and two of his PopMarkers die.
Regardless of retreating or battling, an attacked leader which has not yet moved will still be able to do so in the current turn.

Forced retreat: when the difference of strength between the attacker and the defender is so large that the latter has no possibility of repelling the attack, even when using all possible resources, he immediately retreats, avoiding unnecessary delays to the game.

Creatures: When the invaded area is occupied by a creature, there is no immediate combat. However, at the start of the Improvement Phase, during the Hunting Phase, it will be necessary to kill the creature in order to remain in the main site.


Summoning

From the second turn on, each player can move any number of his units into the home city at the start of his movement phase. PopMarkers can be summoned without leaders, and leaders can still move after being summoned. If a player simply wants to move a leader into the city and finish his turn, it is necessary to use the option Remain on site after the summoning.
The summoning happens at the start of each player's movement phase - so, even if a player has more than one leader, he will have only one opportunity to summon units. However, it will still be possible to do a regular move into the city.

2nd phase: Improvement

Starting with the player who owns the Compass and continuing with the player pointed by it and so on, each player will perform all steps related to this phase.


Hunting step

If the current player has units in a hex main site occupied by a creature, he will have to kill it in order to remain there. As for the combat between players, the player is given a window where he can choose resources (Military Equipment and PopMarkers) to increase his strength in the combat. He must exceed the creature's strength in order to kill it. If he cannot or does not wish to kill it, he must retreat his units to the hex surroundings. If he does kill it, he receives one Gold and one Knowledge.


Production step

The current player can rearrange all units in his city to his convenience (if he is occupying the Great Theatre, PopMarkers can move to and from it to the city as well). Then, he must click on the Check symbol at the left of the city board, which fixates the units' positions. At this moment, all production of resources is automatically performed, both in the home city as in the hexes: units in Quarries produce Stone, the Academy awards Knowledge, Knowledge is received from occupied temples, etc.


Development step

If there are enough units for the Agora or the Great Theatre, a new leader can be assigned for two gold. A new leader unit is created in the same building where it was assigned, and will be able to move in the next movement phase. It is possible to use both the Agora and the Great Theatre in the same turn. However, it is not possible for a player to have more than 4 leaders.
After that, new scientific advances can be developed as long as the player has enough Knowledge points to spend. There is no limit to the number of advances to be acquired in a turn. A new advance starts to take effect immediately.


Craft step

If the player occupies one of the following temples and buildings that require decisions, he defines the corresponding parameters in the specified order:
- Temple of Hecate: define the resources to be transformed
- Temple of Persephone: define the number of PopMarkers to be brought back to life
- Forge: define the number of Gold to be converted to Military Equipment
- Temple of Poseidon: define the number of ancient fleets to be restored
- Shipyard: define the number of upgrades in shipping capacity to develop
- Temple of Gaia: define if/where a Garden is to be placed
More details about these locations will be given in the next sections.


Building step

For each PopMarker present in a Housing building of his home city, one new building can be constructed, as long as enough resources are available and the city has enough room, or one ME can be produced.
If a player has no Housing, he must place his units in a razed area in order to build new buildings. In this case, the citizens will build a new Housing before any other building - only a quarry could be built beforehand, if the player needs stone to build a Housing.
Most buildings will take effect immediately, notably the ones related to food production, that comes right after.


Feeding step

In this step all food currently produced is accounted. Basically, one food is produced for every two empty spaces in the home city, plus one per Farm building, plus one per PopMarker occupying a Farm. Food can also be obtained in Prairies, and its output improved by other factors. It is also possible to get it by fishing (see Cloth Making and Temple of Poseidon).
The sum of all food produced is reduced by the number of PopMarkers the player has on the island (e.g. not counting units in the Continent or the Hades) to calculate the food excess.
If the excess is negative (that is, if there is shortage of food), one PopMarker will die for every food lacking.
If the excess is positive, the population can be increased in one PopMarker for every two food in excess. It is necessary, however, to have two PopMarkers in the island for every PopMarker to be increased if more than one is to be generated.


Shipping step

If the player has at least one level of Shipping Capacity and the Astronomy advance, he can ship one PopMarker from anywhere in the island for every level of Shipping Capacity.


Events

The events are displayed at the bottom of the game screen. The next event to happen next is the one with the translucent red frame, while past events are covered in white.
In the basic game, most turns end with no special event. However, every three turns it is necessary to pay Tribute to Zeus, and at the thirteenth turn the Collapse event occurs (see below).

Tribute At the end of his improvement phase, each player is called to offer a secret gold tribute to Zeus. Zeus expects to receive three gold from each player.
After all players define their tribute, they are revealed and paid, and they are sorted by size. Ties are broken in favor of the earlier paid tribute (so, the starting player would win all ties).
If the highest tribute consisted of at least three gold, its offerer receives four Knowledge points.
Then, if the smallest tribute consisted of less than three gold, its offerer receives a punishment from Zeus. Zeus destroys all Housing buildings the player owns, and also kills one PopMarker in his city (if any are present there).
All players who offered no gold suffer punishment, regardless of playing order.

Collapse

After the shipping step, all PopMarkers not in the continent are moved to the Hades and the game ends.

Buildings

As a rule, buildings cost one stone per building size plus one additional stone. However, Farm, Garden and Quarry cost nothing.
For each PopMarker present in a Housing building of his home city, one new building can be constructed, as long as enough resources are available.
A building must respect the city limits. It can be constructed over other buildings, but this will destroy them. They cannot be built over any units or buildings just constructed.
Only one of each building with size greater than one can be constructed by a player. Buildings that cost no stone and Housings can be built as long as there is space, but only two of the other size one buildings can be built.

 

 

Size

Cost

Description

Housing

1

2

Necessary to build other buildings and to increase population. One building can be built for every PopMarker in a Housing, with no limitation. If a player has no housing, he is obliged to build a Housing before being able to build any other building, except for quarries when he does not have enough stone to build his Housing. Also, without a Housing the population cannot grow over five.
A PopMarker in a Housing can, instead of creating a new building, convert one gold into one Military Equipment.

Agora

2

3

An Agora produces one Gold per turn, starting in the next production step.
Additionally, if at least two PopMarkers and a Leader are over the Agora during the development step, the player can appoint a new Leader (paying two gold).
It can be built either horizontally or vertically.

Shipyard

2

3

Each worker placed (up to three) can spend five wood to increase one level of Shipping Capacity, providing the player has the Navigation advance. This building has to be built horizontally on the bottom (along the shore).

Academy

1

2

After constructed, awards one Knowledge point in each subsequent production phase.

Forge

1

2

One PopMarker placed converts one Gold into two Military Equipment.

Farm

1

0

A Farm awards one food in the Feeding Phase. One extra Food is awarded if a PopMarker is present.
A Farm can only be built over an empty space (with no other buildings or debris).

Quarry

1

0

Provides one Stone when built.
In later turns, produces one Stone when occupied by a PopMarker.

Garden

1

0

Produces one wood when occupied by a PopMarker, and additionally produces food as if it were a Farm.
Unlike the other buildings, to construct a Garden it is not necessary to have a PopMarker in the Housing, but to occupy the Temple of Gaia.

Hex Sites

All Hexes have a special site (Main Site) and its Surroundings. Only one player can occupy the main site. The surroundings can be occupied by any number of players.
There are two types of Hex Sites: Temples and Production Sites.
In temples, it is necessary to occupy the main site in order to use its benefits, and being in its surroundings is useless. The number or type of units is not important - the effect is the same.
In production sites, however, it is possible to produce in the surroundings as well as in the main site - one resource is produced for every three PopMarkers present. But being in the main site awards two extra resources when at least one PopMarker is present (exception: the Prairie gives four extra food).
Example: A player has one PopMarker in the main site of a Forest. He gets no wood as basic production, but gets the two extra wood from the main site.
Another player has three PopMarkers and a leader in the forest surroundings. He gets one wood as basic production.

Prairie

Each three PopMarkers produce one Food (+4 if they occupy the main site).

Quarry

Each three PopMarkers produce one Stone (+2 if they occupy the main site).

City Ruins

Each three PopMarkers produce one Knowledge (+2 if they occupy the main site).

Mine

Each three PopMarkers produce one Gold (+2 if they occupy the main site).

Forest

Each three PopMarkers produce one Wood (+2 if they occupy the main site).

Temple of
Poseidon

In the feeding step, the occupying player receives one food from improved fishing.
Before the start of the Improvement phase, if this temple is occupied, the occupying player is asked to define the starting player and the direction of play. The change will be valid immediately, and the Compass will reflect it.
Additionally, if the occupying player owns Navigation, he can restore ancient fleets. For each PopMarker present in the site, he can pay six gold and spend six Knowledge to receive an upgrade in Shipping Capacity.
This site is in the only hex which is always free of creatures and lies next to the main region.

Temple of Hades

The strength of the occupying player’s groups in combats anywhere is increased by one per group of two units he has in the Hades (round up).
Additionally, each group of two units in the Hades provide one more Knowledge during the Production Phase (round up).

Temple of
Persephone

During the Craft step, the occupying player can pay two gold to move one unit or six gold to move two units from the Hades to the temple. The resurrected PopMarkers count as common population and will have to be fed as any other unit during the upcoming feeding step.

Temple of
Aeolus

During the Shipping step, the occupying player does not need Astronomy to ship units. Also, if he has at least one level of shipping capacity, he will be able to ship two more units.
Additionally, if he owns Navigation, each leader can take up to ten PopMarkers in coastal movement.

Temple of
Hecate

During the Craft step, the occupant can transform any amount of Stone, Gold or Wood into the same number of one of the other two materials.

Temple of
Demeter

The occupying player gains one extra food from each occupied Farm and Garden, and one extra wood from each occupied Garden.

Temple of Gaia

During the Craft step, the occupying player can place a Garden on his home city.

Temple of Europa

This temple has a portal to its corresponding temple in the continent. At the start of the Shipping step the occupying player can send PopMarkers which occupy the temple to the continent by offering gold.
At the start of the game, the cost is one gold per unit. After each Tribute to Zeus, the cost is increased by one gold, reaching four gold after the third tribute.
The number of units that can be sent each turn also starts at one and increases by one after each Tribute event.

Great Theatre

The occupying player gets one gold in the Production step.
Besides, if he places a Leader and two PopMarkers there, the player can appoint a new Leader (paying two gold).
Unlike the other sites, this one has no surroundings – expelled units go to their home city. Also, the occupying player can freely arrange PopMarkers to and from the Great Theatre and his home city at the start of his turn.

Scientific Advances

The basic cost of all advances is six Knowledge points. It is possible to buy many advances on a turn, as long as Knowledge points are available. In the Basic Game, an advance purchased by another player in a previous turn costs 2 Knowledge points less.

Metalworking

When using a Housing building to convert gold to Military Equipment, each gold is transformed into two ME.
In a Forge, two gold can be processed by one PopMarker, and each gold is transformed into three ME.

Engineering

Buildings cost one stone less for the owner.

Navigation

If the owner of this advance has a Shipyard, he can develop his shipping capacity.
Also this advance allows coastal movement. This type of movement can happen between any two hexes which have access to the ocean. However, a leader can take only up to three PopMarkers in this situation.

Cloth Making

During the Shipping step, if a player owns this advance and can ship at least one unit, he will be able to ship one more. This can add to the effect of the Temple of Aeolus.
Also, he is allowed to use two more PopMarkers in coastal movement - that is, a leader can take up to five PopMarkers in that situation.
Additionally, one extra food is produced every turn due to improved fishing.

Advanced Physics

It allows the use of gold instead of wood to increase Shipping Capacity in the Shipyard. It is necessary to spend two gold to replace one unit of wood.
However, one can only acquire this advance if he owns an Academy building and has previously acquired three other advances: Navigation, Metal Working and Engineering.

Astronomy

This advance is required to use Shipping Capacity and send units to the continent.
Additionally, it reduces by one Knowledge the cost to acquire other scientific advances.

Agriculture

With this advance, a PopMarker placed in a Farm produces two Food instead of only one. There is still a limit of one worker per Farm.

Game end

If after doing his Shipping step a player has all his PopMarkers in the Continent (none in the island or in the Hades) the game ends immediately and he is declared the winner.

If no player wins by the end of the thirteenth turn, the game is decided with Victory Points. If at least one player has units in the continent, all players who do not are eliminated. Among the candidates, the score is one point per unit in the Continent minus two points per unit in the Hades. In case of a tie, the winner is the player with more advances.

If no player has units in the continent, the winner is the player with more advances.

Variants

One can choose to play without the possibility of a premature win (before the collapse of the island). In this variant, the game is fully played in its 13 turns, and the winner is defined by victory points, as described above. This rewards players with better long-term planning and infrastructure. To select this option the invitation must be created with the checkbox Race Victory not possible marked.

It is also possible to have all players start the game with two leaders, instead of one. This makes for a less slow initial development and easier gameplay, especially for beginners. To select this option the invitation must be created with the checkbox Extra Leader marked.

The other checkbox (No Plunder) is ignored in the Basic game, and is only relevant for the Advanced game.

Scoring in Yucata

In order to adapt to the way game results are stored in Yucata, the following modifications are made to scoring in the site:

  • If a player managed to send at least one PopMarker to the continent, he gets a bonus of 100 points. One point will be added for each unit in the Continent and two per unit in the Hades to compose his final score.
  • If a player wins by saving all his PopMarkers his final score is 1000 points.
  • If a player quits a multiplayer game his final score is -1000 points. In games with only two players, there is no scoring when a player quits.

Tips and tactics suggestions:

  • No decision in Atlantida is ever definite until you click on Finish Move. You are welcome to try different alternatives, cancelling each move, until you decide on the best choice. In the Movement phase, for instance, it is advised to go to different locations, see what resources should be used to defeat a creature or an opponent, and then decide. But this is true especially for the Improvement phase. There are several decisions you must take before confirming, which results in a big variation of choice combinations. In the first games, it is better that you try many of them. In short: the Reset move button is your best friend - use it!
  • At gamestart it is probably a good idea to look at the hexes' dispositions, to see what resources are likely to be more easily available (have in mind that the farther hexes are unlikely to ever be invaded - it is just too costly to get there). It is advised to click on the Island icon (left to the question mark icon), which facilitates viewing the hexes and reading their description. This option can be used mostly anytime.
  • As in the other games in yucata.de, you can use the Give up button to quit a two players game. In Atlantida you can also quit multiplayer games, at the start of the movement or the improvement phase. To do this, Click on the Island icon and then click on the small Retreat icon that will appear beside the Hades. When you do this, your civilization immediately descends into chaos. All your resources are consumed, buildings destroyed and advances lost. The game will appear in your Current games list until it is over, but you will no longer play on it.
  • You can see the players' last moves by hovering the mouse cursor over the foot icons in their player area. It is very important to keep track of what your opponents are doing. Also, it is a good idea to look into their cities as well. Mind the Compass and the squares over leaders as well to see which players have already moved.
  • When there is combat between players, the full log is always in the attacker's move log. For the event Tribute, which involves a sort of auction, the log is available in the event icon itself, during the movement phase right after the event.
  • There are many factors to take into account, but you should not lose focus that the goal is to take units to the continent. To accomplish that, you will most likely need a Shipyard, Wood, Navigation and Astronomy to win.

 


The Advanced Game

The advanced game plays like the basic game, with added complexity. This section describes the differences between the two scenarios.
At the setup, each player receives a statue besides the usual resources. Statues are special buildings which provide unique powers to their owners, described in detail below. The game starts with the starting player choosing a statue. Then the player to his left selects his one, and so on. The last player, after selecting his statue, decides the player order which will be valid afterwards, from the first movement phase.
Most importantly, at the end of all turns (except the first two ones) a special event will happen (Tribute to Zeus is only one of them). The events have a massive impact on the game and create a lot of difficulties to achieve its goal.
Besides, there is a new category of advances: Social Advances. They can be acquired in a similar way as new leaders.
There are also a few new buildings and scientific advances, a new site and one rule change: summoning is no longer possible for the PopMarkers (only leaders can be summoned, unless the player possesses the advance Logistics ).
The variant No Plunder was added to the advanced game. It allows for easier planning and it may be advisable for new players to use it, since even some experienced players are not comfortable with all the alternatives of the full ruleset. This option eliminates the possibility of acquiring the Statue of Hermes and the advance Fanaticism.

 

New Hex Site

In the advanced game, one of the productive hexes (randomly selected) is replaced by a new temple site.

Temple of Zeus

After the end of the Movement phase, if this temple is occupied, the occupying player has the power of voiding the event forecast to happen that turn. If he offers Zeus one gold, the event will not happen at all. If he offers three gold, calamities will affect all players except himself, whereas in a Lost Fleet event it would offer its services to him exclusively.
The temple cannot be used to stop the Tribute to Zeus or the Collapse events.

 

Events

As for the Tribute event in the basic game, most events will require a separate step during the improvement phase, called the Event Reaction step, which happens at the end of that phase, right before the shipping step. So, each player will handle the events during his own turn.
The event to happen next is the one with the translucent red frame. If this event was totally voided at the Temple of Zeus, the red frame will be replaced by a gray cross. If it was partially voided a yellow bolt will be displayed at the upper right of the symbol.
Past events will be covered in white.

 Tribute

As in the basic game, Zeus expects to receive three gold from each player, who have their offers sorted by size. But the punishment for the worst offer(s) is less harsh: the player's Housing is destroyed, but no PopMarker in the city is killed. However, regardless of the offers, a Seaquake will happen.
The highest offerer chooses two coastal hexes to sink. He can choose a hex that has just become coastal because another was sunken. He cannot, however, choose the main region or a hex in which there is at least one unit from a faction that honored the expected tribute. Also, for each hex with a temple he wishes to sink he must pay two extra gold at the moment of its selection.
All PopMarkers which were in a sunken hex perish, but Leaders find their way to their home city.

Drought

There is no Event Reaction phase for a Drought. However, during the Feeding step, the Farms have the same effect of empty squares in the home city – the player produces one food for each two of them, and PopMarkers placed on Farms have no effect (unless the player occupies the Temple of Demeter, when he will get the Temple bonus food).

Iconoclasm

During the Event Reaction step each player has his statue(s) destroyed and one PopMarker in the home city dies, if at least one is there.

Epidemic

During the Event Reaction phase each player loses one PopMarker for every three present on the island.
If the player owns Medicine he has one casualty less for each food in excess which was not used to increase population.

Pirates

During the Event Reaction phase, each player’s home city suffers an attack with a strength of 15. He can spend resources as in any usual combat to increase his strength in his city. If the result is below 15, he loses all his gold, and loses one PopMarker in the city for every 3 points of strength difference as in a usual combat.

 Lost Fleet

During the Event Reaction step, each player may place a secret bid of gold. After all bids, the highest bidder pays his offered amount and may send up to five of his PopMarkers to the continent. In case of a tie, the earliest bid wins.

Recall

There is no Event Reaction phase for this event. After the end of Shipping step, all dead creatures go back to their original hexes. The units which occupied the main site are expelled to the surroundings.

Earthquake

During the Event Reaction step, each player destroys two buildings of his choice and loses two PopMarkers at his home city, if they are present. Buildings which cost no stone to build cannot be affected by this event.
If the player has Engineering, only one building is destroyed, and each Housing that stands protects one PopMarker.

Flood

During the Event Reaction step, each player must spend stone or wood in order to avoid the death of their citizens. It is necessary to spend one resource to save two PopMarkers. If the player owns Engineering, each resource saves three PopMarkers.

Collapse

Identical to the basic game: after the shipping step, all PopMarkers not in the continent are moved to the Hades and the game ends.

 

Statues

Statues are special buildings which give a unique power to its owner. Each player receives one at the beginning of the game, but can buy others during the game. However, a player cannot possess two statues at the same time - his current one is destroyed when another is bought, unless one of them is the statue of Hera (see below).
As a rule, statues cost two stone plus three gold.
Two players cannot have the same statue simultaneously.

Aphrodite

Whenever its owner is attacked with more than one PopMarker, one PopMarker from the invading army changes its faction immediately, regardless of the will of the statue's owner.

Ares

Its owner has +1 strength in all combats. Additionally, he pays no Knowledge points to develop social advances (the units requirement is not reduced, though).

Artemis

Its owner’s PopMarkers have strength four against creatures and get one food each in Prairies (instead of one for each group of three).

Athena

Awards two Knowledge points in subsequent production phases.

Hephaestus

Its owner can develop the Metalworking and Engineering advances by paying one Knowledge point for each.

Hermes

Its owner gets one resource of his choice at the start of movement phase, while all opponents lose one. It is necessary that at least one opponent has that resource, which can be Gold, Stone, Wood or ME.

Dionysus

Regardless of the owner's tribute during the Tribute event, hexes with his units cannot be sunken, and his Housing will not be destroyed. Also, if occupying the Temple of Zeus, the owner can get a favor with a discount of one gold. Additionally, if the Temple of Zeus was not sunken and is not occupied by a player, the owner of the Statue of Dionysus can use the powers of the temple at normal price.

Hestia

Its owner can increase one PopMarker for each food in excess. Also, the limit of one new PopMarker for each two existing ones does not apply.

Hera

Its owner can have multiple statues, which cost one stone and one gold to build (not reduced by Engineering). It can be built when another statue is present without destroying it.

 

Social Advances

Social Advances work in a similar way as scientific advances - the only difference is the form of acquisition. They can be acquired at the improvement phase by a player who has a leader and two PopMarkers at the Great Theatre or at his Agora. They cost two Knowledge points. Both the Agora and Great Theatre can be used at the same turn, either for assigning a new leader or acquiring a new advance.

Militarism

A player who owns this advance receives +1 strength in all combats.
Also, in a combat between players, if the defender has this advance and the attacker does not have it, the defender sees the mobilized resources by the attacker before deciding his resources or to retreat.
Likewise, if the attacker owns it and the defender does not, the attacker does not define his resources when defining his attack, but only after seeing the defender’s choices, if he did not retreat. Then, he can choose to retreat instead of fulfilling the attack, which can cause the defender to spend resources depending on his selection.

Logistics

A player who owns this advance can perform Summoning (freely move units to his home city at start of movement phase).
Additionally, he can move one additional hex in ground movement (it is still not possible to cross hexes occupied by creatures).

Code of Laws

Whenever the player has at least one PopMarker in a production hex, one extra resource is received, even if no resource would otherwise be produced.
Additionally, the owner of this advance suffers nothing during the Iconoclasm event.

Cosmopolitanism

If this advance is acquired, Fanaticism is lost.
It reduces the cost of acquisition of scientific and social advances possessed by another player by two Knowledge points.

Fanaticism

If this advance is acquired, Cosmopolitanism is lost.
For each PopMarker sacrificed in combat, the owner of this advance receives a strength bonus of +3 instead of +1.
Additionally, the owner of this advance can invade opponents’ cities to plunder. In order to do this, he must select the appropriate city rectangle in the main region and enter his parameters, as usual. The defender has a similar procedure, but has fewer limitations: he can sacrifice all present PopMarkers and use all his available ME.
At the end of the fight, all surviving attacking units will move to their home city regardless of the result. Casualties work as usual (one for each 3 points of strength difference).
If the attacker wins, he will get to pillage one resource set for each point of strength difference. He cannot, however, take more resource sets than his number of invading PopMarkers. A resource set is a set of one wood, one stone and one gold.
If the defender retreats, the attacker will get one piling unit per invading PopMarker. The defender can resist even if he has no units present. The attacker cannot take resources the defender does not have.

Taxation

Owner receives one gold per turn, including the turn when this advance is acquired.

 

New Scientific Advances

In the Advanced Game, an advance purchased by another player gives no discount, unless the player owns Cosmopolitanism.

Medicine

During the Feeding step, if food is in shortage, the owner of this advance suffers only one casualty for each two food lacking.
Additionally, during an Epidemic, the owner has one casualty less for each food in excess which was not used to increase population.

Engineering

As in the basic game, buildings cost one stone less for the owner.
Additionally, the effects of Earthquakes are reduced. Instead of two, only one building is destroyed, and the two casualties are reduced at the rate of one per Housing building that survives the Earthquake.
Also, the cost of saving each PopMarker in a Flood is reduced of one resource.

 

New Buildings

 

 

Size

Cost

Description

Tower

1

2

Increases city defense strength in 3.

Aqueduct

3

4

In normal times, the Aqueduct increases Farms basic food output from 1 to 2. If a Drought event is in effect there is no increase in the output, but the Farms produce as usual.

 

Tips and tactics suggestions for the advanced game:

  • It is particularly important to see the opponents' last moves in the advanced game because of the possibility of city invasion. So, if someone gets Fanaticism you'd better start thinking about protecting your city, or you may lose plenty of resources.
  • You can see your food production by hovering the mouse cursor over your Food symbol. Beware of the Drought events, keeping in mind that Farms will produce like empty spaces. It is not so difficult to overcome this event, but if you do not plan at all, the effects can be devastating. The basic alternatives are building an Aqueduct or occupying a Prairies hex.
  • The Tribute to Zeus event can be particularly destructive. Losing your Housing can be bad, but it's really dangerous to take your units to a hex that can be sunken if you do not have the minimum amount of gold demanded by Zeus - that might really take you out of the game. In this situation, it may be wiser to go back to the city or to the Great Theatre.
  • The constant need to defend from catastrophes makes it hard to think about creating conditions to ship units. But in fact, the first few turns must be used to create a solid infrastructure to avoid taking too much damage from events. Only in a particularly soft selection of events will it be possible to have a fast victory. You should not, however, forget that at some point you will need to focus on shipping units.
 
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