Tribes of Rhombica™How to play
Tribes of Rhombica is played in turns. On your turn you move and attack with your units, train new units in your cities, build on your land and research technology. Then the next tribe plays.
Stars
Stars are the game's money. You spend them on units, technologies and buildings. Every city earns 1 + its level stars each turn, plus whatever its buildings earn. Peace treaties add +3 stars per turn each. Losing your original capital halves your income until you retake it.
The map and movement
The world is made of pentagons and rhombi (4-sided tiles). Moving onto a pentagon costs 1 movement and onto a rhombus 2; moving from one road tile onto another costs half. Dark areas are unexplored fog; units reveal the map as they move. Biomes are plains, tundra, wetland, jungle and water, and tiles can be flat, hilly or mountainous. See the five map types. Map sizes run from Tiny (about 100 tiles) to Huge (about 676).
Cities, levels and villages
- A city's level is the number of different unit types it has trained that are still alive.
- Each level adds 1 star per turn. A city can support level + 1 living units, plus 1 per star its buildings earn per turn.
- At level 5 and level 10 a city recruits your tribe's hero for free.
- Villages are neutral settlements: move a unit onto one and stay until your next turn to turn it into a new city.
- Ruins: stay on one for a turn for a random reward: a free technology, 15 stars or a Swordsman. Some ruins are at sea and need a boat.
Combat
- Damage = attacker's damage × attack ÷ (attack + defence × terrain bonus), at least 1.
- Attack and defence are scaled by remaining health; damage is not.
- If the defender survives and the attacker is within its range, it hits back for half damage. Ranged units can attack from beyond a melee unit's reach and take no counter-attack.
- A unit surrounded on every side by one enemy tribe takes double damage.
- Defender terrain bonus: hills ×1.25, mountains ×1.5, jungle ×1.2, wetland ×1.1, water ×0.9, forest ×1.15, City Walls ×1.5 (multiplied together).
- To capture an enemy city, defeat its defender, move a unit in and hold it until your next turn.
- A unit that doesn't move or attack for a whole turn heals a quarter of its health.
Diplomacy
You meet other tribes when you see their units or cities. You can offer peace: both tribes then get +3 stars per turn and can't attack each other. Breaking a treaty is remembered, and other tribes become much less willing to make peace with a betrayer. AI tribes also help their long-time friends in wars and team up against a tribe that's running away with the game.
Score
+150 per technology, +500 for each temple built and +50 per temple owned every turn, +100 per city captured (+200 for a capital), and +50 per enemy unit defeated. Every 10,000 score also adds +1 star of income per turn.
Win conditions
Choose any combination when you start a game; the first tribe to meet one wins.
Dominator: be the last tribe standing
- Eliminate every other tribe (no units and no cities left).
Capitalizer: own every capital
- Hold every tribe's original capital at the same time. You don't have to wipe tribes out.
Economist: hold 500 stars
- The first tribe to have 500 stars at once wins.
Genius: best score after 25 turns
- The game ends after turn 25 and the highest score wins.
Game modes
- Single player against AI tribes on Easy, Medium, Hard, Crazy or Insane difficulty.
- Online multiplayer for 2-8 players with optional bots: invite codes, friend codes and quick match. Anytime games give 1 hour to 3 days per turn; live games give 1 to 5 minutes.
- Weekly challenge: the same map for everyone, 30 turns against 3 AI tribes, a weekly twist (Double Stars, Rich Start, Cheap Tech, Village Rush or No Peace) and a global leaderboard.
Ready for tips? Read the strategy guide.