Cultural Settlements
What are Cultural Settlements?
One of the core ideas behind the Cultural Settlements is to explore new cultures of humanity’s past during the different ages of Forge of Empires. As the main game has already moved beyond those times, we came up with this new way to explore and experience those rich cultures of our history.
These villages are separate from your main city, themed according to the culture you as the player have chosen. Only one Cultural Settlement can be active at the same time. The Cultural Settlements can also be replayed multiple times.
How do I access Cultural Settlements?
The Cultural Settlements are unlocked with the Iron Age technology 'Plowing'. After unlocking it, you will find a boat near your city that will bring you to your new settlement.
Upon clicking on the boat, you will be presented with all available Cultures in need of your assistance. Select the Culture you'd like, and then click Start to set sail! So far, the following cultures are available for you to offer your assistance. Click on each one to go directly to this culture's description:
Once your boat arrives at it's destination, you will be presented with a whole new map specific to the Cultural Settlement! It's important to note that, unlike regular expansions, with each play through all expansions from the Settlement, including those purchased with Diamonds, are reset. Note: Expansions within your main city remain unaffected.
Each different culture has it's own unique goods which are used as currency when building up a settlement. These goods are used to unlock new buildings and expansions. You can find a full list of a culture's goods on it's own page below.
Which Cultural Settlements are available?
 Vikings |
 Feudal Japan |
 Egyptians |
 Aztec |
 Mughal Empires |
 Polynesia Cultural Settlement |
Impediments
But building up a village, is not as easy as you may think! Within your settlement are Impediments, unmovable obstacles, which block part of the city grid, making it harder to arrange your settlement. Buildings must be placed around Impediments, so try your best to find a layout that works
With the start of each new Settlement, the Impediments will be rearranged in your city.
Rewards
Playing through the Cultural Settlements offers you the opportunity to obtain some fantastic rewards. Not only will each individual quest offer their own rewards, but you also receive some awesome bonus items for completing the settlement in it's entirety. Each different culture offers it's own unique rewards themed around the culture you receive them from. Check out the details of each culture in the table above to find out what's on offer for each culture!
Emissaries
Sometimes when completing a Cultural Settlement, you will unlock Emissaries. Emissaries are honored guests from your settlement, who take up residence in your main city's Town Hall. When they are assigned to your Town Hall, they will to grant special bonuses. These bonuses are granted every day, when you collect from your Town Hall.
Each Emissary gives a different bonus. In the example below, you can see that Emissaries give you rewards such as Forge Points, Medals, or even a unit from your current era! Upon unlocking your first Emissary, you also unlock your first Emissary slot. More slots will become available as you complete more rounds of the Viking Cultural Settlements, but you can also purchase new slots with Diamonds if you want to! Not every new Emissary unlocked will also unlock a slot, so choose wisely!
Flying Island
The Flying Island is a Great Building designed specifically for fans of Cultural Settlements. You can get blueprints for it either by aiding buildings from Space Age Venus, or by contributing to the same Great Building in cities of other players. It has only one passive bonus - the Mysterious Shards ability.
Mysterious Shards gives you a chance to spawn shards in your ongoing cultural settlement every 4 hours. You will locate an icon on the right-hand side of the screen - when it's highlighted it means there is at least 1 shard around the settlement that you can collect.
The rewards come in 3 groups similar to the relics, each of them a different type of shard - common, uncommon, and rare. Of course, the chances are higher to get a common shard and lower to get a rare shard. But this changes as your Flying Island levels up - the chances to win a rare shard will increase with each level, while the ones for a common shard will decrease.
Here is an overview of what rewards these shards can give you, and the respective probability to win those specific rewards.
 Common
|
 Uncommon
|
 Rare
|
|---|---|---|
| 20 Forge Points | 100 Forge Points | 5 Blueprints |
| 25 Random Goods (Current era) | 200 Random Goods (Current era) | Medals |
| 25 Random Goods (Previous era) | 100 Random Goods (Previous era) | One Up Kit |
| 1 or 10 Light Units | 10 Rogues | Renovation Kit |
| 1 or 10 Ranged Units | 8H Mass Rush Coins | Store Building |
| 1 or 10 Fast Units | 6H Mass Rush Supplies | Mysterious Shard |
| 1 or 10 Heavy Units | Mass Self-Aid Kit | |
| 1 or 10 Artillery Units | ||
| Double Blueprint | ||
| Coins | ||
| Supplies |
Mysterious Shard
When collecting a rare shard, there is a chance that the reward is a mysterious shard. The reward is different, depending on which cultural settlement the shard was found in.
Here is an overview of what the mysterious reward will be in the different cultural settlements.
| Cultural Settlement Type | Mysterious Shard Reward |
|---|---|
| Vikings Cultural Settlement | 300 Goods |
| Feudal Japan Cultural Settlement | 300 Goods |
| Egyptians Cultural Settlement | 150 Forge Points |
| Aztec Cultural Settlement | 150 Forge Points |
| Mughal Empire Cultural Settlement | 300 Goods |