
Cultural Settlements enable the player 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, Cultural Settlements are introduced as a new way to explore and experience those rich cultures of our history.
These settlements are separate from the player's main city, themed according to the culture the player has chosen. Only one Cultural settlement can be active at the same time. Each Cultural settlement can be replayed multiple times, offering different rewards for each finished settlement. Finish a settlement within a certain time frame to gain additional rewards!
This page offers general information about Cultural Settlements, more detailed information can be found on the settlement pages.
Start[]
Cultural Settlements are unlocked with the Iron Age technology Plowing. After unlocking it, the player will find the harbor ruin to the north of the city changed to an intact harbor and a boat will appear in that harbor. The boat and the harbor will bring the player to their new settlement. The boat displayed after the settlement was started will be different for each culture.
Currently five settlements can be chosen - the Vikings, the Feudal Japanese, the Ancient Egyptian, the Aztecs and the Mughal Empire. The player can select other Cultural Settlements on the screen. The Aztecs and Mughal Empire unlocks later than the first three settlements. The Aztecs with the Colonial Age technology Colonies and the Mughal Empire with the Late Middle Ages technology Higher Education.
Start the settlement and set sail to a completely new map to build up a settlement as the new ruler!
Settlements[]
Culture | Settlement Rewards | Time Reward | Boat |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Vikings |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() Fragments of Greater Runestone |
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![]() Feudal Japan |
![]() |
![]() Fragments of Timeless Dojo |
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![]() Ancient Egypt |
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![]() Fragments of Ancient Obelisk |
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![]() Aztecs |
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![]() Fragments of Jade Statue |
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![]() Mughal Empire |
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![]() Fragments of Minaret |
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Building the settlement[]
When the player enters a new settlement, they will be guided through building up the settlement and gaining the trust of the people in the form of a quest line. The player will need to gather new resources and will have new resources available that are only functional within the settlement. After collecting enough resources, the player will be able to unlock new buildings or expansions for the Cultural settlement. Once the quest line of a settlement is completed, the people will completely trust the player and the settlement is finished.
Each settlement can be abandoned at any point. Abandoning a settlement will not change the existing Impediments nor will it change the prices in certain goods for the Embassy advancements.
If you abandon the settlement without completing any quests there will be no waiting time to start the next one. If you have completed at least one quest the waiting time will be 24H.
Be careful though, whenever a settlement is completed or abandoned, all resources, advancements, buildings and expansions (including the premium ones), are reset again!
Impediments[]
Building up a settlement is not as easy as one may think, as impediments, unmovable rocks in the settlement, block part of the city grid, making it harder to arrange buildings, since buildings need to be placed around the impediments. Also, to gather resources, large amounts of cultural coins are needed, making it even more important to use the given space as efficient as possible.
With each start of a new Cultural settlement, the impediments will be arranged differently in the city. Abandoning a settlement will not rearrange the impediments.
Some of the settlements, like Ancient Egypt, Aztecs and the Mughal Empire include the option to remove impediment. Impediment removal tools may be given as quest rewards or bought for diamonds.
Embassy[]
The embassy gives access to the embassy advancements and shows the player's stock of cultural goods. The embassy can be moved to another location on the city grid, but cannot be sold. Click on the embassy (or the 'Develop' button) to open the 'Embassy Advancements' window.
Embassy Advancements[]
Cultural Goods and Diplomacy[]
Embassy Advancements have to be unlocked in order to build new settlement buildings and to be able to unlock the next advancement. Embassy Advancements can be unlocked by paying a certain amount of cultural goods, while having the requested amount of diplomacy.
Although the total amount of cultural goods and the type of goods is the same for every player, the amount of each good can be different.
Using Diamonds[]
When lacking cultural goods or diplomacy to unlock an advancement, the player can use diamonds. The amount of diamonds needed depends on the amount of cultural goods and diplomacy still needed to unlock the next advancement. Each
1 diplomacy costs
1 diamond, each
1 cultural good costs
5 diamonds.
Example: the first Viking advancement costs 10 axes and requires
55 diplomacy, the total diamond cost will be 10*5 + 55 =
105 diamonds. A player has
7 axes in stock and
50 diplomacy in their city, missing
3 axes and
5 diplomacy. This will cost 3*5 + 5 =
20 diamonds to unlock the advancement, plus the
7 axes in stock.
Warning: before using diamonds, be aware that when finishing a settlement (or abandoning one), the settlement will be reset and all buildings, goods in stock, advancements and expansions will be lost, including those unlocked with diamonds.
Building Menu[]
The building menu consists of four types of buildings and an expansions window:
At the start of the settlement, the player will have one of each type of building available in the building menu. All other buildings become available by unlocking embassy advancements.
Ancient Egypt also have Military buildings in the building menu with three buildings available from the start.
The building cost of each settlement building depends on the player's era and consists of resources from the main city: coins and supplies.
All resources gained from the settlement, stay in the settlement. Players cannot trade cultural goods with other players.
Residential Buildings[]
Residential buildings provide settlement population and cultural currency. Population is needed to build cultural goods buildings and some of the diplomacy buildings. Cultural currency are needed to pay for the cultural goods productions in Viking Settlement, Feudal Japan Settlement, Aztec Settlement and Mughal Empire Settlement. In the Aztec Settlement and Mughal Empire Settlement cultural currency are also used for road costs. In Ancient Egypt Settlement cultural currency are used for the training of Egyptian military units and road costs.
Cultural Goods Buildings[]
Cultural goods buildings provide cultural goods. These are needed to unlock embassy advancements and expansions.
Cultural goods buildings provide an amount of cultural goods, from 5 to 20, depending on the chosen production time. The production is similar to goods production in the main city, but requires a resource that the player gathers in the settlement: viking copper coins, japanese koban coins, egyptian loot, aztecs cocoa or mughal rupees. Except for Ancient Egypt where Loot is won in Egyptian battles, the others are produced in residential buildings and certain diplomacy buildings of the respective settlement.
Unlike main city goods, the player cannot trade cultural goods with other players.
Every settlement has a certain chance for goods productions to quadrupel (x4). This chance starts low and increases with every run of the settlement until it stays constant. This bonus chance also applies to the goods won in the japanese negotiation game, or the loot won in egypts battles or the mughals embassy production.
Diplomacy Buildings[]
Diplomacy buildings provide diplomacy and some of them also produce cultural currency. Diplomacy is needed to gain the trust of the settlement and unlock embassy advancements. Although diplomacy seems similar to happiness, it has no effect on the settlement population or on settlement productions.
Roads[]
All settlement buildings except some diplomacy buildings require a road connection to the embassy.
Expansions[]
To expand the settlement, the player can buy a number of expansions with cultural goods. The cost of the expansion depends on the number of expansions already bought and the culture you are playing.
There is also a number of expansions that can be unlocked with diamonds. These cost 500 each.
The number of expansions that can be bought with cultural goods or diamonds may vary between the cultures.
Warning: before using diamonds, be aware that when finishing a settlement (or abandoning one), the settlement will be reset and all buildings, goods in stock, advancements and expansions will be lost, including those unlocked with diamonds.
New Buildings[]
Vikings[]
Building | Size | Function | Age Advanceable |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Greater Runestone |
![]() 2x2 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and additional ![]() ![]() ![]() Can only be obtained by collecting ![]() Requires completing a ![]() |
![]() Yes |
![]() Yggdrasil |
![]() 3x3 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and ![]() ![]() ![]() Requires completing a ![]() |
![]() Yes |
Feudal Japan[]
Building | Size | Function | Age Advanceable |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Timeless Dojo |
![]() 3x3 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() Provides double coins and additional ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Can only be obtained by collecting ![]() Requires completing a ![]() |
![]() Yes |
![]() Shinto Temple |
![]() 3x4 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and ![]() ![]() ![]() Requires completing a ![]() |
![]() Yes |
Ancient Egypt[]
Building | Size | Function | Age Advanceable |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Ancient Obelisk |
![]() 2x2 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and additional up to ![]() ![]() Can only be obtained by collecting ![]() Requires completing an ![]() |
![]() Yes |
![]() Royal Bathhouse |
![]() 3x4 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and additional up to ![]() Requires completing an ![]() |
![]() Yes |
Aztecs[]
Building | Size | Function | Age Advanceable |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Jade Statue |
![]() 2x2 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() Provides double coins and additional up to ![]() ![]() ![]() Can only be obtained by collecting ![]() Requires completing an ![]() |
![]() Yes |
![]() Sun Temple |
![]() 4x3 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and additionally ![]() ![]() ![]() Requires completing the ![]() |
![]() Yes |
Mughal Empire[]
Building | Size | Function | Age Advanceable |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Minaret |
![]() 2x2 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() Provides double coins and additional ![]() ![]() ![]() Can only be obtained by collecting ![]() Requires completing an ![]() |
![]() Yes |
![]() Mughal's Temple |
![]() 4x4 |
Special residential building Provides ![]() ![]() Provides double coins and additionally |
![]() Yes |
Emissaries[]
Open your cities Town Hall to enter the emissaries window. Here you can add and change emissaries to gain their boosts and unlock additional emissary slots, using 800 diamonds per slot. Earn your first emissary and your first free emissary slot by completing any of the settlements two times. There are currently 12 emissary slots that can be unlocked. 9 of these can be unlocked by completing the settlements - additional slots can be unlocked using
diamonds.

Town Hall Emissaries Window
Viking Emissaries[]
There are 6 Emissaries in total available in the Vikings Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Harald Hardrada |
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![]() Erik the Red |
![]() of your age |
![]() Leif Erikson |
![]() of your previous age |
![]() Freydís Eiríksdóttir |
![]() of your age |
![]() Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir |
![]() of your age |
![]() Aud the Deep-Minded |
![]() of your previous age |
Japanese Emissaries[]
There are 4 Emissaries in total available in the Feudal Japan Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Oda Nobunaga |
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![]() Takeda Shingen |
![]() of your age |
![]() Tomoe Gozen |
![]() of your previous age |
![]() Oda Oichi |
![]() of your previous age |
Egyptian Emissaries[]
There are 4 Emissaries in total available in the Ancient Egypt Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Euclid of Alexandria |
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![]() Mentuhotep |
![]() of your age |
![]() Hemetre |
![]() of previous age |
![]() Maatkare Mutemhat |
![]() of your age |
Aztec Emissaries[]
There are 4 Emissaries in total available in the Aztecs Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Chimalli |
![]() |
![]() Ichtaca |
![]() of your age |
![]() Amoxtli |
![]() of your age |
![]() Acamapichtli |
![]() of your age |
Mughal Emissaries[]
There are 4 Emissaries in total available in the Mughal Empire Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Babur |
![]() |
![]() Mumtaz Mahal |
![]() of your age |
![]() Hamida Banu Begum |
![]() of your age |
![]() Shah Jahan |
![]() of your previous age |
Polynesian Emissaries[]
There are 4 Emissaries in total available in the Polynesia Cultural Settlement.
Emissary | Bonus |
---|---|
![]() Nafanua |
![]() |
![]() Hotu Matu'a |
![]() of your age |
![]() Taema |
![]() of your previous age |
![]() Hongi Hika |
![]() of your age |
Gallery[]
The Harbor to access the settlements changes its appearance through the ages:
See Also[]
- Vikings
- Viking settlement
- Feudal Japan
- Feudal Japan Settlement
- Ancient Egypt
- Ancient Egypt Settlement
- Aztecs
- Aztec Settlement
- Mughal Empire
- Mughal Empire Settlement
- Polynesia
- Polynesia Settlement
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