Map

Movement

Needs verification. The in-game text is not comprehensive.

The base Move Point cost to move into a hex is as follows:

Terrain	Cost by movement type
	Default	X Walk	Floating	Flying
Water	4	n/a	4 (must embark like other units)
Road (overrides underlying terrain)	5	4	5	5
Clear	6	5	5	5
Rough (Forest, Rocky, etc.)	8	6	5	5
River	12	6	5	5
Chasm	12	8	5	5
Mountain	16	8	8	5

"X Walk" refers to traits that provide a movement bonus on that type of terrain.

Armies that are building roads benefit from them as they move.

Friendly domains reduce Move Point costs by 2. This can be reduced by another 2 with Rangers, the penultimate Nature empire skill. The final move point cost cannot be less than 2.

Underground

The Underground is a second layer of the map. The view between Underground and Surface can be changed by the arrows button on top of the minimap.

Armies may travel between the surface and the underground using Underground Passages. Cities cannot annex provinces through an Underground Passage.

With the Excavation Empire Skill, Diggable Earth provinces can be excavated by armies in adjacent hexes. Each army may excavate one province per turn. Such provinces can also be excavated using the Earth Shatter spell. Most provinces containing Uninhabitable Bedrock cannot be excavated, though some do contain an excavatable channel of Earth. Excavating a province may reveal a pickup or a monster army.

Resource node

These give extra resources when annexed. They also enable additional types of improvements in their province.

Resource Node	Annex resources	Enables province improvements
Pastures Oasis	+10 Food
Iron Deposit	+10 Production	Mine Quarry
Gold Vein	+10 Gold	Mine
Mana Node	+10 Mana	Conduit Research Post

Magic material

Similar to Resource Nodes, Magic Materials give resources when annexed and enable the Conduit and Research Post improvements in their province.

Furthermore, owning a Magic Material also gives a global bonus. Owning all three Magic Materials of a type will give an additional global bonus. Multiples of the same Magic Material do not stack their global bonuses. Magic Materials can be traded with Free Cities and other Rulers.

Type Collection effect	Magic Material	Annex resources	Global bonus
Ores Heroes gain: +1 Defense +1 Resistance +10% damage	Arcanum Ore	+10 Production +10 Mana	Hurry Recruitment for Units is 25% cheaper.
	Focus Crystals	+10 Gold +10 Knowledge	Units gain +10% Experience.
	Fireforge Stones	+20 Production	Units cost 20% less Draft.
Liquids Mana Nodes grant +10 Mana and Knowledge.	Archon Blood	+20 Mana	+20 Combat Casting Points.
	Astral Dew	+10 Mana +10 Knowledge	+20 World Map Casting Points.
	Tranquility Pool	+20 Knowledge	Researching Spells cost -10% Knowledge.
Plants +10 Imperium income.	Haste Berries	+20 Draft	Founding, migrating, and absorbing Cities takes -2 turns.
	Silvertongue Fruit	+10 Food +10 Draft	Whispering Stones give +1 Allegiance.
	Rainbow Clover	+5 Imperium +10 Stability	+100 Relations with Free Cities and Rulers.

Ancient wonder

An Ancient Wonder is a location that has to be manually explored by a single army led by a Hero, triggering a battle with a unique map layout. Depending on empire resources and affinities, it may be possible to reduce the difficulty of the battle or avoid it entirely. Once cleared, its province can be annexed, acting as a super-improvement with high yields, additional city- or empire-wide bonuses, and adding units to the Rally of Lieges. Ancient Wonders cannot be razed or pillaged, but can be captured by hostile units. Ancient Wonders come in Bronze, Silver and Gold rarity. The rarer the Ancient Wonder, the more difficult its defending army is and the greater its rewards.

Each Ancient Wonder on the map has a randomly generated name; the names here are as shown in the in-game encyclopedia.

Ancient Wonder	Rarity	Improvement type	Yield	Effects	Rally of Lieges
Ancient Cave		Quarry	+5  Imperium +20  Production -5  Stability	+2  Mana per  Quarry in city domain.	Stormscale Serpent Plague Serpent
Castle Ruins		Research Post	+5  Imperium +20  Knowledge -5  Stability	+5  Fort Health per  Quarry in city domain. Can be set as unit deploy location .	Brewer Ogre Butcher Ogre
Crystal Forest		Conduit	+5  Imperium +20  Mana -5  Stability	+2  Mana per  Conduit in city domain.	Astral Keeper
Hidden Wellspring		Farm	+5  Imperium +20  Food -5  Stability	+2  Stability per  Fishery,  Farm, or  Forester in city domain. Units in city domain heal +30  HP per strategic turn.	Spring Fairy Summer Fairy Autumn Fairy Winter Fairy
Lost Tomb		Research Post	+5  Imperium +25  Knowledge -5  Stability	+2  Mana and +2  Knowledge for each hero in crypt. +1  Souls per hero in crypt with Soul Harvest.	Corrupt Soul
Magma Forge		Mine	+5  Imperium +15  Draft +10  Gold -5  Stability	Units cost -25%  Gold to recruit.	Fire Giant
Secret Temple		Conduit	+5  Imperium +25  Mana -5  Stability	+2  Knowledge per  Research Post in city domain.	Blessed Soul
Golden Ziggurat		Mine	+5  Imperium +30  Gold -5  Stability	Magic Origin units cost -50% upkeep in city domain. Note: Unit upkeep cannot be reduced by more than -50%.	Phoenix
Lost Wizard Tower		Conduit	+5  Imperium +15  Mana +15  Knowledge -5  Stability	Counts as a Spell Jammer. (Enemies cannot use spells in city domain.) Wizard's Bombardment siege project (15  Fort Damage).	Bone Dragon
World Tree		Forester	+5  Imperium +15  Food +15  Production -5  Stability	+2  Mana and +2  Knowledge per  Forester in city domain.	Entwined Thrall Entwined Protector Entwined Scourge

Infestations

An Infestation

Infestation are sites that spawn hostile armies. If an Infestation is not cleared within a number of semi-random turns it will become active, expand and possibly create new armies. Unless the World Threat realm setting was set to Passive, new armies will attack the nearest city. Provinces with an Infestation will have a glowing red border. Defeating an infestation grants significant rewards.