First, I was curious about that new building we got, so I opened up the building queue.

So, the Hounds’ Hunting Grounds were superior for getting food, but only half as good at getting materials. Considering that it could only be staffed by Volcano Hounds and they hunted with giant claws that would probably rip up all the hides we get, that made sense. They could hunt more but made a mess of what they did hunt.

And because I was curious about the Volcanic Predators unit, I opened up the customization for that.

It was a strong unit that only really lacked in defense and size when compared to the others. Then, when I actually selected the Volcanic Hound race to go with it, those stats became even more impressive.

And because I forget to check on the new traits.

So, compared to normal Hunters composed of Demons, this unit did less overall damage due to having a smaller size and also had less health and defense. However, it had far higher damage per unit member, significantly more loyalty, and was fast. Not to mention that the regular Hunter unit was ranged and would suffer penalties in melee combat whereas this unit was focused on melee and could inflict heavy bleeding due to its Rend III trait. Though, it didn’t have the Ambusher trait like the regular Hunters did.

That meant going up against ranged units would be a bit tricky, but they would likely win in a straight up brawl against any other early melee units and would absolutely destroy a ranged unit if they could get within melee range. And due to their natural speed and that Volcanic Mastery trait, they would be able to easily and quickly get around our territory. It would only take them two days to travel between the two settlements.

I definitely wanted more of them.

But before that, it was time to look at the research tree. Considering that we basically found cows who would give us hide, and I wanted a well-equipped military that could stand above all others, I opened up the research tree to choose the next, obvious option.

So, from what I could tell, research was currently growing in cost by five for every step away from the first research there was that came unlocked. Even though Tanning looked to be on the same tier as Basic Crafting, it was three steps away from Critical Thinking whereas Basic Crafting was only two steps away from it and cost fifteen research. Group Tactics was also available but required scrolling down on the available technologies to see, and that cost twenty-five research while being four steps away from Critical Thinking. Well, considering that it had two prerequisites, it was both three steps away and four steps away. That meant it was going by whichever of the two was higher.

The technology tree looked massive, so I was glad that the technology costs weren’t jumping too much. At the same time, they were going to need to jump at some point otherwise everything would basically unlock in a day each with how we were gaining science. And that was without any science-focused technologies and buildings.

It would probably jump at the next era, I figured. More importantly, I wanted that Tanning technology. I was also able to queue up Leatherworking after it even though Leatherworking wasn’t available to immediately research. That let me make sure that no research would go to waste. Instead of taking two days each, it would only take two days for Tanning and then one day for Leatherworking given that there would be eighteen research left over from finishing Tanning. Assuming that Leatherworking would take twenty-five research, there would be twelve research left after unlocking it which meant we would be able to get another research option out of the way with in only a single day. We’d actually be able to get three technologies that cost twenty-five research unlocked a day each as long as they were chained together.

Considering that we had all those basalt tiles, going for Mining might be a good idea.

So, I queued up Tanning, Leatherworking, Basic Tools, and Mining. Then to switch back over to the other side, Foraging. I wanted to get even more food to grow our population faster. And, considering that we had a creature tile, all we needed was Trapping after Foraging to get the Animal Husbandry technology. Then we could get Working Animals who would probably be able to help with food and potentially labor, too.

So.

Tanning, Leatherworking, Basic Tools, Mining, Foraging, Trapping, Animal Husbandry, Working Animals.

With that settled, it was time for a nap.

And by the time that my nap was over, our new friends made it over to the new region next to their home.

It was a pretty diagonal region, and those green tiles looked incredibly promising seeing as how we desperately needed a good source of wood. Unfortunately, they didn't get that other tile next to their settlement, but it was fine. It was already adjacent to three tiles which meant we would get a discount on claiming it.

Fortunately, a forest was exactly what those lighter green tiles were.

As simple as a basic forest might have been, I was incredibly happy to find one.

Next were the dark green tiles.

That looked great. The bit about the forest being alive was a bit worrying, but it offered two science and influence per tile. That would be eight science and influence per turn if we claimed all four of those tiles.

Now, considering that all the biomes of a region were generally connected to each other and shared a color palette, what were those other four biomes inside of it that all had different colors?