u/GamerSerg

I know there are countless different ways to build any culture which is one of the things that makes this game great but usually there is some intended synergies with existing tomes or a general intended strategy and I guess I'm just having a hard time seeing a strong tome path for these subcultures.

So, if you had to create a "default" or standard build for these cultures as they are designed what would that look like? Here are my thoughts:

Cartel - Shadow / Chaos

I'm thinking Undead "ghost pirates" with Ghostfire, burn and necromancy tomes. Maybe the S/C blood tomes with a Vamp ruler? It fits the affinities and the undead theme. They have incentives to raid supply routes and pillage provinces which means you have to be at war and it does fit with Chaos tree. I guess you want to be at war to raid / pillage a lot but the piracy tome is Shadow / Materium so you get that one point of M affinity for some reason.

Barony - Shadow / Materium

I actually like the design of this culture better but I'm having a much harder time building it. They are designed as peaceful traders which implies you want vassals (or at least pact of cooperation) and good relations with other empires for Free Trade agreements. They also clearly have a gold focus. All of those things suggest Order empire tree to me although the Order tomes with Zeal / Celestial don't necessarily fit. I don't really see much synergy in any Shadow or Materium tomes, or the two S/M tomes... Shades and Severing. Maybe cold focused tomes with the new Frost Transformation to become elementals and then the t5 Materium tome that gives natural regen to elementals?

Also, other than being able to build cities (but not your throne city) and a culture SPI on water, I don't see either of them really having any synergy with the water based tomes and traits. Hydromancy tome is Nature / Materium, Stormborne tome is Nature / Astral and all the water related society traits are also Nature or Astral. Also water spells causing wet pairs better with lightning and Astral tomes rather than frost and Shadow, right? They should add a N/A Primal culture with a water Spirit Animal. Storm Crow kind of fits but they prefer grassland.

What do you think is the most logical tome path for these subcultures?

I want to do a Sprite / Fey tomes build but can't decide on the right Culture:

Architects - Hide our territory in mists and forests while building a Gold Wonder for magic victory. Talented Collectors & Mana Channeler.

Mystic Summoning - Every build I put together is heavy on summons and magic origin so this culture being able to just level up units with astral echo is awesome. Works great with both the new sprites and elementals that evolve.

Primal Storm Crow - Not sure about this one aside from the Affinity synergy (Nature & Astral), extra mana from Grasslands provinces which can also be Forests. Maybe lean into Nature & Animal tomes more than Astral tomes?

Also debating Storm Giant King ruler as there is some synergy there but thematically a Giant ruler doesn't fit with the Fey theme as much as maybe Elf, Owl or Halfling Wizard King in my opinion. Either way, I'm thinking Ritualist for all the obscuring synergy but maybe Elementalist.

What are your thoughts?

Are the Graceful Judge mounts based on Age of Wonders lore or inspired by other literature, mythology or some other fantasy setting? If you had to explain them to someone, how would you describe them?

Edit: Thank you for the responses, that's very interesting and helpful to know what inspired them! I was trying to write a backstory for an empire I created and got stuck on this sentence, "They ride Graceful Judge mounts into battle..." Then I realized I have no idea what a Graceful Judge is or how to describe what type of creature it is!

I play on PC Steam and I may need to reinstall windows because of some computer issues. Are the sandbox museums and campaigns saved locally? If so is there a way to back up or copy save files? I don't want to loose all of my progress and museums if I have to remove and reinstall the game but I'm not sure how all that works.

Thanks!

I thought I saw this mentioned as a known issue at one point but I was searching for an answer today and could not find any mention of this anywhere.

Is Famous Art always supposed to be pristine quality as soon as you obtain it? Most of them seem to work that way but there are a few that do not come back as pristine after the expedition and no matter how many times I run the same expedition I never get pristine. To be clear I'm refering only to famous art, not originals.

Is this a bug or a known issue? I can't find any other mention of this issue.

Anyone having trouble getting dance performances to work? I have unlocked it and when I inspect the stage, I can set it to dance but it keeps telling me I have no experts who qualify even though I have two available experts with performance art skill and they are able to do theatre, music and mime just fine. Thanks!