Tips

These tips are relevant to all versions:

• The game isn’t won by raiding, and raids can cause counter-raids. You can raid only twice a season but you have more than two neighbors…
• Try not to have too many feuds at once. Feuding clans are a lot more likely to raid.
• Even a Peace Clan has to raid occasionally (to keep up warrior morale and war magic). But not even a War Clan needs to raid each year (raiding is risky & consequences can snowball).
• Pay attention to the season — the agricultural calendar is important. (A quick tap on the Menu or Info button will remind you.)
• Don’t forget to consult your advisors! Their personality may color their advice, but they are also full of good information.
• Remember that nothing is certain — you may pick a course of action but your clan leaders could fail to execute it (they could be out-bargained, out-argued, or out-fought).
• There are 6 adjectives for the skills of clan leaders, but within a category, leaders slowly improve over time.
• Relationships are complex. Your emissaries may improve another clan’s attitude with gifts, but this may not erase an old grudge. (It’s even more complex when there’s a tribe…)
• Don’t neglect exploring your own tula (don’t move the exploration marker, just pick an explorer and tap “Explore”).
• Exploration can find things even in places you’ve been before.
• Consider learning Vinga’s Pathfinder blessing and building a shrine early in the game, since it will make exploration safer.
• Ring members have slightly improved odds while exploring (they embody the clan in a way that ordinary clan members do not).
• The fewer feuds you have, the fewer clans spread stories about you and encourage attacks on your missions.
• Don’t forget that the clan’s farmers tend the herds as well as till the soil. (Your advisors mention each task separately.)
• Farmers have to farm. Sea or Earth season raids take them away from the fields. (Missions reduce production only by a few footmen.)
• Be sure you know the heroquest (to the secret level if appropriate) before questing (sacrifice for Knowledge).
• Heroquests are important but unusual. Ten times to the Other Side in a long game is easily enough to win.
• If a scene offers you the chance for an emergency heroquest, you won’t be penalized if you’ve already quested this year.
• Myths always guide heroquests, but are only ever partial maps to the Otherworld. Review Lore before questing.
• Try not to heroquest without preparation, or too often. They can give a big reward, or mess you up big.
• Don’t forget that weaponthanes aren’t the only thanes in the clan; they all need horses. This can constrain your recruiting. Raids or trading can get more.
• Kingly reputation is one of many factors tracked, and can vary significantly from your own clan mood or how other clans relate to you. See “Tribes” in the manual.
• You get to initiate two actions per season (unless you use the season wheel), but things will happen as they happen (e.g. raids or other consequences).
• Small unit combat has lots of uncertainty; the initial clash is like rock/scissors/paper that affects the odds of the overall outcome. (As does heroic combat.)
• War clans FAVOR war, Peace clans FAVOR peace. Winning will require avoiding extremes (goal is make a new thing, not conquer or status quo).
• Winning the game has nothing to do with conquering neighbors and everything to do with convincing them to let you be their king.
• Single-mindedly pursuing war with your ancestral enemies is unlikely to end well. You live in the present, unlike your ancestors.
• Tap a leader’s face to see their abilities. This is especially important when a trade caravan is beset by bandits: can your trader fight?
• Once in a while, attackers may destroy some of your fortifications. It’s possible to miss this in the battle results, so check with your advisors on the War screen (or the Fortify dialog) occasionally.
• Be sure you’re wealthy enough before trying to start a tribe, it’s not a race. (In the short game, the Ten Year Ring means you need to hold the crown 10 years. You don’t need to gain it in 10.)
• When creating your tribe, offer gifts first thing, before negotiating. It can soften up a clan for any subsequent demands.
• When you are part of a tribe, other clans will hold you to somewhat higher standards of generosity. They expect kings to be more generous still.
• Try to gift goods, not cattle. Cows generate food and more wealth. (And are a visible measure of success.)
• The manual explains many things. Each management screen also has brief help in the form of the “More Info” button.
• It can be useful NOT to call on favors you owed. This leaves clans obligated to you. By the same token, repay favors promptly.
• Clans can owe each other more than a single favor; repaying one can leave you still in debt.
• As usual, nothing is 100% certain, but if nothing stands out about a chief, your advisors won’t have as much to say about him.
• Two ways you can reduce the threat of bandits: send out explorers, or succeed at the Issaries the Conciliator heroquest.
• If there are many bandits, increasing the number of caravan guards may be necessary.
• Orlanthi clans become unmanageable when they get too large. Splitting is the time-tested solution to this political problem.
• Your clan has more nobles than true leaders. The Clan screen counts all nobles, but only the dynamic ones appear in dialogs.
• People are called by the gods, rather than choosing a patron. Sometimes you just have to wait for a Trickster or Vingan among your leaders.
• Second chances to form a tribe are rare. Grab them if they show up.
• Cragspider is centuries old. Think twice about offending her. (Or make use of Restore in the Saga screen [2.0].)
• If you ever want to stop another clan’s tribute to you, send another Demand Tribute emissary, and demand none.
• Learn more about Glorantha, the world of King of Dragon Pass, at glorantha.com and chaosium.com.
• Follow @KingDragonPass on Twitter for more tips, or visit this page for updates.
• Want more? Check out the spiritual successor, Six Ages.

• The Hard game is not quite as hard in 2.0 as in the original, but it is still very difficult. Do start with Normal difficulty, you will be less frustrated.
• Saving is automatic. To restore the game, go to the end of an earlier year in the Saga screen.
• One thing advisors track for you is important Sacred Time magic (Mysteries, Quests, War).
• Skim the relevant myth (Lore screen) before embarking on a heroquest. The Hint button will provide a recommendation based on the story, but you only get one or two. And heroquests have surprises…
• The “cows” number also includes sheep and pigs. Losing sheep or pigs will reduce the aggregate herd value.
• If you want to restart the tutorial, reset all Game Center achievements (the tutorial is an achievement).
• VoiceOver users: Play with Hints on, since that’s how some information (such as advisor skills) is presented.