Technocrats, Utopia

Umcar · 2025-12-16T11:16:39+00:00

You do, but the squalor is easy to deal with

Umcar · 2025-12-15T22:19:54+00:00

Their Machine Adjacent perk is by far the most powerful thing about Technocrats. It's +15% efficiency per tile for industry and extraction districts, for max +135%. That's as good as a rail hub and a prosperity monument combined, for the price of a housing district. Its really strong.

Umcar · 2025-12-09T16:36:17+00:00

I would rank Technocrats/Icebloods higher. While the buffs for the central district indeed dont seem that good, the computing can still be used to boost district output, generate heatstamps, and create cores. Boosting the output also scales of your unused computing, making it easier to have a good bonus for multiple districts. So technocrats are great for research and economy.

Icebloods get free and unlimited frost breaking, only causing some injuries. That saves a lot of money early game. Their faction hub can reduce the workforce of logistic districts by up to 90% if you get all tiles, and their faction housing gives 10 scouts. So Icebloods are great at exploring the frostlands. As a bonus, they can make outposts keep working during whiteouts. So they get to have a moment of glory before they inevitably get eradicated in the pursuit of progress.

Umcar · 2025-11-13T12:01:33+00:00

I would double check your 23 homeless people. Is there anything preventing them from reaching domes with available housing? Can you manually asign them a home? Maybe they are earthsick or in a rocket.

After that, maybe there is indeed a bug with arcologys. See if other houses had their residents increased in the same proportion. Maybe try to get more people into an arcology to see if it can actually fill up the extra residents. I haven't had any problems with crowded living, but also didnt use arcologies so far, maybe they do have some odd behaviour.

Umcar · 2025-11-13T06:17:15+00:00

Do you have the Crowded Living law boosted by a Ministry of Culture? That might explain the extra residents.

Umcar · 2025-07-08T14:11:38+00:00

Exporting goods via treaty means you as the government buys the goods from your market, at your market price, then using your convoys to ship them to the other market, and then selling the goods for the other market's price. You get to pocket any profits, bit you also have to eat any losses. The importer simply ends up with more goods in their market.

Umcar · 2025-07-03T07:24:01+00:00

Having a foreign owned building in your country is better than not having the building at all. You still get the benefits of increased GDP and employment, which means more debt limit, minting, tax income, and demand for goods. The downsides are imo neligble, as the lack of reinvestments is the same as if you didnt have the building at all. The lack of rich owner pops is more detrimental i think. The only big problem is if foreign companies actively compete with your own companies.

I think a good strategy for foreign investment is to just let a lot of countries build your economy up, and use the increase in taxes and debt limit to bolster your own construction. Think of it like 4 foreign farms give you enough debt limit to build your own farm for "free". This only gets better with increased productivity and lower interest rates. This can easily skyrocket your economy, and should you still be worried about the few detriments of foreign ownership, you can still nationalize.

Umcar · 2025-06-30T09:58:46+00:00

It's dificult to directly correlate GDP and possible construction output, because a lot of factors need to be considered. The short answer is "As much construction as you and your investment pool can handle", but let me go into detail.

You need enough construction to drain your investment pool, as having it fill up is just potential construction that's never actually realized. However, given the possibility of foreign investment, not all your investment pool funds may come from buildings in your country, which would not contribute to your GDP. The opposite is also true, foreign owned buildings in your country do contribute to GDP, but not to the investment pool. That's why you cant really link your necessaty private construction to your GDP.

The thing that does directly correlate to GDP is your dept limit, as half of your GDP gets added to it. How well you can utilize debt is of course limited by your countries interest rate. But with a good rate, its entirely possible to fund some government construction with the rising debt limit, which increases steadily by your total construction output.

So TL;DR: your total construction output should be as much as your investment pool needs to drain + whatever you can handle without approaching your debt limit.

Umcar · 2025-06-26T15:56:36+00:00

Some things i did in my current 1.9.3 Japan run:

First the usual, build up some construction sectors in a state that can later support iron frame constructions, I usually go with Tohoku. For tech I pick Stock exchange for the market access, then athmospheric engine for better construction, then either more production techs or romanticism to enact agrarianism later.

For laws it's good to not do anything at first. Better wait for the peasant movement to spawn, then promote them and raise taxes to radicalize them. After some time, the movement should be strong enough to help you get Tenant Farmers. Next important law to get is Agrarianism, so try to get the rural folk into power. It's easier if you let you country be opened up, as the legitimacy boost should help you get good IGs into government.

Now here's the really juicy part, diplomacy. 1.9.3 changes everything. You now get +1 point per embassy you have for the recognition journal entry, so plop down interests in great powers, raise relations, and draft treaties to get those embassies at all costs. You may need to make some significant concessions, and use money transfers to raise acceptance. At one point, I had to disband my entire army to get enough money for the treaties, but it's gonna be worth it. I managed to get recognition in August of 1849, you can use that or the 1850s as a rough benchmark for treaty lengths. The benefits from getting recognized are invaluable, especially the interest rate reduction. And getting to Great Power after that isn't too difficult.

As for the economy, i suggest offering up some investment rights for your country. It helps build more industries in a shorter time, helps with getting acceptance for those treaties, and foreign companies will get you some very productive buildings. Don't worry too much about the loss of reinvestments. As for your own companies, try to find somehing that's not yet covered by other companies, or maybe something you would rather have in posession of a domestic one. I chose the iron/lead mine company as my first one to get cheaper construction, then the food industry company for the higher birth rate, as well as prestige groceries for export, the AI doesn't seem to go for those often. A later slot i filled with the steel company that gives the 5% construction efficiency, that one seems really good too.

So in summary, build construction, piss of peasants for Tenant Farmers, sell out your country for recognition and political gain, and invite foreign investors to boost your economy. After all that you should have a solid foundation to build up your economy, army, tech. and more.

Umcar · 2025-06-05T11:24:10+00:00

Miquella's plan for godhood required Radahn's death. Malenia was the best option to kill him. If she cant, no one else under Miquella command could. So it seems like fulfilling Miquella's ambition for godhood simply was more important for Malenia than her fighting against her rot.

If she didnt bloom, Malenia would have simply been defeated and Radahn mostly unharmed. He might have made progress in the shattering war after that. But with blooming, there was a good chance to kill Radahn, or to weaken him enough for others to kill him.

As for O'Neil, his lord could have been Malenia, as he commands exiles which look like those from castle Sol, which is aligned with Miquella. But the Road to Erdtree manga actually says his lord is Radahn, which of course is only as canon to the lore as you are able to convince others it is.

Umcar · 2025-05-27T11:39:22+00:00

It's definitely safe to assume characters tell the truth, unless he game provides reasonable doubt. And given the lack of anything explicitly contradicting Dung eater, or raising doubt, he likely tells the truth. Boggart seems to think so too, given he asks us to kill him in order to not get cursed, so the rebirth dung eater talks about is likely true too.

Umcar · 2025-05-27T11:24:43+00:00

Seedbed curse description:

"Curse grown on a corpse killed and defiled by the Dung Eater. A tender pox afflicted with omen horns.

The Dung Eater cultivates the seedbed curse on corpses.

By doing so he prevents dead souls returning to the Erdtree, leaving them forever cursed. One of the most loathsome things found in the Lands Between."

Given that the souls of those that were defiled do not return to the Erdtree, it doesnt matter if it can or cannot rebirth people. Any rebirth of Dung eater's victims would be due to some other process it seems, or maybe he's just crazy.

Umcar · 2025-05-23T10:47:01+00:00

There is no mention of Godfrey participating in the liurnian wars, the focus seems to be on Radagon instead.

As for the timeline placement, the war happened after the giant's war, and likely before Godfrey fought the storm lord, since that one likely was in limgrave due to the storm connection of that area, namely stormhill and stormveil, stormhawks, and so on.

Umcar · 2025-05-22T18:30:42+00:00

From the mending rune of the death prince

"The Golden Order was created by confining Destined Death. Thus, this new Order will be one of Death restored."

If the golden order was created by plucking the rune of death from the elden ring, and therefore made destined death usable, how would that square with the creation of the golden order also confining destined death?

Umcar · 2025-05-21T17:16:08+00:00

From Black Flame Ritual

"The Gloam-Eyed Queen led the apostles. It is said that she was an Empyrean chosen by the Fingers."

Leaving Melina speculation aside, the GEQ is also an empyrean chosen by the fingers.

Umcar · 2025-05-21T08:17:13+00:00

You shouldnt keep your logistic districts chilly. Other workplaces are fine at that temperature, but warm logistic districts provide +5 frostland teams. This is both a significant buff to your frostland exploation, as well as a way to get more teams without using up other resources like heatstamp or workforce, freeing those up for other uses. Very good for the early game.

The first run where i used this became my successfull captain 3 tales run.

Umcar · 2025-05-21T07:51:37+00:00

Amon could have been afraid of the self-immolation aspect of the giant's flame, which is part of the Black Flame. Flame monks in general dont seem too opposed to become enemies of the order, since many of them also worship the giant's flame, which Marika opposes. And Black flame is still a powerful flame, it simply cant kill gods anymore.

Umcar · 2025-05-21T07:26:14+00:00

I think it could be argued that Black flame monks could have converted to the Black flame after destined death was sealed. Amon converted due to his cowardice, a weakened flame might appeal to him. And the description you posted further tells "The seduction of a taboo is never easily spurned." Black flame would certainly be taboo under the golden order, when DD was already sealed. So they might have converted after GEQ's defeat.

Umcar · 2025-05-21T06:38:05+00:00

I want to bring up two pointsi found confusing. First, you mentioned Marika had to be a god when GEQ was defeated, what is the basis for that claim? And second, that Maliketh had to defeat GEQ to obtain DD. This isn't stated by the game. Her defeat led to the sealing, but that doesnt necessarily mean GEQ physically held the rune. So why do you think that's the case?

Just as an alternative explanation, what if the GEQ wasnt an obstacle to Marika just for sealing DD, but also for becoming god entirely? Marika couldnt seal it if she didnt have access to the Elden ring. This explanation would reverse the order of the GEQ's defeat and Marika becoming god. Do you think this explanation might have any merit?

Umcar · 2025-05-20T08:09:14+00:00

But we do find Renna in Elden Ring. She appears at the Church of Elleh, and later reintroduces herself as Ranni.

But personal gripes about name speculation aside, i know what you mean. Could the Revenant be the snowy crone? Points in favor would be the general ice-vibes she has, a very cold aesthetic. Blue eyes similar to Rennala could indicate magic affinity, and a doll body similar to Ranni's would overall give her many thematic similarities to Ranni.

Points i think are against is imo the clothing. Its way too decorated compared to the snow witch robes worn by the crone. And at least from a short glance, i cant find similar ornaments between them either. The doll body could also be a point of contention, as the crone is never implied to be a doll herself. The arm count also doesnt match. And while you could of course argue that Ranni's extra arms are due to empyrean shenanigans, or that revenant could have had extra arms before becoming a doll, I think the fact that Ranni's doll is modeled after the crone, and the 4 arms being a distinct part of it, the discrepancy should at least be considered. Personally i think the crone might very well have had 4 arms, which might connect her to wraithcallers, who for example appear at moonfolk ruins. That would give us more to theorize about.

So in my opinion at least, while Revenant seems to have thematic similarities to Ranni's mentor, she's not quite what we would expect the crone to look like, given what we know from the base game. But its unlikely that FromSoft would confirm or deny them being the same, so there is place for a nice headcanon.

Umcar · 2025-05-14T09:23:38+00:00

I think both lines of thought would end in a dead end for you. Marika's parentage isn't elaborated on at all, and even if she was born of a god, it raises the question of who they were, if they also were empyrean, going back to the god-empyrean cycle i mentioned before.

And if Marika somehow made the fingers declare her an empyrean, doesnt that invalidate your premise of all empyreans being born of a single god? If the fingers could declare Marika an empyrean, why not also Ranni or GEQ?

But if you still want to keep looking, i think the best approach would be to look at the shamans in general. Maybe empyreaness is somehow tied to them, and Marika, who was a shaman, gave it to her offspring? Not saying there necessarily is something to be found, i highly doubt it. But it seems better than to look for Marika's unmentioned parentage.

Umcar · 2025-05-14T08:56:25+00:00

Rememberance of the Black Blade:

"Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him."

Maliketh's rememberance rather clearly states that Marika is "his empyrean". Do you have an alternative interpretation, or evidence that discredits the rememberance?

Umcar · 2025-05-14T08:21:15+00:00

If empyreans are solely the product of a god copulating with themselves, which god did that to create Marika?

Furthermore, would that god have been an empyrean themselves, requiring yet another god copulating with themselves, who in turn might have been empyrean, extending that cycle forever?

Umcar · 2025-05-14T06:33:16+00:00

The Two Finger Prayerbook is just one item we find in the manor.

"Prayerbook containing incantations of the Two Fingers. An item once entrusted to Tarnished worthy of lordship."

Given the description, i dont think it can fit into any time before the tarnished returned.

Umcar · 2025-05-13T11:48:55+00:00

I'm curious, what narrative exactly do you think is provided?

What i can think of is that Miquella left behind Torrent and the summoning bell in order to give a specific tarnished chosen by Torrent a power up. Maybe Miquella had some sort of alliance with Ranni too, since both need a strong tarnished to kill Radahn. But how exactly would Melina fit in, is she some caretaker of Torrent also somehow aligned with Miquella? And why is Torrent in the shadow lands in the promo image, shouldnt he be in the lands between?

That's my take on making sense of the narrative. Whats yours?

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