Bring them to Ruin
Several articles ago the new Node System for Hyrule Conquest was announced. We took a look at how factions will capture Nodes and use them to construct their bases. I did mention in that article though that these are not strict rules and each faction will have their own nuances and unique ways that they interact with Nodes. Today I'll be talking a bit about those differences. While all factions have their own ways that they interact with Nodes, there will be three general categories of factions and how they go about constructing their bases. These three categories are Settlement, Ruin, and Nomadic Factions. I've gone over the general features of Settlement factions in a previous article and how they use Nodes to construct their bases, I'll go ahead and provide a link here for those that might have missed it: Moddb.com
Today we'll be focusing on one of the other two styles of factions, Ruin Factions.
Ruin Factions, while having some degree of civilization, are those that have been shown to live in long dead ruins rather than build cities of their own design. In the current version of Hyrule Conquest, this includes the Lizalfos, Fairies, and Stalfos. There will be several other factions in the future that also fall into this category, but I'll keep that under wraps for now. Just like Settlement Factions, Ruin factions construct permanent and defensible bases. Unlike Settlement Factions however, they convert and transform Ruins into their bases, not Nodes. Factions under this classification will start with units near Ruins, which will be conveniently emptied of enemy guardians so they can immediately start making a base. Ruin Factions generally have smaller and less fortified bases with fewer plots to make buildings. Large Ruins will provide them with only four plots to build, while Small Ruins only provide two. To offset this, Ruin Faction buildings are generally much cheaper and faster to construct.
These three different factions come up with the most creative ways to squatter on the hard work of long dead civilizations.
This also begs the question, if Ruin Factions do not make Settlements on Nodes, how do they harvest the resources around those nodes? Well, Ruin factions all have a specialized unit for the job:
Like Camps, Mines, Lumbermills, etc built by Settlement Factions, Ruin Factions have a mobile unit that can park itself near any resource and begin gathering. They cannot gather as fast as the stationary buildings of Settlement Factions, however you can make multiples and stack the amount of income in any area.
So, do Ruin Factions just ignore Nodes? Not at all! Both the Lizalfos and Stalfos use nodes to create their "Farm" building, which translates to "Nodes = Food" for these two factions.
Or "Food = Bones of Long Dead Corpses" if you are a Stalfos.
The Fairies on the other hand are able to create their Menhirs on Nodes, which increases both their population cap and the income of resources within the Node's radius.
So there we have it, the basics of Ruin Factions and how they go about constructing their bases. Next time we'll take a look at Nomadic Factions and see how they function.
It's good seeing that each faction will still keep some unique gameplay styles, as that was one of my favorite things about the mod
faeries menhir remind me of protoss pylons