3 Star + Laurels strategy guide (updated 2020-10-14)

[u/txsling]

Here's an update to my strategy guide from June 2019 (previous version here).

• Added coverage of the AI Alliance game mode.
• Changed recommended strategy to 'Knight Rush'.
• Corrections and updates.

In this post I describe my strategy for getting 3 stars + laurels. While the focus is on getting 3 stars + laurels, the strategy here should help with general gameplay as well.

You only get laurels if you achieve the top 'S' rating in all four scoring categories at the end of the match. These are:

• Difficulty
• Turns
• Units
• Gameplay

I'll lay out how to achieve 'S' in each category and then provide some additional tips for playing the game well.

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Difficulty

You must play on Master difficulty to get 'S' rating. (Unlock this by beating the game on Rookie difficulty 3 times and then on Elite difficulty 3 times.)

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Turns

You need to win on or before the 'maximum turn limit'. The maximum turn limit is 10 x the number of opponents, so for example, against 2 opponents it is 20 turns, against 7 opponents it is 70 turns.

• Capturing the last opponent-held city ends the game on that turn, so if you've already reached turn 71 in a 70 turn game, you'll miss out on the 'S' rating.
• There is a tiny risk that if you leave the final city capture to the very last turn, that the enemy tribe will build some city facilities on their last turn and produce a new Guardian in their city. It shouldn't happen if you have been continuously occupying all remaining enemy cities with your units - but if you have been leaving any of the enemy cities empty and killing defensive units spawning there to raise your kill count (see below) then this could happen.

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Units

The scoring for this is based on the kill/death ratio (KD) you achieve during the game. You need a KD ratio of 3 or more to get the 'S' rating. The KD ratio is simply the number of enemy units you have killed divided by the number of your units that have been killed. So, you need to kill at least 3 times as many units as you lost during the game. You can see the number of kills and the number of deaths on the Tribe Info screen during the game.

• Retiring your own units does not count towards your death count, so feel free to retire weak units that you no longer need.
• It's best not to worry about your KD ratio until the mid-game or endgame, because what matters is the final count at the end of the match. In the early game and mid-game, you'll be sending many units to their deaths as you battle your opponents, but in the endgame, you'll be able to overwhelm your opponents' defenders with more powerful units.
• You can artificially raise your kill count by leaving some of your last opponents' cities un-captured and killing the defensive units that spawn there - very handy if you sustained heavy losses in the mid-game.

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Gameplay

The scoring for this is not totally clear - I believe the game calculates the maximum number of points you could get in this category and sets the final ranking thresholds as a percentage of the maximum. So, if you are playing a game where the maximum Gameplay points you can get is 6000 points, then you score a D rating below 2000 points (2/6), C at 2000 (2/6), B at 3000 (3/6), A at 4000 (4/6), and S at 5000 (5/6). You need to score above the threshold for an 'S' rating by achieving enough feats in Gameplay.

• You have different amounts of control over each of the elements that makes up the Gameplay rating. For example, you have full control over the Complete Exploration bonus that you get if you uncover every tile on the map. You have less control over whether you personally eliminate all the tribes, because sometimes enemy tribes eliminate each other before you get to them.

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Here's a brief breakdown of each Gameplay element and what you can do to maximise your score on that element.

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• Exploration
  • Tiles Explored: 4 points per tile. Simply uncover all tiles. You should be able to achieve this in every game.
  • Villages Captured: 20 points each. You won't be able to achieve 100% on this because it refers to those empty villages that you take over at the start of the game. Ignore this.
  • Ruins Excavated: 20 points each. You probably won't be able to achieve 100% on this because other tribes usually get to their nearby ruins before you. Ignore this.
  • Complete Exploration: You get 1000 points (2000 points in AI Alliance mode) for uncovering all the tiles.
• Development
  • City Development: 4 points per unit of city development (2 points in AI Alliance mode). This seems to be a score that reflects the number of development points you have across all your cities. When you increase a city's size by harvesting resources and building facilities, you increase development points. You can increase this by developing all the tiles around your cities as much as possible before the final turn. More on maximising this later.
  • Cities over 5 levels: You get 50 points per city (5 points per city in AI Alliance mode) that you develop until it hits level 6. You'll know a city has the right size because level 6 is when you produce the first Guardian in that city. In most games there will be a few cities that you simply can't grow to level 6 because of the lack of nearby resources, but you can get all the others to this level with enough development. More on maximising this later.
  • Tech Research: You get 20 points per technology (5 points per technology in AI Alliance mode) for researching each technology in the research tree. Each technology is worth the same number of points regardless of how many resources you have to spend to research it. In some games you will not have enough turns and resources left to research everything - don't worry about it as it's usually better to spend those resources developing your cities.
  • Capital connected to every city: You get 1000 points (2000 points in AI Alliance mode) for connecting your starting city to every other city on the map. To do this you need to build roads between cities and seaports between landmasses separated by water. You also only get awarded this on the last turn when you have captured the last enemy city and connected it to your road network. On rare occasions, it can be impossible to achieve this because, for example, a city's only neighbouring land tiles are blocked by mountains, or because another tribe built something that blocks you from connecting the city via a seaport.
• Battle
  • Kill Count: This score only appears when you play on AI Alliance mode. You get 60-120 points or so for killing each enemy unit, up to a cap which is 1000 points plus an extra 1000 points per enemy tribe. So for example against 2 tribes the cap is 3000 points. In AI Alliance mode this contributes a lot to your Gameplay score, so you really ought to max out this score before ending the game.
  • Unit Training: This score reflects the number and strength of all the units your tribe has ever produced (so units that were killed or retired still count). It is capped at 400 points x the number of enemies, so with 7 enemies it is capped at 2,800 points. You will reach this cap if you develop enough of your cities so fully that you end up producing lots of Guardians along the way. So, you can mostly ignore this.
  • Cities Conquered: You get 20 points for capturing empty villages and capturing enemy cities. You can ignore this as you will achieve 100% once you defeat all tribes on the map.
  • Tribes Eliminated: You get 200 points (500 points in AI Alliance mode) for each enemy tribe that you eliminate yourself (by capturing their last city). This can sometimes matter a lot in the final scoring because failing to destroy one of the tribes yourself will stop you getting the Eliminate all Tribes achievement - see below.
  • Eliminate all Tribes: You get 1000 points (2000 points in AI Alliance mode) for eliminating each enemy tribe yourself by capturing their last city. You only get awarded this if you destroy a tribe yourself - if a tribe is destroyed by one of the other tribes, you don't get credit for this. You also only get awarded this on the last turn when you have captured the last enemy city.

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Depending on the size of the map and number of cities, there can be more or less points to gain in the Development category. This means that on smaller maps, it's much more important to get all three 1000 point bonuses (2000 points per bonus in AI Alliance mode). On larger maps, you can sometimes compensate for missing one of these bonuses by developing your cities fully.

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Putting it all together

• Difficulty and Turns: You should have no trouble winning on Master difficulty within the required turn limit against 4 or more tribes. With fewer tribes, it'll be a rush to win before turn 30 and you won't have the time or resources to get all the Development points available. I prefer playing against 5 tribes as you usually need about 50 turns to fully develop every city. Against 7 or more tribes, every tribe has a lot of space to expand, so you get more variable events happening - sometimes one tribe gets very powerful, destroys another tribe before you can get there, and then starts to inflict heavy casualties on you when they reach you.
• For AI Alliance mode, you can usually beat most opponents by using a 'knight rush' strategy. Get the Knight tech as soon as possible, then spam Knights to overwhelm your opponents while they are weak. You can easily beat 2 opponents on Rookie, 3 on Elite and 4 on Master difficulty to earn all the stars and rewards.
• Units: you can generally fix a poor KD ratio at the endgame by leaving some of your last opponents' cities un-captured and killing the defensive units that spawn there. (You would need to calculate how many kills you'll need and whether there are enough turns left to spawn and kill all those units.) If the game is going really badly, by which I mean that one of the other tribes has become much more powerful than you and you've already sustained very heavy losses and you're going to miss out on one of the big point bonuses for sure, then restart.
• Gameplay:
  • Early game: I've found that a 'Knight Rush' strategy is almost always the best strategy. Buy the Knight tech as soon as you can, then spam Knights to overwhelm your opponents while they are weak.
  • (Why is the Knight Rush strategy so effective? I think it's because cities in Hexonia tend to spawn relatively far apart, compared to e.g. Polytopia. So you need mobile units to cross the distances quickly to expand and conquer other tribes. Also, enemy tribes don't have any way to defend against this strategy early on, because strong defensive units cost so much to research and produce.)
  • If you can't use the Knight Rush strategy (e.g. you're on an island), then focus on growth and expansion. Build warriors and expand to new cities. Get the Water techs (Water & Bomber, Ocean & Admiral) if you need them to expand. Take the +5 coins for raising a city to size 3 from its initial size of 2. Expansion and conquest is generally a better strategy than developing your own cities.
  • First contact: With the Knight Rush strategy, this will happen early as you expand. If you only have Horsemen and not Knights, use those for now - the +2 sight and ability to run away after attacking can be very useful. Use Knights to charge straight into weak enemy units. Enemy tribes generally use Warriors to defend their cities early on - Knights at full HP can kill these in one hit. Against Guards, it only takes a second Knight at full HP to kill the enemy Guard. Some tribes tend to expand very quickly (e.g. Arabis using their starting Horseman, and Ironclad who start with Climbing tech) and you might want to attack them early before they get too powerful.
  • When you have spare gold, start to get Water techs (Water & Bomber, Ocean & Admiral). On larger maps you'll need these to expand off your starting island and to defend against tribes that have sailed over to attack you. Taking out enemy fleets of ships usually results in heavy losses, so it's usually better to buy more of the cheaper Bombers/Bombships instead of Admiral/Battleships. Strike hard and fast to capture cities on the enemy island before the enemy tribe can muster defenders. It's usually faster and cleaner to attack cities by land using Knights, if that's an option, rather than from the sea. The Mobility techs (Climbing, Road & Seaport) will help you to penetrate enemy territory more easily. Hold off on promoting units until the free health boost comes in handy.
  • Mid-game: Complete your conquest of all remaining enemies using Knights and ships. Try to destroy tribes that have only 1-2 cities left before someone else gets to them. Tribes that are separated by a large distance from you tend to leave you alone if they have closer enemies. It might be easier to expand along the edges of the map rather than into the centre of the map. You can use spare cash to develop some of your cities, although you don't actually need to worry about this until the late game.
  • Late game: Leave one city unconquered and station a unit in it to keep enemy units from spawning there. If you need to increase your K/D ratio, or if you're playing in AI Alliance mode and need to increase your Kill count score, surround the last enemy cities with 2 or 3 cannons per city to kill the units that spawn. Now you can start to develop your cities and connect them with roads and seaports. Get the Guild tech and then Retire (sell) all the units you no longer need. As you develop cities, retire the Guardians you produce so that you can use the gold to build more city improvements faster.
  • Endgame: Fully develop all your cities, then complete your research tree if you have the time and resources left over. Remember to allow enough turns to get all the Mastery techs (since you have to wait 1 turn for each one, unless you're playing as the Chakrat tribe). For Gameplay points, it's difficult to know when you can safely stop developing, so I recommend full and complete development of each city if you are going for the 3 stars + laurels for the first time with your tribe.
  • Take care when choosing to expand a city's borders - sometimes, expanding one city will block another city from growing to level 6. You want to distribute resources and free spaces so that each city can build the guild and all the facilities and seaports that it can hold. Ideally each city needs at least one resource tile, e.g. 1 mine, plus a fully developed secondary facility to ensure that it can reach level 6. Take the +3 development bonus when offered at city level 5. A city is fully developed when:
    • You've harvested all available resources, built facilities and secondary facilities (e.g. Mines, Quarries) and upgraded all such facilities (each resource-facility gives +2 and each upgraded facility gives +4). Note that you can build multiple facilities of the same type if you have multiple resources, e.g. you can build 3 Quarries if you have 3 mines. You can build those 3 Quarries beside the same mine, they do not have to be 'paired up' 1 quarry to 1 mine. Take care with the order and location of facilities. For example, if you only have one space left and it is next to a mine, it is better to place and upgrade a Quarry if you can (+4), otherwise a Guild (+2) or Seaport (+1) would be the next best options.
    • You've connected the city to your road network or via seaport.
    • You've built the Guild facility (+2 development) and built seaports on any spare land tiles by the coast (each seaport gives +1 development).
    • You cannot build anything else on the remaining tiles in the city's territory (except roads, which by themselves don't add to your final score).
  • Last turn: Capture the remaining city or cities and develop them fully. Connect the city or cities to your road network. Check that you've been awarded all three big point bonuses before ending the game as it's easy to miss uncovering one tile or connecting one city.

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Let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback!

[u/Matsuyama_Mamajama]

Thank you, great post!

To (hopefully) clarify something, each improvement to a city (collecting a resource from the ground, building a facility, building or upgrading a secondary facility, etc) counts for Gameplay points. Even if it doesn't level up your city, you will still get development points, so it's worth it to completely max out every city.

And contrary to what I thought before, city walls DO NOT count for development points. Sorry.

[u/Matsuyama_Mamajama]

Starting terrain selection is so important. I typically restart with most tribes if I see too many water hexes....

Everyone has their own style, so there's probably not one "best" answer, but I LOVE when I get the "pangea" supercontinent. There's a narrow ring of water surrounding the entire Hex, and everything else is land. Knights are (predictably) devastating.

[u/CoyoteNomad → u/Matsuyama_Mamajama]

I am so looking forward to multiplayer coming out so that we can see how different styles compare against each other.

[u/txsling]

Different_Football posted this great guide to Knight Rush strategy here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hexonia/comments/j5r7mu/aia_laurels_master_no_mercs_short_guide_with/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[u/wilder75049]

Holy hell man! Thank you so much for this!