Welcome to another developer diary of Lords & Empires. Today, we will be talking about colonies.
In Lords & Empires, colonies are where your empire truly begins to grow. A capital alone can be powerful, but colonies are the core system that brings military, economic, and strategic depth to the game.
In the regions where cities are located, empty lands will appear. These lands can be purchased using gold and population. Acquiring a land is the first and most critical step in establishing a colony. Players can build colonies on these lands as long as they have sufficient property capacity.
There are 8 different types of buildable colonies in the game:
- Lumber Camp
- Stone Quarry
- Iron Mine
- Farm
- Gold Mine
- Exploration Center
- Military Camp
- Victory Monument
Each colony will have:
- Its own terrain characteristics
- Region-specific resource advantages
- Strategic decisions related to defense and development
- Each colony has 4 building slots. In these slots, players can construct both buildings specific to the colony type as well as structures that are shared across all colonies. On average, each colony will have 6 different building options, and which buildings are constructed depends entirely on the player’s strategy.
- With the exception of the Military Camp, all colonies accelerate the development of your Capital by producing resources. When these resources are collected, a merchant caravan sets out from the colony toward your Capital.
However, colonies are not “set it and forget it” systems. As a colony gets farther from the capital:
- Logistics become more difficult
- Defense costs increase
- Management decisions become more critical
A poorly positioned colony can become a burden rather than an advantage.
With this system, our goal is:
- To turn map expansion into meaningful strategic decisions
- To offer players more strategy, not just more cities
It is also important to remember that these colonies can be annexed or destroyed by other players, clearly highlighting how strategically important colonies are in the game.
In this diary, we covered how colonies emerge, how they are established, and why they must be protected. Colonies are not just production points; when managed well, they drive growth—when neglected, they lead to loss. In the next diary, we will talk about our military units.