Special Villages questions and answers
These are the published Special Villages questions, with the answer under each one.
Can a chief conquer a capital village?
• Chiefs cannot lower a capital's allegiance or conquer it. • Catapults can destroy its buildings. If an ordinary owned village can replace it as capital, the razed capital may be removed through the normal destruction process. • Without such a replacement, the destroyed capital remains owned with its buildings at level 0; it does not disappear. A special village is not converted into the replacement capital.
Can a village holding an artefact be erased from the map?
No. A village holding an artefact remains on the map even when every building reaches level 0.
Can I change which village is my capital?
Yes. Build a Palace (level 1 or higher) in the village you want, open the Palace and choose "Make this village the capital". A Residence cannot do this, and a special village cannot become the capital. The former capital becomes a regular village, and any of its buildings above the level allowed outside the capital are lowered so that, counting an upgrade already in progress, they do not exceed that level. A building with an upgrade in progress can therefore drop below that level until the upgrade finishes.
Can I conquer an artefact village while already at the artefact cap?
Yes. The artefact cap does not block village conquest, and the artefact transfers with it. You may own more artefacts than the active cap, but surplus artefacts remain on standby unless they enter the active set.
Do the Tatars attack the World Wonder as it grows?
Yes. Each time a World Wonder upgrade completes at level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98 or 99, the Tatars send an automatic attack from their capital to that Wonder village. It arrives about 2 minutes later and its siege engines aim at the Wonder. Demolishing levels never triggers an attack, and if the Tatars have not appeared yet, no attack is sent.
Does a Wonder village remain special after conquest?
Yes. An empty Wonder or special village can be conquered; having no buildings does not make it razed. Ownership transfers, but the village keeps its special type and special building rules. Its marketplace offers and child oases move to the new owner, and incoming movements are retargeted to that owner.
How do I capture an artefact with a normal attack?
• Send a full attack (not a raid) with your hero, and your attacking troops must not all die. • Your attacking village must not hold an artefact. • You must own fewer than 3 artefacts, and for a large or unique artefact you must not already own another large or unique one. These two limits do not apply when you move an artefact you already own from one of your villages to another. • Your attacking village needs a Treasury: level 10 or higher for a small artefact, exactly level 20 for a large or unique one. • If the target has a Treasury, destroy it down to level 0 with catapults in the same attack; if it has none, no catapults are needed. With a Rally Point at level 10 or higher, choose the Treasury as the target; below that, choose Random, because the Treasury is the only building catapults can hit in an artefact village. • Artefacts have no effect while they are in their original artefact village, so the Architect artefact does not make its buildings stronger. • Catapults do no building damage before the artefact window opens, so a siege before then does nothing. • If you conquer the village with chiefs, the artefact comes with it and the hero capture requirements do not apply.
How does an artefact site appear on the map before and after transfer?
An original artefact site appears as small, large, or unique without showing an owner name, village name, or population. After transfer to a player's village, that village keeps its normal appearance; holding an artefact does not restyle every holder village.
What happens if a capital is completely destroyed?
A Tatar-owned capital does not enter the raze-to-wilderness lifecycle. For another capital that holds no artefact, if an ordinary village survives, the highest-population non-oasis village becomes the fallback, an owner Hero stationed in the old capital relocates there, the highest-population ordinary village becomes the new capital, and the destroyed tile returns to wilderness. A special fallback stays special. If no ordinary village survives—even when a special village does—the destroyed capital remains owned at level 0 and no special village becomes capital.
What happens to an artefact when its village is conquered?
The artefact remains attached to the conquered village and transfers to its new owner with the village. This transfer does not require a Hero or Treasury because it is part of the village conquest itself.
What Treasury level is required to capture an artefact?
• Direct capture with your Hero requires a source Treasury at level 10 or higher for a small Artifact, or level 20 for a large or unique Artifact. • The target Treasury must be absent or destroyed in the attack; the other direct-capture requirements still apply. • These are direct-capture requirements, not general conditions for keeping an Artifact. When a chief conquers its village, the Artifact transfers with that village without requiring a source Treasury.
Where do artefacts appear on the map?
Artefacts are planned in all four quarters of the map. Each quarter is planned one small or large artefact of every type and 2 unique artefacts, and the last unique artefact is planned for the center of the map. Every quarter's plan is the same layout turned by 90 degrees, so the planned distances match in every quarter. Each artefact then takes the free tile nearest its planned spot, so real positions can shift a little, and the center one lands on the nearest free tile to the center. If a quarter has no free tile left, the artefact takes the nearest free tile in another quarter.
Where do the Tatar villages appear?
The Tatar capital is planned for the center of the map, and the other 12 Tatar villages are planned 3 per quarter. Every quarter's plan is the same layout turned by 90 degrees, so the planned distances match in every quarter. Each village then takes the free tile nearest its planned spot, so real positions can shift a little. If a quarter has no free tile left, the village takes the nearest free tile in another quarter.
Where is the World Wonder placed?
The World Wonder uses 1 building position in its special village. Both village types keep the same total number of building positions.
Which villages can build the World Wonder, and when do they appear?
The World Wonder can be built only in a Wonder village. There are 12 of them, and they appear together with the Tatars once the world has run for its set number of days: 3 in each quarter of the map. Until a player conquers one, it belongs to the Tatars and is guarded by Tatar troops. The Tatar capital near the center of the map is not a Wonder village. A Wonder village stays a Wonder village after it is conquered.