4X game from Stardock. We're going to be looking at another one of the 18 available civilizations, one with a very storied legacy: the Krynn Syndicate.
The Krynn are not a single species, but rather are a religion made up of citizens from all corners of the galaxy. Your homeworld's citizens can come from anywhere – the Drengin. The Way of the Krynn accepts all comers, and as the leader of the syndicate it's your job to lead the faithful in their quest to convert the rest of the galaxy… by any means necessary.
In ages past, this empire was known as the Krynn Consulate, but recently a criminal organisation known as the Syndicate has taken control. While this hasn't turned the Krynn into crime lovers like the Xeloxi, it has put them on a more aggressive path. In the end, everyone in the galaxy shall follow the Way of the Krynn – whether they want to or not.
The Krynn don't possess as many unique mechanics as other civilizations, but they make up for this by being powerhouse influencers, which they use to spread their borders far and wide in the early game – much more rapidly than other empires. Influence works the same as culture does in many strategy games and can be used to cause unrest in foreign worlds, even 'flipping' them to your side if you can keep a world under your influence for long enough.
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The Krynn start out with an automatic 15% boost to influence growth, but they also boast certain inherent traits – like Bureaucratic, which lets them start with more control than other civilizations, granting them more executive orders in the early game. The Krynn also start off with access to coordination techs for yet another early advantage.
The Krynn's other trait is Devout, which grants buffs to culture whenever you gain ideology points, but also manifests itself as a unique building on the homeworld of Kryseth. This Krynnic temple (which can't be built anywhere else) gives a boost to approval and the homeworld's ability to generate influence, meaning that an early Krynn empire is going to expand quickly, even if there aren't any decent worlds nearby.
Speaking of Kryseth, your homeworld has a few decent tiles you can exploit to boost approval, and some production and farming tiles to give boosts to those areas as well. There are also tiles that will award you rare resources. But the Krynn's coolest asset? That's got to be their artefact, which is a wormhole generator they can use to send a fleet to a random spot in the galaxy. This is the Way of the Krynn, and all shall know it.
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ing the Krynn's galactic crusade is an array of command ships, all of which come with a small boost to influence for nearby friendly worlds that scale with the ship's experience level, on top of additional benefits.
Here's a snapshot of their hero ships:
- Missionary – This small ship has infinite range and sensors that get better as it levels up
- Monitor – Another small ship that has the ability to survey anomalies
- Crusader – This small ship can pack quite the punch for its size and will likely be the core of any early-game Krynn fleet
- Sword of the Way – This medium warship has impressive defences and can earn the Krynn one control point for every battle it fights
- Shield of the Way – Another defensive-focused medium ship, this one can heal friendly ships within its area of effect (AOE) for 4 HP per turn
- Memory of Rosalind – This large ship sports impressive armaments and defences, but also boosts the influence of nearby friendly worlds by a further 50%
- Divine Judgement – The pride of the Krynn navy has modest armaments for its size, but makes up for it with a powerful antimatter bomb that can damage all nearby enemy fleets
The Krynn will spread their faith across the galaxy one way or another, and their impressive influence will force colony worlds to succumb to the Way. Your main challenges will come from civilizations who specialise in things like production and warfare – aspects the Krynn don't have any innate bonuses for – and managing your populace.
Welcoming citizens of all races makes the Krynn incredibly flexible, but it also means that it may be harder to keep them all happy, given that different species have different needs. You can't have a Festron pastor dining on his congregation, after all.
Still, If you want to play a cultural powerhouse that's just as able to take planets through religious rhetoric as it is by exercising its military might, then please, take this leaflet and read about the Way of the Krynn. We hold coffee mornings every saturday. Galactic Civilizations IV is out now for PC.