Old World Archetypes Guide: Commanders, Zealots & More

Every character in Old World is assigned an archetype – a kind of class or political role a person takes at court. In other words, the archetype denotes the character’s role and specialty. This handy introduction will give an overview to prospective civilization leaders on the features of all present archetypes in Old World.

Here are the main character archetypes in Old World:

– Builder
– Commander
– Orator
– Tactician
– Diplomat
– Hero
– Judge
– Schemer
– Scholar
– Zealot

And here’s everything you need to know about character archetypes in Old World. Important to note that characters of the same class will start with a bonus to opinion as they share skills and beliefs.

 

Builder

Builder characters concern themselves with matters of infrastructure and administration, meaning they can be enlisted as city governors or act as the faction’s chancellor. The Builder archetype increases the discipline stat of a character and gives them abilities that positively affect city construction, worker efficiency, and tile improvements. As a consequence, court members of this class have a lower opinion of the more glory-seeking military-minded Hero archetype.

 

Commander

Commanders are experts in matters of military strategy. They can be assigned as generals to units or act as the faction’s ambassador, unlocking additional diplomatic options. This archetype improves the courage and discipline stats and provides helpful unit buffs, such as idle experience gain and strength bonuses when fighting in formation. Due to Commanders focusing more on big picture matters in all things military, they dislike Tacticians for their narrow-minded view of warfare.

 

Orator

Orators are public speakers and rhetoricians that focus on the matters of the state. They can take the role of city governor or be selected as the ambassador. Orator archetypes have increased charisma, but reduced discipline and have abilities that affect religion, order generation, and legitimacy. Since Orators are more generalist statesmen in their court role, they dislike the specialization that Diplomat characters bring and will start with a lower opinion of such characters.

 

Tactician

Tacticians are characters that specialize in intelligence and optimizing the value of units and combat, and as a result can be assigned as generals or the faction’s spymaster. This class increases wisdom and discipline with Tacticians gaining the ability to increase vision, give units immunity to critical hits in combat, and the option to stun enemy units. Tacticians dislike the lack of subtlety Commanders bring to military matters and will have a lower opinion of such characters.

 

Diplomat

Diplomat characters focus on foreign policy and building relationships with other factions. They can become city governors or act as the faction’s ambassador. This archetype gains additional charisma and has abilities that improve foreign and family opinion of the current leader. As ambassadors, they can also perform alliance missions. Diplomats find the Orators to be obnoxious demagogues and will start with a lower opinion of them.

 

Hero

Hero characters are the fighters and larger-than-life personalities that bring fame and glory, mostly through bloodshed. Courtiers of such a class can act as city governors or faction agents. They gain increased courage, as well as abilities that improve the production of the training resource and give combat bonuses to units. Heroes find Builders cowardly and bookish, lacking the stomach for the bloody matters of war.

 

Judge

Judges are agents of the law and ensure that members of the court remember who they serve. They can serve as city governors or the faction’s chancellor. Judges gain a bonus to their charisma and discipline stats, gain abilities to give other characters experience, and improve city improvement projects. Schemers are an affront to the law in the eyes of Judges and as such they show little compassion to Schemers.

 

Schemer

In some ways Schemers are like Orators in that they specialize in matters of the state and focus primarily on administration. As their name suggests Schemers can act as faction agents or as a spymaster. They have bonus wisdom, but reduced courage and gain abilities that increase overall order production, the option to adopt children, and the ability to trade legitimacy for orders. Judges are too uptight and inflexible for Schemers and will tend to have cold feelings for them.

 

Scholar

Scholars are the researchers and scientists of the faction, tirelessly working to make sense of the world. They can act as city governors or as a spymaster. This class gains wisdom with abilities centered around training and tutoring children, unlocking city research projects, and generally improving the faction’s scientific potential. Since Scholars concern themselves with empirical evidence and the rational approach to explaining the world, they find Zealots intolerable and will have colder things to say about them.

 

Zealot

Zealots are the preachers and priests of the faction that emphasize emotion and the divine to explain the world. They can serve as generals or the faction’s chancellor. Because of their impassioned mission to carry the word of the leader, Zealots gain courage at the expense of wisdom and gain abilities that benefit religion, city production, and unit survivability in combat. Scholars speak in nonsensical riddles, whereas Zealots are direct messengers of their deities and as such have a lower opinion of the bumbling Scholars.

Players will find that in any given playthrough of Old World they will have a colorful cast of characters to work with to operate their faction. The challenge now is for players to figure out effective synergies between characters in their dynasty to bring themselves closer to victory.

Old World is available on PC.

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