Millennia: When Should You Create New Regions

Just like many Civilization-like strategy games, Millennia is a game where players attempt to expand as fast as possible to get an advantage over their adversaries. Some expand vertically, creating powerful economies with just a handful of cities, while others try to cover as much of the map as possible with their colors. But is there a sweet spot between those extremes?

There is no right moment to expand in Millennia, just as there is no right way to expand. If the decision to create a new vassal in the early game is fairly easy, the mid and late game make this question a fair bit harder. It depends on the strategy a nation is following, such as whether it is a kingdom or an empire.

When To Create The First Vassal

In most cases, the best time to create the first vassal is as soon as possible, especially for beginners. Creating new vassals often happens through the settler unit, which is created with a government power. To create a settler unit as soon as possible, a player should avoid using any expensive government powers or ideals.

That said, a single turn won’t make that much of a difference, especially in the early game, and especially considering that vassals need time to grow into full regions anyway. There is no need to focus resources on producing more government points just to spawn an early settler. Similarly, if a player is struggling to produce food, it might be worth investing government points to fix that problem instead of keeping them for settlers.

Later in the game, new regions should be deployed when space inside one’s existing regions starts to grow thin, and when there are few improvements left for the oldest cities in the nation. A new region will eventually be a great help, but it needs to be cared for by the others before it can stand on its own. This means using many improvement points to build specialized tiles, and importing refined goods from the rest of the nation to boost its production abilities.

When To Make Vassals Into Regions

Whether it is conquered or founded by settlers, any region besides the homeland starts as a vassal. After a number of turns (usually around 15, based on prosperity), a vassal becomes ready to be integrated. This, again, costs some government points, though it is usually lower than the cost of spawning settlers. This process can be made faster with the use of envoys or merchants.

Making a vassal into a region as soon as possible is generally a good idea, with one major exception. The number of regions, especially when they become more than three, starts having negative effects on the entire nation. Unrest, for example, worsens with each region above that number. This can be more or less sustainable, depending on the age in play.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of expanding in every direction at once, spawning settlers while converting a neutral nation with an envoy. While there is nothing wrong with having many vassals, players should be careful to only turn them into regions when they can afford to sustain them all. Above everything else, a player should never create two or more new regions at the same time.