The Cultural Influence and Investment Rework
9 August 2026
The skill trees have been expanded from 107 skills to 122. Four of the five trees now offer the same 40 spendable points, so none of those four is bigger or smaller than another. Scholarship offers 31, and the new Expanded Curriculum skill opens its second path to take a specialist further than any other route.
Investment skills have been rebuilt from the ground up: what you pay is now a share of the receiving city's storage, and the resources you invest are actually sent to the owner of that city. We also performed a full audit of the code behind each skill, and a third of them were describing something the game never did. They're all now implemented, but require your testing and feedback.
Cultural Influence from arrivals
- reducedArrival Cultural InfluenceWasEvery arrival paid its full calculated valueNowA base multiplier of 0.7 applies to every arrival
A flat 30% reduction across the board. Arrivals were the largest source of Cultural Influence in the game by a wide margin, and every number below is set against this new baseline.
- reworkedFirst visit to a new cityWasA +50% multiplier on the arrivalNowA flat +10 Cultural Influence
A multiplier meant a large city was worth many times a small one for the same visit. A flat amount pays the same wherever you go.
- reworkedFirst visit to a player you have never metWasA +25% multiplier on the arrivalNowA flat +45 Cultural Influence
This change aims to make it much more worth your time to visit the cities of smaller players, especially players you've never interacted with before.
- newNEW:Repeat visits recover over time
Each city you visit slowly regains its Cultural Influence value for your arrival into their city over 30 days. This means if you visit a city today and then visit it again tomorrow, you won't be gaining any CI if nothing has changed, but if you visit it 30 days after the first visit you'll earn 50% CI compared to your first visit. This value recovery is gradual over the 30 day period. Previously, there was no recovery.
- improvedCultural IconDiplomacy · Tier 5
Once you have visited the cities of 20 different players, every arrival your envoy makes earns 25% more Cultural Influence. This is applied last, after every other bonus including festivals, so nothing can cap it away.
WasApplied inside the skill pool, alongside every other skillNowApplied last, after every other arrival bonusA capstone should multiply the whole result rather than compete with the skills that feed it.
Delving
- newNEW:A minimum Cultural Influence per ruin floor
A level 1 envoy clearing a floor used to earn about 2 CI, which made early delving feel like it was not worth "wasting" the ruin. Now there's a minimum CI gain (before modifiers) of 20 per floor, which increases with envoy levels: 20 at levels 1 to 9, 35 at 10 to 19, 50 at 20 to 29, and 65 at 30 to 40.
- reworkedEndgame delve rewardsWasDropped off two cliffs past level 40NowTaper smoothly across levels 41 to 50
Tuning of CI gains for ruins is related to the level of your envoy, and clearing ruins is a good way to level up, especially at higher levels. From levels 40 to 45 and 46 to 50 though, the amount of CI gained from ruins is reduced so that you can't easily push through those final envoy levels just by hitting up one or two ruins.
Temporary Embassy
- reworkedTemporary EmbassyDiplomacy · Tier 2 · 3 ranks
UNLOCKS: Commit your envoy to a fixed residency at a foreign city. Leaving early forfeits the reward; completing it pays a lump sum scaling with the host city's score. Each rank unlocks a longer term that pays a better rate than the equivalent hours in a Hotel: 1 day at 115% / 2 days at 120% / 3 days at 130%.
WasTerms of 1, 3 or 7 daysNowTerms of 1, 2 or 3 daysTaking your envoy out of the game for 7 days was too long and not interesting gameplay. Residency terms now cap out at 3 days.
- reducedResidency payoutWas150% / 180% / 220% of the equivalent hotel stayNow115% / 120% / 130%
Residency payouts were severely overtuned and paid out far more than any other activity, even ones requiring a lot of interactions and decisions. The gains are reined in to be rewarding, but not excessively so compared to other actions.
- reducedThe host's shareWasCalculated separately from the visitor'sNowEqual to the visiting envoy's share
Investments, rebuilt
Investment was the least understood system in the game. The price came from numbers about your own city, and the resources you paid went nowhere at all. Both are fixed.
- reworkedWhat an investment costsWasScaled to your city score and the building's levelNowA share of the receiving city's storage capacity
What you pay is now always meaningful to the person receiving it, and always fits in their storehouse.
- newNEW:Three investment tiers instead of one price
Hotel and School cost 3% / 6% / 10% of the receiver's storage capacity, Market 2% / 4% / 6%, Town Hall 10% / 20% / 30%, and Seed 10% / 25% / 40%.
- reworkedWhere your invested resources goWasNowhere. They left your city and arrived nowhereNowSent to the owner of that city, minus a 15% brokerage burn
- newNEW:A claim screen for incoming transfers
City owners collect investment transfers from a claim screen, with a storage overflow warning shown before you claim so a large transfer does not spill.
- improvedHotel PatronPatronage · Tier 3
UNLOCKS: Your envoy earns more hotel Cultural Influence at a player's Hotel it invests in: +20% / +30% / +50% by tier. From tier 2 it also gets a guaranteed room there even when the Hotel is full.
WasA flat +50%, with a guaranteed room at every priceNow+20% / +30% / +50% by tier, guaranteed room from tier 2 - improvedSchool DonorPatronage · Tier 3
UNLOCKS: Your envoy earns more training Cultural Influence at a player's School it invests in: +25% / +50% / +75% by tier. From tier 2 it also trains 15% / 30% faster.
Was-30% training time and +25% training Cultural Influence, at one priceNow+25% / +50% / +75% Cultural Influence, 15% / 30% faster training from tier 2 - reducedSilent PartnerPatronage · Tier 4
UNLOCKS: You earn a share of every trade the owner of a city's Market completes once your envoy has invested in it, sent to your home city: 1.5% / 3% / 5% by tier. You may also sell through that Market.
WasA flat 5% at every priceNow1.5% / 3% / 5% by tierUnchanged at the top tier. The flat rate meant the cheapest investment paid exactly as well as the dearest.
- reworkedCity SponsorPatronage · Tier 4
UNLOCKS: You receive a share of everything a city collects, sent to your home city, and its production of one resource rises by that same share, once your envoy invests in its Town Hall: 3% / 6% / 10% by tier. Your envoy stays at that city until the term ends.
WasA flat 10% production boost, and nothing from what the city collectedNow3% / 6% / 10% by tier, and the same share of everything the city collects - reworkedSeed InvestmentPatronage · Tier 3 · 2 ranks
UNLOCKS: Stake a resource cache at a city for 1, 3 or 7 days and get it back with +5% / +15% / +40% on top, doubled to +10% / +30% / +80% at rank 2. Each stake matures within 10% of the stated rate. Your envoy stays at that city for the term.
Was1 rank. 120% back after a fixed 7 days, exactlyNow2 ranks. A rate per term, doubled at rank 2, within 10% either way - improvedMarket LeveragePatronage · Tier 2
UNLOCKS: Your envoy stakes Gold at a city for 1, 3 or 7 days instead of resources, and you collect the city's primary extractor resource when the term is up with +10% / +30% / +80% on top.
WasTier 4. +70% over 7 days, stated nowhere on the skillNowTier 2. +80% over 7 days, stated on the skillMoving it to Tier 2 means Gold can pay for any investment rather than only the late ones, and the 7 day rate now matches Seed Investment at rank 2.
Every tree now offers 40 points
Trees previously ranged from 30 spendable points to 43, so choosing one cost you up to a third of your envoy's potential before you made a single decision. Measured by what one envoy can actually spend on a single path, the spread between the largest and smallest tree has narrowed from 43% to 19%.
Commerce
- removedTrade SavvyCommerce · Tier 3WasCultural Influence earned from establishing trade routes increased. +25% / +50%NowRemoved
Trade Consortium moves into its place.
- reworkedRapid Establishment is now Swift EstablishmentCommerce · Tier 2
Your envoy establishes a new trade route in 22.5 minutes instead of 30.
WasRapid EstablishmentNowSwift EstablishmentThe name changed. The skill does exactly what it did before.
- reworkedTrade ConsortiumCommerce · Tier 3
When you establish a new trade route, earn bonus Cultural Influence: base 30 plus 5 for every tile of distance between the two cities.
WasTier 5NowTier 3Its text has not changed.
- improvedLight PackerCommerce · Tier 1 · 2 ranks
Your envoy packs light, so every exploration costs your city less wood, stone, clay and metal: -10% / -20%.
Was3 ranks, reaching -15%Now2 ranks, reaching -20%Better at the top, and one point cheaper to max.
- newNEW SKILL:Fractional BuyerCommerce · Tier 2
You may accept part of another player's trade offer instead of all of it, paying the same share of what they asked for. The smallest part you may take is a quarter of the offer, and the rest stays listed for someone else. A partial trade still uses one of your daily trades.
- newNEW SKILL:Fractional SellerCommerce · Tier 2
Your own trade offers may be accepted in parts by several different players, each taking at least a quarter of what you listed, until the whole offer is filled.
- newNEW SKILL:Logistics SpecialistCommerce · Tier 2 · 2 ranks
Your envoy organises your stores and finds room that was not there before. Your home city holds 5% / 10% more of every resource.
- newNEW SKILL:BrokerCommerce · Tier 3
UNLOCKS: Two cities that have no trade route between them, but each have one with your city, may trade with one another through you. You keep 5% of everything that passes through.
- newNEW SKILL:Salvage RightsCommerce · Tier 3
An injury in a ruin no longer costs you the resources you had already collected. You come home hurt, but not empty handed. Lore fragments and Cultural Influence are still lost as they are today.
- newNEW SKILL:Deep SalvageCommerce · Tier 4 · 3 ranks
Every floor you clear in a ruin yields 10% / 20% / 30% more resources.
- newNEW SKILL:Prospector's CutCommerce · Tier 4
When another player explores a tile you were the first in the world to explore, you receive 10% of the resources they find. Their own find is not reduced.
- newNEW SKILL:ReputationCommerce · Tier 4
Every trade brokered through your city earns your envoy 15 Cultural Influence, and 5 more for every 5,000 resources that pass through, counting rarer resources for more.
- newNEW SKILL:Standing OrderCommerce · Tier 4
UNLOCKS: Mark one of your trade offers as standing. Whenever another player accepts it, the same offer is posted again automatically, for as long as your city still holds enough of what you are offering.
- newNEW SKILL:Free Trade AgreementCommerce · Tier 5
UNLOCKS: Every player can see and accept your trade offers, regardless of whether they have a trade route with you or how far away they are. When the buyer is a city you hold a trade route with, a tenth of what you put up is returned to you.
- newNEW SKILL:Expedition SponsorCommerce · Tier 5
UNLOCKS: While your envoy is visiting a city, fund an exploration for that city's owner, or for any other player's envoy currently in the city with you. When their envoy completes that exploration, you receive a copy of the same discovery rewards: resources, lore fragments and Cultural Influence. Their rewards are not reduced. You cannot sponsor your own envoys, and it applies to explorations only, not wonder visits.
- reworkedHaggler, Negotiator, Master Trader, Open Market, Wayfarer
Skill text corrected to state what the code actually does. Nothing about how they behave has changed.
Diplomacy
- removedLuminaryDiplomacy · Tier 4Was+4% / +7% / +10% Cultural Influence from all sourcesNowRemoved
It duplicated Greeting three rows later, for three points instead of one. Greeting absorbs it.
- removedReturn VisitDiplomacy · Tier 4WasRevisiting a city you have been to before always counts as if that city had grown by at least 50 score since your last visitNowRemoved
It raised an internal number no player could see, and was worth about 5 Cultural Influence per visit.
- removedCultural ExchangeDiplomacy · Tier 1WasHotel stays grant +20% Cultural Influence per hourNowRemoved
It was identical to Extended Lodging rank 2 in the Patronage tree.
- improvedGreetingDiplomacy · Tier 1 · 3 ranks
+5% / +10% / +15% arrival Cultural Influence at other players' cities.
Was+5% / +7.5% / +10%Now+5% / +10% / +15%It absorbs Luminary, so the same effect now costs one point instead of four.
- reworkedFirst ImpressionsDiplomacy · Tier 1 · 3 ranks
+10 / +20 / +30 Cultural Influence the first time you arrive at any city, on top of the 10 that every first visit already pays.
Was+10 / +20 / +30 percentage points on a multiplier, and a hidden +5% to every visitor arriving at its holder's cityNowA flat +10 / +20 / +30 Cultural Influence. The hidden bonus is gone - reworkedWorldlyDiplomacy · Tier 3 · 3 ranks
+20 / +40 / +60 Cultural Influence the first time you arrive at a city belonging to a player you have never visited, on top of the 45 that every first meeting already pays.
Was+5 / +15 / +25 percentage points on first meeting a playerNowA flat +20 / +40 / +60 Cultural Influence on first meeting a player - reducedWorld TravelerDiplomacy · Tier 4 · 3 ranks
Permanently gain a bonus to the Cultural Influence you earn when arriving at any city, growing with the number of different players whose cities you have visited. +0.5% / +1% / +1.5% per player, counting up to 20 players, a maximum of +10% / +20% / +30%.
Was+1% / +2% / +3% per player metNow+0.5% / +1% / +1.5% per player metHalved. It scaled with a number that only ever goes up, so it grew more valuable every week without any further decision from you.
- reworkedGrand HostDiplomacy · Tier 4 · 2 ranks
While your envoy is stationed at your city, every visitor who arrives there earns +5% / +10% Cultural Influence, and you earn 5% / 10% of what each of them earned.
Was1 rank, and it applied whether or not your envoy was actually homeNow2 ranks, and it only applies while your envoy is stationed at your city - reworkedWarm ReceptionDiplomacy · Tier 2 · 2 ranks
While your envoy is stationed at your own city, you earn 1.5x / 2x the usual host's share of every visitor who arrives there.
WasA flat 10 / 15 Cultural Influence per arrival, applied whether or not your envoy was homeNow1.5x / 2x the host's share, and only while your envoy is stationed - improvedSeasoned TravelerDiplomacy · Tier 2 · 2 ranks
-15% / -30% travel time to cities you've previously visited.
Was1 rank at -20%Now2 ranks at -15% / -30% - reworkedGuest RegistryDiplomacy · Tier 3
For every 4 unique envoys that visit your home city, your envoy earns a permanent +1% on the Cultural Influence it earns from arriving at cities and from Hotel stays. The arrival share of it stops growing at +50%.
Was3 ranks, moving a visitor threshold from 5 to 4 to 3Now1 rank, at a threshold of 4Two points that bought one visitor each was not a decision worth making.
- improvedGrand ItineraryDiplomacy · Tier 3
UNLOCKS: Plan a circuit of up to 4 cities in a single action. Your envoy travels it unattended, visiting each city in turn, with arrival Cultural Influence escalating on each successive stop.
Was3 ranks to reach a 4 city circuitNowThe 4 city circuit outright, for one point - reworkedStorytellerDiplomacy · Tier 3
When you arrive at a city after completing an exploration, it puts you up for the night: you gain a single charge of that city's Rested buff, without checking in and without taking a room from anyone.
Was+50% arrival Cultural Influence after an explorationNowA free charge of that city's Rested buff, without checking in - newNEW SKILL:Early Check-inDiplomacy · Tier 1
When your envoy checks in to a Hotel, it earns every rest tier 25% sooner: Rested after 3 hours instead of 4, Well Rested after 4 and a half instead of 6, and Fully Rested after 6 instead of 8.
- newNEW SKILL:Life of the PartyDiplomacy · Tier 4 · 3 ranks
+4% / +7% / +10% arrival Cultural Influence for each other player's envoy already at the city when you arrive, counting up to five of them. A maximum of +20% / +35% / +50%.
- newNEW SKILL:Dispatches HomeDiplomacy · Tier 4
Every arrival your envoy makes also sends 25% of the Cultural Influence it earned back to your home city, wherever in the world your envoy is.
Scholarship
- newNEW SKILL:Expanded CurriculumScholarship · Tier 6
UNLOCKS: Your envoy takes up the discipline it set aside. The other Scholarship path opens, and you may learn from both. Requires a Scholarship capstone.
The tree's first Tier 6 skill. It takes a Scholarship specialist from 21 spendable points to 31, the most of any route in the game.
- reworkedDeep Reading, Library Curator
Skill text corrected. Nothing about how they behave has changed.
Exploration
- reworkedSurvival ExpertExploration · Tier 3 · 2 ranks
Your envoy handles hostile ground better. Exploring Volcanic, Snow or Swamp costs -10% / -20% time and resources, and the travel penalty for crossing it is cut by the same. Mountains count for the resource saving too.
Was3 ranks of exploration cost reductionNow2 ranks at -10% / -20%, and it also cuts the travel penalty for crossing hostile terrain - newNEW SKILL:Thorough PreparationExploration · Tier 3 · 2 ranks
Preparing before a delve normally raises your envoy's chance of a safe outcome by 3% to 10%, depending on how much you buy. Each rank multiplies what that preparation is worth: 1.5x / 2x.
- newNEW SKILL:Wonder SeekerExploration · Tier 3
A note that a wonder lies nearby is the rarest thing an envoy can find, turning up in 3 of every 100 scouting observations. For your envoy it turns up in 13.
- newNEW SKILL:Intuitive SpelunkerExploration · Tier 4
When your delve reaches a dead end, you have a 50% chance to find another way through and try that floor again, instead of your run ending there.
- newNEW SKILL:PilgrimExploration · Tier 4 · 3 ranks
Your envoy earns more Cultural Influence for investigating a wonder: +10% / +20% / +30%.
- reworkedScout's EyeExploration · Tier 2
Your envoy notices more while travelling. Each tile it crosses leaves it a scouting observation 16% of the time, instead of 12%, and one more of what it finds survives each journey.
WasIts stated effect lived in code that nothing ever called, so it did nothingNowEach tile crossed leaves an observation 16% of the time instead of 12% - reworkedDeep IntuitionExploration · Tier 3 · 2 ranks
While your envoy delves at depth 3 or deeper, each floor has a 10% / 20% chance to yield one more kind of resource than it otherwise would.
WasFired from depth 2, granting a bonus cacheNowFires from depth 3, granting an extra kind of resource - improvedLegacy ExplorerExploration · Tier 5
Every 10th tile your envoy explores, counted across its whole life, it finds an extra lore fragment on top of whatever that tile held, always Uncommon or better. The counter is shown on the envoy panel.
WasRolled a bonus lore fragment and then discarded it, granting nothing at allNowAwards the fragment - reworkedSeasoned Trekker, Frontier Runner
Skill text corrected to describe a lifetime count rather than a chain that resets. Nothing about how they behave has changed.
Patronage
- removedCompound InterestPatronage · Tier 3WasInvestment returns improve the longer capital is deployed. +5% / +10% / +15% per extra week, capping at 3 weeksNowRemoved
Investment terms cap at 7 days, so there was never an extra week and it was always worth exactly zero.
- removedGrand BenefactorPatronage · Tier 5WasYour investments never expire. They keep paying out until you withdraw them, and every Patronage bonus you have is increased by 25%NowRemoved
Absentee Patron takes its capstone slot.
- reworkedDue DiligencePatronage · Tier 3
UNLOCKS: On the Invest screen your envoy shows an exact projected return worked out from that city's own history instead of a range, and every Hotel, School, Market or Town Hall investment it makes costs 10% less.
WasTier 2NowTier 3, and Hotel, School, Market and Town Hall investments cost 10% less - reworkedVenture FundPatronage · Tier 4
UNLOCKS: Send your envoy to another player's city and fund it with diamonds. Each diamond draws 2% of that city's daily output of its primary resource every day of the term, longer terms paying more, and the city's own production rises 5% while you are invested. Yield you have not collected stops building up after 5 days.
WasTier 5, occupying a capstone slotNowTier 4Its text has not changed.
- improvedCultural BondPatronage · Tier 2 · 2 ranks
UNLOCKS: Once your envoy is Fully Rested at another player's city, form a permanent bond with them. A completed trade route opens between your home city and theirs, and every later arrival at any of their cities earns your envoy +5% / +10% Cultural Influence by rank. There is no limit on bonds.
Was1 rank. Forming a bond did nothing beyond the bond itselfNow2 ranks. Forming a bond also opens a completed trade route between your home city and theirs - newNEW SKILL:Double DownPatronage · Tier 3 · 2 ranks
Your envoy runs 2 / 3 separate investments of the same type at one city by rank. Each keeps its own term and pays on its own. Sponsored expeditions become charges instead, one spent per exploration. Hotel and School investments are limited to one.
- newNEW SKILL:Absentee PatronPatronage · Tier 5
Your envoy invests in the Hotel, School, Market or Town Hall of any city it has visited before, without travelling back.
- newNEW SKILL:Patron's LegacyPatronage · Tier 5
Every Seed Investment your envoy sees through to maturity teaches it something. It earns Cultural Influence growing with the size of your stake and the score of the city you funded.
- reworkedResidency MilestonePatronage · Tier 2
The first time your envoy becomes Fully Rested at another player's city, you earn a one time Cultural Influence bonus worth 10% of that city's score. It pays once in your envoy's life, and never at a city of your own.
WasClaimed to pay once, but paid on every qualifying stay, including at your own hotelNowPays once per envoy, at another player's city only, worth 10% of that city's score
Skills that were not telling the truth
Every envoy skill was read against the code that runs it. Of 122 skills, 32 described something the game did not do. Most were reworded to match. These four were faults in the code instead, and the code was fixed.
- reworkedWarm Reception and Grand HostDiplomacy
Both say "while stationed" and neither checked it, so both applied at all times.
- reworkedArchivistScholarship · Tier 4
UNLOCKS: Your envoy sends lore to the Great Library by courier instead of travelling there, for 50 wood and 25 stone per fragment. Requires: Great Library.
Calculated courier Cultural Influence and then paid it to nobody.
- reworkedDeep PocketsPatronage · Tier 3 · 3 ranks
Your envoy invests in a city's Hotel, School, Market or Town Hall for less: -10% / -20% / -30% by rank. Seed Investments, gold and diamond ventures pay full price.
Displayed a discount on Seed Investments that no charge could apply.
- reworkedCultural ImmersionPatronage · Tier 1 · 3 ranks
A city's memory of your envoy fades over 30 days, and returning is worth more the longer you have been away. Each rank shortens that to 25 / 20 / 15 days. At most half the memory ever fades, so a return visit never pays as a first one.
It claimed to slow a decay that did not exist. What it actually did was permanently shrink your claim on every arrival, costing about 55 Cultural Influence per revisit for as long as you owned it. It is now rebuilt around the 30 day recovery described above.
Interface
- newNEW:A city page band showing a running festival or that city's envoy
It fills a row that was previously empty. The festival marker has also moved into the city nameplate beside the city name, matching the banner icon.
- improvedThe city hover tooltip is readable
Cultural Landmark and Hold a Festival both give a city a hover tooltip on the map. It was unreadable because the background was transparent. That is now fixed, and it also appears over the city nameplate as well as the tile.
- improvedEnvoy actions list only what you can actually do
Actions your envoy cannot currently take are no longer shown greyed out.
- improvedCompleting a residency opens a success screen
The same shape as a hotel checkout, instead of a toast that passes before you have read it.
- improvedTravel is offered from every completion screen
Previously only after arriving or checking out.
- improvedHotel stays itemise where the Cultural Influence came from
Per skill and per source. Travel, delving and wonder investigation now also show which of your envoy skills apply before you commit, with the value each one adds.
- improvedThe envoys page lists standing effects
The effects an envoy carries continuously, which have no single decision point behind them.
Fixes
- Reinvestment no longer errors when collecting a matured investment.
Any player holding one received a server error instead of their return.
- A maxed School advertised "Tier 0" past level 16.
It now correctly offers tier 6 through level 20.
- The NPC exchange under-reported your remaining daily trades by one.
This happened only while a market investment was active.
- Merging a city now says what it destroys before you confirm.
The envoy that retires, the storehouse and diamonds lost, buildings and masteries, market offers withdrawn, and how many other players lose investments there. Unclaimed investment transfers now follow you to the surviving city instead of being stranded.
- Merging no longer leaves market offers listed on a razed city.
It also closes that city's trade routes. A city with an active residency from another player can no longer be merged until the term ends.
- The hotel rest countdown now correctly shows the applied benefit of the envoy skill "Early Check-in".