Dust () is a FIDSI resource used by all empires to purchase items in the marketplace, buy out city production, and maintain units, heroes, and city improvements.

Production

Terrain

Basic Terrain

Of the basic terrain types, Sea and Lake tiles provide the highest boost to Dust, providing 2 on a tile. Arid tiles are the next best, with the Dirt Field and Sand Dunes tiles providing 2 , and the Dry Soil, Snow, and Snowy Field tiles providing 1 . Plains tiles tend to provide 1 , except for the Grassland and Red Soil tiles which provide no Dust. Among Forest tiles, Savanna provides 1 , and with Rock tiles, Sandstone and Tundra Rocks provide 1 each. Among Volcanic tiles, Ash Drifts and Barren Soil each provide 2 .

Additionally, tiles with a Luxury Resource deposit on them have a bonus +1 .

Anomalies

Anomalies on a tile provide an additional bonus to its FIDSI output, and there are a number of anomalies that provide a bonus of 2, 4, 6, or even 8 on a tile.

• 2 : Chromatic Land, Clay, Crystal Flowers, Dragon Tree, Hidden Springs, Mutant Marsh, Oasis, Rumbling Stones, Stasis Pillar, Steel Stalks
• 4 : Black Dust, Caldera Lake, Earthspine, Escaped Specimens, Lava Chimneys, Ruby Cactus Fields, Salt Desert
• 6 : Weaver Worms
• 8 : Golden Tree

Faction Traits

Some factions have unique interactions with Dust:

• The Broken Lords cannot use Food, and their units do not passively regenerate health due to their "Appetite for Dust" affinity. Instead, is purchased with Dust, and Dust must be spent to heal units. The Broken Lords also get +1 on terrain with Dust due to their "Dust Efficient" trait.
• The Vaulters (Mezari) can use Glassteel as a booster to get temporary boost +20% on cities due to their "Holy Resource" affinity.
• The Roving Clans receive 8% of all transactions on the Marketplace from other empires due to their "Cuts Both Ways" trait.
• The Forgotten cannot use Science, and can instead purchase technologies with Dust due to their "Science Phobic" affinity.

City Improvements

This list includes any City Improvement that increases a city's Dust output, even indirectly. Some of the improvements listed have additional effects that do not affect Dust production, but for simplicity those effects are not listed.

Name	Faction	Obtained			Upkeep	Effects
City Hall	All	Upon Settling			10	+4 per on city
Founder's Memorial	All	At Start	60			+2 on city Can only be built once in your empire
Palace	All	At Start				+22 on city
Dust Dredger	All	Era I	75			Need an exploited river tile to be built +2 on terrain with river during summer
Dust Filtration	All	Era I	75			Need an exploited lake or sea tile to be built +3 on terrain with sea or lake during summer
Empire Mint	All	Era I	75			+5 on city +15% on city
Central Market	All	Era II	250	2	2	+10% on approval (fervent)
Deep Generator	Vaulters	Era II	250	20		+10% on city The cost indicates that the holy resource has to be chosen
Dust Depository	All	Era III	600	5		+4 per on city
Dust Refinery	All	Era III	600	10		+20 on city +30% on city
Dust Transmuter	All	Era III	1200	10		+10 on terrain with Dust Can only be built once in your empire
Altar of Channeling	Broken Lords	Faction Quest	1500			+5 per on city +5 on city
Dust Revitalizer	All	Era V	2000	30 5		+5 on terrain with Dust
Imperial News Network	All	Era V	2000	5 10	10	+2 per on approval (happy)
Town Criers	All	Era V	2000	25 10		+50 on city +40% on city

Expansions

Again, while many of these expansions have other effects, only those affecting Dust production have been listed.

Name	Faction	Obtained			Effect
Borough Streets	All except Allayi	At Start	Varies		+1 on city tile +2 per extra level on city tile
Garth of the Allayi	Allayi	At Start	Varies	Varies	+2 on city tile +4 per extra level on city tile
Museum of Auriga	All	At Start	500	5 5	+20% on empire approval (happy) Can only be built once in the world
Cargo Docks	All	Era III	600		+1 on city tile +2 per extra level on city tile
Reliquary of Auriga	All	Era V	5000	45 45	+100 per level on Reliquary of Auriga Can only be built once in the world
Abbey of Anomalies	All	3rd Winter	400	10	x2 on city tile Limited to one copy in your city To be built on anomaly
Luxury Intensifier	All	3rd Winter	400	10	+10 per level on city tile +10 on terrain with luxury resource Limited to one copy in your city To be built on luxury resource deposit
Winter Borough	All	3rd Winter	600	20	+1 per level on city tiles during winter Limited to one copy in your city To be built during winter

Trade Routes

A major source, arguably the major source, of dust and science starting in the mid game is Trade Routes. Trade routes can be established between cities that have the Right of Way or Cargo Docks improvements (requiring the Imperial Highways or Cargo Docks technologies respectively), and once established, trade routes passively generate dust and science per turn.

Approval

Unlike Food and Industry where a given city's approval affects production in only that city, the overall approval of the empire affects the production of Dust in all cities equally.

State	Approval	Modifier
Rebellion	0-10	-50%
Unhappy	11-39	-20%
Content	40-60	0%
Happy	61-89	+15%
Fervent	90-100	+30%

Heroes

Heroes provide a number of ways to increase the Dust output of a city they are the governor of, whether that be through capacities, skills, or accessories.

Capacities

Hero	Icon	Name	Effect
Bishop Julian Bazi Safar Bahas Master Neqra Zeban		Dust Boost 1	+2 Dust per hero's level on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.
Consecrate Mawusi Boakye Skya Keeper Dabuo Ofosu Third Builder Gula Yawa Grand Cleric Akuma		Dust Boost 2	+4 Dust per hero's level on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.
Duke Unwin Weybridge		Dust Boost 3	+6 Dust per hero's level on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.
Bela The Bat Syrav		Dust Efficiency 1	+1 Dust per on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.
Baron Joslyn Deyval Siryi Alastra Sable Deceiver Napog Dauda Skya Keeper Dabuo Ofosu		Dust Efficiency 2	+2 Dust per on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.
Lord Peyton Quinn Sable Deceiver Bayari Kulaa Jasah Murdap		Dust Efficiency 3	+3 Dust per on city. +1% Dust per hero's level on city.

Skills

Skill Tree	Level	Icon	Name	Effect
Common	4		Inspirational Leader	Level 1: +5% on city, +5% on city, +5% on city, +5% on city. Level 2: +5% on city, +5% on city, +5% on city, +5% on city. Level 3: +10% on city, +10% on city, +10% on city, +10% on city.
Broken Lords	1		Aquatic Dust	Level 1: +1 on terrain with river. Level 2: +2 on terrain with river. Level 3: +2 on terrain with river.
Broken Lords	2		Dust Diviner	Level 1: +1 on terrain with dust. Level 2: +1 on terrain with dust. Level 3: +1 on terrain with dust.
Broken Lords	5		Dust Trickery	Level 1: +15% on city. Level 2: +15% on city. Level 3: +15% on city.
Roving Clans	1		Traveling Salesman	Level 1: +2 on terrain with anomaly. Level 2: +3 on terrain with anomaly. Level 3: +3 on terrain with anomaly.
Roving Clans	3		Fast Trader	Level 1: +1 per trade route. +50% on city trade routes. Level 2: +1 per trade route. +50% on city trade routes. Level 3: +2 per trade route. +100% on city trade routes.
Cultists	1		Impassioned Preacher	Level 1: +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. Level 2: +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. Level 3: +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city. +1 per in city.
Cultists	5		Tools of the Enemy	Level 1: +15% on city. Level 2: +15% on city. Level 3: +15% on city.
Forgotten	2		Arboreal Dust Dowser	Level 1: +1 on terrain with forest. Level 2: +2 on terrain with forest. Level 3: +2 on terrain with forest.
Allayi	2		Awestriker	Level 1: +25% Bribe cost reduction on army. With ELCP: +15 Dust on terrain with Village. Level 2: +25% Bribe cost reduction on army. With ELCP: Refreshes ruins in the governed region at the start of each winter.
Kapaku	1		Volcanology	Level 1: +2 on Volcanic terrain Level 2: +1 on Volcanic terrain, +1 on Volcanic terrain
Sisters of Mercy	5		A Noble's Duty	Level 1: Food Income cannot be negative. Dust Income cannot be negative.

Accessories

All listed accessories are Tomes.

Item	Name		Effects	Obtained From
		6	+1 per on city	Advanced Armor
		12	+2 per on city	Alchemical Armor
		24	+4 per on city	Exotic Armor
	Quivering Circlet	50	+7 on city +7 on city +7 on city Can be equipped by Broken Lords heroes only	Broken Lords Faction Quest

Miscellaneous

Arcana

The Ardent Mages are able to research the Arcana of Materializing technology, which unlocks the Pillar of Extraction for placement. This pillar increase the Dust output of tiles within range depending on the Arcana level as shown here:

Level	Effect	Range
1	+2 on tiles within the pillar's range for 10 turns	1
2	+5 on tiles within the pillar's range for 10 turns	1
3	+6 on tiles within the pillar's range for 10 turns	2
4	+9 on tiles within the pillar's range for 10 turns	2
5	+16 on tiles within the pillar's range for 10 turns	2

Upon obtaining the Cold Engineering technology by completing Chapter 5, Part 1 of the Ardent Mages faction quest, the Pillar of Extraction will produce an additional +3 on tiles within range during winter.

Assimilation

The Delvers provide an assimilation bonus of +5% on cities per pacified and rebuilt village, up to +30% .

Empire Plan

The Economy and Population branch generally serves to increase the production of Dust or reduce the cost of using it, but the Tier 1 and Tier 4 effects directly increase Dust output. Tier 1 grants +3 per on cities, and Tier 4 provides +25% on cities.

Fortresses

Different parts of oceanic Fortresses provide different amounts of Dust income. Between the three Citadels, Bastions provide 1 and Manufactoriums provide 2 , while Listening Posts provide no Dust.

Among the other facilities that make up the parts of a Fortress extending off the Citadel, the following provide additional Dust:

• Luxury Resource Facilities: +1
• Vile Tide Facility: +8
• Sky-Shaker Facility: +10
• Dust Accumulator Facility: +10 , +2% per Fortress on empire.

Pillaging

Pillaging regional buildings - such as resource extractors and pacified villages - provides a variable amount of Dust upon completion in addition to other rewards. The Forgotten can increase the amount of Dust gained from pillage further via their faction technology Dust Sense.

Resource Boosters

A number of Luxury resources (and Strategic resources for the Vaulters and Mezari) can be used to increase empire-wide Dust production.

Resource
Dust Orchid	+20%
Dustwater	+50%
Glassteel	+20%
Mithrite	+15%

Ruins

Searching ruins has a chance to produce a reward, the most common reward being an amount of Dust.

Technology

There are only two technologies that directly increase an empire's Dust production. The first is Dust Crematorium, a technology unique to the Broken Lords which provides 1 for every point of Experience earned by units or heroes in the empire. The second is Dust-Driven Distillery, an Era VI technology which increases the Dust production of all cities by 100%.

Quests

Much like ruins, quests grant rewards that can be an amount of Dust. However, the chance of this and the amount given varies depending on the specific quest, with some having no chance of granting a reward of Dust.

Urkans

Fakir has the Dust Leecher training available. Upon unlocking this training, while Fakir is rooted in a region, cities owned by Fakir's owner and their allies will get a +20% bonus, while enemy cities will get a -10% penalty.

Costs

Buyout

Productions can be bought out (i.e. completed in 1 turn with the remaining cost being paid for) for . The cost for doing so is equal to (remaining cost)^1.2.

This amount can be reduced by 25% for buildings and units via the Prisoners, Slaves, and Volunteers technology, and another 25% for buildings by Tier 2 of the Economy and Population Empire Plan.

Upkeep

Upkeep is one of the main ways Dust is spent, as almost every city improvement, unit, and hero has a cost incurred every turn simply for owning them.

City Improvements

With the exception of most Era I city improvements and those that generate Dust, every city improvement has an associated upkeep cost, referred to as City Upkeep. This cost is usually consistent across improvements from a given Era - for example, most improvements from Era II have an upkeep of 2 - but this may change if the building is unique or cheap to build.

Military

A unit's upkeep each turn is equal to 1 per unit level. A unit in an army (that is, not in a garrison) has an additional 1 per turn upkeep. Militia units always cost 0 upkeep^[1].

Each army costs per turn, equal to the maximum number of slots for the army, so armies cost 4 per turn at the beginning of the game, increasing to 6 or 8 per turn after researching Meritocratic Promotion and Signal Corps. This means that in general, a few larger armies are more efficient than many small ones.

The combined upkeep cost for units and armies is referred to in-game as Military Upkeep. Military upkeep is calculated separately from hero upkeep, and things that affect Military Upkeep (for example, the Empire Plan) do not affect hero upkeep.

The Necrophages' Battle Born unit is able to exceed an army's normal maximum size if added to it via the Proliferator or, during a Dust Eclipse, Recycled Stockpiles, but this also adds greatly to the army's total upkeep, equation TBD.

Heroes

Hero upkeep is much more complicated. For a given hero, let HeroLevel be the hero's level, SkillPoints be the number of spent on that hero, and HeroesCount be the total number of heroes in the empire, including the current hero. Then the hero's upkeep is calculated as the sum of the following values^[1]:

• A = 0.5 + HeroLevel × (HeroLevel + 5) / 4
• B = (HeroLevel - 1) × SkillPoints / 4
• C = 2 × HeroesCount
• HeroUpkeep = A + B + C

Since SkillPoints is for the most part equal to HeroLevel - 1, HeroUpkeep increases roughly quadratically with a hero's level. The total upkeep for all heroes also increases quadratically with the number of heroes in the empire.

Miscellaneous

Additionally, for the Cultists or any custom faction with the "Conversion" trait, converted villages have an upkeep of 10 + 2 per additional city you control. (This last number is only relevant for custom factions.)

Bankruptcy

If expenditure exceeds the amount produced and the following turn will bring your total into the negatives, you will receive the following prompt:

Your Empire is about to go bankrupt. Your empire's expenditures are greater than your remaining treasury. If you do not adjust your Dust output, action will be taken and City Improvements, Units or even Heroes will be sold.

The prompt can be ignored, causing the game to automatically move all population to dust, sell/disband army units, dismiss heroes, and remove city improvements that require a upkeep until you are net positive on production again. Each time it sells off objects, it will provide an itemized list of what was sold off. The game will not sell off city centers or settlers.

Upkeep Reduction

There are many ways to reduce upkeep cost, and these can be particularly effective in very large empires that have a lot of improvements, units, and heroes:

• Reliquary of Auriga: A wonder that, when built, reduces military upkeep by 50%.
• Empire Plan: Tier 3 of the Military Ministry reduces military upkeep by 50%.
• Luxury Resources
  • Gold: -50% on City upkeep.
  • Hydromiel: -75% on Hero upkeep.
• Technologies
  • Cannon Fodder: This Necrophage technology reduces military upkeep by 50% and Hero upkeep by 20%.
  • Master Deceivers: This Forgotten technology reduces Forgotten hero upkeep by 100% (only applies to Forgotten heroes, not heroes from other factions that are owned by a Forgotten empire).
  • Shaman's Insight: This Kapaku technology reduces upkeep for Stone Sentinels to 0.
• Mercenary Comforts: This Roving Clans faction trait reduces privateers upkeep by 33%.
• Infiltration: Heroes that are infiltrated in a city have 40% to 80% reduced upkeep due to the Spying capacity.
• Hero Skills
  • Thrifty: A common skill that reduces military upkeep for the army a hero is leading by 20% per level of the skill, has 2 levels.
  • Living Walls: A Wild Walkers skill that reduces city upkeep for the city a hero is the governor of by 30% per level of the skill, has 3 levels.
  • Ascetic Warriors: A Sisters Of Mercy skill that reduces military upkeep in the city a hero is the governor of by 50% per level of the skill, has 2 levels.
• Nourishing Conflux: During Dust Eclipses, this conflux will reduce unit upkeep by -40%, or -60% for the Kapaku.

For any given category, upkeep cost can be reduced to 0 but no further. That is to say, stacking cost reduction beyond 100% will not cause things that consume to start generating it instead.

Retrofit

Units within their own territory can be retrofitted to their most recent version. In addition to any strategic resources needed to retrofit a given unit, the Dust cost is (0.75 * cost)^1.1.

References