Getting Started

“A journey of a thousand hexes begins with a single Settler.”

Annhexation is a turn-based 4X strategy game played on a hexagonal grid. You lead a civilisation from its humble beginnings – a single Settler standing on an unexplored map – through thousands of years of expansion, warfare, scientific progress, and cultural development. The goal is to outlast and outmanoeuvre rival empires through one of three victory conditions: military domination, scientific achievement, or the highest score when the final turn is reached.

What Is a 4X Game?

The four Xs are eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. In Annhexation, these translate to:

• Explore – Send Scouts and Warriors into the unknown to uncover terrain, discover villages, and locate rival civilisations.
• Expand – Found new cities with Settlers to claim territory and grow your empire.
• Exploit – Develop your cities with buildings, improvements, and tile workers to maximise food, production, gold, and research.
• Exterminate – Build armies, declare war, and conquer your enemies when diplomacy fails.

Your First Turns

The opening turns of any Annhexation game follow a predictable rhythm. Here is a step-by-step guide to getting off to a strong start:

Turn 1: Found Your Capital

Your Settler begins on the map. Look at the surrounding terrain. You want your capital on a tile with good food and production – ideally near grassland (high food), plains (balanced), and hills (production). Rivers provide bonus food once you research Agriculture. Found your city immediately unless moving one hex would dramatically improve your location.

Turns 2–5: Train a Scout, Start Exploring

Your first build should almost always be a Scout. Scouts are cheap (15 production), fast (3 movement), and exist solely to explore the map. While your Scout ranges outward, your capital begins producing a Warrior for defence.

Send your Scout in expanding circles. You are looking for:

• Villages – Small settlements scattered across the map that grant random rewards (gold, free technologies, free units, or even a new city).
• Resources – Iron and Horses that will power your military later.
• Rival civilisations – Knowing where your neighbours are is critical for planning your expansion.
• Defensible terrain – Hills, forests, and rivers that will anchor your borders.

Turns 5–15: Build Your Second City

Once your capital has a Warrior for defence, begin producing a Settler (60 production). Your second city should be placed 3–5 hexes from your capital, close enough to eventually connect by road but far enough to claim new territory. Look for sites with access to resources your capital lacks.

Turns 15–30: Establish Your Economy

With two cities running, focus on infrastructure:

• Build Granaries to accelerate population growth.
• Train Workers to improve tiles with farms (food) and mines (production).
• Research toward Writing to unlock the Library (+2 research per city).
• Keep a Warrior or Spearman garrisoned in each city for defence.

Understanding the Interface

The Map

The game world is a hex grid. Each hex has a terrain type that determines its base yields and movement cost. Fog of war hides unexplored territory; explored but unoccupied areas show the last-known state of the tile.

City Management

Click on a city to open the city panel. Here you can:

• Set the production queue (what the city is building).
• Change the city focus (Balanced, Food, Production, Gold, or Research) to prioritise which tiles your citizens work.
• View buildings, wonders, and tile yields.

The Tech Tree

Open the research panel to select which technology to research. Technologies unlock new units, buildings, improvements, governments, and abilities. Plan your research path around your intended strategy – military, economic, or scientific.

The Five Resources

Your empire runs on five key resources, each generated by your cities:

Food and Growth

Each citizen consumes 2 food per turn. Surplus food accumulates toward the next population point. The food required for growth is 15 + (population x 5) – so a size-3 city needs 30 food to grow to size 4. If food production falls below consumption, the city starves and eventually loses population.

Production

Production determines how quickly a city completes units, buildings, and wonders. Every tile worked by a citizen contributes its production yield. Hills provide the best natural production. Workers can build Mines on hills for additional output.

Gold

Gold pays for unit and building maintenance. Each government provides a number of free military units per city; units beyond this limit cost 1 gold per turn each. Buildings also have maintenance costs. If your gold drops to zero, you cannot rush-buy production and your economy will suffer.

Research

Research points accumulate each turn toward the technology you are currently studying. Every city generates a base of 2 research per turn, boosted by Libraries (+2), Universities (+4), the Electronics tech (+1 per city), Republic government (+1 per city), and Democracy (+2 gold, not research directly). Prioritise research infrastructure early to gain a lasting advantage.

Culture

Culture expands your city borders over time. As culture accumulates, your borders push outward at thresholds of 10, 50, 150, and 400 culture. Temples (+2) and Cathedrals (+4) are the primary sources. Wider borders mean more workable tiles and a larger defensive perimeter.

Tips for Beginners

1. Always be building. Never leave a city idle. If you are unsure what to build, produce a Worker or military unit.

2. Explore aggressively. Villages provide powerful early-game bonuses. A free technology or a free unit can accelerate your start by many turns.

3. Do not neglect defence. A single Warrior garrisoning a city provides a +25% defence bonus. Losing a city to barbarians or a surprise war is devastating.

4. Build Libraries in every city. The +2 research per city compounds dramatically as you expand. Falling behind in technology means falling behind in everything.

5. Improve your tiles. Workers building Farms and Mines are the backbone of your economy. An unimproved city produces a fraction of its potential.

6. Connect your cities with Roads. Roads reduce movement cost to just 2 (from 6 on open terrain), allowing rapid redeployment of troops.

7. Pay attention to government transitions. Switching from Despotism to Republic or Monarchy at the right time provides significant bonuses, but the transition causes a period of anarchy with no production or research.

8. Save your gold for emergencies. Rush-buying a Walls or a critical unit when an enemy army appears can save a city.

9. Terrain matters in combat. Defending on hills or in forests provides +25% defence bonuses. River crossings penalise attackers by -25%. Use terrain to your advantage.

10. Have a plan for victory. Decide early whether you are pursuing Domination (conquer all capitals), Science (build the spaceship), or Score (maximise your civilisation’s achievements). Your research path, military posture, and city placement should all serve your chosen goal.