Endless Legend 2 Guide | Easy and Complete City Guide

Cities in Endless Legend 2 are where most of your Food, Industry, Dust, Science, and Influence come from. A city can look productive at first and still fall behind because its Districts are poorly placed, its Population has the wrong jobs, or valuable territory remains undeveloped.

Understand Where City Resources Come From

A city's output comes from three main sources: Districts, Improvements, and Population. Districts occupy tiles and use the terrain beneath them, often adding bonuses based on adjacent tiles or other Districts. 

Improvements increase yields or provide special effects without taking up another Foundation. Population contributes through its assigned jobs, known as Vocations.

Your first city becomes your Capital. As it develops, you can extend its workable area with Foundations or attach another Territory to it. An attached Territory develops around its own settlement center, but its production belongs to the existing city. This is different from creating an independent city with its own production queue.

Claim an Empty Territory With a Camp

Send an army into an unclaimed Territory and use the Found Camp action. You can later attach the Camp to an existing city or develop it into a new one. A Camp reserves valuable ground before you commit to either option.

Do not expect a new Camp to produce everything a city does. While it remains a Camp, you can build Extractors on Strategic and Luxury Resource deposits. Ordinary District production does not begin simply because you claimed the surrounding Territory. To make proper use of its tiles, attach the Camp or turn it into a city.

Choose the Camp's Exact Position

The tile you settle matters as much as the Territory itself. When a Camp is attached or developed, its surrounding tiles determine where its first Districts and Foundations can grow. Look for strong terrain yields, nearby Anomalies, deposits, and enough open space to arrange Districts without blocking important positions.

A narrow pass can be worth claiming even with modest yields. Claiming it may prevent a rival from moving freely into your preferred expansion area. If an Anomaly lies just outside the initial working area, that is not necessarily a permanent mistake. You may be able to reach it later by purchasing another Foundation with Influence.

Plan Around Tidefall

Coastal locations change as Saiadha's oceans retreat. A shoreline that initially has water on several sides may gain new land after Tidefall. Those newly exposed tiles create space for more Foundations, new routes, and competing settlements. A coastal city can therefore be more valuable in the middle of a campaign than it appears at the beginning.

Do not assume every coastal tile will become land after a fixed number of turns. Watch the season forecast and explore exposed territory when the water recedes.

Build Foundations Before Districts

Foundations let your city exploit the underlying tile and create a place where a District can be built. Use Influence to place them beside eligible developed tiles.

Districts then add their own output. A Merchant's House, for example, produces Dust and becomes more valuable when its placement benefits from the terrain and nearby Districts. Anomalies work differently. They often offer valuable yields directly, but occupy a space that cannot also hold a normal District.

Keep Bad District Neighbors Apart

It is tempting to fill every available tile with whatever the city currently needs. However, adjacency can reduce yields as well as increase them. Communal Habitations lose Approval when placed beside Works because of the negative relationship between residential and Industry Districts. Put another suitable District between them when the layout allows.

Farms can benefit from nearby water, while Works can benefit from Mountains and neighboring Districts. Start by avoiding obvious penalties, then check each District's tooltip before committing to a position you cannot easily change.

Know When Improvements Are Better

Improvements are an alternative to building another District. They do not require a fresh Foundation and may provide a flat bonus or scale with something your city already has. The Last Lords' Altar of Channeling, for example, rewards an established city with many Population units more than a settlement with only a few.

Before selecting a construction, compare what it will actually add. A well-positioned District may outperform an Improvement in a young city, while an Improvement tied to Population can become more useful later. Build for your current bottleneck instead of automatically choosing whatever becomes available next.

Balance the Five Main Resources

Food supports Population growth, and Industry determines how quickly a city completes constructions. Both have an immediate effect on local development. Dust pays for upkeep, purchases, and Buyouts, while Science advances research and Influence supports expansion and diplomacy. Those last three contribute to your empire-wide economy.

A city with strong Industry but little Food may benefit more from Farms or Food-producing Improvements. A city that grows Population but cannot build enough jobs will not use that growth efficiently.

Keep Approval Out of the Danger Zone

Approval affects how productive your cities are. High Approval gives useful bonuses, while low Approval reduces output. If it drops to Mutinous, rebel armies may appear and make a weak city even harder to manage. Your overall Empire Approval also affects the broader economy, so one poorly managed settlement can create more trouble than expected.

Watch the Approval number when placing Industry Districts, expanding beyond the City Cap, or adding Population. Fix the causes before spending more turns on constructions that only partly offset the problem.

Expand in the Right Direction

Influence is the main limit on how quickly you can claim land. Camps, attached Territories, and additional cities become more expensive as your empire grows, so your first targets should matter. Border Territories are often urgent because rival empires may claim them first.

Attaching a Territory can add its workable tiles and yields to the parent city without requiring another separate city. Decide which direction each settlement should expand so that neighboring cities do not compete unnecessarily for the same ground.

Upgrade Districts and Secure Extractors

Districts can level up when their adjacency requirements are met. Many gain an upgrade by being surrounded by four other Districts, although faction-specific structures may use different conditions. A higher-level District produces more from space you have already claimed, so leaving room for its neighbors matters. Do not cover every attractive tile without considering which District you want to improve later.

Keep building Extractors as new deposits become available. Strategic Resources are needed for advanced Improvements, Districts, and military upgrades. The market can fill occasional gaps, but steady extraction gives your empire more freedom.

Manage Population and Future Growth

Open the Population panel to check who is working and where. Citizens, Artisans, and Scribes support different resources, and each Vocation needs available job slots. Population without a suitable slot can become Destitute instead of providing the output you expected. Choose Population growth and job assignments based on your city's shortages.

Minor Faction Protectorates can add Population types with different bonuses. Check the growth selector when one becomes available rather than assuming your original faction's Population is always the best choice. The Last Lords are an exception to ordinary Food-based growth: they buy Population with Dust.

A strong city in Endless Legend 2 starts with a well-placed settlement, expands through useful Foundations and attached Territories, and grows by matching Districts, Improvements, Population, and Approval to its needs.

FAQ

Q. Can a Camp produce resources before becoming a city?

A. Yes. You can construct Extractors on Strategic and Luxury Resource deposits in a Camp, but full city development requires attaching it or founding a new city.

Q. Can you build more cities than your City Cap?

A. Yes, but exceeding the City Cap applies increasing Approval penalties. Attaching Territories to existing cities may be a better option.

Q. Why is a District not leveling up?

A. Check its adjacency requirements. Most ordinary Districts need four neighboring Districts, while some faction-specific Districts have special conditions.

Q. Why is Population not producing anything?

A. The city may lack free Vocation slots. Unassigned Population can become Destitute, so add suitable jobs or reorganize your assignments.