Influence

Influence, symbolised by , is a special resource which can be invested to increase the power of one's empire. Influence can be used in a variety of ways such as spreading propaganda, constructing ships, settling additional islands, buying shares of a competitor's islands etc.

Gaining influence[]

InfluenceHover — Hover over the influence points displayed in the top left part of the screen to learn more about your current sources of influence

There are several ways of increasing the influence pool. At the start of the game a limited amount of influence is automatically available, the amount depends on influence difficulty. You can increase the influence pool by increasing your global population and number of investor residences. Some DLCs offer additional ways of gaining influence or reducing its use.

Population[]

Influence can be gained by amassing a large population, awarding influence points for reaching next profile levels, based on global population. All population tiers across all regions count towards global population and profile level thresholds. Once a profile level is reached, the influence gained from it is kept forever, even if global population decreases below the requirement of the profile level. Amount of influence gained from each level is always the same but depends on the influence difficulty selected upon creating the game.

Investor residences[]

Attracting Investors to your cities by upgrading engineer residences to investor residences increases your influence pool for each residence upgraded. The influence is awarded from each investor residence, regardless of how many investors occupy them. Amount of influence depends on the influence difficulty selected upon creating the game.

Engineers residences with Seat of Power DLC[]

Seat of Power DLC allows to generate more influence by using Science Fairs Act policy of Department of Administration to earn one influence point per engineer residence. The residences have to be located within town halls which are affected by the palace or local departments.

Skyscrapers with The High Life DLC[]

The High Life DLC allows to gain more influence by upgrading engineer and investor residences to skyscrapers. Higher levels grant more influence points, the influence is granted per skyscraper of appriopriate level, regardless of how many people live inside. Amount of influence depends on the influence difficulty selected upon creating the game.

Hacienda Obrera Quarters with Seeds of Change DLC[]

Seeds of Change DLC allows to generate more influence by using Local Assemblies policy at the Hacienda in order to earn 5 influence points per Hacienda Obrera Quarters placed within the same island.

Football competitions with New World Rising DLC[]

New World Rising DLC allows generating influence by organizing football competitions in the Grand Stadium. It's used like the World's fair, you provide goods but get influence as reward. Local competition can provide up to 50 , regional competition can provide 100 and with a Mundial you can earn up to 150 . You have to wait for a cooldown to organize a new competition, but each time you finish one, the reward sum up with previously gained influence.

Influence difficulty[]

The amount of influence generated depends on the difficulty setting of influence, which can be set to easy, medium or hard. The influence difficulty does not affect how much influence has to be invested into any of the categories.

Influence difficulty
Influence source		Easy	Medium	Hard
Starting amount		105	100	97
Profile level		+20	+15	+12
Investor Residence		+3	+2	+1
Engineer skyscraper	Level 1	+1	+1	0
	Level 2	+2	+1	+1
	Level 3	+3	+2	+1
Investor skyscraper	Level 1	+4	+2	+1
	Level 2	+5	+3	+1
	Level 3	+6	+3	+2
	Level 4	+7	+4	+2
	Level 5	+8	+4	+2

Investment categories[]

Influence investments are divided into 6 categories, some of which are also divided into subcategories:

Propaganda
Trade
- Trade Ships
- Charter Routes
- Cargo Airships
Military
- Military Ships
- Defense Buildings
- Armed Airships
Optimisation
- Harbourmaster's Offices
- Town Halls
- Trade Unions
Culture
- Zoo
- Museum
- Botanical Garden
Expansion
- Islands
- Commuter Piers
- Shares

Influence costs[]

Limits[]

Each subcategory allows you to use some resources for free, up to a certain limit. After reaching the limit you will have to spend influence points to further invest into the same category. For example, trade category allows you to use up to 3 charter routes at the same time, and to construct a few trade ships (for instance up to 8 schooners). Additional charter routes cost influence, 5 points each. Also additional trade ships cost influence, the amount depends on the type of the ship. Only additional resources require influence, ones that you used up to the limit are still free.

Category	Subcategory	Limit	Influence Costs
Propaganda	-	0	Distraction: 10
Trade	Trade Ships	8	Schooner: 1 Clipper: 2 Cargo Ship: 3 Oil Tanker: 5 Extravaganza Steamer: 6 World-Class Reefer : 6 Great Eastern: 10
	Charter Routes	15	One charter route: 5
	Cargo Airships ( or )	8	Harpy: 1 Manticore: 1 Boreas: 3 Hermes: 2 Pegasus: 5 Zephyr: 9
Military	Military Ships	20	Gunboat: 2 Frigate: 4 Ship-of-the-line: 8 Monitor: 6 Flak Monitor : 10 Flamethrower Monitor: 6 Blue Flamethrower Monitor : 7 Battle Cruiser: 12
	Defense Buildings	35	Mounted Guns: 3 Flak Emplacement : 5 Cannon Tower: 7 Flame Tower: 9 Repair Crane: 3 Anti-Armour Gun: 11 Big Betty: 14
	Armed Airships	10	Harpy (Armed): 2 Manticore (Armed): 2
Optimisation	Harbourmaster's Offices	20	Per building: 20
	Town Halls	20	Per building: 20
	Trade Unions (and Arctic Lodges )	20	Per building: 20
Culture	Museum	100	One module: 10
	Zoo	100	One module: 10
	Botanical Garden	200	One module: 10
Expansion	Islands	60	1 per 1000 tiles
	Commuter Piers	30	Per building: 15
	Shares	0	One share: 10

Examples[]

Example 1

You have 8 schooners, each cost 1 influence so you meet the exact limit of 8 points, your trade fleet costs no influence. Constructing another schooner will lower your available influence pool by 1 point. If you have no influence points available, you cannot construct any trade ships. To continue developing your trade fleet you need to either free up your influence from another category (for example by destroying or selling some military ships) or gain more population, or build more investor residences.

Example 2

If you have 10 schooners and 2 charter routes you cannot construct more trade ships for free, but you can create one more charter route – even though it is within the same category, trade ships and charter routes are different subcategories with separate limits.

Cost of islands[]

Influence cost for islands is directly and only related to their size in tiles, 1 is charged every 1000 tiles. Each island model has fixed size, and thus expected to always have the same price, although the price shown (and applied) is rounded, and can differ by ±1, depending on already owned islands.
The price ranges for islands in all regions are as follows:

Old/New World, Cape Trelawney

Large Islands: 32 - 38
Medium Islands: 15 - 20
Small Islands: 2 - 5
Crown Falls costs around 103
Manola costs around 66

The Arctic

Cliffs: 4
Medium Islands: 8 - 9
Small Islands: 2

Enbesa

Large Islands: 23 - 27
Medium Islands: 13 - 16
Small Islands: 7 - 8
Taborime is usually 23

Using influence[]

To use influence you do not have to perform any special actions. When you reach the limit, your influence points will be automatically invested if you override the limit. For instance when having 8 schooners, to invest your influence into trade ships subcategory you just have to construct or buy a trade ship and respectable amount of influence points will be immediately deducted from your pool.

Freeing up influence points[]

All invested influence points can be received back if you get rid of corresponding investments. Destroying excess ships, optimisation buildings, zoo, museum or botanical modules, losing islands, shares or having a new newspaper issue – all this actions or events free up influence points which you have previously invested.

Lowering amount of influence used[]

Culture modules with Seat of Power DLC[]

Seat of Power DLC allows to gain 10 influence points per zoo or museum modules by using Conservation Act or Heritage Act policies respectively. The culture buildings have to be located within the range of the palace or local departments with appriopriate policy being active. As first 10 zoo modules and 10 museum modules are free, it is possible to earn 100 influence points by using those policies. After having more than 10 modules, additional modules do not increase the influence pool, their cost is effectively mitigated.

Trade unions and town halls with Land of Lions DLC[]

Land of Lions DLC allows to gain 10 influence points per trade union and town hall on islands with a museum equipped with items from Gods of the Delta set. Beyond the free limit, trade unions and town halls cost 20 points each, which means this museum set effectively halves the cost of trade unions and town halls.

Gods of the Delta museum set

Requires Land of Lions DLC

The river-worshippers of the reed-verged Delta bequeath us deep antiquity; mysteries in stone, old gods, and death's umbral treasures.

Effect: +30 and +10 from Town Halls & Trade Unions
The people of the Delta, founders of bureaucracy and advocates of weighing scales, set an inspiring standard for your administration.

Exhibit	Rarity	Attractiveness	Expedition bonus
Hor Statue	Epic	40
Statue of Anubis	Epic	40	Faith +5
Temple of Nafir Diorama	Legendary	50

Investment in one category[]

Investing lots of influence points in one category grants a buff connected to that category. You can get one big buff from one category or several smaller buffs from several different categories. These bonuses are global and affect your entire empire. Investment in one category also grants you a special title. The list of all bonuses is displayed in the table below.

Category	Bonus	Bonus Strength
Category	Bonus	50 invested	150 invested	300 invested
Propaganda	Increased newspaper effectiveness	+7%	+15%	+25%
Trade	Increased speed of trade ships	+7%	+15%	+25%
Military	Increased attack speed	+7%	+15%	+25%
Optimisation	Decreased maintenance costs	-3%	-6%	-10%
Culture	Increased attractiveness	+10%	+20%	+35%
Expansion	Additional workforce of every tier on every island (Arctic and Enbesa excluded)	+50	+100	+200