Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post. Let’s be honest. In The Battle of Polytopia, the first ten turns aren’t just “the start.” They are the entire game.
If you are a new player, you are probably spending these turns clicking on pretty animals and hoping for the best. If you are an intermediate player, you think you know what you’re doing, but you just got a giant catapult dropped on your capital by a Bardur player on Turn 12.
In my Pillar Post: The Ultimate Polytopia Strategy Guide, I mentioned that the opening is critical. But general principles are for cowards. We deal in specifics here.
This is the First 10 Turns in Polytopia: A Tribe-by-Tribe Opening Playbook. We are breaking down the “Big Four” tribes: the economic juggernauts, the speed demons, the mountain goats, and the fishy financiers. Follow these sequences, or prepare to explain to your fellow tribespeople why you spent four turns building a warrior to walk into the ocean.
Disclaimer: The following guide contains high levels of sarcasm and extremely high levels of mathematical efficiency.
1. Bardur: The “Boring but Broken” Economic Blitz
The Vibe: You spawned in a forest. You like lumber. You hate fun.
The Goal: Level up your capital to Level 3 by Turn 3 and drown your enemies in stars.
Bardur is the tribe for players who believe that “money solves everything.” They are usually correct.
The Turn-by-Turn Sequence
- Turn 0: DO NOT MOVE YOUR WARRIOR FIRST. Train a warrior. Look at your capital. You have fruit and forests. Why train first? In 2026, the meta is capital growth above all else. You need population immediately.
- Turn 1: Move your warrior toward the nearest ruin or village. Tech: Organization. Yes, I know you want Hunting. Shut up. Organization gives you the fruit. Fruit gives you population. We are combining fruit with forests later to get that sweet, sweet double-resource synergy.
- Turn 2: Harvest the fruit. You should now be at 4/4 population. Upgrade your city. Choose the +5 Stars per turn option. If you choose the explorer here, you are playing a different game than the rest of us. Stop it.
- Turn 3: Tech: Hunting. Now you hunt. Now you see the vision. Your capital likely has two game (deer) nearby. Combine the forest from Hunting with the fruit from Organization. You are now at 6/6 or 8/6 population.
- Turns 4-10:
- Upgrade your capital again. Take the Workshop (+1 star per turn) this time.
- Decision Point: If you see water, you will eventually need Sailing. But Bardur’s true power is Mathematics (Catapults) by Turn 12-14. For the first 10 turns, you are simply building a second warrior, maybe a rider, and expanding to your nearest village. You should have 3-4 cities by Turn 10 and an economy of roughly 12 stars per turn.
The Sarcastic Truth: Bardur is the “easy mode” of Polytopia. If you lose with this opener, please uninstall the game and take up knitting. It requires less spatial awareness.
2. Oumaji: The “I’m Fast as Heck, Boy” Rider Rush
The Vibe: You hate your capital. You want their capital.
The Goal: Control the center of the map by Turn 5 and bully your neighbor off their spawn before they can say “Chivalry.”
Oumaji players have ADHD (lovingly) and believe that defense is a suggestion, not a strategy.
The Turn-by-Turn Sequence
- Turn 0: Train a Rider. Always. Your starting tech is Riding. Use it. Do not train a warrior. Warriors are for people who like to walk. We ride.
- Turn 1: Move the Rider. Aggressively. Look for a village or, preferably, an enemy border. Tech: Organization or Hunting depending on your capital’s resources. Oumaji capitals usually have crap resources. Deal with it.
- Turn 2: If you found a village, capture it with your Rider. Do not upgrade your capital yet. You need to keep pumping Riders. Your second city should immediately train another Rider.
- Turn 3:Decision Point. Are you next to an enemy?
- Yes: Congratulations, you are now a terrorist. Move your two Riders to the enemy border. Poke their warrior. Use the “Retreat” ability of Riders to hit and run. They cannot catch you. It’s hilarious.
- No: Expand further. Tech: Roads. Roads turn your Riders from “fast” to “teleporting.”
- Turns 4-10:
- You should have 3-4 Riders by Turn 5.
- Crucial: Do not neglect your economy. Oumaji players often forget to upgrade their cities. By Turn 7, you must upgrade your capital to Level 2 or 3. If you don’t, you’ll be broke by Turn 12 and your Riders will be hitting for 1 damage against shields.
The Sarcastic Truth: You are playing Oumaji because you want to end the game in 15 minutes or die trying. There is no in-between. If you don’t cripple a neighbor by Turn 8, you are the cripple. Enjoy your wide-open plains while the Bardur player builds a Giant and squishes you.
3. Xin-xi: The “I See You” Mountain Vision Advantage
The Vibe: You live in the rocks. You are mysterious. You probably meditate.
The Goal: Unlock Climbing by Turn 1, use mountains for vision, and play the ultimate “where the hell is the enemy” game.
Xin-xi is for the player who values intel. You can’t kill what you can’t see, and they can’t kill you if they walk into your wall of swords.
The Turn-by-Turn Sequence
- Turn 0: Tech: Climbing. I know, it hurts to spend stars on Turn 0. Do it anyway. Train a warrior.
- Turn 1: Move your warrior onto the nearest mountain. Reveal half the map. This is the Xin-xi superpower. While other tribes are guessing where villages are, you are pathing directly to them.
- Turn 2: Tech: Organization or Hunting. Whichever resource your capital spawned with. Xin-xi spawns are notoriously bad for resources, so you might need to rely on mining those mountains later.
- Turn 3: Capture a village. Prioritize villages adjacent to mountains so you can chain vision.
- Turns 4-10:
- Tech: Mining. Xin-xi starts with it, but you need to use it. Look for metal resources in mountains.
- Decision Point: Do you go Swordsman or Philosophy?
- If you are aggressive, go Smithery. A veteran Swordsman by Turn 9 is a nightmare to kill.
- If you are playing the long game, go Philosophy to reduce tech costs. Because Xin-xi requires a lot of tech branches (Climbing, Mining, Smithery, plus resource techs), Philosophy pays for itself.
- Defense: Use the mountains as natural walls. You don’t need to build a huge army early because the terrain funnels enemies into kill boxes.
The Sarcastic Truth: Xin-xi is the “high IQ” pick. You get to feel superior because you’re using terrain and vision while the Kickoo player is just clicking fish and winning. Your early game is harder, but if you survive the first 10 turns with 2-3 cities and a mountain fort, you become an absolute fortress.
4. Kickoo: The “Fish Are Friends And Food” Naval Empire
The Vibe: You spawned on a peninsula. You are wet. You have more stars than sense.
The Goal: Abuse the Custom Houses meta to generate infinite wealth while your opponent is still researching shields.
Kickoo is widely considered the strongest tribe in the game (yes, even better than Bardur in late-game) because of the Custom House. But you have to survive the opening.
The Turn-by-Turn Sequence
- Turn 0: Analyze the coast. If you have at least 2 fish in your capital radius, you have already won. Train a warrior.
- Turn 1: Tech: Fishing. Immediately. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. You need to see the water resources.
- Turn 2: Harvest the fish. Upgrade your capital. Take the +5 Stars. If you see whales, you cry because you can’t afford whaling yet. Stay strong.
- Turn 3: Tech: Sailing. This gives you ports. Ports are the foundation of your economy.
- Turns 4-10:
- Turn 5: Build a Port. If you can place a port adjacent to your capital and two fish, you are golden.
- Turn 7-8: Tech: Custom Houses. This is the power spike. Place your Custom House adjacent to as many ports as possible.
- Decision Point: You will be tempted to build a navy. Don’t. Not yet. For the first 10 turns, you need to secure land villages. Use riders or warriors to grab territory. Your economy will explode at Turn 12. Once you have 3 Custom Houses online, you can buy a fleet of Battleships and end the game.
The Sarcastic Truth: Kickoo is the tribe for players who like to watch numbers go up. Your opening is fragile—if a Vengir (the purple savages) spawns next to you, you’re dead. But if you get 5 turns of peace, you basically become Scrooge McDuck swimming in a vault of stars. Good luck to the land-locked tribes trying to cross the ocean to stop you.
Closing Thoughts: Stop Overthinking, Start Conquering
The first 10 turns in Polytopia: A Tribe-by-Tribe Opening Playbook are a sprint, not a marathon. If you follow these tribe-specific sequences, you will enter the mid-game with either:
- An economy that makes Elon Musk jealous.
- A military that makes Genghis Khan look passive.
- A position so fortified that your opponent just quits out of frustration.
Now, stop reading, go pick a tribe, and try not to embarrass yourself. If you mess up the Bardur opener, I will know. The game logs everything. And if you want to try out this game, click here to visit the Steam store.
People Also Ask
Q: What is the best tribe for beginners in Polytopia?
A: Bardur. It has the most consistent resource generation, allowing new players to learn economic management without the crippling poverty of tribes like Vengir or Ai-Mo. The opening sequence is forgiving, and even if you make a minor mistake, the resource density usually bails you out.
Q: Should I choose an explorer or workshop on my capital?
A: Always choose Workshop (+1 star) on your first upgrade. Explorers are a gamble. In the first 10 turns, consistency beats luck. Take the guaranteed economy boost. The only exception is if you are playing on a massive map and literally cannot find another village by Turn 3—but even then, it’s a risk.
Q: How important is it to capture villages in the first 10 turns?
A: Critically important. Ideally, you want to capture 2 to 3 additional villages within the first 10 turns. Each village is a source of stars, population, and a strategic foothold. Every turn you spend not expanding is a turn your opponent is getting stronger. Polytopia rewards aggression disguised as “expansion.”
Q: What if my spawn location is terrible?
A: Welcome to Polytopia. Sometimes the game decides you belong in a barren wasteland with one fruit and a dream. In those cases, abandon the “perfect” opener and focus on survival. Tech toward whatever resource exists, even if it’s suboptimal, and prioritize military to steal a better city from a neighbor. Sometimes the best opener is “take theirs.”