Elemental Forums
Using the faction that gets a diplomatic bonus (sorry can't remember name right now) I was able to settle multiple cities without even being prompted about essence costs or losing any. Is this a bug or a feature for the factions that I just didn't come across in past few games?
I just try it, and I don't have to pay essence too (it's Capitar).
I encountered this as well, but I think it may be by design... I think you only have to expend essence to convert a region to be habitable for your faction. If you found a settlement in a region that is already converted, there is no essence cost to the sovreign.
Note the faintly green area near the cities--some map features generate arable land on their own.
It's not an issue of a pre-arable land. Capitar doesn't need to pay essence (just tested and looked explicitly if the green area is there).
Update: Capitar seems to be a neutral faction. The other Humans fertilize the land (it becomes more greenish), the Fallen desecrate the land (it becomes more blackish), the Capitar neutralize the land (it removes any color change and removes any color change). So they pay only on greenish and blackish land (and swamps).
The Cities of the Capitar neutralize the swamps, the fertile lands around dragon statues, the desecrated lands around spider webs. If they conquer a city of another faction on the beginning of the next turn they immediatly switch the lands in their influence radius to neutral, removing fertility or desecration.
Fixed for the next update...the Capitar race config was missing its environmental data.
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