FoE Viking Settlement: Intro & Strategy

The Viking Settlement is the first cultural settlement in Forge of Empires. Its defining trait is paradoxically its absence: there's no trader, no mini-game, no special mechanic to speed up a run. That makes it easy to understand – you play through it with the basic mechanics: space constraints, coin scarcity, roads and obstacles. The settlement unlocks with the Iron Age technology "Plowing". You start on a 2×2 grid around the embassy with 6,400 copper coins as starting capital.

Overview

Roads are a critical planning factor: due to their cost, demolition should be avoided during rebuilds (loss of 200 coins per road). Residential buildings still provide population without a road connection, just no coins in that case. Goods and diplomacy buildings require a road connection to the embassy to produce – merely touching the embassy without a road is not enough.

Buildings & Production

Residential buildings (copper coins + population)

Residential buildings provide population and coins – but the coin output is low relative to the space they take up (Shack: ~22/h) compared to diplomacy buildings (Shrine 113/h). That's why it often makes sense to place residential buildings without a road connection on the edge, since their coin production is negligible. If a residential building happens to have a road connection, that's fine – but it's not worth making trade-offs elsewhere for it. Once you've unlocked the Shrine, only place as many residential buildings as you actually need for population.

Goods buildings

All goods buildings have identical production values – only the good differs:

Diplomacy buildings (coins + diplomacy)

From the 10h cycle onwards, coins per hour drop dramatically (Shrine: only ~45/h). In practice: prefer the 1h and 5h cycles, use 10h overnight.

Coins per hour comparison:

Expansions

Tip: Always use the good with the lowest quantity in the table for expansions (e.g. 1 mead instead of 12 axes) – production time per good is the same, you just need fewer units. In practice 8 expansions are enough.

Optimal flow

Phase 1: Starting layout

• 6 Shacks + 2 Axe Smiths on the 8×8 grid
• 4 roads (200 coins each) connect the embassy to the axe smiths and all residential buildings
• Start costs: 4 × 200 (roads) = 800, production cost 2 × 1,000 (5h axe smith production) = 2,000
• Remaining after start: 3,600 coins + ongoing shack production

Phase 2: First production & decision

• Start 2×5h in both axe smiths → harvest (coins + axes)
• The remaining coins + shack re-production are enough for a second round of 2×5h

Decision tree after first harvest:

Phase 3: Early phase

• Unlock the mead brewery
• Buy 2 expansions with mead
• Replace shacks with huts as soon as they become available
• Choose expansions with better-placed obstacles if possible

Phase 4: Mid phase (day 2–4)

• Unlock the Beast Hunter → now 3 goods buildings at once
• Buy 2 expansions with horns

Phase 5: Late phase (day 4+)

• Replace shrines with markets
• Replace huts with clan houses
• Wool Farm + final expansion(s) → 5th goods building
• The rest runs relatively relaxed – balance production, complete quests

Production logic

Only produce the goods needed for the next unlock / quest / expansion. Each new unlock gives you more efficient buildings. Getting to new goods quickly brings new expansions – more space = more production.

The number of simultaneously usable goods buildings depends on coin production (coins are the bottleneck). Normal progression: 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 goods buildings over the course of the settlement.

TL;DR: 2 expansions with axes → 2 with mead → 2–4 with horns → 1 with wool. Target is 5 goods buildings at the end. Logging in three times a day (morning / noon / evening) is enough for an active run.

Rewards

Emissaries & Slots

The settlement unlocks 6 emissaries and 3 emissary slots. The slots are located in your capital's Town Hall.

Greater Runestone (secondary building)

5 levels, fragments only if you finish within the time limits:

Bonus per level: +2% attack, coins, medals, goods, FP. Barely relevant nowadays – the bonus is small and doesn't force you into a time window.

Yggdrasil (main building)

9 levels plus an "Ascended" level (orange). This lasts only 28 days, after which the building falls back to the normal max level. Unlocked by one more playthrough after reaching level 9 – that's the "∞" entry in the table above.

Tips for a smooth run

• Coins are the bottleneck. The shorter the production cycle, the more coins per hour – a 1h production is ideal but you need to have the time for it. From 10h onwards it drops sharply.
• Maximize the x4 chance: If possible, run two 5h cycles instead of one 10h production. The x4 chance is independent per cycle – more cycles = higher hit rate.
• Only produce as much as needed – but look ahead. If the next building only needs a few goods, produce them along with your current batch. It's a waste of time to build and demolish a goods building just for that.
• Place residential buildings on the edge. They don't need a road connection and still provide population. This keeps space free for production. The relative coin output of residential buildings (~22/h) vs. shrine (113/h) or market (294/h) is too low.
• Diplomacy only as much as needed and short-term. Runestones and clan totems are pure wasted space after all buildings are unlocked – replace them with more productive buildings. Shrines, on the other hand, are your main coin source in the early phase.
• Choose expansions based on obstacle layout. Rocks and trees block tiles – the arrangement is regenerated on every restart. Pick sectors whose layout fits your plan.
• Don't hold idle population. It's better to demolish a building than let unused population sit around.
• Yggdrasil and emissaries you get regardless of duration – the time limits only affect the Runestone fragments.