Hekina

## Description

**Hekina** land is comprised of ochre fields filled with giant **tikas** that can grow as tall as mountains. While their **spines** can be a hassle, they are also a daunting obstacle for wannabe invaders, and provide shelter to many lifeforms.

The great **Koti** is undeterred, though. Thanks to its immense legs, neck and beak, it can move and hunt freely among the spines, providing a formidable mount for the Hekina riders. They look like a mix of ibis and crane, and are mostly white, with vivid orange crests.

Hekina starts the game with Organization, but will make little use of it in its own land, as it only allows them to grow spines.

## Tika

The tikas grow everywhere in Hekina land, ranging in size from big balloons (*fruit*), to buildings (*forest*), to *mountains*.

Some are **alive**, and some are **dead** (only forest and mountain) ; while a few don't have spines.

The living ones go through a full 9 turn cycle of growth : Small -> Medium -> Big -> Small again

*Game* can be found on any of these, including small ones *(fruit*).

While other tribes can harvest them, the Hekina don't eat the small ones, preferring to let them grow in order to harvest their delicious juice in **buckets**. They have mastered tika growing, and can improve the cycle trough **fertilizing-pumps**.

Spines can be *cleared* or *grown*, while *burning* a **medium or big one** stops its growth, allowing the construction of *lumber huts* or ***mines*** (as burnt big ones can reveal some metal). Attempting to grow forest in Hekina land produces a small tika instead.

The living tikas ressemble mother-in-law's cushions, while the dead/burnt versions are brownish and thinner, yet just as tall. When about to grow, small tikas are adorned with a single purple flower, while medium ones have a few, and big ones about to shrink are half covered in them.

 Grow Spines
 Clear Forest
 Grow Forest
 Burn Forest
 Buckets
 Fertilizing Pump
It takes them only 1 turn to grow from small to medium ; 2 turns from medium to big ; and 4 turns from big to small.
 Roads
 Lumber huts and Sawmill.

## Ressources

To summarize, Hekina land has less fruit and less forest, with a bit more crop and mountains than average. But Fertilizing Pumps will increase the average number of "mountains", while burning living ones will stabilize them ; meaning it is theoretically possible to turn every tile into a mountain.

Below is an obstruse yet detailed comparison with regular terrain.

## Special Units

Hekina Riders and Knights have the **Stilted** skill, allowing them to move on spiny tiles without harm.

## Gameplay

Tika growing is sure to be a tricky thing, providing plentiful yet irregular amounts of population, regularly requiring new roads to be built... You'd better keep an eye on those purple flowers !

At the same time, the surges in population will help growing you cities quicker than most tribes. You just need to ensure that you won't lose most of your revenue because of starvation on the following turns.

The spines will slightly hinder your exploration efforts at first, but koti riders and then *trim spines* should partially solve that, while the ability to grow them at will ought to help defensively.

While normally not very useful, burning medium (so you can still use roads) or big tikas will provide an effective fence, for a cheaper price than growing forest.

Growing forest is, by the way, arguably more valuable to the Hekina than any other tribe, as it provides up to 3 (average !) population for just 10 stars.

## Other Tribes

If you liked this one, go take a look at the others here : Gradokko