Aquarion

>
> From the deep oceans a long lost civilization appears! Their extreme isolation has given them special aquatic abilities that are unknown to the other more normal tribes.
> Aquarion have a slightly different tech tree and have access to the unique amphibious turtle units that no other tribe can train.
>
>
>
> –Tribe description
>

**Aquarion** is the first special tribe and the 11th tribe overall in Polytopia. Aquarion does not have any starting technology, but it has three tribe-specific units, the Amphibian, the Tridention, and the Crab.

Aquarion takes a long time to develop its economy and military, so it is weak unless the game has a large map size or low opponent count. Aquarion's main strength is the Tridention, a powerful ranged unit with high mobility and a strong attack that can be unstoppable in large numbers. However, researching Spearing, the technology that unlocks the Tridention, is a slow process because Aquarion has no starting technology, its resources are few and varied, and Spearing is on a different branch from the resource technologies. This leaves Aquarion vulnerable in the early and mid-game. Also, the investment in Spearing often comes at the cost of faster economic development. Finally, the utility of the Amphibian is limited by its reduced movement on land (without Roads).

## Special Features

    Aquarion has unique mounted units, the Amphibian and Tridention. They can move in water and ocean. (Riding unlocks movement in water, and Free Diving unlocks movement in ocean.) Also, Aquarion has a unique super unit, the Crab.

Modified Technology

## Resources

Aquarion has 0.5x forest. It also has a 1.5x water modifier in the source code, but this modifier currently has no effect.

## Lore

The Aquarion are ocean-dwelling, water-breathing and fish-like Polytopians. Their tribe previously lived in harmony with Turmelons and crabs. However, Aquarion was disturbed by and now participates in the "Square-wide struggle."

### Tribe Celebrations

* 2020 Tribe Day: The Aquarion empire is vigilantly defended by the mighty behemoths, the Crabs. It was a pact long ago that brought the Crabs and the Aquarion together, and this pact will remain until peace is brought to the Square once again.
* 2021 Tribe Week: Atop the Icopo Reefs are where the Aquarion built their seaside settlements, which are cozily nestled between the cracks of bright pink coral islets. At home on the coast, the amphibious Aquarion prefer to live where they can see both the majesty of the clear skies and the beauty of the placid seas.
* 2022 Tribe Week: The majestic Turmelon is the main source of inspiration for Aquarion artisans. Children play with Turmelon toys, merchants push their wares from Turmelon-shaped carts, and even the Aquarion monarch sits on a Turmelon-shaped throne.

### Webshop

* When the Turmelons are not helping Aquarion warriors, they like to spend their time in the mysterious depths of the ocean, swimming about in the palace of the lost city.
* Aquarion warriors always... drink a mixture of salt water and octopus blood before going to battle.

## Inspiration

Aquarion is likely inspired by the tale of Atlantis.

## Design

* Fruit: Tunico (sea cucumbers)
* Animal: Turmelon (sea turtle)
* Field: Continental shelf resembling shallow water tiles in colour that is slightly lower than the land of other tribes
* Forest: Kelp forest
* Mountain: Pink boulders reminiscent of coral
* City: Gray stone pillars with pink or gold roofs and ornaments
* Helmet: Silver-gray helmet with pink plumes and fish gills

### City Naming Syllables

aq, at, do, eid, fic, ico, in, lan, nau, nép, po, pol, quo, séi, tic, tis, tun

### Music

Links to Aquarion's music are included below.

* Theme
* Nature Sounds
* Polytopia Music song: "Naulan Aquarion" by Tic Polnép Séi

## History

* During part of its beta testing period, Aquarion started with the Aquatism technology.
* Aquarion's resources were adjusted in update 2.0.58.

## Strategy

Aquarion is a tribe like Vengir: a tribe with very little practice amongst players. However, the reason for this is not just because they are a bad tribe in most matches (like Vengir), but also due to the level of difficulty to get anything to work.

1. Be expected to be on an island or be cut off by mountains. It's just a fact of life. Generally, you should consider switching from warriors to riders for exploration pretty quickly and get Free Diving pretty early. It is recommended to wait on Spearing though to have more money to actually get a serviceable economy.
2. Make the most out of escape while you can.
3. Around a certain point where you've started your Tridentions, you might want to start getting Sailing. Ports is pretty much the only easy way to get population, and it allows for customs houses.
4. Once you are actually making any money, mix some ships and battleships in with your Tridentions. That will be the thing that really makes you dangerous.

## References

1. ↑ Information from Zoythrus in private chat.
2. ↑ Let's Meet the Aquarion!. *Steam*. “Having risen from the depths of the ocean to fight in Square-wide struggle, the water-breathing, fish-like Aquarion have summoned their aquatic allies to take dominion over their land-dwelling kin.”
3. ↑ Midjiwan on Instagram.
4. ↑ Aquarion Tee. *Polytopia Shop of Souvenirs*. (Note: The old webshop on Threadless is now unpublished.)
5. ↑ Aquarion Mug. *Polytopia Shop of Souvenirs*. (Note: The old webshop on Threadless is now unpublished.)
6. ↑ Mcompany on Discord.