It’s Time for the Cymanti Rework Beta!

Hey Polytopians! It turns out old bugs can learn new tricks!

We told you recently that we’d be reworking the Cymanti, and sure enough, we’ve delivered! There’s a lot of changes in this playtest, and we’ve got a lot to cover, so join me as I talk about what we’ve been doing to our chitinous friends. So, without further ado, let’s start with their naval mechanics.

This Post Was Edited to Reflect New Information On: 22/10/25

A New Kind of Waterbug

Algae has gotten some big changes. First, it’s no longer just a tile improvement, but is now a whole new tile effect, kinda like Aquarion’s “Flooded”. That means that it completely changes the tile, itself, and can now have things built on top of it. As a nice little bonus, whenever you spawn Algae, you don’t get a free pop, but it does come with a free dollop of Aphea Nectar (the Cymanti fruit). Algae also no longer limits movement for naval units, but will still slow down land units.

The Raychi has been sliced in twain, budding into a new “Boomchi” which takes the explosive abilities of the Raychi and puts it to better use. Raychi have now been adjusted into a more standard naval unit, while the Boomchi is a similar unit that has very little in the way of self-preservation. Blow them up to create algae or deter foes, they don’t mind! Boomchi can also work their way on land with the “Amphibious” trait, but I wouldn’t call them “land units” because of it.

We’ve also given the Cymanti the “Living Island”, a large, hulking, aquatic leviathan that naturally spawns fruitless Algae as it roams the waters, dealing area damage. It’s effectively the Cymanti answer to Juggernauts while making it easier for them to move their land-based armies across the sea.

Also worth noting, the Clathrus is now a land building that works off of Fungi, not Algae. It’s poisonous, like Fungi, but no longer creates network connections. Thankfully, Mycellium can now be built on Algae, so, don’t fret. Also, Cymanti explorers can now move on the water like anyone else!

But What About Stuff on Land?

The naval side of Cymanti isn’t all that’s gotten some adjustments. The big stuff on land involves a new unit and other changes. 

* Fungi are now limited to 2 levels, but the “Recycling” tech add the “Microbes” ability, which unlocks a 3rd level for them.
* Creep no longer negates the terrain movement penalty of mountains, but the Kiton now has Creep.
* Poison defense debuff was increased to 50%, but the defense bonuses, themselves, are now intact. That means a Wall will give you some protection. Poison also slows down enemy units, to help compensate for no longer fully negating defensive bonuses.
* Phychi now have the “Double Attack” trait, allowing them to spread Poison more easily
* The Doomux can no longer become a veteran and its attack has been brought down to 3.5, but now all explosive units can Explode after attacking. That way, it’s better at digging into the enemy’s frontline or catapults and doing plenty of damage.
* The Swordsman has been replaced with the Mantis, which is the same thing, but now with Creep, so it can benefit from the Shaman’s speed boost. Not really a point in giving it its own little section on this blog post, so here’s a picture.

Here’s where things get really fun, though. We’ve replaced the Cloak with the Moth, which is very similar, but…different, obviously. Like Cloaks, a Moth’s primary job is to infiltrate cities, but they can fly! They don’t spawn Daggers when they infiltrate, but they will Poison the city’s defenses and lay Eggs. Eggs can’t move (but can explode), and after a turn, they’ll hatch into Larva, which are similar to Daggers. 3 more turns later, and any remaining Larva will transform into Moths, and the cycle continues! Moths do not have the Hide skill, which means they aren’t invisible.

The Shaman has also gotten some changes. “Boost” has been renamed to “Swarm,” and no longer applies a damage bonus, it only buffs movement. The Shaman has also been moved to the “Meditation” tech (now known as “Rituals”), to make them easier to replace if you lose one too early, and the Mountain Temple has been moved to “Philosophy,” now known as “Mysticism. Most importantly, though, the Cymanti aren’t big into “being pacifists”, so the “Pacifist” task has been replaced with the “Converter” task, granting them the “Church of Converts” Monument if they can convert 3 enemies to the swarm.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, any unit that changes into a different unit, like, “Baby Dragons” -> “Fire Dragons” will inherit any damage their previous form had. Same goes for things like Centipedes, Larva, etc, so you can’t just transform them to heal to full, you actually have to care about them as they grow.

And that’s that! We look forward to seeing what you think of this new, revamped Cymanti! You can talk all about them on our Discord!

-Zoythrus

Full Changelog

Naval changes
– Cymanti explorer can now move on water like other tribes
– Moved around naval techs to replicate Path of the Ocean changes
– Algae is now a tile effect instead of an improvement, other improvements can be built on top of it. Spawns with a fruit on top
– Algae does not cripple movement for naval units (but still for land units)
– Clathrus is now a land building and grows from spores instead of algae. It is poisonous, but no longer creates networks (Mycelium can now be built on Algae instead)
– Raychi is split into two units; Boomchi that explodes to create algae, and a slightly adjusted Raychi
– Boomchi get “amphibious” ability so they can move on land
– ’Living Island’ unit in navigation, spawns algae + area damage

Other changes
– ’Mantis’ replaces Swordsman, same stats but with ‘creep’ ability
– Fungi is limited to level 2
– ’Microbes’ ability in ‘Recycling’ allows Fungi to grow 1 additional level
– Growing units (centipede head, dragons, larva etc.) inherit the damage from their previous state
– ’Kiton’ get ‘creep’
– Creep no longer overcomes mountain movement penalty
– Phychi get a “double attack” ability
– Poison defense debuff increased to 50% but defense bonuses are intact
– Poison now slow down enemy units
– Explode units can explode even after attacking
– Doomux cannot become veteran
– Doomux attack down to 3.5

Diplomacy changes
– Cloaks replaced by Moths, they can fly but are not invisible. When they infiltrate a city they poison defenses and lay Eggs
– Eggs can’t move but can explode, and if you wait 1 tur,n they will hatch into Larva that are similar to Daggers
– After 3 turns, Larva will turn into Moths, making the circle complete

Shaman changes
– ‘Boost’-ability replaced by ‘Swarm’ that only buffs movement
– Movement buff is retained until the unit gets attacked
– ’Shaman moved to ‘meditation’ so it is easier to replace
– ’Mountain temple’ moved to ‘Philosophy’
– ‘Pacifist’ task is replaced by ‘Converter’ (convert 3 enemies to build ‘Church of Converts’ monument)

Non-Cymanti adjustments
– Improved explorer movement
– Score penalty for starving cities
– Adjusted look of UI