"The Polaris have lain trapped in the far reaches of the freezing tundra for eons, but were blessed by the unknowable Gaami with the power to expand their unnatural icy terrain farther than the weather permits.
With the might of sleds and Mamoos, the mystical Polaris are determined to entomb the Square in ice and transform the land into a frigid paradise."The Polaris tribe is the fifteenth of the 15 tribes in the game, and is one of the three special tribes, the others being the Aquarion and the ∑∫ỹriȱŋ.
The Polaris is the most unique special tribe to date, boasting six unique units (including the Mooni, Battle Sled, and Ice Fortress), three unique technologies, two unique buildings, and powerful terraforming abilities (instead of naval units). Their unique Super Unit is the Gaami, a powerful melee unit that freezes tiles as it moves.
Resources
Polaris are unique in that they do not have their own specific set of resource spawn rates, nor are they counted when dividing land tiles between tribes at the beginning of the game. (e.g. If Polaris is playing against Imperius and Kickoo, half the land will be Imperius terrain and half the land will be Kickoo terrain. If Polaris is playing against just Kickoo, the entire map will be Kickoo terrain.) Instead, territory controlled by Polaris is simply converted to Polaris terrain when Polaris spawns, taking whatever resources are there.
Whenever Polaris captures a village or city, the territory of that city will be converted to Polaris terrain, and all water tiles will freeze into ice. When a Polaris city is captured, the opposite happens.
Since Polaris does not have its own terrain (outside its territory) and spawn rates, games with only Polaris (either mirror matches or through the Mixed Tribes Easter Egg) take place on Imperius land (which has the standard spawn rates for all resources).
Appearance
- Fruit: Annuqi crystals
- Land: White fields (similar to Bardur's) with blue ice underneath
- Forests: Translucent blue fir trees
- Animals: Mamoo
- Mountains: Several sharp, pointed masses of ice
- Cities: Similar to large snowballs with windows
- Helmet: Tan-colored hood with a white-colored fur trim
- Color: Light tan
Tech Tree
As a special tribe, Polaris has a modified tech tree.
- Sailing is replaced with Frostwork, unlocking Mooni and Outposts instead of what Sailing unlocks.
- Navigation is replaced with Polar Warfare, unlocking the Battle Sled and the Ice Fortress instead of movement on ocean and Battleships.
- Aquatism is replaced with Polarism, unlocking the Ice Temple (replacing the Water Temple) and the Gilde ability (replacing the defense bonus on water), which grants all land units an extra move when moving onto Ice for the first time.
- Archers are replaced with Ice Archers.
- Customs Houses are replaced with the Ice Bank.
Strategy
Placing an Ice Bank in the mid-game gives you a huge advantage. Usually by that time, there will be a good number of tiles frozen, and the Ice Bank can boost your income by a lot.
History
Polaris was teased by Midjiwan on Instagram on April 28th, 2017 and confirmed by Midjiwan on the Polytopia Beta Test Discord for release in 2018. It was originally slated for release in early 2018, but in an interview, Midjiwan stated that at that point, Polaris was "not fun to play" and was pushed onto "the backburner". However, ideas for a revamp of the tribe were developed in August of 2018, development started again in early 2019, and Polaris was released on June 14, 2019, over 2 years from its initial tease.
Polaris was teased on the website subzero.science.blog in the months leading up to its released.
Polaris was nerfed on July 5, 2019. Outposts now provide only one population (while they used to provide two). Also, the max level of the Ice Bank was increased from 8 to 10.
Trivia
- The Polaris resemble the indigenous people of Siberia and Northern Canada. The early concept for their Super Unit was additionally a Wendigo.
- An early model of Polaris, posted by Midwjian on Instagram on May 7, 2019, featured a building that can transform water into ice and a unique troop with a skull instead of a face.
| Tribes |
|---|
| Regular Tribes: Xin-Xi, Imperius, Bardur, Oumaji, Kickoo, Hoodrick, Luxidoor, Vengir, Zebasi, Ai-Mo, Quetzali, Yădakk |
