Tribes

The tribe selection menu, showing the 15 tribes released before 2021 and the "random tribe" button.

The Battle of Polytopia features 16 characters called tribes for players to play as, including 12 regular tribes and four special tribes. Different tribes start with different technologies and have different terrain spawn rates.

On mobile, four tribes are available for free (Xin-xi, Bardur, Imperius, and Oumaji), and the other 12 are available as in-app purchases. Purchasing a tribe unlocks online multiplayer. In-app purchases help pay for game development while keeping the game free of advertisements. The Steam version of Polytopia includes all regular tribes and access to online multiplayer, while Special tribes are sold as DLC.

Each tribe has its own unique cosmetic design for terrain, resources, units, cities, and monuments. These cosmetic differences do not impact gameplay. Also, each tribe has its own ambience that plays on tiles of their "native lands." For instance, a rattlesnake is heard in Oumaji terrain, and howling wind and wolves are heard in Bardur terrain.

More tribes will continue to be added in the future; however, all future tribes will be special tribes. (Yădakk is the final regular tribe.)

Regular Tribes

Regular tribes, formerly known as human tribes, share the same standard technologies and units. Each tribe has its own unique starting technology, except for Luxidoor, which starts with a level 2 city. The four free tribes, Xin-xi, Imperius, Bardur, and Oumaji, are all regular tribes.

On mobile, all paid regular tribes cost $0.99 USD, except Luxidoor, which costs $3.99 USD. The Steam version includes all regular tribes.

Image	Name	Starting Technology	Release Date	Color
	Xin-xi	Climbing	February 4, 2016	Red
	Imperius	Organization	February 4, 2016	Blue
	Bardur	Hunting	February 4, 2016	Black
	Oumaji	Riding	February 4, 2016	Yellow
	Kickoo	Fishing	February 4, 2016	Bright green
	Hoodrick	Archery	March 23, 2016	Brown
	Luxidoor	None (starts with a level 2 city)	March 23, 2016	Purple
	Vengir	Smithery	June 23, 2016	White
	Zebasi	Farming	August 4, 2016	Orange
	Ai-Mo	Meditation	December 1, 2016	Teal
	Quetzali	Shields	October 19, 2017	Dark green
	Yădakk	Roads	December 25, 2018	Crimson

Special Tribes

Special tribes have unique technologies, buildings, and units.

All special tribes cost $1.99 USD on mobile and $2.99 USD on Steam.

Image	Name	Starting Technology	Release Date	Color
	Aquarion	None	June 8, 2017	Salmon pink
	∑∫ỹriȱŋ	Forest Magic (replaces Hunting)	May 24, 2018	Hot pink
	Polaris	Frostwork (replaces Sailing)	June 14, 2019	Light tan
	Cymanti	Farming (modified)	February 17, 2021	Lemon-lime

Disabled Tribes

The Xin-Xi tribe has been disabled, as seen by its greyed-out tribe head.

Tribe disabled; it cannot be used by you or the AI.

-In-game description

Disabled tribes cannot be used by opponents. Tribes can be disabled in the tribe picker menu. Players commonly disable tribes that are difficult to play against.

Disabled tribes do not decrease the maximum number of opponents in single-player; rather, multiple opponents will play the same tribe.

See also

• Terrain#Spawn rate modifiers by tribe
• Player Relationships

References

Game Mechanics
Buildings and Structures, Cities, City Connections, Combat, Game Modes, Movement, Player Relationships, Population, Ruins, Score, Stars, Technology, Terrain, Tribes, Units, Unit Abilities, Unit Skills, Villages

Tribes
Regular tribes: Xin-xi, Imperius, Bardur, Oumaji, Kickoo, Hoodrick, Luxidoor, Vengir, Zebasi, Ai-Mo, Quetzali, Yădakk Special tribes: Aquarion, ∑∫ỹriȱŋ, Polaris, Cymanti