[] Plan Welcome to the Jungle
-[] Drakwaldian Refugees: They come to you represented by their Alderman and his scarred ward, hopes buoyed by your apparent priorities. The alderman introduces himself as Luffen, and the young man beside him -skull riven by the parallel scars of some beast's claws- as Polk, the leader of their village's primary profession, or at least that of their former village. For their village had sat in the dark sump of the drakwald and made its income from pelts, game and charcoal, dangerous trades that made their lives short. Only three years ago their village was destroyed utterly by a tide of beastly mutants, and since then they have made do as nomadic rovers, selling their huntsmen's skills and their prided hunting hounds. This large segment of surviving villagers intends to join this colony and then send for their families if the colony proves lucrative and stable.
There are 100 humans in this group, and their joining will unlock the Forester's Lodge blueprint, along with a Mastiff Kennel Upgrade to the Watchtowers.
-[] The Halflings' Herd: You've never seen goats this big in your life -almost the size of a riding pony, by Taal!- though to be fair you are no great connoisseur of goats, at least not off the plate. The leader of the band of hairy-footed folk that herd them is called Froca the Fat and he lives up to that too. They came here in the hopes that the famed fertility of Lustria can support such omnivorous goats so well as their Mootish woodland & grasses.
There are 50 Halflings in this group. Their joining will unlock the Giant Goat Field blueprint and Giant Guard-Ram upgrade for it.
-[] Mootish Migrants: Famed might be the halflings love of food, second only to their skill in making it. But you are still quite surprised to see so many of them this far from home. Looking for ingredients for the next Grand Feast claims their oddly young 'elder' Pate Proudfoot. You get the sense that he may have made some boasts a mite too big for his britches and how he's looking to back them up, yet all his halflings seem willing to work long and hard for their exotic supper.
There are 75 halflings in this group. Their joining will unlock the Halfling Cookhouse blueprint and add 2 food to the colony.
-[] An Eastern Entourage: Escorted to this distant port by Monks who have hung back to be interviewed as mercenaries, this small band of rural cathayans speak passable riekspiel but are represented primarily by lesser administrator Xiao Yun, a comely woman who introduces her colonists, and argues their merits, before abstaining to come back later as an Advisor candidate. Her band bring with them jade rice from distant cathay, that they claim will grow exceptionally well in the wet, warm swamp-soil of Lustria. Their rice-paddies are, so claimed, a way to grow their crops in land that is literally flooded.
There are 50 humans in this group. Their joining will unlock the Jade Rice Paddy and add 1 food to the colony.
-[] Survivors of a fallen Raj: The next band of hopefuls to enter is a man of dusky skin and necklaces bearing two dozen holy symbols, each one carved from bone, stone or copper. He introduces himself as Bundi the Exile, and introduces his group as indish refugees from a now ruined raj -a word for something akin to a kingdom-, all of whom know the peculiarities of jungle farming from a lifetime of experience. He and his group have brought all the wealth they could find as tribute.
There are 75 humans in this group. Their joining will unlock the Indish Raised Farm upgrade for Farms, and add 10 money to the colony.
-[] Freed from the desert: Another group of foreign folk have come seeking a new life under the Empire's wing, and these ones even claim not to be refugees. Their Spokesman, Jun-Abn Brawin, merely wishes for his group of twitchy former arabyan citizens to find a new home, one so far from the port of Copher's reach as it is possible to get. He is backed up by a dusky woman in modest linen garb named Harrier Beduma, who adds that their group will add value in the form of 'secretly' acquired seeds for Qahwa, a stimulating bean whose brewed juices enhance the mind. It will surely grow well in lustria and sell well to the empire.
There are 50 humans in this group. Their joining will unlock the Qahwa Upgrade for Farms and the Cofii House upgrade for the Docks.
-[] Stout fellows: A group of dwarves present their spokesman with no ceremony, and the given lead presents his case with even less, eyes hidden by thick smoke-glass goggles and face obscured by a beard the size of his entire torso. He is Prospector Copperhead, and he leads his group to join this colonial expedition in hopes of finding mineral wealth hidden in the hot continent's swampy earth. He and his group will pull their weight, he assures you, and he is sure that you'll be shocked at the metals one can pull from sand and bogs.
There are 75 Dwarves in this group. Their joining will unlock the Smithy blueprint and the Dwarven Smelter Upgrade for it.
A total of 475 colonists. I don't want anybody from the Cults, religious disputes bring only trouble and what they offer in exchange is not worth it. We already have the Witchfinder Office thanks to the Sixth Sense Trait, we don't need the Sigmarites fanatics. I was tempted by the Bretonnian peasants, but in the end i could't fit them into the plan.
I think starting with a strong and varied agriculture is a good thing, and this plan includes people who can bring lots of rare and exotic resources to the colony. Or in the case of the dwarfs and indish, they give is the expertise we desperatly need. The Giant Goats are also something very useful to have, since they are probably well suited to survive Lustria extreme ecosystem, and they give us both resources and a source of warbeasts/war mounts.
Next turn we can see if we find a score of more exotic colonists to fill our ships, stuff like Ogres or Elves.
Also, do mercenaries count for the max number of colonists? Because that would complicate matters quite a lot. And make planning with foresight hard, since we don't know how martial matters work in the game system yet.