"Expand your Settlement and supply the growing Crusader army."
In the Sign of the Cross is the second Chapter of the Campaign. It is a continuation of the first Chapter, starting the player off on the same Island with a default Settlement that is comparable to the one the player created in the first Chapter. It introduces us to Guy Forcas, Marie d'Artois, and Brother Hilarius. It also teaches players the basic mechanics of creating Production chains and satisfying Inhabitant Needs.
Introduction[]
- "They came from all the corners of the Empire. Knights, Mercenaries, recruits. They descended on the surrounding Lands like a swarm of locusts. At night one could look out over a sea of camp fires and Tents which shone in the moonlight, a sea which stretched to the very horizon. And enthroned in the middle, like a spider in a web... Guy Forcas, who orchestrated preparations for the imminent Crusade with an iron hand."
Guy Focas enjoys telling you that he has been chosen by the highest authority to assemble a Crusader army. Lord Richard Northburgh is somewhat surprised to learn of Guy Forcas's declaration. Northburgh well-meaningly advises you to diligently comply with Guy Forcas's wishes.
In the name of the Cross 
[]
- Objective: Help Guy Forcas with the preparations for the Crusade.
Guy Forcas has orders from the very top. The Crusade should be as well equipped as possible, so extensive preparations will have to be made.
You can be sure that Guy Forcas will pass most of the work on to you...
Supply the Crusader army []
- Objective: Deliver the following Goods to Guy Forcas for the Crusader army: 15t Fish • 3t Cider
To prepare the Goods required by Guy Forcas, you may have to block access to these Goods in the Housing menus of your Population's Houses.
In any case, Guy Forcas has made it crystal clear that he will not accept any unnecessary delays.
Guy Forcas has high demands for us, and we do not have the required Goods yet. Thankfully, Lord Northburgh offers the following Auxiliary quests to help us start producing them.
The Market building []
- Objective: Build a Market building to the North of Falconstone.
Market buildings extend the Construction radius for Manufactories and increase the number of available Market carts. This creates more space for new Plants and ensures that the Goods are picked up.
Follow Lord Northburgh's advice to meet Guy Forcas's demands promptly.
Market buildings collect and store resources from Farm and Production buildings. They are some of the most important buildings in the game. You can select them from the Build menu, but they are also in the quick-access menu by default. Right-click to open the quick-access menu and select the Market building icon, which is the left-most of the three icons. You can then place the Market building North of your Settlement. You can add additional Buildings to the quick-access menu by dragging icons from the Build menu to the center of the screen. See the Interface and Menu pages for more information.
Cool drinks []
- Objective: Construct a Cider farm in your Settlement.
There is now enough space around the new Market building to build the new Manufactories.
You will soon be able to satisfy Guy Forcas's requirement for Cider.
Simply select the Cider farm from the Build menu and place it next to the new Market building.
A searching look []
- Objective: Left-click to select the Cider farm.
Left-clicking on a building opens the respective Building menu. For Farm and Production buildings this shows which Raw materials and Goods are required there.
The production rate of your buildings is determined by their productivity, so it's good to keep an eye on this.
To work! []
- Objective: Use the buttons in the Building menu to create Fields for the Cider farm.
Farms and Plantations require Fields or Meadows on which to produce Raw materials for your Products.
Use the "Cultivate" button in the Cider farm's Building menu to create the required number of Fields.
You can also use the "Create Fields" button to create individual Fields.
Note: The game is generally not very good at placing Fields automatically. It is good to get used to placing Fields manually in a way that makes more efficient use of the available space. The "Create Fields" button is located just below the large "Cultivate" button.
Ready for collection []
- Objective: Connect the Cider farm and the Market building by Road.
Building a Road to the Warehouse or the Market building will ensure the Market cart collects the Goods.
Then nothing will hinder Cider production and the delivery of Cider to Guy Forcas.
Once our Cider farm is set up, we need to wait a moment for Cider to arrive. The Cider farm has a Production speed of 1.5 tons per minute, so it will take 2 minutes to acquire the required amount of Cider. Our Inhabitants will be keen to get their hands on the Cider to increase their satisfaction as well, however.
Once the Peasants have access to Cider, their satisfaction will increase enough that they will be able to advance to the Citizen level. Each upgrade costs 
1t Wood and 
1t Tools. To accommodate this, we can buy additional Tools from Lord Northburgh's Warehouse. Send out your Ship to Cathedral city's Harbour while waiting for the Cider production to pick up. Remember to sail your Ship back to Falconstone as soon as you have the Tools, as we'll need the ship to complete the next quest. To speed up the process, you can press the fast-forward key (default key is +) to accelerate time.
Guy Forcas's "gift".
Once enough Cider is produced, load your Ship with the required Goods and sail to Forcas's Harbour. Remember that the location is marked on the map when you hover over the quest in the News system. Once you get in range, Guy Forcas will automatically request you hand them over.
Guy Forcas will provide you with one additional Small trading ship as a thanks for providing the initial batch of Goods, and to help deliver his next demand. The ship can be retrieved at any point by selecting Guy Forcas's ship anchored outside your Harbour in Falconstone.
A messenger from the War []
- Objective: Deliver the following to Marie d'Artois in the Northeast of the region: 1 Written instructions
Guy Forcas's letter is already on board your Ship.
Sail immediately to Marie d'Artois, who lives on an Island in the Northeast.
Your neighbour must also perform her feudal duty and participate in the Crusade.
On your way there, Lord Northburgh will ask you to open the letter. Select your ship and left-click on the Item to open the letter.
Weapon belt and Lance []
- Objective: Carry out the following errand:
Collect the following from Lord Northburgh in Stone quarry: 1 Weapons crate
Deliver the following to Marie d'Artois: 1 Weapons crate
The Weapons that have been ordered are already available from Lord Northburgh in Stone quarry.
They only need to be picked up and taken to Marie d'Artois.
After Marie d'Artois reads the letter, she will send you on an errand run to retrieve a Weapons crate from Lord Northburgh's Stonemasons. Sail your ship there and accept the item from Northburgh. Now sail back up to Marie and give her the weapons. While waiting for the Ship to reach its destination, we can start working on the other questline; producing Linen garments.
- Reward: 5t Wood • 5t Tools
Rescue at Sea []
- Objective: Deliver the following to Marie d'Artois's damaged Ship: 10t Wood
Marie d'Artois's Ship has run aground on a Reef! She needs some Goods to repair it.
Once the Weapons crate has been delivered to Marie d'Artois, she will send out a ship, directly into a Reef. You will already have 5 tons of Wood on board your ship as reward for completing the previous quest. You can buy an additional 5 tons of Wood directly from her Warehouse. You can then head towards the damaged ship.
The Feast []
- Objective: Deliver the following to Lord Northburgh in Stone quarry: 10t Fish
Delivering the feast.
Lord Northburgh has also prepared a considerable amount of Goods for Guy Forcas. At the same time, Cathedral construction could not be allowed to flag. His workers are totally exhausted and a large Feast has been laid on to refresh them.
After providing the Weapons crate, the Stonemasons deserve to be spoiled a bit. It also helps that they give a hugely helpful reward for providing them with Fish, which will help us prepare for the next quests. Use the newly acquired Small trading ship to deliver the Goods.
- Reward: 10t Tools • 15t Wood
In new Garments []
- Objective: Deliver the following to Guy Forcas: 5t Linen garments
To produce the Linen garments more quickly for Guy Forcas, you should temporarily suspend the release of such Garments to your Population.
To do this, select the Need for Clothing in the Citizens House menu and left-click on the icon to disable the availability of Linen garments.
Left-click again to make the Goods available.
To help you get started on producing Linen garments, Lord Northburgh offers the following Auxiliary quests.
Finest Weaving []
- Objective: Build a Weaver's hut.
Hemp can be woven into Linen garments in a Weaver's hut.
You can build the Building as soon as a few Citizens come to live in Falconstone.
You should also consider building a Road connection to the Market building or Warehouse, otherwise the Goods will not be picked up later on.
The Hemp plantation []
- Objective: Build a Hemp plantation with four Fields
Bear in mind that the Hemp plantation needs four Fields to cultivate Hemp.
It should also lie within the Influence area of the Weaver's hut, as the Hemp can then be brought directly for processing, eliminating the need for a Road connection. This will speed up Production.
The quest journal somewhat off-handedly mentions it, but Production buildings can retrieve resources directly from prior Production steps, without the need for a Road connection. This is the basis for many advanced Production layouts.
A second Plantation []
- Objective: Build another Plantation to operate the Weaver's hut at full capacity.
Two Hemp plantations are required to keep the Weaver's hut operating at full productivity.
If possible, build them in the Influence area of the Weaver's hut so that the Goods can be taken there directly.
Rather than go into the Build menu to select the Hemp plantation, you can use the very handy Pipette tool. The Pipette tool allows you to select buildings that you've already placed without opening the Build menu. The default key for it is (N), though it's recommended to rebind it to something that's easier to reach when using WASD for camera movement. The (E) key is generally preferred for this.
With the Linen garments production now underway, we can soon bring Guy Forcas his requested pyjamas. The Weaver's hut has a Production speed of 2 tons per minute, so it will take 2 and a half minutes to produce the required amount. While we wait for the Linen garments to be produced, we can recruit some Knights to take with us when we go deliver the Goods to Guy Forcas. While taking a closer look at your Settlement, you might also realise that it could use some more houses. Three more, to be exact. The purpose of this will become clear later on.
Unwilling volunteers []
- Objective: Recruit 10 Knights for the Crusade in Falconstone.
Spot the Knights
The Knights wander through your Settlement, and are recruited when you select them with a left-click.
They then go to the Strong room in your Warehouse.
This is the first of many "Find the wanted person(s) quests" throughout the Campaign. This one is quite easy because your Settlement is still small, but later quests like this require some serious zoomed-in searching. See the quest type page for tips on how to more easily complete these quests. The recruited Knights are found in the Strong room of your Warehouse, which is the middle tab.
Transfer of Soldiers []
- Objective: Take the Knights to Guy Forcas in Tuckingham.
Taking the Knights on board.
Load the Knights from the Strong room of your Warehouse onto a Ship.
Guy Forcas is waiting for them...
This is also a good time to load the 
5t Linen garments onto the Ship and complete the previous quest simultaneously.
Rope teams []
- Objective: Deliver the following to Guy Forcas: 3t Ropes
Guy Forcas urgently needs the Ropes to manufacture Ships and War machines. You should therefore build the necessary Plants to start producing these Goods immediately.
As always, Lord Northburgh offers a number of Auxiliary quests to support you in completing Guy Forcas's demands.
The Ropeyard []
- Objective: Build a Ropeyard.
You need a Ropeyard to manufacture Ropes. The Building is available in the Construction menu once enough Citizens live in your Settlement.
Don't forget the Road connection to the Warehouse or the Market building.
The Ropeyard is unlocked when your Settlement reaches at least 240 Citizens. You should have already reached this number if you built the three additional houses earlier, but otherwise now would be a good time to add them. You can quickly check the worldwide number of Inhabitants of each Civilisation level by expanding the Population tab located above the map. If you lack the required Tools, you can buy more from Lord Northburgh's Warehouse.
Supply the Ropeyard []
- Objective: Secure the supply of Hemp so that Goods can be manufactured in the Ropeyard.
You could secure the supply of Raw materials to the Ropeyard with an additional Hemp plantation.
Alternatively, you can also suspend the Production of Linen garments to obtain the Raw material from your other Hemp plantations.
The Hemp plantation must either be sited within the Influence area of the Ropeyard, or have a Road connection to the Warehouse or Market building to take the Hemp to the Ropeyard.
Note that the Ropeyard only requires the supply from one Hemp plantation, while the Weaver's hut requires two. Meanwhile, the Cider farm does not require any Raw materials, and does not supply any further buildings. These ratios define a Production Chain for each Good in the game. A Production chain is defined as the entire process of creating some product from start to finish. The Production chain for Ropes is one of the simplest in the game; One Ropeyard supplied by one Hemp plantation. Production chains tend to become more complex as the game progress, however. You always want to establish the correct ratios for each Production chain. These ratios are documented on the Production chains page. Truly obsessive players can recite all 30+ Production chain ratios from memory!
Once the required Ropes have been produced, load 
3t Ropes onto your ship and deliver them to Guy Forcas to complete the quest. We'll also bring 3t Wood and 2t Tools, just in case we get hungry along the way.
The Crusade swimmers []
Crusade swimmers.
- Objective: Rescue the 5 Castaways and take them to Guy Forcas in Tuckingham.
Not all the Knights are joining this Crusade of their own free will. But Guy Forcas knows no mercy. All of them, willing or not, will be called upon without exception. Simply right-click each Castaway to take them on board.
The deserters appear as soon as the Ropes have been delivered to Guy Forcas. You should have an extra ship idle, which you can put in position ahead of time, or sail to the location once the quest becomes available. Make sure to bring the Castaways to Guy Forcas before completing the final quest, however.
Monk sought []
- Objective: Find the remote Mountain monastery and bring it under your influence.
Make sure that the Mountain monastery is in the Influence area of a Warehouse or a Market building, and then build a Road connection.
Only then can you make contact with the Monks there and complete your Quest.
Lord Northburgh offers the following Auxiliary quest to help you settle your first Island.
Land seizure []
- Objective: Build a Warehouse on the Coast at Hookburgh.
To build a new Warehouse, you need to have the appropriate Building material on board your Ship.
Go to a flat stretch of Coast and press the "Build Warehouse" button in the Ship menu.
The Warehouse is now ready on your mouse pointer and you can build it on the Beach.
Now to complete Guy Forcas's quest, just build a Road to the Gate of the Monastery, which is marked by a floating exclamation point.
The blessing of the Weapons []
Loading Hilarius. No joke.
- Objective: Take Brother Hilarius to Guy Forcas.
Brother Hilarius is waiting in your Warehouse for you to take him on board and bring him to Guy Forcas.
Load Brother Hilarius onto a Ship and sail to Guy Forcas. Don't let him fall overboard though, because he can't swim.
Completing this quest will end the Chapter, so make sure you've completed all other quests before delivering Brother Hilarius to Tuckingham.
Ending in-game cutscene[]
Guy Forcas asks Brother Hilarius to start blessing the Weapons. Brother Hilarius begins the ceremony with a very solemn air. Kardinal Lucius grants you the title of "Knight of the Cross" for your efforts in the War preparations, and states that he will henceforth assign you more important Quests.
Other Images[]
