South American Openings: Mapuche, Muisca and Tupi in the Feudal Age

The three new civilizations from The Last Chieftains — Mapuche, Muisca and Tupi — share a common design axis: the Settlement. This unique building acts as an economic dropsite and, depending on the civilization, unlocks defensive military production, healing auras or garrison slots for Villagers. Because Settlements reshape how you structure the first ten minutes of a game, a standard European opening template will not translate cleanly to these civs.

On top of Settlements, the three South American civilizations share access to regional units: the Champi Warrior line (fast infantry, trainable from the Champi Scout in Dark Age) and the Slinger. Both units are cheap, mobile and specialized — Champi Warriors excel at countering archers with their +4 bonus damage and 1.3 speed, while Slingers deal anti-infantry bonus damage. Any Feudal opening for these civs should account for when and where these regional units join the army.

This guide walks through three proven Feudal-Age openings, one per civilization, each targeted at the unique economic or military bonus the civilization is built around. These are not the only viable paths — they are the ones that most directly exploit the identity of each civ. Pick the opening that matches your map and matchup, and be ready to deviate when the opponent denies your plan.

The Mapuche bonus that shapes this opening is twofold: Foragers drop off +20% food, and Settlements can train the Spearman and Skirmisher lines directly. Combined, these two bonuses let you reach Feudal Age on a faster-than-average food economy while skipping the 175 wood Barracks and 175 wood Archery Range in favor of a single forward Settlement.

Build order: start with 6 Villagers on sheep, 4 on berries (this is where the +20% food bonus matters most), 1 lure boar, 2 on wood, then continue on wood and food until 21–22 pop. The extra berry bonus lets you click up earlier than a generic 22-pop Feudal without sacrificing resources elsewhere. While transitioning, scout for a safe forward position near the opponent's gold or wood line, and drop a Settlement there as soon as you hit Feudal.

From that forward Settlement, produce Spearmen and Skirmishers in alternating batches. The Mapuche Feudal HP bonus (+5 HP to Infantry, Slingers and Skirmishers) makes these trash units meaningfully more durable in trades than their generic counterparts. Six Spearmen and six Skirmishers can pressure Villagers while your main base continues to transition toward Castle Age and your first Castle for Kona production.

This opening snowballs when the opponent is committed to a standard archer or scout build, because your Skirmishers out-HP their Skirmishers and your Spearmen threaten any scout follow-up. It is weaker into pure ranged civs that wall early, in which case you should pivot toward Castle Age and avoid a drawn-out Feudal fight.

The Muisca civilization bonus Advancing to the next Age costs -50% gold is the single most impactful economic bonus on a Feudal opening. It removes roughly 40–45 gold from each age-up cost, which translates into one or two additional Villagers' worth of resources you can reinvest. Paired with Settlements cost -25%, this opens the door to a very cheap Fast Castle build.

Build order: 6 sheep, 4 berries, 1 lure boar, 3 on wood early, 3 on gold. The early gold mining looks unusual for a Fast Castle but it is needed for the (already discounted) age-up and early Monk production. Push for Feudal at 22 pop around the 11:00–11:30 mark, then immediately transition: build a Market, a Blacksmith and a Monastery. Continue to gold and farm transitions while clicking up to Castle Age as soon as the 800 food / 200 gold (halved by the bonus) is available.

Around 15:00–15:30 you should hit Castle Age with 3–4 Monks in production and a Settlement near your army rally point. The Settlement heals nearby human units by 5 HP per minute in Feudal and 10 HP per minute in Castle Age, which stacks with Monk healing and lets your small army trade up. From here, your defining bonus kicks in: Monks regain faith 50% faster than generic Monks, meaning you can attempt conversions significantly more often in skirmishes.

Do not forget that Champi Scout line and Archery Range units have +1 melee armor in Feudal and +2 in Castle. A mixed army of 4 Monks, 6 Champi Warriors and 6–8 Archers covers every threat while abusing the discounted gold pool you saved during the age-up.

The Tupi civilization starts with +25 of each resource. That is 25 food, 25 wood, 25 gold and 25 stone on top of the standard 200 food / 200 wood start. The effective result is approximately one extra Villager's worth of resources that compounds over the first ten minutes, letting you get an earlier Loom, an earlier House or an earlier Barracks without falling behind on idle TC time.

Another bonus that shapes this opening: Archery Range and Barracks upgrades cost -50% food. Feudal Age archer techs like Fletching and Feudal infantry techs like Forging become dramatically cheaper, which matters when you plan to mass produce cheap ranged units. Combined with the unique unit Blackwood Archer — trained in pairs at 20 wood and 15 gold per unit with 0.5 population each and an 11-second pair cycle — the Tupi are built to flood the map with ranged infantry.

Build order: standard 22-pop Feudal with 6 sheep, 4 berries, 1 lure boar, 7 on wood, then farm transitions. Use your +25 starting resources to buy an earlier Barracks at around 20 pop. In Feudal, immediately add an Archery Range and research Fletching first (cheap thanks to the -50% food cost). Mix 10 generic archers with 8 Blackwood Archers from your first Castle — but in the meantime, generic Feudal archers plus a few Spearmen for defense keep you alive.

A key long-term edge: Fallen units return 15% of their cost. This means every army you lose is partially refunded, which makes aggressive Feudal trades far less punishing than for most civilizations. Do not over-commit a single army, though — 15% is a softener, not a full refund.

The most common mistake across all three civilizations is ignoring the Settlement as an economic building. Players used to Lumber Camps and Mining Camps often drop Settlements too late or in the wrong location. For Mapuche and Muisca, the Settlement is also a military or support structure — place it where you can use its secondary function, not only where raw resources are closest.

A second frequent mistake is treating Champi Warriors as a scout substitute. Champi are fast infantry with bonus damage versus archers, but they cost food and gold and are not Eagle Warriors — they will lose to a committed cavalry chase and they do not generate the kind of map information a Scout Cavalry does. Keep Champi in small raiding groups and use actual Scouts or Eagle-style units (where available) for information.

A third mistake, specific to the Muisca, is forgetting to research Monastery technologies before committing to Monk-heavy fights. Redemption, Atonement and Sanctity are still required to make Monks effective, regardless of the civilization's faith recovery bonus. A non-upgraded Monk with 50% faster faith is still a non-upgraded Monk.

Finally, Tupi players commonly under-use the Blackwood Archer. Because the unit trains in pairs and costs 0.5 population each, you can run two Castles producing them continuously at minimal population strain. Players who build only 4–6 Blackwood Archers lose most of the mass advantage the unit is designed to deliver.

Closed maps such as Arena, Hideout or Black Forest punish aggressive Feudal plans. On these maps, skip the Settlement-based pressure opening and go for a generic Fast Castle instead. Muisca in particular scales extremely well into a closed-map Castle Age thanks to the discounted age-up — do not waste the bonus on a Feudal fight that will never happen.

Water and hybrid maps change the priority entirely. With the naval overhaul, Mapuche and Tupi have limited water tools while Muisca gets a gold-mine bonus on Whales indirectly through Natural gold sources last 15% longer. On hybrid maps, consider a Dock-first build for Muisca and a standard Feudal archer opening for Tupi.

Against heavy cavalry civilizations like Franks, Lithuanians and Huns, the Mapuche Settlement pressure plan suffers because 6 Spearmen cannot stop a committed Knight push once the opponent reaches Castle Age. Pivot earlier toward your own Castle Age and the Kona bonus damage on wounded targets, which synergizes with Pikemen holding the line.

Against Eagle Warrior civs (Aztecs, Mayans), the Tupi Blackwood Archer swarm is vulnerable to Eagle raids on the woodlines that feed your production. Add Spearmen garrisons and consider a slower, walled opening. As a general rule: the Feudal openings described above are strongest on open land maps (Arabia, Hill Fort, Dry Arabia) and weakest on anything that rewards booming or denies early fights.