Welcome to Saiadha — a land of beauty, mystery, and danger — and the stage for your rise to power in ENDLESS™ Legend 2. Whether you’re here for empire building, tactical battles, or just to watch the oceans disappear under strange tides, this guide will walk you through the essentials so you can start strong.
ENDLESS™ Legend 2 Demo Beginner Guide
1. The Big Picture
ENDLESS™ Legend 2 is a turn-based 4X strategy game set in the Endless universe. You’ll explore an ocean-scarred world, expand your cities, develop technology, command heroes and armies, and face other major factions — all while the map itself transforms thanks to the world’s unique Tidefall system.
Each faction has its own story, special abilities, and playstyle, so early on it’s worth learning your faction’s strengths and leaning into them.
2. Understanding Tidefall
Saiadha doesn’t follow normal rules for exploration — you won’t find shipbuilding tech in the early tree. Instead, oceans literally drain away after great storms called Tidefalls, revealing new land, resources, and paths. Every Tidefall changes the shape of the world, so expansion opportunities keep evolving. Be ready to grab valuable territory fast when new land appears.
3. The Main Interface
Most of your time is spent on the campaign map. Key UI elements:
- Empire Summary (left panel): Traits, population, and council (unlocked after the first Tidefall).
- Resources:
- Dust – Currency for buyouts, upkeep, and diplomacy.
- Influence – Expands territory, assimilates factions, and enables diplomacy.
- Strategic & Luxury Resources – Used for upgrades, improvements, or short-term boosts.
- Cities & Camps List: Quick access to your settlements.
- Army List: Jump between your active forces.
- Research & Diplomacy: For tech progress and dealing with other empires.
- Yield/Grid Toggles: Overlay resource output or hex boundaries for planning.
4. Cities & Camps
Your cities are the economic heart of your empire.
- City Yields:
- Food – Population growth.
- Industry – Building speed for structures/units.
- Dust – Currency, stored empire-wide.
- Science – Research speed.
- Influence – Expansion and diplomacy power.
- Population Jobs: Assign people to different resource types to adapt to your needs.
- Foundations & Districts: Foundations claim a tile’s yield, and districts improve it. Four adjacent districts give a powerful upgrade.
- Camps: Smaller, limited-build settlements you can later upgrade to cities or attach to nearby ones.
5. Armies
Armies are how you explore, fight, and claim territory.
- Movement: Limited by the slowest unit. Rough terrain costs more points.
- Army Actions: Guard for defense, auto-explore for hands-off scouting, or found a camp to claim territory.
- Map Interactions: Attack enemies, siege cities, clear forests, or even build temporary river bridges.
6. Battles
Combat is turn-based and played out on a portion of the map.
- Victory: Eliminate all enemies — anything less is a draw.
- Deployment: Position troops before battle starts to take advantage of terrain.
- Terrain Bonuses:
- High ground = more damage.
- Forests = defense bonuses (especially vs. ranged).
- Attacks of Opportunity: Leaving a melee enemy’s range lets them hit you for free.
- Heroes: Once per battle, they can unleash powerful active skills.
7. Sieges
When taking cities:
- Besiege to reduce Fortification Points over several turns.
- Breach walls to access districts.
- After victory, choose:
- Occupy – Keep the city.
- Sack – Loot resources.
- Raze – Destroy it.
Each action takes time, during which enemies can counterattack.
8. Heroes
Heroes are unique leaders who level up, equip gear, and gain skills.
- Roles: Lead armies, sit in your council, or settle into a city for bonuses.
- Equipment: Weapons (damage/skills), armor (defense), accessories (stats), consumables (one-use powers).
- Skill Trees: Unlock new abilities or boost core attributes — Might, Resilience, Intuition, Determination — to specialize your hero.
9. Technology
Research unlocks new units, improvements, and empire abilities.
- Divided into six eras — you only need a certain number of techs per era to advance.
- Strategic planning: You can rush critical techs without filling the entire tier.
10. Diplomacy & War
Once you meet another major faction, you can:
- Make Treaties for cooperation or non-aggression.
- Declare War:
- Justified (free Influence) — only if relations are very poor.
- Unjustified (costly) — anytime, but damages your approval.
- War Score: Win battles/sieges to push towards victory terms.
- War Fatigue: Long wars lower city approval and risk rebellion.
11. Empire Council
Unlocked after the first Monsoon, this lets you assign heroes or notable citizens for powerful empire-wide buffs. More slots open after each Monsoon.
12. Trade
From Era 2 onwards (Markets tech), you can buy/sell resources at fluctuating prices, or activate luxury boosts for short-term bonuses.
13. Map Features
- Curiosities: Give resources, gear, or events.
- Anomalies: High-yield tiles worth building on immediately.
- Minor Factions: Pacify by bribing, questing, or attacking. Once pacified, you can assimilate them for unique units and bonuses.
- Fortresses: Special minor faction strongholds you must defeat to claim their territory.
14. Beginner Tips & Tricks
Scout before placing your capital — look for strong food/industry tiles and anomalies.
Use auto-explore armies to collect curiosities early.
Prioritize claiming territories with rare resources.
Save Dust to finish critical builds or buy out armies in emergencies.
In battles, use high ground and forests for defense; avoid moving through dangerous anomaly tiles.
Don’t waste elite units — they’re costly to replace.
Heroes aren’t just fighters — their council positions can shift your whole empire’s efficiency.