Forge of Empires: Arctic Future Harbor and Progression Guide

To progress smoothly through the Arctic Future in Forge of Empires, immediately research the "Arctic Harbor" technology. The Arctic Harbor is your sole source of Promethium, a special resource required for mid-to-late Arctic Future technologies and subsequent ages. Because Promethium cannot be traded in the marketplace, produced by standard goods buildings, or obtained from guild members, keeping your exploration ship on continuous voyages is the primary requirement for completing the era.

Unlocking the Harbor and Managing Promethium Flow

Researching the early Arctic Future technology "Arctic Harbor" places an exploration vessel off the coast of your city. Each voyage requires three inputs: a selected crew, standard Arctic Future goods as outfitting costs, and a set travel duration.

Never let the vessel sit idle. Late-stage Arctic Future technologies, continent map exploration, and the subsequent Oceanic Future era require thousands of Promethium units. Re-dispatch the ship as soon as it docks to prevent severe progression bottlenecks.

Selecting and Managing Expedition Crews

Every departure offers a randomized pool of crew candidates hired using standard era goods. Individual crew members modify voyage duration, Promethium yield, and ship damage. Crew members earn experience on completed voyages, improving their positive modifiers and mitigating trade-offs.

Monitor your ship's hull integrity between runs. Accumulated damage reduces carrying capacity on subsequent voyages. Pay the goods cost to repair the ship back to full condition before sending out high-capacity crew combinations.

Arctic Future Research Path

Prioritize technologies that expand your Harbor and secure key military units before branching into optional nodes:

1. Research "Arctic Harbor": Unlocks the harbor vessel to start gathering Promethium immediately.
2. Unlock "Plasma Artillery": Secures the primary offensive combat unit for campaign map sectors and guild events.
3. Upgrade the Arctic Harbor: Technologies that expand harbor tiers grant additional crew slots and boost vessel durability.
4. Research Goods and Expansions: Unlock remaining goods manufactures and city expansions as needed.

Do not spend Promethium on dead-end branches early. In addition to Arctic Future goods (Nanofibers, AI Data, Paper Batteries, Transester Gas, and Bioplastics), you will need Future Era goods such as Translucent Concrete and Nanoparticles to unlock later tech nodes. Maintain recurring quests or leverage Great Buildings like the Chateau Frontenac and Seed Vault to keep standard goods stockpiles high enough to outfit the ship continuously.

Arctic Future Military Units

Automating battles with standard fast units often results in high attrition due to specialized defensive abilities in this era. Base your army compositions on heavy and artillery units:

• Plasma Artillery: These units feature high range and the Heat skill, allowing them to weaken heavily armored units before they close in. Deploying one or two Plasma Artillery units with Rogues counters most mixed defensive setups.
• Battle Fortress: Equipped with Reactive Armor, this heavy unit caps incoming damage at a maximum of four points per attack, neutralizing high-damage snipers. However, avoid deploying them against enemy Plasma Artillery, which bypass their defenses.
• Dragon Drones and Behemoths: Use these units to counter enemy artillery formations by using flying mechanics or stealth terrain to bypass ground fire.

Preparing for Oceanic Future

Do not advance to the Oceanic Future immediately after completing the Arctic Future tech tree. Oceanic Future introduces its own special resource, Orichalcum, while continuing to require Promethium for its technologies. Transitioning without a banked reserve forces you to fund two separate extraction ships at the same time. Remain in the Arctic Future until you have stockpiled at least 1,500 to 2,000 Promethium to cover early Oceanic Future research costs.