History VideoGame / TheSettlers

*** In missions where you have to protect your allies, they can be even worse. One such mission requires you to protect a roman and a trojan settlement for two hours, which in this case means making sure both of them retain more than ten settlers. Now, the trojans will actually try their hardest and only require a little military support to make sure their barracks don't get blockaded. The romans on the other hand will not finish building their houses even if you give them the resources to do so, and the two large towers that protect them from the Dark Tribe are manned by one lone archer each, compared to the three each of those towers could house.

* IdleAnimation: Carriers in ''II'' can be seen reading newspapers and jumping rope while waiting for goods to cart about.

* DarkIsEvil - In full effect with the Dark Tribe in ''The Settlers IV''.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard -- After the first level or two, it always has better troops than you do. Although this only applies in the campaign mode. In Free Play (aka Skirmish), the AI starts with the exact same resources as the player. Computer players don't have an infinite resource pool and will in fact run out of resources if they can't gather them.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons -- Not only is this trope in effect, it is actually the whole point of the game (at least early in the series), and its application is what set ''The Settlers'' apart from its direct competitors (early RealTimeStrategy games as we know them today). Instead of building an elaborate field base, the player is building a whole kingdom from scratch - and the objective is usually to expand that kingdom (often, but not necessarily, through violence) to the point where it edges out all competition. This requires careful placement of a very wide variety of buildings, each of which is absolutely necessary for victory. You must create a long economic chain where which slowly converts raw resources step by step into military units. These units occupy guard huts, thereby increasing the size of your territory and allowing you to build more and more buildings. Although military force is often required to actually push your enemies back and eventually raze their castles, the primary skill being tested is your ability to build the kingdom and its economy properly; battles themselves are almost unremarkable in comparison.

* MarketBasedTitle -- The original game ''The Settlers'' was renamed ''Serf City: Life Is Feudal'' in the United States. All subsequent games went out under the ''Settlers'' banner.
* MookChivalry -- In the first two games and their remakes, all fights are one-on-one, and the rest of the knights will simply stand around waiting for the opportunity to step in and pick up where the previous one left off. Since standing knights occupy space, [[ZergRush bum rushing the castle with low to mid-level units]] can be enough to clog up the area and stop them from moving goods and people around, crippling their economy.
* NoPronunciationGuide -- The name of Morbus' assistant in the fourth game (who also happens to be the goddess of the Amazons in the third game), Q'nqüra, is pronounced slightly differently in most cutscenes of the fourth game. Since her name is never seen in print in that game, this doesn't make it easier to call her anything other than "that women in red".
* PainfullySlowProjectile -- In Settlers II, a catapult may fire on an enemy building, only for that building to have been captured by the player by the time the boulder lands, resulting in loss of the building to friendly fire.
* RefiningResources -- Virtually every resource in the game either ''must'' be refined in order to be useful, or ''can'' be refined to make some other resource. Some resources can go through two or more levels of refinement.

* SixthRanger -- The add-on races as a whole: The Amazons in ''The Settlers III'', the Trojans in ''The Settlers IV'', and the Vikings in ''The Settlers II 10th Anniversary''.
* ShieldsAreUseless -- In ''The Settlers II'', low ranking soldiers carry shields. High ranking soldiers do not.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential -- Destroying the last enemy storehouse, harbor, or headquarters in ''The Settlers II'' will cause the settlers, workers, and donkeys within to flee. Usually, they'll head toward the closest storehouse they can hide in--but without one, they'll aimlessly wander around with nowhere to go and nobody to save them. Eventually they starve, let out death knells, and collapse, turning to skeletons.

** BleakLevel -- In The Settlers IV, pretty much every level featuring the Dark Tribe can turn into this, if you don't stop the Tribe's expansion. Luckily, the damage can be reversed.

** DecadeDissonance -- Heritage of Kings features the cities Cleycourt and Barmecia. While ruled by brothers, Barmecia is much more religious and are mindful of the ecological impact of their economy. Cleycourt simply exploits the local resources with no regard for the consequences.
** GreenHillZone -- Your standard generic green island(s), including the first level of the campaign.
** LethalLavaLand -- The wasteland maps, first introduced in level 5 of the campaign.
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas -- In fact, this is more the point of the game than fighting is, but at least you can plant more trees.

*** In missions where you have to protect your allies, they are additonally scripted to behave even dumber. One such mission requires you to protect a roman and a trojan settlement for two hours, which in this case means making sure both of them retain more than ten settlers. Now, the trojans will actually try their hardest and only require a little military support to make sure their barracks don't get blockaded. The romans on the other hand will not finish building their houses even if you give them the resources to do so, and the two large towers that protect them from the Dark Tribe are manned by one lone archer each, compared to the three each of those towers could house.

* SixthRanger -- The add-on races as a whole: The Amazons in ''The Settlers III'', the Trojans in ''The Settlers IV'', and the Vikings in ''The Settlers II 10th Anniversary''

** The Dark Tribe featured in the fourth game uses Shamans to enslave civilian settlers. That alone can be quite a pain in the ass, especially since the tools these settlers used and any resources they carried are lost, but it's particularly infuriating when you see how your settlers will not even try to avoid these shamans. Builders who just worked near your borders, where you may have built defenses, may still be standing there if they weren't assigned another task, and will simply allow themselves to be enslaved.
** The Trojan expansion to the same game has a mission where the Vikings and Mayans have turned on the Trojans and Romans, believing that the Dark Tribe was defeated. As you would expect, the Dark Tribe is still very much present (and is actually scripted to destroy the Romans, even though the tribe is not shown in the statistics menu), and upon viewing the entire map, you will realize that the Dark Tribe was sitting pretty much next door to the Mayans and Vikings.

** In The Settlers IV, Sulphur is pretty much uselessium. The mayans and trojans can use it as ammo for warships and catapults, which are rarely useful. The trojans can also convert it into iron using magic. The romans and vikings have no use for it at all, making you wonder why the devs put sulphur on maps where you play as any of those two.

*** On the other hand, the AI will make liberal use of priests and squad leaders, the latter of which are often neglected by human players.
** Allied AI players usually behave very passively in the fourth game, at least in the campaign. They will build their settlements as usual and can occasionally be manipulated into expanding towards the enemy, but unless it's scripted, don't expect any help from them. In missions where you have to protect your allies, they are additonally scripted to behave even dumber. One such mission requires you to protect a roman and a trojan settlement for two hours, which in this case means making sure both of them retain more than ten settlers. Now, the trojans will actually try their hardest and only require a little military support to make sure their barracks don't get blockaded. The romans on the other hand will not finish building their houses even if you give them the resources to do so, and the two large towers that protect them from the Dark Tribe are manned by one lone archer each, compared to the three each of those towers could house.

** ''The Settlers: Rise of an Empire - The Eastern Realm
* ''The Settlers: Rise of Cultures'' (Sequel to The Settlers II 10th Anniversary, includes features from The Settlers III, Germany only)

* ''The Settlers: Rise of Cultures'' (Another Remake of The Settlers II with features from The Settlers III, Germany only)

** The fifth game has a mission where you arrive to help protect an important city. The city's inhabitants are confident that their walls will protect them, and their defenses are actually quite formidable - unfortunately, they completely fail to realize that in winter, the sea around their main fortress will freeze over, completely exposing it.

** ''The Settlers II 10th Annivesary - The Vikings'' (Germany only)

'''''The Settlers''''' is a series of {{RTS}}/empire-building computer games from Blue Byte Software, which premiered on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} in 1993.

*** Ironically, the AI could man towers it captured in the predecessor.

** At the end of the main Game, the Morbus is turned into a statue.

* FateWorseThanDeath: At the end of ''The Settlers IV'', the main villain is turned into a statue.
** After being freed and waging a second war against the Settlers in ''The Trojans and the Elixir of Power'', Morbus manages to avoid this fate, though not by his own accord. While Morbus manages to collect all the ingredients for the titular Elixir, which is supposed to cure him of his green-allergy, the Settlers also managed to manipulate the final ingredient. As a result, Morbus is also cured of his hatred for nature, and is last seen tending to his new garden.

** Kind of subverted with the Dark Tribe in ''The Settlers 4'' - while they are assigned a regular colour like all other players, their units are all black and grey regardless. In the rare instances of more than one Dark Tribe being present, this makes it impossible to tell which unit is part of which Tribe.

''Heritage of Kings'' dropped the quirky, adorable presentation in favor of more realistic looking Settlers. Territory is no longer limited by borders and more emphasis was placed on a story-driven campaign centered around a young prince reclaiming the kingdom once ruled by his father. Hero units with special abilities also become important to combat, and research is introduced to the series.

** The Settlers III has dying settlers turn into coloured smoke. The Settlers IV advances this to angels, who then rise towards the sky.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: In The Settlers IV, priests can use mana to perform miracles. Unfortunately, each individual miracle becomes more expensive the more you use it.

** In ''The Settlers IV'', the AI doesn't use certain buildings a human player would find useful. The most notable examples are large towers and fortresses for defensive purposes - if the AI doesn't start with them, it will never have any at all. They also won't build warehouses to store surplus goods, build or use ships (meaning that if you are on different islands, you don't have to worry about being attacked at all).

** Allied AI players usually behave very passively in the fourth game, at least in the campaign. They will build their settlements as usual and can occasionally be manipulated into expanding towards the enemy, but unless it's scripted, don't expect any help from them. In missions where you have to protect your allies, they are even scripted to behave even dumber. One such mission requires you to protect a roman and a trojan settlement for two hours, which in this case means making sure both of them retain more than ten settlers. Now, the trojans will actually try their hardest, but they placed their barracks in a less than ideal spot and thus can't expand. The romans on the other hand will not finish building their houses even if you give them the resources to do so, and the two large towers that protect them from the Dark Tribe are manned by one lone archer each, compared to the three each of those towers could house.

** Allied AI players usually behave very passively in the fourth game, at least in the campaign. They will build their settlements as usual and can occasionally be manipulated into expanding towards the enemy, but unless it's scripted, don't expect any help from them. In missions where you have to protect your allies, they are even scripted to behave even dumber. One such mission requires you to protect a romand and a trojan settlement for two hours, which in this case means making sure both of them retain more than ten settlers. Now, the trojans will actually try their hardest, but they placed their barracks in a less than ideal spot and thus can't expand. The romans on the other hand will not finish building their houses even if you give them the resources to do so, and the two large towers that protect them from the Dark Tribe are manned by one lone archer each, compared to the three each of those towers could house.