Tyranny Developer Diary #12: Spires

After dedicating a livestream to the stronghold system in Tyranny, the developers at Obsidian Entertainment have also penned a developer diary to briefly explain the system. As far as I can tell, it mostly goes over old information, but it's a far more concise summary for those who don't have time to watch the full livestream recording. An excerpt:

The Spires play a prominent role in the game’s narrative, and also serve as the location for the player’s base.

As you explore the Tiers you have the opportunity to gain access to several of these Spires. Claiming a Spire unlocks several gameplay benefits:

Reduced Travel Time: Each Spire is magically linked with the others. Once activated, you can teleport between your spires, reducing your travel time through the Tiers.

Upgrading Your Spires: Once you’ve acquired a Spire, you can spend money to build an upgrade on top of the Spire. You can find the details of each upgrade below. Each upgrade provides different benefits to your party, among them providing different rest bonuses when you rest at your Spire. You receive the bonuses for all of your upgrades when you rest at any of your spires.

Hiring Recruits: Once an upgrade has been built on top of a spire, you can begin hiring recruits to work for you at that upgrade. Recruits provide several functions for your party: they can train your party members in skills, they can sell unique weapons and armor, and they can produce new items for your party while they’re out adventuring.