Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing

[Pluto]

For all of you new players out there, here's just a few tips I want to share with you to help minimize some potential problems you'll come across. Learn from my mistakes.

TIP #1: Trust me on this, you are going to want to extend the season length to AT LEAST 7 days. Doing this will help you with the next few tips I'm going to share with you. I found that 7 days is the right balance, but don't be afraid to extend the season lengths even more to 10 days. However I don't suggest going longer than 10 days and I definitely don't suggest doing less than 7 days. Just trust me on this.

TIP #2: Space space space! Location for your dynasty is SO important. You are going to need SOOOOO MUCH SPACE! Trust me, you will. You absolutely will. Before you place your first house down, wander the map and find an area somewhere that has a lot of space to build on. And don't worry about trees because you can chop those down to create more space. Once you've done that, go out and find another area that is at least 3x bigger. That's the size you'll need for your dynasty. Remember: it's better to have extra, unneeded space than to have such a small space that you're forced to cram everything together or omit certain structures you may need. My favorite building location is near the lake just SouthEast of Denica, but there are other locations you can build at.

TIP #3: This ties in with the previous tip. DON'T BUILD ALONG THE PREMADE ROADS! This limits your available building area depending on where you've decided to settle, and a lot of the premade roads dip into uneven terrain. You can't build on uneven terrain; the game won't let you. So before you start to build your dynasty, check and see how even the terrain is. Your eyes alone aren't reliable for this. I can't tell you how many times I just looked at an area and said "yeah, this is flat enough" only to be proven wrong and unable to place anything. To test the terrain, you can select a structure to build (any structure will do) and walk around with it and see just how flat the terrain around you is. Don't actually place the structure to build it, you just have it select it from the menu and have it pulled up on your screen. When the structure is green, you're on flat (enough) terrain. If it's red, there will be a little note at the bottom of the screen telling you why (it can be because of objects in the way or because of uneven terrain so make sure you're testing this on clear land).

TIP #4: This is gonna sound crazy, but bear with me okay? Okay. Spreadsheets are your BEST FRIEND. Don't click away. Just hear me out. There is A LOT of information you need to keep track of, even early on in your gameplay before you have a huge civilization to take care of. It gets even worse as you expand and bring people in to live in your dynasty. As more and more structures get built, and more and more people come to live there, you will need to keep track of what your village is producing and who is working what. So, what I like to do is make a couple different spreadsheets.
The first spreadsheet has to do with the people. This is where having long seasons comes into play: each different town on the map has a campfire somewhere within the village where people will sit around. Those people are called newcomers and can be recruited to live in YOUR village. The newcomers are randomly generated at the start of each season. So at the beginning of each season before I do ANYTHING, I will go to each individual village and write down every single newcomer's name, what town they're in, their gender, their age, and their skills. You can easily figure out their skills by going into inspector mode and looking at them. To figure out their age, you have to talk to them. I put all of this information into the first spreadsheet. Then, once I start building work places in my village, I will look at my spreadsheet and see who has the best skillset to work there. I usually only recruit people who have a 3 skill in the specific category because they will become unhappy if they are placed in a workfield where they don't have the skills. Each person also needs a place to live. You can only put two people in one house: a male and female. This is because they are meant to eventually have kids. I read somewhere that for them to have kids, they need to be no more than 5 years apart. Not sure if this is true, but I stick to that rule anyway. This is why I have their ages written down, so I know who to pair up with who. To make it easier on myself, I usually pair up people who work in the same place but you don't have to do that. This is what my spreadsheet looks like for reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHnOUkzMlDUqxv6BFw51uB4P4DKs_15Y/view?usp=sharing

The second spreadsheet is where I put down all of my work buildings. In this spreadsheet, I list the building, who works there, what items they need to get the job done, what items they produce, and how much of each item is being produced in a single day. This helps me keep up with the demands of my village. I'm not even close to being done with my village and I already have a lot I need to keep track of. At the beginning, you're limited to a small number of buildings in your village, so it helps to plan out what to build first. You're going to need a Resource Storage and a Food Storage for your people to get and place items, so build those first. Then I like to start off with the woodshed because you are going to need A LOT of wood to build other things and to supply your other work stations. After that, I build a hunter's lodge to supply food for my villagers. I usually stop here for awhile so I can build up my knowledge to unlock other buildings, and to unlock the space to add more structures. Then I add a well so my villagers have water. Then I add a barn so I can have farmers tend my food crops. Then I'll add a smithy so they can produce the tools needed for future work stations. After this, I usually just build what I feel like I need at the time. It's all up to you though. Anyway here's what this spreadsheet looks like: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fsja3RHAVrb_6wYP-ndxDfUNk8yzgU3W/view?usp=sharing

TIP #5: You DON'T have to complete the main quests immediately. When I first started playing, I was just running around constantly completely quests. It got to the point where I wasn't focusing on keeping myself fed and hydrated. I was also neglecting my village so a lot of people ended up running out of resources. So don't focus so much on that. The main quest lines will be available for 16 seasons, which is 4 years. And if you made the seasons longer, that gives you even more time. Also, you don't even have to do side quests. They're completely optional and don't hurt you if you don't do them. But you can do them if you want to. Doing side quests will reward you with food, weapons, tools, and even knowledge which helps unlock other work stations. But keep in mind that side quests only last for a season, so if you accept a side quest, you have to complete it by the end of the season which is another reason why it helps to have long season lengths.

TIP #6: Oh my god stealing is so helpful. Don't be afraid to steal things. Be careful when you do though because you can be caught and lose reputation points. Lose enough and you'll be banished. But jfc stealing really helps you out in the beginning. So I go to each town and steal everything I can. During the day I'll steal from people's houses if they're not in there. At night, I'll steal things that are placed outside because there are less eyes wandering around and looking at you. Items don't respawn, so once you take it then you take it. But the items also don't regenerate like people do at the beginning of each season. So if you don't have room in your inventory to take some items, you can always come back later when you do. Avoid buying items at all costs unless absolutely necessary, because you could end up not having enough money to buy something you need for a quest.

TIP #7: Don't be afraid to wander off the path. If you take the time to just walk around off-road, you'll be able to find things like abandoned camps, chests, barrels, etc that have items you can take. You can find tools, weapons, raw materials, sometimes even food. So don't think you have to stick to the roads 100% of the time. But if you are going to wander off path, make sure you have good weapons with you because you will run into enemies that will attack you like wolves, bears, and even bandits.

These are just a few tips I thought I'd like to share. Hopefully it helps out anyone who just started playing. It took me like 4 playthroughs to figure this stuff out, but that's just because I'm stupid.

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

There is few tips that I can agree with you but overall it's based on one type of play style.

There is so many ways you can play this game and what I learn, there is no good or bad way to play, and no bad consequence for failure.

Nice of you to share.

[𝕰𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖓𝖆]

Saving the game before doing something that can cause damage to your reputation, or before hunting, before build anything, or even before starting adding villagers it is always good idea.

I also travel using by water and oh boy how many things I have found. there are items that are not in barrels or bags. You can found it all over the places.

[Mark Forbes]

haha eterna, u r spot on. i love water travel, especially on my mount, stumble on fish? yay hunting boost, stumble on planks, seedlings, potions. just look at the beauty from the water. and to Alivesince1961, totally agree. now i used to die a lot at first, i didnt know anything, the u tube tutorials were so outdated, i didnt know about the forum. now i play in God mode because its fun for me and relaxing and ya, i got tired of arrows and spears bouncing off animals so i lowered their hp. i got the porcupine achievement and didnt know u could get it coz it took so much running and spearing to kill a deer. but it was so heart pounding, it was awesome. also starting out not knowing anything in advance has its advantages: omg i was totally into the story line, and i was shocked that well u know who killed my uncle. and i discovered sambors quest by total accident. speaking of sambor, u can guess where i chopped down trees for wolrad at, oh yeah, sambors wants to send me on tasks? play jokes? i chopped all his trees down and well what i didnt know was that they grew back. i was riding along lalalalalallala turned a curve and a winset rammed me and let out a roar and i had headphone on and it scared the heck outta me but made me lol. i was on horse and he kicked a lynk running across the road close to hornica so the road section was straight and i wish i could have snapped it in time but was litterally amazed, that lynx coulda scored from the 30 yard line. i lol so long, after 1000+ hrs of play i found out u could shod your horse and wow the stamina boost! for me, the most fun i had in the game, i stumbled on by accident, learned from my mistakes, and i wouldnt change any of it. I am glad no one taught me at the beginning of the game, now that the cats outta the bag i do welcome any suggestions and i ask many questions. Cheers.

[Mark Forbes]

oh and no lie, i looked in the tree tops for an owl till it got too dark to see lol

[𝕰𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖓𝖆]

Originally posted by Bule:

oh and no lie, i looked in the tree tops for an owl till it got too dark to see lol

Haha the owl this make me laugh.

[𝕰𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖓𝖆]

Originally posted by Bule:

haha eterna, u r spot on. i love water travel, especially on my mount, stumble on fish? yay hunting boost, stumble on planks, seedlings, potions. just look at the beauty from the water. and to Alivesince1961, totally agree. now i used to die a lot at first, i didnt know anything, the u tube tutorials were so outdated, i didnt know about the forum. now i play in God mode because its fun for me and relaxing and ya, i got tired of arrows and spears bouncing off animals so i lowered their hp. i got the porcupine achievement and didnt know u could get it coz it took so much running and spearing to kill a deer. but it was so heart pounding, it was awesome. also starting out not knowing anything in advance has its advantages: omg i was totally into the story line, and i was shocked that well u know who killed my uncle. and i discovered sambors quest by total accident. speaking of sambor, u can guess where i chopped down trees for wolrad at, oh yeah, sambors wants to send me on tasks? play jokes? i chopped all his trees down and well what i didnt know was that they grew back. i was riding along lalalalalallala turned a curve and a winset rammed me and let out a roar and i had headphone on and it scared the heck outta me but made me lol. i was on horse and he kicked a lynk running across the road close to hornica so the road section was straight and i wish i could have snapped it in time but was litterally amazed, that lynx coulda scored from the 30 yard line. i lol so long, after 1000+ hrs of play i found out u could shod your horse and wow the stamina boost! for me, the most fun i had in the game, i stumbled on by accident, learned from my mistakes, and i wouldnt change any of it. I am glad no one taught me at the beginning of the game, now that the cats outta the bag i do welcome any suggestions and i ask many questions. Cheers.

I am glad that you are enjoy this game it is simple, it is not perfect but I feel the developers heart is in it so it gives me a feeling that has a soul.

[𝕰𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖓𝖆]

Many thanks for take the time to share these tips, I am sure it will help many new players.

[hubbemattsson]

This is your personal choice, so I would not really call it helpful tips.
New players should still try the game on default settings. You will just become bored, to quick.

[subwaybananas]

I´m on hubbemattsson side. Its only personal choice, the default setting is okay for the first gamethrough. You only need to know, there is no need to rush or do something as fast as possible.
The best tip is #5. Don´t rush the story quests. You have a few years for it, do it beside your daily work. They consume a lot of time with their long dialogs. And its only a side part of the game, not the main part.

[Pluto]

Originally posted by hubbemattsson:

This is your personal choice, so I would not really call it helpful tips.
New players should still try the game on default settings. You will just become bored, to quick.

I mean. I'm in no way telling people they HAVE do any of this..... As the title says, this is just stuff I wish I knew. If I wanted to know this ahead of time, no doubt others would want to as well. And I wouldn't call this a "personal choice" seeing as it is a way to help you develop your playthrough instead of forcing you to play a certain way, hence them being tips and not guides. As for being bored too quick, that's your personal opinion. I'm having a lot of fun playing longer seasons.

[David Ford]

These are some good tips and as far a length of seasons, I would just say experiment. To each their own and besides after the 3rd day you can skip to the next season anyways if you run out of things to that season.

[Lodakai]

Maybe I am missing something here... but, I see many guides talking about finding a place with LOTS of space. Why? If you can build anywhere, I find it is much easier overall to build a small town near EVERY existing town. Or at the very least... a resource and food storage. This makes the game SO much easier when you have someplace nearby every town that you can drop off goods, process them, and sell them off right there.

The only drawback would be if you have to travel on the rare seasons a storm breaks out and damages buildings. But that's not even a big deal. Just pop some stamina potions, run over to your existing storage there... and repair away. Do some questing, shopping, hunting, and trading while you are there.

So.. does this all change later in the game or something? Why is it such a big deal to build 1 giant poorly located town rather than many small ones near everything else?

[subwaybananas]

Originally posted by Lodakai:

Maybe I am missing something here... but, I see many guides talking about finding a place with LOTS of space. Why? If you can build anywhere, I find it is much easier overall to build a small town near EVERY existing town. Or at the very least... a resource and food storage. This makes the game SO much easier when you have someplace nearby every town that you can drop off goods, process them, and sell them off right there.

The only drawback would be if you have to travel on the rare seasons a storm breaks out and damages buildings. But that's not even a big deal. Just pop some stamina potions, run over to your existing storage there... and repair away. Do some questing, shopping, hunting, and trading while you are there.

So.. does this all change later in the game or something? Why is it such a big deal to build 1 giant poorly located town rather than many small ones near everything else?

Its just a personal thing, if you want all in one space or spread around the map. The fields/farming place should be on one spot, with the living houses for the farmers. ´cause its better for the pathfinding of your farmers, they should have short ways and you need good plant area for the fields. All other can build whereever you want. But if you have tavern or benches in different places it can happen that your farmers run elsewhere.

[Tigrecito]

7 days is really a very personal decision.. good thing is in meantime you can change such things on the fly and you also can sleep till next season - which wasn´t the case while EA ! in general, there is no need for 7 days.. game is very good balanced with 3 days - which I really would suggest to use for your first play through !

don´t forget it is a dynasty game .. and even with 3 days it already takes very long time till your heir will take over.. also it takes much longer till you get the women back to work when they are pregnant .. so there are also downsides with more days per season ...

space is not needed .. you can build everywheere and you also can easy move your settlement to any point or create more than one village. the good thing is, you can play this game in so many ways, so for sure everybody can find it´s own way to have fun !

like subwaybananas mentioned: only farm building needs some attention because farmers animation is real - so they need a short way to farm building and also need short way to the fields. all other ressources are gathered "by magic" so you can put a woodcutter on a small island without wood and he will produce the same amount of wood like if placed into a forrest!

EDIT: regarding stealing: I never do it, because I don´t like the look of empty villages .. all what I can steal is some sort of decoration to the village.. and to be honest, if you accept that things will take some time, there is no need to get things sooner than you can produce your own..

[Floxy_Swoosh]

This thread IS helpful and TY for posting it! Tips are not demands, they are optional. Keep this community KIND, plz.

Extending the season length in the beginning allowed me to: better plan where to build, learn the map, search for quality villagers, find more lucrative campsites and carts, etc etc etc. I slept until next month if I didn’t need the extra days.

I used farm plots to reserve the space for future buildings like the tavern (I googled a building footprint reference) and even in lieu of roads initially while I placed my houses because I DID want a “squared off” big village. It really helped me keep things straight and symmetrical where I wanted them. I love adding poppies along houses and roads so placement was crucial.

F5 is quicksave and I hit it after an accomplishment or before a sketchy situation. If things go left after the save, F9 will quick load that quick save.

After 100s of hours, I just learned in this forum that I can buy animal spawns map from the hunter. Might be useful!

Defend against wolves by whacking it with your torch! It will run away.

Don’t forget to actually EQUIP your mount’s shoes and saddlebag!

TY for adding your OPTIONAL tips! I want them! No need to “should” all over your fellow gamers. If you don’t find ANY tips helpful, maybe keep that part to yourself and instead just add some new tips?!?