What's up with the different caravans?

[Kuronii Lumiira]

I've got a choice between two caravans with two species each, but one has way more supplies than the other. What determines that? RNG?

[sarteck]

It is, of course, RNG, but I think it's also balanced between the amount of supplies and the amount of initial settlers. I don't think that race visibility on the Caravan screen factors in, but it may; this is all just guesswork on my part. I hope someone can better answer the question.

[Lorska]

Each resource has a point value associated with it.
Basically just look at how embark bonuses work and imagine if they were all the same cost and you pick randomly from them.
That's how the starting caravans work.

There's a few extra rules though, like that you always have at least two types of food, have a certain amount of base resources (wood, gears, cores, later planks etc.)

I would look at what costs you a lot of embark points and then cover that with the caravan bonuses so you can focus on cheaper stuff. Depending on the biome or modifiers you might also consider what kind of species you want, i.e. humans/lizards in marshlands or beavers in coral forest.

Also while it's likely overlooked by new or cautious players, extra characters are worth a lot more than other options and especially combined with advanced resources like planks can give you a crazy headstart.

[Raptor Jesus]

I just pick which ever has the least amount of harpies (preferably zero).

[sarteck]

Originally posted by Raptor Jesus:

I just pick which ever has the least amount of harpies (preferably zero).

Heretic!