How do you win games so quickly?

[TonyShape]

When i read threads here i see a lot of people saying they finish at 4-6 year. I finish always 10-11 year. And i have no problems with that, BUT...

I just finished "prestige 9" with affix when people die in the storm muliplied by years. I didn't get any passive against the forest hostility so i really had to sweat hard to pull out this victory. So the time was against me.

I didn't watch any guides etc, playing game in my way with food production\prepearing, amanities stabilisation and then rush to victory. But last game showed me that i maybe missunderstand something.

Can you give me some of your tips for fast victory or maybe some people on youtube with clear and cultural material?

[Silberfuchs]

The first thing to keep in mind is simple: let the queens impatience work in your favor.
The higher the impatience, the higher the free reduction to hostility you get.

This means it can be useful to NOT take all the reputation points you get asap, not all finished orders need to be turned in instantly.

Hostility management is one of the most important things in AoS. At the same time you want to cut down plenty of trees. Woodcuters produce lots of hostility, hence the trick is to cut as much trees as possible without reaching a hostility level that hurts you badly.

Most of the time small glades aren't worth the hostility created for opening them in the first place, learn how to handle dangerous glades and focus on opening those.

Production buildings are less important than service buildings, because whatever you produce is a means to an end, and at the end of the day you want to end the match => service buildungs are a great way to achieve this final goal.

Don't have incense to run your temple? No problem: buy it from a trader, etc.
There will always be things your settlement will be good at and things it will do badly at => maximise your strengths and circumvent the issues created by your settlements weaknesses.

The same goes for the difference between the races, there is plenty of wiggle room that isn't obvious at first glance. Harpies for example are the best race by far to generate reputation, but they take more breaks than humans and beavers (= eat more often, and work less). Each race has up- and downsides.

[Narandia]

4-6 years on higher difficulties is hard to pull off without a ton of experience. And even then you'll always have some more drawn-out games here and there.

[Alexander]

Do people really finish settlements in 4-6 years past Viceroy difficulty? I'd like to see that. 5 years was my average time before developers decided to make games a bit longer (a couple of extra reputation points and the same amount of impatience points were added to the corresponding scales). Then my average finishing time became 7 years. That was before the Steam release. I made a pause in playing AtS for a while, and when I returned after the Camps update, my average time became 8-9 years. I play on P11.

[atlan]

I turn in orders as soon as possible. Maybe delay an order until the end of the storm but that's about it. Additional reputation means additional blueprints and that's what gets your game going at the beginning. Choose the orders such that they are easily fulfilled.

If you want to increase impatience, call the trader. Only take on new people when you are able to put them to some use.

However in the end, at lot of playstyles are possible. From what I read here, some people play p20 with very few villages (20-30) and focus on opening dangerous glades. I on the other hand often only open 2-3 dangerous glades in a game until I have everything I need to keep hostility in check. I usually finish in year 6, I don't even know if I had more than 50 villagers ever...

[TonyShape]

Thanks to everyoneone who spent time to write an answer. Don't want to look ungrateful, but yet i didn't read anything new :( Maybe my problem not in theory but in execution of a theory.

[Alt-F4]

I'm a bit skeptical. Some of the same people claiming to win the game in 5 years are the same people claiming to also be ready to open their first dangerous/forbidden glade by year 4 elsewhere (there again, I usually don't bother to distinguish between people - they are usually all the same). Others have said they don't look at their starting buildings until year 3.

There may be some truth to it, however. For example, as you upgrade the citadel stuff, you get access to the crude kitchen and the option to start with amber. Most of the time, I don't do things to raise the impatience level. However, if I were to build the trader outpost and summon the trader a few times early on, with amber already held, then I could use a combination of the high resolve from using the crude kitchen with smartly chosen starting resources as well as access to trader resources to have some pretty quick gains from resolve early on, particularly if service buildings are chosen.

If you could maintain resolve high enough on your population while turning in orders and summoning the trader early, you could potentially blitz down a run pretty quick. Just doing a little theorycrafting.

That, and you can get some pretty potent modifiers from the forsaken altar. It's just that it costs citadel resources to use, so it has almost no point until you've unlocked all of your citadel upgrades.

For me, since I can't start with amber, it doesn't really make sense to build the trade outpost until at least year 2 or 3, when I have something of an economy going to begin trading, or might have picked up a cornerstone that gives me a route to amber. If I start with amber, it can be one of the first things I build and immediately begin buying some of the resources I need. Normally, I wouldn't select a monastery in the first drop of cards, but - if I can build it and stock it from the trader early on, then that's an insane resolve boost early on, when it's easiest to acquire. Stack that with a few of the resolve oriented orders, and you might be able to sweep about 5 points of reputation pretty easily once you lay it down and commit.

I don't know if it would come in under 5 years, but whereas right now I generally am 5 years before starting to chip away at reputation (mainly to get more building options), and high resolve or meaningful trade is usually reserved for year 7+, I could start in year 3 and since most of the resolve based orders also grand population, start the snowball in year 3 or even 2, rather than have to wait until year 7 to see things start snowballing.

[TonyShape]

Originally posted by Alt-F4:

There may be some truth to it, however. For example, as you upgrade the citadel stuff, you get access to the crude kitchen and the option to start with amber. Most of the time, I don't do things to raise the impatience level. However, if I were to build the trader outpost and summon the trader a few times early on, with amber already held, then I could use a combination of the high resolve from using the crude kitchen with smartly chosen starting resources as well as access to trader resources to have some pretty quick gains from resolve early on, particularly if service buildings are chosen.

This is very interesting theorycrafting. I can pick "Ember" upgrade in the Capital after current run. And will try it. The problem is that after P9 early trading is pretty locked. So basicaly it needs good passave from the start.

[Kalisa]

i typically play P20 these days and most of my games range from 6-9 years typically, but keep in mind post P15 years are alittle longer since night lasts 2x as long, it can also change if someone buys a cornerstone to increase a seasons length.
I typically open my first dangerous glades at the start of year 2 (or about 20 seconds before storm ends year 1) depending on what storm negitive i have, but i also usually embark with oil and amber so the trader shows up at the start of year 2 and i can usually buy things if im missing anything for the specific glade event, or some glade events i may just let trigger since the effect may be managable.
On pre Prestige difficulty though i can typically beat games by year 3-4, on the easiest difficulty i can sometimes win at the end of year 2 but thats pushing it, and only do that really to jump towns fast to get to specific modifiers on map. On these easier difficulties, i pop danger/forbidden glades like they are candy and just summon the trader as impatience is not a concern.
Most of my victory points on those rushes actually come from glade events or opening caches.

at P1+ by year 5 or 6 im well on my way to snowballing, my priorities are alittle different each game based on a bunch of things but i typically want to lock down a good multiplyer of food (typically ranch, farm, and either skewers, jerky, or both, hopfully finding some of these in early glades) Ranch can 2-4x your food u put in typically, 2x normally, 4x if u do a double proc, then you can again 2-4x that finished product again at a 3 star food facility. so 5 veggies turns into 10-20 meat, 20 on a proc, 5 meat turns into 10-20 jerky, 20 on proc, its multipliers like this that get insane with snowballs, especially if u get any + production.

Also dont forget to do trade routes, i always see people saying trade becomes really bad at higher prestige, the only thing that actually gets hit is selling directly to traders, trade routes using provisions is still extreamly strong and as you level your routes it starts to snowball like most systems in this game.

Edit: i typically always start with amber these days but before i had that unlocked i usually rushed getting afew provisions going before the storm of year 1 with a trader up so i can start doing trade runs before the trader would arrive at start of year 2.

[Eleveneleven]

Originally posted by Silberfuchs:

Most of the time small glades aren't worth the hostility created for opening them in the first place, learn how to handle dangerous glades and focus on opening those.

If that's the case hopefully your advice in this area is quickly outdated because no aspect of the game should just be ignored because they're not worth it. Sounds like small glades need a buff.

[Kalisa]

small glades espically on higher prestige feel very lackluster, its just not usually worth the hostility increase let alone the amber price being the same as opening a danger glade. on really low difficulties they are okay.
I typically only ever open small glades when i have a stacking hostility reducer and lots of extra amber, or if im desperate for food and not in a position to open a danger glade. More often then not i just see them as in the way, something to cut around to get to more important glades.

[Yogurt]

Originally posted by Eleveneleven:

Originally posted by Silberfuchs:

Most of the time small glades aren't worth the hostility created for opening them in the first place, learn how to handle dangerous glades and focus on opening those.

If that's the case hopefully your advice in this area is quickly outdated because no aspect of the game should just be ignored because they're not worth it. Sounds like small glades need a buff.

There are unfortunately many aspects of the game that are ignored due to difficulty progression.

[TonyShape]

Originally posted by Kalisa:

On these easier difficulties, i pop danger/forbidden glades like they are candy and just summon the trader as impatience is not a concern.

Just used tectics with early abuse of summoning traders. Yet i don't have starting ember upgrade, i used bonus gears instead to sell them. I won at the begining of year 3 on 1st difficulty and grabbed my achivement for Acts.

It is interesting as a one time riddle, but ruins the aesthetics of city builder. Like "Dear citizens! We will finish this ASAP and after that you can go to hell or whatever. Idc."

But probabbly start with an ember is a really good idea even on P+ levels. Yet i don't know how much they will give me.

Anyway. I made it. Thanks to @Kalisa and @Alt+F4 for good advices. And thanks to everyone else for their time!

[TonyShape]

Originally posted by Yogurt:

There are unfortunately many aspects of the game that are ignored due to difficulty progression.

Thats why i am going to chill on P1 after i will finish P20. I have same with Civ 6. After beating the challange of top difficulty i just steped back to the difficulty where i can simply take pleasure from building my civilization.

[Kalisa]

Just wanted to share for those that were not sure it was possible, This here is a typical "settlement jump" game i do when moving across the map, so i set to easiest difficulty just to expand range quicky for hunting modifiers (since im finishing up achivements right now)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2919350872
for the record i had 1 order about ready to pop, 2 caches being opened, and another danger glade i was clearing for another 3.5 victory points within the next 3 min if game had continued. On harder difficulties i wouldnt have gone popping glades this quick usually though.

[Silberfuchs]

2nd year? THAT's fast.

I guess it's the result of knowing the game well paired with settler difficulty. You can expand uber fast without caring about hostility at all.