Guides for a new player

[Paddy]

Hey guys I'm a big fan of strategy games whether it be Total War, Stellaris, EU, Anno, Manor Lords etc. However i first put on this game last night, changed The difficulty settings to normal in a very large map and after 35 turns I'm almost last in terms of prestige lol.

What am I doing wrong? I'm building everything i can. To be honest I'm not too sure what to build and why. I feel i just haven't clicked with understanding this game yet. Can someone tell me what to do? For example in Anno you know exactly what your citizens need so you go about creating the production chain to get there however in this game there is no many things to craft but I'm not sure what to pick and why? I can't find any indepth guides on YouTube. Also how are other advancing in Prestige faster when I'm building everything I can

[Lucullo]

Look at the Guides section here, thre is a (pre-release) guide that is actually good at explaining some of the special things in the game.
Also 35 turns are almost nothing in the progress of your nation, later more Prestige opportunities will arise.
As for the citizen needs, the key is providing them a constant influx of the good they want, initially Feast. Those are crafted in you initial city center structure. The tutorial will guide you to start and boost Feast production there.

[Paddy]

Originally posted by Lucullo:

Look at the Guides section here, thre is a (pre-release) guide that is actually good at explaining some of the special things in the game.
Also 35 turns are almost nothing in the progress of your nation, later more Prestige opportunities will arise.
As for the citizen needs, the key is providing them a constant influx of the good they want, initially Feast. Those are crafted in you initial city center structure. The tutorial will guide you to start and boost Feast production there.

Yea the issue is i don't know what the citizens want. Is there a tab that says what good they are particularly after as then it would make sense that all I need to do is craft that good similar to Anno

[archonsod]

There's a couple of YouTube guides / let's plays that might help.

Originally posted by Paddy:

What am I doing wrong? I'm building everything i can. To be honest I'm not too sure what to build and why. I feel i just haven't clicked with understanding this game yet.

Hah, that's a big topic :P

Generally, avoid building in your capital territory - later building unlocks give boosts if built in the same territory as the capital, and early game it's far more beneficial to have an extra scout or two running around. I usually leave it producing feasts.
First claim I'm usually looking for a territory with 3+ food yield and 4+ regions, ideally empty though grain/livestock is acceptable. First thing I'll build in there is a farm to keep the city growing (note city growth is dependent on the food harvested within that city. The general pool will prevent a city starving, but it won't let it grow). The reason I want this kind of territory in particular is because one of your early unlocks is the granary which boosts the output of all farms in the same territory it's built, so if you can cluster 3 or 4 farms together and top off the region with a granary your food needs are taken care of for quite some time.
After that you want to start looking at resources. Note with most harvest buildings the output is a multiplier of the region's output.. So a 2+ or higher material territory is a good place for a stone pit or two, a 3+ or higher timber region is a good pick for lumber yards etc. If material income is fine (remember you collect the basic materials from any region you claim, whether there's buildings in it or not) then the priority is the workshops. Again, clustering is useful here as a later unlock, the mill, boosts production at all industrial buildings like the workshop in the territory it's built (as well as boosting all farm output in the city). So again, ideally a territory with 4+ empty regions to place three workshops and, much later, the mill.
At some point the city will hit it's housing limit, at which point you'll need a dwelling to keep it going. Ideal spot for these are those territories where you've got a resource; some of these do benefit from clustering (Stables for example boost animal production) but it's relatively uncommon to find a territory with multiple resources, so the spare space is useful for things like dwellings, altars and other improvements that don't benefit from clustering.
Once the workshops are up and running you can start producing useful stuff to slot in buildings. Useful things early game are plows (their upgrade heavy plow is a medieval era unlock), furniture and baskets (slot them in dwellings to boost city production) and rope (boosts production in a few buildings, and is used to build the palace and a few wonders). At the same time keep an eye on your inventory to see what your scouts are collecting from caches; there's a lot of useful stuff you can slot places or consume for boosts - candles for example will boost knowledge generation if slotted in your Great hearth or dwellings, or can be consumed for a ten turn knowledge boost. Wheels can slot into some production buildings and also your Great Hearth for a production boost etc. If you hover over an item in the inventory the tool tip will tell you whether it can be slotted somewhere (supply) or consumed (amenity) and it's effects, as well as which buildings it can be used in.
Early priorities are usually to source a metal income (copper/iron deposits) since it's essential for most things as the game progresses. Grain is useful, you need it for the granary and it can be consumed to speed up feast production (although the granary let's you create stored grain which provides a bigger food and growth boost, albeit without the happiness increase). Horses or elephants are necessary for cavalry, horses or cattle can also help boost plow production.

there is no many things to craft but I'm not sure what to pick and why?

Read the tooltips, it'll tell you what buildings produce a good, where it can be used and what it's effect is. A lot of it is fairly intuitive - ceramic vases for example are useful for food and drink storage (granary, wine making etc). Goods which are listed as 'supply' mean they can be slotted into a building for a bonus; in harvest and crafting buildings this is usually a production bonus - mining copper or producing furniture is a lot easier when you have tools rather than your bare hands - in dwellings these tend to provide city bonuses; decorations like fine paintings or vases make your population happier, giving them decent furniture to rest on and a basket to carry things makes them more productive etc. If you select a building then click it's slots it'll show you what could possibly go there (and note it's different for each slot). The same applies when crafting something, click the slot to see what the options are, they'll all boost crafting speed by the % under the slot, and again most of it is intuitive - iron tools are quicker to produce if you have iron ingots and timber for example.
Amenities are the things you can consume at the city centre for a temporary (10 turn) boost. Most useful early game are things like feasts and stored food since they tend to boost food and growth - if you have a few feasts in storage when you found a new city you can assign them as amenities and it'll grow that little bit quicker.

Also how are other advancing in Prestige faster when I'm building everything I can

It's not just building that gets you prestige. Research will net you prestige (look for the points when you select the research). Tribes are a useful early source of prestige if you accept their quests (always worth keeping a spearman in reserve for this). Also check the building tooltips - most give you some prestige when built, but some like the monument get bonus prestige if built in certain places. There's also points for religion followers, winning battles and wars etc.

[Paddy]

Originally posted by archonsod:

There's a couple of YouTube guides / let's plays that might help.

Originally posted by Paddy:

What am I doing wrong? I'm building everything i can. To be honest I'm not too sure what to build and why. I feel i just haven't clicked with understanding this game yet.

Hah, that's a big topic :P

Generally, avoid building in your capital territory - later building unlocks give boosts if built in the same territory as the capital, and early game it's far more beneficial to have an extra scout or two running around. I usually leave it producing feasts.
First claim I'm usually looking for a territory with 3+ food yield and 4+ regions, ideally empty though grain/livestock is acceptable. First thing I'll build in there is a farm to keep the city growing (note city growth is dependent on the food harvested within that city. The general pool will prevent a city starving, but it won't let it grow). The reason I want this kind of territory in particular is because one of your early unlocks is the granary which boosts the output of all farms in the same territory it's built, so if you can cluster 3 or 4 farms together and top off the region with a granary your food needs are taken care of for quite some time.
After that you want to start looking at resources. Note with most harvest buildings the output is a multiplier of the region's output.. So a 2+ or higher material territory is a good place for a stone pit or two, a 3+ or higher timber region is a good pick for lumber yards etc. If material income is fine (remember you collect the basic materials from any region you claim, whether there's buildings in it or not) then the priority is the workshops. Again, clustering is useful here as a later unlock, the mill, boosts production at all industrial buildings like the workshop in the territory it's built (as well as boosting all farm output in the city). So again, ideally a territory with 4+ empty regions to place three workshops and, much later, the mill.
At some point the city will hit it's housing limit, at which point you'll need a dwelling to keep it going. Ideal spot for these are those territories where you've got a resource; some of these do benefit from clustering (Stables for example boost animal production) but it's relatively uncommon to find a territory with multiple resources, so the spare space is useful for things like dwellings, altars and other improvements that don't benefit from clustering.
Once the workshops are up and running you can start producing useful stuff to slot in buildings. Useful things early game are plows (their upgrade heavy plow is a medieval era unlock), furniture and baskets (slot them in dwellings to boost city production) and rope (boosts production in a few buildings, and is used to build the palace and a few wonders). At the same time keep an eye on your inventory to see what your scouts are collecting from caches; there's a lot of useful stuff you can slot places or consume for boosts - candles for example will boost knowledge generation if slotted in your Great hearth or dwellings, or can be consumed for a ten turn knowledge boost. Wheels can slot into some production buildings and also your Great Hearth for a production boost etc. If you hover over an item in the inventory the tool tip will tell you whether it can be slotted somewhere (supply) or consumed (amenity) and it's effects, as well as which buildings it can be used in.
Early priorities are usually to source a metal income (copper/iron deposits) since it's essential for most things as the game progresses. Grain is useful, you need it for the granary and it can be consumed to speed up feast production (although the granary let's you create stored grain which provides a bigger food and growth boost, albeit without the happiness increase). Horses or elephants are necessary for cavalry, horses or cattle can also help boost plow production.

there is no many things to craft but I'm not sure what to pick and why?

Read the tooltips, it'll tell you what buildings produce a good, where it can be used and what it's effect is. A lot of it is fairly intuitive - ceramic vases for example are useful for food and drink storage (granary, wine making etc). Goods which are listed as 'supply' mean they can be slotted into a building for a bonus; in harvest and crafting buildings this is usually a production bonus - mining copper or producing furniture is a lot easier when you have tools rather than your bare hands - in dwellings these tend to provide city bonuses; decorations like fine paintings or vases make your population happier, giving them decent furniture to rest on and a basket to carry things makes them more productive etc. If you select a building then click it's slots it'll show you what could possibly go there (and note it's different for each slot). The same applies when crafting something, click the slot to see what the options are, they'll all boost crafting speed by the % under the slot, and again most of it is intuitive - iron tools are quicker to produce if you have iron ingots and timber for example.
Amenities are the things you can consume at the city centre for a temporary (10 turn) boost. Most useful early game are things like feasts and stored food since they tend to boost food and growth - if you have a few feasts in storage when you found a new city you can assign them as amenities and it'll grow that little bit quicker.

Also how are other advancing in Prestige faster when I'm building everything I can

It's not just building that gets you prestige. Research will net you prestige (look for the points when you select the research). Tribes are a useful early source of prestige if you accept their quests (always worth keeping a spearman in reserve for this). Also check the building tooltips - most give you some prestige when built, but some like the monument get bonus prestige if built in certain places. There's also points for religion followers, winning battles and wars etc.

Thank you for this. This is a MASSIVE help. I'm going to jump back in soon and give some of this a try 🙂

[The Former]

Rather than building everything, aim to specialize a bit, especially early on. Decide your initial strategy and try to focus on things that promote it. For example, if your strategy is to snap up land early, focus on things initially that get you growth. Not exclusively, but make them your primary goal.

It's one of those situations where it's a legitimately fresh title that innovates in a lot of interesting ways, so it'll take some trial and error to find the sweet spot of what works best for you. I'm finding some of my Paradox background is working and some of my Civ background is working, but neither is sufficient to carry me through the game on their own and I'm needing to do some "failing forward", so to speak.