My guide - Happiness is KING! & some rules & tips

[Mr and Mrs Meow Games]

At first, I tried the normal difficulty three times and couldn't make it past lv3 50 pop. The main issue was the constant riots from citizens and overwhelming enemy numbers I couldn't handle.

After switching to easy mode and establishing a stable lv5 village of 100 rats, I began to grasp some key aspects. I successfully built a stable lv7 village of nearly 100 rats in normal mode and could withstand each wave of attacks.

I want to share some experiences here to help everyone build their own "ratopia." In short, there are four main rules.

Rule #1: Happiness is KING.
Most products can be converted into Happiness. You can check by pressing G > Villagers > Happiness. Apart from well-known boosters like the clown, arena and school, other products such as backpacks, shoes, pottery, and more contribute to happiness.
Why is happiness so important? Firstly, villagers with low happiness will strike and even set fires, disrupting your focus on development. Additionally, higher happiness leads to increased work efficiency, not to mention many products themselves have buffs, for example, some food items slow down stamina depletion, etc.

Rule #2: Do not over-expand!!!
This is crucial and was my downfall in the first few games. The respawn points of enemies on the map (yes, those green tombstones) create a tunnel and a wave of monsters on invasion day if they're close enough to your buildings, approximately half the screen's distance and a little more. This tunnel can penetrate walls. Especially in the early game, when your forces can't destroy the tombstones, try not to dig tunnels too deep and far. Ensure that each wave of monsters is something you can handle. By the mid-game, when you've built at least 4-5 barracks and a headquarter, you can gather forces to destroy tombstones.

Rule #3: Circulation of Money
This was initially a headache. The game is very realistic; money doesn't grow on trees. The kingdom's money is fixed, and methods to increase overall money are limited and not very efficient, like mining copper/gold and using a mint, or trading with nearby countries. Therefore, the focus in the early and mid-game is on how to keep the limited funds flowing without going bankrupt. My experience involves setting a 15% tax for citizens with assets over 200 and selling grain at $30, toilets at $20. Legislating subsidies for citizens with assets under 100 to receive a $100 allowance ensures they have enough money to eat and use facilities. Also, quickly establishing your law stone and shrine of rats for automatic tax collection from citizens passing by.

Yes, shrine of rats, shrine of rats, shrine of rats,
maybe the most important structure in the early game.

I don't think a tax office is necessary when the population is below 40.

Rule #4: Be flexible
I've noticed that each new game's generated map has its own characteristics. Besides rabbits which seem to always appear, there's usually an abundance of a specific kind of wild animal. Geology and weather also tend to favor a particular direction, like a lot of sand or almost daily rain. Utilize these conditions to develop specific patterns using natural resources. For instance, bees with daily rain alongside flowers can lead to substantial honey and beer production. Be mindful that many products themselves are banned from the poor class and require legislation to be utilized.

Early construction priority:
gate > sawmill > research desk & lab > bunk bed > gathering (grains, grass, etc.) > circus > basic processing facilities (stones, weaving, etc.) > law stone & shrine of rats

Other Tips:

Tip 1: Set beds to AUTO!
Beds have an AUTO setting. With enough beds, citizens automatically choose the closest bed to their workplace, enhancing overall efficiency.

Tip 2: Enable "Task Condition" production settings of production buildings,
then setup a quantity check for each production. This saves materials and man power from over production.

Tip 3: Rabbits - food & happiness & speed & carry capacity
Rabbit holes constantly generate rabbits. One rabbit caught by a hunter yields 5 pieces of meat. 2 hunters and 3-4 butchers can rapidly increase your food supply. You can also process them to make backpacks and shoes, contributing to various forms of happiness.
Shoes +20%moving speed while backpacks +2 carry capacity.
When grain essentially stops growing during winter, rabbit meat becomes a very reliable source of food.

Tip 4: Most facilities have a range setting
Set the range to a maximum of 40! With careful planning, most facilities only need one to cover the entire country. Clowns, arenas, and schools usually only require one in the early or middle game

Tip 5: Choose rats with no drawbacks
It's best to select citizens without drawbacks. Reject three groups of rats if necessary and wait for a new batch tomorrow. It's better to have a slightly slower development than to have insufficient manpower. Citizens with gold ore are also a good choice.

Tip 6: Develop upwards
If you have enough grass and dirt in the early game, it's safer to expand upwards rather than downwards since there's usually less danger in the sky.

Tip 7 Planning in advance
Plan the layout of the entire city in advance based on the distribution of resources. The aim is to minimize the distance rats need to travel for eating, working, and entertainment while also reducing the need for resource transportation. If there are distant work areas to connect, it's advisable to reserve linear space early for building railways or elevators.


Tip8 Lift stations
Leave a gap of one grid on each side of the main staircase clear from any construction, as three grid spaces are required when building lift stations in the mid to later stages.


I'll share more once I've had the chance to explore further,. I hope this can help everyone to enjoy this amazing game!

[Eldar Farseer]

i think the shrine of the dog is better for early it allows you to find the spawners so you can dig holes to them or build ladders to connect them to your city so the enemy dont spawns in your city but takes the foot route and runs through your traps or comes in predictable ways at least. in my games sometimes tombstones activated in areas i did not explored before. must say your guide pretty much sums up what to do in the game.

[redhongkong]

i didnt notice auto bed , good to know

[Eldar Farseer]

what do you think of the cementary and its mood +3 buff for visitors, worth it or a wasted workplace?

[Sera]

I didn't realize *that's* how Auto bed worked, will definitely keep that and the task condition in mind for my next playthrough! Thanks a lot for the info!

[jspanglet]

If beds are set to auto, will ratizens change their beds if their jobs change? Also, do decorations affect happiness?

[Flavalicious]

I didnt't know about the auto beds lol. Though having it manually set to the closest job could still end up being better as it forces the path finding onto a direct and reliable path, its probably close to as good without any of the work.

Your spot on about building up. Especially since all spawn locations seem to be near a large tree skin mountain, I've safely setup all my farms in a vertical slice in there and it works lovely. Then I've started building above the central storage container and works great.

[G.C.Stargazer]

There's some good stuff here! Thanks for taking the time to write this!

[Hazelberry]

Might want to make this an actual guide so people can upvote it and find it easier in the future! Some great information in here, thank you very much

[Urist McDood]

Oh wow, the knowledge that hygiene and entertainment facilities have range blew my mind. That is probably the single biggest thing that should of been taught to the player instead of just letting them amass a population of clowns due to the awful default distance of 19 it's assigned with.