Do I just suck at this game?

[SuperKyle]

I can't even beat the first level? A new home? Like 15 attempts already. Is there a trick to this? Seems like you can never get them warm enough fast enough. My graveyards have hundreds of dead bodies. In fact my population grows from just the gameplay faster than I can get the resources to research warm enough stuff.

[SuperKyle]

Also, this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible. The first mission spawns you with 3 coal mines. Even using all 3 with an automaton + importing 800 coal a day from the only outpost with coal wasnt enough to keep my generator maxed out. I lost 600 people (90% of my population) before the first blizzard even came.

[Bobywan]

Dont upgrade the generator range, use hubs instead, they use less coal + you can switch them to work hours for the work building.

Chose Faith over Order, it's easier to play (no worker required in churches + house of healing to heal gravely sick without using steam cores).

Use a lot of research: try to have the maximum of engineer in workshop rather than medical posts.
Use scouts to find ressources and outposts early

There're hundred of videos on youtube to help you.

[Matty Knacker]

I have I think 80+ hours and have only beat new home and arks (though I play on survival) I'm currently doing refugees and I think I have had to retry it 30 times with I believe 2 runs going past day 10
I find retrying fun as I view it more like a puzzle and when I fail its cus I haven't figure out the puzzle yet and even though I have played the first couple days of refugee 30times I still can't wait to start all over

I would say don't view failing as a downfall but that your startargy at some point was wrong and figure out what you not optimizing and what you should focus on and what you can leave for tomorrow (example houses, you don't need any day 1 instead use that wood for a medical post and setting up research and resources)

[Aturchomicz]

Originally posted by SuperKyle:

Also, this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible. The first mission spawns you with 3 coal mines. Even using all 3 with an automaton + importing 800 coal a day from the only outpost with coal wasnt enough to keep my generator maxed out. I lost 600 people (90% of my population) before the first blizzard even came.

You just dont play on max efficency, your fault for doing so

[Matty Knacker]

Originally posted by Aturchomicz:

Originally posted by SuperKyle:

Also, this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible. The first mission spawns you with 3 coal mines. Even using all 3 with an automaton + importing 800 coal a day from the only outpost with coal wasnt enough to keep my generator maxed out. I lost 600 people (90% of my population) before the first blizzard even came.

You just dont play on max efficency, your fault for doing so

That's some good helpful advice man good job 👍

[just.dont.do.it]

Originally posted by SuperKyle:

Even using all 3 with an automaton + importing 800 coal a day from the only outpost with coal wasnt enough to keep my generator maxed out.

And why, pray tell, do you need to keep your generator maxed? It's a necessity to do so in the storm, but hardly so before that.
Not to mention that the game provides you with 3 different ways of getting coal (4 if you count outposts). Mines are not the only one.

[Bobywan]

And also mines will screw you over when the storm comes ^^
You should bet on coal thumper :P

[Azazel]

Originally posted by Matty Knacker:

I have I think 80+ hours and have only beat new home and arks (though I play on survival) I'm currently doing refugees and I think I have had to retry it 30 times with I believe 2 runs going past day 10
I find retrying fun as I view it more like a puzzle and when I fail its cus I haven't figure out the puzzle yet and even though I have played the first couple days of refugee 30times I still can't wait to start all over

I would say don't view failing as a downfall but that your startargy at some point was wrong and figure out what you not optimizing and what you should focus on and what you can leave for tomorrow (example houses, you don't need any day 1 instead use that wood for a medical post and setting up research and resources)

You're going to love Fall of Winterhome!

[TargetLost]

Well the mainstory took me 3 attempts till I passed on the deafult settings but i couldn't really figure out the essence of the game ..it all happened too fast.

Played a chill endless game after which I figured gives you time to figure things out.

Then I played survival and learned that I know nothing.
So I disabled the random negative events.. i mean really your steel is weak for days..??
Without them the temperature drop still happened too fast..so I set the economie to simpler.
(had liked to set the temperatur degrading to slower instead but no such option)

Anyway..with this reduced setting endless survival was well duable for me.

One thing I discovered that you can not avoid sickness in a blizard in complete also when you have all in perfect hot temperatures... so building good and enough healthcare seems essential. I ignored those laws and faith in my first games which made it a lot harder.
And then yes fast research seems important and good managing of the heat energy.
But yup I still haven't figured out how you can survive the default endless survival with the default settings. Seems you have to be already very experienced in the game to master this.

[Fluffy]

One of my first mistakes was not knowing that gathering posts allow people to gather stuff while keeping people warm, as apposed to just harvesting directly from boxes or steel wrecks. Its fine at -30 and above, but at lower temperature it causes frostbite. Extra engineers should go into workshops, and try and focus on steel and wood research when you feel that basic needs are met.

[DemoJones]

It can be a difficult game to get used to. I had many re-starts and failures, eventually getting impatient to the point of re-starting the whole mission as soon as I saw something was clearly not working or I regretted a decision I made in the early game.

Here's my start up strategy on almost every map:

1. Pause! (if you're playing without the survivor mode)

2. Set all your workers and engineers on the wood crates, steel wreckage (plural), and the last of the available work force on the coal piles.

3. Choose the "emergency shift" law.
3.1. Never use emergency shift*, it kills people... You choose this law to get the "extended shifts" law as soon as possible. When you do get "extended shifts" apply it to every workplace you can (you can do this for the entire mission on medium difficulty with few problems).

4. Build as many tents as you can around the generator, I think you only need 8 for the first settlers.

5. Un-pause and build the remaining tents until you get to 8.
5.1. You only need to turn the generator on when night comes on day 1

6. Build gathering posts to cover the scavenge sites. Just cover the wood crates, steel wreckage and one of the coal piles; so around 3 gathering posts.
6.1. Un-staff the scavenge sites completely and staff up your gathering posts as they cover that specific area.
6.2. Gathering posts are insulated, more effective and require less workers. They can also be improved with research.

7. Build a cookhouse in the next circle around the generator, the last space in the first ring will be for medical posts if you need them.

8. Build a workshop, research "Hunting tactics".

9. Build a hunters lodge.

10. Research "Beacon".
10.1. Get those scout sleds going!

Do all these things as soon as resources allow and you should be set up for a good start. That way you can adapt and make liberal use of the pause function to strategize depending on what you're about to face.

General tips:
1. Do everything you can as soon as you can.
2. Only unemployed people will construct, or constructions will be done during "free" and "sleep" time.
3. Child labor is kinda mean, your people also believe this, give them shelters and you can make them "apprentices" in workshops or medical facilities instead 😉
4. Snow pit -> Organ transplants -> Less time being sick.
5. The "Rations for the ill" law is a life saver 😂
6. I prefer going the "order" path for it's efficiency bonuses.
7. the "fight pit" law branch is usually untouched by the end of game for me, that branch leads to a lot of potential negative events.
8. Switch workers from unused buildings such as medical posts, cookhouses, and (rarely) workshops. Note that hunters sleep after a hunt, but can get in about 3 productive hours of work in a day before going on the next hunt if you switch their workplaces once they're done hunting and then at 17:00.
9. Build multiple workshops.
10. Learn and retry.
11. Save Scum for those "doh" moments.

Kinda love this game so I've played it a lot 😁
Hope this is helpful and not too painful to read!

[Halos]

Originally posted by Demo Jones:

7. the "fight pit" law branch is usually untouched by the end of game for me, that branch leads to a lot of potential negative events.

the llaw for the alcohol in the food is worth going down this branch alone. i will admit its kinda USELESS but i dont think it brings a lot of negative events at ALL. The public house needs more insulation to be useful anywhere beyond -70 or -80 but if you are having issues with discontent and your purpose/belief laws arent doing it then this branch actually can be usefull. i wouldnt do the dueling law unless you are REALLY late game tho...

[Buwaro Elexion]

Originally posted by dominicm:

3. Choose the "emergency shift" law.
3.1. Never use emergency shift*, it kills people... You choose this law to get the "extended shifts" law as soon as possible. When you do get "extended shifts" apply it to every workplace you can (you can do this for the entire mission on medium difficulty with few problems).

You can use it once safely, I usually use it on the workshop, also it only kills one person(scripted but avoidable with some knowhow) if you give them food for shifts at the end of the event arc(and the hope loss from the death is nullified by choosing it and letting the worker rest)

[SafeSpace]

Originally posted by dominicm:

It can be a difficult game to get used to. I had many re-starts and failures, eventually getting impatient to the point of re-starting the whole mission as soon as I saw something was clearly not working or I regretted a decision I made in the early game.

Here's my start up strategy on almost every map:

1. Pause! (if you're playing without the survivor mode)

2. Set all your workers and engineers on the wood crates, steel wreckage (plural), and the last of the available work force on the coal piles.

3. Choose the "emergency shift" law.
3.1. Never use emergency shift*, it kills people... You choose this law to get the "extended shifts" law as soon as possible. When you do get "extended shifts" apply it to every workplace you can (you can do this for the entire mission on medium difficulty with few problems).

4. Build as many tents as you can around the generator, I think you only need 8 for the first settlers.

5. Un-pause and build the remaining tents until you get to 8.
5.1. You only need to turn the generator on when night comes on day 1

6. Build gathering posts to cover the scavenge sites. Just cover the wood crates, steel wreckage and one of the coal piles; so around 3 gathering posts.
6.1. Un-staff the scavenge sites completely and staff up your gathering posts as they cover that specific area.
6.2. Gathering posts are insulated, more effective and require less workers. They can also be improved with research.

7. Build a cookhouse in the next circle around the generator, the last space in the first ring will be for medical posts if you need them.

8. Build a workshop, research "Hunting tactics".

9. Build a hunters lodge.

10. Research "Beacon".
10.1. Get those scout sleds going!

Do all these things as soon as resources allow and you should be set up for a good start. That way you can adapt and make liberal use of the pause function to strategize depending on what you're about to face.

General tips:
1. Do everything you can as soon as you can.
2. Only unemployed people will construct, or constructions will be done during "free" and "sleep" time.
3. Child labor is kinda mean, your people also believe this, give them shelters and you can make them "apprentices" in workshops or medical facilities instead 😉
4. Snow pit -> Organ transplants -> Less time being sick.
5. The "Rations for the ill" law is a life saver 😂
6. I prefer going the "order" path for it's efficiency bonuses.
7. the "fight pit" law branch is usually untouched by the end of game for me, that branch leads to a lot of potential negative events.
8. Switch workers from unused buildings such as medical posts, cookhouses, and (rarely) workshops. Note that hunters sleep after a hunt, but can get in about 3 productive hours of work in a day before going on the next hunt if you switch their workplaces once they're done hunting and then at 17:00.
9. Build multiple workshops.
10. Learn and retry.
11. Save Scum for those "doh" moments.

Kinda love this game so I've played it a lot 😁
Hope this is helpful and not too painful to read!

I'd done 90% of what this chap has suggested on my 3rd play through, this list is the optimal route. I'd like to add how important storage buildings are for mid-to-late game, get a nice big coal store if you can get enough excess production as it leaves you with room for error.

[Molay]

I would suggest watching the first hour of DDRjake playing a new home on survivor. Odds are you screw up your start something silly and are playing from behind forever. He goes over a lot of stuff. A good start, using scouts effectively, prioritizing research. Just watch an hour and then go in yourself. Play it on normal yourself. You'll have a good foundation to start and do what you like.

One important advice: play on speed 1. Feel free to pause if needed. Rushing causes lots of mistakes.