Newbie questions!

[Bill Garthright]

OK, I've just barely started this game, but already, I have lots of questions. I'd appreciate some help!

1. How can I change the font color, so I can actually READ the error messages that pop up on screen? (Red on dark gray might as well be invisible for me.)

2. How can I pause the game? It doesn't stop even when I'm into the Settings menu!

3. How can I plan my constructions (hopefully after pausing the game), before actually building something?

4. How can I pick up just ONE item from inventory? When I pick up a sling or an axe, I get them all, so none of my colonists can use them.

5. How can I see the no-spawn area that my banner creates. I know that it does that, but I have no idea how big it is. Admittedly, this is a minor issue.

6. Is it necessary, or even useful, to be near the water? My first world had a massive expanse of sand before I could even get to the water (and other areas with JUST sand). Do I need to site my colony near water (or sand or trees, for that matter)?


Thanks for any replies. These will do for my first ten minutes in the game, at least. Heh, heh. (Although, I'm going to have a hard time playing it at all if I can't read any of the error messages.)

[Pipliznl]

Good questions! I'm afraid the answers might disappoint you :(

1.) That's not an option yet...

2.) Exit to main menu :)

3.) You can't, but you can remove blocks you've placed.

4.) I think you can grab the entire stack and right-click on your inventory to place just 1 there.

5.) Press 2 to select the banner tool. As long as it's selected, the blocks around the banner should be green. That's the safe zone. The red area is dangerous.

6.) Water does not have a practical purpose yet.

Good luck and have fun!

[Bill Garthright]

OK, thanks for the info. I really hate games that won't let me pause to think - especially construction games - but I'll give it another try.

#4 will help. #5... I would swear I tried that, since that's how I assumed that it would work. Well, I'll see. Thanks again for the replies.

PS. I saw a YouTube video of the game and bought it immediately. There are a lot of things about it that I like. (I just didn't realize that we couldn't pause the game.)

[Pipliznl]

Totally understandable! And thanks for the kind words :)

AFAIK, both SP and MP work by launching and running a server and it's pretty hard to pause the server. We had better pause/slowmo/fastforward functionality in the past, but that changed once we added the server thing....

[Bill Garthright]

I didn't think of that, since I have zero interest in multiplayer. But it's not just personal preference (though it's a lot of that, certainly). I do have a life. Sometimes, I need to QUICKLY pause a game to deal with reality.

I play a lot of games, and I buy even more games than I play. So I've got more than enough games to play. All of them, though, are just games. Interruptions are just life interfering with my gameplay. :)

Maybe that's just me. If it is, then that's not a problem. As I say, I've got more games than I end up playing already. But I suspect that most people have lives, especially once they get a little older.

[Pipliznl]

Makes a lot of sense! I'll see if we can add a pause function. For now; returning to the main menu and reloading the game happens very quickly. And if your colony is safe, you can certainly leave the game alone for a couple of minutes :)

[Solitus]

@Bill Garthright a trick I've learned is that the zombies won't spawn until you place your banner down. So what I do is I get my basic defenses in place first; then I place the banner, then I start spawning in colonists. That way I can get rudimentary structures in place without having to worry.

[Bill Garthright]

Thanks for the tip, Solitus. I haven't had time to play much more, so that will still be very useful to me.

[Centurion58]

Look at the bright side: by not pausing the game, all those colonists keep growing stuff and making all those things you really need. Build a decent defense and go have lunch. Come back and see how much your stockpile has risen. I run the game with double the number of night zombies, and have no trouble, through guards and trench mazes, in keeping the zombie horde at bay all night. Hint: Adequate food is the key to almost everything. If you have lots of food and good defenses, you have all the time in the world to research and to customize your Camelot.

[Heldensátko]

My tip for defence . Place banner on flat area and press 2 to see your safe zone. Then dig around 1 block (next to that halfblock) and somewhere place one block to have easy defence. Then make mirro "labirint" that zombie must go in. I will create a video for that if u want :)

[Bill Garthright]

Re. #1 in my initial comment above, I just picked up a 32" monitor, CHEAP (because it's just 1920 x 1080 resolution). Since it's the same resolution as my previous monitor, but lots bigger, text in games is a lot bigger and a lot easier for me to read now.

And for some reason, the colors are much brighter on this monitor, too. So, for both reasons, now I can actually READ those pop-up messages on screen that are dark red on black! Woo, hoo! :)

And yeah, I took advantage of the fact that zombies don't show up until you plant your flag. Indeed, I took advantage of that to an almost ridiculous extent, playing it like Minecraft for a long time. Heh, heh.

But what can I say? I like to plan what I'm doing. I like to stop and think about it. And the controls weren't exactly intuitive for me, so it took me a long time to figure out what I was doing (if I really know now).

Anyway, it's working a lot better for me now. Thanks for the help!

PS. The new monitor also helps me read the text here on Steam, too. It's not so tiny now. So that's also a benefit.

[Bill Garthright]

And re. #5 above, I finally realized why I wasn't seeing that green circle around my banner. It doesn't show up until after you place it!

I was expecting to see the circle when I was placing the banner, so that I could pick the best place for it. I didn't realize that I had to place the banner and THEN press 2 to see the safe area. Duh! :)

I'm enjoying the game. It's addictive. But FYI, the lack of a pause feature still bothers me. I do not buy games that don't let me pause to look around, give orders, or just THINK a bit. I'm still happy I bought this one, but I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known that ahead of time.

Just personal preference, of course.