Advice -- What to Build in Your Town First?

[gpolander]

Just started the game a couple days ago and I'm at the point now where I have access to traders which, combined with my resources on hand, allows me to start building improvements and new things in my home town (the settlement that you rule).

Any advice on what should be done first while you are in Denmark and what to have it building when you go off to England? What's most critical to do, in your opinion, and what comes next?

[spokenword]

Armorer branch is great for giving you free hides, which can be used for armor crafting and/or buildings. In my two playthroughs, scavenging hides has generally been tougher than scavenging weapon salvage. On that second play, I started off with building up Armorer as soon as I have the resources to do so and concentrate on that through Denmark, and then kicked off the 2 week Palisades stage 1 build before the prologue ends, so that it autofinishes when summer arrives.

I delayed the Stronghold/Meadhall or Market/Thing decision until later when I decided if I was going to go for 100 prosperity or 100 power. Afaict, you don't lose anything by waiting on Stronghold/Meadhall, but the nice thing about building a Market is that once you get to a certain prosperity level, you'll have a bunch of traders selling every resource with extremely charitable prices.

[Jonas]

Just remember that you're aiming for 100 Power if you want access to all the endings, or 100 Prosperity if you want to be able to end the game without finishing any of the questlines, so it's safest to focus on one or the other or you may be short in both departments at the end :)

[Crusader]

Quite frankly, the build order matters little. The gains from the various buildings are small, with respect to the stuff you find out in the field as you explore the maps of the game.

That being said, it therefore means you can prioritise on the stuff that your Homestead can provide, that you need most. From the top of my head, you can get a boost in Valuables, Herbs, Rations, Salvage and/or Hides, although some of them are mutually exclusive.

As a useful tip: it pays of to straggle, both in the introduction campaign in Denmark as well as the main campaign in Britain. The safest way is to complete the quests you can do, until you get to the point where you can finish either campaign. Then straggle by wandering around the map and visiting camp sites. Use scouts to discover resources nearby, which is often Wood - and you need Wood aplenty to build up your Homestead. Also, while you're "wasting time" this way, you can have stuff built up in your Homestead (which also means it's counterproductive to rush either campaign).

In the two playthroughs I completed so far, I've been able to fully build up my Homestead before I had to finish it.

[Lampros]

What about WHEN to start building?

[perji]

Try doing level one for every building before finishing the Denmark campaign, including the buildings that only have one level.
When to start building? When you start the game. During the feast for your father's funeral you can slot one building for 3 days without any using thralls and construction will be over by the time the campaign properly starts.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by mischief_:

Try doing level one for every building before finishing the Denmark campaign, including the buildings that only have one level.
When to start building? When you start the game. During the feast for your father's funeral you can slot one building for 3 days without any using thralls and construction will be over by the time the campaign properly starts.

Got it; thanks. I guess I am already a day late. Any suggestions as to which building first? ;)