I am getting destroyed on Island 5

[kafkawhere]

I didnt know much about ending the game early or it getting harder as it progresses. I am at day 110 and playing co op. We are constantly dying on island 5. So should we start a new game or is there a way to beat it now after 110 days. We also didnt fully understand and utilized the decay system. We thought that when you beat an island and get everything from that, you dont have to care about it anymore and move to the next one. What should we do from here.

[Stardustfire]

you only can fully free islands with tech from isle 4 (5 in Northland) because its only complete save when you killed the port gate (possible with tech from second isle) and the cliffcave with the second upgrade tech so you can get the bomb, so yeah you must drive back to already visited islands. what is specialy true for isle 1 because there you get some of the best stuff but no gems for that, no matter what scenario.
difficulty raises with days past in the actual rulers reign (what makes the game a little to easy after you loose your crown and the heir takes over) and on top retalation wave and portal defenders strength factors in how many portals got destroyed already.
for your day count, i beat the Northland Mode in single Reign long after day 2xx with my start ruler, but yeah, the difficulty will skyrocket even more than what you see till now, the real fun starts after you seen 2-3 complete season cycles.
complete cohorts of breeders (most armored on top) will make the nights much more "interesting" , the blood moon nights will be double a season instead only once, and many more things....

[Fulano]

Things get more intense after the second winter, but it's definitely still winnable. I usually take around 2.5 years to win the game on cursed difficulty.

The more portals you kill, the more intense the greed get, so if you want the game to go easier I'd suggest avoid killing unessential portals (like the ones between the town and the dock). You only "save" an island by bombing the cliff portal after you get iron tech.

If you both loose your crown you don't loose the game, you continue playing as the "successor" monarchs on island 1. The strength of the greed attacks will be reset. Everything you unlocked with gems stays unlocked, you only need to re-activate them with coins. Most things will be destroyed because of the decay, but towers and walls have "foundations" left behind that means you can re-build them at the level they were when they were destroyed.

It's pretty rare to beat the game your first try in one reign.