Outposts and Automation

How to create, design, and properly automate every type of outpost to maximize your production in Bellwright.

What are Outposts?

Outposts are a unique feature of Bellwright that happen to be extremely useful in your production chains. Their entire purpose is to act as a separate department to your main village, so that job priorities don't overlap. This is useful, because you can then prioritize your outpost jobs in an efficient manner that can result in some very ridiculous production numbers should you allow it.

An example from my most previous game would be the obscene amount of collected Iron Ore and Peat that I've picked up during my late Tier-2 phase.



It can be daunting at first when creating outposts, especially when the automation of production lines breaks due to small things. However, the purpose of this guide is to help you create your first outposts with ease. More importantly, it'll help you understand why your outposts are not producing to their fullest, and why your job priorities may need a second glance if your villagers aren't doing what you expect them to do.

What is Automation? Why do you call it that?

Simply put, automation is the application of processes to achieve an outcome with minimum user input. In Bellwright's case, the purpose of automation is to create resources through production without you having to constantly intervene - or heaven forbid, actually create said resources yourself.

If you're having to spend every evening creating resources, or building. You've overlooked something regarding the priority system, or outpost system that resulted in you having to do the job yourself.

Your nights should be spent mass murdering bandits and brigands, not doing peasant work! You're better than that, get your act together!

How to create a basic Outpost.

• Know upfront what you need produced, and whether or not it is worth having production in the main village, or if it's better off in an outpost. Not everything is better in an outpost. (See later sections for more details)
  
• Find a location for what you personally need produced. For instance, if you require early game wood, you'll want to build your outpost in an area with a lot of young trees. Young trees respawn, and you'll get a consistent supply of wood if you pick a good location.
  
• Build a Sign Post by the nearest road to your location. This is so you can quickly transport here in case something goes wrong with automation.
  
• Build a Housing Tent at the location.
  
• Build a Stockpile at the location.
  
• Build the camp you require to harvest or produce at the location. (Foraging Camp, Lumber Camp, Hunting Hut, etc.)
  
• Build a Work Bench at the location. (This is so they can repair the tools on site. Just note that they will not repair anything if the broken tool is put in the CAMP inventory, and not the stockpile.)

Example Outpost: Making a Lumber Camp Outpost for Wood.

Step #1: Find where you want to build, then go to your location. Preferably by a road so you can set up a sign post like I have. Having sign posts nearby makes this process much easier. In this case, I want a outpost to harvest 'young trees' for wood. So I picked this location north-east of Hearndean.



Step #2: For this particular wood camp - I will now place down a Stockpile, Housing Tent, Workbench and Logging Camp.



Step #3: Press N, click the "Buildings" tab, then locate the 4 buildings you've just placed. Click the "Housing" icon that's on the far right of that building.



Step #4: Either build the entire outpost yourself, or let your villagers build it for you. If you don't want your villagers to waste time roaming to deliver the goods/build this outpost for you. Skip to Step #5.

Step #5: Click the icon, and bring up the dropdown menu. Click "Create", then Name your new settlement.



Step #6: Press N, click "Population", then click on the name of the villager you want to send to that outpost. There should be a button called "Switch V" that you can click for a dropdown menu of all of your settlements/outposts. I clicked the name of my new logging camp, "Hearndean Wood Logging"



That villager now lives in that outpost, and can only access or work at that specific outpost. We will now set up deliveries to make certain that they will have enough food/materials to live, while also sending us what they harvest.

How to set up Deliveries.

• Press N, click the fourth tab titled "Deliveries"
  
• Locate your main village.
  
• Under "Create New Order", type into the search bar the item you want delivered then select it. In this example, we'll use "Wood" from our lumber camp.
  
• When wood is added to the list. Click the dropdown menu and then select the outpost you want wood delivered from. In this example, it's Trilog Logging, our lumber camp.
  
• Click the drop down menu in the middle, and select "One Time" for a single delivery. "Daily" for deliveries every day at Midnight or 0:00am. - or "Weekly" for deliveries every 7 days at Midnight or 0:00am.
  
• In the box with a 0 in it. Change the number to what you'd like to have delivered. I usually set mine to a high number because I want it transferred as soon as possible.
  
• Click the < or > arrows in the top-left of the deliveries screen to change which outpost you want deliveries sent to. In this case, I will want berries and mushrooms sent to this outpost so my villager can eat, and then work. I like to send about 5 of each a day. It keeps them functioning. You can determine what your villagers needs are yourself though. Smoked Mushrooms are also a good food source to send out - but you'll want your smoker and cook set up prior to doing that.

Common delivery problems:

• If your villager has not transferred the wood to the stockpile. It will not be delivered. Deliveries take directly from the main storage. It'll show up under "Available" on the storage screen.
  
• If you have wood, but it is in the camp, and not in the stockpile. It will show up as "Waiting for Pickup", the middle line of numbers on the storage screen. Anything 'waiting for pickup' or 'delivering' will not be Delivered by the delivery system.

Example Outpost: Setting up our Lumber Camp Outpost deliveries.

Step #1: Press N, then clicking "Deliveries" brought up the screen for my main village titled "Blackgardius" - I want wood delivered to this city. So in the small search bar at the bottom, I typed in "Wood" - which brought up the selection of possible options. By clicking wood, it now appears in my delivery screen.


Step #2: I use the grey dropdown menu to select where I want the wood delivered from. I choose "Hearndean Wood Logging" - I want it delivered daily, so I use the second dropdown menu to go from One Time to "Daily". Since I'm greedy, I want as much wood as possible to be delivered. So I set the limit to something ridiculously high like 1000. Even if there isn't 1000 wood, they'll send as much as is in the stockpile to try to meet that demand.

Because I want broken simple axes to be sent back. I also add "Broken Simple Axe" to my list too. This is so any broken axes can be repaired at my main village.

I also add "Simple Axes" to the delivery, because I want all of the excess simple axes to be sent back to my main village so they don't end up stockpiling at the new logging camp.



Step #3: Now that I have my wood set up. I click the < or > buttons located at the top left of the delivery screen to change which city I want things delivered to. I locate "Hearndean Wood Logging" as that's where I want my deliveries made next.

Since I want berries, mushrooms so the villager can eat. I add those at 5 daily.

Since I want my villager to repair their simple axe on site. I add 2 stone daily.

Since broken axes sometimes get sent back. It's generally a good idea to send back fresh simple axes every now and then. I typically send one daily, since any excess simple axes get sent back due to our earlier set up.



There we have it. The outpost is now fully set up, and deliveries are too!

Priorities and how to use them efficiently.

One of the biggest issues people seem to have is with how they handle the priority system. This is especially problematic with Outposts, since you aren't around to watch their actions day in day out.

My suggestion for setting up outpost priorities goes like this:

• Delivery should be set at 1
  
• Smelting/"Timed" Production should be set at 2.
  
• Harvesting/Woodcutting should be set at 3.
  
• Crafting should be set at 4.
  
• Use a second villager for 'active' production methods. I do not recommend using active production for single villager outposts. I don't use them at all personally, I keep all active production at my main village instead.

Why do you call it "Timed" and "Active" production? What's the difference?

I differentiate between the two for the purposes of this guide as Timed production is a production method that doesn't require the villager to stand by, smelters for instance, are a timed production method because they simply put the ore in, light the fire, then walk away. Cooking is also another good example of timed production. You just drop food on the smoker, then walk away until it's ready for pickup (Or burns if you take too long).

Active production requires the villager to sit there at the workbench/pit saw, waiting until what they're producing is finished before they can move on to another task.

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Delivery should be #1:

The most important job for a villager at an outpost, is transferring what they've produced or harvested to the stockpile. If nothing is in the stockpile, and it instead sits on the smelter, workbench, camps or huts, it can't be delivered through the delivery system.

Production should be #2:

Assuming you want goods to be produced on site. Such as smelting ore at a mining camp. You will want production to be the second most important job. This allows the villager to take what has been put in the stockpile immediately, and put it to use at the smelter, or bench.

Smelters in particular are good for this instance, because smelters take time to smelt. I call these Timed Production methods. This is time which your villager will then use to mine more.

Just note, putting a pit saw at a lumber camp is not a good idea if it's just the single villager. Production jobs that require the villager to be at the production method for the duration of production, takes away from their other jobs. In this case, the pit saw will require the villager to not produce wood/logs/deliver - and he will instead spend most of his time cutting planks. This type of job is typically better served at your main village, or, better served by having a second villager at your camp who's sole job is to cut planks and deliver.

Harvesting should be #3:

Weird how the most important job at your outpost is the least prioritized. Funny, right? Obviously harvesting jobs take up the most walking distance for your villagers. By creating something to deliver, they will then revert to delivering. However, if there is nothing to deliver - the villager will then go to harvest something to deliver. It makes a good cycle where nothing will sit on the camp for long, and everything will be properly delivered.

Crafting should be #4:

Unless you're using a pit saw, or a workbench for production on site. Crafting should be the last priority. The reasoning is simple, if it's not used for production, it's only used for on-site repairing.

Unfortunately, repairing is still rather buggy in the current version of Bellwright. You may need to set up a delivery for broken tools, and send back fresh tools every day if your villager has a habit of putting broken tools in the camps. (If it's in the camp, it might not get repaired.)

What kind of Outposts should I build? How many?

Early T1:

• 1 Lumber Camp. (Wood and Logs)
  
• 1 Foraging Camp. (Berries, Mushrooms, River Reeds)

Mid T1:

• 1 Copper Mining Camp.
  
• 1 Tin Mining Camp.

Mid to Late T2:

• 1 Hunting Hut.
  
• 1 Iron Mining Camp.
  
• 1 Peat Mining Camp.

Optional Camps:

• Cranberry Foraging Camp
  
• Mud Digging Camp.
  
• A Lumber Camp designed for only wood.
  
• A Lumber/Forester Camp designed for only cutting/replanting logs.
  
• A Mud Pit for mining Granite.

My personal favorite outpost locations

Lumber Camp (Green Circles on Map):

• North-east of Hearndean there is a very large "Young Wood" forest, which respawns. Making it a perfect location for a lumber camp. You can guarantee wood harvesting with very few hiccups here.
  
• North-west of Padstow there is a very large "Tree" forest, which is also in range of a decently sized "Young Wood" forest. The trees will not respawn until you've reached Tier 2 and set up a for
  ester. However, it'll remain useful long afterwords as a secondary Wood creation location.

Foraging Camp (Blue Circles on Map):

• South of Hearndean there is a herbalist hut, which happens to have nearly a hundred mushrooms growing in the location. There are also a wide array of berry bushes found here. This is a great location for your first foraging camp if you move close to the east river, or padstow lake. If you do not live near the water, you will instead want a location closer to water so you can gather river reeds early game.
  
• South-east of Hearndean by the east river is a good location for mushrooms and river reeds especially. The main issue with this location is that wolves are guaranteed to respawn in this area. So you will need to do some minor babysitting - or you'll need to equip your villagers who work this region very well so they can kill the wolves for you. If you notice this area stops producing, it's because villagers are being beaten or scared off by the wolves.
  
• East of Padstow by the lake is a fantastic location for garlic, flax, sage, mushrooms, berries and river reeds. I usually start in this area so I rarely get to make a camp. Of course, the reason I put my main village around this area is because it's so wonderful for early game foraging - especially the river reeds. If you don't plan to move here, I would highly suggest putting a camp around here.

Mining Camp for Copper (Dark Red Circles on map):

• South-east of Hearndean, except you're actually going to want to put it central to as many copper nodes as you can. The reasoning for this is simple. The range on the mining camp is actually fairly far, and you're going to want to get maybe 2 - 5 copper nodes in range. This spot is fantastic for getting multiple nodes in range. Mining Nodes will eventually disappear as the game progresses and your villagers mine them out, so it's always a good idea to prolong the lifespan of your outpost without needing further effort.
  
• West of Bradford has two copper nodes that're very easy to get in range of a centralized mining camp. A good backup if you need extra harvesting, or if your initial outpost runs out.

Mining Camp for Tin (Silver Circles on Map):

• North-east of Padstow by the hunter camp. There are two tin veins in range here, which should last you a decent while.
  
• Far North-west of Padstow, way out in the boonies, are two tin veins, and one copper vein. You can make use of all of these as a backup if you should need it.

Hunting Hut (Purple Circles on Map):

• South-east of Hearndean has an area where wolves, boars, crows and deer spawn regularly. It also happens to overlap with the copper node where 3 wolves will constantly respawn. So it's actually a very good idea to have a hunter kill them regularly so your copper miner isn't being harassed.
  
• South-east of Padstow has an area where a metric butt-ton of deer will spawn. For those of you who are getting bottlenecked by Hide, this is a great location to put a Hunter Hut down for deer.

Mining Hut for Iron (Dark Grey Outlining Light Grey on Map):

• South-west of Blackridgepool has around 2 iron locations that aren't even marked on the in game map. This location where the circle is, is close enough to them. Go look for yourself, you'll be surprised to find it there when it's not clearly marked.
  
• North-West of Horndean has a big bandit camp that can be cleared. Once it's gone, you'll have access to the two iron veins there.
  
• East of Horndean has two easily accessible Iron Veins that if you are careful with the placement of your mining hut, you won't have to worry about roaming spawns. If roaming bandits become a problem, you will have to deal with the two bandit camps in that area sadly. That's why this is so low on my list. It's a bit of a gamble.

Mud Collector for Peat (Light Grey Outlining Black on Map):

• West of Padstow, hidden in a horrid marsh area that you might not even notice on the map, is the ONLY peat location that won't be constantly harassed by bandit spawns. It's hard to build here, so be patient if you plan to use this spot. It's also very very far from roads, so don't expect to get here easily.
  
• The central island, north of Blackridgepool without any bandit camps on it. Sadly, you 'will' have to kill off every single bandit camp in this area for the peat diggers to not be murdered constantly. Of course, once you do, this is a compact island with very low roaming spawns locations.

Foraging Camp for Cranberries (Pink on Map):

• This island north of Blackridgepool is one of the few locations I've found with enough cranberries to be worth it. The villager will also cross the marsh occasionally to get the cranberries on the mainland, and it's surrounding areas.

Mud Collector (Brown on Map.)

• This is the most no-brainer outpost location for you. I don't need to tell you where to build this, but in case you want a location where I'd build it?... east of Padstow.

Pit for Granite Mining (Marked in Purple Outlining Dark Grey on Map):

• South-west of Blackridgepool is an area with a wide abundance of Granite. Four major node areas can be found here, with zero roaming bandits. This is pretty much my favorite granite spot.
  
• Kill the bandit camp north-west of Horndean, and you'll have access to even more compact Granite. Of course, you'll have to work for these ones, but it's still nice to have.

Troubleshooting: Why aren't my villagers producing anything!?

This will be a work in progress, but off hand what I can remember stopping my villagers from working included:

• Not setting priorities correctly. Having a priority too high over what I want them to actually do, will prevent them from doing what is needed. Researchers commonly have this problem as people don't set their priority high enough over other jobs.
  
• There are enemies nearby scaring your villagers away from working. Go and kill those enemies to make it safe.
  
• Your nodes ran out. Typically this happens mostly with mining camps. It's very common, and you should prepare long term for this to happen. Usually you'll get a few thousand ore per node location, which is why I advocate for outposts between multiple node locations.
  
• Their tool broke, or they put it in the stockpile and it got delivered. This can actually fix itself if you set your delivery system up correctly. They'll either fix it or you can just wait a day. Otherwise, you'll need to go down to the outpost and give them a new tool to work with.

Conclusion.

Outposts and Deliveries are worth learning. Doing it correctly can reduce the time you spend doing your own harvesting, and it will even help prevent bottlenecks in your technology or advancement.

Let me know if anything has changed since this guide has been made. I'll work on a revision after a few patches are released that make a difference to outposts.

[Vice [VindictiV]]

Thank you for the guide

[Rabbit]

@SirCarlos If you want to increase the amount sent then you have to increase not only the number of people set to deliveries but also give them bags etc. (Although I think its only set to give you 20 per person set to delivery) so you have to send more people to each place min

[MentalKitten65]

Do workers at an outpost still respond to Call to Arms?

[RNGeeves]

im pretty sure it is, it doesnt take that into consideration @SrCarloS
but otherwise good info

[SrCarloS]

Is this guide outdate? the game only let mi send 20 resources to the target city per each worker

[smquinn67]

When you dedicate two folks to an outpost, do you leave one on delivery/ production, and the other on harvesting?

[Quaicon]

Excellent work mate !

[drboldwin]

Good one thanks !!!

[Kauldric]

Nice guide!!

How about guards?

[Grim Battleborn(HICKXKUSH)]

Well this is much appreciated you just made understand where and why I am not getting much done