Let's Play – Episode 02

You can find episode 2 of my Let's Play Timber & Stone series here on YouTube. In this episode I start building the foundation for my castle out on the lake. The video ends with me finally starting to build the foundation for my castle on the lake. For the tutorial side, I discuss the following items:

• Clearing Timber
• Encumbrance Issues
• Storage Caches
• How Much Food is Enough?
• Detecting Enemy Mobs
• Pickaxe Tiers
• Micromanaging Mining
• Micromanaging Building
• Dusk Arrives
• Inventory Management
• Don't Guess – Look!
• When to Define the Hall
• A Hall With No Roads
• Expanding the Farm
• Balancing Labor

Clearing Timber

In general you want to simply have the wood choppers cut the trees down to harvest the timber, leaving the stumps so that the trees can regrow. However, there are times in which you want to clear-cut an area, ensuring that the trees do not grow back. In order to accomplish that, you need to remove the stumps by left-clicking on them and selecting Remove Stump from the menu. Note that removing stumps does gain you wood.

Clear-cutting allows you to have a clean space for building, but also is useful if you want to have trees away from your walls and buildings. This allows for clear fields of fire for your archers and reduces the spread of fire, which is the biggest danger to your settlement's structures and farms. I will go into more detail about wildfires in a future episode. Let's just leave it for now that I have had to reset games because I ignored wildfires for too long!

Encumbrance Issues

As I showed in episode 1, I lower the encumbrance of my settlers at the start of the game. The following table shows the values I use, by profession, and the reasons.

Profession	Encumbrance	Reason
Miner	8	The miner stays relatively close to the camp and, of all the gatherers, has to carry the heaviest materials. By keeping their encumbrance relatively high you ensure that they can collect enough material to warrant walking back to the wagon to unload, but not so high that they will be slowed when carrying a full load.
Wood Chopper	6	The wood chopper moves out into the field, eventually straying away from the camp as they gather more and more timber. Further, it takes a wood chopper longer to gather their resources (as compared to a miner), so to ensure that the carpenter and stone mason has sufficient materials to keep busy, lowering the wood chopper's encumbrance keeps the materials flowing.
Farmer	6	The farmer generally stays close to camp, unless you have designated your farm away from it (which is generally not a good idea) and their tools and materials (food and seeds) are very light. To ensure that they do not lose a lot of materials, should they die from an unexpected attack, keep their encumbrance low. Further, this help reduce seed production (see below).
Forager	6	The forager has one of the most dangerous jobs of all as they frequently stray far afield of the camp. Their tools and resources (food, hair, hides, fat, and wool) are very light, so they can carry a tremendous amount of resources when fully encumbered. To ensure that the loss is minimized, reducing the encumbrance will force them to unload more frequently. That does mean that they will collect less during the course of the day, as they make more trips back to camp, but that is actually not a bad thing.
Crafters	12	The crafting professions – builder, carpenter, stone mason, and blacksmith – are almost always at camp. Further, other than builders, they rarely carry more than one tool and one resource at a time, so being slowed by being over-encumbered is rare. Rather than lowering it and trying to remember to raise it if you switch them to building, it is simpler to keep their encumbrance high.

After you have built up enough surplus of tools (about five of each of hunting knife, hammer, tongs, axe, pickaxe, and hoe) you can increase the encumbrance levels of some of those professions. I raise the miners from 8 to 10 and the wood choppers from 6 to 8. I leave all other professions at their same levels until Dusk.

Once Dusk has come, and all settlers have been pulled into the camp (see Dusk Arrives and A Hall With No Roads below), I generally raise everyone to an encumbrance of 12. Also note that the above values are really for the first day. I tend to keep the inventory of the farmers at 6, at least until they start wearing leather armor or cloth tunics, and the foragers at 8, while everyone is raised to 12 starting on day 2.

Storage Caches

Placing storage caches – groups of storage containers – at various key locations around the map is necessary in ensuring that your settlers are as productive as possible. Building storage containers close to the wagon is a bit of a waste as the settlers are not saving any steps in going to a storage container over the wagon. It is very important to create a few caches in order to cut down on the travel time for your professions. This is especially critical for your gatherer professions that go far afield, such as foragers and wood choppers, and to a lesser extent, miners.

So what is a storage cache? For a wood chopper it is a Woodpile, Too Chest, and a Food Barrel, at a minimum. Find a stretch of dense timber and place these three storage containers in the center of them. This will allow the wood choppers to walk out to the timber area, start chopping, unload wood, eat lunch, and grab a new tool after it breaks all without leaving the work area. Ideally, they will be able to come out at the beginning of the day and stay out all day until it is time to return at Dusk.

By adding a Resource Crate to this cache you can also service the foragers, who need that storage container to store the collected wool and the animal hair, hides, and fat. Given that foragers typically walk the farthest during the day, storage caches far from the wagon will save them a tremendous number of steps.

Note that these storage containers will be targets for goblins, especially archers who love to shoot fire arrows at them, so you may well have to replace them over time. Also, make sure that you have a surplus of storage so that if these storage containers are attacked you do not lose critical resources due to their loss.

As a side note, if you are the sort that likes to make paved roads or large walled areas, having a storage cache for builders will also be critical. This will require a Mining Stockpile, Tool Chest, Food Barrel, and a Builder's Cart. This will give miners and builders all of the necessary storage so they do not need to return to camp until the job is done.

How Much Food is Enough?

This thread on Migrant Spawn Mechanics, from one of the game's developers, tells us a key algorithm of the game: (number of settlers + 1) * 8.4 food = minimum number of food to entice a new migrant. So, when I said that I had about 100 food and "that is enough" I meant to entice one more migrant. ([8 settlers + 1 migrant] * 8.4 food = 76 food needed.) Of course, once I get a migrant then more surplus food would be required. Generally speaking 100+ food will support 12 settlers, so if you can maintain that level you have quite a bit of room for growth. But when you start getting into 20 and 30 settlers, you will need a correspondingly larger surplus to entice migrants.

Detecting Enemy Mobs

Watching all of the other YouTubers I see that the most common method of detecting enemy mobs is to use the [Page Down] key until you reach the bottom of the map (when the map turns black) and then scroll around looking for the creatures. It is far easier to open the un.sav file in a text editor and look at the last section of the document. This is where the mobs, merchants, and migrants appear. In this example (see figure below) there are 8 mobs (all spiders) and 1 merchant on the map.

On the Mac, which is what I game on, I can leave this file open and every time the file gets updated the text will reload in the screen. By simply looking at the bottom of this file I can detect when the mobs appear. It saves a lot of time scrolling around.

If you are interested in what these numbers mean, keep reading. Let's take an example line:

Spider/48.9/-3.4/-23.1/225/0/0/False/

For mobs each element is separated by a '/'. The first element is the type of mob, in this case a Spider.
The second element is the X coordinate.
The third element is the Y (elevation) coordinate.
The fourth element is the Z coordinate.
The fifth element, I believe, it the direction it is facing at the time of the same, in degrees.
The sixth element is the number of hit points the mob has.
The seventh element, I believe, is the "sub-type". For example, each of the types of goblins indicate a different number here, representing marauders, ravagers, archers, etc.
I am unsure what the eighth element is for, but I have alway seen a value of "False".

Note that this example is of a spider I had killed, but not yet harvested, so it had 0 hit points.

I point this out because it is interesting to look at. There are two hit point values for wolves that I have seen. The ones with higher hit points invariably are "lone wolves", while the weaker ones run in packs. I mention this because it can be very dangerous to take on a lone wolf with a single infantry.

Of course, this only lets you know that enemy are on the map. Once you see them in the file you still have to hit [Page Down] to get to the bottom and scroll around to find them, but this method means you only do it when you know that they are on the map somewhere. Also, by looking at the coordinates you can get a sense whether they are in a single cluster or more than one.

Now that you know the secret, don't go cheating and updating the un.sav file now!

Speaking of that, there is a time in which I will modify the un.sav file: when the game hits a bug and spawns a mob in the air or underground. Leaving these mobs on the map will lower your chances of receiving migrants (something I will go into in more detail in a future episode), even though they are no threat, so your best recourse is to quit the game, edit the offending mob out of the file, and then start the game back up.

Pickaxe Tiers

The basic sequence of the game's "technology tree" is:

1. You are in the Stone Age. Take a stone pickaxe and mine copper ore.
2. Smelt the copper ore and make a copper ingot.
3. Make a copper pickaxe.
4. Take the copper pickaxe and mine tin ore (and coal too).
5. Smelt the tin ore and make a tin ingot.
6. Smelt a copper ingot and a tin ingot to make a bronze ingot.
7. Make a bronze pickaxe. You are now in the Bronze Age.
8. Take the bronze pickaxe and mine iron ore.
9. Smelt the iron ore into an iron ingot.
10. Smelt the iron ingot into a steel ingot by using coal.
11. Make a steel pickaxe. You are now in the Steel Age.
12. Take the steel pickaxe and mine silver and gold ore.

Generally speaking, once you reach the Bronze Age most of your copper should go to making bronze ingots. However, the Food Barrel still requires a copper ingot to make, so you cannot use up all of your copper ingots for bronze.

Likewise, once you reach the Steel Age you still need to keep iron ingots around for a number of other items, such as doors, wall sconces, tongs, and so on.

Micromanaging Mining

Miners break pickaxes, that is all there is to it. It is inevitable. No matter how much time and effort it took you to get that first steel pickaxe, it will get broken.

Miners will automatically grab a better pickaxe when it becomes available. You cannot easily control who uses what pickaxe. Sometimes the Clumsy guy grabs your shiny, new, high-tech pickaxe ... and breaks it mining grass. That's how it goes.

When you are early into the game, and you have that first copper pickaxe, you need to make sure that the miner that grabs it works only on mining tin ore until you have collected all of the ones that you see in the area and you can comfortably start making bronze. To force a miner to mine specific blocks, select the miner, right-click on the block containing the tin ore (or right beside it, if in a wall). Watch the miner like a hawk for a little while, ensuring that he gets a good load of tin before letting him use your precious pickaxe for regular mining duty.

Once you get to bronze and steel you will have to do the same thing, so you ensure that they get the better ores, although it is much less likely that they will break those pickaxes as they are more durable. Your greatest time of vulnerability is with that first copper pickaxe.

Micromanaging Building

Builders are probably the derpiest profession in the game. That is because their AI is the most complicated. The simple rule of thumb is: if you want your builders to be the most efficient, build using only one material at a time, one or two layers (levels) at a time. Anything else invites builders running back to their carts grabbing materials, unloading materials, and grabbing more of what they previously had.

To force a builder to build in a specific spot next (they will often leave holes in their building), select the builder, and right-click on the block next to where you want them to build. You may have to do this several times, especially if there are several blocks nearby they need to build, using a different material than what they have.

Dusk Arrives

I am a firm believer in daytime professions versus nighttime professions. I rarely have foragers out at night, unless they are accompanying a war party, looting corpses (more on that in a future episode). Once I have established a tree farm close to my camp I will let wood choppers chop at night, but only if I start running low on wood.

The profession that I tend to go to during the darkness hours are builders and miners. Building tends to be generally safe because you are building houses close in to the camp. The one area where it might be a little risky is when they build the settlement's walls, as they are on the outskirts of the settlement.

The simplest way to force the hunters and gatherers home is to reset their profession to a crafter, such as builder. It is also a good time to find out who should be a tailor and have them make rope from all that animal hair that the foragers have been collecting all day.

Another task to consider doing when dusk arrives is designating the hall. See When to Define the Hall below for more discussion.

Inventory Management

When you are in the early game – basically in the Stone Age – the primary defense is to arm everyone except archers and infantry with the hunting knife. In order to do this you need to go into the Inventory (F3) screen and set the Hunting Knife setting to +1.

I also set the herder (when I get them later) to always carry a crook, shears, and hunting knife so that when they switch tasks – herding, gathering, and slaughtering respectively – without constantly running back to the tool chest. Unless the herder is sleeping or eating he should spend all of his time bringing in new animals or in the livestock pen. I will cover herding more extensively in a future episode.

There is two bugs that you should be aware of when it comes to forcing settlers to carry specific items: the Builder Sword bug and the Archer Knife bug.

The Builder Sword bug is simple: if a builder is carrying a sword he will always complain about needing to empty his inventory and will never build until you get him to drop the sword. Put simply, do not give your builder a sword. This bug bites me every so often because I often send foragers and wood choppers out with swords when I have extras. When I switch them back to builders at dusk (see Dusk Arrives above), I have to ensure that I change the Sword setting back to 0, then reset it back to +1 the next day when they resume their day profession.

The Archer Knife bug is also simple: if an archer is carrying a hunting knife (or sword), even if they are carrying arrows, they will not fire their bows against the enemy; they will charge them and fight in melee. Again this happens when I switch between a profession where I have them carry a hunting knife (practically all of them) and to an archer. Once you notice an archer with a hunting knife, the only way to force him to discard the knife is to switch him to another profession (like Adventurer), wait for him to discard the gear, and then switch them back to archer. Just changing the Hunting Knife setting to 0 will not do it.

Don't Guess – Look

I have watched so many videos where  someone will see a settler doing something they don't expect and will click on the settler and then force them to move to where they want, then watch the settle walk back again, curse the game's "bugs" and keep doing this until they finally give up. Eventually the settler will do the task they were trying to do and you will hear "oh, you needed to eat!"

If the settler does something unexpected, especially if it is not what you want, first pause the game. Select the settler and open the Information dialog (F1) and read the task they are doing. (Read all of the task too, not just the first part.) This will tell you what they are trying to do and will give you a hint as to whether to not you can override their behavior. Here are some common tasks that settlers do that frustrate gamers:

• You send an infantry or archer out to attack an enemy mob. As soon as they move to the square you indicated, they immediately turn around and head back to camp. Possible causes:
• They need to eat. You can easily override this behavior with infantry, but archers are stubborn and they will consistently defy you trying to get them to fight on an empty stomach.
• You built some cool piece of equipment that is better than what they have and they want to use it. Again, you can overcome this behavior with infantry but not with archers.
• They want to wait in the hall, guard a point, or walk on a patrol route. You forgot to change their preferences, so when they finished their move they went back to the task you told them to do.
• They want to build with some material other than the one they have in inventory. This happens all of the time when the closest block to them needs to be made with the other material. Moving them closer to a building designation that uses the material they have, or better yet only designating one material in an area at a time, will fix this problem.
• They want to mine some material other than the one you want. Move them closer to where you want them to mine.
• They want to sleep. Change their sleep schedule or the fatigue level where they automatically sleep.

Put simply, look to see what the settler is trying to do. Don't reflexively click to move them where you want. Find out what they are trying to do first, before you click. Otherwise you might be wasting valuable time, and raising your blood pressure unnecessarily.

When to Define the Hall

Generally speaking, you define a hall when you want to attract migrants and merchants to your settlement. This is offset by the fact that it also attracts enemy mobs that want to steal your wealth or eat your brains. There is one other advantage to a hall: it provides a focal point for when you set settlers preferences to wait in the hall when then are idle (or sleeping). By defining a hall you can see when someone does not have work to do (they are standing around) and you can control where they go to sleep. (If there is no hall they sleep around the wagon, which can sometimes block the access to supplies for settlers that are still awake.)

Although I did not do it soon enough in the video, by defining a hall at dusk you will ensure that everyone goes to sleep where you want them too. I would strongly recommend defining the hall if the wagon is in an exposed position when darkness falls. Sometimes you can quickly build a small, walled enclosure before dark and put the hall in there, giving you a bit of protection during the night.

Remember: you can always change the designation of where your hall is located. Because mobs are attracted to the hall, if you detect that mobs have spawned while everyone is asleep you can pause the game and quickly move the hall designation to another spot on the map, effectively luring them away from your settlers. It is sort of a cheesy tactic, but sometimes you need to do that to survive.

A Hall With No Roads

A hall is required to accept a migrant or trade with a merchant, but it is the roads that allow both to spawn. It is also the road designations that help the mobs find your hall easier too. Defining a hall without defining roads is relatively safe; mobs tend not to find it during the course of the night, unless you have defined it close to a map edge. If your intent is simply use the hall to define a sleeping place for the first night, do not designate any roads.

That said, as soon as dawn breaks on day two you should start defining your roads to the hall so you can get migrants and merchants. I rarely delay defining the hall and roads later than dawn of day two. Be sure and pause the game because road definitions can take some time. I will cover roads in more depth in a future episode.

Expanding the Farm

The key rule to remember is that the farmers will farm for seed, not food, until they have 25 seeds in reserve for that particular crop. There are lots of theories on what size you should initially define your farm plots. Make them too small and farms will not grow as fast as they might. Define them too large and farmers take longer to reach their seed reserve level. So what is the right amount?

Personally, I now plant in rows of 10 blocks. I start with only as many block as I start out with seeds, and then add a few blocks at a time as they get more seeds. Once the row of 10 blocks is fully planted, I generally let the farmers build up to 35 seeds for that crop before I will plant a new row of 5 blocks with that seed type.

At some point, if you have too many dirt spots on your farm, it probably means you have over planted for the number of farmers you have assigned. The farm should either be tilled or showing with a growing crop. When dirt or grass spots appear it is because the farmers cannot get to tilling and seeding it fast enough.

Balancing Labor

As happened in the video, make sure you balance your labor properly. Some professions – like builder, blacksmith, stone mason, and carpenter – have a dependency on the production of other profession. For example a blacksmith cannot smelt ore into ingots until the miners mine the ore. Carpenters cannot make wood planks until the wood choppers chop the trees down and split them into logs. By assigning too many settlers to the "consumer" professions and not the "producer" ones, you run the risk of material shortages, as I did when I had too many builders and not enough miners.

Summary

Well that is it for this episode. Let me know what you think of this format. Feel free to comment here, on YouTube, or both. Consider subscribing to both also. I am working on the next episode right now. I am also working on my voiceovers. (It sounds like I am bored, which I am not. I also have a terrible Southern drawl which I am trying to compensate for.)

Starting a Let's Play Series

There are a number of Let's Play Timber & Stone series out there on YouTube, and I am probably subscribed to most, if not all of them. I am always looking for new ideas on how to increase the challenges for this game. And, once you get to a certain point in the game, you start to say "what am I going to do next?" You don't really need to go to all of the effort of recording, editing, and posting a video onto YouTube for that, however, so it begs the question: why do a Let's Play series?

One of the things that I hear quite often are remarks about how the game is "buggy" and that it doesn't let you have the level of control that you want. Often people point to the beta label as proof that it is the game, and not them. Sorry, but in almost all cases you are wrong: it is you. Timber & Stone provides you excellent control over the settlers, you just need to understand what the commands and controls let you do, and how the AI works. Once you have mastered that, you have an amazing amount of control, but it is (intentionally) not perfect and total. In essence, you need to embrace the fact that those virtual people do have minds of their own sometimes.

I started this blog as a way of discussing these issues, but I quickly came to understand that this medium is insufficient; video is very appropriate for game tutorials. I have also come to realize that video by itself is insufficient. Watching a long introduction where the person is simply talking, but nothing is happening on screen is not very interesting. My experiment here will be in combining both the written and video mediums in combination. The video will contain the playing, while the blog will contain much of the lengthier explanations about why I am doing what I am. It is intended that if you want to get the most out of the experience, you would watch the video of a gaming session and read the show notes and associated blog entries.

Another reason for the Let's Play series is that it is hard to come up with, and illustrate, specific concepts when there is no context. The lessons will naturally come out as the challenges and crises arise in normal game play. One of the concepts that I want to show is how you respond to enemy threats and how that response changes over time, as you get more resources available. Specifically, this is to show how your settlement goes through phases: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and finally the Steel Age. These building materials radically change how you respond to the challenges of the game.

I have actually recorded three separate sessions as a start to this new series, however, I have discarded them all. Initially I wanted to play a new challenge: building a fortress in the middle of a lake surrounded by mountains (you have no idea how long it took to find the map with the right terrain and combination of resources) playing the settlers as dwarves. (No there are no player races ... yet.) I reckoned that dwarves would not use archery, but would use ballistas. Even though bronze is stronger than iron I was going to build my tools, weapons, and armor out of iron (and later steel) and I would largely forego bronze. (You cannot forego it completely, however, as you need bronze to mine iron, unless you are lucky enough to start with iron or steel ingots, or a pickaxe that can mine iron ore.) Essentially, I was going to completely change my normal play style.

But therein lied the rub: if I don't play the normal, "formulaic" game that is so successful, newer players might not find the series as useful. It would be a good idea for season two, but not for the first season. For that I would need to do something a little more traditional. So, here we go: Episode 1 of my new Let's Play series. I suggest you watch it first, then read the rest of this blog post.

The Terrain

My normal play style in Timber & Stone is to choose a map with water. I prefer maps that are not taken up by a large amount of water, nor do I want it to be too great an obstacle for foraging, migrants, or merchants. A map with a lake in the middle is actually pretty ideal, especially if it still grants you access land access to all four edges of the map. I don't really like, but I will play, maps where only three sides are land. I do not play maps where I cannot access two edges of the map without building bridges. This usually means choosing a River area rather than Coastline.

One note that I have not seen discussed in videos or on the forum (but it does not mean it is not there) is that River and Coastline can appear in squares that are not adjacent to Water squares. That may not seem intuitive, especially for Coastline, but what this says is that the water you see on a map might be a feeder river to the main river on the map, or a small inlet or bay just off of the main coastline. In all cases, both limit you search for "the perfect square" to just those adjacent to water. You will often find that up to three squares away from a water square is still considered River or Coastline. Give it a test!

I generally like Medium density for timber. Sparse makes it difficult to collect enough timber and sustain the demand. (I usually build in stone, so I do not have a high demand for wood, but all of my roofs are made with shingles, so I do have some demand beyond logs for tools.) I generally shy away from Dense timber as it blocks fields of fire for archers, which are my primary military unit. My preference, in order from highest to lowest is: Medium, Dense, and Sparse timber.

As I am a miner at heart (hence the game name Miner Bob), I generally do not like Flat Grasslands and prefer Hills. That gives me plenty of room to dig. That said, Mountain terrain can generate some radical maps, leading to interesting building ideas. Maybe season two ...

Resources

Given that I select a terrain square on the World Map with River, that makes Fish automatically Abundant. Given my reliance on Archers it is very important that I find a square with Abundant Chickens also. Because you cannot have every resource rated as Abundant, my preference from highest to lowest for animals would be: Fish, Chickens, Boar, and Sheep.

When it comes to ores, one key point to remember about version 1.52 is that you only need 1/2 of the Tin as you do of Copper to make Bronze. That means that Tin Ore can be less common than Copper Ore. There is one additional use of Tin Ore, however, and that is that it makes a great ore for leveling up your Blacksmith. If you fail at smelting it and lose some Tin Ore as a result, it is very likely not to affect you. You will find throughout the game that you always have a lot more Tin ingots than Copper.

Another interesting point about ores is how they spawn. In this thread on the Timber & Stone forum [insert reference to forum post from Ethrel] it describes the ore spawning mechanics. Essentially it says that when a chunk is generated it generates the rarer ores first and then randomly places the blocks. When a more common ore is generated it can randomly overwrite the rarer ore blocks. So, if you want to focus on, say, iron, it is better to have the Tin Ore and Copper Ore values be less common than the Iron value.

I almost always try and maximize my Copper Ore value choosing a less common (but not Rare) Tin Ore value. I generally want a good Iron value and a really good Coal value. I have started re-thinking that strategy. Although Bronze is stronger than Iron, ultimately your goal is to get to Steel. That means you need very strong values in Iron and Coal. Again, as you cannot be Abundant in every ore resource, my preference from highest to lowest would be: Coal, Iron, Copper, and Tin. Why is Coal Ore on top? It requires two Coal Ore to make one Steel Ingot and it is used as a fuel source for the Forge.

The Map

Once you have a square picked out remember exactly where it is! You may not like the first map generated, and may go through generating several maps before finding the one you want, so remembering which exact square to click on is key. Here is a short YouTube video I did previously on finding the right map.

In my case I wanted to build a castle/town on a lake, so I really needed a lake towards the center of the board. After what seemed like an hour of looking, I finally found one. But would the game be playable?

For more information on selecting a map square, the terrain, and the settlement location, you can read my older blog post Picking a Settlement Location.

The Decision

After all that and the game still might not be playable? Yes. You might have a bad selection of settlers, not enough seeds, or not enough tools. Again, if you are going to make a 10+ hour investment of your time in playing this game, why settle for a game where the odds are stacked against you? Let's look at some of the problems that might arise from bad starting resources.

Settlers

Despite what I see many players do, determining whether your starting settlers are "good" or not depends primarily upon their traits, not their levels in their professions.

Note this is true of version 1.52. But testing of version 1.6 shows that this concept will no longer be true, unless the developers decide to change the game back (which seems unlikely). In the future most tasks require you to be a minimum level in a profession in order to accomplish the task, so while traits remain important, levels become more important in the starting game.

What you are looking for are "bad" traits, and primarily at the start, you are looking for the Overeater trait. Put simply, a settler with the Overeater trait eats 50% more than a settler without that trait. You really cannot afford too many of them and hope to get your settlement off of the ground. Should you reject the game out of hand if you have one? Absolutely not. If you have spent even a modicum of time finding the right square on the world map and the right terrain the last thing you want to do is start the process all over again. No, simply having one or two Overeaters becomes a factor in whether you should abandon the game.

Although other "bad" traits are important, as are many of the "good" ones, I don't feel any of the other traits come into play as to whether you should abandon the game. If anything, a good combination of "good" traits (Quick Learner, Hard Worker, Courageous, Good Vision, and Strong Back) might convince you to overlook an Overeater or two.

Being an Overeater in real life, I naturally do not follow the advice I have heard and read that say "never accept an Overeater". I say, figure out how to live with it. Just maybe not for your first game...

Seeds

Put simply, if you start with no seeds for food crops you will have a very hard time surviving. I have never had a Merchant offer to trade food crop seeds, only Flax, Cotton, and Wheat seeds. I have also not seen very many Migrants bring food crop seeds, if ever. If you start with no food crop seeds it is, to my mind, an automatic restart. Only once did I accept the challenge of starting without food crop seeds. I survived, but I struggled mightily. A fun challenge, but not for the first game (or season).

Not having Wheat, Flax, or Cotton makes it harder, but I would not restart unless I had several other negative factors. Starting with two of the three is a good start; one is still acceptable.

Tools and Resources

Next I check the tools that I start with. The three critical tools at the start are a Hammer, an Axe, and a Pickaxe. If you have no hammers you cannot build anything, including another hammer. Automatic restart.

Unlike Minecraft, you cannot punch trees to chop wood; you need an axe. If you run out of wood and have no axe (or they all broke), it is an automatic restart.

Similarly, if you run out of stone and have no pickaxe (or they all broke), you cannot get any more stone, so it is an automatic restart.

Okay, so there is a way to get timber and stone if you lose your tools: you can trade for them with the Merchant. But understand that: 1) you can do practically nothing until a Merchant arrives, certainly nothing that requires tools; and 2) the Merchant decides the trades, not you.

I generally don't worry about the other resources when it comes to determining whether to restart or not, but they will come into play with regards to my starting actions.

With that out of the way, hopefully you are not restarting.

For more information on the starting resources, read my older blog post Assessing Your Starting Resources.

First Orders

My older blog post First Orders goes over what you should focus on before you unpause the game and have your settlers start their tasks. What tasks should they do first? What options should you set? What should you build right away? A lot of that is covered in that post, plus this episode and the next in the series.

What About Walls and Moats?

One of the areas where I see comments and recommendations is regarding building moats and walls right at the start. I not only do not agree with that approach, but I think it is detrimental to the growth and thus the survival of your new settlement.

In the first day, during the daylight hours, you have to hunt and gather as much as possible. Hunting and gathering incurs the greatest danger, as the settler is typically isolated from others when an enemy suddenly appears. Worse still, they are usually encumbered by the materials they have been collecting, making escape harder. If you add to that low visibility – trying to hunt or gather in the dark – you are essentially ensuring your eventual destruction.

Although it is unlikely that an enemy mob will spawn during daylight hours on day 1, it is possible. But it is most likely to occur during the hours of darkness, between day 1 and 2. For this reason, performing hunting and gathering tasks (foraging and wood chopping, and to a lesser extent fishing) during daylight of the first day is critical. The more settlers set to building walls, the fewer that are chopping wood or gathering berries. The more settlers set to digging a moat, the more they are collecting dirt and not collecting stone.

Although Dirt is used to make Brick, you generally do not make a lot of that at the start. Stone is a critical resource in the early game as it is used to make practically everything. The game is called Timber & Stone after all.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying don't ever build a wall or moat. I am just saying that you cannot really afford to put so much labor towards such a project when there are more critical tasks to be done during daylight hours. You want to use those Wood Choppers as Builders to start a wall at night? Go ahead. Just realize that come dawn, they need to sharpen their axes again.

Next episode I will let the settlers start performing their tasks. As interesting points come up, I will stop the action and explain some of my thought process about the decisions I make. I hope you find it enjoyable and useful.

Feel free to leave comments, here and on the YouTube page.