Tutorials/First Year on Hard Difficulty: Difference between revisions

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This tutorial will help you survive the first year on hard difficulty. Please don't feel obliged to follow all the instructions. Experiment, learn from your own failures and find a play style that suits you.

Map Settings

This tutorial will assume the following map settings:

Terrain type: Valleys
Terrain size: Medium
Climate: Fair
Disasters: On
Starting conditions: Hard

Starting Resources

On "Hard" difficulty you start off with:

Four families (8 adults and 5 children)
No Wood, Stone or Iron
100 Firewood
1200 Food
20 Tools
20 Coats

The 1st year

Forester's Lodge

The first thing to do is to find a good location for a Forester's Lodge, which will be the center of your town, for now. Its working area is shown as a yellow circle. A good place for a Forester's Lodge is in an area without rivers or hills within the yellow circle. Placing it like that will maximize the amount of trees the Foresters can plant and cut down.

Place the building and then assign 1 Builder. You can assign more Builders, but it is a good idea to have a reserve of Laborers for when you will be clearing resources. You can pin the building menu to the screen for easier access to it.

When the building is done you can go ahead and assign 2 Foresters, who will start planting and cutting down trees.

Resources

Now you need resources. Opposite the Forester's Lodge place down a Stock Pile. A size of 4x4 should be enough. You can always build more Stock Piles later, when you need them. The stock pile will be used to store materials cleared from the map (Logs, Stone and Iron) and some produced goods (Firewood).

Now that you have somewhere to store materials you can assign an area for clearance, just outside the yellow ring of the Forester's Lodge. You do not need Iron for now, though it will be useful later. Make the selection fairly large (about 20x20).

If at any point you do not have a clearance job set up, but need more resources, feel free to set one up outside your yellow ringed area.

Gatherer's Hut

Next, you need a Gatherer's Hut. Place it close to the Forester's Lodge, within the yellow ring.

When the building is done you can go ahead and assign 2 Gatherers, who will start gathering Berries, Roots, Mushrooms and Onions.

The Gatherer's Hut is a good source of food early in the game. It produces 4 kinds of food items, which helps to increase (or maintain) the happiness of your population.

Houses

Now that we have a small stock of Food and Wood we can build 2 Houses. To avoid people wasting time walking from their house to their workplace, try to place the houses as close as possible.

Hunting Cabin and Herbalist's Hut

The next few buildings are the Hunting Cabin and the Herbalist's Hut. Each one can be built within the yellow area of the Forester's Lodge.

Another house

Then it is time to build another house. Just be aware of assigning additional clearance tasks if you are running low on a resource. Trees will slowly grow back on their own.

Storage Barn

It is time to increase your storage capacity with a Storage Barn. The cart that you begin with will quickly become full.

End of the year

If you got things done swiftly, you should be seeing Winter set in around about the time the last house is being built.

You will probably later on want a central area for all your crafting buildings. It will probably be best to place it close to the center of the map, just outside of the forest we are going to deforest with the forester's lodge. Next to that you will want to construct another house and a wood cutter.

Basic Build Order

Hard start sample layout

Hard start sample layout (grid)

Banished Hard Layout (Pinstar's)

Your building order should be something like this:

One or 2 people set to builder
(2 people) working at the Forester's Lodge
Clearing tasks for resources
Stock Pile
(2 people) Gatherer's Hut
2x houses
(1 person) Hunting Cabin
(1 person) Herbalist's Hut
1x house
Additional clearing tasks for resources
Storage Barn
1x house
(1 person) Woodcutter

Food for Thought/Next Few Years

After the first year there are a number of paths you can take:

Trade
Food
Market based society
Mining

Trade Path

Diverse in its options and perhaps in many ways it is the defining moment of mid game. Once you have a Trader assigned to a Trading Post it opens up the rest of your game play. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we can only just about sustain 4 families, let alone produce enough goods to go into agriculture.

The trade path is quite far off. Perhaps 5 years at minimum, you will want a higher population count and to be almost completely self-sustaining before even building the trade building.

Before you embark on this path, ask yourself, "what can trading give me that I lack?", and, "do I have anything to trade with?". This may be Tools, Clothing or the ability to provide a diverse choice of food for your population. Now with a target you need to find something you can produce efficiently in large amounts. For example, making Alcohol from Berries.

Food Path

After year 1 there are only 2 or 3 buildings that make food. The best option is the Gatherer's Hut.

To produce more food you have to grow your population and then create more building that produce food.

Go back to your Forester's Lodge and pin it.
Place another one so the yellow area is only just about overlapping (it doesn't matter so much if they do overlap; about a quarter way to the center is perfectly OK)
Opposite the building place the Gatherer's Hut and close by 2 wooden houses.
Then plop down a road to connect the new area to what was built in year 1.
Keep doing this when you feel you need more food.

Market based society

A market based society is a very effective way to organize where people live and work.

Find an area in the wilderness, close to the center of the map with plenty of areas to build around. Place a Market in the middle.

Roads - wrap a stone road around the market.
Extend the road's corners away in a straight line from the building until you reach the Market's yellow ring
On each corner place a 4x4 Stock Pile.
Closest to the Market you will want job buildings, like the Wood Cutter. Build them so they face the market.
Construct roads around the work buildings.
Construct more houses

This type of organization will help to reduce time wasted traveling to restock houses and walking to work

Mining

Just after the 1st year you are not going to need the resources a Mine or a Quarry can provide, though Stone may soon become a scarce resource. Find an area where you don't plan on building anything, such as an awkward bit of land between 2 rivers, and place down a Quarry. Assign up to 5 people. This will reduce the need to clear cut large areas of your map.

Final Tips

As you expand you will start to fall behind on some resources. It may sound obvious, but stop what you are currently doing (pause buildings etc) and correct the issue.
Don't try to do too much at once. For example, you may wish to pause the game and lay out some building plans. If you do so then at least pause the buildings until you have the resources to build it.
Are you getting to the point where it feels your townspeople are not doing anything? Perhaps you should cancel that map wide clear cut you just ordered.
Before appointing any tasks that are on the other side of a river, finish building a Bridge to get there.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-for this basic tutorial i am going to focus on a set game play
+{{cleanup}}
+{{image requested}}
+This tutorial will help you survive the first year on hard difficulty. Please don't feel obliged to follow all the instructions. Experiment, learn from your own failures and find a play style that suits you.
-terrain type: valleys
+==Map Settings==
-terrain size: medium
+This tutorial will assume the following map settings:
-climate: fair
+* '''Terrain type:''' Valleys
-disasters: on
+* '''Terrain size:''' Medium
-starting conditions: hard
+* '''Climate:''' Fair
+* '''Disasters:''' On
+* '''Starting conditions:''' Hard
-having hard starting conditions in my opinion is the proper way to play. you can change the other variables to give your self less space to play with and harsher/earlier winters. but by having "hard" you start off with.
+==Starting Resources==
-four families(8 adults 5 kids)
+On  "Hard" difficulty you start off with:
-no wood/stone/iron
+* Four families (8 adults and 5 children)
-fire wood
+* No [[logs|Wood]], [[Stone]] or [[Iron]]
-food
+* 100 [[Firewood]]
-tools
+* 1200 [[Food]]
-coats
+* 20 [[Tool]]s
+* 20 [[clothing|Coat]]s
-the very first thing to do is work out a good placement for a forester's lodge as this will be the centre of your town for now. its effecting working area is shown as a yellow circle. you are looking for an area close by that hopefully has no water or hills within the circle.
+==The 1st year==
-go ahead and place it down. assign just 1 builder. and pin the building menu to the screen
-now you need resources so assign an area just out side the yellow ring for clearance(don't need the iron but it will be useful later) and make it fairly large (about 20x20). after this opposite the lodge place down a stock pile 4x4 will do but no more than 8x8 for now
-next you need a gatherer's hut, so as close as you want to the forester's lodge and within the yellow ring pop it down.
-if at any point you have not got a clearance job set up but need more resources feel free to set one up out side your yellow ringed area
-when your first 2 buildings are finished you will to assign 2 people to each building type(4 people in total)
-now we have a basic supply of food and wood we can build 2 houses. its up to you but I personally prefer people to not have to walk to far to work so feel free now to build within the yellow area if you wish.
-next few buildings are the hunting cabin and herbalist's hut each can also be built within the yellow area of the forester's hut. personally I build them as close as I can to the lodge because when it slows down you will have a dense forest of old trees for the other work places to work faster.
-then another house. just know to keep assigning clearance tasks if your running low on a resource, trees will grow back on there own.
-now for a storage barn. you will probably later on want a central area for all your crafting buildings so after working out where you want that to start, probably best close to centre of the map just out side of the forest we are going to make with the forester's lodge. you can pop one down.
-next to that you will want another house and a wood cutter.
-your build order should be something like this
+===Forester's Lodge===
-one or 2 people set to builder
-(2 people)forester's lodge
-clearing for resource
-stockpile
-(2 people)gatherer's shelter
-x houses
-(1 person)hunting cabin
-(1 person)herbalist's hut
-x house
-clearing for resource
-storage
-x house
-(1 person)woodcutter
-if you got things done quickly you should be seeing winter set in around about the time the last house is being built
+The first thing to do is to find a good location for a [[Forester's Lodge]], which will be the center of your town, for now. Its working area is shown as a yellow circle. A good place for a Forester's Lodge is in an area without rivers or hills within the yellow circle. Placing it like that will maximize the amount of trees the Foresters can plant and cut down.
+Place the building and then assign 1 [[Builder]]. You can assign more Builders, but it is a good idea to have a reserve of Laborers for when you will be clearing resources. You can pin the building menu to the screen for easier access to it.
-I understand this is a wall of txt I am quite happy for other editors to change the layouts and expand on what i wright.
+When the building is done you can go ahead and assign 2 Foresters, who will start planting and cutting down trees.
+===Resources===
+Now you need resources. Opposite the Forester's Lodge place down a [[Stock Pile]]. A size of 4x4 should be enough. You can always build more Stock Piles later, when you need them. The stock pile will be used to store materials cleared from the map (Logs, Stone and Iron) and some produced goods (Firewood).
+Now that you have somewhere to store materials you can assign an area for clearance, just outside the yellow ring of the Forester's Lodge. You do not need [[Iron]] for now, though it will be useful later. Make the selection fairly large (about 20x20).
+If at any point you do not have a clearance job set up, but need more resources, feel free to set one up outside your yellow ringed area.
+===Gatherer's Hut===
+Next, you need a [[Gatherer's Hut]]. Place it close to the Forester's Lodge, within the yellow ring.
+When the building is done you can go ahead and assign 2 Gatherers, who will start gathering [[Berries]], [[Roots]], [[Mushrooms]] and [[Onions]].
+The Gatherer's Hut is a good source of food early in the game. It produces 4 kinds of food items, which helps to increase (or maintain) the happiness of your population.
+===Houses===
+Now that we have a small stock of [[Food]] and [[Wood]] we can build 2 [[House]]s. To avoid people wasting time walking from their house to their workplace, try to place the houses as close as possible.
+===Hunting Cabin and Herbalist's Hut===
+The next few buildings are the [[Hunting Cabin]] and the [[Herbalist|Herbalist's Hut]]. Each one can be built within the yellow area of the Forester's Lodge.
+===Another house===
+Then it is time to build another house. Just be aware of assigning additional clearance tasks if you are running low on a resource. [[Tree]]s will slowly grow back on their own.
+===Storage Barn===
+It is time to increase your storage capacity with a [[Storage Barn]]. The cart that you begin with will quickly become full.
+==End of the year==
+If you got things done swiftly, you should be seeing [[Winter]] set in around about the time the last house is being built.
+You will probably later on want a central area for all your crafting buildings. It will probably be best to place it close to the center of the map, just outside of the forest we are going to deforest with the forester's lodge. Next to that you will want to construct another house and a wood cutter.
+==Basic Build Order==
+[[File:Hard_start.png |thumb|Hard start sample layout]]
+[[File:Hard_start_grid.png |thumb|Hard start sample layout (grid)]]
+[[File:Banished Hard Layout (Pinstar's).png|thumbnail|Banished Hard Layout (Pinstar's)]]
+Your building order should be something like this:
+* One or 2 people set to builder
+* (2 people) working at the [[Forester's Lodge]]
+* Clearing tasks for resources
+* [[Stock Pile]]
+* (2 people) [[Gatherer's Hut]]
+* 2x houses
+* (1 person) [[Hunting Cabin]]
+* (1 person) [[Herbalist|Herbalist's Hut]]
+* 1x house
+* Additional clearing tasks for resources
+* [[Storage Barn]]
+* 1x house
+* (1 person) [[Woodcutter]]
+==Food for Thought/Next Few Years==
+After the first year there are a number of paths you can take:
+* Trade
+* Food
+* Market based society
+* Mining
+===Trade Path===
+Diverse in its options and perhaps in many ways it is the defining moment of mid game. Once you have a [[Trader]] assigned to a [[Trading Post]] it opens up the rest of your game play. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we can only just about sustain 4 families, let alone produce enough goods to go into [[agriculture]].
+The trade path is quite far off. Perhaps 5 years at minimum, you will want a higher population count and to be almost completely self-sustaining before even building the trade building.
+Before you embark on this path, ask yourself, "what can trading give me that I lack?", and, "do I have anything to trade with?". This may be [[Tools]], [[Clothing]] or the ability to provide a diverse choice of food for your population. Now with a target you need to find something you can produce efficiently in large amounts. For example, making [[Alcohol]] from [[Berries]].
+===Food Path===
+After year 1 there are only 2 or 3 buildings that make food. The best option is the [[Gatherer's Hut]].
+To produce more food you have to grow your population and then create more building that produce food.
+* Go back to your [[Forester's Lodge]] and pin it.
+* Place another one so the yellow area is only just about overlapping (it doesn't matter so much if they do overlap; about a quarter way to the center is perfectly OK)
+* Opposite the building place the [[Gatherer's Hut]] and close by 2 wooden houses.
+* Then plop down a road to connect the new area to what was built in year 1.
+* Keep doing this when you feel you need more food.
+===Market based society===
+A market based society is a very effective way to organize where people live and work.
+Find an area in the wilderness, close to the center of the map with '''plenty''' of areas to build around. Place a [[Market]] in the middle.
+* Roads - wrap a stone road around the market.
+* Extend the road's corners away in a straight line from the building until you reach the Market's yellow ring
+* On each corner place a 4x4 [[Stock Pile]].
+* Closest to the Market you will want job buildings, like the [[Wood Cutter]]. Build them so they face the market.
+* Construct roads around the work buildings.
+* Construct more houses
+This type of organization will help to reduce time wasted traveling to restock houses and walking to work
+===Mining===
+Just after the 1st year you are not going to need the resources a [[Mine]] or a [[Quarry]] can provide, though [[Stone]] may soon become a scarce resource. Find an area where you don't plan on building anything, such as an awkward bit of land between 2 [[river]]s, and place down a Quarry. Assign up to 5 people. This will reduce the need to clear cut large areas of your map.
+==Final Tips==
+* As you expand you will start to fall behind on some resources. It may sound obvious, but stop what you are currently doing (pause buildings etc) and correct the issue.
+* Don't try to do too much at once. For example, you may wish to pause the game and lay out some building plans. If you do so then at least pause the buildings until you have the resources to build it.
+* Are you getting to the point where it feels your townspeople are not doing anything? Perhaps you should cancel that map wide clear cut you just ordered.
+* Before appointing '''any''' tasks that are on the other side of a river, finish building a [[Bridge]] to get there.
+{{Banished}}
+[[Category:Tutorials]]