Introduction
Here, you will find valuable advice from experienced players on how to excel in every biome and scenario of the game, Against the Storm. Whether it’s upgrading the Smoldering City or managing settler resolve and happiness, these tips cover a range of topics including production chains, event solving, blueprint choices, trading strategies, and efficient tool production. Let’s dive in!
Settler Resolve and Forest Hostility
One of the first tips comes from Griswold7Slicer, who highlights the importance of reducing forest hostility during storm seasons. High forest hostility levels activate negative effects that can be disastrous for settlers, especially on higher difficulty levels. To mitigate this, Griswold7Slicer advises removing settlers from woodcutters’ workplaces and utilizing them to build homes for new settlers or connect resources and buildings with roads.
Additionally, Griswold7Slicer suggests upgrading the settlement level to encampment status at the ancient hearth before the first storm season. This boosts settler resolve by two points, preventing a significant drop at the start of a new settlement.
Blueprint Priorities
Fregor supports Griswold7Slicer’s advice and emphasizes the importance of building four homes after woodcutters’ camps. These homes are prerequisites for upgrading the settlement level at the Ancient Hearth.
Furthermore, Fregor recommends not rushing to choose orders until after weathering the first storm season and completing the first year. By opening the new cornerstones and cross-checking them with the offered orders and events in the first small glade, you can select the easiest orders that yield the best rewards for your situation.
Efficient Resource Management
Griswold7Slicer advises stockpiling coal, tools, and sea marrow before opening forbidden or dangerous glades. These resources are often required to solve events in those areas. Building a trading post before opening these glades allows you to trade for any lacking resources and avoid negative consequences when event timers run out.
Strategic Blueprint Selection
Griswold7Slicer suggests using your first few building blueprints to unlock at least one complex food building. However, he cautions against choosing this blueprint if you lack the required resources or have difficult orders. In such cases, it is better to skip the complex food building in the initial blueprint unlocks, complete the orders, and use subsequent blueprint unlocks to obtain a building for producing complex food.
Sea Marrow: To Use or Trade?
Griswold7Slicer’s last tip contradicts previous advice about using sea marrow to speed up event resolution in glades. Instead, he believes sea marrow is more valuable as a trade good and suggests weighing the options carefully. While traders offer different goods and bonuses, some events can be devastating if left unfinished.
Smoldering City Upgrade Strategies
Stelu Hututui advises increasing the difficulty setting when starting a new settlement to obtain more resources for upgrading and unlocking main city buildings. This tip is particularly useful for players accustomed to lower difficulty levels, as they may receive fewer resources.
DERP MASTER adds another perspective, cautioning against increasing the difficulty too soon. Mastery of settler game mechanics and the in-game economy is crucial before attempting higher difficulty levels, as they greatly impact gameplay.
Optimal Settlement Layout
CetraProfessor suggests an efficient method called the “park caddy corner” for setting up homes and decorations while conserving space and upgrading the settlement level. By using a single park decoration, which counts as four decoration points, you can fulfill the decoration requirement for the first settlement level upgrade.
Resource Scarcity in Different Biomes
Minestar 2000 offers valuable insight into resource scarcity in specific biomes. For example, in the mushroom realm of Marshlands, arable land is rare, making it challenging to maintain a sufficient grain supply. However, there is an alternative – mushrooms can be ground into flour by modifying the input resources in the appropriate building.
Harpies as Settlers
Paul R recommends selecting harpies as settlers in caravans for starting new settlements. Harpies provide a substantial carry bonus when placed in charge of the Ancient Hearth, increasing the carrying capacity of all other settlers by 5. This boost significantly enhances resource transportation and overall economy.
However, Paul R’s advice regarding species-specific housing in the Smoldering City depends on the difficulty level. It is more useful in higher difficulties, as unlocking species-specific homes reduces the number of buildings in the blueprint poll. This allows for more diverse choices during blueprint selection.
Boosting Resolve and Species-Specific Strategies
Paul R also highlights the option to boost resolve for lizards, who have low starting resolve, during storm seasons using the species resolve interface. However, this approach must be used with caution, as it reduces the resolve of other species in the settlement and can lead to unintended consequences.
Methodical Approach to Glades
Martin Blake recommends opening and completing glades one at a time to avoid overwhelming settlers, resources, and yourself. Each forgotten or dangerous glade can present multiple events that require settlers and resources for resolution. Opening one glade at a time allows for focused management and ensures you have an ample supply of tools, 6-10 in the early game and 15+ in the late game, for swift event resolution.
Amber and Blueprint Prioritization
Martin Blake advises keeping a supply of Amber to re-roll building blueprints once you unlock this option in the Smoldering City. Prioritize blueprints that boost settler resolve over those that provide new resources or enhance production efficiency. This aligns with previous recommendations from Griswold7Slicer.
Balancing XP and Resources
TheRealXartaX draws attention to the fact that playing on the highest and hardest difficulty settings only increases XP points, not resources for Smoldering City upgrades. Consider this when seeking a challenge. TheRealXartaX’s advice complements earlier suggestions from Stelu Hututui and DERP MASTER.
Leveraging Beaver Abilities
TheRealXartaX reminds players of the benefits of beavers, such as their ability to double woodcutting yields and provide a major resolve boost when working as miners. Coal mined by beavers lasts longer in the Ancient Hearth and holds a greater trade value compared to wood. Utilizing beavers as miners allows for economic upgrades, improved resolve, and a shift towards using wood primarily as a crafting ingredient rather than for fuel.
Production Chain Strategies
DODANG_ 914 offers valuable insights into production chain setups that lead to victory. For instance, focusing on humans and boosting their resolve, as they are the easiest species to please. Allocate humans to farms, herb gardens, and plantations to produce berries for simple food and fiber for cloth. Optimize production and provide high-quality ingredients for complex food and other goods.
Additionally, maintaining a production of crystallized bars or copper bars enables the efficient production of tools in carpenter buildings. Tools are crucial for swiftly resolving glade events.
Happiness and Resolve Management
Niko Paseman challenges the notion that humans are the easiest species to please due to their high happiness threshold. Instead, Niko Paseman points out that lizards and harpies have lower thresholds but suffer from low starting resolve. These species can quickly boost their resolve in specific workplaces that match their specialization. Additionally, insects, eggs, and meat, which are abundant in many biomes, can fulfill their complex food requirements.
DODANG_ 914 counters Niko Paseman’s argument by highlighting the role of humans in the late game, particularly with numerous unlocks in the Smoldering City, including special homes. Humans excel in farming, allowing for diverse food ingredient production and subsequent complex food creation. Coupled with a production chain involving plantations, weavers, carpenters or lumber mills, cooperages or brick houses, and alchemist huts with scribes, settlers’ resolve can be boosted significantly. This combination also provides essential services for both humans and beavers, ultimately enabling a robust economy and smooth navigation through the toughest storm seasons.
Thank you for reading these invaluable tips. For more tips and visuals, check out the video on my YouTube page.
