Banished – Starter Tips

Here are the key points that helped me when starting out.

Tips for Beginners

• You need 100 food units per person per year.
• But you really need to be producing at least 25% extra a year otherwise starvation can hit very quickly… as you’ve probably already discovered.
• Gatherer Huts are the usual first food source as they produce a continuous supply.
• Fishing Docks can do very well if placed well.
• Farms are good, but seasonal. Most people recommend 11×11 with 1 worker per field using Mild climate.
• Hunting lodges are a bit slow to produce food, but you get leather as well as food. The leather will be needed to make new clothes as the stock of clothes runs out.
• Make sure you don’t run out of tools.
• Don’t expand too quickly or too far all at once, Build houses for the initial population, then for 15 to 20 years only build a house when you see you have a male/female ready to move in together. If no schools then children become adults and ready to pair off at 10, otherwise a student is ready to pair up at 18. You won’t get 2 students pairing up, but adult/student will pair up. Women stop having children beyond the age of 40.
• Educated workers are more efficient than uneducated workers so look to get a school going early if you can.
• The Town Hall is a very good source of info. It may be a big strain on resources, but for a newcomer it can help understand what is going on in the game. Don’t try to build it in year 1, but maybe around year 3 if you can gather the resource.
• Finally, but just as important, don’t run out of labourers. They are the life blood of your settlement as they ferry goods from place to place. Without them, goods don’t flow from production buildings to storage buildings and Bannies can only collect goods to use once in a storage building.