Image source: Hooded Horse via We Game Daily
Against the Storm is a game we’re really enjoying at the moment. The blend of strategy, simulation, and city-building is an astonishing achievement given it was only developed by five people. As the appointed viceroy of the Queen, the responsibility of establishing thriving settlements falls on your shoulders. This guide outlines best tips and tricks for Against the Storm beginners.
Against the Storm Beginner Tips
Against the Storm challenges players to strategically manage their settlements while prioritizing the needs and happiness of the settlers. It’s set in a fantasy world where rainfall is a constant factor. Players take the role of the Queen’s viceroy, responsible for establishing and managing settlements filled with an array of creatures, including intelligent beavers, lizards, harpies, foxes, and humans.
Plan Your Moves Carefully
Strategic planning is the key to achieving success in Against the Storm. From early decisions to region-specific challenges, your ability to strategize will be put to the test.
Every region in the game comes with its own set of buffs and debuffs. Planning your settlement while taking these factors into account is one of the keys to success. The decisions you make in the early stages of the game can have a significant impact on your progress. Careful planning in these stages can help offset region-specific challenges, even on easier difficulties.
A Happy Settler Is a Productive Settler
A big part of managing your settlement is ensuring the happiness of your settlers. By addressing their desires and needs, you can keep their Resolve high, leading to a more productive and harmonious settlement.
Every species has specific desires. For instance, Beavers love Pickles, Lizards crave for Skewers, Humans enjoy Biscuits, and Harpies value Cleanliness. By catering to these desires, you can boost Resolve, leading to a more content and efficient population.
At times, certain needs may overlap across species. For example, producing Biscuits can satisfy multiple species at once. Prioritizing such cross-species needs can be a smart strategy for maintaining high Resolve.
Resource Management
Resource management is paramount in Against the Storm. From managing raw resources to tailoring resource usage based on settler preferences, every decision can significantly impact your settlement’s progress.
Raw resources, especially raw food, are vital for the survival and growth of your settlers. Efficient resource management can help prevent shortages and ensure a steady supply.
The Consumption Control feature allows you to tailor resource usage based on your settlers’ preferences, ensuring a balanced distribution and preventing wastage.
Building Placement
One of the key strategies to accelerate resource collection is to place relevant buildings near their corresponding resource sites. For example, placing Trappers near meat sources and Woodcutters close to trees can save precious time and enhance efficiency.
Remember, most buildings can be moved. So, if a building is not placed optimally, you can always relocate it to a more suitable location.
Just like buildings, settlers too need to be organized efficiently. Assigning each settler a specific role and evenly distributing them amongst different structures can lead to better results.
Honor the Queen
No surprise, the Queen’s satisfaction with your work plays a big role in your reputation in Against the Storm. Keeping the Queen’s impatience at bay is crucial to maintaining a stable reputation.
Each successful completion of the Queen’s orders not only earns you reputation points but also sometimes grants you with additional rewards. Keeping the resolve of your settlers consistently above the indicated threshold on the scale can result in a passive gain of reputation over time.
Unlocking New Glades
As your settlement grows, you will gain access to new Glades that were previously covered in fog. However, unlocking new territories should be done cautiously, as some areas are fraught with danger.
Threats in the foggy Glades can be identified by a horned skull icon, with or without an aura. These can either cause immediate damage or debuffs that disappear over time or pose a long-term problem until dealt with.
Before unlocking new territories, ensure you are well-prepared to deal with any potential dangers that may arise.
Rain Collectors and Woodcutters
Rain Collectors and Woodcutters play a big part in the success and sustainability of your settlement. The former serve as a primary source of water. Woodcutters, on the other hand, ensure a steady supply of timber, a primary building material.
Rain Collectors provide a consistent and dependable source of water, particularly in seasons characterized by scarce rainfall. As your village expands, the water demand will increase, making Rain Collectors a sustainable solution to your water needs.
Woodcutters ensure a continuous and reliable timber supply, which is essential for constructing and upgrading various structures within the game. Prioritizing Woodcutters enhances the sustainable management of your forested areas.
Expanding Your Settlement
Expansion is a strategic principle that enhances your settlement’s success and sustainability. By expanding, you can access new regions with valuable resources and create a buffer against potential threats.
Each area on the map might offer different advantages, such as fertile farming lands, rich mining deposits, or strategic defense locations. By expanding, you can tap into these resources and diversify your production.
A growing population requires more housing and infrastructure. Expansion ensures that you have the space and resources to accommodate new settlers.
Management of Food & Fuel
The careful management of food and fuel resources is paramount to the survival and thriving of your settlement. Striking a balance between food and fuel production is critical to sustainable resource management.
Food is a fundamental resource that sustains your population. Establishing a reliable and sustainable food source is crucial for your villagers’ growth and happiness.
Fuel, often derived from wood, is another critical resource in Against the Storm. It serves multiple purposes, including heating structures during colder seasons and powering various essential buildings.
Optimizing Workforce According to Race
Strategically aligning tasks with the racial specialties of your settlers is key to maximizing efficiency and output. Each has unique strengths and preferences that, when leveraged properly, can significantly enhance your gameplay. Here are some examples:
Harpies are adept at Alchemy and have a preference for Cloth. They are excellent firekeepers, boosting global carrying capacity. Their favored complex foods include Biscuits, Skewers, and Jerky, while they appreciate services like Education and Cleanliness.
Beavers excel in tasks related to Wood and show a liking for Engineering. They consume fuel at a slower rate, making them efficient in resource management. They enjoy Pickled Goods and Biscuits, and services such as Education, Luxury, and Leisure.
Humans are skilled in Farming and have a penchant for Brewing. Their presence slows the Queen’s Impatience, providing a strategic advantage. They favor Biscuits, Pie, and Jerky for complex food and value services like Leisure and Religion.
Lizards are proficient with Meat and have an affinity for Warmth. They contribute global resolve, an important factor in maintaining settlement harmony. Pickled Goods, Skewers, and Pie are their preferred complex foods, and they value Brawling and Religion in services.
Combining these species strategically can yield different advantages:
- Humans, Beavers, and Harpies: Ideal for maps with fertile soil. They provide a comprehensive range of services and have significant overlap in food preferences, making them one of the easiest teams to manage for reputation through resolve.
- Beavers, Lizards, and Harpies: Suited for maps without fertile soil. This combination leverages the abundance of meat and is efficient in resource management and service provision.
- Humans, Lizards, and Harpies: A less favored combination due to the overlapping needs of Humans and Lizards and the challenge in early wood economy without Beavers.
- Humans, Beavers, and Lizards: Not recommended due to the similar reasons as above, and the absence of Harpies can be particularly challenging.
Citadel Upgrades
Accumulating points through successful settlements allows you to upgrade your Citadel. These upgrades improve the quality of life and introduce new mechanics, offering better control over resource management.
For new players at the Viceroy difficulty level without prestige, certain Citadel upgrades can greatly enhance your gameplay experience. A fundamental upgrade is the Obsidian Archive, which plays a crucial role in circumventing player level caps, allowing for continuous progression in the game. Another important upgrade is Trade Routes. This is a reliable source of Amber, which is essential for obtaining a variety of perks that can significantly boost your gameplay.
Equally important is the Increased Town Vision Range. This upgrade is a game-changer as it enables the expansion of settlements beyond the usual limitations, thus allowing for broader territorial control and resource management. Additionally, the Rainpunk Engines upgrade is noteworthy for its role in ensuring a steady water supply, which is particularly useful in completing glade events.
The Essential Blueprint: Harpy House is also a strategic upgrade, especially in the early stages of the game. It addresses the challenge of keeping Harpies content and mitigates their resolve decline during storms. This blueprint is a vital tool for maintaining harmony and productivity within your settlements.
In summary, new players should consider focusing on the following upgrades:
- Obsidian Archive: To bypass player level caps for continuous progression.
- Trade Routes: As a primary source of Amber for acquiring perks.
- Increased Town Vision Range: To expand settlement boundaries effectively.
- Rainpunk Engines: For a reliable water supply, especially in glade events.
- Essential Blueprint: Harpy House: To keep Harpies happy and maintain their resolve during storms.
So there you have it. Hopefully this guide is a comprehensive walkthrough for newcomers in their journey in Against the Storm. Stay tuned to We Game Daily for more on the game.
And if you have a hankering for other survival games, The Lord of the Rings: Return of Moria has been keeping us busy. We have plenty of tips for players venturing into the Mines of Moria.
