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Choose a Town Center site with food and safety in mind
Before placing the Town Center, inspect the surrounding area for natural food and potential danger. Crate Entertainment’s official basics guide points to berries, fish, and deer as useful nearby resources, and warns players to account for threats such as wolves and boars.
Nearby resources can reduce the distance villagers must travel to gather food and materials. The Harvest tool can collect trees and rocks for construction, but harvesting takes villagers away from other work. Clear what you need for the settlement’s immediate plans rather than treating every nearby resource as free or costless to gather.
Build an early food supply from what the map offers
Foraging, hunting, and fishing are natural starting options while the settlement is small. Which one to emphasize depends on what is actually available near your Town Center; none is a universal winner.
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| Food source | What it offers | First-year consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Foraging | Foragers collect berries and herbs. | Useful when gathering spots are nearby. Herbs can also serve a treatment role if disease occurs. |
| Hunting | Hunters pursue game for meat and hides. | Availability depends on game near the settlement; consider travel distance and danger. |
| Fishing | Fishermen gather food from nearby water. | An option when the map provides accessible fishing areas. |
| Fields | Crops add a food source as the settlement develops. | Preparing fields takes significant labor, which can make them a poor immediate fix in the first year. |
The official food guide treats fields as part of longer-term growth after the first winter rather than a guaranteed first-season solution. Early on, check the current food stock in the resource summary and keep an eye on how quickly it changes. Starting resources vary by difficulty, and the map determines which natural sources you can use; the official guidance does not specify a food reserve that guarantees survival.
Make firewood before winter arrives
Raw logs and firewood are not interchangeable for the settlement’s heating need. The Firewood Splitter is available from the start, so establish firewood production deliberately rather than waiting for cold weather to discover that the stock is short. The basics guide warns that running out of firewood as winter arrives can quickly put the settlement in danger.
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Watch stored resources in the top HUD and check the resource summary as winter approaches. There is no universal firewood target in the official guidance: the amount a settlement needs depends on its circumstances. Respond to your own stock and needs instead of relying on a fixed number from another map or difficulty.
Provide shelter, including near remote work
Shelter is a basic need, alongside food. Make housing part of the opening plan, but avoid building a large surplus without a reason: construction uses labor and resources that may also be needed for food and fuel.
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For villagers working far from town, a Temporary Shelter near a remote workplace can provide nearby shelter and let them work longer. This can be useful around production sites such as mines and work camps, where distance otherwise separates workers from town shelter.
Keep gathered food from spoiling
Food production is only useful if food remains safe to eat. Spoiled food cannot safely be consumed, so monitor not just how much you gather but also how quickly it is being stored and used.
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- Prefer root cellars for food storage: they preserve food better than storehouses.
- Improve storage as the settlement grows: upgraded storage provides better insulation.
- Use barrels where appropriate: they delay spoilage for many foods.
- Process food when useful: processing can extend shelf life.
The official food guide describes these preservation options. Check the in-game resource summary for spoilage timing so you can adjust gathering or storage before perishable supplies are lost.
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Guided Start helps teach the opening systems
Crate Entertainment’s v1.1.0 patch notes, posted April 9, 2026, say Guided Start is enabled by default for a first settlement and provides objectives that help players progress toward Tier 2. If you want in-game direction while learning the opening systems, follow those objectives alongside the needs shown in your HUD.
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- Face a fearsome sect of the Children of Atom, led by the Last Son of Atom, in an action-packed, open-ended and non-linear sandbox questline that can take characters from level 1 - 21.
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Shelter Inside is an alert action, not winter heating
The v1.1.1 patch notes, posted May 14, 2026, add a Shelter Inside command to the Town Center. When activated, it orders villagers to garrison there if possible and sends the rest to their homes; all production pauses until the command is deactivated. Treat it as a defensive or alert action, not a substitute for firewood or ordinary winter preparations.
Quick Recap
A practical opening-year check
- Before settling: inspect nearby berries, fish, and deer, and account for wolves and boars when choosing the Town Center location.
- As work begins: establish gathering and production based on the natural food sources your map supports; use the Harvest tool for necessary building materials.
- Before cold weather: ensure the Firewood Splitter is producing firewood and check the stored stock in the HUD.
- As the settlement expands: provide shelter and consider Temporary Shelters near remote production buildings.
- While food accumulates: watch storage and spoilage, using root cellars, upgrades, barrels, and processing as appropriate.
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