Most runs end on Day 1–10 by skipping the Communal Kitchen, over-building beds, pushing past Floor 3 with no Antidotes, or spending early iron on swords instead of Iron Pickaxes. The early resource priority is wood → stone → food → iron (as pickaxes first) → clay → herbs → mandrake.
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Mistake → fix cheat sheet
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
Skipping the Communal Kitchen on Day 2 | Day 2 build is Communal Kitchen + 4 Basic Beds (80 Wood, 20 Stone); place the kitchen within 3 tiles of food storage. |
Relying on foraging past Day 5 | Switch to Subterranean Mushroom Plots by Day 3 — 25 mushrooms every 36 hours out-produces foraging. |
Over-building beds before you can feed them | Match beds to population until you have a 200+ calorie daily surplus; do not accept wanderers before Day 10. |
Pushing past Floor 3 without Antidotes | Stockpile Antidotes; pull melee back from a flashing red health bar — Venomous Crawlers' death AoE is a common wipe cause. |
Spending early iron on weapons | Save early iron for Iron Pickaxes — Day 15 winter requires coal harvesting. |
Letting clay become a bottleneck | Best sources: Acid Slogels (Floor 3+, 2 clay per kill) and Predatory Frogs (5 clay per kill); use Region 2 merchants for larger quantities. |
Farming a single floor until it stalls | Rotate floors — each floor has a 0–5 depletion value; reaching 0 applies -50% to the region for ~15 days. |
Mismatching Backgrounds and weapons | Match gear to the trees the Major Trait grants — Thief + greatsword performs poorly; City Guard wants a shield. |
Researching in the wrong order | Consensus priority: Hunting Processing → Repair Stand → Metalworking. See Research Order. |
Recovering from a wipe the wrong way | Reassign survivors to food; lock the dungeon entrance; dismantle non-essential military; wait 48 hours for Desperate Survivors; expect -30 Morale for 3 days. |
Resource priority cheat sheet
| # | Resource | Why |
|---|---|---|
1 | Wood | Doors, beds, walls, workstations — every structure consumes it. |
2 | Stone | Beds, walls, workstations; do not over-spend on decoration. |
3 | Food (cooked meals) | Raw food has a 15% Food Poisoning chance that grounds a settler for a full day. |
4 | Iron (as Pickaxes first) | Day 15 winter requires coal harvesting. |
5 | Clay | Mid-game crafting chain: Kiln, Leather Workstation, Casting Workbench. |
6 | Herbs (Mana Stone Powder) | Inputs to Goddess's Tears, used to purify Dark Thorn Vine. |
7 | Mandrake | Confirmed dungeon find; downstream crafting uses are still being balanced in Early Access. |