Banished: Building a Thriving Community from Scratch

Updated On: February 14, 2024 by     Ciaran Connolly  

Embarking on the creation of a new community within the austere world of Banished is no small feat, given that the very essence of your endeavour hinges upon survival. It’s an ordeal we’re rather familiar with ourselves and, in our quest to conquer such trials, we’ve delved deep into various tactics to aid you in thriving against the odds.

Understanding that establishing critical infrastructure posthaste is utterly paramount has been pivotal; hence, our guide is thoughtfully crafted to navigate you through this intricate dance of resource gathering, erecting vital edifices, and judiciously steering your populace towards a flourishing future.

Prepare yourself to chart a course for triumph as you lead your fledgeling settlement from precarious beginnings to lasting success!

Key Takeaways

• Master the basics of Banished by familiarising yourself with the game’s interface, objectives and managing resources to establish a groundwork for your community.
• Select an appropriate map and difficulty level tailored to your gameplay preferences; this will shape your settlement strategy from the beginning.
• Prioritise resource collection early on, especially food, wood, stone, iron and coal to ensure survival through each season and prepare adequately for harsh winters.
• Build essential structures such as houses for shelter, barns for storage, and food production facilities like farms and fishing docks quickly to support a growing population.
• Effectively manage emergencies by stockpiling resources, maintaining health services during crises and adapting work assignments in extreme weather conditions.

Starting the Game

Familiarising ourselves with the basics of Banished is crucial to our success. Choosing the right map and difficulty level, prioritising resource collection, and building essential structures will set us on the right path for a thriving community.

Familiarising Yourself with the Basics

We all start as beginners at some point, and learning the essentials is our first step in Banished. Mastering the basics will set us up for building a thriving community from scratch.

• Understand the game’s objective: Our main goal is survival, achieved by strategically gathering resources, constructing houses, and growing food.
• Learn to navigate the interface: Familiarise ourselves with where to find menus and information panels for managing our settlement efficiently.
• Start small and expand gradually: Initially focus on building essential structures such as houses, a gatherer’s hut, and a fishing dock to ensure our citizens’ basic needs are met.
• Pay close attention to seasons: Seasons greatly impact our resource availability; therefore, we must plan ahead, especially when preparing for harsh winters.
• Get to know your citizens: Each villager has unique needs and skills which influence how we assign jobs and tasks within our community.
• Manage resources wisely: Efficiently use what’s available without wasting any potential stockpile; remember hide coats prove valuable for trade.
• Keep an eye on health and happiness: A healthy and content population forms the backbone of a successful society; let’s not overlook their well-being.
• Anticipate growth challenges: As our town grows, so do its demands; we must balance resource production with our ever-increasing population size.

Choosing a Map and Difficulty Level

When selecting a map and difficulty level in Banished, it’s essential to consider your experience and comfort level. The type of map you choose can impact the availability of resources and the overall challenge.

For instance, a mountainous terrain may offer fewer flat surfaces for building, while an island map might limit access to certain resources. Additionally, the difficulty level will determine factors like starting conditions, resource scarcity, and environmental challenges.

Whether you’re new to city-building games or an experienced player looking for a tough challenge, choosing the right combination of map and difficulty level is crucial for setting the stage for your thriving community.

Consider how each map and difficulty setting will affect your resource management strategy. A more challenging environment may require careful planning to ensure survival through harsh winters and food shortages.

Prioritising Resource Collection

After choosing a map and difficulty level, it’s crucial to prioritise resource collection in Banished. This will ensure the survival and growth of your community. Here are the essential steps to prioritise resource collection effectively:

1. Allocate workers to gather food, such as hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foods like berries, to prevent famine and starvation.
2. Assign labourers to clear areas for resources like wood and stone, vital for construction and fuel during winters.
3. Focus on collecting iron and coal early on to support tool production and essential infrastructure needs.
4. Consider trading excess resources for items that are difficult to obtain in your region, enhancing your community’s sustainability.
5. Continuously monitor resource levels and adjust collection efforts based on the changing needs of your growing settlement.

Building Essential Structures

In Banished, building essential structures is crucial for the survival and growth of your community. Here’s a list of important structures to prioritise:

1. Houses: Constructing houses is vital to provide shelter for your growing population and prevent unhappiness.
2. Food Production: Building farms, orchards, and fishing docks ensures a sustainable food source for your settlers.
3. Storage Barns and Stockpiles: These structures are necessary for storing food, tools, and resources to prevent shortages.
4. Woodcutters and Foresters: Establish these buildings to ensure a steady supply of wood for construction and fuel.
5. Gathering Huts: These huts help gather wild food sources such as berries and roots, supplementing your food supply.

Surviving the Game

Managing resources and population is crucial for survival, especially during harsh winters and emergencies. Read on to learn more about how to thrive in Banished!

Managing Resources and Population

To create a thriving community in Banished, we focus on managing resources and population effectively. We need to gather essential resources such as food, firewood, and building materials to sustain the settlement.

Prioritising resource collection is crucial; it ensures the community’s survival through harsh winters and famine. It’s also vital to balance population growth with available resources – allowing for gradual expansion while ensuring that basic needs are met.

Choosing strategic locations for essential structures like houses, storage barns, and crop fields optimises resource management. Preparing for emergencies by stockpiling essential items reduces the impact of disasters on the community.

Preparing for Harsh Winters

After effectively managing resources and population, the next challenge is preparing for harsh winters. This entails taking proactive steps to ensure your community survives the brutal cold:

1. Stockpile Resources: Accumulate ample firewood, food, and warm clothing to sustain your population through the winter months. Prioritise gathering and storing these essentials during milder seasons.
2. Build Warm Housing: Construct additional homes and upgrade existing ones with better insulation to provide a comfortable environment for your citizens during the bitter cold.
3. Plan Food Production: Cultivate winter crops in advance and secure a reliable supply of livestock to ensure a sustainable food source when fields are barren.
4. Prepare for Emergencies: Establish backup plans for heating, food shortages, and medical care in case of unexpected crises during severe weather conditions.
5. Implement Heating Solutions: Set up efficient heating systems within residential areas to maintain warmth and reduce the risk of cold-related illnesses among your community members.
6. Maintain Infrastructure: Ensure that roads and pathways are well-maintained to facilitate movement even in snowy conditions, preventing isolation or supply shortages.
7. Monitor Health and Morale: Keep a close eye on the well-being of your citizens during winter months by providing adequate healthcare services and organising morale-boosting activities.
8. Adjust Work Assignments: Alter work schedules to avoid exposing citizens to extreme weather conditions while ensuring essential tasks continue uninterrupted.
9. Invest in Trade Relations: Establish trade partnerships with neighbouring settlements to acquire additional supplies or support during winter emergencies.
10. Review Survival Strategies: Continuously evaluate past winter experiences to improve future preparations, ensuring that your community becomes more resilient with each passing year.

Dealing with Emergencies

1. Prioritise the allocation of resources such as food, firewood, and tools to ensure your community can weather the crisis.
2. Assign additional labourers to quickly address any damage caused by disasters like fires or tornadoes.
3. Monitor your population’s health and promptly build herbalist huts or hospitals if sickness becomes widespread.
4. Prepare for sudden drops in temperature during harsh winters by stockpiling extra firewood and warm clothing.
5. Have a reserve of food and resources to cope with unexpected events that may disrupt supply chains.

Expanding Your Community

In Banished, expanding your community is crucial for its survival and growth. Here are some key strategies to ensure a successful expansion:

1. Attracting Nomads: Consider allowing nomads to join your community to bolster your workforce and increase population diversity.
2. Building New Housing: Construct additional houses to accommodate new citizens and plan ahead for potential population growth.
3. Establishing Production Facilities: Set up new production buildings, such as farms, orchards, and hunting lodges, to ensure a sustainable food supply for the growing population.
4. Expanding Infrastructure: Build roads and bridges to connect new areas of your settlement, facilitating access to resources and trade routes.
5. Ensuring Resource Management: Monitor resource availability closely as the community grows, ensuring a steady supply of essential resources like food, firewood, and tools.
6. Maintaining Social Cohesion: Prioritise community facilities like churches and schools to boost morale and maintain social cohesion within the expanding population.

Accepting New Citizens

When new citizens arrive in your thriving community, it’s important to manage immigration, provide housing and basic needs, and balance population growth for sustainable development.

This process requires careful planning and management to ensure the continued success of your growing settlement.

Managing Immigration

To manage immigration in Banished, players must carefully monitor the arrival of new citizens to maintain a balanced population growth.

1. Assign workers to gather resources and build homes to accommodate new arrivals.
2. Ensure there are enough resources like food and firewood to sustain the increasing population.
3. Strategically plan for the immigration influx by gradually expanding housing and basic infrastructure.
4. Monitor the immigration rate to prevent overwhelming the community with rapid population growth.
5. Balance immigration with resource management to avoid shortages and ensure sustainability.
6. Consider creating incentives for immigration through infrastructure development and job opportunities.
7. Implement policies for controlling immigration flow based on the current capacity of the settlement.
8. Regularly assess the impact of immigration on available resources and adjust strategies accordingly.
9. Utilise trade opportunities to acquire additional resources necessary to support an expanding population.
10. Plan ahead for infrastructure expansion and resource management to accommodate future waves of immigrants.

Providing Housing and Basic Needs

When starting a new community in Banished, providing housing and basic needs is crucial for the well-being and growth of your population. Ensuring that your citizens have access to shelter, food, and other essentials is vital for the success of your community. Here are some tips for effectively providing housing and meeting basic needs:

1. Constructing Adequate Housing: Build enough houses to accommodate your growing population. Adequate housing ensures that your citizens have a place to live and raise families, contributing to population growth.
2. Ensuring Access to Food and Resources: Establish sustainable food sources such as farms, orchards, and pastures to provide a steady supply of food for your community. Additionally, consider setting up storage barns near crop fields to efficiently store harvested resources.
3. Providing Access to Goods: Establish markets where citizens can access essential goods like tools, clothing, and firewood. This will help meet their basic needs and improve overall happiness within the community.
4. Balancing Population Growth: Monitor population growth carefully to ensure that you can continue providing adequate housing and resources for all citizens. Balancing population growth with available resources is essential for the sustainability of your community.
5. Managing Healthcare: Prioritise building herbalist huts or clinics to provide medical care for your citizens. Good healthcare helps maintain a healthy population and reduces the impact of diseases on your community.
6. Promoting Education: Consider building schools to educate young citizens, which leads to improved productivity and overall quality of life within the community.
7. Addressing Clothing Needs: Set up tailor shops or trading posts for acquiring clothing materials such as leather or wool so that citizens can stay warm during harsh winters.
8. Planning Efficient Layouts: Strategically plan the layout of houses, production buildings, and resource gathering areas to ensure easy access for all citizens while promoting efficient workflow throughout the community.

Balancing Population Growth

In Banished, managing population growth is crucial to the success of your community. By prioritising housing and basic needs for new citizens, such as food and warmth, you can maintain a steady increase in population without overwhelming your resources.

It is essential to gradually grow your population while ensuring that there are enough jobs available and sufficient resources to support the influx of new residents. Take into account factors like food supply, clothing availability, and space for new homes when welcoming more citizens into your thriving settlement.

Maximising efficiency in resource collection is vital when balancing population growth in Banished. As you expand your community, planning an efficient town layout will help prevent overcrowding and ensure that resources are easily accessible to all inhabitants.

Tips for Success

Ensure a smooth and efficient town layout to maximise resource collection, balance job allocation, and plan for future expansion. Read on to discover more strategies for thriving in Banished!

Prioritising Buildings and Resources

When starting the game, we must prioritise essential buildings and resources to ensure the thriving of our community. Here are some key strategies for prioritising buildings and resources in Banished:

1. Build a woodcutter’s lodge early on to ensure a steady supply of firewood for warmth during harsh winters.
2. Prioritise constructing a hunting cabin and fishing dock to provide a sustainable source of food for your growing population.
3. Establish an adequate number of crop fields and orchards to secure a continuous food supply throughout the year.
4. Ensure the construction of storage barns and stockpiles to prevent resource wastage and maintain organised resource management.
5. Prioritise building houses to accommodate new citizens, preventing homelessness and encouraging population growth.
6. Construct a herbalist’s hut to provide medicine for your community, ensuring their health and well – being.
7. Focus on building a market to centralise resource distribution and improve overall efficiency within your settlement.
8. Prioritise establishing a school to educate the next generation, leading to higher productivity and efficiency among citizens.
9. Consider building tailor shops early on to produce warm clothing, crucial for surviving harsh winter conditions.
10. Lastly, prioritise constructing trading posts to establish valuable trade routes with neighbouring communities, allowing access to rare resources that can benefit your settlement tremendously.

Finding Balance in Jobs and Tasks

1. Assigning a mix of essential roles like builders, gatherers, and farmers ensures a steady supply of resources for your community.
2. Prioritise assigning workers to critical tasks such as food production and resource gathering to avoid shortages during harsh winters.
3. Ensure that you have a balanced workforce by monitoring the number of labourers and specialists to maximise efficiency across all jobs.
4. Building additional storage and trading posts can free up labourers from resource management tasks, allowing them to take on other vital responsibilities.
5. Carefully manage the number of children in your community as they grow into labourers, ensuring a steady transition from students to workers without overwhelming your resources.
6. Utilise the “prioritise” option for specific tasks to ensure that urgent needs are met promptly, optimising productivity in your settlement.
7. Rotate workers between different roles to prevent burnout and maintain a healthy workforce dedicated to sustaining your growing community.
8. The careful allocation of workers and balancing their tasks is essential for achieving sustainable growth while maintaining a thriving population.

Planning an Efficient Town Layout

After finding a balance in jobs and tasks, the next crucial step is planning an efficient town layout to ensure that your community runs smoothly. Start by strategically placing essential structures such as houses, food sources, and production buildings near each other to minimise unnecessary travel time for your citizens.

Consider creating designated areas for specific functions, separating residential zones from industrial sectors to improve organisation and resource management.

To maximise efficiency in resource collection, create well-defined pathways between key areas within your town. Clearing out space around important buildings will also enhance accessibility and streamline movement for your settlers.

Conclusion

Building a thriving community from scratch in Banished is an exciting and challenging experience. Managing resources, prioritising essential buildings, and making the right trade decisions are crucial for success.

By carefully balancing population growth and resource management, players can develop a sustainable and resilient community. With strategic planning and efficient town layout, players can create their own unique society in this engaging city-building game.

FAQs

1. What is “Banished: Building a Thriving Community from Scratch”?

“Banished: Building a Thriving Community from Scratch” is about starting over and creating a new society by establishing a successful community, managing resources, and planning for resilience.

2. How do you start building your community in Banished?

Begin by prioritising essential buildings for survival, establish strategies for thriving and develop citybuilding tricks to manage your resources effectively as you grow your population gradually.

3. What are some tips for ensuring my settlement becomes sustainable?

Focus on developing sustainable practices like balancing population growth with resource collection and maximising efficiency when collecting these resources to support the needs of your growing town.

4. Can I plan my town layout to help my community thrive?

Yes, careful urban planning is key! Planning a successful town layout helps in establishing new neighbourhoods that can lead to rebuilding or strengthening your exiled community.

5. How important is resource management in Banished?

Managing resources is crucial; it directly affects everything from constructing buildings to nourishing your citizens. Mastering this will aid in maintaining community development and resilience.