~The Settlers A complete selection of hints and tips - By Simon Burrows ~`Introduction ~`------------ `Well, it's a little time now since this smart little strategy `game from Blue Byte software was released. It is said to be a `cross between Sim City and Populous, but also has links to games `like Utopia, Powermonger, Genesia, and more vaguely to Theme `Park, Mega lo Mania and even another of Blue Byte's creations, `Battle Isle. ` `The game itself has two titles: "The Settlers" being the English `release, and "Serf City: Life is Feudal", the American. It is `really a sort of medieval foray in which you must build your own `little settlement with the aim of ultimately attacking, and `defeating, your enemies. ` `After my successes in writing about games like Sim City 2000, `Theme Park, UFO: Enemy Unknown, and Desert Strike, I've now `decided to create this huge selection of hints and tips to cover `the widest area of features deserving of mention in this game. ` `This documents covers the main aspects of the game in parts 1 to `nine, (for example, buildings, roads, food, mines etc.) then the `final part, part ten, covers a very loose step-by-step guide you `could follow to help yourself through the first few minutes of `the game. `Anyway, enough chat. Onto the tips... ~` * * * ~`Part One - Placing your castle `Obviously, the first building you've got to worry about is your `castle. The positioning of this at the start of the game is a `big factor in how successful you can be later on - so choose your `position wisely. ` `Firstly, take a bit of time to survey the whole area to see what `the possibilities are. There are a few obvious hints in location `choice like you must be near mountains, forests and lakes. Also, `remember that deserts are completely useless, so it's no good `building in one of these. ` `There are two options available to you really: either you place `your castle quickly before his, or you let him go first to give `yourself longer to think. The first of those two can lead to `your opponent placing his castle near your border to limit your `movement once he knows where you are, but if you take the second `option you could find that your opponent takes the prime spot in `the landscape leaving you in a less desirable position. I `recommend that you take this second option, because, although you `may lose out on the best spot, this is far better than being `crippled by your enemy starting up near your border and shutting `you off from some vital resources. ~`Part Two - Starting up `When you have your castle down you need to start building up your `little town. It's quite likely that the area around your castle `worth building on (ie, the flat land) is cluttered with rock `and trees, so by placing a quarryman and a lumberjack you can `clear the area ready for building, and generate some useful `building materials at the same time. When the area is clear and `ready for building on, burn down the two huts, and you're ready `to go. ` `Probably your first job after doing this is to build some guard `huts at the limits of your territory. This will expand your area `quickly, which is, or course, one of the main ideas of the game `in the first place. ` `Now you need to think about creating the rest of your town. When `you initially start up, don't try to build too many buildings at `once. If you do this, your workers will be slowed down and your `knights spread thinner over your territory. ` `At the beginning of the game you will find that you will need `quite a lot of everything, but things should get easier as you go `through. Just remember that you WILL run out of wood, for `example, if you forget to build a sawmill early on, so always be `on your toes and build everything that you're going to need. ` `One of the best layouts for a town is to have your castle near `the centre, and the different 'industries' to each side. So, for `example, you could have your castle in the middle, then mines and `metalworks to one side, food and farming to another, and forestry `and saw-milling to a third. This will reduce travelling time to `a minimum, and avoid clogging up roads. ~`Part Three - Construction `One thing to think about before constructing a new building is `enemy presence. Do not build anything new if you know that the `enemy is within reach, especially if that enemy is building, or `is about to build, a watch-tower or guardhouse. If you do do `this, and you are unlucky enough for his building to be completed `before yours, his border will sometimes approach and invade your `territory, cutting off some of your buildings. This leads to `the building being destroyed, together with all the stock inside `it, which is a big loss to any player unless you're cheating! ` `As well as putting buildings near to the stocks they will use `(Eg, fisherman's huts near to the lakes), it is also important to `think about where to position them in relation to other `buildings. For example, buildings that rely on each other would `be much better close by to save lots of time travelling between `them, and buildings that go together to create a little `'production line' would be best in that order, with the last `building near to where the final product will be used. Two useful `examples of this may be :- `þ A lumberjack, a forester and a sawmill close by will create an ` almost constant stream of building planks ready to be sent off ` to wherever they're needed, and it involves no interaction ` with the castle, saving time, and reducing congestion. ` `þ By having foundries on the foothills of mined mountains, and ` then blacksmiths and toolmakers in between there and the ` castle, you create a little production line. Basically, the ` iron ore from the mine goes to the foundry, the coal from ` another mine and the iron from the foundry go to the ` blacksmith and the toolmakers, then the weapons and tools from ` the tool-maker and blacksmith can be transported directly to ` the castle for distribution. `...Creating these little set-ups will save time, reduce `congestion, and probably increase output as well, so it's worth `thinking about it when laying down your buildings etc. ~`Part Four - Buildings `Early on it is advisable to set building occupancy to weak, `because there is no need to guard buildings which won't get `attacked this early on in the game. It is far better to leave `your knights in the castle where they will get trained up `quicker, and be ready for attack. Later on in the game when the `enemy comes close in a threatening mood, increase the occupancy `level again ready for the oncoming attack. ` `Boatyards are only important in those levels where there is lots `of water about. Remember that you will only need a certain `amount of boats, so to conserve wood, turn off it's delivery to `the boat-yard as soon as you have enough boats, otherwise you're `just wasting it. ` `Obviously castles are very important, and you will undoubtedly `know quite a lot about them from playing the game and from the `manual. One thing I can add is a little cheaty tip you can use `when placing your castle. If your enemy finds an excellent place `to put his castle in a level, immediately restart the level and `place your castle there before he can! Ooooh, what fun! ` `Farms are the other main food source for your settlement. A farm `can produce corn for flour then bake the flour for bread, as well `as growing corn straight for pig food. (Don't you ever wonder `where they get the yeast from??) You should find that two farms `will suffice for a small settlement, but after a while you will `find the need to build more as demand for food increases. `Obviously, the best place for farms is in wide, flat areas where `farmers can have the best fields. ` `Fishermen's huts are also very important at the start of the `game, because fish are the easiest way of feeding your workers. `As an added problem in the game, it is quite possible to 'over- `fish' a lake, so it's best not to build too many huts around one `lake, and, instead, to conserve stocks by allowing reserves to `re-build after each fishing spree. ` `Sawmills are very important buildings because they process the `trees cut down by your woodcutters into planks ready to be used `in building. You are really going to need a sawmill right at the `start of the game to get straight to work at creating the `necessary materials for early building. ` `A warehouse is very similar to a castle, so is a very important `building and should be protected by at least one stronghold. If `you lose a warehouse it can be a very big blow to your campaign. `One of the best 'uses' of a warehouse is for training knights `because they will be taught much faster in a warehouse than in a `stronghold. ` `These two are obviously also very important because without them `you won't even have the wood for the sawmill to plank. Because `the two do completely opposite jobs (ie, one cutting down, and `one planting trees), it's a good idea to have the two working in `harmony with each other, so that as one chops down an old forest, `the other can start planting another. If you're wondering about `the best place to start a new forest, one that grows on the `slopes of a mountain is your best bet since this uses up `otherwise useless land and conserves the flat land for building `on. ~`Part Five - Roads `If you are to become successful in this game you will need to `have a good road network at all times. If your network is poor, `or non-existent, things can get completely clogged up as you `build a bigger and bigger empire. Important goods can get slowed `down as transporters move less-important goods out of the way, `and this leads to everything slowing down and becoming much less `efficient! `The best road-network to construct is a little Milton Keynes type `grid of roads that covers your whole land. This is best as it `gives your workers and transporters the best chance of a direct `route to their destination, saving valuable time and helping to `reduce congestion. ` `The worst road-network you can build is one where all roads lead `to and from your major buildings in sort of star shapes. This `doesn't work at all because, for anyone to go anywhere they have `to take long routes to places they don't want to go to, before `they can then go on to their desired destination. ` `One thing you musn't do is to change the path to a building `whilst rock or wood is being transported there. This will `bewilder the men doing the transporting, and more than often `they'll just turn around and head back the way they came! ` `Another aspect of transporting is the 'flags'. Transporters will `always take the shortest route possible to their destination, and `this is calculated by the number of these 'flags' that are passed `- the more 'flags', the longer the journey. Because of this, `reducing the number of flags to the minimum will also minimise `transportation times. ` `When laying roads, try to keep them as flat as possible. If it is `a necessity to lay a steep road (appearing red), then put a flag `either side of the hill, so you have one transporter going up and `down the hill slowly, while other transporters can go further, `quicker. `Whilst building roads, you must take into consideration the land `that they take up. If you build too many roads you will start `taking over more and more land leaving less space for planting `new trees to replace those already cut down. The more and more `you do this the less and less trees you will have in the future, `and as trees are the most important ingredient in expansion, this `is no good thing. Basically, although you do need roads, you `need to be a little careful in where you put them, so you need to `plan ahead and not just chuck them down all over the place. ~`Part Six - Mining, Tools and Weapons `When deciding which mines to build, remember that coal mines are `far more important than the other, so you should have at least `twice as many of these that the alternatives. ` `It is important to get a tool maker up and running BEFORE you run `out of tools because he cannot make them quickly. It doesn't `really matter where you build his hut, so just slot it into any `available space. ` `When attack is impending, it is important to build several `blacksmiths with their support structures, plus mines and gold `foundries. If you don't take these precaution you won't have `weapon stocks when battle arrives, and it will be too late then `because weapon production is very slow. ` `It is best to space your blacksmiths, gold mines and foundries `widely around your land so that your enemy cannot halt your whole `production with just the capture of one of your guard posts. `(Ie, he may stop the production of one mine, foundry or `blacksmith, but you will have many others, a long way from the `captured one, which can continue production for you.) ~`Part Seven - Food `At the very beginning of a new game then the best food to produce `is fish, because this is a quick and easy way to feed your mine `workers. All you need to do is build your fisherman's hut near `the water and you're away. ` `One of the silly parts of this game is the fact that the only `need for food is in feeding miners. But, hey, don't complain; `this means that if, for some reason, you don't have any mines `working, you don't need to produce any food at all! `The above means that you don't need to produce as much food as `you might think. Over-producing just wastes time as your little `men lug bread, bacon and fish around your roads, creating `congestion too. It also means that if you are busy making too `much food you're wasting land with farms that you don't even `need! ` `If you do have mines running (which 95% of the time you will), `then I recommend that you don't bother with pig farming. `Instead, once you've got up and running a bit, rely less on your `fisherman by building up until you have three corn farms, a baker `and two windmills. This lot should do the job of feeding the `workers from at least ten mines all year round. ~Part Eight - Attacking `Unlike in other, similar games, battle isn't the best way of `doing things. It is far better to hang on and not fight until `you absolutely have to, in order to give yourself the best chance `of winning. Also, there is no point in fighting for small `pickings, so only fight when there's something good to be won `like a mountain containing a vital material. ` `Instead of directly attacking your enemy (ie, sending in your `knights), it is better to keep enlarging your territory by `building guard posts on your border. Doing this gives you the `opportunity to rotate your knights between the castle and the `guardpost, so some are defending the guardposts, whilst the `others are training in the castle. You can then keep rotating `this, ensuring that the guardposts are always satisfactorily `defended, and you will ultimately get a good strong army of `highly ranked knights ready to attack when needed. ` `Getting your knights into good nick before making your first `attacks is vital. At the start of the game you'll find that your `knights have low armour, and are in bad training. The best way `to get them trained up is to build plenty of warehouses, because `they offer the best training. If that's not an option, knights `can also be trained in the garrisons, although this is less `proficient. The best rule to use is that your knights should be `used as late as possible to give them the best chance of being `successful. `The first thing to remember is that only 'military' buildings `(watch-towers, strongholds, and guard towers) can be attacked `during play. The first thing to do when weighing up the `possibility of attacking a building, or just when trying to find `out about it, is to look at the flag that is flying outside it. `Of course, the colour of this immediately shows you who occupies `the building, but you'll also find that the higher the flag is `flying on the pole, the more soldiers are defending the building. `This allows you to see whether it's likely you'll be able to `capture the building or not. ` `The best attacking tactic is to save your game before every `battle, and then again if you win the battle. That way, if you `lose, you can re-load and be none the worse for wear. This `allows you to try some more risky attacks like using only one `captain to attack an enemy castle. This kind of battle is `possible to win - one in about five tries usually - so you can `keep restarting until you make it. ` `When you do come to make an attack, don't just attack anything - `it is important to make the attack count. Try to select targets `that will cause the most problems for your enemy if you control `them. For example, if you can find a well-used road in his `empire, then attacking and controlling this means that whatever `used to pass down it cannot any more. An example would be a road `where raw materials go from a mine to a foundry - after all, `it's no good your enemy mining iron ore if he can't get it to a `foundry to process! `Another possibility might be to attack and cut off a little `'pocket' of your enemy's territory, so there's no way he can `expand it or try and get it back. This allows you to destroy it, `or keep it and gloat to your enemy for as long or as little as `you like! ` `Finally, when selecting a post to attack, look to see whether `your opponent is fickle enough to have but one blacksmith or `foundry. If he does, and it is possible to attack these, it is `possible for you to halt your opponent's entire weapon or tool `production in one fell swoop! ` `Another good reason for attacking might be to take control of a `guard post which has an extremely valuable resource piled up by `the flag outside. It may get to the stage where it is worth `doing this at the loss of a few knights, because the resource is `so valuable for you to get control of. (Or, if you're mean like `that, so your enemy can't have it!) `If you are looking to attack a big enemy fort, you must have a `strength and morale level of at least 90%. To increase morale, `collect gold, as each piece collected will increase your knight's `morale, and you'll also find that winning battles has a positive `effect on morale. Another thing to think about is your supply of `weapons. I suggest that you build a weapon maker as soon as `possible to give a large collection of weapons. The raw `materials needed for swords and shields are coal and iron, so `take these into consideration when you position things too. ` `Another thing to bear in mind with knights is their tiredness. `If they have to walk a long way to the front line they will get `tired on the journey and be less effective in battle. Their `status is shown with four symbols ranging from active on the left `to sleeping on the right, so refer to this to help you plan out `battles. ~`Part Nine - Defending `Defensive possibilities in this game are rather limited to say `the least! If you find yourself in a situation where your front `line has an unsatisfactory number of knights, you can reduce the `number manning third line and inner guard posts, and some will `then leave these areas and go back to the castle. From the `castle the knights can then go onto the front line and man the `unsatisfactorily defended guard posts. The main problem with this `method is that the knights will spend a long time walking around, `so you must act quickly so you don't get attacked before the `knights arrive. ` `If it comes to the situation where you can see the enemy marching `upon one of your guard posts, there is little you can do about `it! As long as the enemy is still a fair way away, (if they're `close you won't be able to do this) you could destroy the `targeted guard post so that, although it will be lost, it won't `get into enemy hands. `Another possibility would be to find the nearest enemy garrison `and attack this. If you are lucky, your troops will begin to `march on this, but they will meet the approaching enemy army on `the way, and begin to attack them there. This means that your `building stays in safety - at least for now. The only thing to `worry about is the fact that your troops must see the enemy ones, `or vice-versa, for the confrontation to occur, so if there's a `mountain in the way, for example, the two armies could march past `each other and you'll look incredibly silly! ~`Part Ten - An Example Step-by-Step Start ~`The following guide by no means compensates the tips in parts 1 ~`to 9. It does not cover many aspects of the game, and misses out ~`some vital tips. It's just a quick piece to help you get into ~`the game and start your own little civilisation. `The first decision is placing your castle. It might be a good `idea to survey the different mining locations first, and position `it at the best of these; one with water and forests if possible. `The first buildings to construct should be guard posts on your `border to expand territory. ` `After this you can loosely say that you now need at least one of `each construction except for the boat yard, butcher and pig farm. `The first to get up and running should be some mines, so get the `geologists out and find some good mines, then get them set-up. `Next you'll need to find some food for the miners, so build 1 or `2 fisherman's huts by a lake. ` `Next you need some building materials. Build a woodcutter with a `forester so that one compensates for the other, then build a `stone cutter. When the latter of these has exhausted the surface `stone in the area, burn down his hut then build another for him `somewhere else, otherwise he'll be forever perambulating around `your land trying to find his way home! ` `You now need to convert the logs from the woodcutter into some `wood planks ready for building. To do this, build a sawmill `close to your castle. As well as this, build the other `manufacturing buildings, going in the order of production, with `the final building closest to your castle (ie, mine furthest `away, then foundry, then tool-maker, blacksmith and goldsmith `closest to the castle). ` `Soon you will find that your miners start running out of food, so `get a corn farm up and running. To process it's corn you'll also `need a windmill or a baker nearby. ` `As your power becomes greater, it would help to build a new `goldsmith to get more morale-boosting gold, and another armourer `to increase your fighting power. ` ~` That'll do for now folks... ~` Hope this increases your success in this smart game... ~` Simon Burrows