Following the previous guides, today we would like to introduce you to Dario’s world in The Settlers 5.
As you have probably already noticed, there are some fundamental changes in this game compared to the previous The Settler games:
- The Settlers 5 uses a direct control system for the units, like in a real-time strategy game.
- The goods cycles are not visible directly in the world. Instead, all goods automatically land in a total stock and can additionally be duplicated by so-called refiners.
- In The Settlers 5, there is no “real” AI that builds its own houses or cities. Instead, you are dealing with scripted, recurring hordes of enemies. Therefore, on pure multiplayer maps you remain alone in the single player mode.
Your first settlement:
Below is a brief introduction to building your first settlement on a single player map.
To start, click on a serf and give him tasks. On many maps it is first necessary to build your village center.
In order to do this, select the serf, click on the flag in the build menu and then on the existing “site” on the map to build your village center there. You can also assign several serfs to each construction site to speed things up.
Extraction of resources:
After building the village center, you can now start collecting resources.
Your serfs can mine the basic resources such as wood.
Other resources, such as clay and stone, exist on the one hand as simple deposits which your serfs can mine, but also in the form of large stone/clay/… shafts and quarries. On those you can build pits which are extracting resources much faster than your serfs would do.
Now take a handful of serfs and send them to nearby trees as well as stone and clay deposits. You can hire additional serfs in the castle (hand symbol).
Tip: In contrast to most other RTS games, the serfs do not have to bring the resources to the village center. Therefore, it does not matter how far from the center you send them! The same applies to the pits.
The first goods cycle:
The Settlers 5 is based on the construction of many mini-cycles. Every worker needs a residence for sleeping and a farm for eating. Each residence and farm provides enough for several craftsmen.
Therefore, to continue, build a hut and a farm in a free space.
Important notice: The farmer also needs something to eat, of course, and a place to sleep. Thus, in both buildings the farmer already occupies one place from the beginning.
Now build a university next to the residence and the farm. This is the most important building at the beginning, because there you can research all other building options.
After building the university, you can directly research “construction” there. During the research, we take a look at an important info function in the interface:
This information shows the missing places to sleep and eat in your settlement. As you can see, the university already needs more sleeping space than a single hut can offer you.
Nevertheless, you can ignore this at the beginning – the research takes only a little longer. Workers without sleeping quarters spend the night around the campfire and are less efficient.
If you have found a stone quarry and a clay shaft, build one residence and one farm next to each. After that, construct pits on both of. Consider that a farm offers more space for workers than a hut does and keep in mind you can upgrade buildings later on.
The refinement:
The next step is the “processing” of resources. You can refine your wares in The Settlers 5, which simply multiplies them.
Therefore, the construction of a sawmill is especially important – because unlike clay and stone you cannot mine wood with the help of a pit!
Build a sawmill with a residence and a farm nearby close to your castle. The craftsmen working here are the first to get their goods from somewhere else. However, not as perhaps expected from the lumberjacks, but from your total stock. Therefore, the craftsmen take the goods directly from the castle (and later also from warehouses/marketplaces).
As your game progresses, you can research improvements for your fighters at the sawmill too (after it has been upgraded).
- Principally, you can upgrade all the buildings in the game to unlock additional options or to offer more space.
- The upgrades will be particularly important for huts and farms later in the game.
Thus, you have now built your first small settlement.
Your heroes:
A very important role in The Settlers 5 take the playable characters. They all have special abilities that can often determine the outcome of a battle.
Dario, for example, can use his falcon to explore the map. After sending the bird, you can turn on a special perspective to see the world from the hawk’s eyes.
In addition, Dario has another ability to scare his enemies and to drive them back for a short time.
A few final tips:
- You should always focus on the construction of refiners, which are – in addition to the sawmill – the brick maker’s hut, stonemason’s hut and later also the smithy and the alchemist hut.
- Always build these buildings close to the castle or next to previously built warehouses to keep the walkways short.
Opponent hordes will attack you repeatedly until you destroy their camps. - ------ Therefore you need a working defense using both towers and soldiers right from the beginning.
Thank you to haep for writing this great guide!