Rebuilding civilization from a handful of survivors in a harsh, post-plague medieval world is the core challenge of the colony-building strategy game Strategies for the Going Medieval Colony Builder”>Going Medieval. Developed by Foxy Voxel and drawing inspiration from titles like RimWorld, the game presents a deep and complex management experience wrapped in a distinct medieval aesthetic. For newcomers, the sheer scope of tasks—from securing food and shelter to advancing research and defending against raids—can be daunting. This guide provides the foundational strategies needed to establish a stable settlement, withstand early threats, and build towards a thriving stronghold.
Establishing Your Colony’s Foundation
Selecting the Right Starting Scenario
Your initial choices significantly shape the early-game experience. Going Medieval offers several scenarios, each with different difficulty levels, starting seasons, and settler counts. ‘A New Life’ is the recommended beginner scenario, starting with three settlers in the forgiving spring season. It provides a balanced introduction. For players wishing to focus entirely on construction and management without combat, the ‘Peaceful’ mode offers an easy start with four settlers. More experienced players might opt for the ‘Lone Wolf’ challenge, beginning with a single settler in winter, or ‘Pioneer’, which starts with three settlers in autumn and features unpredictable enemy attacks from the outset.
Choosing Map Biome and Resources
The map biome you select dictates your available resources and environmental challenges. The ‘Valley’ offers plentiful vegetation, fertile soil, and clay, with mild winters and fierce summers, making it ideal for farming-focused colonies. The ‘Hillside’ provides uneven terrain advantageous for defense, with fair amounts of limestone and clay. The ‘Mountain’ biome is rich in mineral resources like limestone, gold, iron, and silver but has scarce fertile soil and harsh winters. Finally, the ‘Marsh’ is a watery landscape teeming with fish and plant life but scarce in land animals and mineable resources, featuring mild winters. Your strategic goals should align with your biome choice.
Assembling Your Initial Settler Team
You begin with three followers, each possessing unique skills and traits. It is crucial to manually select or reroll to form a group covering three essential early-game roles: a Builder with high Construction or Mining skill to erect your settlement; a Farmer/Cook with high Farming and Cooking skills to manage the vital food supply; and a Fighter with decent Melee or Ranged skill to defend against raids and hunt. Pay close attention to traits. Positive traits like Hard Worker, Industrious, or Iron Gut provide significant boosts, while negative traits such as Glutton or Pyromaniac can create severe management problems. Investing time in crafting a balanced starting team pays immediate dividends.
Critical First Steps for Settlement Survival
Immediate Priority: Resource Gathering and Stockpiling
The first minutes of your colony must be dedicated to gathering. Immediately create a stockpile zone and command your settlers to collect all loose resources—wood, stone, and especially berries—scattered around the starting area. Leaving resources uncollected leads to waste. This initial stockpile forms the raw material foundation for everything you will build.
Constructing Basic Shelter Before Nightfall
Settlers sleeping outdoors face risks from animal attacks and exposure, leading to mood penalties. Your primary construction goal should be a basic wooden shelter before the first night. A simple rectangular structure with walls, a roof, a door, and enough beds is sufficient. Avoid overengineering; functionality and speed are key in the initial phase.
Establishing a Sustainable Food Source
Food is the most pressing ongoing concern. Early survival relies on foraging for berries and hunting wild game with ranged weapons. As soon as materials are available, build a campfire or clay oven for cooking. Raw food provides minimal nutrition, but cooked meals fill settlers better and grant mood bonuses. Simultaneously, plan for a farm plot to transition from scavenging to production.
Initiating Research and Technological Advancement
Set up a research bench early and assign your most skilled researcher. The early research tree unlocks technologies critical for survival, including improved farming tools, advanced food production methods, durable building materials, and essential defensive structures. A key management tip is to never leave the research queue empty; always have a project ready for when your researcher has downtime to ensure continuous technological progress.
Preparing for the Inevitable First Raid
Combat is a core mechanic, and raids often occur within the first in-game season on standard difficulty or above. Preparation is non-optional. Before a raid arrives, ensure each settler has a viable weapon, establish a defensible position such as a wall with a choke point, and stockpile sufficient food and medicine to endure a potential extended engagement. Growth attracts attention, so defensive readiness must scale with colony development.
Mastering Food and Farming Management
Diversifying Early Food Sources
In the initial stages, utilize all available food sources. Forage for berries and wild plants scattered across the map. Utilize settlers with ranged skills to hunt animals for meat once bows are available. This diversified approach prevents reliance on a single, potentially failing source.
Setting Up an Efficient Farming Operation
After unlocking basic farming technology, designate a growing zone on level ground with rich soil to maximize crop yield and quality. Select crops appropriate to your biome and the season; most crops only grow in warm months, so planting in early spring is ideal. Staple crops include Wheat for bread production and its long shelf life, Turnips for cooler conditions, and Herbs for medicinal purposes, though these are a lower initial priority.
Optimizing Cooking and Food Quality
Raw food should be avoided whenever possible. Cooked meals provide superior nutrition per unit and grant positive mood bonuses. Researching advanced cooking recipes further increases food quality and nutritional value. Establish a dedicated kitchen area with a stove, workbench, and adjacent storage to optimize your cook’s efficiency and output.
Managing Storage and Preventing Spoilage
Food spoilage is a constant threat. Build an underground or partially buried larder to create a cooler environment that slows decay. In winter, cold outdoor temperatures can act as natural refrigeration, but beware of access by wild animals and raiders. A critical inventory management practice is to prioritize consuming fresh, perishable food before it spoils, preserving longer-lasting staples.
The journey from a vulnerable band of survivors to a prosperous medieval stronghold is a process of layered, interdependent systems. Success hinges on a balanced start, swift execution of foundational tasks like shelter and food, continuous technological research, and proactive defense planning. Mastering the cycle of production, expansion, and protection allows a colony not just to survive the initial hardships but to flourish, transforming the wilderness into a bastion of order and resilience against the dark age that surrounds it.
