Against the Storm: Your First-Run Game Plan
In Against the Storm, you are not building one forever city. In most standard settlements, you are running many short settlements and trying to earn Reputation (your win progress in a run) before the Queen's Impatience meter fills. If the mix of weather, needs, and random rewards feels like a lot at first, you are not doing anything wrong. A rough season can tank morale, and that early frustration is very normal.
Use a simple loop: secure basics, open opportunities, then push points. Basics means steady food, fuel, and shelter. Opportunities come from Orders (mission-style objectives) and Glades (forest clearings with resources and events). Push points by raising Resolve (citizen happiness that can generate Reputation) and by completing Orders. Watch Hostility (forest anger that rises as you cut trees and as years pass), because it is the pressure system that makes Storm season dangerous. Expand with a plan instead of opening every glade right away.
Fast, Reliable Early Habits
Prioritize consistency before greed: get woodcutters working, place basic housing, and lock in simple food production you can actually sustain. Open small glades first to stabilize income, and treat dangerous glades as planned milestones, not impulse clicks. During the Storm, pause, check Resolve, and temporarily reassign workers or cut nonessential risk so no species crashes.
Coaching line for stuck runs: If your settlement starts spiraling, stop expanding for one year, reduce Hostility sources (often by lowering active woodcutter camps), and fix exactly one bottleneck, usually food or fuel, before anything else. One stable season restores momentum much faster than a desperate all-in gamble.