Going Medieval has smashed into early access this week. The medieval colony sim already holds a 92% rating on Steam at the time of writing. The developers have really put their heart into the game to create something special and I think players are realizing that. Though the game is positively received, there is a bit of a learning curve. Those that have played similar colony titles will see familiar systems and mechanics but new players may be having trouble.
Whether you’re having trouble finding out some oft he finer mechanics within the game or just want to get a few tricks up your sleeve these top 10 tips for Going Medieval will hopefully give you something to improve your medieval experience! Without further ado, let’s get to the list!
1. Create Stockpiles Near the Relevant Stations
In Going Medieval, you are tasked with planning out and running a colony. The decisions you make shape the way the colony will be. One of the mechanics in the game is stockpiles. With zones, you can create areas where your settlers are expected to bring certain items. You can create this piles wherever you want and on any Z level. With this in mind, you can create specific areas where colonists are expected to bring items. One great way you can use this to your advantage is by bringing relevant items to where they are going to be process.
For example, if one of your settlers has a room where they will tailor clothes, you can create a stockpile for textiles wither in the room, or nearby. This will save the tailor from running to the other side of the colony to collect ingredients. They can just get about their work. Though it may seem trivial to begin with, keeping stockpiles in the right places can save your settlers a LOT of time.
2. Learn/Change Your Hotkeys
Let’s face it. A lot of you, (like myself) may be coming to this game after playing Rimworld. It’s fine to admit it. If you’ve played hundreds of hours in Rimworld like myself then you’ve probably started to get used to the hotkeys. Going Medieval shares basically none of their hotkeys with Rimworld. If you’ve got the same muscle memory as me you may improve your experience by remapping some of the keybinding to fit Rimworld.
In Going Medieval you can remap any of the keybindings you wish. For example, I have changed the forbid hotkey to it’s natural place at F. This has made a lot of the game runs a lot smoother for me. I’m not saying that either keyboard layout is better or worse. Anything can be learnt. But veteran Rimworld players will probably have more fun changing their binding to what they know.
3. Most Items Have Different Variants
You might think that the list of items available to you in Going Medieval is fairly limited. I mean, who wants a simple unmarked grave to get rid of bodies? What you may not realize is that by selecting a building piece you will open up another sub-menu. Here there are often different variations of the same item. For example, when you select the wooden wall you can also find the clay and limestone wall in the sub-menu. Under unmarked grave, you will see the options for nicer graves and even sarcophagi.
As you can see in the image above, I have unlocked 5 different variants of the brazier. Select each of the building blocks and see what kinds of things you can create. Different materials will have different stats as well. Keep that in mind for future raids.
4. Structural Integrity Matters!
Planning a large stone castle with many stories? You are going to have to build some supports! Structural integrity matter in Going Medieval. This means you will have to build beams and support posts if you plan on having more than one floor. Cellar rooms can’t be too large or they will cave in the floor above them. Make sure to create support posts often in your rooms or even just smaller.
In the first piece of research that you unlock (called Architecture), you will learn how to make wooden support beams. These can be built between two walls to help the structural integrity of the building above. These are essential for making a stable second story in your house.
5. Consider Making an Underground Base
Have you had a play-through with dreams of creating a large castle but got bored when you ran out of material? Are you sick of getting raided from every side having your walls destroyed? Well, why not try an underground base? One of the coolest features of Going Medieval is the ability to build up or dig down between layers. You can build staircases in order to go downhill.
I did write a full guide on how to build an underground base the other day if you want to check it out. With an underground base, enemies can only attach you from one side. If you can make a highly defensible position, your (dwarf) fortress will become impenetrable.
6. Build Specific Room Types
This is one of those tips that isn’t so obvious to players of the game. In Going Medieval, you can use production facilities and specific furniture to create rooms. Yes I know, this isn’t so amazing. you may have seen when you selected an item of furniture that the room is called Spare Room. If you place the right items in a room you can create specific rooms and boost the production of certain facilities.
Check the image above. By pressing the rooms overlay you can see the different room types in your settlement. Here, you can also see what is needed to create each type of room. By placing a stove in a specialty kitchen, you will bump up the production speed of the hearth by 20%. This can make a big difference on those days where you are pumping out supplies.
Less time spent working = happier settlers.
7. Forage For Your First Meals
When you first arrive to the new area you will not have much. Acquiring a source of food will be your first task of the new land. While you are waiting for your crops to grow you will need some source of nutrition. Luckily, there will be berries and mushrooms that your colony will be able to forage and consume! Find mushrooms sprouts around the area and mark them to be harvested. Berry bushes will be bright red and hard to miss.
If you find one forage-able plant you can zoom out to see a larger area. Now, double click that mushroom or bush and the game will automatically select all of that type of item in the seen area. You can now mass-forage them all. Male sure you leave the foraging to the more experienced green thumbs in the colony. Settlers will a low plants skill have a chance to mess up the harvest and either get less resources or destroy the food.
8. Upgrade Your Food Production Areas
Food being one of the most important resources, you’ll need a lot. As you move up the research tree you will find new methods of cooking and new recipes. Continue to unlock these new technologies and make the most of them. The stone hearth is going to be able to cook meals a lot better than that crummy old campfire. We wrote a guide on how to cook in Going Medieval which will give you all the information you need on cooking meals.
9. Corpses Will Upset Settlers
Each settler in Going Medieval has their own mood. Certain things will make their mood better or worse depending on their traits. Only a certain few types of settlers will be okay walking around dead bodies to get their bread in the morning. Most of them won’t! Dead bodies can be the quickest way to get a settler upset enough to either ignore orders or flat out leave your colony.
I mean, do you really want to look at dead bodies of the raiders you killed last week while you are tending to the carrots? There are a few different methods you can use to get rid of corpses from your colony in Going Medieval. Check out this guide to see how you can clean the place up a bit.
There are easy ways to do this such as just creating a stockpile to get them out of eyesight. You can also just flat out burn or bury them.
10. You Can Right-Click Injured Colonists to Have a Doctor Heal Them Immediately
One of the saddest moments of Going Medieval is when raiders will eventually attack and injure one of your colonists. Most of the time this will be the main reason your settlers will die. Unfortunately some hits are just too much and Maccus may accidentally just take a bad swing to the neck. Sometimes though, you are able to carry injured colonists to their beds and fix them up.
One of the hardest things to navigate is the priorities menu. If you haven’t customized the schedule menu, your colonists will always prioritize sleeping through the night regardless of what is happening to the colony. Luckily there is a way to get urgent medical care to a dying settler. If you can see that a settlers life is fading you can select a doctor and ask them to go treat the injured settler straight away. To do this select the doctor and then right-click on the patient. An option will appear to have the settler treat their friend.
Remember this one well. It may just save a settler’s life!
That was my personally top 10 tricks for Going Medieval. Do you have any more tips that you’ve found out whilst playing the game that you’d like to share? Leave a comment down below and help out your fellow settlements. I hope these tips helped you build a thriving colony!
