Despite what you may think at first glance, Going Medieval is more about in-depth survival tactics and research management than it is something along the lines of Sims Medieval. The game still consists of extremely multi-faceted features for an early access title, which means there’s plenty to learn as you try to keep your medieval town alive. To help you with that, we’ve gathered some quick tips to help you get started.
Housing is Your First Priority
The first thing you want to establish is housing. Your villager’s moods are affected by things like sleeping out in the cold or on an uncomfy bed. This, in turn, affects the entire town so you want to keep people from being miserable. Once you have made a room for them to share, build all the base furniture like a bed, table, and some chairs. This provides the settlers with comfort and helps with their overall happiness.
The next priority is storage. Without it, villagers can forage berries and plants or chop down trees but they won’t be able to haul the supplies until you designate an area for them to unload. It’s important to note that you should also lay down flooring to protect the supplies from deterioration and preserve things for longer. Ideally, you also put walls around the structure, but it isn’t necessary.
Always Be Researching
After establishing housing and food sources, begin researching as much as possible. This will help you unlock essential items, such as how to brew drinks to quench the thirst moodlet. Research is important for the further development of your village and its progress. It helps your villagers learn new skills, armor, food preservations, and more.
There are three different types of research methods: Chronicle, Textbook, and Thesis. You initially begin with Chronicles, and as you continue to further your village’s research you’ll unlock textbooks and Thesis. I recommend researching anything related to food and armor. Armor can even include defensive structures as you also build a lot in this game. How you research ultimately depends on your style of gameplay and what attributes you deem important for the town.
Prioritize Your Jobs Correctly
Delegating jobs and creating work hours for your villagers will make your life ten times easier. There are 16 different categories of jobs to choose from and making sure they’re all taken care of is of the utmost importance.
It’s imperative that after your town has survived an attack or a villager is hurt from hunting, that you send them to convalesce. Without rest, they will not heal or may bleed to death. Make sure to assign someone to steward as well. They’re responsible for making sure all windows and doors are closed. An open door can lead to some unfriendly wildlife or unwanted visitors roaming in. It may seem minuscule, but it is still a job nonetheless.
Don’t Accept Every Single Villager
It’s not easy to get new villagers to join your town. Sometimes, a random event will trigger, asking you to take in a fleeing or banished individual. You are prompted with two choices. You can either accept the banished folk into your settlement, and risk a fight, usually from the town they were banished by, or deny them entry and have your villagers become upset. But this isn’t the case all the time. You need to weigh the risks.
Each villager has its own set of skills and perks. These skills are vital to assigning villagers to different posts. As you acquire more settlers, you’ll have more hands to work different jobs, but that will also be more mouths to feed and shelter to provide. Make sure to evaluate the usefulness of each person before accepting them as a member.
Ale is Life
If we know anything from the Medieval ages, Ale is a quintessential aspect of life, which is reflected in Going Medieval. Your settlers not only have a food requirement but a drinks requirement as well. It’s vital to learn how to brew almost immediately after learning agriculture. You need materials like barley and red berries to begin brewing, and thankfully red berries grow abundantly around and sometimes on your terrain. It’s a good idea to stockpile these supplies so that you are brewing constantly.
Like with any other job, there are production times, and brewing takes the longest, by far, no matter who is assigned to the task. In a way, since it’s fermenting, it makes sense that the whole process takes a day or two.
Adjust Your Priorities with the Seasons
Seasons are a massive part of gameplay. During winter you need to ensure that your buildings are insulated and that you have heat sources warming up rooms. It’s a good idea to stock up on food and drinks during the Fall because nothing grows in the cold months. Planted crops will struggle and animals are even harder to hunt in the white snow. Your villagers’ apparel is another crucial factor that can’t be overlooked. Make sure to research tailoring so you can begin crafting winter clothing to keep people from freezing.
In the summer months, your townies will be affected by massive heat waves that may make it impossible to work for days at a time. It’s crucial to move your storage inside of your buildings in a basement setting. The heat above ground causes your hauled and foraged supplies to wither and decompose faster. Again, much like winter, you’ll need to tailor some breezy summer clothing so they can keep cool too.
Defense is a Must
Even after two or three fights, I still didn’t truly realize the importance of defensive structures. If laid out properly, however, they can honestly save you a lot of bloodsheds and minimize battle time. As you continue researching, you can eventually build a structure where you have archers stationed at a vantage point above the ground in guard towers. Terrain can be used to your advantage as well. With spiked walls, you can ensure raiders can’t climb the edge of a mountain to reach your settlement.
Typically, you have a two-day warning before the enemy attacks and that should be enough time for you to get your bearings in order.
It’s always a smart idea to equip your villagers with weapons and shields before any event and once you’ve gained enough knowledge, give them armor. All can be built from a range of materials, but typically those made out of leather and steel are the most damaging and durable. The fighting mechanics of the game are a bit wonky, but it’s easier to attack a horde after you’ve drafted your villagers together. By hitting draft, you link the movements of all the villagers together, so essentially they travel and attack as a group. Like anything, fighting is a skill you develop, and as your town becomes more accustomed to defending itself, their sparring improves.
