Starting Ability

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Overview

Starting Abilities are extra capabilities unlocked at higher levels of Citadel upgrades. Once unlocked in the Smoldering City, you get the bonus the moment a member of that species joins your settlement (or at the start of the run).

List of Starting Abilities

Species	Ability	Unlocked in
Bats	Grants the Manorial Court blueprint	Brass Forge level 10 x 120, x 30
Beavers	Extends available Trade Offers by 1 in each neighboring town	Dim Square level 7 x 72, x 12, x 12
Foxes	Reveals the location of 1 of the nearest Rainwater Geysers	Pioneers' Gate level 7 x 84, x 12, x 12
Frogs	Reveals the location of 1 of the nearest Ruins	Brass Forge level 7 x 84
Harpies	Gain 50  Coats	Vanguard Spire level 7 x 72
Humans	Reveals the location of 1 of the nearest patches of Fertile Soil	First Dawn Headquarters level 6 x 60, x 12, x 12
Lizards	Gain 10  Tools	Monastery of The Vigilant Flame level 5 x 48

Additional Information and Strategies

Lizards

10  Tools can help in early game to solve Glade Events, complete Orders or be traded for other Resources. It can be also a good strategy to keep them for sending Abandoned Caches to the Citadel later, as  Tools are amongst the most expensive and hard-to-produce goods in the game.

Beavers

Beavers' passive ability will unlock the first level of expansion with every neighboring city for free (otherwise it costs 5  Amber for each), which unlocks one extra Trade Offer (2 -> 3). It allows the player to pick better offers and improve standing with trading partners faster.

Combined with Guild House being a species-specific Service building that might be offered in blueprint choices when Beavers are in the game, Beavers are a good choice for players that center their strategy around Trading.

When challenging the Sealed Forest on difficulty Veteran and higher, the most reliable way of fulfilling the 2nd and 3rd Seal Orders is by using trade routes to obtain Golden Blood and using the  Amber earned from trading to obtain Crystal Feathers. The Beavers' starting ability is especially helpful in this circumstance as it reduces the chance of getting stuck waiting for viable trade route offers.

Humans

Humans passive icon.

Humans' Starting Ability will show the nearest undiscovered Fertile Soil patch on map. This information can be useful when picking blueprints or when choosing the best direction of expansion. Based on this information players can also deduce which Glades in close proximity are unlikely to contain Fertile Soil patches.

Harpies

Although 50  Coats seems to be a large number, they can disappear quickly without real benefit if starting caravan has many villagers with a Clothing Need. It is recommended to forbid usage of  Coats at the beginning of the game in Consumption Control and enable it again when it is beneficial:

Surviving Storm Season

Harpies' Resilience is Low and their base Resolve is only 5, so it might be a struggle to keep them positive during Storm Season. Enabling  Coats before Storm might prevent them from leaving.

Resolve Orders

Orders and especially Timed Orders that require to keep Humans', Beavers' or Harpies' Resolve above certain thresholds are much easier to fulfil with  Coats at player's disposal.

Solving Glade Events

There are five Dangerous Glade Events that can be solved with a help of  Coats:

• Blightrot Cauldron
• Corrupted Caravan
• Merchant Shipwreck
• Withered Tree
• Noxious Machinery

Foxes

Foxes passive icon.

Foxes' Starting Ability will show the nearest undiscovered Rainwater Geyser' position on the map and also reveal its Rainwater type:  Drizzle Water,  Clearance Water, or  Storm Water. This information can be useful when picking blueprints or when choosing the best direction of expansion. Based on this information players can also deduce which Glades in close proximity are unlikely to contain geysers.

Frogs

Similarly to Foxes', Frogs' Starting Ability is useful when picking blueprints or when choosing the best direction of expansion. It can also be used for locating Dangerous Glades in Cursed Royal Woodlands - production and service building Ruins can't spawn in Small Glades.

Bats

Manorial Court is a powerful building that allows you to get extra production chance, raise the level of Bats' passive ability Dedication, and raise Impatience on demand.

As the most accessible source of extra production chance in the game, Manorial Court allows you to boost production output at each step of the production chain. Frogs' Firekeeper ability and Housing Upgrades allow you to benefit from Manorial Court's extra production chance sooner, and mitigate villager loss.

Manorial Court is also a convenient and reliable way to proc on-death and on-leave effects like Bone Tools and Cannibalism Cornerstones.

At Prestige 20, it's easy to exile one or two villagers that were going to leave anyway, if you happen to be just above a Hostility level threshold. The increase in Impatience will result in a lower Hostility level, which often prevents more villagers from leaving. And you still get points towards Dedication, if the kicked out villagers weren't Bats.

One of the options for The Gambler (World Event) favors a random species each season. With Bats in the settlement, this effect can only activate with all 3 species present. Manorial Court trivializes the challenge, since you have control over who is present.

References

1. Sentinels of the Forest Update