Beginner's Guide/ja
Whiskerwoodでは、入植地の島に髭の民(ネズミ)の拠点を建設し、髭の民のニーズに応えつつ、爪の民(猫)からの要求にも応える必要があります。そのために、生産施設、住宅、サービス施設などを整備しましょう。
入植地の設定
島を開発する前に、入植地の基本設定をする必要があります。
- 入植地の名前 - これから開発する入植地に名前をつけましょう。
- 難易度のプリセット - ここを選ぶことで、詳細な設定をしなくてもゲームの難易度を変更することができます。
- 詳細設定 - 細かくゲームの難易度を変更することができます。左にいくほど簡単な設定になります。
- 乗組員 - 最初に入植する5匹の髭の民です。髭の民にはそれぞれ得意な職業、性格、能力、期待水準が決められており、より良い民を選びましょう。上にあるサイコロのマークを押すとメンバーを変えることができます。
- 初期物資 - 入植地に持っていける初期物資です。この物資が無くなる前に髭の民たちのライフラインを整える必要があります。
準備が終わったら右下の「開始」を押し、開発を始めましょう。
ゲームのはじめに
最初に交易港を設置しましょう。 この港を中心に開発をするので、木やベリーが近くにあり、緑が多い場所の近くに設置しましょう。 港を建設すると髭の民がやってきます。 次に、中央倉庫を建設しましょう。 これも港の近くにあると便利でしょう。 そしたら初期物資をもらうことができます。それと同時に勅許状に署名をし、納税の義務が発生します。
ここからは自由に島を開発することができます。しかし、納税を忘れてはいけません。木材の伐採、食料の採集、髭の民のための家など、基本的なことは爪の民が教えてくれます。それを参考にあなただけの入植地を開発しましょう。
UIの見方
開発を進める前に、UIを理解しましょう。UIは大きく分けて次の7つあります。
- 予定 - 徴税人がくる日付、徴税額、手元の物資の合計価値、現在進行しているミッションの目標などが表示されます。
- 街の情報 - 爪の民の数や食料、賛同などを確認できます。
- 総人口 - ネズミのアイコンをクリックすると、爪の民の一覧を見ることができます。
- 建設労働者数 - 仕事をしていない、建設ができる爪の民の数です。
- 賛同数 - 髭の民からは毎晩賛同をもらえます。賛同を使い、さまざまなことができます。
- 外交シール - 爪の民と交渉をするときに使用します。
- 食料 - 倉庫に保管されている食料の数です。クリックすると詳細を見ることができます。
- 警告 - 街に問題があるときに表示されます。問題は早めに解消しましょう。
- 物資 - 倉庫に保管されている物資の数です。
- 街のメニュー - 髭の民、物資、税金などの追加情報を見ることができます。
- 時間の管理 - 時間の経過速度を変更することができます。
- 建設メニュー - 建築をするためのメニューで「輸送・物流」「生産・住宅」「管理・装飾」の3つに分かれています。
- 気象情報 - 季節と気象条件は街に影響を与えます。寒い時は暖房が必要ですし、植物も育たなくなります。
- 情報ビュー - 地下の様子や温度、汚染度などを見ることができます。
髭の民
髭の民にはそれぞれ特技や特性を持っています。それに合わせて正しく仕事を与えれば、効率の良い街を作ることができます。 Cicelを例に、特技や特性について見てみましょう。
- ギルド - 髭の民はギルドに所属しています。Explorer, Miner, Farmer, or Engineer, with each Guild providing three traits to that Whisker, and also improving their efficiency in specific roles and jobs. These traits could lead to increased food consumption, resistance to certain weather conditions, or other factors that enhance their efficiency in specific tasks.
- Characteristic - Some Whiskers may have a characteristic that enhances their overall efficiency in various production categories, such as carrying capacity or eating habits.
- Expectations - The higher the star rating, the more demanding a Whisker will be of more luxuries. Star ratings increase with certain traits as well as for Whiskers that are more experienced or educated, such as Apprentices, or anyone who is Educated.
- Jobs & Housing - While you can automatically assign a free Whisker to a job, you could manually assign them based on the aforementioned Guild Association and Characteristics by clicking under the gear and selecting the appropriate job. You can also manually assign them to a house or let them sleep in any free bed.
- Whisker Stats - A set of stats that includes movement speed, productivity, carrying capacity, and body temperature. Guild Association, characteristics, food types, and heat sources can modify these stats.
- Modifiers - These are items that are affecting the Whisker in the moment, which can include food types and Guild Specialty bonuses when they are in a job that aligns with their Guild Association.
- Positive & Negative Approval - Daily factors that provide the approval rating from your Whiskers.
With all of this in mind, a well-fed, warm Whisker who is in a Guild Specialty job can see a massive boost to productivity and create the most efficient colonist!
The School provides a way to specialize your Whiskers, should you have need to.
In order to use the school, you must have a Craftsmaster Whisker that will become a Teacher. Selecting the Assign Teacher button will provide you with any Whiskers that meet the requirement. Once a Teacher is in the slot, you may assign up to three Whiskers that will learn under said Teacher.
There are multiple Education Targets that you can select to educated your Whiskers:
- Guild Specialty - Allows the Teacher to turn any Whisker to their Guild. This can help fill optimal job slots in different guild areas that need a production boost.
- Craftsmanship - Provides an educated Whisker that is more productive at their craft.
- Apprentice - The first level of Craftsmanship available is the Apprentice level. Some buildings will require at least an Apprentice to either start production, or fill the final slot for optimization.
- Craftsmaster - The second and highest level of Craftsmanship, these Whiskers are the most productive, and can then also turn to educate other Whiskers.
- Scholarly - Educates a Whisker to research technology in the Research Lab.
Do note that the more specialized a Whisker is, the higher the Expectations they will have, as indicated by their stars.
At the end of every workday, you will receive a daily report, which includes any approval gains/losses, a breakdown of positive and negative thoughts that contributed to the overall approval for the day, as well as any resources harvested/mined/generated, any resources used through food consumption/construction/production, and any trades that occurred. It will also show you your tax breakdown, which can increase daily depending on any resources bought or Whiskers accepted into the colony, but let’s talk about that in the next section.
Approval not only shows that your Whiskers are pleased with your governance, but it’s also a resource that can be used to accept additional Whiskers into your colony, enact policies, or use in actions such as picking up Whiskers to move them.
Research
Research is a necessity to advance your colony, unlocking new housing types, production methods, transportation and logistical options, and even quality of life items such as decorations. Research is conducted in the Research Lab, and can only employ an Educated Whisker.
Looking at the Research Tech Tree, research is broken up into Tiers, with each Tier requiring a large amount of planks to unlock. Within a Tier, you can see what technologies are available to be researched, as well as the cost to research them. Some technologies require you to have researched another technology in order for it to be researched, meaning some future planning will be required to reach a certain tech.
Once researched, the building is immediately buildable, and you can move on to the next research item!
Taxes and the Claws
Your ultimate goal as Governor is to provide Taxes to the Crown and prove your loyalty to the Claws. The Tax Collector arrives every three days, giving you time to gather resources and goods that can be used to pay the balance.
When the Tax Collector arrives, you have several options to look over:
- Trust Level - Your Trust Level is how loyal you are to the Crown. If this falls too low, the Claws will revoke your charter!
- Tax & Debt - The total amount due to the Tax Collector, which is a combination of taxes, travel costs for your Whiskers, and any supplies you may have purchased in those three days.
- Resources - Provides a list of resources you can use to make your payment.
- Payment Levels - You have several payment levels, ranging from a portion of your total amount to a large shipment, vastly more than what is being demanded of you. Each level below the full shipment results in lost trust from the Claws, while each full shipment or higher increases trust, providing additional benefits such as building schematics, extra supplies, and Diplomacy Seals.
Should you choose a shipment level that comes with extra supplies, you’ll receive an offer of Supply Gifts, with the ability to use Diplomacy Seals to reroll, should you not like the offers presented to you.
It’s up to you as Governor to determine how much you choose to pay in taxes. With taxes rising every time you pay, due to taking on more Whiskers, buying supplies, or just the demands of the Crown in general, you may not be able to overpay every time, balancing their trust and loyalty with the needs of your own colony for their survival.
Vertical Construction
The colonies of Whiskerwood are built on islands, and though they range in size, space will always be limited. Utilizing wooden paths, stairs, ramps, and slides, you can - and will - need to stack buildings and roads on top of each other, climbing up the mountains of your islands, or dig deep underground and into the cliff sides and mountains to make the most of the space available to you.
The life of a pioneer is not an easy one – far from home without familiar creature comforts, you must learn to withstand and harness the forces of nature to provide for your colony and tend to the various needs and wants of your colonists.
Climate, Seasons, and Heat
Climate plays a key role in the success of your new home – a stormy day might dampen the natural enthusiasm of your mice, while a cold front can quickly ruin a season’s harvest or otherwise endanger their lives. Hovering over the weather in the bottom left corner will show you any positive or negative modifiers that could affect your colony. Seasons also play a role in how you approach infrastructure and the well-being of your citizens. Spring and Summer will see higher temperatures and ideal conditions for growing certain crops, as well as keeping your citizens warm enough.
During the Fall season the temperature starts to drop, and by Winter, the temperature will drop low enough that without proper heat sources, your colonist may freeze to death.
Using hotkey H, you can toggle the heat overlay to get an idea of what areas of your colony are hot or cold. Providing campfires will keep your Whiskers warm. However, they will eventually run out of wood, meaning you will need to rebuild them periodically.
There will be more advanced heating and cooling mechanics further into the game, providing much more efficient ways to keep your colonist alive during the cold months.
Tips and Tricks
- Unlike most other city builders, it’s not always a good idea to stock up on food and wood immediately. By prioritizing mining and sending larger shipments of metals and other resources to the Claws, you can receive all kinds of goods and luxuries you need, assuming you stay in their good graces. The Claws may also reward you with favors you can use to reroll more reward options, or request additional Whiskers from the tax report screen.
- When mining, be sure to use the slice view (Z default) to see what lies beneath the immediately visible deposits on the surface. It’s often the case that there will be even more resources in a vein right below the initial tile, but it’s always possible that there’s even more below; you’ll only discover by digging closer.
- Your main warehouse may fill up quickly, especially since the Claws aren’t interested in everything you’re finding as tax payments. Be sure to prioritize having some extra storage around resource sites early, both for storage and better logistics.
- At the end of the day, Whiskers will need to go somewhere to eat and then go to bed afterwards if they have a home. Be sure these locations aren’t so far apart that a poor mouse has dinner but can’t make it home for bed before morning!
- Consider approval as a resource to be spent rather than as a “happiness meter”. If it’s being maxed out every night, you should be spending your approval where you can each day rather than letting it sit unused.
- Remember, winter is coming, and the Claws (hating the cold and snow) are hesitant to travel during the season. This means fewer immediate tax collection ships, but you can still build up debt through supplies and other means. Be sure to stock up for winter and prepare for the cats to return in spring!
- Beyond stacking your buildings on top of each other, you can build out into (or across) the sea. Just keep in mind that the support for these structures and bridges will cost you in logs, especially as the ocean grows deeper.
- You can use the Earthworks building to terraform the landscape using Stone, filling in open spaces. This can prevent the need to use log supports when building out at sea, or to fill gaps carved in mountains.
- Some Whiskers have traits that can assist in specific jobs that may not always align with their guild position, and are worth paying close attention to if you’re aiming for max efficiency.
- You can directly move Whiskers by clicking on one and then using the “Pick Up Whisker” icon next to their information panel. This is especially handy if a Whisker is stuck or too far somewhere, but they’re not going to enjoy the experience, so it will cost an approval point to handle them.
Bulldozing buildings (B default) will often return to you a portion of resources. This is especially handy for creating makeshift paths for mining operations that can then be easily dismantled as the operation moves elsewhere. Mining scaffolding can also be demolished in order to construct across the holes, but this will cost more in log supports similar to building on water tiles.
