Welcome to The Wandering Village, a unique take on the city-building genre where your civilization develops atop a colossal, roaming creature called Ombru. As strange and captivating as the concept sounds, getting off to a solid start in this game is key to your survival. This comprehensive beginner’s guide walks you through foundational mechanics, early game priorities, and strategic insights to help you manage your village efficiently and sustainably.
1. Starting a New Game: Settings and First Steps
Begin by selecting “New Game” and choosing the “Adept” difficulty setting for a balanced experience. You’ll be prompted to name your village—feel free to pick something personal or thematic. You can customize difficulty further through a range of modifiers, but for your first playthrough, the default is perfectly adequate.
Once you’re in-game, pause the timer to get your bearings. The very first tip to internalize: open the in-game compendium via the book icon or by pressing “G.” This encyclopedia offers detailed information about every building, mechanic, and system. It’s a vital tool for when you’re unsure of what to do next.
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2. Understanding Views and Navigation
Use the scroll wheel to navigate between layers of your world—from a close-up view of your villagers, to a mid-range look at your village, to a zoomed-out perspective that reveals Ombru, and finally to the world map. This method is intuitive and often more comfortable than hotkeys (4, 5, 6).
3. Laying the Foundations: Housing and Resources
Your villagers need shelter, and tents are the most basic form of housing. Each one holds two people. Place six to start, ideally near food sources (berry bushes), trees (wood), and rocks (stone). Use Shift to place multiple tents at once. Prioritize construction using the priority settings (1-3) or disable builds to delay them without spending materials.
Next, begin gathering resources. Press H or click the sickle icon to designate trees, bushes, or rocks for harvesting. Drag over areas to select them. Hold Alt and drag to cancel harvest commands.
Establish dirt roads early. They cost no resources and only require build time, helping structure your town for efficient travel.
4. Food: The Lifeline of Your Village
Place a Berry Gatherer near bushes with high efficiency. Use the orange zone indicator to check which obstacles need clearing. Aim for efficiencies above 30% early on. Build roads to connect food sources to the village to improve worker travel time.
Also construct a Farm in areas with the most white tiles—these represent workable plots. After it’s built, click “Add Plot” to assign crop areas. Avoid red tiles, as they are non-arable.
Water is another vital component. Place an Air Well and connect it to a nearby Water Tank to store reserves. This system supports your farms and berry gatherers.
5. Managing Labor and Building Efficiency
Use the Worker Post to create specialized labor roles: general, builder, carrier, or harvester. Early game favors general workers, but switch based on your current needs. Build this post between homes and work sites for optimal pathing.
Be mindful of which buildings are staffed. Disable facilities like the Doctor or Decontaminator when not in use to free up idle villagers for more pressing tasks.
6. Research: Planning for Growth
After building the Research Building, choose projects like the Kitchen to improve food variety (a direct contributor to happiness). Use Shift to queue up multiple research paths such as the Scavenger Hunt or Cactus Plantation. Press Shift-click to remove items from the queue.
Two scientists will speed up research significantly compared to one. Always be researching something to avoid stagnation.
7. Feeding Ombru: A Critical Priority
Don’t overlook Ombru’s needs. Failing to feed him results in his death—and the end of your village. Begin by researching the Hornblower, then Ombru Kitchen, and finally the Ombru Trebuchet.
Build a Mycologist on dirt tiles to grow mushrooms, then a kitchen to convert them into Ombru food, and a trebuchet at the front of the map to launch it to him. Monitor Ombru’s hunger via the upper-right UI. Start this project early, ideally before hunger surpasses 25%.
8. Disease, Poison, and Medicine
Prepare for emergencies by building a Herbalist (along with plots) and a Village Doctor. Poison events can infect villagers or crops, and curatives require herbs. The Decontaminator, powered by Biogas or Ombru Bile, is crucial to burn away poisonous flora quickly.
Keep these buildings staffed or at least ready to be staffed when needed. Central placement helps cover the map more efficiently during outbreaks.
9. Storage and Resource Management
Build Pantries near both food production zones and housing. This ensures food is available for quick access. Similarly, Material Storage units should be placed between harvesting zones and construction areas.
Monitor your resource UI in the top-left for critical shortages, especially food. Overexpansion without a matching growth in food production leads to starvation.
10. Scavenger Hut and World Events
Build a Scavenger Hut early to unlock the world map functionality. Send out parties to forests (for wood), mines (for iron), quarries (for stone), and settlements (to recruit new villagers). Expeditions are time-based and bring back rare resources, artifacts, or people.
Keep an eye on map icons and Ombru’s path. Later on, use the Hornblower to guide him at forks in the road, depending on your reputation with him.
11. Compost, Dung, and Long-Term Farming
After researching the Dung Collector, build it near Ombru’s rear. Enable it only after he’s done his business—this conserves labor. Dung goes to the Compost Heap to become Fertilizer or Biogas. Plan storage and placement near farms or decontaminators accordingly.
12. Town Planning and Growth Management
Grid layouts promote efficient pathfinding and organization. Don’t grow too quickly. Monitor employment, food, and housing via the Happiness tab. Each new citizen means additional resource strain, so balance intake with infrastructure.
Disable underutilized buildings when not in use and reassign those workers elsewhere. Always plan ahead for new houses, farms, and resource processing.
Closing Thoughts
The Wandering Village thrives on rhythm—balancing your people’s needs with Ombru’s survival. By pacing your expansion, planning for contingencies, and actively monitoring your systems, you lay the groundwork for a thriving mobile civilization.
Keep your villagers fed, your Ombru healthy, and your village efficient—and you’ll be ready for the many surprises this living world has in store.
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