Mistake #1: Not Hiring Villagers Soon Enough Villagers are the lifeblood of resource management in Medieval Dynasty. Many new players wait a year or more to invite villagers, often finding the game overly grindy as a result. After building your own house, your top priority should be constructing another house and a workplace, like a Woodshed, to bring in logs, sticks, and firewood automatically. Alternatively, a hunting lodge can help bring in meat and feathers early on. To recruit newcomers, locate campfires near towns and inspect their stats in inspect mode before inviting them. Just be sure you have a house ready and stock some food, water, and firewood in storage first.

Mistake #2: Inefficient Wood Management Trees will regrow after a few years only if you leave the stump intact. Removing the stump with a shovel prevents regrowth permanently. Woodshed workers provide you with wood resources without cutting down actual trees, making them ideal for sustainable gathering. A lesser-known fact is that villagers will burn through sticks, logs, and planks as firewood if firewood itself runs out. To prevent this, deselect these from being used in the People’s Demand Control tab. Firewood demands change with the seasons, so calculate needs accordingly and make sure Woodsheds meet seasonal consumption.

Mistake #3: Ignoring Herbs, Potions, and Food Buffs Plantains restore health, and St. John’s Wort reduces poison—two essential early-game herbs. These can also be crafted into potions for stronger effects. The Potion of Weight adds +20 kg carry weight for 600 seconds and is a game-changer for gathering. Other powerful food buffs include:

• Multigrain Bread: -55% stamina use for 900 seconds
• Meat Pie: +40 HP and +15 kg carry weight
• Cherry Pie: +40 HP and -60% stamina for 1200 seconds
• Plum Tarts: -70% food consumption, +100% damage for 1200 seconds Keep some on you to make exploration, combat, and hauling easier.

Mistake #4: Forgetting to Pay Taxes Taxes are due every spring. Forgetting results in a -1,000 Dynasty rep penalty. You can pay taxes to the castellan or ask your spouse to deliver them on your behalf. To reduce your annual tax burden, invest in the Creative Accounting perk in the Diplomacy skill tree—it can reduce taxes by up to 30%.

Mistake #5: Only Building Storage in Your Village Storage buildings share inventory across the entire map and their capacity stacks. That means you can drop a Resource and Food Storage near any major location—like a city or a cave—and instantly access all your stored items from there. This significantly reduces travel time and allows for faster trade or resource offloading when mining or questing.

Mistake #6: Not Preparing for Winter Your first winter is often the most challenging. Buy warm clothing early—hats, gloves, hoods, and boots. If you can’t afford clothes, craft 10–20 simple torches. Holding one prevents you from freezing and is a cheap, temporary fix. If you’re on the Oxbow map, check out the guide for hidden items to help you afford everything before winter hits.

Mistake #7: Poor Farm Planning Your fields will be a central part of your settlement, but many players overextend early. Start with 30–40 plots max. More fields mean more money spent on seeds and fertilizer and much more prep time. A great tip is to pick berries in spring and let them rot to create fertilizer in a barn for next season. If you want to be ready, build a barn early and start prepping for next season’s crops. Eventually, you’ll want to automate fertilizer with pigs in a pigsty. Until then, use berries and rot smartly.

As your village grows, so will your responsibilities. Avoid these common mistakes and you’ll build a thriving, efficient Dynasty in no time. Let us know in the comments what your biggest early-game mistake was—and don’t forget to check out our other Medieval Dynasty guides!