Beginners Guide

This guide will get you started making your first great kingdom.

It mainly shows new arrivals of peasants, but can also display other events happening around your kingdom.

* Click the blue icon to edit the Kingdom name.
* Underneath is the size of your kingdom.
* Click the white icon to expand/collapse the box.

### Time Controls - Top Left

* The first button on the left - pauses time (hotkey: spacebar)
* The second button- 1x speed (hotkey:1)
* The third button - 2x speed (hotkey: 2)
* The fourth button - 3x speed (hotkey: 3)

### Version Number & Menu - Top Right

* The Version Number is mostly unimportant.
* The Menu button opens the menu (hotkey: Esc)

### Kingdom Information - Bottom Left

* Total number of Peasants
	+ Amount of idle Peasants
	+ Available beds / Population limit
* Job Priority button
	+ Click on it and drag and drop jobs, to change the priority of each job.
* Happiness (when below 50, peasants may leave)
* People's Health
* Building Integrity (Shows if buildings need some repairs)
* Tax Rate (0%-30%)
* Amount of  Wood,  Stone,  Charcoal, and  Food.
* Amount of  Iron,  Tools,  Armaments, and  Gold / gold capacity.
	+ Click a Resource to get a detailed breakdown.

### Construction Bar - Bottom Center

Here you can build things. Each building is split into 5 categories.

## Placing the Keep

1. The Keep should be placed near trees and stone (light grey rocks)
2. Try to not place the keep on fertile land (dark green) if possible, for more farming area. However, remember to place the keep near fertile land.
3. Being near iron (brown rocks) is also important later in the game.

## First Tasks

1. Build 3 road segments near the Keep.
2. Make 2-3 Hovels next to the road for extra Peasants.
3. Manually cut trees (axe button) when needed.
4. Build a few farms to generate food.
5. Build a road out to a stone (light grey) and start a Quarry.
6. Build Wells and Farms when needed.
7. Build a Forester.

By now you have food, wood and stone.

## Reaching Mid Game

The next steps are to build storage places, including:

1. A Small Granary and a Small Stockpile to hold resources.
2. Build Charcoal Makers away from houses. Peasants like charcoal, but are unhappy if their house is too close to the building.
3. Build Houses and farms/orchards as needed.
4. Increase storage capacity when needed. Check by clicking the resource tabs to make sure you are gaining resources.
5. Click on wells to see water coverage, wells prevent fires.
6. Build a Treasure Room and set the tax to 10% to start generating gold.
7. Make sure to build a clinic ASAP as a plague will hit around this time.

Your town should be growing, later you should add defenses (archer buildings and stone towers).

## A Good Residential Area

A good residential district is a district where Peasants can live comfortably and happily. You need a well-defended, well entertained place that is also well-fed. Lets start with the latter, a well-entertained happy place.

There are many buildings that give your Peasants Happiness. Most of these buildings can only be built with the "Advanced Town" tab (with the exception of the well and Tavern/Large Tavern). Your priority for building these buildings in residential areas are as follows-

1. Taverns. These are an absolute must if you want to keep your Peasants happy. Usually 1 per a district should be enough. Try to aim for Large Taverns, but if you are too poor, then use a regular tavern and as you develop replace them. They are also quite cheap compared to the other buildings on this list.
2. A source of Fresh Water. Very important, start off with Wells but make your way towards Fountains and Large Fountains.
3. Town Squares. Not the best happiness producers, but very useful in the later game via festivals which can attract more Peasants to your kingdom.
4. Chapel/Church. These buildings are solid happiness producers, but remember the latter has an unviable 3x2 footprint that is not the best for a lot of residential areas.
5. Library (Or if you have sufficient funds, Great Library). It is very important to build these as they can provide up to 15  Happiness, but also since it takes time for this happiness to accumulate. They are also very cheap, but also have a smaller radius of happiness, so remember that one library is usually not enough for a large residential area.
6. Hospitals/Clinics. Depending on your game situation, these buildings will be a total waste or a must. If you have low food variety, a hospital in 2 of every 3 residential districts is a must, and 4 clinics per 3 districts can be a good alternative. However, they make sure to build one ASAP right after getting a Treasure Room.
7. Markets. Even though it is a must in the late game, it is a total waste of resources in the early game. Since they help heads of households get food/charcoal into their homes, they are not needed unless you are constructing a residential area far from your industrial/farming districts.
8. Statues and Parks(DLC ONLY)/Gardens. Only if you have extra space, they are the final boost to your sprawling empire. Always remember that statues have a bonus effect in addition to providing happiness.