Mediocre Tips from a Mediocre Player

Last week I wrote about the new-ish, fabulous RTS roguelike Against the Storm (read my review here).  It has thoroughly sunk its hooks into me and I've spent ALL of my gaming time trying to "git gud" at it.  I think "gud" is quite a ways off, but I have managed to figure a few things out and have a small amount of success.  I thought I'd share a few nuggets of wisdom from my mediocre success.

Tip #1:  Look for events on the map that offer up a modifier--especially those with a negative modifier.  At first, my gut reaction was to avoid those places like the plague--and on the lower difficulty levels, it's possible to have success while doing that.  As I raised the difficulty level to complete more difficult seals, I ran into the fact that I would get close, but always be 2ish seals short.  Even though playing on the maps with negative modifiers are more difficult and will likely take longer, the upside is that you get offered several choices when you win.  Picking the "royal resupply" option will provide 4-5 seal fragments and can be enough to boost you to having enough to complete the seal.  The one caveat would be to look at the modifier first--not all are created equal and some are easier than others.

One of my veteran settlements.

Tip #2:  Try to find an option for better sources of fuel.  Sure, you can burn wood just fine, but once your economy is rolling, you're going to need that wood for lots of other things.  Look for sea marrow, coal deposits, or build a kiln to start cranking out coal.  Trust me, it's worth it.

Tip #3:  Don't just open every abandoned cache you find!  Pay attention to the requirements for the queen's orders and whether you can use the contents of the cache to help satisfy an order.  You get 1 full reputation point (and other handy bonuses) from completing the queen's orders.  If you can't use the items to satisfy an order, it's generally more worthwhile to send it to the citadel and take the reputation points (remember that small caches reward .5 while medium and large caches give .75).  Keep this especially in mind if you're close to getting enough reputation to unlock new blueprints.

Tip #4:  Get familiar with the different map types.  There's the lush, royal woodland; the slightly creepy marshland; the scarlet forest; and the rare, coral forest.  Each map type has a different type of resources and knowing each biome can help you make better choices when it comes to picking blueprints and cornerstone bonuses.  For example, marshland has a low amount of fertile soil, so it's usually better to pick upgraded options for gathering structures to take advantage of large nodes found in dangerous glades.

Tip #5:  Utilize production limits for basic building supplies.  It's likely you won't be using the most expensive blueprints until later, so there's no reason to just keep cranking out planks, bricks, and fabric.  Do pay attention to needs for the queens orders when placing caps.

Tip #6: Tools are important, so it's a good idea to have a building that can produce them.  Caches can be a nice source of reputation and they take at least 5 tools to open.  Buying them can be expensive (if you have a great trade economy, it's possible).

Tip #7:  Don't be afraid to favor one race when needed.  You don't want to lose villagers due to low resolve, so if it's possible to favor one that is particularly low during storm season, it's worthwhile.  Make sure you're paying attention to the resolve of the other races as they will drop--as long as they stay above 0, it should be fine.  You can then turn the favoring option off when the storm is over.

Tip #8: Pay attention to the negative options during the storm season.  There is one in particular that will give you -10 global resolve if you discover glades during the storm.  I made that mistake on one map and luckily it was toward the end of the storm season and I was able to ride it out, but it could've been rough had it been at the beginning.

I'm not going to brag and pretend like I'm any good at Against the Storm, but I feel like I've at least learned a few things.  I just managed to finish my second seal and once again am having to bump up the difficulty...I'm hoping to keep going as long as I can.  I'm still having quite a good time, despite the challenge (or maybe in spite of it).