Getting Started

In the game of Banished you are leading a group of settlers who have been banished from their home. It is up to you to organize your workers to clear land, gather resources, and to construct a new settlement to live in.

Tutorials
Banished has an excellent set of Tutorials that give new players a great starting point.

It is recommended to complete all four tutorials before starting out on a new game.

Getting Started
This tutorial will guide you through the most basic of functions including:
 * Main toolbar
 * Clearing some land
 * Stockpiling Resources
 * Building structures such as houses, fishing docks, and wood cutters
 * Allocating workers to professions

Survival
The second tutorial will teach the player how to produce manufactured goods that will help their citizens brave the harsh conditions

Food Production
The third tutorial is focused on the various methods of producing food for the settlement such as farming, planting orchards, hunting wild game, and raising domesticated animals.

Trade
The final tutorial teaches the player the basics of trade, an important aspect of playing Banished.

Once you have completed all the tutorials, you can return to the main menu and start a new game.

Difficulty levels
There are 3 difficulty levels in Banished.

Essential Buildings
At the start of a fresh game, it is key to gain access to a few basic resources and buildings within your first year. Resources can get used up quickly, depending on the difficulty level, and your citizens may begin to die from lack of food or from the cold.

Food
The first building you construct should be a source of food. The food that you begin with is used up quickly and can lead to mass starvation. The best food buildings are as follows:
 * The Gatherer's Hut
 * Produces the greatest amount of food, both in quantity and variety. They are at peak production in dense forests from which the stone and iron has been removed. They combine well with the Herbalist.
 * The Fishing Dock
 * This can be built on lakes or large streams. It produces less than Gatherer's Huts but has the advantage of being able to be placed close to town, allowing food to get to your town center faster.
 * The Hunting Cabin is the third option for producing food.
 * Hunting can be done in both forests and open areas, unlike Gathering. This makes it a good option to place near a Forester Lodge, which will also remove stone and iron thus increasing productivity. Hunting produces Leather in addition to meat and is required to make a Hide Coat, a necessity in the early game made by the Tailor to prevent Hypothermia.
 * Alternate food sources such as orchards, crops, and livestock are not recommended in the first year. A combination of the three listed above are the best for rapid early food production.

Housing
Housing for your first few families should almost certainly be built prior to the first winter to avoid losing citizens to hypothermia.
 * A Wooden house for each family is suggested, placing them near worked buildings for best results. This has the benefit of increased productivity as your citizens have to travel less distance to their jobs.
 * A Stone house uses a large amount of stone and can be a wasteful use of resources early on. However, they do use less firewood in winter, which makes more logs for construction or for items like tools. Wooden houses can be upgraded to stone houses after being constructed.