Banished Terrain Types

[Daisy Hughlett]

I killed a lot of people in Banished. I saw them born and I watched my decisions kill them. Stripping the land, building homes, and planting vast swaths of crops seemed like a good idea, but things got ugly when a hard winter set in. Firewood stockpiles were meager and the distance to new trees was too great to keep up with demand. Then tools started to break, and I don't know what happened to all the iron but there wasn't any for the blacksmith, so folks just did the best they could, which wasn't very good at all. From there, the colony didn't take long to spiral down into my own private Roanoke.

Things went better for the citizens of Andytown Two, who didn't live in luxury but at least managed to live, but with stability came routine, and with routine, a loss of urgency. The struggle against nature is Banished's best struggle.

Banished is a city management simulator with a survival focus. It begins with a selectable world state and starting conditions that include terrain and climate types, how many families will settle the colony, and what they'll bring from their former home. First, though, you'd be well advised to view the tutorials, because things may not work quite as you'd expect. To build a home, for instance, you must first create a stockpile of trees and rocks, from which the builders will take the materials they need. But those stockpiles must also supply the woodcutter, who will use logs to provide fuel for the winter; the blacksmith will do the same with iron to make tools.

You can build anything at any time as long as you have the resources, but those resources must be managed carefully. Trees grow back painfully slowly, rocks and iron that are taken from the surface are gone forever, and even when forestry management, quarries, and mines are in place it takes years of game time before they're operating at capacity. Moving too fast will exhaust the land, but excess caution can leave the birth rate unable to keep up with old age and accidents, which will inevitably take a toll on your numbers. After your colony is well-established, decisions will still have to be made to keep growth in harmony with available resources: When to expand into an old hunting ground, where to inflict the blight of an open-pit quarry, and whether to start educating the children or simply set them straight to work.

Banished concentrates on the immediate survival needs of the individual, and actually operates at an individual level: Each newborn child has a name, grows up to adulthood, takes up with another settler, and (hopefully) has a child or two of her own, then grows old and dies. Lives aren't rendered in detail and it becomes impossible to keep up as the population grows, but I did feel a kind of poignancy seeing someone who's birth I "witnessed" just a couple of hours ago die of old age.

You don't control your citizens, but your people do have "lives" of their own, which can sometimes throw a wrench into your plans. They get cold, hungry, and tired. While you're yelling at them to just frickin' move that rock, they go for lunch. It's not that they're endemically lazy; it's more like they're unionized, and by gosh, it's break time. But that's also a big part of the appeal: You're not building this town. They are, and that can lead to an odd sort of personal connection with "characters" who don't actually exist, like the crazy herb lady all alone out in the forest or those jerk builders who insist on regular meal breaks. Breaking that wall of digital anonymity leads to a deeper desire to see them succeed.

In Banished, a city-building strategy game, you guide an exiled community seeking a fresh start in distant lands. Despite its age, the game remains popular thanks to a lively modding scene that constantly adds new content. In this dynamic world, people are your key resource, and each decision shapes your settlement's destiny.

Exploring Banished's array of mods can be an adventure. While they enhance gameplay, caution is advised as some may not work or be outdated. Still, the right mods can revitalize your medieval city-building journey, adding hours of enjoyment to your quest for survival and expansion!

This mod adds larger-sized maps, along with more terrain options, such as Swamp, Caldera, Plains, Big Lake, Flooded Plains, and Waterworld. The addition of these new map types introduces fresh changes in gameplay dynamics. Opting for the Plains map grants ample building space, facilitating expansive development.

Conversely, the Flooded Plains or Waterworld maps provide a more challenging experience with their limited land for development. This scarcity of land adds complexity, making it trickier to optimize production chains effectively. Whichever map you choose, this mod pack promises to inject diversity into your game, offering varied challenges and new strategic opportunities.

Looking for a visual upgrade? This mod overhauls textures across various terrains such as grass, cliffs, orchards, pastures, and cemeteries, boosting their aesthetic appeal. Almost everything terrain-related gets a facelift! Moreover, it gives a fresh look to rocks and iron, adding a snowy cover during winter.

The result? A game world that's more lively and engaging. It looks great, and gives the game world a whole new feel. Plus, this mod plays nice with a variety of other mods, ensuring a smooth blend into your gameplay experience.

Resource management is crucial in this game, highlighting the importance of proper resource storage. This mod introduces specialized stockpiles designed to hold a single type of resource each. These stockpiles offer the flexibility of unlimited size, allowing for compact storage as small as 1x1.

This feature is especially beneficial when space is limited, reducing the need for workers to travel long distances to warehouses for resource drops. Placing the storage yard closer to where the resource is needed minimizes travel distance and optimizes efficiency.

During your gameplay, securing various resources is vital to a successful colony, although acquiring some of those resources can pose a challenge. Luckily, there are mods that offer boosts for nearly any resource you need.

Whether it's higher wood yield from trees, quicker tree growth, additional stone from rocks, increased iron or leather, better fishing, or other resources, there's an array of mod options to tailor and enrich your gameplay. You can choose and enable specific mods to customize your gaming experience to your liking.

This mod offers a comprehensive enhancement to food and wood gathering facilities. It expands their range and workforce capacity by 50 percent, reduces construction costs and time, and extends the lifespan of forest trees. Additionally, it improves the efficiency of your villagers in gathering wood and stone.

In Banished, your people are your most crucial asset, but they also require sustenance to thrive. Without an adequate food supply, your villagers will perish quickly. Thus, food is a vital resource, and this mod aids in ensuring a steady production by boosting your capabilities.

This mod introduces a range of fences and decorative elements such as log fences, country stone walls, and modular fence components. Additionally, it includes decorations like crates, barrels, wagons, ladders, and posts, offering a diverse selection of adornments. These additions significantly enhance the variety of decorations available, bringing a vibrant feel to the game world.

You could utilize the ladder near resources to ensure workers can access higher areas effectively. Placing a wheelbarrow near a firewood pile creates a realistic visual of workers using it. This mod encourages a more imaginative approach to town building, allowing you to shape your settlement according to your vision and preferences.

The North Mod overhaul ramps up the challenge significantly, necessitating more strategic planning. With the introduction of new resource types for constructing buildings, you must pay close attention to building descriptions to optimize their usage. However, there's a drawback as the functions of these new materials and resources are not adequately explained, making the learning curve steep. Despite this, the mod attracts those looking for a demanding, survival-oriented city-building experience reminiscent of Frostpunk.

In summary, the North Mod overhaul enhances the difficulty level, requiring players to plan strategically. It adds new resource types for building construction, but understanding their functions can be challenging due to inadequate explanations. Nonetheless, this mod caters to players seeking a challenging city-building experience, with a focus on survival and strategic decision-making.

This compact overhaul mod reimagines numerous buildings and introduces fresh ones, increasing the game's complexity slightly while maintaining a well-balanced gameplay experience. It includes new ground textures to enhance visual appeal and various starting conditions like Adam and Eve (starting with just two people!), Shepherd, Farmers, and Gatherers. Additionally, it features 37 new crops and orchards, eight new types of livestock, and eight new wild animals, along with additional removal tools and a ground-flattening tool.

All original building graphics have been redesigned, and new buildings and production chains have been incorporated into the game as well. This mod is so expansive and well put together that playing it truly feels like a fresh-new experience.

Similar to other overhaul mods, Colonial Charter (CC) introduces a range of fresh buildings, production chains, and cosmetic items. It serves as an extensive gameplay expansion, reshaping various aspects of the game like the user interface, incorporating new themed decorations, and bringing in a wealth of additional content comparable to a full-scale DLC. In CC, you gain access to new buildings that fit into existing supply chains, with many existing structures receiving reskins or complete replacements.

CC offers the chance to create a rustic-themed settlement or use the new city wall kit to fashion your own miniature kingdom. It introduces new map types and starting conditions, allowing you to truly customize your early game experience and beyond. Due to its comprehensive nature, it's recommended to use this mod as a stand-alone.

c80f0f1006