Villagers in Farthest Frontier are your most valuable resource next to wealth, and the expansion of early settlements can be slowed by too few villagers for the size of the job.
Naturally, an enterprising settlement leader will look to grow their settlement population quickly enough to fill the Professions needed for their starting infrastructure, but the path to get there may not always be clear.
In this explainer, we will cover the key causes of population growth and decline and how to best approach each challenge the player might encounter.
Births
Once you have a thriving settlement with access to all essential resources, births are an infrequent happy occurrence throughout the year.
While there is no specific requirement for births to occur, chances for births increase with Villager happiness and sufficient unoccupied housing slots.
Impacts to happiness vary by housing tier, it is recommended to check the happiness report for additional details.
Immigration
Immigration provides a significant boost to town population and is crucial in early game to reach sustainable population numbers.
The likelihood of immigrants (and size of the band of individuals hoping to immigrate) is confirmed to be impacted by a few distinct factors:
- Months of Stockpiled food
- Unoccupied Housing supply
- Desirability of housing areas
- Relative levels of health/disease
- Access to basic goods (Clothing, Shoes, etc.)
- Access to amenities (Market, School, etc.)
- Access to luxury goods (Pottery, Glassware, etc.)
- Entertainment
- Beer
- Overall Villager happiness
Not all factors will impact at the start but increase in importance as your Town Center and Shelters upgrade to higher tiers.
NOTE: As more villagers have a basic education, the likelihood that prospective immigrants are educated also increases.
Emigration
As the town's population booms, they player may find it difficult meeting the needs of every villager. Perhaps the Root Cellars have emptied with so many new mouths to feed or the Weaver isn't keeping up with clothing demands, or maybe the new Composter went in just a little too close to the neighbors.
Regardless of cause, Villagers who are at maximum unhappiness can and will eventually emigrate from the city.
When emigrating, a villager retains all items on their person, including their weapons and armor if they serve in a guard capacity. They may also take additional resources from Storage buildings ahead of their journey, so this costly situation is to be avoided if possible.
To diagnose root causes for emigration, it is recommended to review the happiness report to identify quick solutions.
NOTE: Access to Hide Coats does not meet the Clothing happiness requirement, Linen Clothes fulfill this need.
Death & Disease
Death on the frontier is an eventuality, but that doesn't mean that it can't be avoided!
Some common causes (and solutions) for different deaths:
Raider Attacks
When invaders come barreling into town, your villagers may get caught in the crossfire.
The simplest solution when a raid approaches is to garrison civilians at the Town Center. Click on the Bell icon above the Town Center (or in the town center's infopane) to alert all villagers to gather inside. As an added bonus, a garrisoned Town Center acts like a defensive tower, shooting an unlimited supply of arrows at invaders. When the trouble has passed, click the bell icon again to release the garrisoned Villagers
If your villagers are unable to flee in time, they can develop Festering Wounds when attacked. While these injuries will sometimes heal on their own (or via the consumption of Medicinal Roots), a Healer's House or similar can increase the likelihood of success.
Animal Attacks
Encountering wolves, bears and the occasional boar is a near-certainty as a town's borders expand further from their starting location. Thankfully, there are a few techniques that can help keep even the least-alert villager survive longer.
- Hunters are very capable in self-defense against predators. Manually directing a hunter to explore new areas can be far safer in early game and minimize villager deaths from exploration
- Dirt and Cobblestone Roads improve travel speed for villagers but don't benefit wildlife, making escape much more likely if they can be reached quickly. Building Dirt roads out into newly-explored wilderness areas can improve the chance of survival during deeper exploration
- The attacking predator will (mostly) follow their initial target until line of sight is lost for an extended period of time. This can be exploited to run the predator past fellow villagers who will come to to the victim's aid.
- Wildlife has difficulty pathing around buildings, directly controlling a villager to make use of this by cutting through alleys and making turns can improve the odds of fellow villagers ending the threat before a villager death.
NOTE: Wolf Dens can also spawn on the map and will produce new wolves at regular intervals. These landmarks should not be approached without significant caution, as nothing less than a full Barracks of soldiers is sufficient to clear these dens. It is recommended to keep villagers clear of these areas until you are sufficiently equipped to deal with them.
Starvation
Exposure
The Winter season begins with a frigid cold that poses immediate danger to any villagers not able to seek shelter. There are a few steps which can limit these risks...
- Ensure a sufficient supply of Hide Coats to boost Villager's cold resilience
- When placing markers for exploration or manually directing villager movements, check time of year to ensure the villager will have plenty of time to return.
- Situate workplace Buildings and work areas near enough to the settlement to avoid long travel times
- For buildings and tasks a significant distance from the main settlement, Temporary Shelters provide an option for shelter-in-place until the cold snap passes.
NOTE: Details on exact season and weather can be shown by either hovering over the weather icon to the left of the visual calendar or locked on-screen by clicking the the small diamond icon on the visual calendar's marker.
Natural Causes
If you're seeing this cause of death start to climb, congratulations!
Your villagers survived the hardships of the wild and lived through the extent of their natural lifespan. Anecdotally, education level may increase a villager's maximum lifespan, but no villager lives forever in the Farthest Frontier.
Diseases
Additional Notes
- A summary report (button at top left) exists for population trends. This is a helpful report for understanding the underlying causes contributing to population shifts.
- The Happiness report can be accessed by clicking the 'happiness' icon in the top bar or as an option in the Town Center's infopane when the building is selected.