Under no circumstances should you cut down the trees located to the left and right of the vagrant and merchant camps. Doing so will permanently halt population growth on that island. Instead, proceed by building beyond those areas. Continue walking until you find trees that can be cut down. Later, return to the area near those trees and look for a spot where you can build a wall. If no suitable locations are available, move further ahead and find more trees to cut past. Be sure that the dark forest has receded before continuing.

If your pikemen stop fishing, save your game and quit, then restart it. This method works 9 out of 10 times, 100% of the time.

If your archers stop hunting, make sure you expand to create "cat tail" vegetation. This will attract rabbits. Clear as much trees as you can without destroying beggar or merchant camps.

Also, make sure you have regular archers, not squad archers that are under a knight captain. Regular archers will hunt fauna near your wall.

Note that hunters won’t venture deep into the woods to hunt deer. You will need the stag mount to charm deers and lure them to your camp.

If any of your gems are stolen, immediately press Alt + F4 before the day ends, as gems are limited. Be cautious, as pressing Alt + F4 will exit the game and not save any progress.

As of 2025, knight statue has been fixed. They no longer do a jumping attack that gets them killed.

The only "upgrade" to avoid for now is the warhorse. Has super low stamina and speed. Mount action is also broken (binded with run button).

Store the crystals as soon as possible in the boat area. If the shady guy doesn’t appear, build a wall near or beyond the boat. You’ll need to unlock the farm, wall, and arrow shrines. For now, get the gryphon mount. Keep the crystals safe and decide later which upgrades you want to pursue.

Island 1: Leave as soon as possible.

Island 2: Obtain the stone mine, then leave quickly and return to Island 1.

Island 1: Get the Gryphon and Arrow shrine, then either die or leave quickly.

Island 3: Leave before winter hits, or die intentionally.

Island 4: Get the iron mine, then die as soon as possible. Either store your crystals or don’t pick them up. The trick is to have enough stamina to run past a chest without stopping or walking near it. If you do, the chest won’t open, keeping the crystals safe.

Now, upgrade your town hall to the max. Start by clearing all enemies on the dock side first. The dock side is where the bomb banner faces on your town hall. Make sure the other side has the strongest wall and at least 6 builders, so you don’t need to worry about it. Once the dock side is cleared, arm your knights with swords, build the bomb, and clear the dungeon side.

Revisit all the islands, repeating this process. Be sure to build a lighthouse for your death and revisit. This will save you time.

Island 5: Once the previous 4 islands are cleared, it’s time for Island 5. Build at least 2 ballista towers on each side and limit your wall near those towers. Don’t destroy any portals just yet. If farms spawn near you, develop them. Upgrade every wall to the maximum on both sides, with at least 5 maxed walls and 2 ballista towers on each side. Upgrade the towers inside your castle to ballista as well.

Once everything is set up, back up your save.

The save files are usually saved at :

Copy the release folder. If you die, replace the release folder with your backup.

Clear the dock side first. Each portal you destroy will be almost fatal. If you don’t survive, figure out what went wrong. The goal is to survive each portal destruction. If you don’t, you’ll spend a lot of time trying to beat the game.

If you survive, recover all beggars as soon as possible. If you don’t, the beggar camp won’t spawn new beggars. If the beggar camp isn’t spawning new beggars, it means there’s a villager turned beggar somewhere on the map.

Repeat this process, and you’re done.