Clanfolk

Clanfolk

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Tips & tricks, FAQ [v0.456 - Dec '23]
By 🔴3̲ 0̲ % ᗜˬᗜ
A general collection of tips and advise for new players, common mistakes to avoid, and frequently asked questions, sorted by topic. This is a work in progress and I will progressively update it and add illustrations.
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This is a work in progress!!
I will obviously improve the formatting, add screenshots and so on. And well, fill in the empty sections :)
Keyboard Controls
Quick reference for keyboard controls. Blorf said key remapping is planned of course.
  • WASD / ZQSD / ▲◄▼► / Right Click: pan the camera.
  • Shift + WASD / ZQSD / ▲◄▼►: pan the camera faster
  • Space bar: pause
  • R: Rotate an object before placing it. Middle Mouse Button also works.
  • V: Stop the selected entity (item, object, blueprint, animal or Clanfolk).
  • X: Break down the selected item or object (or dump contents in the case of bowls, jugs and buckets).
  • C: Crate the selected object and move it somewhere else. Right click if you just want to crate it.
  • P: Priority Boost the selected entity.
  • B: Go to Blueprint (make a copy of the selected item/object).
  • Left Alt + S: Screenshot mode. This will hide all menus and overlays. Left Clicking will go back to normal.
  • Shift + F1: basic debug information mode. This will add more info inside info cards, such as which Clanfolk has reserved an item or object, a Clanfolk's potential tasks, etc.

    Skills menu and select panel:
  • T: move selected (or hovered, in the select panel) skill to the Top
  • Y: move selected skill up
  • G: disable selected skill
  • N: move selected skill down
  • B: move selected skill to the Bottom
Temperature Management, Winter, Freezers
  • On top of natural decay, certain food items degrade faster because of heat. Dried Mushrooms never rot (except if left outside in the rain).
  • Food is completely preserved below 0°C.
  • Water Jugs take half a day to freeze when below 0°C
  • Ice Jugs take half a day to thaw when above 0°C (it is much faster to melt it in cooking fires/firplaces/kitchens, but it costs branches)
  • Ice Jugs also cool down the room they're in.
  • One Ice Jug can cool down 1.5 tiles "forever". So a Jug Pallet with 6 Ice Jugs for every 9 tiles will provide you with an eternal freezer. Make sure to prevent Clanfolk from moving them elsewhere.
  • You can place Ice Jugs Pallets in a sealed room connected to your actual walk-in freezer through vents.
  • Natural Mountain Roofs slightly cool down rooms, depending on the number of mountain roof tiles.
  • Room temperature is capped at 25°C (15°C in Winter), regardless of outside temperature
  • For Clothing, see the Clothing section below.
Storage and Hauling
  • Stockpiles are just designated areas for putting items on the ground. Each item it can hold can be individually allowed/disallowed by clicking on it in the list of allowed items.
  • Items are hidden from the list of allowed items until discovered. When they are, they're added to the list and automatically allowed.
  • Clicking on "Toggle All Off" first, then enabling a few items, will prevent newly discovered items from being automatically allowed in it.
  • Dedicated storage objects (found in Objects > Storage) are at generally 6 times more space efficient than stockpiles. One notable exception is the Wardrobe, which can hold 32 clothing items on 3 tiles (over 10 times more space efficient).
  • "Active" crafting stations have an Auto Haul toggle (see the Crafting section below for details about active and passive stations). If enabled, Clanfolk will haul items they produced immediately after the item is done, instead of dropping it on the floor (which would potentially force another Clanfolk to come and haul it, wasting a bit of time).
  • Storage objects or stockpiles will auto stack items produced by crafting stations, if they are 1 or 2 tiles away from it (this doesn't work through walls). This is especially useful for passive crafting stations such as the charcoal kiln or bloomery.
  • Flammable blockers prevent flammable items from being dropped on the designated tiles. This is useful around cooking fires, torches, anything that throws sparks.
  • Clanfolk will transfer items from one storage to another if the latter has a higher priority; however, this itself is a low priority hauling task, and regular hauling will always be done first.
Animals
Wild Animals
  • The heat overlay is helpful to better spot wild animals on the map.
  • Foxes, Bunnies, Deer, and Wolves can be hunted with a Simple Bow (Work Zone/Work Bench).
  • Bunnies can also be caught with a Snare (Work Zone/Work Bench). After Snare Kits are crafted, they must be placed via the Objects > Hunting menu.
  • Hunters will skin animals (Butcher Block) and reset Snares automatically.
  • Bunnies will flee humans and get to their rabbit holes.They will also hide there at night or when it's raining. All rabbit holes are connected to each other and they can travel through them like wormholes.
  • Rats have a 5% chance to spawn everytime wild plants are cut with a sickle. They can be caught with Rat Traps. Place those near your food storage area. No need to spam them, just place them near doorways and any forced paths. Rats aren't smart enough to avoid them so even a single trap on a path will work, since they'll choose to walk on the path for the speed bonus.
  • Cats can also hunt Rats, more about Cats below
  • Wolves will start showing up on Winter 1, following Deer herds. For now they aren't a danger to humans, but they may target your livestock. Deerhounds can be set to guard livestock and will scare off wolves.
  • If enough Wolves are killed, the rest of them will leave the map (more will spawn later of course).
  • Wild Cats can be tamed by placing a Pet Food Bowl outside. They have a tameness meter that goes up when they eat from a bowl or are near humans.

Pets
  • Tame Cats will behave like wild ones, except they won't flee humans, will sleep in animal or cat beds, and will hunt rats in your house.
  • Deerhounds have 3 modes, one of which is to guard livestock and defend it against Wolves.
  • They can also assist hunters.
  • Cats and Dogs eat raw meat, raw fish and eels, pluck. Put those in Pet Food Bowls to make it more efficient. I recommend disallowing Pluck from them and keeping it for advanced cooking recipes for humans though.

Livestock
  • You can pen animals using wood or stone fences (or any wall). This prevents them from wandering away, and protects them from Wolves.
  • Animals can swim, so the pen has to be completely closed, water cannot serve as an obstacle. If you have a small/tiny lake you can enclose it inside the pen so your animals can drink there without needing a Water Trough.
  • Water Troughs are required if your animals don't have access to a lake. Remember that they will freeze in Winter if not heated, so place them in a room you can heat.
  • When all the accessible water is frozen, Animals may "eat snow" (this is only done on the shoreline still). This will slightly reduce their Care attribute.

  • Cows can be milked using a Milking Bucket, crafted at the Smithy. Milk takes half a day to fill a cow's udder. Cows eat a lot.
  • Nanny Goats can also be milked. Milk takes 1 day to fill a nanny goat's udder.
  • Hens lay (unfertilized) Eggs even without a Rooster. If a Rooster is there, it may lay Fertilized Eggs. Fertilized Eggs hatch into Chick after 2 days, and Hens cannot lay another one until it does.
  • Sheep Wool can be sheared using Shears, crafted at the Smithy. Wool takes 8 days to grow.
  • Pigs don't produce anything and are just meat factories (quoting Blorf :) ). Sows can give birth to a litter of up to 4 piglets.

  • All animals can be slaughtered for Raw Meat using an Axe. Chickens don't require the axe.
  • Cattle, Deer, Sheep, Goats, and Pigs provide Pluck when butchered.
  • Animal poop can be collected using a Manure Basket (Work Zone/Work Bench). Full manure baskets can be processed at the Compost to produce Fertilizer.
Fishing
  • The lower the fish population, the lower the regen rate ("Growth Rate")
    Regen rate = (fish pop / 2) + 50
    1 fish caught = -2.5% pop
    1 eel caught = -2% pop (1 batch of 5 eels = -10%)
  • WIP
Clothing
  • Clanfolk will wear and remove their clothes automatically depending on temperature and weather. They will try to remove their clothes near Clothes Baskets or Wardrobes.
  • Linen cools them down and is suited for summer. Other materials provide warmth.
  • Sack Cloth is the most basic material and is uncomfortable, so they reduce Mood. This may be preferable to freezing to death.
  • Each type of clothing (shirt, tunic, etc) is on a different layer. You cannot have both a wool hat and a fur hat, but you can have a Sack Cloth Shirt, a Wool Tunic and a Fur Cloak for example.
  • Plaid doesn't provide any warmth, and instead provides +250 Mood (which translates into +2.5% Work Speed and XP Gain)
Crafting
Crafting Stations
  • Bypass queue (on by default): if an item can't be crafted because of a lack of resources, the next item will be brought to the top of the queue. Note that this doesn't work well with daily queues (when you clicked on "wait until tomorrow") as it can block the queue.
  • Repeat queue (off by default): once an item is crafted, it is added again at the end of the queue. This includes "wait until tomorrow".
  • Auto build (on by default): whether this statiion should be used for Auto Supply or not. Turning it off can be useful if you want to use certain fires for heating/lighting only (not cooking), or if you want to dedicate certain stations to auto supply and others to manual inputs.
  • Crafting Stations can be Active or Passive. Active means that Clanfolk need to be present during the entire crafting process, while Passive means they simply have to drop resources, and "crafting" will progress by itself.
  • Passive crafting stations are: Mushroom Rack, Meat Smoker, Bread Oven, Bloomery, Charcoal Kiln, Flax Retting, Eel Trap, Hide Rack, Ash Wash, Bark Wash, and Compost. The other ones are active.

Auto Haul
  • Active crafting stations have an Auto Haul checkbox. When ticked, Clanfolk will always haul items immediately after crafting them. Otherwise, they drop the items on the ground, for someone else to haul.
  • Passive stations don't have that checkbox because they produce items by themselves. Haulers' skill priority determines how fast the items will be hauled.

Auto Supply
  • Auto Supply automatically adds crafting tasks on any relevant crafting station until your inventory reaches the desired amount.
  • It will only happen if the crafting queue is empty, or there are items queued but a "wait until tomorrow" order is at the very beginning of the queue (so if all your daily items have already been crafted that day).
  • In other words, items you manually add to the queue are always crafted before auto supply, as long as they can be crafted.
Building
  • Roofs have a span value that determines how far from the nearest wall they can be built.
  • There is a semi-hidden keystone mechanic, or "Roof Handshake". A roof can be built [span + 1] tiles from a wall IF it is adjacent to two (or more) other roofs that are at or below [span] tiles from a wall. This works in a straight line or in a corner.
  • You can visualize this at no cost by pausing the game and placing walls and roof blueprints, and cancelling them when you're done. The roof blueprints will be blue if they can be built; a slightly dimmed blue if they can be built, but only after other roofs or walls are built nearby; and red if they cannot be built, even after the currently placed blueprints are built.
  • Mountain roofs cannot be built, but they have the same span value as Stone Roofs (2), so you can visualize how/where roofs will collapse when digging in a mountain using stone roofs and the above method.


  • Walls don't have different insulation values yet. The only differences between them are beauty, flammability, and construction materials of course.
  • Floors impact the Environment and Walk Speed. Walk Speed can make a big difference at the end of a day.
  • In Winter snow will cover all unsheltered tiles and Walk Speed will be the same on all snowy tiles. Placing awnings around your houses to cover some outside paths will let your folk walk faster, and therefore spend less time outside.
  • Windows (and Critter Doors) let the outside light in during the day. Clanfolk are greatly slowed down in darkness. Only one is needed regardless of the size or shape of the room (for now). Outside of RP/immersion however, they are not absolutely required - you can light your rooms with Rushlight Kits or Torches only if you want.
  • All Doors except the Branch Barn Gate and the Curtain have Locks. See the Doors and Ownership section below for more details.
  • Vents lets two rooms share their temperature completely. Curtains also do (albeit not instantly).
  • Regular Torches throw sparks that may light flammable stuff on fire (except roofs, which can only catch fire from another existing fire). Iron Torches dont throw sparks and are more efficient with Straw (fuel).
Farming
  • Growth Rate (GR below) = growth speed
  • GR = Moisture + Fertilizer, max 100 on regular soil, or 125 on tilled soil. So if you have 100% water and 100% fertilizer on a tilled soil tile, GR will stay at maximum (125%) for a while.
  • When GR goes below 125, auto water and/or auto fertilize jobs are added, unless you disabled that option (bottom right buttons)
  • Tilled soil also provides +50% yield on harvest
  • You can till the soil during Winter, so it is ready on Spring 1
  • You can make "mushroom farms" by planting trees (on regular, untilled soil), cut them down when they're grown, but leave the trunks. Trunks have the same effect as tilled soil on mushrooms. Mushrooms don't grow on tilled soil.
  • Of course early on you can use natural forests as your mushroom farms by leaving the trunks.
  • WIP
Door Locks and Item/Object Ownership
Door Locks
  • Doors (except the Straw Curtain) have locks which can be set to restrict who can use them. Animals and Clanfolk can only pass through a door which lock level is equal or lower than theirs. By default, the Branch Barn Door, Branch Gate and Straw Curtain are set to "Animals", while other doors are set to "Unlocked". Regular doors can be set to allow Animals too if needed.
  • Conversely, all Clanfolk have keys which can be set to any level (humans of course cannot be restricted down to the "Animals" level).
  • The levels are, from lowest to highest:
    • "Animals" (everything can get through) - Animals are permanently set to this level
    • "Unlocked" (all humans allowed) - Traders are permanently set to this level
    • "Guests" (all humans except Traders) - Guests are initially set to this level, but it can be lowered
    • "Workers" (all humans except Traders and Guests) - Workers are initially set to this level, but it can be lowered
    • 3 levels of "Family Only".
  • The 3 "Family Only" levels allow assigning different areas to certain family members. By default, all family members are set to the highest level.

Ownership
  • Items and Objects can be owned by Clanfolk. This means they'll be the only one allowed to use it. This can be done in two ways:
    • Select the item or object, then click "Toggle Owner" to the top left of its info card, then click on the desired Clanfolk.
    • Select the Clanfolk, then click on "Set Owner" to the bottom right of their info card, then click on the desired item or object.
  • Double Beds can have two owners if it's a couple. You only need to set ownership on one of the Clanfolk, and the other one will share that double bed.
  • Items can have several owners. Obviously only one of them can use it at a time, so this is not suited for some objects, most notably single beds. It is suited for a bathtub or toilet shared by a couple for instance.
  • Visitors can (temporarily) own your items. This is useful to assign them to a bed for instance.
Attributes, Mood, Work Efficiency
There are 14 Attributes, which represent your Clanfolk physical and mental state.
Most are a pretty straight forward gauge; Mood and Warmth also have a "target" (the thin white cursor). The target changes instantly depending on modifiers like temperature or other attributes, but the actual, currently effective value moves slowly towards the target. The further the current mood/temperature is from the target, the faster it will move towards it, slowing down as it approaches it. In other words this is meant to avoid brutal changes and simulate the progessive shift of body temperature and mood.

Hover over each Attribute to see what currently impacts it.

Mood
Mood is affected by many other Attributes, directly or via Afflictions.
It affects Work Efficiency (from -1 500 to +2 000) and XP Gain (from x0.5 to x1.5).
Half Mood is the neutral point, being above provides a bonus and being below incurs a penalty, which are shown at the bottom of the hover tooltip.

Work Efficiency
A.K.A. Work Speed. This can be considered the "end point" of Attribute interactions: almost everything impacts it directly or indirectly, and the only impact it has is, well, work speed. Work speed ranges from 50% to 200%.

[WIP]
Guests, Traders, and Workers
  • WIP
List of Tasks, per Skill
Doctor / Baby Care
  • Bringing incapacitated Clanfolk to bed, feeding them.
  • Feeding and washing Babies, bringing them to bed and to the toilets/poop holes.
Repair
  • Turning on/off and refueling Fires, Torches, and Tiled Peat Stoves (even when making Brose).
  • Refilling Bathtubs, Water Dippers, and Dish Washers.
  • Washing Dirty Bowls at Dish Washers.
  • Replacing Chamber Pots in Toilets.
  • Bringing corpses to Graves.
  • Repairing Floor Mats (NOT animal beds, which is a farming task).
Gathering
  • Gathering Berries, Mushrooms, Stones or Bog Iron on the ground, Branches in Trees.
  • Clay from the ground (hoe required) or in the Clay Pit.
  • Filling Water Jugs at Drink Zones or Wells.
Harvest
  • Cutting Grass (Hay), Reeds, Oats, Flax, Onions, Kail, Beans, and Neeps, using a Sickle.
  • Harvesting Peat/Bog Iron using a Peat Spade.
Hunting
  • Hunting wild animals using a Bow, (re)setting Snares, Rat Traps, and Eel Traps.
  • Bringing resources to Butcher Blocks, Hide Racks, Ash Wash, Hide Scraper, Bark Wash (this is NOT hauling as one might think).
  • Using Fishing Spots, Butcher Blocks, and Hide Scrapers.
  • Refilling Pet Food Bowls and Water Bowls.
Lumber
  • Cutting Trees, trunks, and Berry Bushes.
  • Bringing logs to the Timbery (this is NOT hauling as one might think)
  • Using the Timbery
Mining
  • Mining Mountains, Iron and Gold Ore using a Pick
  • Mining Gravel (=Stones) from Gravel ground using a Pick, or at the Stone Quarry
  • Bringing resources to Masonries and Bog Iron Crushers (this is NOT hauling as one might think)
  • Using the Stone Quarry, Masonry, and Bog Iron Crusher
Building
  • Bringing resources to blueprints (this is NOT hauling as one might think)
  • Building and dismantling Buildings and Objects
  • Removing Tilled Soil (it's technically a floor)
Cooking
  • Bringing ingredients to Cooking Fires, Stone Fireplaces, Kitchens, Mushroom Racks, Cooking Pots, Dough Tables, Querns, Bread Ovens, Butter Churns, Cheese Presses, Meat Smokers (this is NOT hauling as one might think) (Tiled Peat Stoves are NOT in here, it's a Repair task, even when making Brose).
  • Cooking at Cooking Fires, Stone Fireplaces, Kitchens, Dough Tables, Querns, Butter Churns, and Cheese Presses.
Farming
  • Planting Crops, Trees, and Berry Bushes.
  • Tilling Soil.
  • Fertilizing and Watering manually designated tiles.
  • Auto Fertilizing and Watering crops on Tilled Soil if that option is on.
  • Milking Cows and Nanny Goats using a Milking Bucket, Shearing Sheep using Shears.
  • Collecting Animal Poop using a Manure Basket.
  • Bringing resources to the Compost and Thresher (this is NOT hauling as one might think).
  • Using the Thresher.
  • Refilling Grain, Hay, and Water Troughs
  • Repairing Animal Beds (this is NOT repairing as one might think).
  • Feeding wounded Livestock and Pets.
Crafting
  • Bringing resources to the Bloomery, Charcoal Kiln, Kiln, Smithy, Work Bench, and Work Zone (this is NOT hauling as one might think).
  • Using the Smithy, Work Bench, and Work Zone.
Clothes
  • Bringing resources to the Clothes Zone, Tailor Bench, Flax Dressing, Flax Retting, Loom, Spinning Wheel, and Wool Dressing (this is NOT hauling as one might think).
  • Using the Clothes Zone, Tailor Bench, Flax Dressing, Loom, Spinning Wheel, and Wool Dressing (hides/leather related tasks are hunting tasks).
Hauling
  • Hauling items to Stockpiles and Storage Objects. When moving items to any other destination, it is NOT a Hauling task.
Cleaning
  • Cleaning dirt, ash, and blood from player-placed Floors (NOT including Dirt, Gravel, and Mulch PATHS, which don't get dirty)

Unskilled Tasks
  • Fighting Fires (always highest priority)
  • Eating, drinking, pooping, bathing, chatting, playing instruments, wandering on freetime, sleeping
29 Comments
2qhurda9 28 Dec, 2023 @ 5:39pm 
So I payed a game and built the house from scratch. Took a little longer to get indoors (9 days) was a little behind by winter. But I have 5 day laborers. I should still be good by spring.
If you are struggling at this game.
Take care of your money, and your money will take care of you. You are going to need a lot of stuff done and the best way to get that done is to pay people to do it.
Best things to sell are Bricks, Tiles and Stone Blocks. They sell for 25 each. I keep 300 of each on hand.
I go through 6000 clay every other day. But I have the money to pay someone to sit in that hole and dig clay all day.
Also, you will need to build multiple charcoal kilns. I usually build 4. 2 at first and 2 more later on. Same thing with clay kilns. Many things will need to be built multiple times. Build as many as you need to get what you want in the time that you need it.
If you are taking care of your money, you can afford to hire every day laborer who comes through and put them to work.
2qhurda9 27 Dec, 2023 @ 8:09am 
Time. Honestly as long as you are indoors by winter you're fine. Not that I wait that long, usually. By winter I want, a bathtub, a well, a full barn of animals to butcher over the winter and 2 - 5 workers. Because I have a lot of building to do. Not to mention, normal stockpiles of food and fuel. Plus everything that goes along with that.

I am going to lose more time, by putting resources into a wall (I am probably going to tear down anyway) then by letting some kid toil away in the mines.

By my 1st winter, I want (and often have) a large kitchen (stocked and kitted), 4 - 12 bedrooms, a barracks, 1 - 2 bath houses (4 - 6 tubs each), 6 - 10 bathrooms, a large barn (stocked), a large workshop, 1 - 3 smaller workshops and a warehouse that is fully stocked for the winter.

Over winter, I build all of my fields, a large barn with 2 bathrooms and a warehouse/garden shed with 2 bathrooms. Plus anything I didn't get built by winter. All of that is built by spring.
🔴3̲ 0̲ % ᗜˬᗜ  [author] 27 Dec, 2023 @ 5:19am 
Hello everyone, I updated this page, and added a few things in the Fishing, Animals, and Skills and Tasks sections. Skills and tasks is a list of tasks and what skill they depend on (it's not always obvious) (remember you can see that ingame by looking at the skill icon displayed under objects/items/blueprints/tasks names when they are selected, or under your Clanfolk's name when they are selected and are doing something).
🔴3̲ 0̲ % ᗜˬᗜ  [author] 27 Dec, 2023 @ 3:23am 
@2qhurda9: honestly it depends on how many Clanfolk you have, and their mining skill, compared to their gathering/lumber/building skills. Also it takes slightly longer to get your first pick. With 2 or 3 people mining, it takes a long time to mine rooms tbh. Not to mention the ugly interior. It is correct that the cold effect is very small, AND you start in Summer so it doesn't matter then.
🔴3̲ 0̲ % ᗜˬᗜ  [author] 27 Dec, 2023 @ 3:23am 
@oldmudgod: I added a mention of pens, thanks. Not sure what you mean exactly about the eggs that isn't covered in the animals section though

@anaisbcn3: Los recolectores rellenan las jarras vacías en las "Zonas de Bebida" o Pozos. Es una tarea de recolección. Esto es auto traducido, lo siento por cualquier inexactitud con el vocabulario.

@Big Tony: I added a fishing section with basic info for now

@amul: all animals (except wolves cats and dogs) eat both grain and hay. They prefer grazing, else troughs, else pallets, else items on the ground. Distance also matters when the AI decides what to eat next.
2qhurda9 26 Dec, 2023 @ 10:23pm 
Digging into a mountain takes less time then gathering resources and building. And you can use those resources for other things. The cold of the natural roof is insignificant, with little impact. During the first year, digging in is a great way to progress as you don't have to dedicate resources to an unneeded building project. I don't always dig in, but when I can it is a huge boon.
amul 22 Dec, 2023 @ 1:12am 
Which animals eat hay and which eat grain?
Big Tony 11 Oct, 2023 @ 1:29pm 
Love it! Could you explain how over fishing works?
anaaisbs 15 Aug, 2023 @ 5:50am 
Como rellenar los cantaros de agua, ya usados? Los campesinos no los rellenan...
oldmudgod 9 May, 2023 @ 7:15am 
Please add to the animal section how you pen them and provide egg-laying opportunity.
Thank you for FAQ and GJ! @author 3 0 %