Banished: Survival and City-Building Guide

How to keep a town of exiles alive through the first brutal winters of Banished and grow it into a thriving settlement: starting choices, a proven opening, food and firewood math, population control, trade, disasters, and mods.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final 1.0.x release (Steam Workshop modding added in 1.0.4, November 2014; the developer's last Steam post was the 1.0.5 beta in October 2015). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status note: Banished is complete and no longer updated. Developer Luke Hodorowicz (Shining Rock Software) announced a successor project on September 19, 2018, but his last blog post (April 17, 2022) described development stalling, and there has been no news since. The game itself is still sold on Steam and runs fine on modern Windows.

Quick Start

• Start on Easy, Mild climate, Valleys terrain. You get more supplies and seeds, and fewer ways to die.
• Build a Storage Barn and Stockpile first near your starting cart. Everything else needs storage.
• Place a Gatherer's Hut, Hunting Cabin, and Forester Lodge together in a forest. They share the forest and are the best early food and log source.
• Build a Woodcutter. Firewood keeps people alive in winter. Running out means freezing deaths.
• Plant crops in spring. Crop fields need to be planted early to be harvested before frost.
• Don't overbuild houses. Too many houses causes a baby boom followed by a food crash.
• Build a Blacksmith and Tailor before year 3. Tools wear out; coats keep people warm.
• Keep an eye on the Town Hall stats. It shows food, firewood, and population trends.
• Set resource limits. Limit how much of each resource workers stockpile, so they don't strip your forests or waste labour.

Starting Options

Setting | Recommendation

Starting Conditions | Easy (more families, supplies, and starting seeds) for the first game; Hard starts with almost nothing

Climate | Mild for learning; Harsh shortens the growing season

Terrain | Valleys (more flat land)

Map size | Medium or Large gives more space

Disasters | On for challenge; Off while learning

Core Systems

Citizens

• Citizens are born, grow up, work, have children, and die of old age.
• Children don't work. Students (if you have a School) become educated adults who work more efficiently.
• Adults need homes to start families. A couple needs an empty house to move into.
• Elders work less and eventually die.

Needs

Need | How to meet it

Food | Gatherers, hunters, fishermen, farms, orchards, pastures

Warmth | Firewood and warm coats

Health | Varied diet, Herbalist, Hospital, Wells

Happiness | Tavern, Chapel, Cemetery, Market, variety of goods

Tools | Blacksmith (needs iron and logs)

Clothing | Tailor (needs leather, wool, or cotton)

Food Diversity

Citizens are healthier with a varied diet. Food falls into broad categories: grains/vegetables, fruit, and protein (meat, fish, eggs, milk). Having several sources keeps people healthier and avoids starvation if one fails.

Resources and Production Chains

Raw resource | Source | Processed into

Logs | Forester Lodge, clearing trees | Firewood (Woodcutter), buildings

Stone | Quarry, clearing rocks | Buildings, Stone Houses

Iron | Mine, clearing iron | Tools (Blacksmith)

Leather | Hunting Cabin | Coats (Tailor)

Wool | Sheep pasture | Coats (Tailor)

Cotton | Cotton fields | Clothing (Tailor)

Herbs | Herbalist | Health

Ale | Tavern (brewed from crops or fruit) | Happiness

Opening Build Order

• Storage Barn and Stockpile near the town centre.
• Gatherer's Hut, Hunting Cabin, and Forester Lodge in the same forest.
• Woodcutter near the Stockpile to make firewood.
• A few Wooden Houses (one or two families each). Don't overbuild.
• Crop Fields with the seeds you start with. Moderate-sized fields with one or two farmers each are better than giant fields that don't get harvested before frost.
• Blacksmith once you have iron.
• Tailor once you have leather.
• Well near houses to reduce fire risk and improve health.
• Fishing Dock if you have water nearby.
• Town Hall once you have a stable town; it gives statistics.

Seasons and Winter

• Crops are planted in spring and harvested in autumn. Frost kills unharvested crops.
• Winter increases firewood consumption.
• Stock up firewood before winter.
• Warm coats (from the Tailor) reduce freezing risk.
• Stone Houses are warmer than Wooden Houses and use less firewood, but cost more to build.

Population Management

• Houses drive population growth. Each new house lets a couple move in and have children.
• The baby boom trap: If you build too many houses at once, many families have children simultaneously. Those children eat but don't work, and your food supply collapses.
• Build houses gradually and watch the Town Hall population graph.
• Nomads arrive after you build a Town Hall. They can boost your population but may bring disease; accept them only if you have food and housing.
• Education: A School turns children into educated workers who are more productive.

Trade

• Build a Trading Post on a river or lake. Merchants arrive by boat.
• Merchants carry different goods: general goods, food, seeds, and livestock.
• Request specific merchant types at the Trading Post (for example, a seed merchant).
• Trade surplus goods (firewood, tools, coats) for seeds, livestock, and food.
• Merchants can bring disease. Build a Herbalist and Hospital before trading heavily.

Agriculture and Livestock

• Crops: Seeds come from your starting cart or merchants. Plant multiple crop types; pests and blight can destroy one crop.
• Orchards take several years to become productive but are low-maintenance.
• Pastures: Chickens, sheep, and cattle. Sheep give wool and mutton; cattle give leather and beef.
• Place pastures on the outskirts; they take a lot of space, so keep them away from the town core with a Storage Barn nearby.

Disasters

Disaster | Prevention

Fire | Build Wells near houses; keep a Stone House mix

Disease | Herbalist and Hospital; limit nomads and traders if needed

Tornado | Rebuild; tornadoes are random

Crop failure | Plant multiple crops

Starvation | Keep food surplus; watch Town Hall stats

Freezing | Stock firewood and coats before winter

Mid-Game Milestones

Use these as checkpoints rather than a strict timeline; every map is different.

Milestone | Why it matters

Food surplus covering more than a year of consumption | Survives a failed harvest or a population spike

Firewood stockpile before every winter | Prevents freezing deaths

Blacksmith producing steadily | Tools break over time; without them, work slows badly

Tailor with a coat surplus | Coats wear out too

Herbalist, Hospital, and Wells | Protection before you start trading or accepting nomads

School | Educated workers pay off as the first students reach adulthood

Trading Post with a steady export | Firewood, tools, and coats trade well for seeds, livestock, and food

Stone Houses replacing Wooden Houses | Less firewood demand, fewer freezing risks

Watch the idle laborer count. Laborers are unassigned adults who haul goods and build. If there are none, construction stalls; if there are too many, you are wasting workers who could be farming or crafting.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overbuilding houses. The baby boom will crash your food supply.
• Clearing all forests. You'll run out of logs, firewood, and gatherer food. Use Forester Lodges to replant.
• Too few storage buildings. Workers waste time walking to far-away barns.
• Neglecting tools. Workers without tools work slowly.
• Ignoring clothing. People freeze in winter without coats.
• Planting too late. Frost kills unharvested crops.
• Trading without a Hospital. Traders can bring disease.

Advanced Tips

• Cluster production: Put Woodcutters near Forester Lodges, Blacksmiths near mines and storage.
• Resource limits: Set limits so workers don't overproduce one resource and neglect others.
• Markets: A Market reduces walking time for citizens getting food and goods.
• Educated workforce: Schools boost productivity in the long run.
• Stone and iron from clearing: Clearing rocks gives early stone and iron without a mine.
• Satellite towns: As your town grows, build new clusters with their own storage and houses.
• Mods: Popular Workshop mods such as Colonial Charter and the Mega Mod add new buildings, crops, and mechanics. Make sure mods are compatible with each other and your saves.

FAQ

Is Banished still being updated? No. It's complete, and the developer's successor project stalled (April 2022 blog post).

Does Banished have mods? Yes. Steam Workshop was added in version 1.0.4 (November 2014).

How do I stop people starving? Diversify food sources, build storage near producers, and don't overbuild houses.

Why aren't my houses getting families? New families form when adults can move into empty houses. If everyone is housed and nobody is coming of age, growth stalls.

What's the best early food source? Gatherer's Hut and Hunting Cabin in a forest, plus Fishing Docks near water.

How do I get more seeds? From the starting supplies (easier starts include seeds; Hard does not) or from seed merchants at the Trading Post.

Sources

• Banished on Steam
• Banished Steam news
• Banished on Wikipedia
• Shining Rock Software