Farthest Frontier: Complete Survival Town-Builder Guide

How to grow a Farthest Frontier settlement from a handful of settlers to a thriving town: first-year priorities, food and farming, health and disease, housing, defense against raiders, and the systems added since 1.0.

Researched September 2026 — current as of v1.1 (9 April 2026) plus the Cats and Dogs DLC (14 May 2026); v1.2 with a Trading Post overhaul is expected to enter playtesting this fall. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Try the Guided Journey first. Added in v1.1, it gives clear objectives that get a new town through its first winter.
• Water, firewood, food, storage, shelter. Those five decide whether you survive year one. Everything else can wait.
• Build a Well early. Drinking lake water raises the risk of parasites and dysentery.
• Diversify food. Foraging, hunting, fishing and early farming together beat any single source, and variety prevents nutritional disease such as scurvy.
• Protect food from spoilage and rats. Root cellars (with barrels) and granaries matter as much as production.
• Stockpile firewood before winter. Cold exposure is one of the deadliest health threats.
• Keep workplaces close to homes and storage. Villagers carry goods on foot; distance kills productivity.
• Plan defenses before your town looks rich. Raids scale up as the town grows.
• Pacifist mode exists. If you only want to build, you can turn off raiders.

Game Status

Milestone | Date

Early Access launch | 9 August 2022

1.0 release | 23 October 2025

v1.1 (Gridless build mode, Guided Journey, QoL) | 9 April 2026

Cats and Dogs DLC | 14 May 2026

v1.2 (Trading Post and trade mechanics overhaul) | Playtesting expected fall 2026

v1.3 | Announced for early 2027

First expansion | Announced (new production lines, mechanics and resources); no date

1.0 added a 140+ point tech tree, Monuments with victory conditions, bridges, a Policy system, raider camps with siege weapons, salvage sites, droughts and map-based weather.

Starting a Game

World Generation

Maps are randomly generated with different biomes and themes. You can control the amount of water and mountains and which resources may spawn. For a first game, pick a map with plenty of water, fertile land and nearby stone and clay.

Difficulty

Difficulty ranges from gentle settings to brutal ones, and custom settings let you tune threats, weather and more. Pacifist mode removes combat entirely.

Choosing Your Town Center Location

• Near fresh water, forest and forage.
• Room for fields on flat, fertile land.
• Away from wolf dens and other wildlife hotspots if possible.
• Stone and clay within walking distance.

The First Year

A solid opening order:

• Town Center placed.
• Temporary Shelters or first homes so villagers aren't exposed.
• Well for clean water.
• Wood production and a Firewood Splitter to stockpile fuel.
• Food sources: a forager, a Hunter Cabin and a Fishing Shack.
• Storage: a Storehouse, then a Root Cellar before your first big harvest or winter.
• Saw Pit for planks once construction ramps up.
• First crop field, placed on good soil.
• Healer before disease shows up.

Leave military spending until you've survived the first winter, unless wolves or bears are nearby.

Food

Sources

• Foragers collect herbs and berries (food and medicine).
• Hunters bring meat and hides. They handle wolves and boars better than regular villagers.
• Fishermen catch fish from rivers and lakes.
• Crops from fields.
• Animals: cows, goats and chickens for milk, eggs and meat.
• Orchards: apples, peaches and pears.
• Grains must be processed at a Windmill (into flour, then bread) before they can be eaten.

Processing

Building | Converts

Smokehouse | Meat and fish into smoked versions

Cheesemaker | Milk into cheese

Preservist | Berries, fruit and root vegetables into preserved jars (needs glassware)

Processed food lasts much longer and adds variety.

Storage and Spoilage

• Root Cellars keep food cooler and spoil it slower than storehouses.
• Barrels reduce root cellar spoilage by 5% each, up to 10 barrels (50% reduction).
• Granaries store grain and resist rats.
• Rat Catchers clear infestations in their work area; untreated rats risk plague.
• The Cats and Dogs DLC adds cats that keep rat populations down.

Farming

Farthest Frontier's farming is deep. Crops have different yields, fertility demands, ideal soil mixes and disease risks.

Crops Mentioned in the Official Guide

Crop | Notes

Wheat | Very high yield, but sensitive to fertility and depletes it quickly

Clover | Restores the field; does not need harvesting

Rye, Buckwheat | Grains (processed at a Windmill)

Cabbage, Leeks, Turnips, Carrots, Greens | Vegetables

Beans | Legume crop

The game has 12 food crops in total; check each crop's details in-game for heat and frost tolerance.

Soil and Rotation

• Fertility drops as you farm. Rotate heavy feeders like wheat with restorative crops like clover.
• Soil mixture (clay and sand balance) gives up to a 10% bonus when ideal for the crop.
• Remove rocks and weeds over time to improve fields.
• Crop diseases include Bean Wilt, Club Root, Aster Yellows and Powdery Mildew. Rotation helps prevent them from building up in the soil.
• Frost and heat damage depend on planting times; don't plant fragile crops too early or late in the season.

Pests

Deer eat crops. The Cats and Dogs DLC adds groundhogs that infest fields and foxes that hunt chickens, and dogs (plus Doghouses) to guard crops and livestock.

Health and Disease

Problem | Cause | Prevention

Dysentery, parasites | Dirty water | Wells

Scurvy | No Vitamin C | Varied diet with fruit and vegetables

Typhoid | Contaminated water | Wells

Smallpox | Seasonal, contagious | Healer's House quarantine

Flu and colds (untreated flu can become pneumonia) | Seasonal | Early treatment at a healer

Bubonic plague | Rat fleas | Rat Catchers, granaries, cats

Foot injuries, sprains | No shoes | Cobbler (shoes)

Broken limbs | Mining | Temporary Shelters at work camps, healers

Hypothermia, frostbite (untreated hypothermia can become gangrene) | Cold exposure | Firewood, clothing, Hide Coats, shoes

Festering wounds | Combat injuries | Quick treatment at the Healer's House

Rabies | Wolf bites | Keep villagers away from wolf dens; clear dens with hunters

Rat bite fever | Rat bites | Rat Catchers, proper grain storage

Treatment

• Healer's House provides herbs and quarantine; staffing it requires basic education.
• Hospital is the larger upgrade.
• Apothecary Shop makes medicine from Willow, Honey and Medicinal Roots; medicine beats herbs for severe conditions.
• Compost Yard and nightsoil workers remove waste; soap keeps villagers clean.
• Temporary Shelters protect distant workers from the weather.

Bedridden villagers can't work, and contagious illness spreads if healers lack capacity. Build healers before outbreaks, not during.

Housing and Town Growth

• Homes (and the Town Center) are the only structures with multiple upgrade tiers.
• Upgrading homes needs higher desirability plus more varied food and luxury goods.
• The Town Center upgrades when you have the required structures and population, unlocking more buildings.
• Decorations like statues, parks and plazas raise desirability. The Cats and Dogs DLC adds a Hedge Garden, Topiary Garden and Trellis.
• Pay attention to happiness and spirituality too; the official guide treats them as core villager needs.

Production Chains

Key crafting buildings from the official guide include:

• Cobbler (shoes), Chandler (candles), Fletcher (bows and arrows), Blacksmith's Forge (tools and weapons).
• Cooper (barrels) and Wagon Shop (transport wagons) for logistics.
• Market distributes goods to homes.
• Trading Post buys and sells with traders; v1.2 will overhaul it.

Rule of thumb: build a chain only when you have both the raw input and a clear use for the output. Idle workshops waste workers.

Defense and Combat

Raiders

• Raids get bigger and better equipped as your town grows.
• Some groups demand gold; you can pay or fight.
• Villagers caught outside during a raid are likely to die, so outlying workers are the most exposed.
• Destroying a raider camp delays the next raid by up to 12 months.

Defenses

Defense | Notes

Palisade walls | Cheap; upgrade to Fortified Walls with lots of stone

Gates | Let villagers through, block raiders and wildlife

Fences | Cheap protection for livestock

Lookout Tower | Bow-armed guards; upgraded towers have better range and damage

Town Center bell | Villagers shelter inside and fire arrows at nearby threats; fine for wolves, not full raids

Barracks | Recruit soldiers; cost scales with unit power and equipment

Military Stable | Mounted units; requires horses

Unit control: drag-select villagers or soldiers, right-click to move or attack, Alt + right-click to attack-move, Ctrl + number to make control groups, and Ctrl + right-click to adjust formation.

Equipment progresses from hide coats and simple weapons and bows to plate armor, heavy weapons and crossbows for the best units.

Wildlife

• Wolves hunt villagers near their dens and can pass on rabies.
• Bears raid homes and storage for food and threaten livestock.
• Boars attack villagers who get too close; send several hunters.

Controls and QoL (v1.1)

• Gridless build mode: freely place buildings; switch back to the grid at any time for tidy layouts.
• Building management tool for overseeing many buildings at once.
• Copy/paste building settings between buildings.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Relying on lake water.
• Farming only wheat until fertility crashes.
• Too little storage and food rotting in piles.
• Ignoring firewood before winter.
• Spreading the town too wide so workers walk all day.
• No healer when the first outbreak hits.
• Walling everything early, which drains stone.
• Growing wealth without defenses.

Advanced Tips

• Cluster districts: homes near markets and wells, production near its inputs, storage between them.
• Build temporary shelters and storage next to remote work sites.
• Keep a gold reserve for bribes, soldiers and trade.
• Destroy raider camps proactively to buy time.
• Use policies from the Town Center to steer your economy.
• Aim for a Monument victory condition once you're stable.

FAQ

Is Farthest Frontier finished? Yes. It left Early Access on 23 October 2025 and keeps getting free updates (v1.1 in April 2026, v1.2 coming).

Can I play without combat? Yes, pacifist mode disables combat.

How do I stop food spoiling? Root cellars with barrels, granaries for grain, processing buildings, and rat control.

Why are my villagers getting sick? Usually dirty water, poor diet, cold, rats or lack of shoes. Build wells, diversify food, stock firewood, add healers and rat catchers.

What does the Cats and Dogs DLC add? Cats and dogs you can breed (18 variations), kennels, doghouses, groundhog and fox threats, and decorations.

When do raiders come? They grow with your town. Some demand gold, and destroying their camps delays the next raid.

Sources

• Farthest Frontier on Steam
• Farthest Frontier – Wikipedia
• Official Game Guide – Farming
• Official Game Guide – Food
• Official Game Guide – Health
• Official Game Guide – Buildings
• Official Game Guide – Combat
• Farthest Frontier Steam news