Going Medieval: 30 Pro Tips

From site selection to defense, farming to trading — these tips collect battle-tested knowledge from community players. Whether you have just cleared the beginner phase or already run a thriving colony, they help optimize operations and boost efficiency. Each tip is combat-verified and applies to the 1.0 full release.

• 1. Food is priority #1
• 2. Underground storage preserves food
• 3. Multi-layered defense, no reckless attacks
• 4. Specialists boost efficiency
• 5. Mood management prevents breakdowns

The four-season cycle is the clock every other system runs on. Each season shifts temperature, weather and resource yield, and winter is the one that kills colonies: snow covers the ground, crops stop growing outright, and temperatures plunge far enough to cause frostbite. Tips only work if you apply them in the right season, so map your labour to this table before you optimise anything else.

Winter maths is worth doing explicitly. Winter runs roughly 10–15 in-game days, and six settlers consume about 12–18 food units per day — a total of 120–270 units. That is why the usual advice is to bank 300+ units of processed food rather than the bare 200 minimum: bread and smoked meat spoil far slower than raw goods, and the buffer absorbs an unexpected raid or a blizzard that pins everyone indoors. Pair that with 100+ wood for fuel, warm clothing for every settler, and fireplaces already built before the first snow falls.

Temperature is not just a comfort stat. Settlers held below 0°C bleed mood and health continuously, while above 30°C work efficiency starts dropping and above 35°C heatstroke becomes a genuine risk. Vents help above ground; underground is better. Spaces two or more levels below the surface hold roughly 8–12°C year-round, which is why underground stockpiles cut spoilage so dramatically. Living quarters one level down, combined with a fireplace, can stay above 15°C through winter with modest fuel use.

Going Medieval uses a numeric work-priority system running from 1 (highest) to 5 (disabled) for each work type on each settler. Priorities also interact across the colony: if two settlers can do the same job and one has it at priority 1 while the other has it at 2, the priority 1 settler takes it first. A good configuration means tasks resolve themselves; a bad one means crops rot in the field while your farmer hauls rocks.

The golden rule is that every settler should have exactly one priority 1 task — their primary job — and those priority 1 tasks should be spread across different people. Assigning the same priority 1 to several settlers creates confusion rather than speed, unless the workload genuinely demands it, such as two farmers on a large farm.

There are two pure approaches and one that actually works. The specialist model gives each settler a single priority 1 and sets everything else to 3–5; skills climb fast, but the colony is fragile because one injury stops a whole function. The generalist model spreads priority 2 tasks widely, which is resilient but slow to specialise. The hybrid model is what most successful colonies converge on: two to three specialists covering the critical functions of farming, crafting and mining, with the remaining settlers running priority 2 across several functions to fill gaps.

Priorities should also move with the calendar. In spring, raise Farming to priority 1 on at least three settlers and temporarily drop mining and crafting — construction can wait, planting cannot. In summer, keep two settlers on Farming priority 1 and push the surplus labour into infrastructure. In autumn, put Farming at priority 1 for everyone capable of harvesting; the crop must be in storage before frost. Emergencies override all of this: during a food crisis set Hunting and Farming to priority 1 for every capable settler, and after a battle set Medical to priority 1 for your best medic and priority 2 for everyone else, because untreated wounds keep worsening long after the fighting stops.