The most useful Against the Storm tips for beginners come down to one rule: fill the blue Reputation bar before the Queen’s red Impatience bar fills. Every early decision, from which blueprint you take to when you open a glade, should either add Reputation or slow Impatience and Hostility. This guide covers a Year 1 build order, when to open your first Dangerous Glade, which races to bring to each biome (our picks), and the Prestige modifiers Eremite Games has confirmed in its patch notes.
Numbers come from Eremite Games’ Steam patch notes up to Patch 1.11.5 (November 3, 2026) and the community guides recommended in the game’s July 2026 free-weekend post.
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- How you win: reach the Reputation goal (18 points from Prestige 1 up, 4 fewer below that, according to community guides) before Impatience reaches 14.
- Year 1: two Woodcutters’ Camps, a Crude Workstation, shelters and a level 1 Hearth; take a building-material blueprint first.
- Glades: one Dangerous Glade a year from Year 2, opened at the start of Drizzle while you learn.
- Hostility: pull woodcutters in the Storm, build extra Hearths, take Hostility-reducing cornerstones.
- Races: Humans for long, high-Hostility games; Foxes for maps with many glade events; Lizards for meat-rich maps; Frogs and Bats on the stone-heavy DLC biomes (our picks).
- Prestige: embark with 8+ villagers and 100+ food, then finish with a final-year “resolve party”.
An early settlement: the blue Reputation bar and red Impatience bar sit at the bottom of the screen. Image: Eremite Games / Hooded Horse
How you win and lose in Against the Storm
Each settlement is a race between two bars at the bottom of the screen. Reputation (blue) fills from orders, glade events and villagers with high Resolve. Impatience (red) fills slowly by itself and jumps when villagers die or leave. Since Update 1.4, hovering over either bar shows its current and maximum values.
Two links matter most. Each Reputation point also lowers Impatience (Eremite’s tooltips say so), and higher Impatience lowers Hostility. Benedict Jacka’s Against the Storm Strategy Guide puts it simply: every action should fill the blue bar or slow the red one.
| Setting | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty ladder | Settler, Pioneer, Veteran, Viceroy, then Prestige 1-20 | Eremite patch notes |
| Season length | Drizzle plus Clearance is about 8 minutes; the Storm lasts 2 minutes, or 4 minutes once the longer-Storm modifier applies (Prestige 2 and up since September 2023) | Eremite patch notes (Aug and Sep 2023), community guides |
| Reputation to win | 18 from Prestige 1 up; Prestige 1 adds 4 to the earlier goal | Community guides |
| Impatience limit | You lose at 14 | Benedict Jacka’s guide |
| Training Expedition options | Reputation 10/14/18/30, Impatience 2/4/10/14/30 | Eremite patch notes (Jan 2023) |
| Current version | 1.11.5 (November 3, 2026), $29.99 on Steam (Windows) | Steam news and store page |
Against the Storm tips for your first settlement: Year 1 build order
Pause when the map loads, read the Forest Mysteries (seasonal effects tied to Hostility levels) and check your starting resources. Then, in this order:
- Two Woodcutters’ Camps and a Crude Workstation. Planks are the first bottleneck. In the camp settings, tick “avoid opening glades (unless marked)” so your woodcutters don’t open a glade by accident, as Deadlock’s Prestige 20 Steam guide recommends.
- Shelters for every villager, plus decorations. Housing for 8 villagers and 4 decorations take the Ancient Hearth to its first level (Encampment): +1 global Resolve and more resistance to Blightrot corruption, according to the same guide.
- Pick a building-material blueprint first. Take the first plank producer you see, with brick and fabric next. Jacka’s reasoning: Year 1 isn’t about winning, it’s about getting the materials to build the things that will.
- A Makeshift Post and a Trading Post. Packs of Provisions start trade routes and earn Amber for the first trader.
- Open your first three orders and favour fast, cheap ones; skip orders that need a building you don’t own.
Food comes next: check which complex foods your species like and take the first blueprint that makes one, since liked food both feeds villagers and raises Resolve. The same “materials first, then food” logic runs through our Manor Lords build order guide.
When to open your first Dangerous Glade
Opening a Dangerous or Forbidden Glade starts an event timer. According to Jacka, a typical Dangerous Glade event at Viceroy and above has a 13-minute threat timer and a 5-minute solve (7.5 minutes from Prestige 9), and many events have working penalties you don’t want during the Storm.
The guides disagree on timing; it’s a trade-off:
- Start of Drizzle (safest): Deadlock’s guide and the Steam Efficiency Tips thread. You get the full 8 minutes before the Storm.
- Mid-Storm the year before (faster): Jacka’s choice. More set-up time, but you take the new Hostility in the worst season, and a few events (he names the Ancient Shrine) run under 8 minutes.
Pause and read the failure consequences the moment a glade opens. Jacka says most failures cost about 1 Impatience point plus a temporary penalty, but some Forbidden Glade failures kill villagers. Leave small glades shut unless you need fertile soil, copper or coal: every glade adds Hostility.
Best races per biome in Against the Storm (our picks)
Every species except Bats has two specializations. A proficiency gives a 10% chance of double output in matching buildings, and a comfort specialization gives +5 Resolve to villagers working there. The table below combines that list from The Viceroy’s Handbook (updated August 2025) with firekeeper bonuses from Eremite’s DLC notes and Deadlock’s guide.
| Species | Proficiency | Comfort | Firekeeper bonus | Stand-out trait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humans | Agriculture | Brewing | Impatience grows slower | Highest base Resolve (15); hunger tolerance 6 |
| Beavers | Woodworking | Engineering | Rarely used, per Deadlock | Best for planks, pipes and tools; hunger tolerance 6 |
| Lizards | Meat | Warmth | +1 Resolve | Hunger tolerance 12, the highest; widest food tastes |
| Foxes | Scouting (faster glade events) | Working with other Foxes (3 in one building) | Less Hostility from every opened glade | No Resolve penalty from Hostility; hunger tolerance 3 |
| Harpies | Alchemy | Cloth | Villagers carry 5 extra items | Generate Reputation quickly once their needs are met; hunger tolerance 4 |
| Frogs (Keepers of the Stone) | Masonry | Rainwater | Newcomers arrive 50% faster | Refuse to live in shelters; need Frog Houses |
| Bats (Nightwatchers) | Metallurgy | None | Steel Gut: 15% chance villagers skip a meal on a break | Gain Resolve when other villagers leave or die; unlock the Manorial Court |
The World Map shows each biome's effects and rewards before you embark. Image: Eremite Games / Hooded Horse
The race picks below are ours, pairing each biome’s resources (from Eremite’s DLC notes and Deadlock’s biome notes) with the specializations above. Species come from your caravan choice, so treat them as preferences.
| Biome | What it gives you | Our race picks |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Woodlands | Trees give more wood; no natural copper | Beavers + Humans: cheap planks, and Humans’ 15 base Resolve makes the easiest start |
| Cursed Royal Woodlands | A spirit event in every glade; copper nodes | Foxes for fast glade events, plus Humans to absorb Hostility |
| Marshlands | Little fertile soil; lots of meat and eggs; +10% gathering speed for every 2 camp workers; coal and copper | Lizards (meat) + Beavers; lean on camps rather than farms |
| Scarlet Orchard | Grain, herbs, reed, copper ore; trees drop dye and plant fibre; archaeology sites | Humans (agriculture) + Harpies (alchemy and cloth) |
| Coral Forest | No natural copper; trees drop plant fibre, stone, incense and meat | Lizards + Humans: both need Religion, and incense supplies it |
| Sealed Forest | Hostility comes from trees felled, not woodcutters; a plague every Storm; you must also repair the Seal | Humans for long, high-Hostility games + Foxes for glade work |
| Coastal Grove (DLC) | Fishing ponds, clay, coal; burn Algae for Hostility after 150 bait; Strider Port expeditions cost food | Frogs (masonry for bricks) + Lizards or Humans for food |
| Ashen Thicket (DLC) | Copper ore, coal, salt and clay; mining bonuses; Cornerstone Forge | Bats (metallurgy) + Frogs (masonry) |
| Rocky Ravine (DLC) | Trees yield stone, not wood; Black Market; strong trading | Frogs + Bats (Deadlock also calls this pair very strong here); avoid plank-hungry Beaver Houses |
| Bamboo Flats (DLC) | No natural fertile soil; the Fluffbeak makes fertilizer for fields; trees drop extra wood and oil | Humans (farming on fertilized fields) + Beavers |
The Rebel Hideout modifier (Update 1.11, September 2026) limits a settlement to two species, so pick a pair that covers food and building materials.
How Hostility works and how to keep it down
Hostility of the Forest is the red meter at the top right. It applies a global Resolve penalty all year, makes that penalty worse during the Storm, and switches on negative Forest Mysteries once it reaches their listed level. According to The Viceroy’s Handbook, it rises with years passed, glades opened, villager count, woodcutter count and some glade events, all scaled by difficulty. Jacka warns some Forest Mysteries at Hostility 4+ are not survivable for long; his answer is to tank it with Resolve, reduce it, or win before it gets out of hand.
| Way to lower Hostility | Effect | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Unassign woodcutters during the Storm | Cuts the Hostility woodcutters add (Shift + right-click unassigns everyone) | Deadlock’s guide |
| Build extra Hearths | -30 each | Deadlock’s guide |
| Fox firekeeper at the Ancient Hearth | Glades add less: 15 to 9 (regular), 30 to 24 (Dangerous/Forbidden); applies retroactively | Eremite notes (Apr 2023), numbers from Deadlock’s guide |
| Burn wood or coal at the Ancient Hearth | Stacks up to 3 times; switch it off after the Storm | Deadlock’s guide |
| Fully staffed Monastery | -100 | Deadlock’s guide |
| Hostility cornerstones and perks | Varies; one Legendary cornerstone (added in Update 1.9) stops Beavers adding Hostility | Eremite notes (Nov 2025) |
| Coastal Grove: sacrifice Algae | Unlocked after using bait 150 times | Eremite notes (Sep 2024) |
Set the game to pause at the start of Drizzle (Deadlock’s tip) so you remember to stop burning fuel and reassign woodcutters. In the Sealed Forest, cut the 20-charge trees first: Hostility there comes from trees felled (2 points per 10 trees, scaled by difficulty, per Eremite), so big trees cost no more than small ones.
Impatience: how to stop the Queen’s red bar
Impatience rises every minute and jumps when villagers die or leave, when glade events fail and when you attack a trader. Jacka notes it rarely kills a settlement on its own; Hostility, starvation or failed events cause the deaths that push it over, unless a modifier such as Land of Greed speeds it up.
- Earn Reputation early. Each point lowers Impatience, so fast early orders do double duty.
- Use a Human firekeeper in long games (Deadlock ranks it second only to Harpies).
- Keep food above zero before the Storm; hunger in the Storm usually means lost villagers.
- Don’t attack traders: it adds Impatience and slows future traders.
The Clan Hall serves Brawling and Religion, two needs Lizards share. Image: Eremite Games / Hooded Horse
How to win on Prestige
Prestige 1-20 comes after Viceroy, and each level adds one permanent modifier on top of the ones before it. The embark screen lists every active modifier, so read it before each run. These are the ones Eremite’s patch notes confirm:
| Level | Modifier | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Prestige 1 | Higher Reputation goal and harder orders | Plan for 18 points: orders, Resolve and glade events all have to contribute |
| Prestige 2 | Longer Storm | Stockpile coats and complex food before every Storm |
| Prestige 12 / 13 | Fewer blueprint / cornerstone choices | Since Update 1.8, spend Wildfire Essence and Ancient Tablets to add an extra option |
| Prestige 15 | More Resolve needed to earn each further Reputation point (per Eremite’s August 2023 notes) | Raise Resolve with species housing, services and Rain Engines rather than relying on one species |
| Prestige 19 | Land Tax: opening a glade triggers a payment due before the next season ends | Deadlock pays 5 Amber per glade (miss it and 2 villagers leave); bring Amber and open mainly Dangerous Glades |
Jacka’s standard Prestige plan fits in one line: set up in Year 1, open one Dangerous Glade per year from Year 2, and throw a resolve party in your last year. In practice:
- Embark for workers and food: a caravan with 8+ villagers and at least 100 food.
- Plan for food from Prestige 7, where Jacka says food disappears much faster; run a 2- or 3-star complex food chain by mid-game.
- Find your bottleneck material early, and buy it from the Year 2 trader or take orders that reward it.
- Throw the resolve party. In the year before, stockpile complex food, clothing and service goods and block their use in Consumption Control. In your final Drizzle, allow everything, staff every service building, set Rain Engines to their comfort setting and summon a trader. Resolve spikes, and Reputation climbs through Drizzle and Clearance.
For more city builders, see our Anno 117 production chains, the Frostpunk survival guide and the Frostpunk 2 factions tier list.
FAQ
Which race is best in Against the Storm?
No single race wins everywhere. Humans, with the highest base Resolve (15), are the safest beginner pick; Harpies earn Reputation fast and Foxes ignore Hostility’s Resolve penalty. Our per-biome picks are above.
What difficulty should a beginner start on?
Start on Settler or Pioneer. Veteran adds Blightrot (cysts burned with Purging Fire from a Blight Post), and Viceroy raises Hostility and harshens Forest Mysteries. A Training Expedition with a low Reputation goal is a good way to learn new biomes.
Can you play with four species?
Yes, but only in two cases: the Sacred Grove World Map modifier, and Training Expeditions, where Update 1.10 (July 2026) added a four-species option. Normal settlements have three species, and the Rebel Hideout modifier limits you to two.
Sources: Against the Storm on Steam; Eremite Games’ Steam news: Patch 1.11.5, Rebel Hideout Update (1.11), Nightwatchers DLC and Commons Update 1.8, Commons Update changelog, Fishing Update 1.4, Hauler Station Update, Seal Contracts Update, Sentinels of the Forest Update; community guides linked by Eremite: Benedict Jacka’s Strategy Guide, Deadlock’s Basic Strategy (Prestige 20), The Viceroy’s Handbook, Efficiency Tips thread. Patch details checked November 5, 2026.
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