[Guide] The Settlers III History Edition

Have you ever thought about jumping into The Settlers universe? This small guide for The Settlers 3 History Edition will help you to build your first settlement.

Minimap:

In the upper left-hand corner of the screen, you will see your overhead map in the form of a parallelogram. Within the overhead map you will notice a small explored area encircled by a dotted white line. This lightened area represents the portion of land you occupy at the beginning of the game. What is left is the fog-of-war, which will remain black until you have explored or colonized it, you can get started exploring immediately.

Colonizing means building up your territory so that you can establish a functioning society for the settlers. This means, in turn, deciding what tools and weapons are needed, whom you want to trade with, and who might be good allies. All of these operations, and a lot more, can be performed from within the control center found below the overview map.

Construction Menu:

Click on the house icon (first row, on the left) and you will enter the construction menu where you can find all the buildings available for your colony.

Distribution Menu:

Click on the goods icon (first row, in the middle) and you will enter the distribution menu where you can perform all the fine adjustments that are necessary from time to time for successful colonization. Which tools and weapons should be produced next? Who should be prioritized for coal or bread? These are all matters that you can deal with in this menu.

Statistics Menu:

Click on the settler icon (first row, on the right) and you will enter the statistics menu. Here you can see how many priests, soldiers, pioneers etc you have. You can adjust how many carriers or builders you want and can recruit geologists and thieves. This is also the place to level-up your soldiers.

Few tips for starters:

A thriving colony requires a number of things that must be produced. The settlers need building materials to construct their homes and workplaces. To ensure that you have the necessary building materials after your initial supply is exhausted, a hut for your woodcutter, stonecutter and forester as well as a sawmill will allow you to realize your further building plans.

As you expand and sophisticate your colony, you will certainly want to have iron and coal so that you can produce additional tools and weapons, your initial supply will not last forever. This this you need to build mines, smelting works, a tool smith’s works and a weapon smith’s works. Then there is the question of food. Your hardworking miners will not work too long on empty bellies. This means building grain farms, pig farms, grain mills, slaughterhouses and bakeries.

If your settlers want to engage in trade, they will need ships and caravans. For this, shipyards and harbors as well as donkey ranches and market places must be built. As you can see, your colony is becoming increasingly multifaceted. However, there is still more. For all these new workplaces, the population of your colony must grow as well. This is only possible when you build additional housing. In order to protect and expand your territory, or to conquer enemy territory by taking over enemy military buildings, your colony will need to recruit addition soldiers, to realize these ambitions, you will have to build watch towers, barracks, and maybe even a castle or two.

To deal with all this, here are some of your most important Settlers, their tools, and activities:

Carrier: (No tool required)

Those goods have to get from where they are made to where they are needed. Don’t place your buildings too far from each other – the carriers already have a big enough burden to bear!

Digger: (Shovel required)

Before the buildings go up, the land must be cleared and the rougher the terrain, the longer it takes for the building to begin.

Miner: (Pickaxe required)

The miners make sure there is enough metal and gold for the smelters and coal for the tool and weapon smith. With their favorite food, the miner’s tummies remain filled longer before they begin demanding their next meal. For the gold and gem miners, fish is the favorite. For the robust iron miners, a portion of ham is just right. The coal miners are quite satisfied with bread and the sulfur miners have just a burning desire for rice.

Builder: (Hammer required)

The builder hammers away from dawn to dusk when enough wood and stone are at hand.

Spy: (No tool required)

Your spy collects valuable information about the position and activities of possible hostile neighboring settlers. You can also use them to steal valuable resources from your enemy.

As a checklist for successfully starting a thriving colony, here are general guidelines:

• Set up your construction industry which will supply further building materials.
• Build residences to ensure an adequate supply of labor
• Expand your territory with guard towers or castles.
• Build up your food industry with farms, bakers and slaughterhouses, not forgetting fish or alcoholic beverages.
• Have your geologist find natural resources. There you can build the mines and smelting works to supply your tool and weapon smiths.
• Build one or more barracks to recruit soldiers.
• Expand your territory. Carry out trade and conquer enemy-held land by taking over enemy guard towers and castles. Control the seas and conquer other islands with your ships
• Keep your priests active by building temples and storing plenty of alcohol for the gods