Let’s continue our building overview series with one of the most important buildings for any The Settlers colony: the Woodcutter.
Our Settlers do bring some softwood and hardwood with them on the ship, but since all early construction-work requires it, we should quickly get our own softwood production going.
Every Woodcutter will cut down trees in a certain area around his work place and store the lumber in front of his hut. The target area, called focus point, can be moved, e.g. when wanting to focus on trees in a specific place. The gathered wood can then be used for construction or be further processed via the Sawmill.
As we discussed in our blog about the Townhall, all buildings can be upgraded to unlock various advantages – and the woodcutter is no exception:
At Outpost-Level there is one woodcutter working who is able to gather soft wood for the first basic buildings (Outpost-Level) and hard wood for weapon creation and to repair ships.
At Village-Level a second woodcutter will join to help and therefore speed up production.
At Town-Level the building will be supported by a third craftsman.
There are even more options of how the wood can be used. With the support of the Sawmill, softwood boards can be used for further building construction while hardwood is required to craft pull-carts for the carriers. The building menu allows us to prioritize: only cut softwood, only hardwood, or both. While more craftsmen speed up production, we need to keep in mind this will also increase the amount of food required.
You will also be able to decide if all trees should be cut or if the woodcutters should focus on older, fully-grown trees to preserve the forest. While shorter walking distances will boost your initial wood output, if you place many woodcutters and cut down too many trees the forest may not regrow fast enough and you will deplete it.
Please keep in mind the game is still in development, so certain functions or even the looks of buildings can still change.
With episode two of our buildings overview series done, which building would you like us to cover in one of the future blogs? Are there any additional info you would like to see in these articles? Let us know!
