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About Banished
Banished is a city‑building strategy title where you guide a band of exiled travelers to establish a new settlement. Starting with only clothing and a cart of supplies, you must manage the townspeople—who age, work, reproduce, and die—to keep the community thriving. Resources are gathered, structures erected, and trade vessels visited for livestock and crops, while the risk of disease looms. The game lacks skill trees or money; instead, success hinges on balancing occupations, resource allocation, and risk management across varied maps.
01 / THE GUIDE
Population Management
Citizens are the core resource; they are born, age, work, have children, and eventually die. Their health, happiness, and nutrition directly affect town growth.
Building houses alone does not guarantee expansion; enough people must be present to fill them and form families. Monitoring births, deaths, and workforce distribution is essential.
- Track the age distribution to anticipate future labor shortages.
- Ensure a steady food supply to maintain citizen health and reduce mortality.
02 / THE GUIDE
Resource Gathering
All structures can be built once the necessary resources are collected; there is no money system. Resources come from farming, hunting, mining, quarrying, and forest replanting.
Choosing which resources to prioritize requires setting aside land, limiting future expansion. Each map may have different resource scarcities.
- Map the terrain early to identify abundant versus scarce resources.
- Reserve space for essential resources before expanding residential areas.
03 / THE GUIDE
Trade and Illness Risk
Trade vessels arrive periodically, allowing you to barter resources for livestock and annual crops, enriching the diet of your citizens.
These ships travel long routes, bringing the possibility of foreign illnesses that can affect the population.
- Stockpile medical supplies before a trade ship docks.
- Balance the benefits of new food sources against the potential health risks.
04 / THE GUIDE
Occupations
There are twenty distinct occupations, ranging from farming and hunting to blacksmithing, mining, teaching, and healing. Each citizen can fill one role at a time.
Assigning the right number of workers to each job influences resource output, education, and medical care, shaping overall town stability.
- Monitor occupation counts to avoid bottlenecks in essential production.
- Adjust worker assignments as seasonal needs change.
05 / THE GUIDE
Risk Management
Success depends on handling multiple risks: resource scarcity, disease, and limited expansion space. No single strategy works for every map.
Balancing forest replanting, mining, and quarrying requires careful planning, as each consumes land that cannot later be used for other purposes.
- Diversify food sources to mitigate crop failures.
- Plan expansion routes that leave room for essential resource sites.
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