Against the Storm: Complete Guide

Against the Storm is a refreshing take on the city-building genre – Not another title to add to your gaming collection! This roguelite city-builder challenges your strategic abilities against stubborn elements and dynamic difficulty variables. The game combines survival, strategy, and city-building components in a complex, dynamic setting that changes based on your decisions.

Every decision has consequences. When building a city, you are creating a society that can survive natural disasters. It requires adaptation, resourcefulness, and forethought to manage resources and understand unique characteristics.

Our complete Against the Storm guide is an accumulation of early-game strategies and insights we’ve managed to collect during our playthroughs. Prepare to embrace the storm, for the rain never stops in this game, and neither does the thrill.

Always stockpile food and fuel

Food and fuel are essential for every colony. Fuel is necessary to keep the Holy Fire burning; without it, villagers will lose hope and abandon the colony. The game offers multiple fuel resources, including sea marrow, wood, coal, and oil. It’s crucial to maintain a steady supply of each.

The same principle applies to food. Always ensure you have access to nearby fields, broccoli patches, berry bushes, and other sources for food harvesting.

Avoid overbuilding

The game is stringent with resources. Initially, you have only a limited supply of items, and running out can halt your progress by preventing the construction of future structures. It’s imperative to ensure you always have a sufficient supply of rare resources on hand for building new buildings.

Build shelters whenever you can

Shelters are the easiest way to keep your villagers happy and safe from the elements, with each shelter housing up to three individuals. As the game progresses, managing your village becomes more complex. Therefore, it’s important always to have a few extra shelters ready for new villagers.

Hostility and mysteries explained

Every settlement begins with level 0 Hostility. This level escalates gradually as your town expands through specific actions, including exploring glades, accepting new residents, or appointing additional woodcutters. To see a comprehensive list of what increases Hostility, hover over the red Hostility bar at the top center.

Every increase in Hostility level brings a negative Resolve penalty that affects all villagers and activates new forest mysteries.

Forest Mysteries in Against the Storm are predetermined at the beginning of each game and depend on the map’s biome and difficulty level. Their effects are season-specific: positive impacts occur during drizzles, while adverse effects are triggered during storms. The effects vary, ranging from simple production modifiers, speed reductions, and building destruction to those dependent on villagers’ needs. For instance, a Hailstorm can be lethal to villagers caught in a storm unless they have a shelter.

Maintain low hostility

There are ways to reduce the forest’s hostility, such as constructing more hearths or allowing the Queen’s impatience to rise.

If you find yourself at a high hostility level, you can take specific steps to minimize damage to your settlement, particularly during storms. Here are a few examples to maintain low hostility in Against the Storm:

– Remove woodcutters from their slots during a storm. The sudden decrease in numbers may revert you to the previous hostility level, potentially lessening the effects of negative forest mysteries. In some cases, it might even deactivate the mystery altogether.

– Sacrifice fuel to the hearth to compensate for the increasing hostility level. However, this strategy can strain your resources, so use it judiciously.

Utilize Traders to the fullest

Traders begin visiting your settlement once you build a trading post. You can exchange surplus items for those needed to manage your settlements.

The trader’s inventory appears on the left, and yours on the right. Add items by clicking on the respective inventories, and when the prices match, you can proceed with the trade.

However, you have the option to attack traders and loot their inventory, but this action has consequences, including:

1. Potential deaths of villagers during the conflict.

2. An increase in the queen’s impatience scale.

3. Longer intervals before traders return to your settlement.

4. Wealthier traders avoid your settlement.

Trading is a fundamental aspect of Against the Storm, so prioritize peaceful exchanges whenever possible. Resort to violence only in the most critical situations.

Planned meta progression

The game features a steep learning curve, so don’t be discouraged if you lose a settlement. It includes a meta-progression system that allows you to unlock various perks, making it progressively easier to manage future settlements.

The perks you select influence your playstyle, especially in the later stages of the game. If you’re a beginner, opt for any perk that provides a bonus to your settlements. This approach will give you a solid start.

Regular glades vs dangerous/forbidden glades

Opening a regular Glade often isn’t worth the increase in the hostility meter. They typically offer minimal resources, so it’s advisable to leave them untouched unless you urgently need items.

Dangerous Glades, on the other hand, provide a considerable amount of resources. While there’s a risk of villagers succumbing to the curse, the potential rewards generally outweigh this risk.

Forbidden Glades present more of a challenge, and we recommend opening them only if you have access to rarer resources.

In summary, it’s best to avoid regular and forbidden glades when possible and focus on opening dangerous glades whenever the opportunity and resources allow it.

Move structures instead of building new ones

Most resource-gathering buildings can be moved to new and more favorable locations. For example, your woodcutters can only harvest trees within a certain radius around the Woodcutters’ Camp. Instead of constructing a new camp every few squares, you can simply reposition it to the desired spot. This flexibility also applies to the Trappers’ Camp, Foragers’ Camp, and several other buildings.

However, some buildings are immovable, and others, like Shelters, require resources for relocation—5x wood, in this case.

To move a building, simply click on it and press ‘M.’ The cost of moving can be viewed by hovering your mouse over the blue move button.

Take advantage of Bonuses

Each race excels at specific tasks. For instance, Humans are particularly skilled in farming and brewing.

Engaging them in these activities increases the chance of doubling resource production, significantly boosting the early game. Additionally, they receive a resolve boost, which is always beneficial.

Therefore, it’s crucial to strategically assign the right races to the appropriate jobs to maximize your output.”

Pick correctly during the draft

During the first draft, it’s important to choose a building that produces basic food and another for complex food. For example, the Trappers’ Camp is for collecting meat, while a Smokehouse is used for producing jerky.

Generally, buildings that produce fabric, bricks, and planks hold significant value throughout the game. You have the option to select all your buildings at the start or explore the available resources first before finalizing your choices.

Selecting the right buildings requires practice and experience. If you’re uncertain, a good starting strategy is to choose two buildings for food production and one for resource production.

How to Obtain Parts

Parts are one of the most crucial resources in Against the Storm, and, as with most essential items, they’re challenging to acquire. These critical components are necessary for building mid to late-game structures, and a shortage in the early game can bring your entire settlement to a grinding halt.

Unlike other resources in the game, parts cannot be harvested. To aid in your gameplay, here are a few tips that will help you effectively manage this precious resource.

Trade for Parts

You can never have too many parts in this game. When dealing with traders, if there’s nothing specific you need, prioritize stockpiling parts. Even when purchasing other items, always aim to add 2-3 Parts to your inventory, particularly if you have spare resources or Amber available. This habit ensures you’re well-prepared for future construction and expansion, keeping your settlement’s progress steady and uninterrupted.

Orders

Orders often provide parts as rewards. Sometimes, just a few parts are all you need to complete an important building.

This small advantage can be the deciding factor between winning and losing the game. Therefore, always keep an eye on orders offering parts.

Glade Events

Dangerous and Forbidden Glades pose significant risks, but they also offer substantial rewards. Venturing into these glades triggers events that occasionally reward you with Parts.

Even if the event rewards don’t include Parts, you still have the option to search the crates inside the glades. Each crate offers two sets of rewards to choose from, and locating Parts among them is fairly common.

Rainpunk Foundry

The Rainpunk Foundry is a unique event, exclusive to Forbidden Glades. If you encounter this event, prioritize repairing the building, as it produces two exceptionally rare resources: Parts and Wildfire Essence.

While crafting these items may require a considerable amount of resources, the investment is well worth it. Both Parts and Wildfire Essence are high-value items and can be traded for a substantial amount of amber or exchanged for other rare resources that become increasingly difficult to obtain in the late game. This makes the Rainpunk Foundry a highly valuable find, offering significant advantages for your settlement’s

The positive effects of rainwater aren’t noticeable at the beginning. It’s only when you’ve played a few times and have unlocked some of the meta progression that you get to see the true potential of water.

Using Rainwater

Rainwater serves dual purposes. It can be transformed into resources like Crystalized Dew or used to enhance the productivity of various buildings, such as Bakeries and Alchemist Huts.

There are three types of rainwater, each suited to powering different building categories. Below is the complete list:

1. Clearance (Gold) – Alchemist Hut, Apothecary, Artisan, Clothier, and Cooperage.

2. Drizzle (Green) – Bakery, Brewery, Butcher, Cellar, and Cookhouse.

3. Storm (Blue) – Brickyard, Carpenter, Crude Workshop, Finesmith, and Klin.

How to use water

To use rainwater in Against the Storm, you’ll first have to upgrade the building using 4x Pipes. Once upgraded, each building unlocks two engines with various levels of effectiveness. You can adjust the effect based on the requirements and available rainwater supply. Here is a breakdown of both engines:

1. Engine 1 – The first level gives a 50% speed boost. The second level grants a 25% chance for a bonus yield, and the third level grants an additional 50% speed boost.

2. Engine 2 – Every level grants +5 bonus resolve to all the workers in the building.

Note: Using the rain engine generates Blightrot on every difficulty level other than Pioneer. Make sure to build Blight Posts to get rid of them before a storm.

Two Ways to Collect Water

Here are the two ways to collect rainwater:

1. Rain Collector and Advanced Rain Collector – The rain collector is the first building capable of collecting Infused Rainwater. It stores the water in different storage units apart from each other.

2. Geyser Pump – Once you’ve unlocked the Rainpunk Engine (Obsidian Archive Level 6 required) upgrade from the Smoldering Citadel, you’ll be able to use Pumps to collect infused water directly from geysers found in newly discovered Glades.

Each geyser only contains a single type of infused water, though. So make sure you have enough buildings to utilize the stored water before investing the resources to build a pump.

Why Workers Go Idle

Idle workers are a common problem faced by many players in the Against the Storm community. Workers go idle because they have nothing to do. Unlike the rest of the game, some of the tasks have to be manually assigned for the workers to take action on, and in this guide, we’ll be taking a look at them.

Any building or location with a big exclamation mark suggests that it has gone idle. If the mark is over a building, it means the natural resources within its range have been exhausted, making the workers go idle.

If the indicator is over an abandoned cache, it means no actions were assigned to the workers at the crate. Simply put, look into anything with an exclamation mark.

All Idle Worker Scenarios

Here is a list of reasons:

1. Lack of Resources – The lack of raw materials will prevent the workers in Industry buildings from producing further resources.

2. Crates left alone – Once you find a cache, you can either break it open or send it back to the citadel. Both actions offer different rewards, but you’ll first have to select one.

3. Forgot to investigate – After selecting what to do with the crates, click on Investigate to start the process.

The Alter of Decay

The Altar of Decay is a stone structure that can be found in Forbidden Groves. Although they pose a threat to your colony if left alone, you can use them to your advantage.

In this guide, we’ll be discussing the threats posed by an Altar of Decay and how you can convert it to reduce hostility during your campaign.

Threats

Over time, your settlement will be engulfed in darkness, and during a storm, each Blightrot Cyst will increase Hostility by +15 points. Cleaning up also costs 1 Impatience Point.

Solutions

Tear Down

Cost – 15 Oil/Coal/Sea Marrow/Planks

Effects – It takes 10 seconds longer to burn Blightrot Cysts. Also, for every Wildfire Essence stored in the settlement’s Warehouse, Hostility is increased by +45 points.

Rewards – 3 random perks/goods

Perform Ritual

Cost – 30 Incense/Tea/Oil/Resin/Scrolls

Effects – Kill 1 random villager.

Rewards – The structure becomes a Converted Altar of Decay. You can reduce Hostility by sacrificing a villager.

Ancient Tablets

During gameplay, you’ll come across various resources in Against the Storm. The coveted Ancient Tablet is one of them. In this short guide, we’ll be discussing its usefulness and uses within the game.

How to get Them

• Ancient tablets are a resource that can be sold for ~9.6 Amber. Their value in trade deals is unparalleled, as they are the single most valuable resource in the whole game.
• You can also pick up the Hidden Reward Cornerstone for some extra tablets.
• Unlike most of the resources, there are no known recipes for Ancient Tablets. The only way you can obtain them is as rewards from Glade Events.
• You can also find them in the Sea Marrow deposits within the Stonecutters’ Camp, but the probability is extremely low and isn’t worth the effort. You’re better off searching for Glade events.

All Biomes

Every biome comes with a set of unique effects and resources, and knowing them beforehand will help you manage your village efficiently.

Here is a list of biomes, their features, and their resources.

Royal Woodlands

Effects

– Trees produce more wood.

Resources

Trees – Woods, Resin, Plant Fiber, Egg.

Nodes – Clay, Plant Fiber, Berries, Mushrooms, Roots, Vegetables, Meat, Egg, Sea Marrow.

Coral Forest

Effects

– Every tree provides bonus resources.

– For every hostility level, villagers get a 5% chance of earning bonus yields from gathering and production.

Resources

Trees – Wood, Plant Fiber, Meat, Crystaized Dew, Stone, Incense.

Nodes – Reed, Stone, Vegetables, Meat, Insects, Herbs, Coal.

Scarlet Orchard

Effects

– Gain access to the Archaeologist’s Office.

– You can locate ancient excavation sites in this biome.

Resources

Trees – Wood, Copper Ore, Pigment, Plant Fiber.

Nodes – Reed, Stone, Berries, Roots, Eggs, Herbs, Grain, Sea Marrow, Copper Ore.

Marshlands

Effects

– For every two workers assigned to the gathering camps, gain a 10% gathering speed boost.

– You can find giant resource nodes inside the Forbidden Glades.

Resources

Trees – Wood, Mushrooms, Leather.

Nodes – Eggs, Stone, Mushrooms, Meat, Grain, Coal, Copper Ore.

Cursed Royal Woodlands

Effects

– Cannot recognize the dangers inside glades.

– You can now find Restless Spirits in the forest.

Resources

Trees – Wood, Insects, Plant Fiber, Roots.

Nodes – Clay, Plant Fiber, Mushrooms, Vegetables, Insects, Herbs, Grain, Sea Marrow, Copper Ore.

Best Cornerstones

Finding it hard to choose the best Cornerstones? The tier list below will help you pick the right one for your adventure.

S – Tier

1. Exploration Expedition – Global Resolve gets a -5 penalty throughout the game in exchange for +15 Global Resolve for 5 minutes every time you discover a new Glade.

2. Protected Trade – Reduce hostility by -15 for selling goods worth 25 Amber every time.

3. Reiforced Axes – Grant 40% production boost to Woodcutters’ Camp.

A – Tier

1. Baptism of Fire – Reduce Hostility by -10 for every 3 burnt Blightrot Cysts. You cannot sacrifice resources while the Hearth is corrupted.

2. Lost Supplies – For every completed Forbidden and Dangerous glade event, gain 40 Grains and 40 Meat.

3. Rooty Ground – Gain +1 wood per woodcutting action at the cost of 25% slower harvesting and planting.

4. Silent Looting – Reduce Hostility by -15 points upon opening a cache.

B – Tier

1. Ancient Pact – Undiscovered Glades become visible, but 1 villager is killed when you discover them.

2. Bed and Breakfast – Every time a trader arrives, gain +10 Amber.

3. Calming the Forest – Lower Hostility -40 when you solve a Glade event with an Empathy decision.

4. Clay/Fiber/Grain Delivery Line (each with separate cornerstones) – Gain +3 Clay/Fiber/Grain per minute.

5. Mist Piercers – Glade contents become visible but discovering them increases the Queen’s impatience by 0.5.

6. Prosperous Settlement – Every time you sell goods worth 40 Amber, you gain one stack of the Wealth Effect, which gives +1 to Global Resolve.

7. Woodcutters Prayer – Wood Production +1 but lose all stored fuel upon picking this option.

8. Hidden Reward – For completing every 2 Galde Events, gain 1 Ancient Tablet.

C- Tier

1. Back to Nature – Building with Fertile Soil increases yields by 100%. But you lose all raw and cooked food upon picking this option.

2. Crowded Houses – Houses can accommodate 1 extra villager.

3. Cheap Construction – Reduce the material cost of Buildings by 40% for -5 charges on all newly discovered deposits.

4. Firekeepers Prayer – Glade Event activities execute 30% faster. Also, resources sacrificed at the Ancient Hearth burned 25% quicker.

5. Frequent Caravans – Every time you finish a Trade Route, gain +3 Global Resolve for 60 seconds (stackable).

6. Friendly Relations – Every 3 levels of standing gained with other settlements increases your Global Reslve by +1.

D – Tier

1. Burnt to a Crisp – For burning every 3 Blightrot Cysts, gain 20 Coal.

2. Copper Extractor – For producing 5 Wood, gain 1 Copper. Reduce all Crystalized Dew produced by 1.

3. Family Gratitude – For obtaining a full Reputation Point through high resolve, gain 40 Waterskins.

4. Flame Amulets – Reduce woodcutter hostility by 12.

5. Improvised Tools – Gain 5 Simple Tools in exchange for 5 Woodcuttes’ Resolve upon discovering a Glade.

6. Leather Gloves – Every yield gains additional Reed and grants +2 to Reed production.

7. Lost in the Wilds – Every time you discover a new Glade, gain one Villager.

Building Tier List

In this Building tier List, we discuss the overall value of every building. Starting with the best and progressing towards the worst:

S – Tier

1. Apothecary – Helps counteract the Glades problem in the mid to late game as it’s the only building that produces incense above a one-star rating.

2. Beanery – Has four worker slots, the best-pickled goods and porridge recipe, and offers a strong synergy across different species.

3. Explorer’s Lodge – Let’s you enter new glades for free.

Optionals

Carpenter, Klin, Lumber Mill, Tinkerer.

These buildings help stabilize the fuel requirements in your colony. For instance, the Klin lets you convert logs into coal, which is a better option when it comes to sacrificing resources for Resolve.

A – Tier

1. Bakery – Let’s you produce two resources: Food (pie & biscuits) and Pottery.

2. Cookhouse – Produces all types of stews, making it the best building for food, especially if you have multiple species.

3. Guild House – It lets you expand your colony more quickly because it boosts the production of all tools and goods.

Optionals

Butcher, Herb Garden, Forester’s Hut, Manufactury, Market, Monastery, Provisioner, Smithy, Tavern, Tinkerer, Toolshop, Weaver.

In addition to fuel, food is the next most important resource in a colony. As your colony grows, the lack of food can severely stunt the growth of your village. The buildings in this tier are carefully selected for their food production capabilities throughout the mid to late game.

B – Tier

1. Alchemist Hut – Produces Crystal Dew, a flexible resource required in various aspects of the game.

2. Brewery – All three beer recipes.

3. Butcher – All three meat recipes.

4. Cellar – All three wine recipes.

5. Clothier – All cloth recipes.

6. Distillery – All alcohol recipes.

7. Furnace – Produces tools and metal bars. A must-have building when it comes to creating infrastructure within the village.

8. Granary – In addition to storing food, the granary also offers additional Resolve.

9. Press – All oil recipes.

10. Rain Collector – Let’s store water. Especially useful in dry biomes

11. Smokehouse – Offers worker happiness and a resolve bonus. It also preserves meat, thereby improving resource efficiency.

12. Stamping Mill – All paper recipes. Must have for research and trade.

13. Teahouse – In addition to having the best tea recipes, it also grants bonus resolve to harpies.

14. Temple – Grants bonus resolve to all races and is a must-have for glade events.

15. Tinctuary – Contains all the medicine recipes and ensures population stability in the mid to late game.

16. Workshop – Must-have building in the early game because it produces all the cheap building materials.

Optionals

Beanery, Brickyard, Clan Hall, Cooperage, Druid’s Hut, Forum, Herbalists Camp, Leathworker, Plantation, Ranch, Scribe, Small Farm, Smelter, Supplier, Tea Doctor, Trappers’ Camp.

Almost all of these buildings aren’t as efficient and mostly rely on biomes. They are oddly specific and may require some practice to be used efficiently.

C – Tier

1. Artisan – Outshined by other pigment and barrel production buildings.

2. Blacksmith – All armor and weapons, but they are not as important.

3. Brick Oven – Situational building, as bricks aren’t a necessary resource.

4. Clay Pit – Clay is available in several biomes, making the building less important.

5. Greenhouse – Resource-hungry structure. There are better alternatives for growing plants.

6. Grill – Only produces food for lizards and beavers, limiting its utility.

Optionals

Clothier, Rain Mill.

D – Tier

1. Advanced Rain Collector – The normal collectors are more efficient, and you’ll be using geysers in the end game anyway.

2. Bath House – Benefits aren’t worth the cost of building an