Survival comes first in Whiskerwood. Your opening moves decide whether a colony takes root or stalls before winter. This diary walks through the early choices that keep your Whiskers alive: where to place the Trade Dock, how to anchor logistics with the Central Warehouse, and which starter industries to prioritize. You will see how taxes and trust shape your economy, how machinery gates early factories, and how seasons and sickness pressure food and warmth.
Of course, this is only a primer for your Whiskers' humble beginnings.
Here's the first Dev Diary in case you missed it.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2489330/announcements/detail/658207707628569428
Embark Phase: Founding the Colony
Once your colony ship arrives at your assigned island archipelago, you must decide on a location for your Trade Dock. This trade dock will serve as your connection to the outside world.
All tax collectors, supply ships, new arrivals, and even pirates will conduct business with you through this dock. This dock will serve as the landing site for your initial colonists.
Placing the Trade Dock
Selecting a suitable location for your dock is crucial to your early success. Consider the minerals, forests, and nearby forage when picking a location. In general, you should avoid barren islands, which might be rich in valuable ores but will lack the forests and berry bushes for an easy start. Unless you are attempting an advanced supply ship-driven build order, it's best to stay away from them initially.
Constructing the Central Warehouse
Once your Whiskers have left the embark ship, they will need to construct a Central Warehouse.
Whereas the trade dock is the central nexus for ships, the Central Warehouse will be the nexus for your logistics network.
Pick a location near where you intend to build your town.
Early Buildings: Foundations of Industry
We’ve talked about the Trade Dock and Central Warehouse, but the buildings you’ll use the most in the early game are the resource tier industry.
These are the Forage Hut, Logging Camp, Mining Camp, and, in time, the Farm.
Like all industries in Whiskerwood, these buildings, once constructed, require workers to operate. When assigning Whiskers to a building, consider their guilds and attributes.
Forage Hut
The Forage Hut’s workers will collect nearby wild Flax and Berries. For an island that starts with wild berries, this is the easiest method of keeping your Whiskers fed. You can use the Harvest Priority tool to mark Flax or Berries as the first to harvest. Flax is useful for paying taxes, but you may wish to focus on Berries early.
Woodcutter
The Woodcutter should be placed near a forest. Whiskers working there will cut nearby trees. Similar to the Forage Hut, the Harvest Priority tool helps identify which trees to cut first.
Mining Camp
Mining Camps allow you to mark Mine Shafts, which, when assigned, Whiskers will then dig up.
This can be useful for securing valuable Ores, Stone-based Housing, or building underwater tunnels to connect new islands. Often, islands will have unique ores -- and in general, the deeper you dig, the richer the veins get.
Farms
Lastly, Farms allow you to turn useless open space into productive crop land. Farmed Berries are the quickest for feeding your colony.
Still, higher-tier crops can be unlocked over time. These crops are more effective, efficient, long-lasting, or can handle different environmental factors. We’ll have an entire Dev Diary on the Farm system in time.
Farms require planks to build, which gets us to the next category of buildings.
Early Industry
When your colony makes a landing, the Claws include a set of Machinery in the setup package. Machinery is the vital parts that allow industrialization. Factories require machinery to be constructed, and they need replacements when that Machinery wears out over time.
The Role of Machinery
Machinery can only be made by the Claws. It is a schematic that they protect with the utmost security. It has powered their kingdom and economic might. Machinery takes extensive espionage to steal. So until then, you must purchase new and replacement Machinery from Supply Ships or earn it as Tax Rewards.
Using your starter Machinery, you can choose between the Fishing Dock, the Sawmill, and the Stone Workshop. The choice you pick is a strategic one.
Fishing Dock
The Fishing Dock can feed your colonists despite a no-berry start, and prevent them from starving.
Sawmill
The Sawmill allows you to mill one unit of Wood into multiple Planks. Planks, in turn, are required for many essential buildings. Additionally, Plank Pathing allows you to speed up walking speeds for a lower effective Wood cost.
Stone Workshop
Lastly, the Stone Workshop allows you to craft the most waste Stone dug out from the mines into beautiful Cutstone for higher-tier buildings.
Early Game Objectives: Answering to the Claws
With the Central Warehouse constructed, you’ll start receiving quests from either the Claw administrator or your own Whisker colonists. Each has their own desires, and you do not have the time or resources to do everything.
The Tax System
Your immediate concern should be securing a resource extraction economy so you can start earning the first tax payment. The Claws will send tax ships about every three days. Each ship will demand a Head Tax, an Administrative Tax, and a Production Tax, and will also collect the bill for any supply ship orders.
Failure to pay what you owe will call into question why the Claws even allowed you and your colonists this freedom.
This shows up as the Trust mechanic. When you fail to pay a tax bill, you will lose 3, 2, or 1 trust depending on how far you underpaid your bill. Paying your bill on time will slowly build trust and earn a reward from the Claws.
Overpaying and Rewards
You also have the choice to overpay taxes by 150% or 200%. Overpaying taxes earns you trust quickly and gives you more rewards. Rewards are vital because mixed into the scraps, the Claws' rewards can include new Schematics which unlock new buildings or technology.
Until you establish contact with other islands and start smuggling, then begin an espionage program, these handouts are your primary way to secure new unlocks.
We’ll discuss ocean exploration, smuggling, and espionage further in later development diaries.
Balancing Whisker Desires
Whisker colonists will have conflicting desires. They understand your need to appease the Claws, but this patience has limits. Whiskers will become increasingly accustomed to luxuries such as housing, decorations, and services.
Keeping your population happy earns you approval from the community.
Only with this support can you implement policies and welcome new Whiskers into the colony. Thus, if you want to grow a large colony, you must also grow a happy colony.
Give a Whisker a colony, and he'll want a place to sleep.
Surviving the Environment
Whiskers require a minimum of food and warmth. Warmth is easy during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn, but during Winter, freezing temperatures will bring death to the unprepared colony. Likewise, food is easiest while the forageable berry bushes remain, but in time, you will need to secure either fish or farms. Farms grow best in Summer, slow in Spring and Autumn, and with only a few exceptions, stop producing during Winter.
Health and Sickness
When Whiskers get chilled, injured, or breathe polluted air too much, they risk getting sick. Over time, if not healed, these negative impacts will accumulate, resulting in death. Dead Whiskers must be buried in a Grave site to reduce the otherwise severe depression, which will plummet your Approval.
While you survive the environment, you’ll also need to worry about surviving the Claws and Pirates. We’ll talk more about those factions in a later Dev Diary.
Thanks for reading!
Daniel Dressler
Lead Programmer on Whiskerwood
Join, Discuss, and Keep Informed About Whiskerwood
You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also visit our website for more information.