Getting more settlers: satisfaction, newcomers and housing
Groups of newcomers only come while your town’s satisfaction is above 60. They arrive asking to join, and you have to accept them, so have empty beds ready first. A tent holds 5; its cabin upgrade either adds 5 more places or turns it into a family home that grows on its own. For now, settlements are capped at 250 residents.
Sixty is the line
Satisfaction is the number beside the face icon in the top bar. At 59 the game says plainly that nobody new is coming and asks for more than 60, so aim to keep it clearly above 60. One player sums up what happens when it slips: “If it dips blow 60 my town wont grow.”
Hover the number to see what it is made of. The town’s score starts from the average satisfaction of its houses, with other effects such as a celebration listed beside it. So the work happens house by house: water, food, a roof, then whims. That is covered on residents’ needs and whims, and what each official does is on choosing officials. Just under the line the state reads Neutral: life goes on, nobody is joyful, and nobody is leaving either.
The publisher gave the same recipe early on: “New settlers will join your settlement if you keep your settlers' satisfaction high and ensure they have a roof over their head and enough food.” An official forum account adds the catch: “The challenge comes from keeping your settlers fed, housed, healthy and entertained so they don't leave, and from not expanding too fast.” Take in more people than you can house and feed, and satisfaction drops back under 60, which stops the next wave.
Reading the people counter
The pair of numbers next to satisfaction is unemployed over total: 0/80 means 80 residents and every one of them working. Hovering it breaks the count down.
| Line on the hover card | Why you care |
|---|---|
| All pioneers | Everyone in the town; the 250 cap is on residents. |
| Employed | Residents with a job. |
| Unemployed | Free hands for new buildings, scouts and quests that ask for idle men. |
| Free housing | Empty places. Check it before you accept newcomers. |
Below the counter a small timer ticks down. Players call it the migration counter: when it runs out, the next group is due.
When a group turns up, you decide
- A group icon appears over the town. Click it to open the Newcomers Camp card.
- The Effect line shows how many people are asking to join.
- Compare that with Free housing on the people counter.
- Click Take in newcomers to let them in, or Let them go to turn them away.
Turning a group away is a real option: with no beds free, homeless arrivals can drag satisfaction under 60 and cost you the waves after it.
Tent, Boarding cabin or Family cabin
A tent holds 5 residents. Its upgrade forks, and you pick one branch per house.
| House | Places | Upgrade cost | What it does for growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tent | 5 | None: the starting house | Nothing of its own; it only holds the people you take in. |
| Boarding Wood Cabin | +5 | 30 cash, 30 planks | Takes whoever is in need: beds for the next Newcomers Camp. |
| Family Wood Cabin | +2 | 30 cash, 20 planks | A family moves in, and new settlers appear in the house on their own. |
The trade is room against a trickle. Boarding cabins are what you want when groups keep arriving and Free housing keeps hitting zero: for 10 more planks than the family option they give 3 more places. Family cabins add only two places, and new settlers appear in them without waiting for a group. How fast they fill, and whether that also needs satisfaction above 60, the game does not say. Houses keep growing after this step: with clay, a cabin later becomes a brick mansion, as the whims page explains.
One problem to watch if you build Family cabins. A player reported that an upgraded Food Shop only fed the boarding houses, and an official forum account answered: “thanks for the note about the upgraded food shop only delivering to boarding houses. That's been passed on as well.” If family homes start going hungry after a shop upgrade, this is the likely reason. Food Shop ranges and supply are on food chains.
Homeless residents and the church
Anyone without a bed costs you satisfaction. Two church ideas, 50 cash each, soften that:
- Help for God’s Flock cuts the satisfaction penalty for homelessness to −5.
- Soul Relief gives +1 satisfaction to cabins within range of a church. It names cabins, so tents may not count; upgrading the houses near your church first is the safe order.
When the church and these ideas unlock is on journey points and ideas.
Where your people go
Some buildings and quests take residents away in blocks, and they come out of your unemployed. Keep a margin before any of these:
| What asks for people | How many | Also needs |
|---|---|---|
| A scout group | 5 people | 20 cash, 20 canned food |
| A settlers group for your second town | 20 people | 20 cash, 20 canned food |
| First Contact | 20 unemployed men | 20 rifles |
The 250 ceiling
An official forum account: “settlements are capped at 250 residents right now”. Players have pushed back, one writing “A population of 250 people seems a bit low for a city builder.” There is no promise yet to raise it, and Early Access has only two settlements, Dust Creek and Sand Storm, so there is no third town to spread into. The rest of the town-building loop is on what you actually do.
If settlers stop coming
- Satisfaction not above 60. Hover the face icon and fix whatever house needs are missing.
- Close to 250. That is the cap, not a fault.
- A group waiting on you. Newcomers join only when you click Take in newcomers, so look for the group icon over the town.
- The counter hits zero and nobody comes. One player describes it: “Once the clock hits zero, it just restarts.... no new settlers.” An official forum account calls it a bug the team is looking into, and says: “Restarting the game usually gets settlers arriving again for a while.” Save, quit and reload; it may come back after a while.
Other stalls, and the hotfixes so far, are on crashes, bugs and saves.