At any time you can switch from importing one resource to another, though it will take some time to change over. Everything else is abundant enough early on, so you don’t need to worry about importing them. Once you have established your foothold, it’s a good idea to build a second and third dock also dedicated to bringing in steel. Starting early can save you a lot of headaches down the road. On top of that, it is the slowest resource to harvest. It is also needed for building and advanced research. It is the only resource that you don’t have a way of procuring on your own early on. For your first dock, I recommend importing steel. A steady stream of coal, wood, and steel are all up for grabs, but only one can be brought into each dock (for some reason). With these, you can import resources from your sponsors back home.
Docksīrand new to The Last Autumn are docks. You have plenty of food to tide you over until that is done. The Sawmill only costs 10 wood to research and takes about a day. Additionally, as mentioned before, you’ll have more workers than work early on, so a Sawmill or two will minimize wasted man-hours. The Sawmill also lets you clear out space in a radius around it for future construction without wasting any of the map’s few, precious trees. If you run out before you build a sawmill or dock, it’s game over, so plan carefully. Wood is required for just about everything, from building to research costs, so having a steady supply of it is crucial. However, despite what Frostpunk says, I’d recommend researching the Sawmill first. It takes much more time to pay off, but you should be able to scout out and find a food source that will provide 80 raw food every 24 hours or so within the first few sites you search. What tech do you want your engineers to unlock first? The Last Autumn suggests either a Fishing Harbor or a Foragers’ Camp, though the Foragers’ Camp is infinitely more valuable early on. Once your house of research is built, your first important decision arises. Every resource is important, but coal is what keeps people warm, so start stockpiling early. Until you start the base of the generator, you’ll likely have plenty of idle workers to put to work. It’s a good idea to drop a gathering hub on it once you’ve finished gathering your starting resources. There is a coal deposit on the southern edge of the map. Once those are spent, you’ll need to research the sawmill to clear space for your city while gathering as much of the precious local wood as possible. This is plenty to get your basic housing, infirmary, cookhouse, and research building out of the way. Instead, your crew has been furnished with a couple of piles of steel, wood, and steam cores to help you get established. It has limited coal and trees and no natural source of steel to speak of.
Unlike the original Frostpunk, The Last Autumn’s map is fairly small.