Recruit around problems: food, gathering, crafting, defense, and upkeep. More people only help if the town supports them.
How to Think About Survivors
Every survivor should answer a settlement need. If food is weak, prioritize food support. If nights are dangerous, prioritize defense and repair support.
Role Planning
Group roles by recurring tasks: gatherers, farmers, crafters, defenders, and explorers. Keep backups for jobs that become bottlenecks.
Survivors and Food
Food is the first test of a growing settlement. If every new survivor increases pressure faster than farming can support it, recruitment becomes a problem instead of a solution.
Survivors and Defense
A larger workforce can help defend the town, but only if the base is built so workers are not spread across exposed edges during night pressure.
Survivors and Resource Automation
The wiki notes that many resources can be automated by constructing the matching building, assigning a worker, and moving output through logistics into storage. That makes survivor placement part of your resource plan, not a separate system.
When More Workers Become a Problem
More workers can create more food demand, longer paths, and messier storage. Recruit or assign survivors when they solve a specific bottleneck, then check whether the town can feed and protect them.
Recruitment Should Follow Bottlenecks
Do not recruit only because a survivor is available. First name the bottleneck: food, hauling, crafting, defense, or exploration recovery. Then assign or recruit around that bottleneck and check whether the town can feed the extra worker.
- Food bottleneck: support farming and storage routes first.
- Material bottleneck: support gathering, cart movement, or automation buildings.
- Crafting bottleneck: shorten storage-to-workstation paths.
- Defense bottleneck: keep workers near protected zones before night pressure.
Good Worker Planning Feels Boring
If workers are doing their job well, the base feels less dramatic: fewer emergency food runs, fewer missing materials, fewer half-built stations, and less confusion about what the next session should fix.
How to Review Workers After Each Expansion
Every expansion changes the value of workers. After adding farms, new stations, automation buildings, or a wider defense route, pause and ask whether workers still solve the main bottleneck. A role that was useful in the first hour can become weak when the base layout changes.
