Settlement

For a list of levels in the game, see Campaign.

Not to be confused with the settlement area, which is the actual area where the player initially settles on the map.

The settlement is where the player controls and manages the operations within in After Inc. This is where most of the major mechanics and gameplay take place.

To win a game, the player must complete all settlement goals.

Settlement modifiers

General traits

The settlement can be modified by the following mechanics:

• Leaders
• Traits
• Rewards
• Cheats
• Difficulty
• Artifacts

Weather and Seasons

Rain

Rain can sometimes randomly happen during the summer season. During rain, the following effects will take place:

• The fire situation will automatically resolve at the beginning of rain. Alongside that, the chance for this situation to happen will decrease.
• Settler consumption of water will be decreased by 40%. It also reduces any Water deficit by 10% per day.

Summer

Summer is the default season, all actions within settlement work normally.

Winter

Winter usually happens at the end of the year, and can last around three to five months (90 to 150 turns), depending on the selected level. During this season, the following effects will take place:

• Some Food production buildings (especially farming) don't produce any food.
• Settlers will demand the warmth to surviving winter, which increases consumption of fuel by settlers and Fire Pits service. Morale penalty for lack of warmth (which includes lack of Fire Pits and fuel) is significantly increased.
• Scavenging for Food and Water is slower and has a high chance to reduced number of bubble resources gain.
• Chance to hypothermia situation happen (automatically resolves when winter ends).
• Costs for taunting zombies increase by +1 stamina, and costs for cleansing areas decrease by -1 stamina.

Drought

In Beyond the Bunkers expeditions, drought can randomly happen in the middle of the year (but can only happen after the first year), and can last around two to three months (60 to 90 turns). During this season, the following effects will take place:

• Water production will cease. As settlers demand water to survive the drought, the morale penalty when the settlement has no water significantly increases.
• Food production will be reduced to 75% (if the area with the production building is near a river), or will cease entirely otherwise.
• Scavenging for Food and Water is slower and has a higher chance to reduced number of bubble resources gain.
• Maximum cost when scavenging for Water increases to 10.

Population

The settlement population refers to the number of settlers within your settlement. The population size has a important role in the game. Having a larger population will:

• Increase stamina production
• Increase maximum stamina limit (the maximum number of stamina the player can have before the settlement stops stamina production; does not take effect with the Economist leader)
• Increase the combat power of Fighters
• Increase the number of Fighters that can be trained.

The player can increase the current population by building housing, which increases the maximum population. As of version 1.2.0, the maximum population a settlement can have is 11.

The greater the population, the more resources the population consumes, and the more services that you need to build. The services the population demands will also require higher technology levels for these to be constructed. Population +N traits will increase current population by +N (which includes +N tents, +N settlers and Authority)

Morale significantly impacts population growth:

• When morale is high, the immigration process goes faster. The higher morale is, the faster immigration happens.
• When morale is negative, immigration is hindered and abandonment starts to happen

Population growth

When morale is high and the current population is less than the current housing, the settlement will start an immigration process to slowly increase the current population.

If the progress reaches 100%, a bubble (which lasts for 80 turns) will appear in the settlement zone that grants +1 stamina, +2 authority and +1 current population (+1 settler) when clicked. Failure to click the bubble in time will cause people to be driven away, and will result Abandoned Housing and reduced authority. (But will not cancel immigration process, Abandoned Housing not apply when current housing is not more than the current population)

Abandonment

When morale is negative, immigration is hindered. The player will start to lose authority due to Low Morale after a few turns, and the abandonment process starts to happen. The more negative morale is, the quicker the abandonment process happens and the more authority decreases.

If the abandonment process reaches 100%, the settlement population is reduced by 1 (-1 settler) and -8 authority loss happens due to Abandonment, causing the result Abandoned Housing. Abandoned Housing happen by this situation will cancels the immigration process unless the player repairs the abandoned housing.

This process can happen continuously, which will increase authority loss by +2 for each of abandonment. If abandonment process becomes 100% when the current population is 1, the player will lose the game.

Death

Settler death can happen when:

• The settlement loses control of a claimed area
• A fighter dies
• A bad situation happens

Settler death reduces authority. For the first death event, the Corpses in Settlement situation can occur, which allows the player to either choose what services the settlement will use to deal with dead bodies (can be Bury Bodies or Cremation), or ignore them altogether (which decreases morale and authority, while increases chance of plague situation).

Death from bad situations will reduce the settlement population by 1 and gives the penalties associated with abandonment.

When Fighters (with child soldiers, from the Children and Conflict in Settlement situation) die, the settlement will suffer a very large authority penalty (by half of current authority).

Settlement actions

There are several actions the player can do in the settlement:

Housing

Further information: Services#Housing Demand

Housing is where the settlers live. Building housing costs 0 stamina, but the Wood cost depends on the technology level. Building additional housing is essential to have a larger population.

Repair Abandoned Housing

Players can repair abandoned housing to restart the immigration process. Repairing costs 1 stamina at the start, and cost increase by +1 stamina for each additional repairs.

Technology

Further information: Technology

Having better technology allows the player to use advanced resources (such as Stone and Medicine), build more advanced services, and increase fighter strength.

Fighter

Further information: Fighter

Fighters allow the player to defend the settlement from Zombies.

Festival

Hosting a festival will:

• Significantly increase morale (by +7%).
• Increase authority, especially when the authority is low (up to +10 when current authority is below = base authority - 10)
• Remove Historical and Abandonment morale penalty.
• Increase the goal patience timer by 50 turns.
• Increase all settlers consumption and services consumption.

Each festival initially costs -3 stamina, and costs increase linearly (+1.5) the more you host one.