Frequently Asked Questions

The most common causes are: overloading a raft foundation beyond its buoyancy limit, placing heavy machinery (smelters, storage silos) on upper floors without adequate column support below, and building tall narrow structures without cross-bracing. Use the stress overlay (color visualization in the build menu) to identify red zones before they fail.

Bridges require two solid anchor points on opposite sides of a water gap. For spans under 6 tiles, a simple beam bridge works. For longer spans, build a central support tower and use tension cables (mid-game unlock) to suspend the deck. Always reinforce the anchor connection points with double columns.

With structural steel columns, pile foundations, and full cross-bracing, documented player builds have reached 15+ floors in sandbox mode. In story scenarios, the practical limit is around 8-10 floors before wind events become a significant threat.

The game keeps a buffer of your last 20 build actions. You can undo all 20 steps sequentially. Note that Undo does not reverse damage from storm events — only from your own placement actions.

It depends on the context. Wood is best for early-game and upper-floor lightweight structures. Concrete is the mid-game all-rounder for columns and platforms. Structural steel is best for the tallest builds and longest bridges. Scrap is free but unreliable — use it only for emergency repairs.

Each raft tile has a buoyancy weight limit. Expand your raft base horizontally before building upward. Check the load display on each raft tile. Heavy industries like smelters should be placed on pile foundations instead of rafts in the mid-to-late game.

Workers should be your Day 1 priority. They staff the majority of production buildings and have the cheapest happiness requirements. Build a Recreation Deck early to keep them above 70% morale and activate the Heavy Haulers perk as quickly as possible.

Faction Perks unlock automatically when a faction's happiness reaches the required threshold and is sustained for the specified duration. You do not need to spend resources — just keep the faction happy. Check the Faction Panel (F key by default) to see current happiness and how close you are to each Perk.

At zero happiness, faction members go on strike. Workers stop staffing production buildings, Sailors abandon ships (which then drift freely and may collide with structures), and Engineers shut down cranes and the Research Station. A strike lasts until happiness recovers above 20%. If all three factions strike simultaneously, it is effectively a game over condition.

The fastest Influence sources are: completing scenario objectives (large one-time grants), building a Town Hall (passive +2/day), keeping all factions above 80% (passive multiplier), and choosing the 'Diplomacy' option on random events instead of the resource reward.

Yes, but it creates a severe production bottleneck. Engineers do not gather resources or staff standard production buildings. A colony with more Engineers than Workers will struggle to produce food, concrete, and lumber. The recommended ratio is roughly 2:1:1 (Workers:Sailors:Engineers) in the early game.

Master Architects (requires 90% happiness) is the strongest late-game perk — it gives all maintained buildings +25% load capacity, directly enabling your tallest structures. However, Rapid Prototyping (75% happiness, -30% research costs) often has more practical impact in the mid game.

Build in this order: Fishing Pier (food), Rainwater Collector (water), Worker Huts ×3 (shelter), Recreation Deck (Worker happiness), Storage Shed, Lumber Mill, Workshop. This sequence meets all four core needs within the first 10 minutes of gameplay.

Strikes happen when a faction's happiness drops below 20%. The fastest fix is addressing their most critical unmet need: Workers need Entertainment (Recreation Deck), Sailors need a boat, Engineers need a Workshop or Library. Each faction has a different happiness floor trigger.

The tide cycles on a fixed schedule (roughly every 20 in-game minutes at normal speed). Low tide exposes resource deposits — pause and harvest them manually. High tide brings trading vessels to your Trade Pier. Storm events can cause surge tides that flood ground-level structures.

The 8 story scenarios collectively offer 100+ hours of content. Individual scenario completion ranges from 4-6 hours (shorter scenarios) to 15-20 hours for the most complex ones. Sandbox mode has no time limit.

Yes. You can pause at any time using the Space bar. Pausing during low tide to manually assign Workers to gather exposed deposits is an essential technique. You can also issue build orders while paused.

The Oil Rig scenario is the recommended starting scenario. It provides a large, stable starting platform with pre-existing structural support, generous starting resources, and a slower difficulty ramp compared to the Tanker Truck or Tornado scenarios.

Build one Fishing Pier per 3 colonists (not 4) to maintain a safety buffer. Transition to Hydroponic Farms when your concrete production is stable — they produce 2.5× more food per Worker. Keep Food Storage adjacent to production buildings to maximize carry chain efficiency.

Rainwater Collectors only operate at 50% efficiency during clear weather. Build a Distillation Tower (requires Engineering research and Fuel) as your mid-game upgrade — it produces at 100% regardless of weather. Maintain a 10-day water buffer in Water Tanks at all times.

Fuel powers Generators (required for advanced machinery and electric buildings), Distillation Towers (water production), and the Industrial Smelter. Establish a Fuel production chain (Refinery + Sailors gathering offshore crude oil) before unlocking electricity-dependent research.

Three main levers: (1) Shorten carry chains by placing Storage adjacent to production. (2) Increase Worker faction happiness above 70% to activate the 130% production efficiency bonus. (3) Unlock the Heavy Haulers perk for Workers (+40% carry weight, fewer trips).

A basic 6×6 second floor with concrete columns and floor panels requires approximately 35-50 concrete. A full 8×8 floor with internal support columns needs 60-80 concrete. Bank at least 60 concrete before starting any multi-floor expansion.

General optimal order: Improved Fishing → Concrete Mixing → Rainwater Plus → Pile Foundations → Scout Ship Blueprint → Structural Steel → Hydroponic Farm → Power Grid. Prioritize Improved Fishing first — the 40% food output increase immediately reduces supply pressure and lets you reassign Workers to production.

Post-collapse triage: (1) Verify Food Storage survived and emergency-assign Workers to Fishing Piers if not. (2) Rebuild Shelter for homeless colonists. (3) Stabilize the foundation before rebuilding production. Use Undo (up to 20 steps) to reverse placement-caused collapses before attempting manual recovery.

Build a Town Hall surrounded by 4 Entertainment buildings (doubles output to +4/day). Keep all three factions above 80% happiness for the passive multiplier bonus. Complete scenario objectives for large one-time Influence grants. Avoid spending Influence on resource rewards — save it for faction leader recruitment.

With structural steel, pile foundations, and full cross-bracing, players have documented builds exceeding 15 floors in sandbox mode. Story scenario builds practically cap at 8-10 floors due to wind events. The 2-2-1 column formula keeps concrete builds stable to floor 8.