Settlements and trust

A claim stake marks out a settlement. Build one from the Build menu, under Works, and the ground for 12 tiles all round it is yours. Your neighbours can still walk through and go in at your door, but they can't dig, build, chop, pick anything up or use any of your things unless you've put them on your trusted list.

It's the same idea as a deed in Wurm. You don't have to have one to build, but without one your piles and your ground are open to anyone who comes along.

What it keeps safe#

• Inside your settlement, nobody but you and the people you trust can dig, raise ground, till, plant, trim, chop, mine or build.
• Nobody else can open your piles, take logs off your racks, harvest your crops, or use your fire, forge, saw pit or well.
• Building only draws on stock you're allowed to take from, so nobody can build a piece out of your pile and take it back down to keep the logs.
• Your carts, boats, crops and anything you built are yours wherever they are, in a settlement or out of one. Nobody else can pull your cart or take your boat out.
• Out in the open a pile is still anyone's, so don't leave things lying about away from home.
• Anyone can still walk about, go in through the doors, warm up at a fire, drink from the creek and sleep under a roof.

Where one can go#

You get one settlement. Its edge has to be at least 40 m from the camp, and there has to be at least 5 tiles of open ground between it and anyone else's, so nobody ends up building right against a neighbour's line.

It can't take in anything someone else has built. It can't take in one of the finds either, like a cave, a spring or a gravel bar with gold in it. Those are there for everyone.

Trusting people#

Your trusted list is yours, not the settlement's, so you don't need a stake to start one. Tap someone and choose Trust. When you and a friend are just starting out, that's enough for them to pull your cart, ride or lead your horse, take your boat out and open your grave if you die, so you can work together from the first day.

Once you put a stake in, the same list is what lets people work your ground. Someone you trust can do anything you can in your settlement: dig and build, take from your piles and racks, and use your workshops. The only things they can't do are change the settings, take the stake down, or take down what you built. The Settlement window shows the list too, and you can add people by name there.

Trust only goes one way. Trusting someone lets them use your things, but you can't use theirs unless they trust you back. Taking someone off the list stops all of it straight away. If they're pulling your cart or riding or leading your horse just then, they let go of it where they stand. So think about who you give it to.

Making it bigger#

It's free out to 25 tiles across. Bigger than that costs upkeep, paid in gold that you keep in the stake. It takes refined gold, not ore, so take your ore to a forge first. You put the gold in from the Settlement window, and it burns down a little at a time. You need a game day's upkeep in the stake before you can make it bigger, so it doesn't shrink straight back.

A game day is 90 minutes of real time. If the gold runs out, your settlement goes back to the free size. You don't lose it and nothing you built goes anywhere, it's only the edges that come back in. Put more gold in and you can make it bigger again. See Gold and trading for where gold comes from.

Taking it down#

Take the stake down and the settlement's gone. You get the stake back as logs, along with any gold left in it. Everything you built is still yours, but the ground round it is open to anyone again.

Give your settlement a name in the Settlement window and it goes on the Atlas for everyone to see.