Offworld Forums
Newbie here, first post. Would anyone have a ready reference for some generally accepted basic build orders? Was trying to find one on the forums and not having much luck. Thanks in advance for any help!
Here's a link to a brand new site with lots of useful stuff: https://www.offworldtrader.com/blog/the-essential-guide-to-offworld-colony-types
There aren't really defined build orders in the game.
However, the general safe course of action is to make the essentials to upgrade. Steel/Aluminum and eventually glass, assuming thats what your colony type needs. Just remember that you can buy anything you want, so in reality you want to produce the most profitable resource, but sometimes its best to go with safest as you won't get stuck, but know that doing so, you make be making less than you could be.
There's an article that might be more related to what OP is asking. We just wrote it, but I think it's highly relevant:
https://www.offworldtrader.com/blog/build-orders-in-offworld-trading-company
Basically, asking about Build Orders is the wrong question. Because Offworld is such a dynamic game, it's not possible to give good advice as to a Build Order you use every time.
In the opening moments of the game, you need to:
You don't have enough claims to do all three. So you have to make some trade-offs and decisions.
Getting the resources to upgrade is the most important. Otherwise you'll get stuck without any new claims for a long time, and you'll fall badly behind. So to be safe, make what you need for your HQ upgrade - Steel/Carbon, Al, and Glass.
Alternately, you can go for something that you think will be more profitable - energy often spikes early on, or maybe there's lots of scavengers and not much carbon so you'll want to get into carbon even if you're not a scavenger yourself. Or maybe skip Al and double-up on Steel. If you get it right, you can sell your resources for cash and buy the upgrade materials you need, and thereby be able to upgrade even sooner. If you get it wrong, you'll be stuck with no profits, no cash, and no upgrades.
And finally, if there's only one geothermal, or very little water, you might want to spend a claim snapping them up before anyone else does. Both are hard to capitalize on quickly - geothermals are expensive to build, and water often gets dirt-cheap in the early game before becoming insanely expensive in the late game. So getting them right off the bat can lower your profits early on and delay your upgrade path. But if they are in fact rare, then beating everyone else to them can make a big difference later on.
Bottom line: the right starting moves - the "build orders" you're looking for - are going to be different every game. They'll depend on the resource distribution, the colony types the other players choose, and how much you want to make risky plays in hopes of getting a better payout.
Appreciate the insights folks. I can see now how I was asking the wrong question, but there's enough here for me to chew on.
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