Contle, the reason the wood is still consumed in spring is because each hut has an internal fuel storage that it is trying to refill. If you want you can forbid huts from using the wood in the managment tab if u want.
Addendum to previous comment, the mine and solar are to taste. Any SKL damage characters will do. The mage is vital though, since they have the best SKL rating growth in the game on frost bolt and fire ball.
Addendum to previous post on bugs. Completing a boss challenge that you start on the last wave of ANY area will give you the rewards for that area before putting you back at start. It's just most obvious with the (#-4) bosses because the last wave is also the first wave. I just farmed up 60 white fox pelts in 5-8 without leaving the area and being blocked by the timer.
Fun bugs to play around with: You can enter and quit a challenge fight to reset your current exploration zone. This lets you capture bosses many times without waiting for the timer, except the 2-4 boss which is alone so catching it ends the level.
Second, if you kill slime king and quit the challenge while there are still slime summons left he doesn't go up a level. Thus he can be farmed easily.
Third, every time you complete a challenge in a boss (#-4) room, you count as clearing that room, and get the reward, including unlocking the next area.
easy early game essentials:research fishing, get 5 planks, learn fire, then move towards managment. Meanwhile, build another gatherer, set both to resources and pray that you get copper. Use management to cut rations if you need to, and reset if you starve without getting copper. Every time you get copper, use it to build a fishing station. repeat until safe from starvation.
Also, remember to reserve most of your wood for crafting to stop your people from selfishly stealing it for petty reasons like their family dying of frostbite. Even for heating it is far more efficient to turn it into fuel.
actually, it can be a good idea to let the "weird scientist" in. you lose the lab for a long time, and eventually you have to reclaim it(turns out he experimented on zombies), but he eventually lets you research the cure. I think you need to research antiveanom first though
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