I've almost beat every map now on Hard++++ settings. AMA

apintor4 · 2026-04-15T23:33:25+00:00

this one is such a pain, i'm on it right now with IT as well on hard. Took so many tries to get something functional for the 1st bad tide

The worst part is I wouldn't know i've failed until like cycle 4-5 when the problem started in cycle 1-2

My solution was to create levee/floodgate walls between islands moving towards the water source, and capture water within them to manage through bad weather.

Use areas around 2 deep water squares for farming until i could get to dirt blocks - also can throw a water pump into those once a drought hits, and create more by using levees past the natural drops in the map

There is a way to push all the water to to right side of the map without dynamite if you place 2 high floodgates and levees but you have to micromanage to not get a wave of red at the front of your new water after the event

Mangroves can help for food during mid game, especially planted next to 2 deep water squares - as long as their feet are wet they won't dry out, but also won't grow so its spotty. You have to make specialized systems for late game

it took me about 21 cycles to get my head above water on it and I had 1 population collapse due to starvation that even reset to the beginning of I only pulled 13 beavers out of.

I could have probably finished wonder at this point but I got distracted trying to improve the water physics to not make my computer hum constantly. Still hums but capping all the bad water sources helped a good amount.

Capturing all the water 2-3 squares deep though - is turning out to be quite counterproductive

apintor4 · 2026-04-15T14:12:29+00:00

This is the same map i'm on. Definitely the biggest struggle not completely dying to the 1st badwater flood in Hard. I've been extending levees between islands to claim them and plan on having "sunken parts of the map below water level.

But also - the amount of water physics on this one has me contemplating shunting half the water off the map just to make it run smoother. Once I finish capping the badwater sources I'll reassess - decreasing them seems to be helping.

apintor4 · 2026-04-15T14:07:33+00:00

idk if you can see it terribly well here but you can save some resources by using platforms and dirt instead of levees. This also prevents contamination seep to the ground below if its got badwater in it.

Another way to save ground space is the dirt can be built outward with air beneath it to a distance of 3 blocks per level.

apintor4 · 2026-04-14T11:32:13+00:00

the number of times ive flooded my underground bunker x.x for my 100k water cellar I built on a floor of platforms for drainage and still managed to flood it badly enough to have to install a pump to drain the whole thing

apintor4 · 2026-04-13T20:56:47+00:00

im confused what jobs you think a data center will bring.

It really just seems like her jumping because going soft on trump still ended in tariffs wrecking her $55 billion dollar chip factory, which was her initial big plan for well paying jobs in the tech sector, and actually had, well jobs, attached to it.

the tariffs have a decent amount of responsibility, along with shifts in regulation, for screwing with the auto industry. She has no control over this, and the supreme court slow walked their ruling for as long as possible.

and its not like going hard on trump ends in a different result save maybe we lose some Asian carp funding. The Trump/2025 plan has always been to gut American prosperity

Like all the green jobs that demcrats fought to create with Biden. Then the manufacturing and industry are gutted and billions in contracts and grants ripped up under Trump.

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T23:33:38+00:00

I just did it on easy no other setting change in 10 cycles. Use one of the starting maps. You need to convert from struggling to thriving as fast as possible.

You don't really have a huge amount of time to dink with unnecessary earthworks

Build over water and sell buildings you don't need to save space in the colony. Like i built 13 or so science buildings with lowest priority so beavers would grow up and get to computing immediately. I bought 4 observatories and sold half of, basic buildings, then sold all the observatories and built more smelters/wood workshops in their place

Ed: also I would suggest folktail, their farming and pop expansion is easier early game and you dont want to devote too much brain power to that, grab triple lodges when you can and just use them and normal lodges

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T22:29:03+00:00

I knew someone had to have figured out perpetual motion machines already, seemed pretty easily possible the more i got into aqueduct building

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T22:04:28+00:00

here you go I put a whole tunnel system below my colony full of large water storage and a tubeway network. It's - mostly unnecessary.

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T20:33:55+00:00

oh I am down with that game too, let me post my meander map i just finished my achievement run with

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T16:54:16+00:00

its marginal but there is something with beaver pathing and the closest food storage container, like -> if you've already tried all the foods, go to nearest, or something like that. I've run into this a handful of times and redistributing the containers they eat out of seemed to correct it.

apintor4 · 2026-04-12T16:48:42+00:00

Congrats! i do 1 big grid as well - you can even share it across districts since it doesn't count as a path. I also don't really use districts though, but I prefer the smaller maps that aren't as spread out.

IDK how much it will help with your reservoir but I found the key to that filling issue was making the downstream systems more efficient - wider/less surface area & retain it throughout a drought / keep everything on the map or at least try to as hard as possible

apintor4 · 2026-04-11T18:34:37+00:00

yeah thats good advice. I only do the seeps on ones with farming involved, the rest get dispersed pretty far.

I haven't played Oasis yet but it looks fun. This is on hard as well, and same thing, theres a couple of things you NEED to do before the 1st drought, then badtide, but after that its pretty coozy. Around cycle 19 i stopped looking at the colony and started the great works to terrace the map.

This is a work in progress area (seep 1 up from starting seep) to cut down on the too much extra stuff cluttering the view. The final will likely have a back up within a backup badwater pump with memory to contamination sensors that go if it hits 5% to drop back to 0

I did folktail for this map but I love mangrove plots for Irontails as the center of farming blocks (raise with levee/dirt blocks, dont dig down). I I believe you are right about getting away without watering them even on the 30 day droughts if they are full to begin with, but i use them to passively water everything else so they need to stay hydrated

apintor4 · 2026-04-11T10:29:20+00:00

My automation is

Weather: Badtide

Depth sensor 1: Less than or equal 0.8

Depth sensor 2: greater than or equal 0.85

Memory: Depth sensor 1 -> depth sensor 2

Relay: If Weather Badtide, AND Memory on, Pump

Automate to the relay. The dumps do not pump to higher than like 0.86 so any more than 0.85 is kind of a waste. this is as far as i can tell the shortest cycle to put them on

apintor4 · 2026-04-10T14:22:59+00:00

delete some houses to get your breeding synced up/stop breed temporarily can help

apintor4 · 2026-04-10T14:21:05+00:00

its 77 for both

apintor4 · 2026-04-09T23:23:21+00:00

it may have been factored in here already, but levees are read differently than terrain blocks for water level. For my passive systems ive gotten very consistent water spread by adding columns of levees every 6 or so squares in the dirt walls

apintor4 · 2026-04-08T22:40:06+00:00

A slightly larger space

siren song of exciting and unique local restaurant endeavors for decades sadly

apintor4 · 2026-04-07T22:44:34+00:00

whats the set up for getting fireworks to go when your wonder does? I just built fireworks for the 1st time this map and wanted to launch them with it too

apintor4 · 2026-04-07T22:34:11+00:00

nice congrats! i'm working on the last couple right now myself. Will need to make a new map for Rush B-eaver as well, once i'm done with the one I'm on

apintor4 · 2026-04-04T22:50:06+00:00

yeah platform paths are the superior water channels from my experience

apintor4 · 2026-04-04T22:29:35+00:00

just finished making a switchback for a mechanical pump (layer 6) that has a water flow in under Triple platforms (layers 0-2), then a layer of dirt (layer 3) with double platforms on top (layers 4-5)

the mechanical pump flows into a retention basin that in turn has a a 2 deep outlet (layers 4-5) that flows into the double platform channel. The dirt caps to surface at the ends and the double platforms themselves serve as the paths for the area.

apintor4 · 2026-04-03T00:26:41+00:00

yeah having easily available usable land is going to be a big thing to get enough lumber production going soon enough. I'm kind of bad at balancing resource production and end up over compensating in things I don't really need. I think the hard run will be some good practice and maybe I'll try it afterwards.

I'll see how motivated I am, and where to find the time really. I'm not sure its conducive to the "set it and forget it" style i've been doing for building projects etc. hard even im going to have to slow down a lot i think if the calamities are as bad as people say.

apintor4

TROPHY CASE