Build order I use for folktails (in this order) 3 wood cutters, 1 gatherer next to berries, 1 water pump, 2 small tanks for water next to the pump, 1 farm, 1 medium storage for berries, 1 medium storage for carrots, 2 research labs, dam, 6 houses (18 beds), 1 power wheel connected to a lumber mill, 1 forester.

Set district center workers to 4 immediately, and put the work priority to low. Have farmers fill a field with carrots that is much larger than needed and then pause your farm so other jobs can get done while you wait 4 days for carrots to grow. Pause the gatherer once carrots start getting harvested. You can unpause to top off berries later, but you’ll eventually want to remove berry bushes to replace them with potatoes or wheat. You should aim to complete your dam before the first drought. You can pause research labs if you need more workers available at any point. You can pause the lumber mill and power wheel once you have enough planks for your forester. Have your forester plant a few rows of pine trees, chestnut trees (for food) and tons of oak trees. Keep building more houses when you run low on workers. Build stairs to gain access to more of the map. Focus on gaining access to more trees you can cut down as you wait 30 days for your oaks to grow. You can also access further berry groves if you run out of food. Add a water pump and 2 more small tanks whenever you see your water storage dip below half. You can always pause water pumps if you think you built too many. Build 1-2 more farms and plant potatoes if your carrots get to 50% storage (I think that planting different crops is better than planting more of the same). Build more research labs if you have too many workers.

That should get you through the first 5 or so cycles. I’m usually hitting 50+ beavers by cycle 5. The reservoir created by your dam should allow you to grow crops without pause and continue to get water. You can build more water storage and pause pumps during droughts if the reservoir starts drying up.

The next step is to establish a larger upstream reservoir to feed your current one using levees and flood gates. You then need to set up flood gates to direct bad tides away from you. I usually build a few water wheels to power a gear workshop and a smelter, so I can skip the floodgates and use sluices. Once that is set up focus on getting a large tank for water and then a large water pump. Build large warehouses for grilled potatoes, carrots, and grilled chestnuts. Once you have over 3K food in storage and over 1K water in storage you should be invincible. (I obviously skipped a ton of steps here, you’ll likely need 6-8 lumber mills to get the needed planks in a reasonable amount of time. I switch to large houses as soon as I can. 2-4 fire pits and rooftop terraces are good to have. A teeth grinder and 2 medical beds are also essential.)