8 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting Timberborn

Human beings have destroyed the earth and perished, leaving behind a wasteland. Other species took over the world. One of these species that thrived after the demise of humans is the industrious beavers. These clever little creatures have learned to use science to turn lumber into sophisticated machinery.

Timberborn is a city-building and resource management game with a unique take on the genre. It features a complex water system, vertical building, day/night cycles, wet/dry seasons, and two different beaver factions. The provided tutorial goes only the basics, so we have provided tips that will make the management of your colonies much easier.

Updated March 12, 2026 by Zoë J. Osik: We’ve updated our list to reflect the Timberborn 1.0 launch. Additionally, we’ve completely refreshed the information with new tips to help you build a thriving beaver civilization! Take a look and try these pro tips out.

10

The Factions’ Different Playstyles

The Folktails and Iron Teeth are the two beaver factions currently in Timberton. Their gameplay is significantly different, with unique mechanics and buildings that make their playstyles pretty distinct. You’ll start out with the FOlktails until you can reach level 15 happiness across the board, at which point you can try your hand at managing the Iron Teeth.

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Folktails

The Folktails are the first ones to be available to new players. They specialize in agriculture and produce a lot of food quickly. Folktails reproduce in the biblical sense with open housing and downtime. They hope to recultivate the world as their end goal, working towards harmony with nature that the humans once destroyed.

Iron Teeth

Iron Teeth are industrialists who use iron to build machinery and specialize in population growth. They can use engines to power their colonies instead of the traditional methods. Iron teeth reproduce using breeding pods and aim to repopulate the world as their end-goal.

9

Prepare For Drought And Badtides

These are naturally occurring events each cycle, and badtide is far worse than a drought. You’ll want to prepare ahead of time by stockpiling food, water, and antidotes to ensure that your population survives the worst-case scenario.

Building crops as far inland as you can, constructing a reservoir, and utilizing landscaping tools can help you get through the toughest of times. Be sure to construct plenty of storage as well so that your beavers won’t starve during the longer cycles, as each natural disaster gets more intense as time goes on.

Badtides poison the water and land it touches, having widespread reach. Do what you can to limit the spread and block off sources of clean water so you can survive!

8

Know Your Resources

There are many vital resources you need to manage, like water, food, and shelter. Additionally, you’ll want to make sure that your beavers have plenty to stimulate their minds. Early on, this means building places for them to socialize, but late-game you’ll have books and more interactive structures for them to flock to.

You can keep tabs on your resources in the top left corner of your screen. With various types of wooden goods, metal parts, ingredients, and food to keep track of, using the dropdown menus can help better visualize how your districts are doing. Plus, once you start getting more advanced resources, you’ll need to distribute power between districts.

7

Pause The Game To Think

The game provides you with a clock that lets you pause the game any time you want. As soon as the game starts, pause it to give yourself time to think. Come up with a strategy, so you don’t waste precious time. A typical start should look something like this:

Before you un-pause your game, another tip is to adjust the time your beavers do certain tasks. The game sets the work time at sixteen hours a day and sleeping time at 8 hours by default. You will want to adjust this timeframe to give your beavers adequate working, sleeping, and leisure time. Just be careful not to overwork your beavers!

6

Manipulate Water

Dams are more important than most buildings, so they should be your primary focus. Get these down first, so you have water to help you get through the first and second dry seasons. This will determine the success or failure of your playthrough. There are five different dams you can construct based on your need for storage and control of water.

• Dam–Blocks some water and uses a spillway at the top to allow some water to pass through
• Levee–Completely blocks water
• Floodgate–Blocks a specific amount of water using an adjustable device
• Double Floodgate–Blocks a specific amount of water using an adjustable device
• Triple Floodgate–Blocks a specific amount of water using an adjustable device

Each of these has a different purpose, and building them across portions of water can help you control the flow and speed of the stream. This is imperative when you progress to having buildings that require power, as the water wheel will move as fast as the water does.

5

Start Small, Then Expand

It’s easy to be an eager beaver and try to expand with new buildings, but start with a small settlement until you have healthy stores of food and water. It’s better to build up than out, as you can manage a smaller area perfectly before attempting to expand your reach across the map.

While you can build multiple districts, do what you can to maintain one at a time before preparing the needed resources for the next. Beavers can and will starve to death if you’re not prepared to meet their needs, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. As your civilization grows, you’ll need more resources and more power, which take careful planning to execute properly.

4

The Importance Of Land

Not all land is viable for growth. Lush green landscapes are perfect for building farms and planting trees, so prioritize these spaces for resource gathering. Use the dry, arid land for structures like housing.

During droughts and badtide, you’ll need to prepare for the land to become inhospitable. Building close to water is ideal, but learning how to make the most of every available space can be the difference between thriving and surviving. Just be aware that when the water dries up, so does the land.

3

How Districts Work

Districts are basically independent colonies that do not share resources with each other. You can circumvent this by building distribution posts and drop-off points to share resources between different districts. This is incredibly beneficial, as you can build new colonies without running the risk of destabilizing your existing ones.

However, you’ll have to manually adjust what resources they share. It’s best to establish necessities before creating another district so that there’s minimal risk of collapse, but don’t rush. Slow and steady is the way to go. Check out our complete guide to districts for more tips!

2

Replant Trees And Shrubs

After you harvest the trees, berry bushes, and other natural resources, you have to replant them if you want a sustainable supply. This means not only building a forester, but marking the plots to grow which resources. Different trees provide different resources. For example, maple trees can be used to collect maple syrup while you can gather chestnuts from chestnut trees.

You can also plant berry bushes and dandelions for food and antidotes, respectively. Just make sure to have gatherers at the ready to harvest these resources and adequate storage to keep them all for emergencies.

1

Diversity is the Spice Of Life

Beavers aren’t content with just the bare necessities. Eventually, you’ll hit a plateau with your average happiness rating if you just stick to carrots, water, and housing with nothing else. There are many crops to grow, each of which can add to the overall average happiness.

Additionally, creating plenty of each leisure activity allows your beavers to really appreciate all that life has to offer. Lido decks will help keep their fur wet, an agora will increase their social life, and contemplation spots will give them places to reflect. Also, make sure to decorate for additional points towards your average happiness rating. Your settlement is only as happy as your most miserable beaver.

Next

Timberborn: How To Build and Use Golems

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