Before you place a single building, you’ve already made the most important choice of the run.
You want the obvious stuff: wood, stone, berries. That’s table stakes. But the real early-game hero is fish. A river or coastal start gives you a food source that’s reliable, low-maintenance, and doesn’t require processing chains. Fish buys you time — and in Foundation, time is everything.
If you’re playing your first serious game, don’t crank difficulty or custom rules. This isn’t about proving you’re clever. It’s about learning how the systems breathe.
There is no road tool. Villagers create paths simply by walking where they need to go. Those paths harden over time into roads. Your job isn’t to design infrastructure — it’s to encourage movement.
So, despite recently diving back into EVE and getting that old familiar itch for Caldari steel and space pirates, I still wanted to make room over the weekend for something a little calmer. A little greener. A little less likely to pod me. And that meant heading back into Foundation, a city-builder I’ve already sunk just over 50 hours into (so far), and one I keep finding myself returning to when I want that meditative “one more tile” flow. I've still got a long wait to go to push pass the 518+ hours spent/sunk/wasted/enjoyed in Cities Skylines though!
And the timing couldn’t have been better, because the first Quality of Life Update 1 just dropped (last Wednesday, November 26th) and honestly? It’s a nice little upgrade pass that fixes a bunch of those small frictions you don’t notice until the game quietly removes them. The devs even call it their "more freedom, less friction" update. That's exactly what you'd call it!
I actually hit pause on my current village, Brackenwood (above screenshot), right as the update landed.
Something about the new tools and cleaner systems made me want a real fresh start, so I wiped the mud off my boots and founded a brand-new settlement: Greenshire. New land, new plans, new opportunities. You know the drill.
I’ve been a fan of city-building games for years, drawn to the blend of strategy, creativity, and the satisfying rhythm of watching a settlement grow. From meticulously planning road layouts in Cities: Skylines to managing survival in Frostpunk, I love the challenge of building something from the ground up.
After finally diving in over the weekend—despite having picked it up in Early Access in 2023—I found myself completely losing track of time. Somehow, four hours vanished out of thin air. The way villages grow organically, without a rigid grid, gives the game a unique feel, and balancing resources and villager needs is incredibly rewarding. Add in its gorgeous visuals, and I can already tell this is a city-builder I’ll be spending a lot more time with.
Of course, learning a new game like Foundation can be a challenge, and that’s where great content creators make all the difference. I’ve followed City Planner Plays (@cityplannerplays.bsky.social) for years—first for his Cities: Skylines content and later for his deep-dive How-To guides in other games. His approach is what makes him stand out: clear, structured instructions, useful background context, and a willingness to show his own mistakes when they serve as valuable lessons.
This post is as much a learning tool for myself as it is a guide for anyone new to the game.
Below, I’ve broken down City Planner Plays’ step-by-step instructions for starting a village, prioritizing buildings, and setting up a successful economy.
If you’re diving into the game for the first time (or coming back like me), this should help you get started—and I highly recommend checking out his full video (below) for even more insights.
How to Start Your Village in Foundation | by City Planner Plays
A step-by-step guide based on City Planner Plays' gameplay.
