Start With a Region That Can Support Itself
Your first village matters less than the network you build around it. In County of Fortune, food, equipment, and construction resources need to work together across settlements. Start with suitable resource sites, connect their market squares, and supply the needs that let those settlements grow.
The official County of Fortune demo FAQ describes the October demo used here. It supports settlement progression to level 2 and the Commoner social class; the November 5 Early Access release is still upcoming as of this guide.
Found and Connect Your First Settlements
Choose Build New Settlement on the bottom bar, or press C. For the tutorial's first settlement, choose one of the marked white circles, then place the selected starting building within its blue resource area.
Before committing, inspect nearby food resources, forest, stone, and river flow. A settlement's starting industry needs suitable land, while future regional trade needs a usable transport direction.
Next, open the settlement window and click the empty red mayor portrait. Select a mayor whose bonus suits the starting building when possible. A perfect match is helpful, but the FAQ explicitly allows appointing somebody else and swapping later.
Use Build a road, or V, to connect the central market squares of neighboring settlements. Those squares highlight yellow with the tool active. Use the bridge tool before crossing water; a red road segment cannot be built.
Turn Production Into Actual Supply
Having a producer nearby does not automatically satisfy every settlement's needs. Set the receiving settlement to accept the relevant food recipe or equipment. Once the settlements are connected and enough goods are available, vendors distribute those products within the region.
Keep construction support close to your expansion plans. A Carpenter's Guild needs wood to generate carpentry points; a Mason's Guild needs stone for masonry points. These points support construction and maintenance. Free Construction Points can help with construction, but they do not replace the need for a sustainable maintenance economy.
If output stalls, look for missing-input warnings. Building-card production values show potential output, rather than proof that the building is currently producing at that rate.
Grow Through Equipment and Fulfilled Needs
Supply Peasant equipment to open additional building space. Wooden chests or wool tunics can unlock the second building slot, giving an existing settlement another productive role.
To level up, fulfill the settlement's consumption needs in both food and equipment, then select Level Up beside the mayor portrait. At level 2, the Buildings tab's green Commoners icon gives access to buildings such as small markets and raft ports.
Expand beyond the region when you have a reason to trade. In the demo, interregional heavy freight such as stone needs river transport, and rafts travel downstream. Checking that direction before founding the next region can prevent an awkward supply problem later.
FAQ
Do I place every individual house?
The game focuses on founding and developing whole settlements, rather than manually placing every house in a single city.
Why are connected settlements not receiving food?
Check that the receiving settlement accepts the recipe, that the road actually connects the market squares, and that the source has enough goods to send. Deliveries need not begin instantly.
How far can the demo settlements level up?
The October demo stops at level 2, with Commoners. Higher progression and additional social classes are announced for Early Access.
Can I correct a poor settlement position?
Yes. The current demo supports moving a settlement near its original position within the same region, without a relocation cost or penalty.