How Needs Work
Every need is a value from 0 to 100. Needs decay over time — they tick downward automatically and must be restored by buildings, resources, or activities. When a need falls below 20, your villager becomes desperate: they drop whatever they're doing and prioritise satisfying that need immediately. When a need is above 60, they're comfortable and won't think about it.
Desperate villagers show a small icon floating above their head — visible from anywhere on the map without clicking. Multiple needs in crisis stack left to right. See the Panels guide for the full icon reference.
The five lethal needs matter most. If a lethal need reaches zero, it starts draining the villager's Health. Health at zero means death.
The Nine Needs
| Need | Lethal? | How it decays | How to satisfy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food | Yes | Steady; same in all seasons | Eating from a barn, market, or personal carry |
| Thirst | Yes | Fastest-decaying need | Drinking water (free from wells), milk, ale, wine, or coffee |
| Warmth | Yes | Steady base rate; much faster in winter | Being in a fuelled home or heated building; warm clothing reduces decay |
| Sleep | No | Steady; same in all seasons | Sleeping at home during night hours |
| Health | Yes | Very slow naturally; worsens in winter; drained by unmet lethal needs | Passive recovery when other needs are met; herbalists and hospitals accelerate it |
| Happiness | No | Steady; slightly faster in winter | Driven by moodlets — meals, drinks, clothing, a furnished home, good relationships |
| Social | No | Slow | Visiting a tavern, chapel, or market; proximity to other villagers |
| Safety | No | Very slow | Guard towers and protective structures |
| Faith | No | Slowest of all | Visiting a chapel or cemetery |
Lethal Needs in Detail
Food
Citizens eat from the nearest barn or market they can reach. They carry a small personal supply, so they won't stop working to run home every time they get peckish — but when food drops low enough, they will. A stocked barn is more important than a nearby one; a nearby empty barn is useless.
Thirst
Water is free — any citizen will drink from a well without consuming a resource. Ale, milk, wine, and coffee also satisfy thirst and provide additional happiness bonuses. You always need at least one water source; everything else is optional but welcome.
Warmth
Warmth is the need that changes most dramatically by season. In summer it barely decays. In winter, the climate multiplier makes it urgent. Clothing reduces warmth decay; a fuelled home restores it. A villager without warm clothes in winter and no fuel in their home is in genuine danger. See the Fuel & Heating guide for how houses burn fuel.
Health
Health decays slowly on its own — the real threat is when other lethal needs hit zero and start draining it directly. A starving, freezing villager loses Health fast. Herbalists and hospitals help citizens who are already sick recover faster; medicine is produced there and used automatically.
Gated Needs
Three needs don't begin decaying until certain conditions are met. Until then, they sit locked at 100 and require no attention.
| Need | Activates when… |
|---|---|
| Social | Population reaches 15 |
| Faith | Population reaches 25 |
| Safety | First death occurs, or a threat appears |
You'll see an announcement when a gated need activates. Don't wait to be caught off guard — start building the relevant structures (tavern for Social, chapel for Faith, guard tower for Safety) before the need becomes a crisis.
Happiness and Moodlets
Happiness is fed by moodlets — named, time-limited bonuses and penalties that stack additively. Eating a good meal, visiting the tavern, wearing town clothes, living in a furnished home: each of these fires a moodlet that contributes to a villager's happiness for hours or days.
Negative moodlets also exist — grief when a friend dies, coldness when the Hearth goes out, stress from unmet needs. The net sum of all active moodlets drives the Happiness need.
Happiness affects work productivity. An unhappy workforce is a slower workforce. Keeping people comfortable is an economic decision as much as a moral one.