Starting a New Game
Maps and Rulesets
Main Article: Maps
Main Article: Rulesets
The first step in starting a new game in Foundation involves selecting a Map type and parameters and generating the map. Then the player must select a Ruleset or customise the rules they want to apply to their game. Refer to the main articles above for more information on these steps.
The player also has the opportunity during set-up to choose a name for themselves (the player's starting title is always Pioneer) and for their town, and to design the town's coat of arms. They will be able to select from a number of shield shapes, binary colour schemes and charges (pictures) to go on their shield.
Choosing a Starting Territory
Main Article: Territory
Now the map has been generated and the player can pan around (WASD or mouse) and examine their new lands. They must now select a starting territory. The player can only choose from territories that contain the necessary starting resources (
Berries and 
Stone); valid territories will appear surrounded by white borders, which will highlight in purple when the mouse hovers over them. The selected territory will effectively become the 'center' of the village. Refer to the main article above for more information on Territories.
Main Article: UI Overview
At that point the player can also start to interact with their User Interface. The buttons and panels available are limited at the start of the game, but will populate as the player progresses.
Building a New Settlement
Once the starting territory has been selected, the player must build a Village Center from the build button in the panel at the bottom centre of the screen. It can be placed anywhere within the chosen starting territory.
The Village Center contains a small stock of starting resources, and building it causes 8 new Villagers to spawn. Until the first houses are built, the starting Villagers and any Newcomers will all congregate around the Village Center when not at work. Once placed, the resources panel in the UI Overview will populate, and the player will be able to see their stock of starting resources.
- 60
Wood - 40
Tools - 10 Berries
- 20
Cloth - 450
Gold Coins
The second building to place will be the Builder's Workshop. This building is the only other one apart from the Village Center that builds itself instantly; hereafter, all new buildings will require Builders, Resources and time to be completed. So after building the Builder's Workshop, the player should assign one or two workers to this building by clicking on the building to open the building menu, and clicking the small plus sign to add one or more workers. These workers will be the Builders that build future buildings.
After the Builder's Workshop is placed, the building tree will expand, giving access to the following buildings:
All of these buildings will be necessary for the villager's development, and most of them can be built using the starting resources. To build the Sawmill however, the player will first need to mine some Stone at the Stonecutter Camp. Remember, nearly all buildings will require the player to assign some Villagers to work there and carry out the functions of the building.
Buildings which gather resources (e.g. Stonecutter Camp, Lumber Camp, Gathering Hut) are best placed near to their target resources; the nearer they are, the less time villagers will have to spend walking between the building and the target resources, and villagers will collect resources faster as a result.
Main Article: Zones
It will be necessary at this point for the player to paint some zones. There are several types of zone (see main article above) but the important ones for an early game are the Woodcutting zone, Reforestation zone, and Residential zone. Woodcutting zones (accessed from the Zones button in the panel at the bottom centre of the screen) should be painted over trees, and tells the villagers where to cut wood. Reforestation zones (accessed from the building menu of the Forester once constructed) tell Foresters where to plant new trees.
Residential zones meanwhile mark an area as suitable for building houses. Once a Residential zone is painted, foundations for new houses will start to appear, and Builders will spend some of their working hours building these houses. Tier 1 Houses cost 20 Wood to build.
Housing, as well as water, food and other things, are Needs that villagers will need to fill during their free time in order to be happy. If the player starts to run out of food for example, this Need will go unfulfilled and Villagers will get increasingly angry, causing immigration to halt, and they may even leave the settlement if the situation continues.
Main Article: Needs
Finally, the player can also start investigating the Progression Tree, accessed using a button on the top right panel in the UI Overview. Here the player can unlock new technologies, allowing them to build storage buildings such as Granaries and Warehouses, infrastructure such as Bridges, and various other useful things.
Main Article: Progression
Next Steps
By this stage, the player will have a busy hamlet in which workers are producing building materials ( Stone, Wood, 
Planks) and in which their Essential Needs (
Water, Berries and housing) are satisfied. The player now has more freedom to choose the direction that the village's development takes; they may wish to investigate the Estate paths of the Progression Tree, and consider building a Manor House, Monastery or Keep, or focus on developing essential industries for Trade. It is a good idea to concentrate on establishing a form of reliable income as soon as possible; common ways to achieve this are to research Butchery and build a Hunter's Hut and Butcher to produce and sell Meat, or to research and build a Monastery and start producing and selling Herbs.
The Foundation has been laid; the rest is up to you!