First off, I've never written a guide before. I'm an old gamer, but a gamer none the less. My first console was a Commodore 64. I'm not a boomer, but my parents are. My inspiration for writing this guide was because someone with 12 hours of game time posted a negative review with a link to his YouTube video about what's wrong with this game. I don't know what he's doing making a video, but in our "discussion" on his YouTube video replies, he made a comment about there not being a tutorial or a guide to this game. So I thought I'd write one.

And one more thing. I'm not a min/max player. I like efficiencies and I'll point some out, but it's now how I play. And if you are a min/max player, you might have issues until the game gets its polish because some actions improve things, but you don't know how much. Some of the improvements I'll discuss are guesses.

I'm writing this as I play and so it takes the form of a journal.

I write this guide in the month of December in the year 2022. I am playing the Forest Scenario and I am setting up at the far north near the barn. The road to the east of the barn is my "Eastern Perimeter". The road south of the barn is my Southern Perimeter. The path and abandoned building to the west is my Western Perimeter and the buildings to the north is my.... Northern Perimeter.

Day 1 - Place your warehouse. Everyone will be moving to your warehouse, so you want something central, but at the same time you need to realize that you are going to grow so what you think is central now may not be central by day 100. Also know that you will probably be building another warehouse or two. It doesn't have anything to do with storage capacity. It's all about traffic patterns and trying to minimize how far your people walk. People will walk to the warehouse for food. Walking is time and time is work.

Knowing that, try and get an idea of where you will be building your perimeter and plan from there.

Place your warehouse. Once you do that, more buildings will be available to build. Get that research center up and running. Get a greenhouse, stone crusher, sawmill and a resource station built. Buildings that only cost wood (Warehouse and Sawmill) are throw away buildings to me. There is tons of wood in the first map, so I can build as many as I like without a second thought. Everything else cost other resources which are limited. When placing a Stone Crusher, the items it will collect will be highlighted in blue outlines. Make sure you are grabbing what you want. I hate having to place a whole building for that one pile of rocks that I missed and it's in the way of my fence line. Stone Crusher is for stones and coal. Resource Stations will also collect coal. The Resource Stations requires less resources to build.

Greenhouse I - I'll make one or two of these now. I usually put them in a road or path because I'll be tearing them down after the first winter. You don't need that many to get by at first. Your Resource Stations will also collect food if you want it to.

Shacks - They hold 10 pops. I build mine in the road or path because I will be tearing them down. They will last a couple of winters though.

Military - You'll start with 9 soldiers. Select them all by clicking your Solder button to the right where it says 9/100. Then CTRL1 to group them. Then change some settings. Ammo isn't free, so I turn off full auto and set it to burst. I also turn off Enemy Pursuit. You don't want your troopers chasing down a lone zombie only to be ganged up on by 10 others.
Your troops will leave their post for food or to warm up from time to time. All pops do. If it is an emergency, you can take control of a soldier, not a worker. Just keep this in mind when placing their patrol locations. Try and get some overlap of what they can see and shoot. You don't want that lone soldier holding down the fort, then he goes for a snack when the Zombie horde comes. This gets easier to manage once we get some pillboxes and guard towers. The soldiers will come back after their coffee break. You do not have to place them again.


Everyone plays different, but what I like to do is break the soldiers into 4 groups with one group having 3 soldiers. Use your mouse to select a couple of solders and use CTRL+1 to create your first grouping. You may have already done this. Then I select two at a time with my mouse and create the other groups. Once you get barracks, F1 is group 1 and F2 is group two, but you have to have a barracks for each group. That's much later.

Anyways, I'll spread the groups around to watch for zombies. In the beginning, you want to keep your Haven compact and tight to keep your perimeter nice and small for your 9 soldiers. If you have some empty buildings VERY close, go pick up the ammo, weapons and other resources. Don't stray too far as that stuff isn't going anywhere and you can get it later. What you want is to grab some stronger weapons for your soldiers because you'll be fighting zombie pretty soon.

I'll setup my squads as follows. Squad 1 will be in the SE corner and along the South perimeter. Squad 2 will be in the SW corner and watching the west just south of the abandoned shack. Squad 3 will be to the north of that same abandoned shack. Squad 4 will be in the NE/E of my perimeter.

Tech - Once your Science Center is built, you can start researching. I almost always start by getting Constructing I, Hospital I, Medicine I, Antiviral Vaccine. If your pops get bit, they might turn into a zombie. It's one thing for a worker to change, but it will be a while before we can replace soldiers. And when a soldier dies, he drops ONE of his items, which means you lose the other items. Hospitals with Heat will get you through your first winter. Vaccines will save a lot of pops over time.

Day 2 - After your warehouse is built, ALL of your pops will go get some food. I now have one of every building and a shack for everyone and then some. Everyone is employed. Keep your pops employed or they might wander off and get bit by a zombie or animal.

You might get your first quest on Day 2. My suggestion is to not accept any quests until maybe day 13. There are lots of zombies out there and the people you send off on a mission will run into them and maybe die.


Tip - Your stationary soldiers can be used to pick up items and when they are done, they will return to where they were without your assistance. That includes Pillbox guards.
This is my setup at the end of Day 2.

Day 4 - The first zombie attack. They attacked the SW corner of my perimeter where my #2 patrol was. I moved over one from #1 Patrol to reinforce as a precautionary move.



Hospital Research is done. It's possible it could have been done on Day 3, but while typing this up, I missed the completion of an earlier research and wasted some time. Take away some pops from their job and build a hospital.

After placing my Hospital, the 2nd wave of zombies comes from the west. I move #2 Patrol to help #3 Patrol. I spread out #1 over the southern sector.


Day 6 - Dealer shows up. I traded my big dollar pistols for 7 helmets and 8 armor. I kept as many of the 1911 pistols as I could because they are less than $100 and when you are trading, you'll not be trading for exact dollars. Even when you have dollars to trade. The 1911s are like having a smaller denomination in your trades. I wound up giving a $5 tip to the dealer. We should have cash for the next trade.

Medicine is researched.

Day 7 - Antiviral is researched. Now I can move on to other techs.
You want heat for the coming winter. You should be around +10c right now, so you have time. I'm going to go ahead and knock out Building Upgrade and then do Economics. Once I have Building Upgrade I can add heaters to most of my buildings and that alone will get me through the winter. That will also keep my Greenhouse I functioning during the winter. If you want that is. I'm going to do something different.

Day 9 - Building Upgrade researched. The only thing I upgrade at this time is the hospital tent. Now if anyone gets cold, they will run to the tent to warm up. You do NOT need to put heaters in the Shacks, or Resource Stations.

Now I am researching Economy. This is an awesome tech to have. Once you have it, you'll build the Marketplace. Your pops will visit and trade there. You'll earn cash which you can use with the Dealer.

Our little Haven is still being attacked on a daily basis by hordes of Zombies. A few more days and it will clear out and slow down.

I did take a chance and accepted a quest to rescue more pops. I sent 3 people. I think I encountered a bug though and they just ran back and forth. I saved the game and reloaded and they became unemployed. Don't forget, this is still an Early Access Game.

Day 10 - Marauders came by asking for 100 Fuel. That's a tough choice because fuel doesn't grow on trees. Food does and I'll give food up all day in the beginning. The problem is that if you attack the marauders, then they don't ask anymore and they always attack. There is another marauder group led by an officer and they will extort you too, but that's further on down this road. For now, I gave them the fuel and bought some time.

Day 11 - A Quest. One of my pops is upset. I can give him some food and raise stability by 5, or ignore him. I gave him the food. We'll have tons of food soon, so don't worry about it.
My Quest that I thought bugged out completed. I increased my population by 3.

Tip - Construct extra job buildings if you have the resources. Pops without jobs will wander and they will get into trouble. If they have a job, they won't. I like to build extra Sawmills because it's only wood and we've got a lot of trees to get rid of anyways. It's also good for moving pops around. Jobs on the "Frontline", ie the edge of your perimeter, aren't the best place for pops when the fighting starts. They will engage the enemy with their hammers. When you have vacant job positions elsewhere, you can just have them work away from the fighting. When they do get in a fight you will get an announcement, "Your base is under attack." I'm not positive that happens 100% of the time, but it does happen.

This guy wanted to take on the undead.

When you get refugees, you'll get a choice to accept them or not. If you do, you'll get hit with -10 stability. Take the pops. Don't worry about the stability yet. We'll get there soon enough.

Got Economics. Building my Marketplace.
The temp is 4C. Winter is coming. Science 1 is my next tech.

Day 12 - I was planning on going exploring. The zombies are pretty much gone at the moment. But then I got a notification that a Zombie herd is coming. They'll start at the edge of the screen and move towards your haven. You'll have plenty of time to get ready for it, but I'll put off my exploring for now.

Science I is done. I'll move on to Artificial Food.

Day 13 - Another Zombie horde, from the east. The first one is still happening on the Western sector. This will be fun juggling soldiers around.

Day 14 - Zombie horde on the West side has died down, but not gone. Artificial Food is done. I'm going to go ahead and grab Greenhouse II. I think I can get through winter with my one Greenhouse I, but I'd have to upgrade it. Upgrades are 20 metal for the heaters, and so is a Greenhouse II, so why not just get the Greenhouse II. I'll be using them for a long time. So Greenhouse I with an upgrade is 10 wood/10 metal/10 polymers +20 metal for heating. Greenhouse II is 10 wood/20 metal/10 polymer/20 stone. Maybe I can keep a Greenhouse I with an upgrade and it performs as good as a Greenhouse II. I haven't tested it.


Day 15 - Sector Clear - Zombie hordes are gone. I gained more pops at a cost of 10 stability. I got the dealer and bought 3 armor vests with cash and a gun.

Greenhouse II researched. Going for Instruments I now. I'll continue down that tech line for Coal Production. After that we'll look at where we are with a few things to decide what we want next. I'm building 3 Greenhouse II and disassembling my Greenhouse I. Got under 100 food. It should go up now and my coal should start dropping. Move your pops around so that all of your Greenhouses are at full production. If you are very low on food, you can buy some from the Dealer to hold you over.

Day 17 - I'm done with Instruments I, I have 3 Greenhouse II at full production. I have a heated Hospital and living space for all 54 pops. And I have plenty of open jobs for now. I bought enough gear from the dealer that all of my troops have at least a helmet or vest or both. I have 2 quest popups. One of my residents looks sick. I can drive them out for a loss of stability, ignore, or now that I have Antiviral researched, send him to the hospital. Yes, that is the quest. The other quest is for gasoline, so I sent three people.

Day 18 - Coal Production researched. Food is increasing.

Now I need to decide what my next research is. First I check my Stability. Looks like it is about 80%. When Stability is above 50% you will get quests for supplies and people. If it drops below 50% then you will get quests about your people misbehaving and you have to choose between losing stability or kicking them out or killing them. I like to keep my Stability above 50%. Churches are awesome for Stability, but we don't need that now. If you need a quick boost to your Stability, Politics is only 24 hours and gives you a +10 boost.

The next thing I check is Ammo. I don't want to run out. All of my guys are using Ammo I right now and I have over 5000 rounds, so I feel like I'm OK there. If I were around 3000, I'd research Factory I and Pistol Ammo, which is Ammo I. I don't need that though. It's only my first winter, so my shacks should be good enough for housing right now. And that is without upgrading them. They will have Thermometer Icons when the temp drops, but don't worry about it. Your pops can go to the warm hospital. Don't waste the metal on upgrades. I could go after Science II and reduce the rest of my learning time by 20%, or I could start getting some pillboxes, or Instruments II and increase my output from the Stone Crushers, getting me closer to Hunters, which helps with food.

Usually at this time I'd research Combat Training I, but I think I'm going to change it up and go after Science II while it's nice and quiet. I have lots of Stability and lots of Ammo, so I should be good for a while.

Day 19 - My pops return from their quest with 100 fuel. I get another quest for more fuel. I accept and send three pops. I haven't explored yet, so I'll do that now. I'll take one soldier and go to all the buildings on the map and pick up weapons and resources.

Day 20 - I barely got started exploring and the Marauders came and demanded my women for a -5 to stability. They can't take my women folk. We refused and went to war. That means the extortion is over. They won't ask for anything anymore, just attack. They are attacking from the east. Since all the sectors are quiet, I'll send all my troops over there and prepare for combat. I'll also move any working pops away from the fight to other jobs.

When combat comes, I'll take fighting positions. In the early days, it's just gun fights. Later they will start showing up with RPGs. It's really cool to watch, but can wreak some serious havoc. Especially if they have two in their squad. The fight is over. They only had two soldiers. One of my guys took a bullet, but he'll be alright after visiting the med station. He'll go on his own. Now once in a while he won't and this is a bug. What I'll do is save the game and reload it and then he'll go. It's an early access game. It's not a game breaker.

I guess I'll resume my exploration. No need to worry much about home. If something happens, you'll hear the gunfire and can go check out what the problem is. Oh yeah, all soldiers drop loot, including yours. They only drop one loot and it's either weapons or ammo. I've never seen armor as a drop.

Tip - When exploring, you can click on several items ahead of your soldier to pick up items. He'll get them in the order in which you clicked. However, if you click on empty space, he'll forget all of his orders and move to where you told him to go.

Day 22 - Still exploring. My pops returned empty handed, but at least they all returned. I'll put them back to work and get back to exploring.

Tip - with refugees or returning quest pops, you'll get a homeless number in your alert bar. Just let them get home before considering any construction. Sometimes that homeless alert goes away.

Science II researched. I still have to construct the building. I think I'll get some Combat Training I.

Day 24 - Combat Training I researched. I could start building pillbox I, but I'm going to hold out. I am done exploring. I have two vehicles now. You won't need those till late game. You can run over zombies with them though. 6800+ ammo, Exploring got me more polymers, fuel and wood. I can't say that I've ever seen metal or coal or stone to pickup. We'll get some missions for steel eventually though. My food is going up, my coal is going up, about 80% stability, and it's warming up. Life is good right now. I'm going to research Combat Training II.

There is a quest for polymers. I'll send three people. At this point, I am accepting all pop and resource quests, except for food. I'm only at 200 now, but once we get more pops, I'll build more greenhouses and we'll be up to 1000+ in no time.

Day 26 - All Quiet on the Western Front. Cool story, but the Nazis hated it and would start riots in theaters to disrupt the showings. Researched Combat Training II. Getting Barracks now. I'm going for the gold and getting the big concrete bunkers, Pillbox III, which is Tech Combat Training III. Finally got my Science Center II built. I need some refugees.

Mission Accomplished, +50 Polymers.
New mission - A group of survivors is nearby. I send three pops.


Dealer showed up. I have $2224 in cash, plus extra guns. I bought gas masks. I'll need then later on. I'll buy them instead of making them. And I glitched out on this one. I had all my cash in the Trading Window. When I backed the cash out, it disappeared and is no longer available for trade. This is when I load the autosave. I want my dealer. Second time around, I bought 9 gasmasks, 6 armor and 2 Famas (Ammo II). I always trade away my pistols first (except for my Colt 1911 because they are my smaller $50 denotation), then I use my cash. I finished the trade with a balance of 13.

Tip - When a resource gathering building runs out of resources to gather, it will automatically disassemble. If there are four pops working, two will be freed up immediately and the other two will break it down.

Day 27 - Yay, refugees. I take the 10 stability hit. I have 60 pops and 6 shacks. Everyone has a bed. I'll put them to work. We need to clear out some trees so I have room for my future houses. It's -1C. Spring is almost here.

Day 28 - Quest successful. +3 pops. Now I have 66 pops and 60 pillows (3 pops went on the quest and returned with 3 more). We'll have 6 homeless for a while. It's 0c and getting warmer, so they'll manage. Get back to work pops.

Barracks I is researched. Getting Combat Training III.

36 Hours till the next Marauder attack.

Day 29 - Got a quest for Scrap Metal. I sent three pops.
Got a bit of a Zombie surge in the SW Sector. Nothing my guys can't handle.
Built another Greenhouse II for a total of four.
I have about 6000 Ammo I. Still plenty.

Tip - When all the resources are gathered in an abandoned building, you can convert that building to a House I or House II.

Day 30 - All Quiet

Day 31 - Combat Training III completed. Now I can build my Pillbox III. I just don't have any pops to put in them. I'll build my first one in the SE corner of my perimeter where I have a lot of action.
I'll start researching the housing line and proceed with Heating I.

A Barn has been cleared out of resources. I can convert that to a House I, even though I haven't researched it yet.

Day 34 - House I researched. I'll proceed with Thermal Insulation.

Day 35 - A few Zombies from the SE. One of my soldiers got bit. He's not going to the hospital though, so I save and reload. One of those glitches. After loading, he goes to the hospital. Pops returned from their quest. +50 metal.
Dealer shows up. I have 3 extra armor and he's selling 6. I'll need them for the pillboxes, so I grab those and any helmets he has. He's got some sniper rifles, AWP(Ammo III). I'll grab one. I only have $3309 in cash. I trade a couple of Mac10, a Colt 1911 and $3200 in cash. Gave the dealer a $3 tip.

Day 36 - Attacked by Marauders, looks like four coming from the South. Perfect teamwork. Sector cleared out with only one of ours being wounded. Off to the hospital he goes. That sniper rifle did some nice work on the Marauders.

Thermal Insulation Complete. On to House II

Day 37 - I decided to build a Gate. If you look at the image, I chose this location because it is on a path (blocked right now, but will be clear later) and it has a line of sight across the road down the opposite path. The last attacked approached from the path and a gate with some snipers will help reduce the impact of RPGs later. If I put the gate on the other path where across the street is a house, it would nullify any long range I might have.
Later on I might build a wall around my haven. I go back and forth on walls.
Got a mission for a weapon. I sent three pops. I took a screen shot of my inventory after they left. If I remember, I'll see how it changes when they get back. It never says what they find when they accomplish the mission.

It's +14c, all 66 pops have pillows. I have 330 food, 2413 coal (I'll shift labor because that is more than enough) 283 polymers, 618 metal, 679 stone, 700 wood and 2 circuit boards. 5200+ Ammo I, 6846 Ammo II, 995 Ammo III, 1000 Ammo Heavy, 27 gasmasks, 4 extra helmets and 9 extra vests. Stability is about 75%. I'm not getting that many refugees in this game. I've played plenty of games where I am over 100 pops and dealing with Stability at this time. This game is different, which is cool. No one likes the same game over and over.

Tip - Women don't fight. If you only have unemployed women and empty guard positions, move some labor around until the women are working and the men are unemployed. Then you can move them into guard positions.

Day 38 - A bit of a zombie surge from the SE, right into my pillbox. And from the West too, sneaky bastards.

Day 39 - House II researched. I'm pretty stable with lots of ammo, so I'll grab Instruments II, then Kitchen. I don't have the pops for a kitchen, but it'll be ready.

My quest was unsuccessful, I lost some pops. Only one returned.

Fortified gate is complete. Only manned with two guards.

Day 40 - All Quiet.

Day 41 - Instrument II competed. Researching Kitchen. Increased Zombie activity in the South sector, but nothing major.
Change of plans. Ammo I is down to 3900. I'll research Factory.

Got some refugees. Still got some room on Stability before things go bad. Get to work pops. I don't have enough beds now, but it's +19c. Summertime. I have time before I need more housing.

Day 42 - Received a quest for Polymers. I sent three pops.

Tip - If you are on Speed 3x, if you hit the space bar to pause and then press again to unpause, it will resume at normal speed.

Day 43 - Factory researched. I'll study Ammo I. I'll look for a spot to build the factory. I won't turn it on until I need something though.

Day 44 - Ammo I researched. I'll grab Politics to get a +10 Stability boost. I saw my pops that I sent on a mission running back and forth. I'll save and reload. Should clear it up. It was one pop stuck and he had injuries. Off to the hospital he goes. Back to work pop.

Day 45 - Politics researched. +10 Stability. I'll go get Kitchen now.
Zombies are attacking on the SE sector between my pillbox and gate. I only need one soldier to manage it with the guards. Maybe I'll put a watchtower there later. My pillbox and gate are still undermanned. Just like the real army. I don't think we ever had a full squad.

Tip - If you want to cycle through your troops and you have them assigned to groups, simply press the group button repeatedly and it will cycle through everyone in that group. Do not think that you can move just that specific soldier though as it still has the entire group selected. However, if you are looking for someone, say you sniper, then you can know what group he's in. Or maybe you want to swap out weapons so that your guards have the sniper rifles, or armor and such. Just click on the equipment and it will bring up the warehouse and you can switch out gear.

Day 46 - Attacked by Marauders from the SW - S sector. Maybe they will run into the gate house. Time to move some of my labor for now. I don't have any open jobs, so I'll build some saw mills or stone crushers, or maybe some House II.

That didn't go well. I was attacked by 5 Marauders. One of my workers got involved and died. I lost a guard in the gate house and I lost one from Squad 1. Oh well. It's a rough world. Go pick up the drops and get people back to work.

Got a quest for Polymers. Sent three pops.

Day 47 - Kitchen researched. I'll research the Church now. Refugees showed up. I'll build another pillbox III and some House II. House II holds 20 people and I have 81 pops and a House I which holds 10, so I'll build to a total 4 House IIs. I'll start disassembling the shacks.

Day 48 - Dealer showed up. I have 6 extra vests and 1 extra helmet. I have some empty guard positions, so I'll need some more. I'll buy up what the dealer has and snag another sniper rifle or two. I have over $4400 and a couple of pistols. I bought 10 helmets, 2 vests, an AK and 2 sniper rifles. I left a $19 tip to the dealer.

Here is a problem with the game. I'm sure it will get fixed one day. Don't forget, this is Early Access.

I want to put a sniper rifle in each pillbox and gatehouse. And while you can swap out weapons if it is in the warehouse, it is hard to get everyone to leave the item in the warehouse. So I get this trooper to leave weapon A and grab weapon B. However, I can't get the guard to grab weapon A because someone else is already grabbing it. I'd like to see more control over equipping the troops.

More Zombies from the SE.

Day 49 - Church I researched. I'll research Farm now. I'm not building the church at this time though.

Day 50 - I'm under 2000 Ammo I, so I'm turning on the factory and making some bullets. When you start a production line, your efficiency will be low. As you maintain that production, you'll make larger quantities per production run.

Day 51 - Some of my Resource Stations are running out of resources and disassembling. I'll take some of that extra labor and create a 5th Greenhouse II.
It's +4c and pops are starting to get cold. Winter is coming.

Day 52 - Farming is done. I'll get hunting. That will help with food. So does Farming, but I'm not sure how. You can build a farm, but you have to buy a pig from the dealer. Your farm can hold 4 pigs and you can eat them. I'm not sure if they reproduce or not. Maybe I'll experiment with that now. I'll build a farm and buy two pigs and see what happens.

Tip - to select a resource for soldiers to grab or resources for buildings to gather, you have to be progressing in time. You can't pause the game and make your selections. The game will make a noise when you selection is accepted.

Day 53 - Building a Watchtower between the SW pillbox and gatehouse.

My farmers are assigned to the Farm, but I don't have any pigs, so they are just wandering around looking for trouble. So I moved the pops to some other job for now. I'll be back to this when I buy some pigs.

Day 55 - Hunting researched.
I have a watchtower II constructed between my SE Pillbox and gatehouse. I'm building another Watchtower II on the East perimeter. I'm going to research the rest of ammo starting with Ammo Rifle.

I think I'll build a Barracks now that I have some guards on the perimeter.

Day 59 - It's -8c. I have finished Ammo Rifle and Ammo SMG. I have over 3000 Ammo I rounds and only one gas mask. I think I'll produce some of those. I'll have to research it first though.

I'm constructing the Hunting House and Church. I have finished the Barracks. My current soldiers automatically assigned themselves to Barracks 1. I can now assign workers to the barracks to replace my dead soldiers. Barracks support up to eight soldiers. If you want more, then you build another barracks. We'll do that later. I can now select my seven soldiers with F1 now. However, unlike when I create my own groups and cycle through each one, pressing F1 does NOT cycle through my soldiers.

Day 60 - All Quiet

Day 61 - Gasmasks are researched. I'm going for Factory II now. Now that I have hunters, there will be a lot of gunfire as they go out hunting. They'll be bringing back meat for the pops.

Day 62 - Marauders attack the SE sector. We took out four with three of our own wounded.

Day 63 - Quest pops are back with 50 polymers. A new quest pops up for metal. I send three pops.
Dealer shows up and I have $6330. I'll buy 15 gasmasks, a couple of piglets and a couple of sniper rifles for $4350. I only have one Armor I vest free, so I'll buy what he has to make the total $5600.
Since I bought so many masks, I'll switch production to Ammo Rifle (Ammo III).
I have pigs now, so I need to move some labor to the farm. I can "Eat a pig" now.

Day 64 - Quest successful. +50 metal. Get back to your jobs. A new quest is for polymers. Sent three pops.

Day 65 - Refugees show up. I'm about 60% Stability, so we're going to start mandatory Church service soon. I'm short two pillows, so I'll build a new House II.
When you want to go to Church, select the Church and press Settler Gathering. The bells will dong and everyone, except for everyone carrying a gun, will attend church. Stability will start going up. You can cancel anytime, but just leave it. They'll stay for a while and eventually you'll hear the bells again letting you know that the sermon is over. I think you'll get about 10 Stability for this.

Day 66 - My pops on the quest were attacked by cannibals and only one survived to return.

Day 67 - I'm running low on coal. I'll turn off my pillboxes. They can just huddle together in those concrete coffins. I might need to build another Coal Production plant.

Day 68 - Factory II researched. I'll start Building Upgrade(Machine Tools) to increase the efficiency of our factories. I'm building another Coal Production plant.
I ate a pig. I think I have to wait a day before doing it again. I bought two. Can I eat for three days?

Day 69 - Quest pops back successful with 100 Fuel. The next quest is for survivors. I sent three.

Day 70 - I could eat another pig at the farm. Let's see what happens on Day 72. The quest for survivors came up empty, but all three pops returned.

Day 71 - Building Upgrade research done. I'll do Armor I now. I'm also being attacked by Marauders from the east. That's my strong side. I'll send some troops over to support the pillbox and watchtowers. Victory on the battlefield. Five Marauders killed with only two wounded.

Next Quest is for Polymers. I sent three pops.

I ate a pig at the farm. That's three pigs. Cool.

Day 72 - Refugees arrive. Time to go to church.

Day 73 - Quest failed and lost two pops. Started construction of Factory II and a Pillbox III on the S-SW sector, across from the southward path.

Day 74 - Quest for survivors. Sent three pops.
Dealer showed up. I bought 17 gasmasks. I should be good for a while. I also bought 4 Armor II vests. And a Heavy Machinegun. I'll put that in the gate house.

Day 75 - Quest failed and only one pop made it back. Armor II is done, so I'll switch production to that at the factory. It's -28C. I have 990 food. I think I'll get Greenhouse III tech. It requires two Electronics to make one, but it won't be long before my Greenhouse II won't work in the winter. The idea is to have a surplus before winter and maybe a Greenhouse III to supplement in the winter.

Day 76 - Quest for Polymers. Sent three pops. Factory II is built. I'm going to turn off heating and remove all workers. I'll also upgrade it. My factory I is at a higher efficiency for Armor II and is already upgraded. I'll wait till I need a new product before ramping up this factory.

Day 77 - Colonel Madson, who runs a different Marauder group, has arrived to extort me. They wanted 100 food, so I gave it to them and took a -5 hit to Stability. I could go to war with these guys, but they have RPGs. 100 food buys me a few days. It's -26c, so it's warming up. I changed my research from Greenhouse III to Army Body Armor. I turned off my Factory I. I'll wait till I have access to Body Armor before turning it back on.

Successful Quest. +50 Polymers

I can't eat pigs anymore. Maybe I ate too many. I don't think the farm is worth having at this time as you don't know if pigs are breeding or not. You can't see what the pig inventory is either. You also have to eat the pigs manually. Maybe it is automatic when you have four pigs. I don't know. I'm going to dismantle.

A group of armed individuals arrived. I can offer them food and gain +5 to Stability, Offer to Join, or Attack. I made an offer for them to join and they declined. They'll show up as enemies on the map, but they won't attack. They are just passing by. They won't leave the edge though, so I'll save and reload.

Day 78 - A Quest for a weapon. I declined this quest. Maybe if I knew what I got when I returned, I could make a better judgement on it. RPGs or Machineguns, heck yeah I'll go. Colt 1911, meh.

Day 80 - Quest for survivors. I sent three pops.
Body Armor is researched. I'll turn on Factory II. I'll start researching Stationary Machineguns.

Day 81 - Quest failed. One pop returned. The next quest was for food, so I declined since I have close to 1000.

Day 82- Col. Madson returned and wanted 100 food again. I gave it to him.
Refugees join. I think I'm under 50% Stability, so we'll be going to church a lot for a while. I'll build a new barracks, a couple of pillbox III as well. I've got 110 population, so I should build a new house soon.

Stationary Machineguns is done researching. I need a few, so I'll need to crank up Factory I. Factory I can make Body Armor, but can't make machine guns. So I have to change my production at Factory II to machine guns and move the body armor production to Factory I. I lost some production efficiency, but so is life.

Day 83- I have a traitor in my midst. I had him killed for +3 Stability. Need some more church.
We've been attacked from the south by hostile Marauders. Looks like about five and I see an RPG.
Oh that was nasty. That RPG took out five of mine. The first round was to my gatehouse and killed two, followed by a round to a cluster of Squad I. We did a mad rush to close in on him to take him out.

Day 85 - Quest for Fuel. I sent three.
I saw the first bear. They drop meat, but they are hostile and take a little more to kill. They usually travel in pairs. This one charged a pillbox under construction.

Col Madson returned and took another 100 food. Looks like he's coming back about every three days. We're going to have to stop feeding him. I'm down to 700 food.

Day 86 - Successful Quest. +100 fuel.
Dealer arrived. I bought 7 Helmet II and a machine gun for $5150.
Got a quest for a weapon. I passed.

House III is complete. Going for House IV.

Day 87 - Refugees arrive. I'll build a House III. Two House III are cheaper than one House IV, but they use different resources and I want to show that. I believe House III uses two coal and House IV uses three, which would make it more efficient in the long run at a slightly higher upfront cost.

Day 88 - A quest for survivors. I sent three pops.

Day 90 - Successful quest. +3 pops.
Marauders attack from the SE. I've got lots of pillboxes over there. Just none with machine guns yet. Let's see if they have any RPGs.
No RPGs. Only lost one man with three wounded. They numbered about 7.

Day 91 - House IV research is done. I'll do Greenhouse III.
The Colonel showed up. I've got some more greenhouses under construction, so I paid him the food. I know, where is my backbone, you ask. I took a -5 to stability, so it's time for a sermon. Everyone to church.

Three more machine guns produced. I'll do one more run and that should take care of me for now. Maybe two more runs.

Got a quest for food. I sent three. I currently have 550 food. Just had another Greenhouse II come online and should be building my first Greenhouse III soon.

Day 92 - Greenhouse III research is done. I think I'll go for Weapons II now.

Day 93 - Mission successful. +100 food. New quest is for fuel. I sent three pops.

Day 94 - Col Madson showed up again asking for food. I refused this time and declared war. +5 to Stability.
Gained refugees. My second barracks is built and now I will make some soldiers. The rest will go into the Greenhouse III as it takes 8 workers.

Day 95 - Quest pop returned empty handed. Next quest is for polymers. I sent three pops. 4 more machine guns produce. I'll make one more run for some future watch towers.

Day 96 - Weapons I research is done. I'll get Heavy Ammo for my machine guns and then hand grenades. That should take us to the end of this guide. I haven't seen Zombies in a while, but they are coming in from the east. My Watchtower/machine gun is wiping them up handily. I just don't have that much Heavy Ammo to waste.

Day 96 - Dealer showed up. I bought 14 helmet II.

Day 97 - Successful quest +50 polymers

Day 98 - Marauders. I saw at least 1 RPG…. Well they took out my Pillbox. The structure is still there, but the RPG took out everyone in it. That's the extent of my losses, plus one wounded. Col Madson should be here tomorrow.

Day 99 - Here comes Col Madson from the SE. Turned out to be a nice clean fight. Couple of mine were wounded.
My Haven has grown in the last 100 days.

Day 100 - The End of pt I. This is the first 100 days and I probably got 12 hours of play time in. I know what I'm doing, so that speeds things up, but I am typing and taking screenshots, which slows me down. The story doesn't end here. We are nice and secure in our little haven, but there is more to the game. I haven't even opened the map yet. We get to leave our little Haven and go beyond for more resources and combat.

In summary at this time I have.
121 pops
1 Gatehouse
5 Pillbox III
2 Watchtower II
6 Greenhouse II
1 Greenhouse III
3 Coal Production
2 House I (from reclaiming old buildings)
1 House II (from reclaiming old buildings)
5 House II that I built
1 House III that I built
2 Barracks and 16 soldiers
13 guards
5345 wood
305 stone
144 metal
1996 coal
946 fuel
0 electronics
855 food
And the following image from my warehouse.
Stay tuned for the follow up guide for the rest of the game.

I hope this helps you out. Don't forget, this is an Early Access game and still needs polish. However, it is a pretty solid game as it stands now.