Ratopia – How to Solve Food Problems

Let me help you with quick food priority from my experience and winning all 3 forms of victory on all difficulties

Food Solutions

First lets look at your start position, the early game, what is close to you and how to use it:

• Rabbit holes 3 or more the better: Build 2 hunters and 4 butchers. With this alone you can feed over 50 rats.
• A lot of wild wheat: Build a single gatherer hut and maybe a silviculture building to quickly grow plants. This is excellent early game and can keep over 30 rats feed. But don’t depend on it, you will need to find a more reliable food source like rabbits or frogs. Because as soon winter comes, oh boy, you will be in a world of hurt.
• Frog holes (look like tiny flower beds on the jungle biome) 3 or more the better: Same as the rabbits, 2 hunters and 4 butchers. With this alone you can feed over 50 rats.
• Some wild berry bushes: Get a gatherer but don’t expect this to feed over 20 rats, berries don’t give a lot of food. Try to find another food source.
• Fish or Angler fish caves: Try to fit 4 fisheries in the pool of water. BUT don’t expect this to feed over 15 to 20 rats, fish is the worse resource to get food from (I seriously hope fish collection gets a buff).

I would ignore it if I where you, unless I am desperate for food.

Important Tips

If the bunny holes or frog holes are 1 or 2. Just build a single hunter and 2 butchers for that area alone. The butchers should ONLY make meat and nothing else.

If you have 4 butchers for bunnies, ONLY make one of them work on leather, bones and meat. The other 3 should ALWAYS focus on meat. Leather is good for pouches in the tanner and bones to grind in the grinder, will explain why soon.

Late Game

Wheat farms

Make a water source as soon you can get your hands on spider webs, but don’t get scared if you cannot get your hands on it early game. Most of the time I build my water source post 2nd winter or 3rd winter.

Once you secure a good water source, start building wheat farms, use grinders to grind the bones I told you about and limestone powder. With these items you can make your wheat farms make 60 batches per cycle. The best part, you can farm during winter.

Bread and grills

Both are good at feeding your rats. I always build 3 bakers and only 2 cooks(grills). Keep in mind you need grind wheat and water for bread. While cooked food needs meat and grind salt.

Don’t get desperate if you cannot get this running early. This is for the late game if you have the time.

Trading

If you still have a bit of food problems, don’t hesitate in making some trade for food. By the late game you should have your Mints (coin makers) running, so you must have some money to spare. Use it to trade for meat or wheat as needed to keep your rats feed. The better your relationship with the country you want to trade, the better the prices. Also don’t depend on only trade for getting food, the prices will increase to the point it would be a financial suicide if you keep trading for only food.

100% recommend becoming best friends of the bunny country. Their food trades will keep you alive in the worst of times. Also you can get a good amount of money on stone trade + wood planks trades with them if you are over making those items in your kingdom.

MVP bunny kingdom.

Optional Food Sources

Wild wheat gardens

They look good on paper, but it’s better to use your gardens for flowers. Also as soon winter comes, you won’t be able to farm your gardens.

Bee farms

This is why I say flower gardens are better, bee farms make honey. It can be use as a good food source for your rats and you can use that honey to make beer (barrel + honey + water), that beer can be use on the tavern and your people get a bit of food and entertainment out of it.

Still, try to get a real farm flower garden once you unlock a water source, so you can keep the bee farms running with no problems.

Bunny farms

This is a good way to get milk or more bunnies for your butchers. But you will need a LOT of grass to keep the farm running. If you want to use the bunny farm build it after getting water source and unlocking the grass farm.

TLDR

Get at least 2 or 3 early game food sources that can carry you all the way to the late game. Build late game food sources as needed. Trade is a good way to get food if you seriously need it, but don’t rely on it.