Settlers are NPCs who join a settlement you build yourself and handle jobs such as chopping wood, farming and cooking. To get them in Necesse, place a Settlement Flag to start your settlement, then recruit the NPCs who visit it, live in villages or turn up out in the world. Every recruit costs coins, many also ask for items they like, and a few only appear after you beat a boss or finish a settlement quest.
| Settler | Visitor requirement | Recruitment requirement | Extra items they may ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alchemist | Complete "Kill Evil's Protector" | None | Firemone, Iceblossom, Mushroom, Sunflower, Wheat |
| Angler | None | None | Furfish, Halffish, Gobfish, Icefish, Rockfish, Swampfish, Terrorfish |
| Animal Keeper | None | Complete "Kill Evil's Protector" in an NPC village | Leather, Wool |
| Blacksmith | None | None | Copper Bar, Iron Bar, Gold Bar |
| Broken Pirate | Complete "Kill Reaper" | None | None |
| Explorer | Complete "Kill Pirate Captain" | None | Iron Ore, Quartz, Gold Ore |
| Farmer | None | None | Fertilizer, Sunflower, Wheat |
| Guard | None | None | Health Potion, Attack Speed Potion, Battle Potion, Health Regen Potion, Resistance Potion, Speed Potion |
| Gunsmith | Complete "Kill Evil's Protector" | None | Copper Bar, Iron Bar, Gold Bar |
| Hunter | Not a visitor | None when found out in the world; defeat an Ancient Vulture in an NPC village | Leather, Wool |
| Mage | Complete "Kill Void Wizard" | None when found trapped; defeat a Void Wizard in an NPC village | Recall Scroll, Travel Scroll |
| Miner | None | None | Copper Ore, Iron Ore, Gold Ore |
| Stylist | Complete "Kill Reaper" | None when found trapped; defeat a Pirate Captain in an NPC village | Leather, Wool |
| Trader | Complete "Kill Runebound Chieftain" | In an NPC village, obtain a Shipping Chest | None |
| Villager | None | None | Leather, Wheat, Wool |
Read the table in two parts. The visitor requirement decides whether a settler shows up at your settlement on their own. The recruitment requirement decides whether you can bring them in when you find them in a village or out in the world. The last column lists items a settler may ask for on top of coins, though not every settler asks for all of them.
Place a Settlement Flag to Start Your Settlement
Settlers need a settlement to join, so this comes first. You start next to a house that belongs to the Elder, and the storage box inside already holds a Settlement Flag. If you can't find one, you can craft a new flag.
- Open the storage box in the Elder's house and take the Settlement Flag.
- Place it anywhere on the surface.
- Name your settlement.
Placement matters less than you might think. Settlers do their jobs anywhere inside the settlement's bounds, which start at 80 by 80 tiles. The Elder arrives with the settlement and can defend it, but he doesn't do any work and doesn't need food, so he's easy to keep around.
Find Settlers at Your Settlement, in Villages and in the World
Settlers reach you in three ways. Some arrive at your settlement over time, and a visitor is marked with a question mark overhead. Others live in villages, dungeons and caves, and you can run into more while exploring. Either way, talk to the NPC to see whether they'll join and what they ask for.
The Hunter is usually the first settler you'll run into. It hunts critters, which gives you meat to cook, so it's a practical first pick. Because it doesn't visit on its own, you'll need to find it out in the world.
Two settlers appear in specific places. An Explorer can turn up in the Desert Caves once you've defeated the Void Wizard, and a Miner can appear in caves after you complete the "Kill Evil's Protector" quest. Explorers can be sent into caves and Miners on mining trips, so both save you some legwork.
Meet the Quest and Boss Requirements First
Some settlers won't show up, or won't join, until you've beaten a boss or finished a quest. The Elder hands out these settlement quests, and each one asks you to defeat a boss. They follow the order the game intends for boss progression, and each one also rewards items you can't get anywhere else.
Village recruitment adds its own checks. Four settlers need a boss beaten before you can take them from a village, and the Trader needs a Shipping Chest instead. If the settler you want is locked, the quest or boss named in the table is your next step.
Pay the Coins and Items Each Settler Asks For
Every recruit costs coins, and the amount depends on the settler and the offer. Talk to them to see the price before you commit, since costs vary from one settler to the next.
Many settlers also ask for items they like, which are the ones in the table's last column. These are possible extras, so an offer may include some of them and leave others out. Trading with some NPCs is one way to build up coins, so it's worth having a stash before you go looking for recruits.
Give Each Settler a Bed in an Enclosed Room
Every settler except the Elder needs a bed and food. Without a bed, a settler may protest and leave, so set one up as soon as someone joins. Beds are crafted from 10 of one type of Logs and 10 Wool at a Carpenter's Bench.
A bed needs a room. Build walls on all sides and add a door, since a room must be enclosed to count as indoors. A closed space larger than 500 internal tiles is treated as outdoors, so keep your rooms under that limit.
- Press C (the default key) to open the Settlement Interface.
- Click Settlers, then select the settler.
- Choose the option to assign them to a bed.
For your first settler, use the Elder's bed. The Elder respawns if he's killed and wears good armor, so he's far less likely to die than a new settler.
Sharing a sleeping area costs happiness. Settlers who share lose 20% for two, 30% for three, 40% for four and 50% for five or more. Giving each settler their own bed keeps that penalty off.
Feed Settlers From Settlement Storage
Settlers can't be fed directly. They only eat from chests or coolers assigned as settlement storage, so that's where the food has to go. Each settler uses 100 nutrition points every 20 minutes, and their hunger doesn't change with what they do, so an idle settler and a busy one eat at the same rate.
To set up storage:
- Place a chest or cooler close to where your settlers sleep and work.
- Right-click it and press the Settlement button at the top.
- Choose which items it accepts.
Placement matters. If the storage sits too far from their houses, settlers may not reach it, so keep it nearby.
Keep Settlers Happy With Room Size and Furniture
Happiness decides whether settlers keep working. A settler below 50% happiness will eventually go on strike until things improve, and hungry or unhappy settlers can leave. Happy settlers take shorter breaks, give better shop prices, and improve the Mage's chance of good enchantments.
A settler's room adds happiness in three ways. Room size counts the usable tiles inside the walls, not the walls themselves:
- 0 to 9 tiles: no bonus
- 10 to 19 tiles: +4%
- 20 to 24 tiles: +8%
- 25 to 29 tiles: +10%
- 30 to 39 tiles: +12%
- 40 to 49 tiles: +15%
- 50 to 59 tiles: +18%
- 60 tiles or more: +20%
A room with 49 usable tiles needs an outer size of 9 by 9, because the walls take up one tile on each side.
Furniture counts by type, not by piece. A second copy of the same type adds nothing, so a bed and a double bed count as one, and so do a desk and a modular table. One type gives +4%, and seven types give +20%. A bed, chair, candelabra, desk, toilet, dresser and flower pot covers all seven, and the candelabra also helps with the dark.
Floors and lights matter too. A room without a finished floor or a light source loses happiness, with each missing item costing 10%.
Your settlement's size also matters. The happiness bonus from settlement size shrinks by 10% at each step up as you add settlers, so bigger rooms and more furniture types help make up the difference. For the best results, aim for 90% happiness or higher.
Serve Better Food and More Variety
Food is one of the easiest ways to raise happiness once your rooms are set. Quality adds +10% for Simple food, +20% for Fine and +35% for Gourmet. Variety stacks on top: 2 to 4 kinds of food add +10%, 5 to 7 add +20%, 8 to 11 add +30%, and 12 or more add +40%.
Use the Diets button in the Settlement Interface to choose which foods your settlers can eat. Limit them to Gourmet dishes when possible, and keep at least 12 kinds available for variety. Five gourmet foods that take few materials are Sweet Lemonade, Blueberry Cake, Root Salad, Tropical Stew and Fresh Potato Salad, which makes them a good starting set.
Settlers can cook these themselves. Right-click a cooking station, press the Settlement button at the top, and use Add Recipe to pick the dishes you want them to make. If you're making more food than your settlers eat, sell the extra for coins, and keep a mix of dishes stocked so variety doesn't drop.
Late-Game Option: Settlers From Incursion Tablets
If a settler is hard to find, the late game offers another route. In the Incursion perk tree, the Tier 5 perk "A Second Chance" costs 200 Altar Dust. Once you unlock it, Incursion tablets dropped during Incursions can carry a settler as their reward. It's a chance rather than a guaranteed drop, so expect to run Incursions more than once.
