Printing and Publishing Guide

If you want books, paper, or punchcards, the printing chain is where your colony turns raw industry into useful late-game output. The catch is that the Printing Press is power-hungry, so you need to unlock the chain in the right order, feed it reliably, and keep it from starving your pumps or other critical buildings. Start with paper production, then build the press into a compact industrial network that your hauling and power grids can actually support.

Unlock the printing chain in the right order

Treat printing as an industry for the Folktails faction. The Paper Mill is the first building you need to bring online, because it supplies the Printing Press. As of Update 5, the Paper Mill is exclusive to the Folktails faction, and the Printing Press later became associated with the Folktails faction as well. The chain produces Paper, Books, and Punchcards (alt 2), so don’t rush it before your basic food, water, and power systems are stable.

Here is the chain at a glance:

Use that table as your planning reference, but remember the practical rule: get the Paper Mill running first, then scale into the Printing Press products only when you have enough power and logistics to keep the line moving.

Set up the Paper Mill before you build around the Press

Build the Paper Mill as the foundation of the supply chain. The building was introduced during Open Alpha, had a different model before Early Access Patch 2021-10-07, and even has an obsolete Iron Teeth variant in legacy image assets. What matters now is that paper production exists before you commit workers and power to the Printing Press.

In practice, that means you should treat the Paper Mill as a prerequisite, not a side project. Place it where it can be supported by your existing industry, and then build outward from there. If you try to force the Printing Press into your settlement before paper is available, you’ll just create a dead-end factory that ties up space and labor.

Feed the Printing Press with enough power and a short grid

The Printing Press consumes 150 horsepower while active, which puts it in the same power-hungry class as the Smelter and Explosives Factory. That makes power planning the real bottleneck. You’ll get the best results if you run the press when generation is strong, such as during wet seasons when Water Wheels produce maximum output, and pause it when the grid gets tight.

Do not stretch your network just to reach the Press. Power Shafts can transmit power over distance, but long shaft runs add cost and clutter, and they create more ways for your industrial area to become messy and hard to expand. Instead, place the Printing Press close to reliable power or close to your Water Wheels and keep the transmission path short. If power becomes strained, pause the Printing Press before it starts competing with pumps and other survival-critical buildings.

Place the press where hauling can keep up

The Printing Press works best inside a production cluster, not on the edge of your district. Group it with linked supply buildings and local storage so workers and haulers can move goods quickly. A nearby Large Warehouse or Small Warehouse and a Hauling Post will make a bigger difference than most players expect, because the press only helps you if its output can be cleared efficiently.

Leave a 2–3 tile buffer around the production core so you have room for future expansion and access. That little bit of breathing room matters later when you want to add more storage, another machine, or more paths without tearing up the whole district. If you cram the Press into a tight corner, you’ll usually regret it once the chain grows.

Solve the bottleneck before it stops your line

The Printing Press can idle if internal storage or nearby warehouse capacity fills up. When that happens, the problem is often not worker count. It is usually storage, hauling, or production balance. If you keep producing without enough warehouse space, the press backs up and your workers waste time standing around.

Plan for more storage than you think you need, and use storage limits so low-priority goods do not clog your warehouses. A press that cannot deposit output is just a power drain. If your hauling network is weak, strengthen that first. If your storage is full, add more capacity first. If your production ratios are off, tighten them before expanding further. The goal is steady throughput, not a building that runs hot for a few days and then stalls.

Scale the chain carefully and pause it when the colony is under strain

The Printing Press belongs in the “only when everything else is stable” category. It is one of the most power-hungry production buildings in the game, and it should be treated as optional industry during droughts and other shortages. When water flow drops and the grid tightens, pause the Printing Press so pumps and emergency systems stay online.

This is especially important because the building has changed visual assets over time, including an obsolete Iron Teeth model, but its role in your colony never changes: it is a luxury until your infrastructure can support it. Expand printing only when your power network, storage, and hauling can absorb the extra load. If your colony is under strain, stop the press first and restart it only after basic survival systems are secure.

A simple rule helps here: if your water system is in trouble, your printing industry is not the priority. Keep your pumps running, keep your beavers supplied, and let the press wait.

Keep the production core efficient

Once the chain is online, your best gains come from keeping the whole area tight and organized. Build the Paper Mill, Printing Press, storage, and Hauling Post as one compact cluster. Keep your power source close, keep your paths short, and keep enough space for upgrades later. That setup reduces walking, lowers idle time, and makes it much easier to pause or resume the chain during seasonal swings.

If you are deciding what to build first, prioritize the infrastructure that prevents collapse: storage, hauling, and reliable power. The Printing Press is valuable, but only after the colony can support it. Build in that order, and the chain will pay you back instead of becoming another hungry machine that strains your district.