Hearth and Hamlet: Best Research to Unlock First
Unlock food security, then Hunting scouting, before luxury magic in Hearth and Hamlet. First-hour research is a decision, not a copied demo tree. Costs stay
Last verified: August 20, 2026 — Hearth and Hamlet full release on Steam (app 4315040, launched August 19, 2026). Demo numbers are not treated as live data.
The first research you should buy in the full release is +10% fishing production if that node is up (one full-release run paid 500 food), then more food/worker nodes, then Hunting scouting before the first real raids. Magic academies and alchemy are not the first button.
First three jobs
| Priority | Unlock this kind of node | Live-build reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Food, worker capacity, or storage | People leave when food fails (community explanation of the loop) |
| 2 | Hunting scouting | Trivial–Extreme labels become usable; advanced scouting adds attack/defense |
| 3 | The next bottleneck you can actually see | Market/caravan if gold is the wall; Church line if zombies started |
Official loop: gather food, wood, stone, and gold; assign workers; build; research; set policies; trade; use magic; defend. The store also says research permanently unlocks buildings, policies, and magic. That is a menu, not a rush-magic instruction.
A full-release player already felt gathering was faster than the demo and that worker allocation mattered less. That is one report on the second difficulty. It does not mean you skip food research. It means you should not over-fit a demo worker ratio.
What “first” is not
- Not a copied Demo v1.0.46 tree.
- Not “open every Advisor quality-of-life node in the Manor before scouting.”
- Not rushing Magic Academy or alchemy shop items while food security is still Low.
If raids already show Extreme, skip vanity nodes and read How Many Soldiers Do You Need?. If the Cathedral quest is up, the Church upgrade is the building spend — research only if a node is a hard gate, which is not yet confirmed. See How to Unlock the Cathedral.
From Community Gameplay
- Hold-click, then pay 500 food for +10% fishing. Early runs treat that skilled-labor node as free value because it also speeds the click. (Campfire Kingdom, 07:28)
- Hunting then beats fishing. A hunting lodge with +2 base productivity pulled workers off fish until a later farm +50% node flipped it again. (Campfire Kingdom, 11:18; K full start, 18:59)
- Research Advisor is a quality-of-life buy, not a first combat node. It flags when a new page is affordable. Buy it when gold is not the wall. (K full start, 1:16:21)
How to pick when two nodes are affordable
Use the problem on screen:
- Food number falling → food / worker node.
- Raid banner up, labels useless → scouting.
- Market 3 done, one caravan gone → caravan research.
- Sanitation eating income → you likely need building upgrades, not a research guess. See Sanitation Guide.
Then continue the longer route on Best Research Order.
Sources
- Official Steam store: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4315040/
- Steam Community hub: https://steamcommunity.com/app/4315040/discussions/
- Enemy strength thread (scouting): https://steamcommunity.com/app/4315040/discussions/0/588435430711597783/
- Full-release run (fishing +10%): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQqbBSyw6-w
- Full-release start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKVkhtM3SuI
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