The Oregon Trail: American Settler Walkthrough

The Oregon Trail: American Settler lets you have the full frontier experience in this spin-off to the classic The Oregon Trail. Chop wood, build houses and shops, raise animals, and tend to the farm while collecting rent and building an amazing and productive town to settle down in. Help your pioneers stay healthy and away from danger. Gamezebo’s quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game.

Game Introduction – The Oregon Trail: American Settler

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

The Oregon Trail: American Settler is a free application and can be found by clicking on the “Play Now” button at the top of this page.

Select your character – Choose between a male and female character by tapping on it.

Push Notifications – Next you will be asked to accept or deny push notifications for your device. If you choose “yes” you will be notified when you energy meter has completely replenished.
You can change these settings at any time in the settings area of your device under “apps” or in the “Options” area of the game found at the main menu.

Game Settings – Tap on the small bag at the bottom right hand corner until the menu expands vertically. Tap on the top icon to bring up the main menu shown in image above. Here you can change settings and toggle notifications on or off as well as get game help.
Social – You can also associate your game with your Gameloft Live, Twitter, or Facebook accounts which allows you to post game accomplishments and invite others to play.

Screen Navigation

Tap on any item in the scene to get more details about it. If an item is undergoing a timed procedure such as farming or crafting tapping on the item will show a clock counting down.
If you see an arrow on either side of the screen you can tap on those to move to the next screen.
If a dialogue screen is in place tap on it to close it.

Navigation Menu – To access the navigation menu tap on the small satchel icon at the bottom right of the screen and the menu will expand vertically. You will then see five icons. (Listed from top to bottom)
Main Menu – Tap on the top icon which is a stopwatch to access the main menu. Here you can toggle the game settings.
Grid View – Here you can tap on the objects by touching the grid instead of the object itself. To go back to normal view tap on the icon again.
Inventory – The crate icon will give you access to your inventory. Crafted items or purchased items will be placed and found here.
Move icon – Tap here to rearrange your town
Game Store – Tap on the final icon to open the game store. This will allow you to purchase buildings, animals, farming materials and more. (See “Game store” below for more information.)

Game Currency

There are two types of currency used in the game.
Currency indicators are shown along the top left of the screen.
Tap on either indicator to be brought to a purchase screen.
Coins – This is the main game currency which is used when you collect rent from properties or collect for various quests, crops, etc. You will start out with 2,000 coins.
Settler Cash – This is the high end premium currency of the game. Here you can purchase houses, and buildings that will earn more money for you as well as attract more population. You can also use this currency to decrease the amount of time left on a timed job. Tap on a building or other structure and if there is a way to pay with cash to decrease the time it will be shown there. Simply tap on the button of whatever you want purchase.
You are given 15 free Settler cash when you begin the game.
You can win free ones from time to time when you complete major quests.

How to purchase additional currency – You can purchase each type of currency but you will have to purchase Settler bucks first using real currency and use that to purchase coins.
Tap on the Settler cash indicator at the top left of your game screen and a menu will appear giving you the option of purchasing bundles of currency ranging in price from .99 cents to 99 dollars. This purchase will be charged to your iTunes account and will count as an in app purchase.

Free Cash – You can earn free cash by tapping on the currency indicator or on the main menu. Here you will see a “Free Cash” button. Tap on this and you can watch videos of different apps. Watching these very short videos will earn you one cash dollar. There are at least three different videos available.

Energy

You must use energy to perform all tasks on the frontier.
The energy indicator is located at the top center of the game and is represented by a blue lightning bolt icon.
You will start out with a maximum of 20 energy and as you level up this maximum will increase.
Each action deducts one energy from your running total.
Energy regenerates at a rate of one point every three minutes.

What to do when you run out of energy – When you run out you have a couple of options.
Wait – You can leave the game and if you have push notifications enabled it will contact you when the meter is full again.
Purchase more – You can use your cash to purchase more.
Ask your friends – This will only work if you are signed into social networks. Friends can send you one energy point once every 24 hours.
Level up – Each time you level up you will earn a full energy meter refill. If you can purchase a few houses or shops you may be able to level up depending on how far along you are.

XP/Happiness/Morale Indicator

XP or Experience Points – These are represented by sheriff stars in the game and the level/XP indicator is located at the top right of the game screen. Each time you fill up this meter you will level up which unlocks more items in the shop and gives you a coin or XP reward.
Each time you perform an action requiring energy you will earn an XP point.

Happiness/Morale – Your town has a morale level and each time you perform an action such as build a house or shop you will earn one morale point. These are seen as smiley faces in the game.
Morale Indicator – There is a tiny smiley face at the top left corner of the screen. Tap on this to see your current population, population maximum, and morale level of your town. If it is low keep adding shops and items to your town. If your population is low add houses and shops so more people will move in.

Gathering Resources/Wood Meter

You will have to live off the land to survive. Buildings will require you to chop wood.
Chopping and gathering Wood – Tap on a tree to chop it down. Each chop will cost one energy point and most trees take five to seven chops to get rid of. You can also tap on stumps and will get the wood from them as well.
The wood you gather shows at the top center of the screen. If you run out of wood you can always purchase more for cash especially if you are out of energy.
Whenever you purchase a building or house it will stop you if you don’t have enough wood to do so.
It is a good idea to clear out trees as much as possible.

Quests/Letters

Quests are tasks you will be asked to do and rewarded with cash, coins, and XP when completed.
Letters – You will see various townspeople holding letters which show as envelope icons over their heads. Tap on these people and your avatar will walk to them and a quest will be revealed along with storyline.

Quests – Usually the quest has several parts to it. All quests get you closer to finishing your town and have a tutorial value.
No more than two quests at a time are active and when you finish a quest a new one will appear in its place.

Quest menu – There is a small envelope icon at the bottom left of the game screen. Tap on it and it will expand to show an icon representing each quest. Tap on these buttons to revisit a quest if you need to.
Some quests will offer the ability to pay cash in order to skip them or mark them instantly completed.

“Take Your Chances”

Once you hit level 10 a new feature appears in the game. This is called, “Take your Chances”
You will see a brief animation of a disaster such as a fire, stampede, etc.
You will then be given three choices as to what to do.
You can take your chances and do nothing hoping nothing more comes of it this costs you nothing but could cost you more later if you have a lot of damage.
You can pay in coins for the middle choice which can help reduce damage.
You can pay in cash and completely avoid damage or disaster.
If you have damage you will have to pay to repair it.
Note that some will ask for materials as payment instead of currency.

If you have a damaged house you will see a broken animation above it. Tap on it and you will repair it for one energy point and you will earn one XP.
You may also have damaged crops or lose animals. If you lose a crop you will have to plow it and then replant it at your expense.
You will have to decide what kind of gamble you are willing to take with your town.

Game Store

To access the game store tap on the satchel icon in the lower right corner to expand the menu. Then tap on the bottom icon top open the store menu.
Along the top you will see many tabs that break the store into categories. This will include houses, farming, animals, shops, decorations, special items, expansions.
Tap on the category and any items unlocked to you will be shown. As you level up even more items will unlock.
Tap on the item you want once and the stats of that item will show in the panel at the bottom left.
Tap again to purchase the item and the window will turn a pink color.
Now you will appear back in the town.
See the next section for how to place items you purchase in the shop.

Building Structures

Placing structures on land is fairly easy. You will need to visit the shop and pick out the items you want and when you tap on it the second time you will be taken back to the land.
You will see the item either showing as red or green with buttons under it.
Use your fingertip to move the item where you want it and it must be green to be placed.
Once you have the correct placement tap on the green check mark to lock it in.
If you change your mind simply tap on the red “X” to cancel the transaction.

Building – Once you place a building you will see its framework on the ground. You will need to tap on it a few more times to build it. Each tap will cost an energy point and you will need a certain amount of wood to complete the building.
Once the building is done it will immediately have taxes ready for collection. Tap on it to collect them and the countdown starts again.

Tap on a building at any time to see how much time until its next collection is available.
Rearrange your Town – If at any time you want to rearrange your town tap on the blue crossed arrows icon in the navigation menu. This will allow you to tap on multiple items and move them. When you are finished tap on the bent arrow icon to save changes. You may also want to put the game in grid mode to make it easier to fit items on the land efficiently.

Collecting Taxes and Goods

Once taxes are due you will see a coin icon spinning over the structure.
Simply tap on it to collect and the countdown begins again.
The more you collect the more money you will have over time.
More expensive buildings take longer but earn more money.
Some buildings give money ever thirty seconds and some only once a day.

Collect rewards – After you tap on a structure to collect you will see icons appear and land on the ground.
Tap on these to add them to your totals or they will go there on their own if you decide not to tap them.
Sheriff Star – XP
Coin – Coins
Smiley – Morale Points
Meat – Food
Lightning Bolt – Energy Point
Log – Wood

Crafting Items

? Certain buildings such as the infirmary will allow you to craft items inside of them.

? You will need to craft certain items in order to build future buildings as you level up in the game.

? Crafting items requires either wood, food or other materials to complete along with money and time.

? Tap on the building to bring up the crafting menu.

? Tap on the item once to see its statistics in the window at far left.

? Tap a second time to start crafting the item.

? Once completed you will see an icon over the building. Tap on it and collect the crafted item into inventory until you are ready to use it.

? Try to keep an item crafting at all times when possible. Plan ahead to see what you will need.

Animals

Animals are an important part of survival as they provide a portion of the food for your town.

Animals are found in the game store under the animal tab which is the sixth tab from the left.
The first animals you can place are chickens and then pigs, ducks, sheep, donkey, and more.
Each animal will produce food at different intervals.
When it is time to collect you will see a food icon over their heads. Tap to collect and you will have food enter the food meter at the top of the screen.
You will need this food to stock various buildings such as the farmer’s market. When you see the food icon over a building this means it needs to be stocked with food.
You always have the option to purchase more food with cash any time you are out.

Farming

Farming is first introduced as a quest.
You will need to purchase plots of land to plant crops on first.
These plots are found in the game shop under the farming tab which is the fourth tab from the left.
After you place plots tap on one and the farm menu will appear for you again.

Tap on a crop once and its stats will be shown on the left.
Tap a second time and the crop will be planted.
If you tap on another plot immediately the same crop will be planted and you should see the crop in a window at the upper right corner.

Harvesting Crops – Each crop will take a certain amount of time to mature.
Once mature it will flash to get your attention.
Tap on a crop to collect food and XP.
It is wise to always have crops growing.
When you start out only grow short term crops as there are several quests associated with them in the first few levels.
If you do not harvest your crops on time they will wither and you will lose money invested as well as energy. Crops can be regenerated if they wither using Settler cash

Pioneers

Pioneers are walking all over the town and as you add more buildings more will appear. From time to time a crisis will occur and you will have to help.
When the crisis appears you will have options as to how to handle it.
You may be asked to spend cash, coins or materials for the best outcome.
If you make a good choice you will earn the highest reward possible.
This outcome is announced to you right away once you make a decision.
You are given a certain amount of time to complete the quest and a countdown clock is available.

If you choose to help later a red infirmary cross icon will appear over the head of that pioneer until you help him or her.
If you wait too long more than one pioneer may get sick and you will have several to cure.
Be sure to craft medication in the infirmary and have it on hand in your inventory to help sick pioneers from dysentery and other maladies.

Visiting Neighbors

You have the option to see the towns of other players if you wish and to ask them for energy once every 24 hours.
In order to visit neighbors you must be signed into at least your Facebook account or one of your other supported social network accounts.
Once you successfully log in:
You will be taken to a screen with several signs.
Tap on the first sign to visit a nearby town.
Tap on the second sign to return to your town.
Tap on the third sign to visit the town of a random player.
Tap on the final sign to invite friends to play or to visit the town of a friend that you know.
Note – You may need to create a user account for Gameloft in order to visit neighbors. You can do this free through the app and can access it by tapping on the icon in the upper right corner of the game screen at any time. There are also forums and links to other great games here.

Congratulations!

You have completed the basic game play guide for The Oregon Trail: American Settler. Be sure to check back often for game updates, staff and user reviews, user tips, forum comments and much more here at Gamezebo!