Timberborn Factions Guide - Folktails vs Iron Teeth

Timberborn can be a pretty complicated game. That's why, alongside so many other things, you have to figure out how Timberborn factions work early on. Here's what you should know

Timberborn Factions Guide 

To unlock the Iron teeth faction you must have an average of 8 points of well-being. These are comprised of multiple different things, such as social life, spirituality, and hunger, to name a few. 

The biggest difference between Folktails and Iron Teeth is the style in infrastructure. Folktails use a lighter wood, and look overall just more like a woody structure in nature, whereas Iron Teeth’s infrastructure is industrial. All of it is significantly darker and more cramped. 

What are the differences between the factions in Timberborn?

The way that they breed is different. Folktails breed by using lodging, whereas Iron Teeth use pods. This can be seen as difficult as it means that there’s no guarantee you will get beavers easily the same way you can with Folktails. With the pods, it means that once a kit is placed inside the pod, the adults are responsible for bringing them food and water, and it can be a lot more difficult to grow the population. This means that lodging isn’t that important to the Iron Teeth, as their lodging isn’t guaranteed to give them the comfort that they need. To grow a kit for the Iron Teeth it means that you have to have access to berries to be able to add to your population, so it is a must to be near berries or plant some before you grow your population.

Whilst the log piles between factions hold the same amount of wood and have the same footprint, the Iron Teeth can stack them on top of each other. Whilst this may be seen as a bonus in terms of space, it can also be a detriment to supplies, as it now costs lumber to build. For the Folktails, it is completely free to build the log piles, but they cannot be stacked. 

Whilst the vast majority of Folktails structures require wood, the Iron Teeth buildings require wood and/or metal, which can make it very hard for some people to get started with their faction. Depending on what kind of map you start off with, metal may not be available until you are able to expand, which can make it a lot harder to get power, as windmills are not available for the Iron Teeth, and their engines require metal. 

There are a lot of buildings that each faction don’t have access to, which can make it seemingly difficult in both factions. Below is a list of all the Folktail exclusive buildings, followed by the Iron Teeth exclusive buildings.

• All Lodges
• Windmills
• Underground Warehouse
• Irrigation Tower
• Water Pump
• Beehive
• Scarecrow

Iron Teeth exclusive buildings:

• Rowhouses
• Barracks
• Breeding Pods
• Industrial log pile
• Deep Water Pump
• Engine
• Shredder

Overall, there is no way to decide which faction has more difficulty, as there are certain factors that affect both of them differently. Folktails need plenty of access to wood, which can be difficult when dry season hits. For the Iron Teeth, they need metal, which can be hard to access early game, limiting the number of buildings you have access to. Let us know which faction you think is harder!