Settlement situations and changing offers

A named settlement does not own a permanent list of events. It can acquire temporary situations through events, contracts, crises or local conditions. The game’s town screen shows the current situation icons; some are tied to particular kinds of places, such as mines or fishing communities. Solving a contract or losing an attached site can change the town again.

What changes while a situation is active?

The table covers 42 situations with a documented player campaign route and uses their exact game icons. An effect such as “Recruit target ×0.5” multiplies the roster-update target; it does not mean half of the brothers currently visible disappear immediately. These are scripted modifiers, not today’s exact item count or quote. Several effects can combine with buildings, relations, attached sites and campaign rules.

For example, Seasonal Fair raises the recruit target and several stock categories, and adds Peddlers to the possible recruit pool. Rich Veins improves mineral stock but raises trading prices. A situation can also alter which backgrounds enter the hiring pool without a simple numeric multiplier. A row saying “no direct multiplier” may still matter to a story or contract.

“Script default duration” is the situation’s own starting value: 25 scripts set 2–7 days. The other 17 say Set by source because their base script has no built-in day count. A contract or world action can set a different expiry or remove the situation, so this column does not promise how many days remain in the town you visit.

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42 temporary settlement situations

Artwork	Situation	Scripted effect while active	Script default duration
	Abducted Children	Buying prices ×1.25; Selling prices ×0.75; Recruit target ×0.5	Set by source
	Ambushed Trade Routes	Buying prices ×1.2; Selling prices ×1.1; General stock ×0.75	Set by source
	Archery Contest	Recruit target ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Hunter, Poacher, Witchhunter, Sellsword, Beast Hunter	3 days (default)
	Tournament	Recruit pool may add Gladiator	5 days (default)
	Besieged	Buying prices ×1.25; Food prices ×2.0; Recruit target ×0.5; General stock ×0.5	Set by source
	Bread and Games	Food stock ×1.5; Food prices ×0.9; Recruit pool may add Gladiator	3 days (default)
	Ceremonial Season	Incense prices ×1.5	3 days (default)
	Collectors	Beast-part prices ×2.0; Recruit target ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Witchhunter, Beast Hunter, Anatomist	3 days (default)
	Conquered	Selling prices ×0.9; Buying prices ×1.1; General stock ×0.6; Food stock ×0.9	Set by source
	Cultist Procession	Recruit pool may add Cultist	2 days (default)
	Disappearing Villagers	Buying prices ×1.25; Selling prices ×0.75; Recruit target ×0.5	Set by source
	Disbanded Troops	General prices ×0.9; Recruit target ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Deserter, Militia, Sellsword, Retired Soldier, Squire, Hedge Knight	4 days (default)
	Drought	Food stock ×0.5; Food prices ×2.0; Recruit pool may add Farmhand	7 days (default)
	Full Nets	Food stock ×2.0; Food prices ×0.5	3 days (default)
	Good Harvest	Food stock ×2.0; Food prices ×0.5	7 days (default)
	Marauding Greenskins	General stock ×0.75; Recruit target ×0.75	Set by source
	High Spirits	Selling prices ×1.05; Buying prices ×0.95; General stock ×1.1	Set by source
	Hunting Season	Food stock ×2.0; Food prices ×0.5	5 days (default)
	Local Holiday	Selling prices ×1.05; Buying prices ×0.95; Food stock ×1.5; Food prices ×0.9	2 days (default)
	Lost at Sea	Food stock ×0.5; Food prices ×2.0; Recruit target ×0.5	4 days (default)
	Mine Cave In	Recruit target ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Miner	5 days (default)
	Mirage Sightings	No direct shop or recruit multiplier in this script	Set by source
	Moving Sands	Selling prices ×1.1; General stock ×0.85	Set by source
	Mustering Troops	General prices ×1.25; Recruit target ×0.5; General stock ×0.5	4 days (default)
	Preparing Feast	Food stock ×0.25; Food prices ×2.0	3 days (default)
	Public Executions	Food stock ×1.35; Food prices ×1.15; Recruit pool may add Executioner	2 days (default)
	Raided	Recruit target ×0.5; General stock ×0.5	4 days (default)
	Rebuilding Effort	Specialist-shop prices ×1.35; Specialist-shop stock ×0.5	5 days (default)
	Refugees	General stock ×0.9; Food stock ×0.75; Food prices ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Refugee	Set by source
	Rich Veins	Selling prices ×1.1; Buying prices ×1.1; Mineral stock multiplier set to 1.5	4 days (default)
	Safe Roads	General prices ×1.1; General stock ×1.1	Set by source
	Sand Storm	Buying prices ×1.2; Selling prices ×1.1; General stock ×0.75	3 days (default)
	Seasonal Fair	General prices ×1.25; General stock ×1.25; Food stock ×1.25; Medical stock ×1.25; Recruit target ×1.25; Recruit pool may add Peddler	3 days (default)
	Sickness	Food prices ×2.0; Medical prices ×3.0; Recruit target ×0.25	Set by source
	Slave Revolt	Recruit target ×0.75; General stock ×0.5	Set by source
	Snow Storms	Buying prices ×1.2; Selling prices ×1.1; General stock ×0.75	3 days (default)
	Terrified Villagers	Buying prices ×1.25; Selling prices ×0.75; Recruit target ×0.5	Set by source
	Terrifying Nightmares	Recruit target ×0.75	Set by source
	Unhold Attacks	Buying prices ×1.1; Selling prices ×0.9; General stock ×0.9; Recruit target ×0.75	Set by source
	Warehouse Burned Down	Buying prices ×1.25; Selling prices ×1.05; General stock ×0.5	5 days (default)
	Well Supplied	General prices ×0.9; General stock ×1.15	Set by source
	Witch Burnings	Food stock ×1.35; Food prices ×1.15; Recruit pool may add Witchhunter	3 days (default)

Which actions can create a situation?

The 1.5.2.3 scripts explicitly connect these 17 situations to a contract or world action. A contract often adds its situation to its home town while active; a success or failure screen can create a different one. These are known routes, not a fixed list of events for every generated town.

Situation	Scripted route
Abducted Children	Hunting Hexen contract at its home town.
Ambushed Trade Routes	Drive Away Bandits, Barbarians or Nomads, or Hunting Lindwurms contracts. The Nomad contract’s route has an additional day and chance condition.
Besieged	Siege Fortification, Break Greenskin Siege or Last Stand contracts.
Conquered	A settlement changes hands in world conquest or a siege.
Disappearing Villagers	Hunting Webknechts, Schrats or Roaming Beasts contracts at their home town.
Marauding Greenskins	Goblin or Orc camp, greenskin defense or marauding-greenskins contracts.
High Spirits	An Obtain Item contract result.
Mirage Sightings	Hunting Ifrits contract at its home town.
Moving Sands	Hunting Serpents contract; the home-town situation has a 50% roll.
Raided	World raid or destruction actions, or certain settlement-defense and attached-site contract outcomes.
Rebuilding Effort	A faction rebuilds a damaged attached location.
Safe Roads	A qualifying Patrol contract success screen has a 33% roll for the visited town or employer town.
Slave Revolt	Slave Uprising contract at its home town.
Terrified Villagers	An undead raid or Investigate Cemetery contract.
Terrifying Nightmares	Hunting Alps contract at its home town.
Unhold Attacks	Hunting Unholds contract at its home town.
Well Supplied	An Escort Caravan reaches its destination without losing carts.

Four event scenes report or extend a world change rather than cause it with Continue. Civil War Town Conquered reads news after a settlement has already changed hands; it does not add Conquered. The Greenskin and Undead Town Destroyed notices also report earlier world actions: with permanent destruction enabled, a non-southern town has already become ruins or an undead necropolis. If destruction is disabled or the target is southern, those actions instead apply Raided for 14 days and do not queue a destruction notice. Arena Tournament requires a southern town already showing Tournament, then refreshes it to five days before its response. The faction action below is a possible route for creating Tournament in a southern town with an arena.

Background changes by settlement type

The game’s background faction action lists 25 more situations. It selects a faction-owned settlement, then only proceeds if that town is more than 10 map tiles from your company, has fewer than two active situations, and has none of Raided, Conquered or Besieged, or a food-shortage status. A noble-house faction considers only military settlements. The action has an internal 2% roll, a second pool-size roll and competition with other faction actions; 2% is not a per-town daily chance. These are possible states, not ones a player can force by visiting.

Additional condition for the selected settlement	Situation candidates
A major crisis is active	Refugees, listed twice in the selection pool.
Game size 2 or larger	Warehouse Burned Down, Public Executions.
Size 2 or larger; not a city-state	Cultist Procession, Archery Contest. The Cultist origin adds another Procession entry.
Size 2 or larger; neither city-state nor military	Collectors. A Taxidermist adds two more entries to its weight.
Size 3 or larger; no Ambushed Trade Routes	Seasonal Fair.
Non-military	Local Holiday.
Non-military and not a city-state	Witch Burnings, Sickness.
Military	Mustering Troops.
Military, with no major crisis	Disbanded Troops; Preparing Feast if Ambushed Trade Routes is also absent.
Small or medium fishing village	Lost at Sea, Full Nets.
Steppe or farming village, or a city-state	Good Harvest; Drought only for the villages, not city-states.
Snow village	Snow Storms.
Small or medium mining village	Mine Cave In, Rich Veins.
Lumber village or forest fort	Hunting Season.
Non-southern settlement with a Temple	Ceremonial Season.
Southern settlement	Sand Storm.
Southern settlement with an Arena	Bread and Games unless a Tournament is active; Tournament after day 10 unless Bread and Games is active.

The random Refugees route supplies no expiry. In the 1.5.2.3 settlement script, the next situation cleanup removes a zero-expiry status unless an open or active contract references that exact instance. Entering the town runs this cleanup before refreshing recruits and shops, so random Refugees is not a guaranteed lasting town bonus. A contract-linked instance can remain while its contract references it.

Situations are not event-choice branches

An event is a scene where the company may choose a response; a situation is a condition attached to a town. A contract can create, remove or resolve a situation. A mining village can suffer a Mine Cave In or benefit from Rich Veins; a fishing settlement can experience Full Nets or Lost at Sea. Those are examples of relevant conditions, not a guarantee that every mine or fishing town gets them. For response-by-response story spoilers, use event choices. To compare possible town facilities and recruit targets, use settlement archetypes.