The Colonists has just arrived on consoles after being exclusive to PC for almost three years. The game is adorable and sees you help little robots who have fled a dying Earth to build a new civilization on a far away world. The game is meant to be relaxing, but missions have gold medals to get, and obviously, you want them.

To get a gold medal in mission three, you have to build a Medium Monument within two years. That may sound simple, but there are several hurdles you need to overcome, so knowing how to plan your colony and research is essential if you want that gold.

How To Start Mission Three - Build A Boat

You should immediately notice that the island you start on is very small. To build a Medium Monument you need Bricks, Iron, and Planks — the only resource out of those three that you can produce on your island is Planks. So, you need to build some ships so you can get to the two islands near you. Building a ship should be your first goal. As long as you build one within six months you should be fine getting the gold medal.

To start with, build a Well, a Sheep Farm, and two Residences. This will ensure your colony has a good supply of energy. Only build one thing at a time though — otherwise, resources get backed up and everything slows down. After this, focus on getting wood and stone from the available sources. You don’t have much space, so dedicate an area to reforestation and build your lumber bots around that. Build two more Residences and then build two Workshops to get on with research. This setup should ensure you have enough energy to research and produce logs and stone.

Research Science I first — this will speed up all of your future research, which is essential as you’re going to need a lot of new technologies to build a ship or Medium Monument. Next, research Construction Speed I to speed up the construction of all buildings. These two things will save you tremendous amounts of time if researched early, so do it. You now want to get a ship built as quickly as possible. You need Construction I to do that, so research Stonemasonry and Scaffolding I, then Construction I, then Boatbuilding I.

While you’re researching everything, expand your colony so that you have some open ocean available to you. You can only build Harbours and Boat Yards on the seafront, so make sure you have some spare. Once your colony has expanded and your research is complete. Get to building a boat. You’ll need 24 Plants for this, so it’s a good idea to set up a Sawmill and a Storage Yard requesting a load of Planks so that construction can begin immediately.

The Industrial Revolution - Getting Iron And Bricks

Once you’ve built a boat, you can use it to get resources from surrounding islands. There are only two, and you’ll need to get to both of them as each has resources you need. The smaller one has Iron and Coal, and the larger one has Clay. The Iron and Coal are both only available via Shaft Mines, so you’ll want to research Mining I and start producing Level 2 Energy. To do this, build an Orchard and an Apple Press to make Apple Juice. This is the only Beverage you can make without needing to do more research. Either build some Level 2 Residences or upgrade your existing ones. Make sure you then also upgrade your lumber and miner robots too, as they’ll need to run on Level 2 Energy now as well.

Both islands have resources that are essential to you, but the snowy one with Coal and Iron is the best to start on, as you’ll need more of their byproducts for research.  Just remember to build one thing at a time to stop your resources from being spread too thin and slowing everything down. Set up a Blast Furnace and a Blacksmith so you can make Iron and Tools, both will be required for building and Research. Set up a Storage Yard on your main island to accept Tools, Iron, and Coal, as you’ll be needing these for building and research.

Next, start work on the larger island. Build a second boat to ensure a proper trade route between both islands. You’ll need some lumber bots to clear the trees on the second island away as you have to go all the way to the top of the island to get to the Clay deposit. Researching Arrows to get Level two Watchtowers will be a great help here, as they have increased range. Clear a path to the Clay and start sending it back to your main island, you’ll need it to research Brickmaking I. Once you’ve researched this, you’ll unlock the Brickyard, the building that actually makes Bricks.

Some pointers for this part of the mission:

  • Research Science II to boost research speed even more Research the level two speed upgrades - Construction Speed II, Mining Speed II Research Cobbled Roads to unlock the Level one Road Layer Use the Road Layer to make cobbled roads out of Stone — your bots will now move faster

Do the above as and when possible, getting to the islands should still be your number one priority.

Building The Medium Monument

Now for the moment of truth. The Medium Monument requires Iron, Planks, and Bricks, all of which you should now have. It takes quite a long time to build, so after you’ve researched Construction II (the final technology required to actually build the thing) you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a constant stream of resources. To achieve this, research all the technologies that make mining and growing saplings faster, and also Engineering I, as this will make your boats 20% faster.

If you aren’t ready to start building for whatever reason, set up a Storage Yard next to where you plan to build the Monument and have it request Bricks, Iron, and Planks, so that you have a nice stockpile to get you started. It will be worth focusing all of your resources on the production of these materials, so don’t be afraid of letting some other areas of your colony falter if all you want is that shiny gold medal — for example, you could forgo reforestation if you just need some more Planks and you need them quickly.

If you follow this guide, you should get that gold medal in mission three with time to spare. You can keep playing once the mission is done to enjoy your settlement, or move on to the next mission.