Early Game Guide

Early Game Guide for Cult of the Lamb (CotL). This includes tutorials, best early game food, what to unlock first and how to maintain followers.

Cult of the Lamb Basics

This guide shows what you'll need to know and should look out for in the early stages of the game.

Hunger

The most important factor is Hunger, which depletes faster than the other gauges. You should mainly cook foods that don't require rare ingredients but won't deplete Faith or cause sickness. The followers' poop and vomit are easy to clean up so you don't need to worry about those effects.

Best Early Game Food	Effect
Basic Berry Bowl	▼15% chance of the follower pooping instantly.
Meager Mixed Meal	▲10% chance of increasing Follower loyalty.
Tatsy Fish Meal	▲25% chance of dropping valuable resources ▼15% chance of the follower vomiting instantly.
Hearty Meat Broth	▲25% chance of dropping valuable resources ▼15% chance of the follower pooping instantly.

Grass Eater Trait

Grassy Gruel is a food that only requires (5) grass but comes with negative effects. By using the Doctrine to unlock the Grass Eater Trait (Sustenance II) you can cancel out the negative effects of Grassy gruel and easily keep your followers full in the early stage of the game.

Farming

You can also invest Devotion in the Divine Inspiration tree for farming related buildings to produce food resources, but the Farming Bundle is all you really need in the early game. So we recommend prioritizing other buildings once you unlock the Farming Bundle.

Sickness

Sanitation is also a necessity for your cult and leaving followers' poop and vomit will increase their chances of them becoming sick. Building the Outhouse and Janitor Station as soon as you can will help keep the cult clean and safe from sickness.

Buildings	Effect
Janitor Station	A building that allows Followers to clean up their own mess.
Outhouse	Gives your Followers somewhere to relive themselves

Faith

Faith also plays a crucial part in your cult. Performing Sermons and Rituals every day will maintain a high Faith in your cult. The Bonfire Ritual is the first ritual you'll unlock so remember to use it when your cult's Faith decreases. Remember to always destroy and collect bones during crusades as it is the main requirement for Rituals.

Rituals	Effect
Bonfire Ritual	Light the fire and let us dance deep into the night.

Loyalty

The higher the loyalty level your Followers have, the more Devotion they generate, which allows you to unlock abilities and buildings faster. They also give you Commandment Stone Fragments, which will be needed to declare new Doctrines. Always remember to give your followers Blessings once you unlock it as it increases Loyalty quickly at lower levels.

What to Unlock First

Doctrines

When you get 3 Commandment Stone Fragments, you can declare a new Doctrine. These are some of the Doctrines we recommend you unlock first when you start a new cult.

Doctrines	Ritual/Trait	Effect
Afterlife I	Belief in Afterlife Trait	Lose -5 Faith when a Follower dies instead of -20.
Work & Worship I	Faithful Trait	Generate Devotion 15% faster.
Sustenance I/II	Ritual Fast	Followers will not need to eat for 3 days.
	Grass Eater Trait	No negative faith when a follower eats a meal made from grass.

Sustenance I - Ritual Fast

Early on in the game, Feasting Ritual is another option that is very useful as it takes care of Hunger and increases Faith simultaneously. However, Ritual Fast is more beneficial in the late game since it'll allow you to go on long crusades without worrying about your followers. Whichever you choose, it should be one of the first Doctrines to unlock.

Divine Inspiration

You will start to get more options as you unlock more buildings. See below for some of the buildings you should aim to unlock first early in the game. We generally recommend buildings that increase productivity as it will make a bigger difference in the long run.

Offering Statue

Unlocking Offering Statue gives you extra resources throughout the game, and it's especially helpful in your early gameplay. This is also a pre-requisite to unlock the Cheaper Rituals, so make sure to unlock this first.

Cheaper Rituals

Cheaper Rituals will cut the resources required for rituals to half, which will make a huge difference in the long run since you will be performing rituals regardless of your play style.

Confession Booth

Confession Booth increases your follower's loyalty boost and can be used once a day. This increases loyalty far more than blessings and is free to use, so there's no reason to pass on this.

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