How to Play Oregon Trail: American Settler Game
Oregon Trail: American Settler is a fun, highly addictive app. The game is fairly new and there are few directions built into the game. Oregon Trail: American Settler is all about surviving and, hopefully, thriving in a new town. You will build the town from the ground up. There are opportunities to gain citizens, land, houses, buildings, animals and more through your actions.
The game can be played for free, which is how I play, but the pace is slower. Should you want to speed up the game, you have to pay for the privilege.
How to collect rent
Tap your finger on any building that has a yellow coin with a red dollar sign over it. Your person will go to that building and collect rent. A coin, badge, and a smiley face will appear. Touch each item so that they will go into your resources at the top of the screen. As you click on each item, it will tell you the amount you earned. For instance, when I click on a moderate house, I earn 105 coins, 1 badge (or XP), and 3 morale (smiley faces). The amount you collect can depend on your location. If the area surrounding the building has decoration by it, this will increase the rent. The more decorations around the building, the more rent.
How to build a building
To build a building, touch the brown bag in the right corner of your screen. The brown bag will open revealing several icons. Touch the yellow basket with corn and a carrot in it. This will bring you to the area where you can make purchases. There are tabs at the top of this screen showing you the different types of items you can purchase. Should you want to build a workshop you would touch the little wooden building with the blue and white awning and the coin sitting on the awning. This will bring you to buildings that you can purchase. The third building on the left is the workshop. It can be purchased for $1200 coins. Building a workshop will allow you to make supplies that you will need like mallets, paper, guns, fire, worms, buckets, cloths, horseshoes, bricks, and hand drills. To purchase the workshop touch the workshop. It will then show the workshop on the left hand side and tell you how much it costs (or what it takes to build it). The workshop costs 1200 coins and 20 in lumber. It also takes 5 people to build it. The effect is that it produces items. To purchase the item, touch the workshop again. It will bring you to your main screen and show the workshop on a red or green pad. Drag the workshop to the area you would like it to sit. If you have selected an area that works, the pad will be green. If the area is not available the pad will be red. Continue dragging the house until the pad turns green. Touch the green check mark to accept placement. If you decide not to purchase the workshop after all, touch the red x to cancel the purchase. Once placed, your person will immediately go to the location and start building. However, it won’t be finished with one energy. Once your person stops building, touch the location again to continue building. It will take three energy to build the workshop.
What houses are best
I created the below table to figure out what houses would yield the most rent at the lowest cost. I created a table that included the cost of each house, how much rent that house would yield, how many minutes it took to collect rent, the cost of rent compared to the cost to build the house, and the rent per minute. As you can see from the below table, the shanty actually yields the most rent in the shortest amount of time and they are the cheapest to build. However, to get this effect you would have to continually collect rent from the shany's every minute. If you do not collect the rent does not accumulate. If you step away for 24 hours and come back you will only have collected $22 in rent from one shanty.
Housing Calculation
House
| Cost
| Rent
| Minutes
| Cost per Rent
| Rent Per Minute
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shanty
| 400
| 22
| 1
| 18.18
| 22
|
Small House
| 780
| 42
| 3
| 18.57
| 14
|
Moderate House
| 1,500
| 88
| 10
| 17.05
| 8.8
|
Log Cabin
| 2,000
| 140
| 20
| 14.29
| 7
|
Cabin
| 2,500
| 155
| 25
| 16.13
| 6.2
|
Large House
| 4,000
| 290
| 180
| 13.79
| 1.61
|
Hideout Shack
| 9,900
| 1,550
| 1,740
| 6.39
| 0.89
|
Teepee
| 1,600
| 90
| 10
| 17.78
| 9
|
Barracks
| 3,900
| 280
| 120
| 13.93
| 2.33
|
Hideout House
| 5,500
| 475
| 480
| 11.58
| 0.99
|
Luxury House
| 9,100
| 1,200
| 1,200
| 7.58
| 1
|
Fort
| 5,200
| 425
| 420
| 12.24
| 1.01
|
Farm House
| 6,500
| 600
| 720
| 10.83
| 0.83
|
Grand House
| 50,000
| 1,700
| 2,880
| 29.41
| 0.59
|
Big Log Cabin
| 55,000
| 2,000
| 2,880
| 27.5
| 0.69
|
Chalet
| 65,000
| 2,500
| 2,160
| 26
| 1.16
|
Family House
| 105,000
| 1,800
| 2,160
| 58.33
| 0.83
|
Mayoral Mansion
| 120,000
| 2,400
| 2,880
| 50
| 0.83
|
Tree House
| 150,000
| 1,800
| 1,440
| 83.33
| 1.25
|
How to make supplies
To make supplies, you must have a workshop. Should you wish to make supplies, touch an available workshop. A screen will pop up showing the supplies that can be made. Click on a supply once to see what it takes to make the supply. The left side of the screen will show the item, the cost, and how long it takes to produce that item. If you want to make worms to use for fishing, touch the worm once. The worm will then show up on the left hand side of the screen with the cost below it. It takes 50 coins and 25 food to make a worm. It will also be 30 minutes before that worm is ready. To start making the worm, click the worm a second time. The workshop will begin making the worm. That workshop will not be available for use for 30 minutes while your worm is being made. To see how much time is left before your worm is ready, simply touch that workshop again. The timer will pop up. Should you wish to speed up the process you can select cash sign below the timer. If I wanted to spend 3 dollars, my worm would be ready immediately.
How to fish
Before you fish you will have to make some worms. Then, touch the water and your man or woman will go to the water and cast your fishing pole into the water. When the bobber starts bobbing, tap the bobber once with your finger and then swipe your finger from left to right to reel it in. A chicken leg will show up on the screen indicating the food you have collected. Touch the chicken leg to collect your food and it will be added to your food total at the top of the screen.
How to grow crops
To grow a crop touch a brown square of dirt. This will bring you to the food you can grow. Click on a crop once to see how much it costs to grow the crop, how much food you will receive, and how long it will take. If you want to grow tomatoes, touch the tomatoes once. The tomatoes will then show up on the left hand side of the screen with the cost below it. It takes 10 coins to grow tomatoes. It will also be 1 minute before the tomatoes are ripe. To start growing the tomatoes, click the tomatoes a second time. The tomatoes will begin growing.
What crops are best
I created the below table to figure out what crops would yield the most food at the lowest cost. I created a table that included the cost of each food, how much food that would yield (the food effect), how many minutes it took to grow, the cost per food effect, the cost per minute, and the food effect per minute. As you can see from the below table, the tomatoes actually yield the most food in the shortest amount of time and they are the cheapest to grow. However, to get this effect you would have to plant, grow, and harvest tomatoes every minute.
Food Calculation
Food
| Cost
| Food Effect
| Minutes
| Cost per Food Effect
| Cost per Minute
| Food Effect Per Minute
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tomatoes
| 10
| 8
| 1
| 1.25
| 10
| 8
|
Carrots
| 20
| 14
| 3
| 1.43
| 6.67
| 4.67
|
Corn
| 80
| 32
| 60
| 2.5
| 1.33
| 0.53
|
Maize
| 160
| 52
| 300
| 3.08
| 0.53
| 0.17
|
Eggplant
| 275
| 72
| 1440
| 3.82
| 0.19
| 0.05
|
Pumpkins
| 35
| 20
| 5
| 1.75
| 7
| 4
|
Potatoes
| 100
| 38
| 120
| 2.63
| 0.83
| 0.32
|
Poinsettia
| 120
| 40
| 240
| 3
| 0.5
| 0.17
|
Lettuce
| 195
| 60
| 480
| 3.25
| 0.41
| 0.13
|
Beans
| 50
| 26
| 15
| 1.92
| 3.33
| 1.73
|
Cabbage
| 145
| 50
| 240
| 2.9
| 0.6
| 0.21
|
Red Peppers
| 160
| 60
| 360
| 2.67
| 0.44
| 0.17
|
White Pumpkin
| 280
| 55
| 1200
| 5.09
| 0.23
| 0.05
|
Cotton
| 170
| 55
| 360
| 3.09
| 0.47
| 0.15
|
Summer Squash
| 250
| 60
| 360
| 4.17
| 0.69
| 0.17
|
Wheat
| 340
| 80
| 2880
| 4.25
| 0.12
| 0.03
|
Strawberry
| 2000
| 120
| 1440
| 16.67
| 1.39
| 0.08
|
How to collect food
You can collect food from fishing, from your animals, or from your crops. To collect food from your crops, simply touch the full grown crop. Your person will go to the crop and begin harvesting. Once the crop from that area has been harvested a little chicken leg will appear on the screen. Touch the chicken leg so that the food collected will go into your resources.
Any animals that have a chicken leg in a green bubble over their heads are ready to provide food. Simply touch the animal. Your person will go to the animal and begin collecting food. Once your person is done collecting the food a little silver badge and a chicken leg will appear. Touch both items so that they will go into your resources at the top of the screen. As you touch each item it will show you how much you have earned. For instance, when I collect food from a pig I will collect 1XP (badge) and 10 food.
How to make medical supplies
Medical supplies can only be made if you have an Infirmary. This is a little white tent with a red cross on it. Do not confuse the Infirmary with the Medical Center. The Infirmary makes medical supplies and the Medical Center collects rent. The Infirmary costs 600 coins to purchase while the Medical Center costs 3500 coins to purchase.
Once you have purchased and built your Infirmary you can begin making supplies. Touch an available Infirmary. A screen will pop up showing the medical supplies that can be made. Click on a medical supply once to see what it takes to make the medical supply. The left side of the screen will show the item, the cost, and how long it takes to produce that item. If you want to make medication, touch the medication bottle once. The medication bottle will then show up on the left hand side of the screen with the cost below it. It takes 100 coins and 50 food to make one bottle of medication. It will also be 10 minutes before that medication is ready. To start making the medication, click the medication a second time. The workshop will begin making the medication. That Infirmary will not be available for use for 10 minutes while your medication is being made. To see how much time is left before your medication is ready, simply touch that Infirmary again. The timer will pop up. Should you wish to speed up the process you can select the cash sign below the timer. If I wanted to spend 2 dollars, my medication would be ready immediately.
How to heal sick people
Often people in your town will get sick. You will notice that someone is sick when they begin holding their stomach and little bubbles begin to appear around their head. Touch that sick person to see how long you have to cure them and what medical supplies you will need to cure them. If you do not cure them in the allotted time (usually a number of days), that person will die and a permanent gravestone will show up in the place that they died. You cannot move these gravestones. Also, if your sick person had a contagious disease like measles and you do not cure them, more people will get sick. Your whole town could become infected.
Quests
Occasionally envelopes will appear over townspeople’s heads. If you see someone with an envelope over their head, that means they have a job or a quest for you to complete. Touch the person to reveal the job. Once the job has been revealed it will stay in the big envelope on the left side of the screen. A quest may be to grow 50 potato crops and 20 corn crops or collect from a goose five times. Once you complete the quest you will earn a prize and the quest will be removed from the large envelope.
Additional Resources
- Oregon Trail: American Settler App Icons
Oregon Trail: American Settler is a fun, highly addictive app. However, there are few resources on-line that thoroughly explain the game. This article explains the various icons that you will need to use while playing the game. - Gameloft Forum - Index
Gameloft Forum - Index
Attribution
All dividers used in this hub are used with permission granted on hub, Creating Dividers to Use on Your Hubs. http://homesteadbound.hubpages.com/hub/Creating-Dividers-to-Use-on-Your-Hubs
Comments
Hi I can’t seem to find many of the buildings in the market so that I can complete the requests. I can’t find the traveling station, gold rush claim, trailer shop, or the photo studio
How do I collect from the weather station? It has a dollar on top instead of food and when I click it, it goes to where you purchase more dollars, like it is on the bank.
Oh my goodness! I used to love this game.
Erm. I was asked to build the winter lodge (Sept. 2016) but it is not under any of the menus. I did look under the Star tab too: I have the haunted fun house or something and two other buildings, and a bunch of boots....no winter lodge.
What happened to Kimberly? Lol
One of my houses are burning down and my buckets of water are finished how do I get more buckets of water ?plz I really need helo before it burns down
One of my houses are burning down and my buckets of water are finished how do I get more buckets of water ?plz I really need helo before it burns down
Leslie,
Click on your bag and click the compass to see if you can pick up the pioneer and move them
Hi Guys! I'm at level 68 right now. My time is thriving pretty well, but I have 2 current issues:
1. There is a pioneer that, from the very beginning, is right next to the sign that lets you travel to other towns. He has an envelope over his head to give me a quest, but it is impossible to click because it hits the sign instead and takes me to other towns. Does anyone have any idea how to click this envelope or fix this issue?
2. Also, I am not getting any other quests from other pioneers in general. It has been at least 2-3 weeks since I've had any and it's making the game much less exciting to play. I have nothing to look forward to anymore except buying houses and businesses and collecting from them. No fun
How do I heal animals? How do I even get them sick to begin with?!
How can I store food in the storage buildings and silos I have built. When I tap on them all it does is want to upgrade.
How do I get roots ???
This is one of my favorite games of all time starting when I was a kid and now with the app.
Hi there. Do you know how can i get bullets for hunting? I've searched everywhere for it but i can't find it. I'm playing it on my blackberry bold
I can't find the fence item I earned.
EVERYONE. I don't believe that we each have the same experience, playing this game. So some of us may have a mission to buy a firehouse in level 3, but have no need to expand land until level 20, while others might need to expand land in level 2, and never need a firehouse until level 25.
The reason i've concluded this is because, after visiting random towns, some of the newer-looking towns appear to be set up in such a way that these players have completed certain missions, in a different order than i completed mine.
REDTABBY2107. Did you ever figure out how to sell or upgrade the firehouse? I've got that stupid ca$h bubble above mine, and a mission to upgrade the thing. Clicking it no longer gives any option to upgrade, but instead shows me i can pay for virtual cash with a credit card. Funk dat shiz.
STEPHANIE. To orient fences, you click to "move" button at the bottom right of your phone, and select the fence you wish to swing around. Then three icons appear below it, the left-one verifies that's how you want it placed, so it puts it down. The MIDDLE one orients the face between ... what i'll call horizontal and veritcal, and the right one cancels moving that object at all, and places it back exactly how it was. This should help TONYA, too.
SODOM: For each storage building you buy, in the farming supplies or farming buildings category, the amount of food & wood you are able to max out at increases by 100. And as Redtabby said, land prices increase with time. I believe they increase each time you level up, but i have yet to verify that for certain. It could have something to do with the amount of money you have, but i find that less likely.
I am getting any squirrels for hunt and I need to hunt 15 squirrel. Any solution
How do you move things around?
Hi i would like to know where do i get buckets to put out fires i had 3 but had to use it on other homes to put out fires now im short of eight buckets tnx
how do i find or create animal bait?
Where do I find the ticket office
How do I orient fences differently? Seems other towns have fences horizontal and vertical. .. mine only go one way. .
What is the point of the meter at the shooting gallery? I finally got to the first lock and it changed to a green check-mark. I see prizes further up the meter but what is the point of the locks on the meter?
I'm would like to know which animals require a syringe to heal them when they are sick. I have 20 syringes and not one of my animals has required one to be healed.
Doxie see my comment re firehouse above. Best to place in a corner of town and forget it,
I was just wondering if someone could shed some light on if there's any point in having the firehouse? It just takes money and doesn't give anything in return
I cannot get in unless I do the update, but some of the comments on the home page say that people lost everything when they updated.
What should I do?
Edward, the rewards from your prospects go in to your inventory. Double click on them to place.
How do you claim your prospects.
I found that the longer I play the game ie. over a few weeks, the cost of land expansion increases also once purchased land takes longer to develop. The latest land expansion I did yesterday cost $165,000 and took 19 hours to clear. I think if you had to pay $1.5 million the first time you tried to make a land purchase, you must have a glich on your game and you should report it. I have tried to put items in to storage with no success so guess you do have to sell them if you want to make more room. Any joy yet on answering my question about the fire station etc. Thanks.
Where do I find a white buffalo? Also where can I COLLECT mules?
Salutations,
I have 2 questions: #1 Is there a way to put items into storage or do I have to sell them? #2 why does it cost $1.5 million the first time you try to purchase a land expansion? Who does that???? In order to make money you need to have space for buildings and crops and if you can't have more than 12 buildings it will take years before you'll be able to expand and I refuse to pay real money for that! It's not the same on android, but I'm playing on my I pad now and these changes suck!! Is there any other way to get money to expand?
Hi Rachel
I cannot remember if I got the fire station as a gift or I purchased it but it was supposed to prevent the hight occurrence of fires. By the way, I have been looking at these posts and you can sell the gravestone if your pioneer dies, A bit morbid I know but this is not real life. When your pioneer dies and a gravestone appears press on the blue cross to move it and a yellow dollar sign appears. You can then sell for I think about $60.
Hello, I was wondering what the fire station did exactly? I gave it 5 cash but then when it was done it said "no packs available". Just wondering!
How do you sell the fire station and weather observatory please. I have no cash to keep giving them when cash icon appears over these buildings. I have tried moving them to get the sell sign up but no joy. Thanks.
How do you upgrade a house
I can't use my heavy axe does anyone know how?
how to collect a mortar
how do you heal the Ox in the message, like you are supposed to build the vet clinic and then heal the ox....does anyone know how to heal the animal? there is not an actual sick animal that i can click on and heal and i have tried to make medicines in the vet clinic but nothing is working.
How do I build a tailor shop? Is it under the business section?
Why is my grass no longer green? Has anyone else had this problem?
Can anyone tell me how to tailor cloth please. I have built the tailors but there is nowhere that says tailor cloth. I am also having trouble with friends. I accepted requests but when I looked they aren't there. I think the friend situation is complicated in comparison to other games. I am playing on an android device btw, Thanks,
I loved playing the original growing up so this game adds so much nostalgia for me. Thanks for the tips.
You do not need any supplies to heal animals, just tap them and you heal them. You only need to make medical supplies for humans.
I've been playing since Christmas and have always had at least 1 quest/job if not more. I finished my last job and now have none and no new envelopes over anybody's head for a few days. I restarted my kindle and that did nothing. Any ideas?
I don't have the option to make bricks or hand drills. Why is that? Do I need another type of building? I have two workshops already.... what am I doing wrong??
How do you make dig sites??
I need help making a blacksmith house.
To get roots and vaccines, you first have to build a vet clinic from the buildings (costs $1200) and then you can produce those items there, just like in the workshop. It took me forever to figure that out!
Since updating my game, my animals have gotten sick and I don't know how to get roots or a vaccine? Please help!
Can you buy a second prospecting wagon? If so, HOW?
Hey Kimberly, you seem to be helpful but haven't answered a few questions I see. Well I was also wondering how to get roots and vaccines to heal sick animals. It seems to be a new feature or something and I cannot find the answer ANYWHERE!
can someone help me on trying to figure out how to add friends.. I have a Gameloft account and I have friends on there but when I go to the game and try to visit friends it keeps saying connection error
( Oregon settler ) Add me : shhdo
I can't add friends which means I can't do some of the required tasks...I made a login for game loft and synced with Facebook...thinking of deleting game if I can't figure this out
How do we pull weeds? Do we just click on them? We are trying and nothing happens
How to I make roots and vaccine to heal my ox?
How do I make money?
Half if my town is on fire or tornadoes have hit, stampedes are trampling. .. How do I keep up. I have about 14 workstations and I cannot do anything but fix things. Thanks!
I had a hard time figuring out the upgrade for buildings, but I finally got it! when you are looking at the "billboard" that pops up, there is a "heart bar" across the top. You can use some of the hearts that you have collected from your quests to upgrade the building.
So, I have added people in gameloft and I have gotten requests from others that I accepted. I don't see them anywhere on my game to add them as neighbors. I'm not exactly sure how the friends work in gameloft. I know I can request friends and accept friends but when I go to my gameloft friends, the ones I had just accepted requests from, don't show up. Does it take a certain amount of time? I'm confused.
How do I use gifts from prospecting they are in my sell area but how do I place them
I can't figure out how to upgrade my buildings. Could you help me out please? :)
I may have to try this game. I have been looking for this type of game for a long time! Thanks for the hub!
I'm on level 108 and I am not getting anymore quests. It kinda sucks when there aren't any quests keeping me going. Is this a glitch?
Oh wow! This is a blast from the past. I remember playing Oregon Trail back in 6th grade! It was a part of our computer class. Back then, this game was top of the line!
Why can't I use the prospecting items I have won???
Land Expansion has changed? I tried to buy some land but I can't use it...it has a hammer icon above it and sayd 2 days left???? When did this happen?
When i went to the place where you had to clear the log i used up my energy. Many days later i wentt to a random town and i didn't have energy. How do i get the energy you need to do stuff at towns?
How do I hunt
After visiting a town and offering a plan as a gift, when I got back to my own town it was full of trees, and worse still, all three sections of land expansions I bought have been lost, the buildings I built on them are still there but cannot be used! I am not able even to go prospecting because I had moved my wagon so it is on a newly developed land area! This has to be a bug surely?
I have been trying to buy land more land for about 2 weeks now. It keeps counting down the hours until ready but it's never ready. I can keep collecting money from it - but that's about it. Am I doing something wrong? Help!
-Megan
how much money do you need to purchase land
Hi. I have another question. Do the sick settlers pop up notifications again if it has been a long time and they have not yet been cured? I am wondering because I feel like I keep getting notifications for sick settlers, but then I can't find any new ones. I try moving my houses and building to try and find any hidden ones, but don't see any. I play on a Kindle Fire.
just got this game on my phone and already out of energy plus used all my money to buy energy. No matter how long i wait, I don't receive energy at all. My phone is a verizon samsung SCH-U350. Is it because of my phone that i can't get any free or is it because it was a free game and they want me to spend more money?
Hey..just went to a neighboring town and when I came back he was gone! Thank goodness cause the music was starting to make me nutty. Thanks again for the page Kimberly, VERY helpful!
Kimberly you helped me last time :) so I'm Baaack... I have a squirrel stuck. I can't kill him or move anything around him.. please help. Thanks
I want to buy more land,but I guess I need more buildings before they will let me. How can you tell where the land expanse will go to ? I like all my homes together and shops in one area and storage units together
Yes, I am clearing the tall grass. I've done five or six but have only been credited with one.
One of my quests involves clearing weeds but whenever I dig one up, I don't get credit for it. Do you know why this might be happening?
Not sure how..but I went from the man to the woman! How can I be the little man again?
I was pretty high in this game when all of the sudden one day it was acting glitchy so I restarted my system and the game started over from scratch. So...I am back to square one and I have the task to buy the Winter Lodge and it isn't under the Star Icon (as it was before). It actually isn't anywhere. I am wondering if we might have to be at a certain level before it is available?
Hey Kimberly! Thanks for helping all of us !!
Here's my question:
I have built GUNS and i have 5 of it in my inventory. Can I use them to hunt? If yes, how? I've tried to clik on them whil I was hunting, but it won't let me use it... Or maybe they aren't meant to be hunting?!
Well, thanks in adavance for help me out!! :)
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