Colony building · tested October 28 · Winter follow-up November 5, 2026

Kittens Game: no wood, no science, no farmers?

By Incremental Finder · first-research and worker-allocation test

Check jobs before buying another hut. Our first two residents were free workers until we assigned them. The tested route was Woodcutters → first Library → Scholars → Calendar → Agriculture → Farmers. Each unlock opened the next option; it did not assign residents for us. Keep a food reserve while moving workers, then read the new net rates.

Winter follow-up: two Farmers kept our two residents fed through one complete observed Winter with fourteen fields. Science stopped; after Spring arrived, returning one resident to Scholar restored science income while food still grew. Read the November 5 run and its limits before copying the mix.

Official web game, displaying v1.6.1.6.r170, October 28. We continued our earlier first-hut save: fourteen fields, one hut and two residents. This is not a fresh speedrun or an optimal build order. No imported progress, resource command, game-speed change, installed automation or paid purchase was used. The food reserve included many ordinary manual Gather actions while paused.

Original explanatory diagram, not the game's interface. These are the first Library and first two research costs observed in this opening.

Before switching: keep the residents fed

If the catnip stock is falling, inspect the season and net rate before spending more food or adding housing. Our existing catnip-deficit diagnosis explains the first hut's upkeep, seasonal changes and the tested pause control. This guide takes the next step: making wood, unlocking science and assigning the agricultural job.

We reopened in Winter at −6.31 catnip/s with both residents still unassigned. We paused and used Gather to build a reserve before resuming with woodcutters. Both residents remained present when Spring arrived. That passage depended on the reserve and our attention; it does not establish a safe field quota or unattended survival.

Save is not a promise that the game reopens paused. Our earlier reload test resumed running. Check the pawse/unpawse control and food immediately after opening a save. A plus sign in Spring also does not certify the next Winter.

The complete route from idle residents to the first research

Open Small Village and look at Free kittens. Our village showed Free kittens: 2/2 and Woodcutter (0). We used the Woodcutter plus control twice. Free became 0/2 and Woodcutter became 2. Housing had supplied residents; it had not assigned their work.
Let wood accumulate without repeatedly refining food. With two Woodcutters, the running resource panel showed +0.18 wood/s. We let wood reach 26.71 and paused. The first Library tooltip listed 25 wood. One successful purchase left 1.71 wood and added the Science tab and Scholar job. A second Library had a different cost; do not apply 25 to every level.
Move workers to Scholar to produce science. In Small Village we pressed the Woodcutter minus control twice, releasing the two workers, then Scholar plus twice. With both Scholars working, science rose at +0.39/s; wood stayed at 1.75 with no positive production rate. This was a change of output, not two additional workers.
Research Calendar first. In Science, Calendar was initially the only research shown. Its tooltip required 30 science. After the normal purchase, Calendar read Complete, precise time appeared and Agriculture became available. We did not get Agriculture just by constructing the Library.
Accumulate the next research cost, then buy Agriculture. Its tooltip required 100 science. Keep checking food while the Scholars work. Research costs spend the bank: reaching 30 once does not also pay for the following 100. We bought Agriculture after science reached 107.83. The following village check showed the new Farmer (0) job, while both residents were still Scholars.

What changed in the worker test? Two Woodcutters gave wood income; the same two residents reassigned to Scholar gave science income instead. A Library unlocked the research path, but the continuing income came from assigned jobs. The measured rates above belong to this save, including its current worker state; they are not universal output guarantees.

Unlocking Farmer is only the start

Our first click on Farmer plus, with Free kittens: 0/2, left Farmer at zero and Scholar at two. We paused, released one Scholar with minus, assigned one Farmer with plus and resumed. In Year 2, Summer day 97, the running panel showed +5.25 catnip/s and +0.19 science/s, compared with the preceding two-Scholar state at +0.25 catnip/s and +0.39 science/s. We had not bought more fields or housing.

Moving the other Scholar to Farmer gave two Farmers, no Scholars, +10.25 catnip/s and no positive science rate at Autumn day 7. Moving one Farmer to Woodcutter then gave +5.25 catnip/s and +0.09 wood/s at Autumn day 16. Science held at 17.11. The season crossed from Summer to Autumn during these later changes; these are dated checkpoints, not a controlled seasonal experiment.

The practical result: our two-worker village could cover different needs by reassignment. One Farmer plus one Scholar kept both food and research growing in the tested Summer state. One Farmer plus one Woodcutter kept food and wood growing in the tested Autumn state. Neither observation proves the same mix will cover Winter.

Later October 28 recorded Winter recheck: in the same r170 save, still with fourteen fields, one hut and two residents, one Farmer plus one Scholar showed −1.31 catnip/s with the −75% seasonal indicator. We released the Scholar and assigned that resident as a second Farmer. The running panel then showed +3.69 catnip/s, while science held at 54.38 without a positive rate. The actual Winter reassignment and counter change were continuously recorded. This is a short Winter checkpoint, not a full unattended Winter or a worst-weather guarantee. It directly demonstrates why the earlier Summer mix should not be copied across seasons without checking.

Original comparison of two actual worker checkpoints: two Woodcutters produced 0.18 wood per second; the same two residents later assigned as Scholars produced 0.39 science per second while wood held at 1.75 — Different resources and different stages of the route, not an exchange rate. Job counts and the resource you are waiting for need to match.

Use the food balance to decide how many residents you can spare for wood or science. Do not copy a fixed ratio from a village with different fields, weather, residents or upgrades. If changing a job stops the resource you need, return a worker to that job after covering food. This is a small allocation problem, not a reason to keep building housing immediately.

November 5: a whole Winter, then a return to research

Two Farmers covered this Winter, at the cost of science income. We continued the same first-run save in the official web game, now displaying v1.6.1.11.r171. Fourteen fields, one hut, one Library and two residents stayed unchanged. Both residents worked as Farmers throughout Year 3 Winter. The earlier October 28 r170 test above remains a separately dated short check.

Before the observation, we paused in Autumn day 39 and used the ordinary Refine catnip control to lower the full food bank, so later growth would remain visible below its 5,000 cap. The first click spent 100 catnip and added 1 wood; 35 clicks in total left 1,500 catnip and 43.16 wood. This was setup, before Winter, not emergency gathering or a required survival expense. We then resumed normal game time.

Winter day 0: 2,742.46 catnip, displayed +3.69/s with −75%, two residents.
Winter day 45: 3,075.81 catnip, +3.69/s; both residents still present.
Winter day 91: 3,412.85 catnip, +3.69/s; science still 54.45.
Year 4 Spring (cold), day 0: 3,485.74 catnip, +13.31/s with +35%; both residents survived. This reading includes the first Spring tick, so subtracting the endpoints would not give an exact Winter-only yield.

We made no Gather, Refine, job, building, research or housing change during that Winter. Wood held at 43.16 and science at 54.45. The game stayed open and was monitored; this is not a closed-tab test or a promise that the same mix covers every Winter weather condition.

Original field record: two Farmers kept two residents through Year 3 Winter, food rose at sampled checkpoints while science held at 54.45; after a cold Spring began, one Scholar restored science income — Original explanation of actual November 5 observations, not game UI. Sampled stock readings are not an exact seasonal-yield calculation.

After Spring: free a worker, then check the refreshed rates

At the new Spring we paused, used Farmer minus once and Scholar plus once, then resumed. After allowing the running display to update, Spring (cold) day 9 showed one Farmer, one Scholar, +8.31 catnip/s and +0.19 science/s. Science had risen from 54.45 to 57.80 and food to 3,633.04. We then paused and saved through the normal controls. An immediate display during a separate quick swap had retained the old rate; we excluded that stale reading from the measured result.

Use the sequence, not a universal ratio: first cover the current food balance and preserve a reserve; when conditions change, release a worker before assigning another job and check the refreshed running rates. This run observed an ordinary Winter followed by a cold Spring. It did not test a cold Winter, more residents, another upgrade state, the minimum field count, the fastest route or offline progress. Do not spend down your own reserve just to imitate our measurement setup.

If the next step still will not work

No wood income: check whether residents have actually arrived, whether Woodcutter is above zero, whether you are paused and whether wood is already at its displayed cap. Our direct wood-income test did not need further catnip refinement.
No Science tab: check that the first Library purchase succeeded. Seeing its label before purchase was not the unlock.
Science tab, but no income: inspect Scholar assignments and the running/paused control. In our test, two Woodcutters could not also be two Scholars.
Farmer plus does nothing: after Agriculture, check whether any workers are free. Release one from another job before trying to assign it. Verify the job count afterwards.
Food falls during research: preserve the reserve and reassess before more spending or housing. A locked agricultural job cannot help yet. If useful, pause to inspect; pausing is a holding pattern, not production.

Is this the kind of incremental game you want?

This opening rewards noticing which resource is scarce and moving a very small workforce between tasks. It may appeal if you want a colony economy with constraints. It is a less convincing choice if you want immediate, hands-off growth: our route required food checks and deliberate reassignment. A player discussion about pacing and missed unlocks contains both frustration and advice to strengthen basic production. Those opinions are not a completion-time benchmark or a universal verdict.

For other tested loops, compare four browser-game openings, or try the Swarm Simulator producer chain. Our main best incremental games guide separates play preferences rather than assuming every player wants this allocation loop.

Sources and boundaries

In another browser colony game, assigning jobs changes how many creatures can breed. See the tested Trimps opening from the first trap to the first fight for that separate trade-off.

Official web game: our actual assignments, tooltips, purchases, running counters and versions shown on October 28 and November 5 are the source of this guide's separately dated numerical checkpoints. The November 5 follow-up observed Winter day 0 through the first Spring tick, then recorded the actual Scholar reassignment.
New-player food question and replies: already describes the Library–Calendar–Agriculture–farmer route, alongside different opening plans. We did not discover that general sequence; we checked a bounded version through actual play.
Seasonal-food question and pacing/unlock discussion: historical player questions, including different editions and later stages. Their numbers and later advice were not adopted as our own results.

Untested here: an optimal job ratio, fastest first Winter, worst weather, unattended farming through a full year, later workshop/crafting strategy, resets, closed-tab production or mobile/Steam equivalence. We changed jobs through the real controls, not saved-state editing. See our testing method or report a version-specific correction.