[Top 10] Banished Best Seeds That Are Fun

Updated:

08 Sep 2021

Banished has some really fun map seeds to offer.

There have never been more video games in the world than there are today. With the bar being set higher and higher every day, the choice of games to play might leave you dazzled, and the pioneer products of the game industry sometimes get lost in the sea of new arrivals, even if those are not necessarily better.

One of such older games is Banished, a city-building video game developed by Shining Rock Software. While not exactly a pioneer in the industry (it was released relatively not long ago, in 2014), for many, it falls under the category of older games, what with the growing speed of yearly game releases. But despite the competition, Banished has proven worthy of its vast fandom, and many fans even work tirelessly to create mods that enrich the game content.

Banished is all about building a society that can function and thrive in many areas of development, from harvests sufficient enough to feed its population to a successfully established trade with merchants from outside the village. The game offers a variety of starting conditions, including the preferred type of landscape, presence or absence of natural disasters, the size of the map, and the level of difficulty. All those are quite self-explanatory, but today, we’re going to talk about the map seed, or more specifically, the most fun map seeds to play with.

So what’s a map seed, you ask? A map seed is a number of digits that define the landscape of the map: how vast the valleys are, how many water sources the game has and how big they are, where exactly on the map the mountains are located - all the great stuff that has the potential to bless or doom your community. So if you don’t feel like trying out your luck with the random seeds that the game provides, you’ve come to the right place, because we have the 10 most fun seeds that you can use to make the most of your time playing Banished. Please keep in mind all of these map seeds have the presets of the large map and the terrain valley type.

10. Seed 380324073

Rivers and streams look very realistic.

This seed creates a map that looks like a spiderweb due to its rivers and tiny streams crisscrossing the landscape. Here’s why you want to try it out:

Massive opportunity for shore-based buildings.
If you play without mods, make sure to build as many fishing docs as the landscape allows (and it allows for a lot of them!) If you use mods, you will also have a chance to catch crayfish, frogs, and whales by building other shoreline buildings. Your citizens will never run out of seafood!
Some mods allow you to gather reeds and hunt for ducks - all through the buildings that must be built on the shore. Use this as an opportunity to extend the variety of professions in your community and make it more complex and interesting.
Any excess of shore-based materials and foods is a good way to trade - the excess of anything will let you buy what your people might lack.

9. Seed 689046629

The small settlement at the start of a new game.

This map is fun if you can say that the following statements about you are true:

You love funnily shaped lakes.
You enjoy playing with the bridge infrastructure of your community.
The number of fishermen in your village is always higher than the number of any other professionals.
Monotonous landscapes bore you, and you enjoy a challenge when expanding the borders of your village.

Does that sound like you? Then hurry up and try this seed out!

8. Seed 84968516

In the heart of mountains

Let’s set aside the whole water theme for a moment and talk about something this map seed is good for - mining!

This map has a lot of tiny valleys surrounded by mountains (such as the one in the picture), which allows for building small mine neighborhoods.
Create a community whose specialty is mining.
Build coal and iron mines, use what you need, sell the rest!
Some mods allow you to build mines where you can dig for precious metals and stones - explore the underground riches!
The surrounding mountains allow you to separate your mine neighborhoods from residential ones, which means no negative impact on the happiness of your citizens.

7. Seed 535142981

New settlement

This map is awesome for those who don’t have the patience to develop their community step-by-step and want to conquer as many areas as possible from the very beginning! Here’s why:

Great starting conditions in terms of the location of your first settlers.
A vast valley to the east as well as to the west of the settlement - great for building a forester lodge, a hunting cabin, a gatherer hut, and a herbalist.
Whichever of the two valleys you’ll choose for growing a forest, the other one is an ideal location for all your orchards and crop fields.
There’s a river to the south, which provides you with an opportunity to start fishing right away - you won’t have to walk far!
Mountains to the east and to the north. By the time you’ll build your trading post, you’ll have plenty of minerals to trade.
Unrelated to the fun starting conditions, but worth mentioning nonetheless: crab-shaped lake near the eastern border of the map!

6. Seed 72396655

Miles and miles of trees

Alright, let’s get serious for a moment here. Fun is good, but the whole point of Banished, after all, is to build a thriving community, and that’s why you might want to try this map seed out:

There’s a big, uninterrupted valley in the center and the south of the map. It’s great for a smooth, safe start, and it’ll allow you to use this space for buildings of any type you want, without any extra challenges.
There’s a lake right to the west of the valley, which will make sure your citizens won’t have to live without fish. It allows for one or two fishing docks, which is all you need for starters, really.
A whole bunch of resources! Whatever you decide to build in your valley of hopes, you’ll need to collect its resources first. Just look at all those trees, iron, and stone! You can check the building supplies off your list.

5. Seed 199793563

Rivers and streams, becoming one

Here’s a scenario for you: you’re running out of tools faster than your blacksmiths manage to make new ones. You could really use some help from a merchant, and you’re anxiously checking if any boat is coming to save you. But there are way too many rivers on your map - where should you even expect a boat to come? Here’s why with this map, that wouldn’t be a problem (and some more facts about this map seed that will make you want to give it a try):

It has one big river dividing the map in two, right in the middle. Even though there are other water sources for you, the central river is the only place you should be looking for a merchant’s boat to come.
The map is rich, with vast, plain valleys - ideal for going on a building streak. Set your inner city planner free!

4. Seed 490852267

Banished has its own Lake District.

Will you just look at the enormous lake! And from the look of the location map in the top left corner of the picture, this seed comes with more surprises:

Large lakes, a lot of them! This seed brings you three big lakes and a huge one. Just think of all the shore business available for your citizens!
Bridges! If you like playing with creating paths from one side of the map to another, you may have your work cut out for you. Are you ready to build the longest bridge in the Banished history?
With water occupying so much of the map space, you might find yourself lacking space for buildings producing certain resources. If that’s the case, make sure to make the most of what the water gives you: stock your trading posts up on anything produced by the shoreline buildings and exchange it for those items that can’t be produced due to the lack of space.

3. Seed 19691969

A map with long shorelines

You may argue that too many of the seeds described in this article include lakes of funny shapes. Coincidence? Maybe. But this seed is no exception.

The lakes on this map have the shape of clouds - a very romantic and cute environment for your settlement.
As you can see in the picture, the large lake in the very center of the map has a small patch of land in the middle of it. If you spend some time picking the correct starting point, you’ll actually be able to build bridges that connect this patch of land with the mainland!
If you try long and hard enough, you might be able to build a village that has more bridges than roads.
Just like one of the map seeds mentioned before, this one has so much water that there might be too little space for other resources. Plan carefully which resources you absolutely must produce yourself and which you don’t mind acquiring through trade.

2. Seed 684186146

A broken heart

By now, it should have become clear that I’m all for big lakes and funny shapes. And big lakes that are shaped funnily. What shapes does this seed bring? Let’s find out!

Yes, there is a lake that is shaped unusually. No, it’s not that funny. In fact, it looks like its heart is broken, but don’t worry. You’ll still be able to harvest resources and feed off this lake’s misery.
Market connections are amazing when you need to make sure that your entire population has access to a resource available only in one part of the map. In this case, it’s not going to be a problem. This seed provides you with water sources in every single part of the map, be that a lake, a river, or a teeny-tiny stream. Don’t use it as an excuse not to build markets though!
If you want to play with the mods that allow for all those extra buildings that give you the resources the original version of the game doesn’t, make sure you plan where you’re going to build what.
The smallest streams are good for catching reeds, turtles, and frogs, whereas larger shores let you hunt for whales and build trading posts.
Fishing docks can be built only on rivers and lakes. Remember: it’s all about the radius of the water around the fishing dock - the bigger it is, the more fish a given building will bring.

1. Seed 19841984

A new beginning

This ultimate map seed includes a little bit of everything we’ve learned we love: big lakes, tiny streams, funny shapes, large valleys, and an ideal foundation for a mining neighborhood.

Great starting location, surrounded by mountains, a river, a vast valley which can be used for either growing a forest or clearing the land of the resources for buildings, orchards, and crop plots.
You can start expanding the borders of your settlement in almost any direction you want: the north, the east, and the south provide you with all the types of landscape you will need for successful expansion.
If you’ve been looking for a seed with a very, very long river, look no further! You’ve found it. While other seeds might allow you to break all records for the longest bridge or the largest lake, this one gives you the longest river you’ll probably find in Banished. Just imagine the long line of businesses, with your hard-working citizens fishing, catching food, and collecting resources on the shores of your very own Amazon River.