Cozy Strategy

Wildwood Stand

A cozy single-player auto battler: gather a small party of woodland creatures, grow each one with paths, knacks and trinkets, and let them hold the old wood against a logging crew, wave after wave.

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Wildwood Stand cozy auto battler cover artwork

What you do

A single-player roguelike auto battler, played as one season of 15 waves. The logging crew wants the old wood. Your party is small: three creatures in the grove at first, five once you grow it. Between waves you spend acorns in the shop, where every creature you already have can be bought again to feed its growth: one extra copy makes it Grown, two more make it Elder and three more make it Ancient, each step much stronger than the last. Becoming Grown, it follows one of three paths for its family (a Fungi healer can turn into a sturdy Toadstool that stands in front), and becoming Elder and Ancient it learns a knack. Trinkets from the stall and the peddler add more, one per creature and two for an Ancient. Then the wave starts and you only watch: creatures walk up, attack and use their abilities on their own. There are 20 creatures in five families (Grove trees, Stone golems, Fungi, Burrow animals and Wing birds), and two or three different kinds of one family in the grove wake a family bonus. The crew grows from apprentices and lumberjacks to chainsaw crews, woodchippers and bulldozers, with a boss every fifth wave: Bertha the Bulldozer, the Chainsaw Twins and the Big Dig. You see each wave’s lineup while you shop, so where everyone stands matters. After waves 3, 6, 9 and 12 the Old Oak offers a choice of three blessings that last the season; after the other waves you make camp and choose one of three: campfire stories that grow a creature a rank, a trinket from the peddler, a new friend, a quiet night for the Old Oak or a squirrel’s stash of acorns. Nobody gets hurt: a worker whose Resolve runs out heads home, a machine gets tangled in moss, and a tired creature curls up as a seed and naps until the next wave. A lost wave costs the Old Oak some of its 20 leaves; hold the Big Dig to keep the wood. Holding a whole season opens the next year, when the crew comes back 5% tougher, up to Year 5. New season deals fresh shops; Today’s season is the same first-year season for everyone that day. Your season saves between waves on this device.

How to play

Press New season on the title card, or Today’s season for the season everyone gets that day. Continue brings back a season you left. Once you have held a whole season, New season lets you choose a year: each year’s crew is 5% tougher than the last, up to Year 5.
Tap a creature in the shop to buy it with acorns. A new creature goes to your bench (it holds three). Buying a creature you already have feeds its growth instead: one copy makes a Sprout Grown, two more make it Elder and three more make it Ancient. Each rank is stronger (Grown 1.5 times a Sprout, Elder 2.1 times, Ancient 2.8 times), and the shop card shows how close the next one is.
Each time a creature grows, you choose for it. Becoming Grown, it picks one of three paths for its family; becoming Elder and Ancient, it learns one of three knacks. Choices last the season.
Tap a creature on the bench or in your grove, then tap a spot to move it there, or another creature to swap the two. You can also drag it. Three creatures fit in the grove at first; Grow grove opens a fourth spot for 6 acorns and a fifth for 10.
Trinkets: the fifth shop card is a trinket for 4 acorns, and the peddler at camp brings more. They wait in your pouch (three spots) until you tap one and then a creature to give it. A creature wears one trinket, an Ancient two; take one off from the creature’s details.
The top three rows show the next wave’s crew and where they will stand. Put sturdy creatures in your front row and creatures with a longer reach behind them, then press Start wave. The creatures fight on their own: each walks to the nearest crew member, fills its energy as it attacks and is hit, then uses its ability.
Two different kinds of one family in your grove wake that family’s bonus, and three kinds wake a stronger one. Tap a family chip above the field to read its bonus. Tap any creature or crew member for its numbers and ability.
After each wave you get acorns: 6 for the day, 1 for every 10 you saved (up to 3), 1 for holding the wave and 1 or 2 for a run of wins or losses in a row. Then the Old Oak offers a blessing (after waves 3, 6, 9 and 12) or you make camp and choose one of three gifts. A lost wave costs the Old Oak leaves: 1 for the wave, plus more the later it is, plus 1 to 6 for each crew member still working. Hold all 15 waves to win the season; when the leaves run out, the season ends.

Controls

Touch and mouse: tap a shop card to buy. Tap a creature, then a spot or another creature, to move or swap; or drag it. Tap a trinket in your pouch, then a creature, to give it. Drag a creature onto the shop to sell it (one that has grown a rank asks first), or use Sell on the bar that opens when you pick one. New faces refills the shop and the trinket stall for 2 acorns.
Keyboard: Tab to the field and use the arrow keys to choose a spot, then Enter to pick up a creature and Enter on another spot to put it there. 1 to 4 buy creatures and 5 the trinket, T picks up the next trinket in your pouch (Enter on a creature gives it), R refills the shop, G grows the grove, I describes the chosen creature, S sells it, W starts the wave and Escape puts things back.
During a wave: the 1x button switches to double speed, and Skip to the end shows the result straight away.
Toolbar: pause, help, restart (opens the title card: your season stays until you choose to start a new one), optional sound and fullscreen.

Tips worth knowing

A few strong creatures beat many weak ones. Buying copies of creatures you already have is usually better than starting new ones, so keep an eye out for the “Feeds” label in the shop.
Saving acorns pays: every 10 you keep at the end of a wave earns 1 more, up to 3.
Bosses come on waves 5, 10 and 15. Grow your grove and fill every spot before them.
Paths can change a creature’s job: a Toadstool or Den Keeper holds the front row, while Geode or Spore Cloud makes an ability hit much harder from the back.
Campfire stories grow a whole rank for free, and copies already fed carry over. They save the most on a pricey creature that has just become Elder, since Ancient takes three more copies.

Accessibility

Everything can be played with a keyboard: arrow keys choose a spot on the field, Enter picks up and places creatures, and number keys buy from the shop.
Nothing has a timer while you shop or choose, so there is never any pressure while you plan. Waves can be watched at normal or double speed, skipped to the result, or paused from the toolbar.
Every creature, crew member and trinket can be tapped for its name, numbers and effect in plain words, and families show their names and counts, so nothing relies on color alone.
Purchases, growth, moves, wave starts and results are announced to screen readers.
Reduced motion stops the sliding, shaking and floating effects; creatures step from spot to spot instead. Sound is optional and never needed to play.

Questions

Is Wildwood Stand like Guildrun or Teamfight Tactics?

It is a single-player roguelike auto battler. Like Teamfight Tactics and Dota Underlords, you buy units, place them and watch the fight play out. Like the single-player Guildrun, your party stays small and each creature grows through ranks where you choose its path and knacks, with trinkets and camp stops between waves, and each season you hold opens a tougher one. Instead of rival players you face 15 waves of a logging crew whose lineup you can see in advance. It is CozyWorld’s own game and is not made by or affiliated with Riot Games, Valve or Leyline.

Is the fighting gentle?

Yes. Nobody is hurt. Crew members have Resolve rather than health and head home when it runs out, machines get tangled in moss and stall, and a tired creature curls up as a seed for a nap and is back for the next wave. Losing a wave only costs the Old Oak a few leaves.

How hard is a season?

In the first year, a test bot that builds around two families, grows the creatures it has, takes rarer creatures when they are stronger and keeps some savings holds all 15 waves in about four of five seasons; Bertha the Bulldozer and the Chainsaw Twins each beat it in a third or more of its seasons, which costs leaves rather than the season. Each year after is harder: in Year 5 the same bot holds about one season in four. Bots that buy and choose at random, or that keep collecting new creatures without growing them, usually stop around waves 10 and 11 of the first year. These are bot results, not measurements of people; your first season may end before the Big Dig while you learn the creatures.

How long does a season take?

A wave lasts up to 40 seconds and usually ends in about 20 at normal speed, so 15 waves of fighting take about five minutes. Shopping and choosing take as long as you like, since nothing has a timer, so a season is roughly 15 to 30 minutes (estimate). The season saves between waves.

What does Wildwood Stand save?

On this device: the season in progress between waves (your creatures with their ranks, paths, knacks and trinkets, where they stand, your pouch, acorns, leaves, the shop, your blessings and any choice still waiting), your speed setting, how many seasons you have played and won, the toughest year you have opened, your furthest wave and your furthest wave in each day’s season. A wave’s result is settled the moment it starts, so leaving during a wave keeps that result. Restart in the toolbar opens the title card and never deletes anything; starting a new season asks first.