Lumberhill: Tips and Tricks
We got Lumberhill to add to our 4 player switch games. We play 4 player games practically every Saturday or Sunday. Lumberhill isn’t the worst, but it’s fun as long as you’re fine with not getting every star or achievement.
Many of the achievements are easier to unlock as a solo player in my experience. When we played with 4 people, it’s fun but unlocking every achievements is hard.
As we played through the entire game we found some tactics that worked and others that didn’t. Here’s what we found.
Strategies
At the beginning, every player should focus on building the bridges. Unless there was an order with only 2 or 3 units. Then 1 player should start on that order.
Once the bridges are built, our main strategy involved each player focusing on a specific task. So one player would work on the animal orders, while another worked on the tree orders. Other players bounced between whatever task was urgent. Such as putting out fires, distracting the monkeys, or help filling an order close to timing out.
This worked for us since some players focused on just completing the orders. While other players kept the fires and nuisances at bay. Put fires out ASAP!
On the final levels where you move to new locations, have everyone grab a piece of lumber before boarding the platform. This makes building bridges quicker at the new location. Unless of course you can fill an order with that lumber before leaving.
We initially tried having everyone work on the same order. But found many of the tree orders required 5 to 7 units to fill. While this strat worked on the large orders, the easy orders that only required 1 or 2 units to fill often timed out.
We quickly abandoned that strategy because it was hit or miss. Sure we got the 7 item order filled quickly, but then 4 players working on a 1 or 2 item order got confusing.
Filling Order Strategy
Every order, no matter how many units are required, is worth the same amount. So the best strategy we found is to focus on orders of 5 units or less. The only exception is an animal order you can herd.
It’s best to ignore all tree orders requiring 6 or 7 item. Even if it’s the only order, another order will show up in a few seconds. Never let a 1 or 2 item order time out if you can.
Best Practices
You have to hold the run button pretty much the entire game. It’s a pain literally and figuratively, but keep that button mashed down. It’s the only way to consistently make jumps or have any hope of getting 3 stars.
The only time you should let up on the run button is for herding. Always herd animals if possible. It takes patience, but herding is always preferable to moving them one by one.
Fires spread quickly. As soon as you hear the lightning, meteor, or see a pirate ship get on it. Get rid of the powder charge before it blows if you can. Hit the meteor with a bucket as soon as it lands.
Throwing the bucket works better than pouring it and refilling the same bucket over and over.
Rams and boars don’t bother you if you don’t bother them. Move to a different tree instead of swinging an axe near them. They sometimes attack if anyone is near them when they spawn. So tossing them off the map creates more problems than it solves.
Monkeys are constant annoyance. Keep at them as much as they keep at you. Having a player dedicated to knocking the monkeys off the map with an axe helps everyone.
Have 1 player dedicated to distracting the man eating dinosaurs while the others focus on cutting trees or getting animals. If the player gets eaten then the other players should just keep out of range of the T-rex until the bait player gets back. It’s more important the workers don’t lose time respawning and getting back to the area.
Tips and Tricks
You can get the monkeys to work for you by leaving axes near them. They will chop trees as they chase you but throw the axe if you’re far away. This helps for solo. However, they are such a nuisance we usually knock them off the map.
Monkey hack: If you hit the monkey with the axe just right they get stuck on a cliff. It’s best to practice this yourself to find the spots where you won’t fall off the map completely. Instead of falling, you can jump back on the main level.
Since the monkeys can’t jump, they get stuck in this area for the duration and can’t bother anyone. This is not easy to do, but if your aim is good they get stuck between the ground and falling completely off the map.
Knocking them completely off the map just makes them respawn. However, they are such a nuisance it’s worth knocking them off the map every chance you get. When we have 4 players, we dedicate one player to this task.
Boars and triceratops can also be tricked into smashing trees down for you. Hit the boar or take a baby dino to them to get them to charge at you then stand in front of a tree. Jump out of the way at the last moment.
Running in circles puts out small fires. You should have the run button mashed the entire game anyway, but this trick works to keep fires from starting or spreading.
Once, we restarted a game but it kept our score! Player 1 was respawning as we restarted. We tried a few times to duplicate this however we were not successful.
FAQ
Lumberhill tips and tricks brought to you by David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space, and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
