Constant food shortage

[Saris]

So, Im new to this game and learning the ropes and so far it's going fine except for food!
I still dont understand how it works

So, I nearly always got a food shortage
Got a village of nearly 150 people (Think 148 rn) and 7 hunters hunting in an area with alot of deer. I've tried having them hunt all in separate areas but I seem to get better results having them split into two teams hunting in 2 different areas.
All hunters are always well stocked on bows and arrows
Their inventory is often full (meat)
I got 3 food storages (the small cellar like thing, idk what it's called)
Also got a large weath field, 2 bakeries making bread
2 fishers
4 foragers
1 smoker

It says I have like 1-3 months worth of food (goes up and down) and often 1 month worth of spoiled food (haven't unlocked barrles yet)
Yet I ALWAYS have a food shortage

What am I doing wrong? Im so confused

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Probably need to start building some crop fields so you grow vegetables.

[Spooks]

personalty i would have have 3 hunters at 150 population. (make a smoker close by) as for 7 hunters.. maximum 2 hunters on 1 spot, the spawn rate of animals goes up and down frequently so some years you may produce 160.. some years 300+ but if you have 7 set right you should be produceing more than you need.

output of all food buildings fluctuate over time so take that into account.

here is some future tips on food.

Crops/bread:
you can fertilise a crop field with waste from spoilage to keep up production.
i am finding that if i use 3 weed removal slots in crops to clear the weeds fast works well then switch 2 of them to clovers (clover fertilises the soil). for bread i use 4 fields biggest possible, 4 granary, 2 flour mills, 4 bakers.
year 1 - 5....... year 5+.
row 1 wheat, weed removal....... row 1 wheat, clover
row 2 rye, weed removal....... row 2 rye, weed removal
row 3 rye, weed removal....... row 3 rye, clover

I choose wheat then rye for the weather tolerances.
use the same principal for all crops this has served me well so far, all my fields tend to be a minimum of 85% but usually sit at around 90%+ fertility by using clover with waste.

making gold from crops:
i make great gold by over producing flax and making lots of cloths.. usually i clean out every single trader. enjoy that little tip ;) build up some gold and play the stock market! buy when the trader sells at double red down arrows and sell at double green up arrows. iv played my current town for 20 hours and i am at 130k gold, do not take out perishables until you need them because they do not spoil in the trader.

Barn:
the barn is great for food, you raise cattle and get milk and make cheese from that (cheese spoils very slowly), also the cows breed so at the end of each year usually 2 are born and 2 slaughtered (place smoker near a barn and set to meat only).
for 2 barns make 1 full sized crop field to provide grain.
place 1 granary per field to store over the winter near to the barn.
1 barn usually produces around 600+ meat and 1000+ milk to be made into cheese.
4 barns provide milk for 1 fully staffed cheese maker
1 smoker per barn.

fishery's:
DO NOT allow fishery gathering ares to overlap.. maximise the gain from each one,
Only allow minor overlap to span a bonus spot on 2 fisheries.
have a Smoker nearby to reduce stocking distance, set to fish only unless a hunter is nearby then offset production. if i have 3 fish 1 hunter id set to something like 7:3 or 8:2

hunter/gatherers:
i tend to make these in little satellite villages away from town usually where there is a lake that also has willow.
build a road to it and upgrade asap.

not including defences and if you choose to have worker camps a basic satellite village of mine would look something like this:
2-6 hunters (depending on how many animal spawns are in proximity)
2-6 gatherers (depends on how much there is to gather in proximity)
2-8 fishery's
1-2 wells (depending on ammount of smokers)
1-2 smokers (depends on how many fishery's and hunters)
1-2 temporary shelters
1 rat catcher
1-2 root cellar (set to meat, fish, smoked meat and fish and anything gathered by the gatherers in the area)

[MrFizzlepop]

My only critic would be only one well at the satellite work camp village.

I have noticed the Well has a blue aura if it's close enough to impact another well. Just farther out it's green, and then farther out there is no aura.

I would have at least one more well given all those buildings etc out there. Heck I dedicate a well for any smoker I place, as those things seem to burn almost as much as smoke.

[qwermoop]

That's strange, 3 hunters and a smokehouse should be able to feed about 70 people with a surplus.
Maybe your meat goes bad because one smokehouse can't deal with all the meat and fish?

[Boomer Voncannon]

Originally posted by qwermoop:

That's strange, 3 hunters and a smokehouse should be able to feed about 70 people with a surplus.
Maybe your meat goes bad because one smokehouse can't deal with all the meat and fish?

This was my thought as well. 7 hunters plus 2 fishermen is likely outpacing his smoker, but 3 ought to be plenty if he's got grown crops, which sounds like what he's missing.

If he has two bakeries, he's probably also overproducing fast spoiling bread.

OP here's my food setup at around 165 pop:

2 large fields rotating beans, peas, carrots, turnips and occasionally flax and wheat along with clover for regeneration of fertility. A third field is almost ready to go.

3 hunters each on different deer spawns, 2 foragers that rotate between gathering greens and berries for food, and willow and other non food items. One smoker that is almost maxed out supporting the 3 hunters. There is no water I have found near my village yet so no fishermen.

An orchard with two workers pulling in a little over 1k fruit per season.

A barn with 7 cattle producing over 200 milk a year. Not slaughtering any til I hit building max of 10.

One windmill with a single worker, one bakery with a single worker. This produces more bread than my population consumes at present.

3 root cellars, one upgraded to tier 2, each about to be completely filled with barrels.

I do not yet have a preservist going and I'm seeing fluctuation with my crops up to dozen months supply and as low as 3 to 4 months when I grow what or flax in one field, but typically stay around 6 or 7 months supply. I get some spoilage still, mostly bread, berries and beans, but that's improving.

[Saris]

So
I'll try add more crop fields and smokers!
Currently got 2 fields, one for weath and one for leeks (also got alot of fruit trees)
I'll get a barn too, how many cows should I buy from traders? I assume at least 2 but like, more?

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Make sure your crop rotations are good, don't just stick with one crop. Mix in clover to help fertility, buckwheat for weed suppression (also gives you wheat) and beans and peas to help with fertility too. Also some field maintenance to help with getting rid of the weeds.

[Boomer Voncannon]

Originally posted by Saris:

So
I'll try add more crop fields and smokers!
Currently got 2 fields, one for weath and one for leeks (also got alot of fruit trees)
I'll get a barn too, how many cows should I buy from traders? I assume at least 2 but like, more?

Cows get expensive in a hurry. I believe they are the most expensive thing, generally over 500 a pop. You want at least two, and you should get a newborn each year, so if you buy more than two it will speed up growth of your herd but only incrementally, so your call.

[qwermoop]

Originally posted by Saris:

So
I'll try add more crop fields and smokers!
Currently got 2 fields, one for weath and one for leeks (also got alot of fruit trees)
I'll get a barn too, how many cows should I buy from traders? I assume at least 2 but like, more?

If you got money buy 4–5 cows, they will start breeding soon enough and after they reach the limit of your heard they will be slaughtered and you will get a nice meat surplus

[Spooks]

Originally posted by MrFizzlepop:

My only critic would be only one well at the satellite work camp village.

I have noticed the Well has a blue aura if it's close enough to impact another well. Just farther out it's green, and then farther out there is no aura.

I would have at least one more well given all those buildings etc out there. Heck I dedicate a well for any smoker I place, as those things seem to burn almost as much as smoke.

yes i should have said 1-2 wells depending on amount of smokers, 1 smokehouse does about 600 meat/fish, i may be wrong but thats the number i see the most on smokers. i will edit the post, thanks.

i think your all right about the lack of food saris is experiencing is the lack of smokers creating extra spoilage.

[Vades]

The best thing you can do to prevent food spoilage is to make sure it's being stored in the right places.

Don't put any food in Storehouses. This includes Grain which is on the Raw Materials group.

Don't put Raw Meat or Raw Fish in your Markets.

Grain and Flour need to be kept in a Granary and grain lasts longer than flour, so don't over produce flour.

Also, when it comes to meat smoking, having two smokers, one specifically dedicated to each type of meat, can be more effective if there is a large gap between the amount of each type of meat you produce. The 1:1 ratio system causes workers to idle if there is no meat of the type it needs to fulfill the ratio.