Tips for getting the most out of work camps?

[Bus_Stop_Graffiti]

Finding I'm running out of logs very often. Is the output from work camps only really suitable to meet the demands of firewood cutters, fletchers & the like? (Construction projects requiring labourers clear areas of trees to stock construction sites instead?) Or is there a way to improve their output with regards to placement of the building and work zone? Maybe just a whole lot more of them?

[Ichangedmyname]

I just recently got the game, But I think work camps are meant to slowly farm the wood allowing new trees to grow so you don't farm out all the wood. I could be wrong but I have had a work camp on the same patch of forest for 22 in game years rotating 2, and 4 workers every other year and the patch of forest is still there it looks a little farmed out but not to bad, I get a decent amount of wood from it each year. I also have workers clearing wood all the time for buildings so Im never at a loss for wood.

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Probably just have a lot of them. I only keep 1 worker per camp so hopefully by the time they've cleared most of the trees some new ones will have grown back for them to cut down again.

[Crai-Crai]

If you have a bit of gold, go into Decorations and plant oak trees near your work camps. They have a starting size of 6 or 7 and grow to 14 at maturity. Worth the 5 gold. Then you can sell the logs to traders and get more gold to plant more trees. I have a large surplus of logs from this.

Only problem with this method is that there seems to be a glitch now so woodcutters are taking down newly planted trees and ignoring the mature trees, even though I have it set to cut mature trees only. Maybe because these are "decoration" trees and not the trees that spawn randomly.

[Ichangedmyname]

Originally posted by Crai-Crai:

If you have a bit of gold, go into Decorations and plant oak trees near your work camps. They have a starting size of 6 or 7 and grow to 14 at maturity. Worth the 5 gold. Then you can sell the logs to traders and get more gold to plant more trees. I have a large surplus of logs from this.

Only problem with this method is that there seems to be a glitch now so woodcutters are taking down newly planted trees and ignoring the mature trees, even though I have it set to cut mature trees only. Maybe because these are "decoration" trees and not the trees that spawn randomly.

Good tip.

[HunApo]

Originally posted by Crai-Crai:

If you have a bit of gold, go into Decorations and plant oak trees near your work camps. They have a starting size of 6 or 7 and grow to 14 at maturity. Worth the 5 gold. Then you can sell the logs to traders and get more gold to plant more trees. I have a large surplus of logs from this.

Only problem with this method is that there seems to be a glitch now so woodcutters are taking down newly planted trees and ignoring the mature trees, even though I have it set to cut mature trees only. Maybe because these are "decoration" trees and not the trees that spawn randomly.

It seems to me that they seriously buffed the tree spawning, so if you can make some tiny forest from those oak trees (i usually do 4x4 or 5x5) and leave it for a while and they start to spread, eventually making you a great forest.
Obviously not in a few years, but still in the long run you can actually force spawn a forest

[Furin]

Originally posted by HunApo:

Originally posted by Crai-Crai:

If you have a bit of gold, go into Decorations and plant oak trees near your work camps. They have a starting size of 6 or 7 and grow to 14 at maturity. Worth the 5 gold. Then you can sell the logs to traders and get more gold to plant more trees. I have a large surplus of logs from this.

Only problem with this method is that there seems to be a glitch now so woodcutters are taking down newly planted trees and ignoring the mature trees, even though I have it set to cut mature trees only. Maybe because these are "decoration" trees and not the trees that spawn randomly.

It seems to me that they seriously buffed the tree spawning, so if you can make some tiny forest from those oak trees (i usually do 4x4 or 5x5) and leave it for a while and they start to spread, eventually making you a great forest.
Obviously not in a few years, but still in the long run you can actually force spawn a forest

This is correct, with some care you can change all the forest around your settlement to oaks which will then spawn new oaks.

[MOK]

Originally posted by Ichangedmyname:

I have had a work camp on the same patch of forest for 22 in game years rotating 2, and 4 workers every other year and the patch of forest is still there it looks a little farmed out but not to bad, I get a decent amount of wood from it each year. I also have workers clearing wood all the time for buildings so Im never at a loss for wood.

This is interesting. I have a completely different experience. I can never keep my ring in one spot or it gets nearly clearcut. They might not harvest all of it one year, or the next, but if I leave it too long, the young trees are all gone and there are a small fraction of young trees to replace it. The 22 years you've experienced seems.... inconceivable to me.

Maybe it's significantly dependent on where the harvesting takes place? I'm currently on dry highlands, so it could be that.....

[MOK]

Side note, how many years do oaks take to get mature? Was thinking it could be useful if I built a fenced 'grid' where I can quickly at a glance keep track of one patch planted each year. Clear one patch, replant, no hunting around.

[Crai-Crai]

Originally posted by MOK:

Side note, how many years do oaks take to get mature? Was thinking it could be useful if I built a fenced 'grid' where I can quickly at a glance keep track of one patch planted each year. Clear one patch, replant, no hunting around.

I tried that, and it worked for a bit. Trees were maturing in only a couple years (didn't keep track precisely, but it wasn't long). I was hauling in tons of logs. Then something happened and my trees stopped growing completely. I planted them, and they didn't grow at all. Probably a bug? Some trees still grew on the map, but not the ones that I planted.

[Schwift Master]

Hard to say without knowing your population, but I had 2-3 work camps max, able to meet the needs of my 220ish population. Fletchers/woodcutters/and even furniture. Also had high needs for firewood in my industries. Kiln/Furnace/Glass.. all use firewood as well.

First thing to know is wagons transfer the materials that work camps and mines produce. So make sure to have a direct path from your work camp to the stockyard you want those logs placed at.

Upgrade to a stone rode for better efficiency. I always splurge on roads for my mining/logging/hunting/farming colonies that are well beyond the city walls.

The closer your work camp to the forest or stone, the better. Remember, the wagon drivers will bring the logs to storage. So having your workers close to the trees/rocks will make the more efficient.

Temporary Shelters- I was placing these near my colonies. What I noticed is that they will be stocked with food and water. My workers will go to one of these houses to refill there food/water versus all the way back to their house or the city market. They would also sometimes stay in these during bad weather or other events. So if I have a blizzard, the worker would only have to go to the temporary shelter instead of all the way back home to the city. Seems hit or miss with how much they actually use them for that.

Houses near work camps- I didn't discover this till the tale end of my play through as my city was extending its tentacles further out. When I placed houses, not temporary shelters, near my colonies, then I noted that the people working closest moved in.

So my last tip, not fully tested, but if this is true, then build a house near your work camp. When the workers move in then they will have to walk even less to get there. Just keep tabs on how they go about stocking their house.

[MedeaFleecestealer]

It's true. As of v0.8.0

"Villagers now favor housing that is close to their work when selecting shelters."

Probably need to add a well, market place and compost yard minimum to keep them happy and not running around getting food and other stuff themselves.

[Schwift Master]

Originally posted by Furin:

Originally posted by HunApo:

It seems to me that they seriously buffed the tree spawning, so if you can make some tiny forest from those oak trees (i usually do 4x4 or 5x5) and leave it for a while and they start to spread, eventually making you a great forest.
Obviously not in a few years, but still in the long run you can actually force spawn a forest

This is correct, with some care you can change all the forest around your settlement to oaks which will then spawn new oaks.

I also didn't know this, that decoration trees (or only oaks?) will continue to spread, or that they yield so much. I want to try and plant a forest now

[HunApo]

Originally posted by Schwift Master:

Originally posted by Furin:

This is correct, with some care you can change all the forest around your settlement to oaks which will then spawn new oaks.

I also didn't know this, that decoration trees (or only oaks?) will continue to spread, or that they yield so much. I want to try and plant a forest now

Works with every decoration trees as far as i know, but since Oak provides 6 at the very start and up to 14 when fully mature it just makes sense to spam those for highest return of your 5 coin