So little wood in the starting area.

[Buster Voodoo]

I played this game about a year ago and decided to pick it up again after the updates.

The first time I played I remember being able to move along through the tutorial quickly and make fast progress.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for trees to grow just so I can build some small tanks and move to the next part of the tutorial. I am now on day 14 and I still don't have enough logs. How is this possible? Am I missing something?

Edit: I've now encountered a drought so all my trees stopped growing. I'm just sitting here staring at my town with no activity. Is this really how the game runs now?

Edit2: I now realize that the drought killed all the trees and they won't grow any more, so my game is essentially over. I cannot understand what I've done wrong, I was just following the tutorial, I didn't waste any logs building anything I wasn't supposed to, I seriously don't understand how this is possible.

[Gresh]

A few things: Your game is fully up to date? No mods? What map are you playing?

You should have more than enough trees in your starting area on every default map to finish the tutorial.

[Buster Voodoo]

Originally posted by Dulce:

A few things: Your game is fully up to date? No mods? What map are you playing?

You should have more than enough trees in your starting area on every default map to finish the tutorial.

Completely up to date (I even uninstalled and reinstalled just to be sure), no mods.

I'm playing "Lakes" because it's marked as beginner friendly.

There is only one small copse of trees that are accessible in the starting district and my beavers harvested them all and it's not enough.

Edit: also I'm on Normal difficulty.

[Buster Voodoo]

Nevermind, I figured it out: there's a tiny little stairway leading up to another level that I didn't see. I thought I couldn't get to those trees because they are on a higher level, I didn't notice the stairs.

[Hells_Razer]

Originally posted by Buster Voodoo:

I'm playing "Lakes" because it's marked as beginner friendly.

There is only one small copse of trees that are accessible in the starting district and my beavers harvested them all and it's not enough.

Edit: also I'm on Normal difficulty.

There are 3 forests near you in the "Lakes" maps:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817413266/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817413053/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817412803/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817412512/

If you have not been able to complete the tutorial without cutting all these trees down, I am afraid you are doing something wrong.

Edit: Ninja'ed.

[Alcator]

You can always open the map in the editor, add more trees (or anything), and save it under a custom name -- and play that.

It's a Single player game, you can play it as easy or as hard as you want :-)

[Buster Voodoo]

Originally posted by Hells_Razer:

Originally posted by Buster Voodoo:

I'm playing "Lakes" because it's marked as beginner friendly.

There is only one small copse of trees that are accessible in the starting district and my beavers harvested them all and it's not enough.

Edit: also I'm on Normal difficulty.

There are 3 forests near you in the "Lakes" maps:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817413266/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817413053/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817412803/

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045399138/screenshot/2287332779817412512/

If you have not been able to complete the tutorial without cutting all these trees down, I am afraid you are doing something wrong.

Edit: Ninja'ed.

The problem was that I didn't notice that little stairway leading up to the higher level so I thought I couldn't get to those trees.

[sno0ks]

Even with all 3 forests, you rapidly run out of trees and have to wait like 2 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ weeks for one to regrow after the drought. Lord help you if you ♥♥♥♥ up the water wheel and have to demolish it and rebuild it because you didn't know how the power system needed to be hooked up which the game doesn't tell you at all.

[Obiwan]

Originally posted by Buster Voodoo:

Nevermind, I figured it out: there's a tiny little stairway leading up to another level that I didn't see. I thought I couldn't get to those trees because they are on a higher level, I didn't notice the stairs.

this just caught me out too!

Had made a similar post, did a search found this and slapped more forehead and deleted my new one.

Thank you!

[oyssoyss]

I didn't notice that stair in my first play too.

[NobodyNeuOnyx]

I JUST did this, I don't care if it's a necro, this is hilarious, LOL.

[schnappkatze]

This waiting for trees to grow is in my opinion a rather annoying part of the game that should be touched up before full release. Each new game I rush the forester building so that the tree planting can start as early as possible, but even then there is a lot of waiting involved.

Without logs there is basically nothing the player can do, you just stare at the screen in 3x speed mode and kinda wait for a timer to finish. While most builders have some kind of timers (you wait for resources to be gathered, buildings to be finished etc.), they are usually interwoven in such a way that you always have something to do and they don't feel like "timers". When you are waiting for resource A you can meanwhile work with resource B or plan Project C.

This "always something to do" isn't done especially well by Timberborn, since for a long time logs (or log-products like planks, gears) are the one and only resource that matters, and when they run out you cannot really do much as a player.

What could help is a little variation in the resource department, some stuff I can build with while I wait for trees to grow and that doesn't come as late as metal.

How about a mud/clay gatherer building that needs to be build at the water? Clay could be an additional needed resource for the usual buildings, but also a way to build low-tier-buildings, so that you can still do stuff while waiting for the trees? Maybe a worse version of shelter could be made from clay, or it could be used to build crude stairs so that landscape exploration isn't tied to logs.

A core difference between wood and clay could be that you cannot stack buildings with clay, so no platform + stairs, to clearly mark it is the cheap beginner resource that should get replaced with wood at some point. It could of course be something completely different, the (I think) important part is that the player has some agency that isn't tied to waiting for trees to grow.


Just as one idea to improve the game. I do love the uniqueness of Timberborn's physics, but I find it a bit lacking as a colony builder, it doesn't quite grips me as other builders do since I regularly hit a "I can do nothing but wait" wall.

[ChanceGateau]

HINT: Edit the map youself and add Oaks to the starting area, they offer the best time/wood ratio I believe.

[ChanceGateau]

Having clay could a be a great idea though, like along riverbanks etc, that way, you can add a kiln with either faction and get bricks; which could be a great mid-to-late game building type. :)

[Zoe]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.