Need help, NPCs don't come to work in the fields

[Ploug]

Ok I think I didn't quite understand how the game and NPCs work for some things.

I've played a little over 10 hours so I've made progress in the (long and slow) tutorial, but I haven't seen any details that talk about the height or distance of the rooms.
By that I mean, is there a height limit that prevents NPCs from doing activities if you build too high or too low ? Is there a limit on the distance ?

I had already had some problems when I built the toilets that an NPC requested. The door was not at the same level as the ground (even if obviously accessible by staircases), and since I had partly dug the room I have the impression that the game had trouble considering that there were more than 2 blocks of height when it was indeed the case. I had to try a few configurations before it worked.

And there I wonder if I don't have a similar problem with some of my fields...

I created 3 fields a little next to the bell, and slightly lower, and I see that the earthworm is not going to transform the soil.
I myself replaced some blocks of "contaminated soil" with normal soil, but no NPC comes to work.
The game nevertheless considers that these are "fields", I can assign a crop with the scarecrow, the fields are accessible and I even saw an NPC go to one of them to draw water, but no one comes to work.

I tried to create a field about the same distance as the others, but this time at the same height as the bell (which I consider more or less as the center of the village), and same, no one works.
So I wonder if the problem is not related to the distance of the fields ? But they are very close so it seems stupid to me.
I then recreated a field where the game asks us to place one at the very beginning (near the small water source), and there the earthworm instantly transforms the ground, so I can still create fields, the problem is elsewhere.

Sorry for my shaky explanations but I don't know how to put a photo, it would surely have been simpler.
I don't understand what I'm missing.

[CharlieP]

im assuming ure in furrowfiled? if so are u inside the town?

[Ploug]

Originally posted by CharlieP:

im assuming ure in furrowfiled? if so are u inside the town?

Yes this is my first time playing so I'm still at the beginning, on the 2nd island

I was answered on Reddit and that's exactly what I feared.
Without doing it on purpose I made the fields exactly where the base stops... damn... Really spot on, I think my field starts at the exact block where the base stops.
I suspected there was a limit and I had made sure not to stray too far, I'm barely a few meters from the bell, but it's already too far for the limit imposed by the game.

I think the game warns about the limit in a very unclear way, you can easily not pay attention to it, and it's frustrating to have limited so much but too late, I'm going to have to reorganize what I had done. At least I understand a little better how the game is built

[CharlieP]

easy way to find the limit look top left of the screen when the "level" vanishes thats where the edge of the village is and its a perfect square so easy to mark and u can stack as high as u want too

[lilisaur]

Everybody struggles with the base limits the first time. It is not as clear as it was in DQB1 where there was a bit more light shining up to the edge of town. We've all built something outside the base parameters and struggled with why it doesn't get used, even me. So you really shouldn't feel bad about that.

You can however move your scarecrows a few blocks further in. You might not get a 9x9 field out of it, but you can still make something like 5x9 or 6x9 fields along the base edges if thats all you have room for. The game really doesn't care where the fields are or what sizes they are, so long as you somehow get to 250 planted spaces. I've even heard some people make living spaces and then put the fields on top of those houses.

[CharlieP]

Originally posted by lilisaur:

Everybody struggles with the base limits the first time. It is not as clear as it was in DQB1 where there was a bit more light shining up to the edge of town. We've all built something outside the base parameters and struggled with why it doesn't get used, even me. So you really shouldn't feel bad about that.

You can however move your scarecrows a few blocks further in. You might not get a 9x9 field out of it, but you can still make something like 5x9 or 6x9 fields along the base edges if thats all you have room for. The game really doesn't care where the fields are or what sizes they are, so long as you somehow get to 250 planted spaces. I've even heard some people make living spaces and then put the fields on top of those houses.

one person i saw moved the entire village in the sky somehow didnt lose any1 and made everything work to beat the map lol

[Ploug]

Originally posted by CharlieP:

easy way to find the limit look top left of the screen when the "level" vanishes thats where the edge of the village is and its a perfect square so easy to mark and u can stack as high as u want too

I was told that there is also a change of music when we go out of bounds, and the fact that Malroth starts following us. I guess that looking at the levels works too.

In any case now I know that the first thing to do in a new base is to delimit the land.

And besides, does the game systematically impose on us the place where to build on the different islands? Or can we later choose a place ourselves? I'm afraid that this is not the case but it would have been cool to be able for example to create a beacon to claim a land in order to be able to build in a certain radius around it.

[CharlieP]

Originally posted by Ploug:

Originally posted by CharlieP:

easy way to find the limit look top left of the screen when the "level" vanishes thats where the edge of the village is and its a perfect square so easy to mark and u can stack as high as u want too

I was told that there is also a change of music when we go out of bounds, and the fact that Malroth starts following us. I guess that looking at the levels works too.

In any case now I know that the first thing to do in a new base is to delimit the land.

And besides, does the game systematically impose on us the place where to build on the different islands? Or can we later choose a place ourselves? I'm afraid that this is not the case but it would have been cool to be able for example to create a beacon to claim a land in order to be able to build in a certain radius around it.

well u technically get that js but the area horizontally is way to small tho

[lilisaur]

On the story islands you will start with a relatively small rectangle.

When you return to Isle of Awakening, you will have more freedom, and be given about a quarter of the island to build on. As the story develops, you'll gain even more access on Isle of Awakening, with about 70% of the island available for use by residents by end of game. Post-game, you will get access to additional free-build islands where you can build rooms that residents would use anywhere on the island. Since you are rather limited on the story islands, you needn't put much effort in sprucing up their towns - save that effort for Isle of Awakening where you can really express yourself. You can visit other people's islands through the Noticeboard and get an idea of how much larger the building space on these islands can be.

Builders 1 has a Flag which sort of acts the beacon you mean, in drawing a square centered on the flag to use as your base area. However, you can't choose where this flag gets planted (its a fixed location), and the area in DQB1 is even smaller than what you get at Furrowfield farm. (It also gives a free build island to rectify story limitations.)