Little tips, tricks and habits

[Ookapia]

Let's talk about the little things :) What do you do regularly in your game to improve or beautify it?

I'll start with:
Decorative habits:
~ I use photo mode a lot to take a good look at the layout. Before placement, after placement, green print, blueprint.... I'm not building little Eisenhüttenstadt and prefer the organic look, and with this method I find the most pleasing look to my eyes. In real life, I would also "take three steps away to get a good look."

~ Everyone needs a laundry area, firewood and a place to sit, so every house or at least every yard gets one of these decorations

~ Firewood: I tend to put some firewood from the inventory on decorative firewood piles to add more variety to the look.

Gameplay Habbits:
~ I use photo mode a lot.... :P well not very a lot, but sometimes, especially when hunting bears. When I enter a bear area and don't see him (when he is behind a hill for example), I check with the photo mode.

~ It doesn't bother me at all if my stone knife breaks often while hunting. Progress in hunting, gathering and producing all at once :)

~ I follow my villagers to put the road under their feet so that they use this road in the future.


What are your habits?

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

I never place a path too close to a fence so that the grass is visible under the fence. No one can walk under the fence, so there's no reason why grass shouldn't grow there. It looks so much more natural.

I like to make my fields in the forest, that way I can keep some trees and boulders as windbreaks between the fields after clearing.

I try to place the hunter's hut close to a spawning point (+/- 75m) and other buildings like the excavation shed, herbalist hut near the raw material sources to take advantage of the workers' animation at work.

[Ookapia]

I also like fields with trees and grass and lots of greenery in general.

I try not to travel at night. Not only do I see bandits and hostile animals earlier, but I also see more of those precious little lost trade wagons.

I build a stone campfire outside each village and a light source next to it so I can find my sleeping spot more easily if I'm stranded in a faraway village at night or just have to wait until the next day for a quest.

When I go to sell at the merchants, I like to have goods from different price ranges with me so that I can squeeze every last bit of money out of the merchants' pockets.

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

Like your fire camp, I build a small camp near each village and add sacks and barrels to throw excess goods that haven't been sold, and I have a small stack of arrows and a bow for emergencies.

I also make a shelter out of planks and put a few reeds on the ground to make a bed.

[Ookapia]

That sounds very practical, I think I will adopt that and further expand my campsites.

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

To compensate for the lack of markers on the map, I use traps to locate my camps and other points of interest, as they appear on the map. This gives me a total of 18 markers.

Besides, I've got meat to cook when I reach one of my camp.

[The REAL chris]

I set myself small challenges in new games...

Swamplands : - A stockaded village in the swamps 'manned' only by women, all of them love me to bits and ready to marry me :- )

Island Life:- A village on the island in the grand river (the bigger one)

Isolation:- A village near the lake East of Hornica (north of the road just round the bend.) There is a nice area at the foot of the large cliff. No buying or selling in any town.

The Fort:- Yes I have one. up on the hill south of the grand river.

Ghost Town :- An unmanned/unrepaired village in the clearing east of Hornica (the road leading from Hornica to the mine) . My home is on the clearing by the stream directly north of Hornica (The Great Maw).

The Farmer :- Only have farms and veg. No orchard, No hunter or hunting (unless for the storyline. Meat tossed in the river or lake. )

The Hunter :- As above but the opposite. Only hunts.

Mereside :- A village impossible so see from any road. It's by the lake in the middle of the map.

I have a map with several villages, but here's the catch... All the workers work in a different village to the one they live in (except farmers). So I often see them walking around the map.

I plan to have a livestock ranch at some point, and only live of things found and 'slaughtered', cooked eggs and a few fruit trees which I find.

As for decoration. They turn up as if by default. I drop stuff all over the place. I have a 'cafe', tables and chairs outside the cookhouse with food etc on. Most houses have a coverlet (doormat) outside the door and shutters, tools propped up against walls or hanging on racks/fences. Maybe a few flowerpots laying around. Shelves on the Outside of house walls with the relevant 'things' If the blacksmith he'll have ingots/ore. The tailor has cloth and clothes. etc etc. I tend to have the 'Mr and Mrs' working together in the same building (so I know where they go back to after giving birth.)


Also as a BTW I CHEAT.... I have unlimited carry and un-rotting food. 3 day seasons.

[Ookapia]

Traps as markers are noted :)

Originally posted by The REAL chris:

I plan to have a livestock ranch at some point, and only live of things found and 'slaughtered', cooked eggs and a few fruit trees which I find.

That reminds me of my "petting zoo". All the small animal pens were in one area and at some point I opened the fences between them. My house was practically in the middle of it and my son played with all his animals every day. Of course, none of them were ever slaughtered, as they were family members.

Originally posted by The REAL chris:

I have a map with several villages, but here's the catch... All the workers work in a different village to the one they live in (except farmers). So I often see them walking around the map.

I also have a setup like this, but I always try to have one worker nearby and only the others live away so that someone is present in the building.

[The REAL chris]

Question about traps as markers..

What do you mark.. Do the traps not stop spawns. so no use for camps etc. The only thing I can think of is clay pits?

POI:- I forgot.... LoL
I have stores scattered around the map, so I'm never too far from one when that dreaded anvil pops up and you scream AGGGGHHHHHHH The farmer need something....

And always carry some water in those waterskins..

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

As far as I know, they're always marked on the maps so you can find them later to collect animals.

The funny thing about trapped animals is that they never spoil. So fresh meat at all times.

As you get used to the map, this becomes less necessary, but I didn't spend much time at Oxbow, so it helped a little. There are 3 types of trap, so I use one for my camps, one for clay pits, mines and flower fields (if I can find them), and finally points of interest.

[Foxglovez]

So traps used as pins do not stop the spawns of regular animals like bears, wolves or bandit camps?

[Niubel]

Nice idea Ookapia :-)

- To get a really low starting point in oxbow i sell all the starting items and spend the money only for unlocking decorations.

- I decide before starting what type my character is and try to play like that. E.g. someone who wants to be a farmer avoid wild animals and searches for good land to settle down soon. A hunter would maybe just travelling around a few seasons before building his/her house deep in the woods.

- I always give every house a name that fits to the professions of their inhabitants. E.g. "The hunter´s axe" or simply "fishers home" etc.

- I leave also little baskets near roads to store some items, but only because of too much weight (I don´t use the cheat)

Just a few for example.

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

Originally posted by Foxglovez:

So traps used as pins do not stop the spawns of regular animals like bears, wolves or bandit camps?

Oh, I misunderstood The REAL chris question. I never pay attention to this as I usually place them where there are no animals around. Ill check that.

Edit; So I check after season change, and it doesn't affect the spawning zone

[Ookapia]

Originally posted by Niubel:

- I decide before starting what type my character is and try to play like that. E.g. someone who wants to be a farmer avoid wild animals and searches for good land to settle down soon. A hunter would maybe just travelling around a few seasons before building his/her house deep in the woods.

Are you into pen&paper?

The real Chris has written something similar, with themes in his game. Maybe a MD character sheet would be a nice addition :D (Does any dev read? That could be nice extra material :D)

[Niubel]

Originally posted by Ookapia:

Originally posted by Niubel:

- I decide before starting what type my character is and try to play like that. E.g. someone who wants to be a farmer avoid wild animals and searches for good land to settle down soon. A hunter would maybe just travelling around a few seasons before building his/her house deep in the woods.

Are you into pen&paper?

The real Chris has written something similar, with themes in his game. Maybe a MD character sheet would be a nice addition :D (Does any dev read? That could be nice extra material :D)

Yes, i love pen&paper. Was it that obvious ? ;-)

A charactersheet is a funny idea! But i doubt that a pen&paper MD would make so much fun. "Make a farming check to see how many crops you have harvested this season. And don´t forget the bonus of your masterwork scythe! " ;-D

[Ookapia]

Originally posted by Niubel:

A charactersheet is a funny idea! But i doubt that a pen&paper MD would make so much fun. "Make a farming check to see how many crops you have harvested this season. And don´t forget the bonus of your masterwork scythe! " ;-D

Oh well: maybe it was a bit obvious xD

I was thinking more in a different direction. A character sheet for MD, in which you can enter for your character (and later a new one for the heirs) name, year of birth, year of death, profession, period of village leadership with the name of the village(s), positive and negative character traits, life achievements (hit the center of a target perfectly from a distance of a hundred meters), motivation, companions (co-op players or special NPCs).
This could even be done in-game (or separately as a pdf for digital completion) and would provide all role-players with a nice template. The background of the character sheet would of course have to be very nicely designed xD

I also wrote down some key data for my hereditary line the other day. If the game goes on for a long time or if you start directly with a certain plan, it is only logical that some kind of history writing becomes "necessary". Likewise, if you build many different villages and each has its own storyline.

Since many players use roleplaying in their playthroughs, I think some might enjoy it.

I like this idea so much, I'll post it in the suggestions thread. xD