Hard to recruit villagers in Oxbow - anyone else with the same problem or a solution?

[perkins.sarah]

Recruiting villagers in the Oxbow is infuriating and is seriously making me consider stopping playing that map. Or the game entirely for a while. It's the dynasty rep required to recruit them - and the way it seems to increase every time you pass them.

To give you an example, this evening I went to a villager camp. I wanted to recruit a villager there. They said I needed 1600 rep. I had 1550. OK, fine. Went to do a quest and came back. Was able to recruit that villager, but asked the one next to them and suddenly that one and all the others around the fire need 1800 rep instead. I go running all over the map to complete the quests I need to get that much rep. This time, I go into the settings and increase my dynasty rep percentage, just to test it. My quest gave me enough to get me over 2100 rep with that setting changed. I go to those villagers - they are happy enough to come with me. I go to another camp, and suddenly they want 2200 rep!

It's like unless I've actually asked the villager to join my village and been turned down (in the same season, because I tested between seasons too and they increased the threshold anyway), they just pick the next threshold above wherever my rep is.

It is absolutely infuriating! One big reason I like the game is because of the village management, but whatever's happening with the Oxbow map means I don't get to do that because I'm running all over the map trying to complete quests which each seem to require three different village visits, only to find that the villager I'm trying to recruit has changed their minds about how much rep they need me to have! So, if anyone knows of a setting which can be turned off, please let me know!

[Vertibird]

Originally posted by perkins.sarah:

Recruiting villagers in the Oxbow is infuriating and is seriously making me consider stopping playing that map. Or the game entirely for a while. It's the dynasty rep required to recruit them - and the way it seems to increase every time you pass them.

To give you an example, this evening I went to a villager camp. I wanted to recruit a villager there. They said I needed 1600 rep. I had 1550. OK, fine. Went to do a quest and came back. Was able to recruit that villager, but asked the one next to them and suddenly that one and all the others around the fire need 1800 rep instead. I go running all over the map to complete the quests I need to get that much rep. This time, I go into the settings and increase my dynasty rep percentage, just to test it. My quest gave me enough to get me over 2100 rep with that setting changed. I go to those villagers - they are happy enough to come with me. I go to another camp, and suddenly they want 2200 rep!

It's like unless I've actually asked the villager to join my village and been turned down (in the same season, because I tested between seasons too and they increased the threshold anyway), they just pick the next threshold above wherever my rep is.

It is absolutely infuriating! One big reason I like the game is because of the village management, but whatever's happening with the Oxbow map means I don't get to do that because I'm running all over the map trying to complete quests which each seem to require three different village visits, only to find that the villager I'm trying to recruit has changed their minds about how much rep they need me to have! So, if anyone knows of a setting which can be turned off, please let me know!

Oxbow story quests give big dynasty reps, other than that you should do quests on notice board every season.

[Morri]

They don't "change their minds". Every new villager you recruit will always requires more rep than the previous one.
On the Valley the rep requirements seem a lot lower - or at least it was before the co-op update; I don't know if it was changed there.

I think this was done to prevent you from hiring too many too quickly and then getting in trouble because not able to provide for everyone.

I guess you could hope for a baby boom in your village to get more workers, though it'll take a while for them to grow up.

[barbaraclubb]

You could also increase your reputation gain in the custom settings. I am not sure if that takes effect immediately or at the start of the next season.

[larrysteele]

Upping the dynasty rep like you did helps a LOT!

I set mine to 300% and then did all of the main quests, which gave me tons of points. I've also done a number of the side quests on the announcement board and have done a few of my villager's requests. I've also been intentionally growing very, very slowly, so have never had an issue with dynasty rep points. Now I'm in my 25th year and have well over 130,000 dynasty rep points.

[azhockeynut]

never had an issue getting rep, often get far too much and I play vanilla settings. I just don't try to grow fast and I do the board quests as well as some, of the individual villager ones if they are not out of the way.
I try to do 1 per season, which, IMO, if you are not trying too hard to go fast, is super easy to do. I guess one can learn over time the shortcuts to some of the quests and/or the board quests. I do have a lot of hours in game. might be harder on a newer player I suppose

[Macdallan]

Originally posted by azhockeynut:

never had an issue getting rep, often get far too much and I play vanilla settings. I just don't try to grow fast and I do the board quests as well as some, of the individual villager ones if they are not out of the way.
I try to do 1 per season, which, IMO, if you are not trying too hard to go fast, is super easy to do. I guess one can learn over time the shortcuts to some of the quests and/or the board quests. I do have a lot of hours in game. might be harder on a newer player I suppose

Same, vanilla settings except 5 day seasons instead of 3. I have never had a single issue getting a villager to join. Think I have somewhere around 20 of them at this point in my current Oxbow game, only on year 3.

[nephilimnexus]

'Tis a silly mechanic made up by silly people. Just crank your Rep XP up to 1000% and even a simple notice board request for sticks can bump you up to the next villager milestone.

[Mussidenn]

Maybe the travellers shouldn't tell you, how much reputation is needed to hire them. How about "Not sure, if i should join you. What have u done for the valley?"

[Nullex]

Well its designed for co-op, so your point about being sapped on bandwidth is kind of silly in that regard.