Balancing Game Mechanics

[Honor]

This game feels really messed up! First, after upgrading the blacksmith shop, i'm completely inundated with woodworking orders. But then you have to spend all your money very quickly to upgrade everything you can to get to the place you can upgrade your shop again. Because you need to do that to unlock woodworking stuff. Then you have to keep taking orders in between all that to get points to unlock more stuff. All the while you have several woodworking orders waiting to be done. And all this has to be done very quickly if you want to put out the several woodworking orders before time expires. Once you upgrade your shop, you have to build 2 more rooms, one for woodworking and the other for workbench. Then buy all the supplies, then you have to work in between eating, sleeping, buying supplies, opening the shop to make more money. And in the end you've probably pissed off a lot of people because you weren't able to finish their woodworking orders in time. That really sucked!

Why do woodworking orders have to be so very rushed after upgrading the the smithy for the first time? Surely there must be some kind of balance that can be implemented where it all makes a little more sense.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Hey there! Thanks for your feedback.

This is a management simulator game, you don't have to accept all the orders.
Your goal is to accept only the profitable ones and refuse to do all the others. You can also close your stall for woodworking orders (there is a separate sign near your stall for it) while making plot-related orders.
Another point I'd like to make is that you don't really have to rush the woodworking room. Instead, you can simply buy the wood you need from the merchant. Sometimes clients also offer wood as a payment for their iron orders, and this is also a good way to earn some wood.

[Honor]

Originally posted by Pirozhok Std.:

Hey there! Thanks for your feedback.

This is a management simulator game, you don't have to accept all the orders.
Your goal is to accept only the profitable ones and refuse to do all the others. You can also close your stall for woodworking orders (there is a separate sign near your stall for it) while making plot-related orders.
Another point I'd like to make is that you don't really have to rush the woodworking room. Instead, you can simply buy the wood you need from the merchant. Sometimes clients also offer wood as a payment for their iron orders, and this is also a good way to earn some wood.

I understand it's a time management game which is one of my favorite genres but the problem is you can't buy wood from the store until you upgrade the smithy for the second time which means you need to rush through aforementioned things to get there. So I lost about 7 large profitable woodworking orders because of this dilemma. The wood just wasn't available to buy from the store.

So the issue is why am I getting all these woodworking orders without having unlocked that skill.

And the shop sign for woodworking isn't available until you've upgraded the shop, twice.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Originally posted by sunirose4:

I understand it's a time management game which is one of my favorite genres but the problem is you can't buy wood from the store until you upgrade the smithy for the second time which means you need to rush through aforementioned things to get there. So I lost about 7 large profitable woodworking orders because of this dilemma. The wood just wasn't available to buy from the store.

So the issue is why am I getting all these woodworking orders without having unlocked that skill.

And the shop sign for woodworking isn't available until you've upgraded the shop, twice.

Could you specify what kind of customers were asking you to make the woodworking orders? Because if they were plot-related customers (Baron, Finley, Olivia, etc.) there isn't much we can do about this, but if they were randomly generated then it is definitely a bug.
Please send us a couple of screenshots, or, ideally, a save file with those customers present so that I could look into it

[Honor]

Originally posted by Pirozhok Std.:

Originally posted by sunirose4:

I understand it's a time management game which is one of my favorite genres but the problem is you can't buy wood from the store until you upgrade the smithy for the second time which means you need to rush through aforementioned things to get there. So I lost about 7 large profitable woodworking orders because of this dilemma. The wood just wasn't available to buy from the store.

So the issue is why am I getting all these woodworking orders without having unlocked that skill.

And the shop sign for woodworking isn't available until you've upgraded the shop, twice.

Could you specify what kind of customers were asking you to make the woodworking orders? Because if they were plot-related customers (Baron, Finley, Olivia, etc.) there isn't much we can do about this, but if they were randomly generated then it is definitely a bug.
Please send us a couple of screenshots, or, ideally, a save file with those customers present so that I could look into it

It was the Baron and the King and Olivia and some guy wanted a special hammer. Basically all the orders were special orders and some were large orders.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Originally posted by sunirose4:

Originally posted by Pirozhok Std.:

Could you specify what kind of customers were asking you to make the woodworking orders? Because if they were plot-related customers (Baron, Finley, Olivia, etc.) there isn't much we can do about this, but if they were randomly generated then it is definitely a bug.
Please send us a couple of screenshots, or, ideally, a save file with those customers present so that I could look into it

It was the Baron and the King and Olivia and some guy wanted a special hammer. Basically all the orders were special orders and some were large orders.

Those are plot-related customers, they make their orders on specific days for the plot to develop, so we can't really limit them to be spawned only after the player unlocks the woodworking

[Arseniy-II]

Woodworking is a little bit scripted to be started after day 20. I agree that it is not very clear. But honestly, it wasn't a problem for me in my first playthrough. And on my 3-4 I am usually way ahead of time for woodworking

[Honor]

Originally posted by Arseniy-II:

Woodworking is a little bit scripted to be started after day 20. I agree that it is not very clear. But honestly, it wasn't a problem for me in my first playthrough. And on my 3-4 I am usually way ahead of time for woodworking

I guess the game mechanics work differently than I was originally thinking. I didn't realize the game operates based on calendar times rather than on skill and level of experience of the workers.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Originally posted by sunirose4:

I guess the game mechanics work differently than I was originally thinking. I didn't realize the game operates based on calendar times rather than on skill and level of experience of the workers.

I strongly recommend you to try the sandbox mode instead. Story mode is strictly connected to the in-game calendar for the plot development reasons.

[ivyfoo]

I'm getting story missions for woodworking items and I don't even have access to woodworking yet. Kinda frustrating.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Originally posted by ivyfoo:

I'm getting story missions for woodworking items and I don't even have access to woodworking yet. Kinda frustrating.

To be honest, I really haven’t seen it as an issue before. Plot scenario is developing by in-game calendar time, otherwise players could endlessly stay on the first level of the stall and grind endless amount of money.
If you want a more laid-back and chill experience, try sandbox mode. It is still full of side quests but without any rush.

[ivyfoo]

Tried sandbox mode and my character just decided not to eat anymore. I click on the food storage and nothing happens, yes there is food in there. He just stands there starving like an idiot.

[Pirozhok Std.]

Originally posted by ivyfoo:

Tried sandbox mode and my character just decided not to eat anymore. I click on the food storage and nothing happens, yes there is food in there. He just stands there starving like an idiot.

Is it possible that your character is wearing equipment or has perk that prevents him from cooking? Please send me a save file so that I could look into it.

[Dayemon]

Great example of this in action. All these event wood orders I had no idea required wood.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3091360058

Rushed the woodworking room which I can't even find a "log rack" in the shop?? Going to fail all these orders and still no wood to buy in the shop.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3091358291

[Neferneith]

I got the same problem. I built a smithy proefficient in iron work, with smithy tools and smithy workers. Just after I upgrarded to level 3 (150 reputation) I get flooded by ONLY wood work order. I had some cash saved so I can build the 3 rooms (planking woodworking and one more employe) plus all the furnitures but time is passing by and I only have WOOD work order (and 3 sharpening). Plus the rooms way off and needs a lot of walking.

Is it still a smithy ?