Question before purchase

[UKSharon]

1) Do you have the freedom to play as you wish or are you forced to carry out tasks for others in the town/village meaning do you have to do jobs to be able to progress in the game.
2) Can you build anywhere and build and farm as much as you want.
How much combat/ dangers are there and can they be avoided if i was looking for combat free.
3)How difficult is the combat/dangers
4) Is there settings in the game to change difficulty etc

What i am looking for is a game with farming ,building and the freedom to do this anywhere on the map and without too many dangers or too difficult.
Thank you

[Winter's Embers]

1) You do have to progress in the game but this is based on a system where you build things called Special Projects spread across the map. You have a "Dynasty Legend" and completing these projects will reward 1, 2, or 3 points to that level. The current maximum is 34. However, to unlock everything in the game, you only need to reach 21. You choose which ones you complete and you choose when to complete them. Some are simple (small bridges), a few very difficult (large bridge and ore processing stations).
The beginning of the game has 3 tasks that you need to do. It's part of the tutorial system introducing certain aspects of the game. However, these can be finished very, very quickly and require very little effort. There are 3 other questions that also unlock buildings you need but you are not required to finish them. You just have to start them and, in 2 of 3 cases, deliver a small sample of goods.
2) You can build anywhere but land elevation can block buildings. Your only restrictions currently are: you cannot build within a certain range of NPC villages (there are 3), and each village you build is its own separate thing and you cannot combine them (you can have up to 4). There is a population limit of 1+Dynasty Legend (max 35 currently) but no building limit except the limit of your bell tower radius. Storage is limited (by design) and you will need to manage it carefully, especially at the highest levels of population.
Danger is represented by wild animals (boars) and bandits. Both are very dangerous but are easily avoided. You will see bandits from far away and there are only 5 that spawn across the entire map during the season. Their locations are randomly shifted each season. Boars are loud, obnoxious, and will warn you quite well if you get to close, prompting an attack.
3) Combat with these dangers can be very dangerous. At the moment, there is no armor and your weapon choices are limited. Bandits currently defeat you in one hit. Boars defeat you in four. But being defeated does not end the game. You simply get sent home, losing some coins and taking a hit to your green hunger bar.
4) Currently there is no setting to change difficulty. This will very likely change later in the Early Access.

I am like you. I hate combat. I hate fighting. I want a simple, relaxing game. This game fills it for me. I know how to avoid fights.
The farming, building, and freedom is all there (with the few above restrictions). Dangers are easily avoided once you learn the map (and it is a very large map). You do have to earn your buildings.
But, please remember that this title is still very early on in its Early Access release. It has only about 1/3 of the planned content and there are still bugs and issues that the development team needs to work through. Updates are frequent, bugfixes are fast, and the game runs well for not being complete.

Now, granted, I have over 450 hours logged. I'm also an alpha tester for the game. I've seen it grow from a hot mess to a nice title in just a few short months. But the EA is scheduled for at least a year. And it is not complete. However, you might find what you're looking for. And, you can also help shape the course of the game by participating in the forums here and especially on the Toplitz Discord channel. The devs read suggestions, bug reports, and other comments. Player requests have already made it into the game (including a couple of my own!). If that sounds interesting, and making things like this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3122220321
is what you want then I most certainly recommend getting it.

(A final note: there is a 'cheat' menu that you can use to change certain aspects of the game (like unlocking all recipes immediately. It can make your game even more to your liking, especially early on while you're learning it. You can also check the guides I've made. They explain most of the game.)


Okay, that's enough from me.

[UKSharon]

Thank you so much for your reply and the cheat menu to change aspects of the game, where can this be found. Purchased :)

[Winter's Embers]

Cheat Menu is available once you start the game. Go into the settings and scroll down to the bottom. You can enable them there and then choose which cheats to enable. This activation is on a per-save basis so you'll need to activate it again if you start a new game (which you likely will; I'm on restart 52 currently, testing high-population production and storage).
And I definitely recommend heading to the Toplitz Discord. You can find the link in the pinned announcements. You can ask all the questions you like and it's a lot more interactive with faster replies.

[UKSharon]

Thanks again Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

[Winter's Embers]

Thanks, although still lingering on the 24th in my neck of the world (at least for another 30 minutes!). Enjoy the game.

[Merlin69]

Nice answer.

[Winter's Embers]

Originally posted by Merlin69:

Nice answer.

I aim to please!