It's so unbalanced, we stopped playing

[rage.quit]

After a couple of weeks of playing Sengoku Dynasty and restarting our game after the recent update our group of 4 people have just stopped playing the game. The villager's needs and the resources that need to be hunted, collected or harvested every single day are so absurdly big that even in a 4 player game, at least 3 players need to keep hunting / collecting / harvesting non stop to meet at least the most basic needs. Even if most of the villagers have good tools and are properly assigned a job - and only very few of them are doing projects.
It is so bad, that I ask myself if anybody has tested this.
Before the update it was completely different and very easy to fulfill the needs.

Beside this, there is a long list of other issues.
- Ranged Combat is a joke. Just stay away far enough from enemies when shooting and they won't attack you.
- There are absolutely no water physics.
- The easiest way to hunt, is with your knife (except wolfs and bears). Hunting a deer? Sure - just chase him and stab him with a knife until he dies.
- Trees grow too slow. There is a GIGANTIC area around our village with no trees left (only smaller ones, that still need to grow).
- After changing the season, there is a good chance that all animals will stop moving. Even if you attack them.
- There is no information if a villager stops producing because something is missing. Everybody uses the same storage. So maybe no more arrows are produced, because some other villager decided to make a fire with the sticks.
- Everytime we load a game, a couple of people are job- and / or homeless.
- There is no real use in building a second village.
- You run out of useful things to do (quests, etc.) quite quickly.

- Many mechanics are not intuitive and the game doesn't care to explain them:
=> Collect some water from the well, then build a bucket, then combine the bucket and the water to a bucket filled with water.
=> You can build shrines and graves, but to fulfill your villagers needs for spirituality, you need monk clothing. No explanation in the game for this (at least not in German).
=> Many items that you can add to objects (for example at the fertilizer pile) can only be added in stacks of a fixed number. But the game won't explain this.
=> There is no explanation which items are required to fulfill which need.

This doesn't feel like a Japanese Dynasty. More like a Japanese Village Simulator.

[Winter's Embers]

While quite a few of your 'long list of other issues' are quite valid (and are already being addressed), I'll comment on a few of the things to perhaps help you out.

"Even if most of the villagers have good tools and are properly assigned a job - and only very few of them are doing projects.
It is so bad, that I ask myself if anybody has tested this."

It has been tested and quite thoroughly. I myself tested the Needs system up to 100 villagers and was able to maintain full Needs production with only NPC villager work assignments.
First: "good tools?" A lot of confusion on this. Good tools are not iron or even steel. Once you have a smithy, the only tool you should be using for any job that has access to them is masterwork. That is why the tool grades are in the game. Iron tools will only get you so far. Steel tools can help for a little while after that. But only with Masterwork tools can you achieve a proper amount of production.
Second: Your choice of final product will radically impact how much NPC labor is needed to meet a need. You need to upgrade not only tools but also what type of product you're producing to keep up with the Needs. If you're making anything but Solid or Excellent meals after 10 population, you will fall behind on Meals. If you're making anything but Excellent meals after 15, you will fall behind. Mixing and matching lower end with higher end items doesn't work. Yes, this creates a very one-dimensional feel in the game and is something I've brought up a number of times as a negative but for right now this is what is in the game. Later on, perhaps we will get more choices.
Third: Do you truly understand how the happiness system works? Although it doesn't have an impact right now, it will soon. I've said it time and again that the slider is just confusing for players and if this is the case for you, this will just be another example. To summarize, you should NEVER have the sliders for your Needs set to Green. Orange maintains current happiness. Green increases it but those increases are permanent as long as orange needs are met. So, take one production cycle and increase ONE Need to green and make sure you have enough in the storage to meet the massively increased Need, then reset it to orange for the following production tick. You will see that your happiness for all villagers has increased (as long as you're meeting orange level for all other needs) and will NOT decrease the next production tick unless you fail to meet an orange level Need.
(side note: If you have access to the Toplitz Official Discord, I put an Excel spreadsheet in the Guides section there that shows all Needs for every population from 1 to 100 for both orange and green needs. It was taken directly from game information as it was played. You can use it to see the progression in the game and help plan your future needs. Unfortunately, sharing it here isn't possible as Steam is fickle about files.)

"- Trees grow too slow. There is a GIGANTIC area around our village with no trees left (only smaller ones, that still need to grow)."
You should be using your carpentry stations in the woodcutter's hut to have your villagers collect logs with masterwork axes. They do not destroy any trees in the game.
However, this has become a problem since the introduction of the daily production system. While material Needs have grown immensely during the season, the regrowth system is still based on a seasonal approach. So, you end up using more logs than you otherwise would unless you're using NPC's.

"- Everytime we load a game, a couple of people are job- and / or homeless."
All players are reset to homeless/jobless status on load of a save game. It's a known issue. MP still needs some work done to it during this Early Access. If you're having this issue with NPC's, please fill out a bug report in the proper forum to bring it to the attention of the devs.

"=> Collect some water from the well, then build a bucket, then combine the bucket and the water to a bucket filled with water."
Watering buckets for farming are a separate item in terms of tools. Water is a consumable item for Needs. Watering buckets for farming are not and were made separate to ensure the people would not use them to satisfy Needs. That's why water from the well just looks like a water drop.

"=> You can build shrines and graves, but to fulfill your villagers needs for spirituality, you need monk clothing. No explanation in the game for this (at least not in German)."
This is probably part of the Spirituality update that is set for a future release. There's been a lot of people discussing this but, for right now, buildings can't have an effect on Needs. There will likely be significant changes in this system as the Early Access continues as it has become a bit of a hot topic.

"=> There is no explanation which items are required to fulfill which need."
Every item in the game that fulfills a Need will have that information in the info pane of the inventory screen. When you click on an item inside any inventory screen (storage, personal, vendor), the middle pane will show all relevant information. For example, food used for Meals will have a Needs (Meals) moniker in the pane. If there is no indicator for Needs, the item does not fulfill any Need (although it's very likely an ingredient to one that does).

"This doesn't feel like a Japanese Dynasty. More like a Japanese Village Simulator." You're absolutely right here. The Dynasty system has yet to be implemented. Getting the core mechanics of village coding right is the focus right now.

Remember, this is an Early Access title that has a long roadmap still in front of it. Many features and items of a "Dynasty" game are still yet to come. Until the game reaches a full, 1.0 release status, that will remain true.

[natknut]

Originally posted by Winter's Embers:

While quite a few of your 'long list of other issues' are quite valid (and are already being addressed), I'll comment on a few of the things to perhaps help you out.

"Even if most of the villagers have good tools and are properly assigned a job - and only very few of them are doing projects.
It is so bad, that I ask myself if anybody has tested this."

It has been tested and quite thoroughly. I myself tested the Needs system up to 100 villagers and was able to maintain full Needs production with only NPC villager work assignments.
First: "good tools?" A lot of confusion on this. Good tools are not iron or even steel. Once you have a smithy, the only tool you should be using for any job that has access to them is masterwork. That is why the tool grades are in the game. Iron tools will only get you so far. Steel tools can help for a little while after that. But only with Masterwork tools can you achieve a proper amount of production.
Second: Your choice of final product will radically impact how much NPC labor is needed to meet a need. You need to upgrade not only tools but also what type of product you're producing to keep up with the Needs. If you're making anything but Solid or Excellent meals after 10 population, you will fall behind on Meals. If you're making anything but Excellent meals after 15, you will fall behind. Mixing and matching lower end with higher end items doesn't work. Yes, this creates a very one-dimensional feel in the game and is something I've brought up a number of times as a negative but for right now this is what is in the game. Later on, perhaps we will get more choices.
Third: Do you truly understand how the happiness system works? Although it doesn't have an impact right now, it will soon. I've said it time and again that the slider is just confusing for players and if this is the case for you, this will just be another example. To summarize, you should NEVER have the sliders for your Needs set to Green. Orange maintains current happiness. Green increases it but those increases are permanent as long as orange needs are met. So, take one production cycle and increase ONE Need to green and make sure you have enough in the storage to meet the massively increased Need, then reset it to orange for the following production tick. You will see that your happiness for all villagers has increased (as long as you're meeting orange level for all other needs) and will NOT decrease the next production tick unless you fail to meet an orange level Need.
(side note: If you have access to the Toplitz Official Discord, I put an Excel spreadsheet in the Guides section there that shows all Needs for every population from 1 to 100 for both orange and green needs. It was taken directly from game information as it was played. You can use it to see the progression in the game and help plan your future needs. Unfortunately, sharing it here isn't possible as Steam is fickle about files.)

"- Trees grow too slow. There is a GIGANTIC area around our village with no trees left (only smaller ones, that still need to grow)."
You should be using your carpentry stations in the woodcutter's hut to have your villagers collect logs with masterwork axes. They do not destroy any trees in the game.
However, this has become a problem since the introduction of the daily production system. While material Needs have grown immensely during the season, the regrowth system is still based on a seasonal approach. So, you end up using more logs than you otherwise would unless you're using NPC's.

"- Everytime we load a game, a couple of people are job- and / or homeless."
All players are reset to homeless/jobless status on load of a save game. It's a known issue. MP still needs some work done to it during this Early Access. If you're having this issue with NPC's, please fill out a bug report in the proper forum to bring it to the attention of the devs.

"=> Collect some water from the well, then build a bucket, then combine the bucket and the water to a bucket filled with water."
Watering buckets for farming are a separate item in terms of tools. Water is a consumable item for Needs. Watering buckets for farming are not and were made separate to ensure the people would not use them to satisfy Needs. That's why water from the well just looks like a water drop.

"=> You can build shrines and graves, but to fulfill your villagers needs for spirituality, you need monk clothing. No explanation in the game for this (at least not in German)."
This is probably part of the Spirituality update that is set for a future release. There's been a lot of people discussing this but, for right now, buildings can't have an effect on Needs. There will likely be significant changes in this system as the Early Access continues as it has become a bit of a hot topic.

"=> There is no explanation which items are required to fulfill which need."
Every item in the game that fulfills a Need will have that information in the info pane of the inventory screen. When you click on an item inside any inventory screen (storage, personal, vendor), the middle pane will show all relevant information. For example, food used for Meals will have a Needs (Meals) moniker in the pane. If there is no indicator for Needs, the item does not fulfill any Need (although it's very likely an ingredient to one that does).

"This doesn't feel like a Japanese Dynasty. More like a Japanese Village Simulator." You're absolutely right here. The Dynasty system has yet to be implemented. Getting the core mechanics of village coding right is the focus right now.

Remember, this is an Early Access title that has a long roadmap still in front of it. Many features and items of a "Dynasty" game are still yet to come. Until the game reaches a full, 1.0 release status, that will remain true.

If the game is only properly playable with a vague "masterwork" tag on tools, that is very bad balancing. What are they made of, nth metal? A lumberer doesn't need a magick axe, just a sharp one.

[Winter's Embers]

The game isn't only playable with masterwork axes. They just provide a nice bonus from quality that becomes very necessary in the late game. And they are made with 3 Steel, 2 Leather, and 1 Plank. Nothing "magical" about it.

[Lugulbanda]

i could sign that , i have no idea whats missing why and how it dissaperars, some storryge u can put stuff in bit by bit making leather it only works if u have from everything enough, and if u dont do it urself ur villagers dont do it...

all this microworks destroy the game flow, i dont want to build a real house, yes it was fun on the start but i like it more as its done in other games like groundet subnautica, were u have more freedom in style and can build in forcast what u want to build, instead work oh this or that is missing or u miss one stone stop working searching stone again oh out of sticks again oh out of grass again ...

the workflow for things to build is still bad, plus i miss a button to say 20 is enough, and if u have no work make urself usefull in another place, seasons change so u have to change the fields or build more then needed... mircromanaging here and there and again and again and no waterballs ok here u go i cut u trees and cut them aaaaaand here ur bowl.... gosh... what no leather, oh well the fur fell to the ground instead in the backpack, but were is it.. gone... gosh....

why cant u rotate with the mousewheel.
why is one work made different then the other, even if the Prozess is the same, Put stuff into a chest i saw this game has 4 methodes to do it, and 3 of them are quite annoying..

maybe i missunderstood the conzept, but i was thinking having villagers make ur live easyer but i have the feeling i have to work it all for them, cuz theyr proudction chains zigzacking nad not working as a flow... and mi miss flowcharts whitch show how everything is hold togeter, it plays fluent like a Gordic knot, I like the game i realy do but this micromanaging things are so annoying... even nobody dies atm but if this continues and some day it matters the village will be empty faster as u can look..