Villagers are not your friend

[F4lc0n]

I really did enjoy the first hours with the demo and also with the EA version.
But the longer I play, the more I get frustrated. My Villagers aren't actually helping me, it feels more like I'm their babysitter and I can't do anything meaningful because I am constantly building markers and just running from storage to storage container to check what ressources we have left because there is no other way to tell.
Everyone constantly complains that they are hungry but the food storage is full and the cook even had soups left on display.
Then they complain about long working hours and are unhappy, even though they tend to sleep more than they work. Because in the morning they take forever to drink, eat and at night get some rest at the totem. And everytime I need something for myself, like arrows, weapons or most important clothes / armor, the villagers steal it immediately as soon as it is produced.

This wouldn't be a huge problem if we could repair items or just remove item decay all together (I hate that in any game, Raft was especially bad and games like Valheim do it right in my opinion) but the bottom line is:

The Villagers are not my friend. They are not helpful. It is stressful to manage them. But you still need them because you can't do everything by yourself. Especially when it comes to advanced things like tending to Wolves and so on.

In comparison the Pals in Palworld actually work for me and they do help me succeed and feel like I am actually profiting from them. In Aska sadly I feel I don't profit at all from my villagers. They don't even help to defend the village - I know, I have barracks and a watchtower and I need to set patrols but in an emergency everyone should help out.

Please Developers, overthink some design decisions and make the game less of a chore to babysit the villagers and more about exploration, combat and building / planning. Also, I can see that there are basic automation production lines. For example Farm grows Flax, gives Fibers to Workshop, Workshop builds armor. In theory on paper that sounds good and lets us create an economy but in reality it just doesn't work as expected because things cost too many ressources, break to quickly and take too long to gather / craft.

If the current system continues to exist, it should at least be possible to have a self-sustaining economy where I can produce more flax than is needed to make clothes out of. Every other economy sim has this, Anno, The Settlers, Manor Lords, whatever.

[SQATtv]

Interesting. I have no trouble with the npc's. I think they are quite useful. Did you try adjusting work, break and rest hours? They always tend to grab food. Which is nice. Are your structures spaced out enough for them to path correctly? Also have you tried more than one gathering marker?

[Jazzy]

Also make sure you task them for whats in season. Use Pins on things you want them to do. The task menu will have all items they can get set it to high med or low. I usually set the schedule to 7 hours sleep 2 hours when they wake break to eat and relax then work hours and 2 hours break before bed. No issues so far, But like smokey said its good to scout areas and set multiple markers for them to get resources.

[Jazzy]

Make sure you have 2 builders free to work on your pin Task dont assign them to work stations.

[Linfried]

I agree with the OP. I am doing too much work for them and all they're doing is just gathering. Can they do more than just gather? Like, go look for new gathering points instead of me doing that. Or is that the point of the game, to be village chief who micromanages everything?

[Jazzy]

I think you look for gathering points so you get out and explore. All gathering points are usually pretty close and flags are easy. Hit Z often when your out looking around you will find tons of things and just throw up flags.

[F4lc0n]

Yeah that is the idea. My map is already littered with Gathering Points. And I like the role of scout for the village. But that doesn't help if I have to constantly go back to the village and sort out some problems because the production lines that I have set up aren't working as expected.

Like I said, other games make it much easier to do that - not that the game should be easy, but I want to focus more on exploring and fighting instead of the micromanagement. And I would like to have them craft items exclusively for me or at least set some permissions on certain containers and so on.

[MM-fantasten]

Yeah the defence part is an issue, I keep having to kite enemies into the center of my base just to make the sleeping people help me. It just feels stupid.

[Fidelis]

Originally posted by F4lc0n:

... I can't do anything meaningful because I am constantly building markers and just running from storage to storage container to check what ressources we have left because there is no other way to tell.

There is a separate screen on the tab/settlement screen called Settlement Storage which displays every item within your village, why not use that?

I have 2 farmers on 3 farm plots dedicated to flax and that almost sustains my flax needs for 50 villagers so far. Arrows is a huge problem though, sustaining feathers feels almost impossible as it feels like they don't respawn, or if they do they have a long timer.

[Emme]

Some sort of priority mechanic within their jobs / professions would be great. A "0 - 9" priority list of things that they should manage like we have in Bellwright or Going Medieval could def help with the villagers automation.

[F4lc0n]

Originally posted by Fidelis:

There is a separate screen on the tab/settlement screen called Settlement Storage which displays every item within your village, why not use that?

Ah, I didn't knew about that! In my opinion the UI could use some work, it feels not very clear since I haven't found this in over 15 hours of playing (Demo and EA). thanks

[Jazzy]

PINS! Have 2 builders free from work stations pin what you need done in order. Repairs should always be first to keep cost low. Task schedule set prio for workers assigned to tables high to low. to pin just press Q on what you need done. Task menu is under management at tables. Some things are seasonal.

[Fidelis]

Originally posted by Emme:

Some sort of priority mechanic within their jobs / professions would be great. A "0 - 9" priority list of things that they should manage like we have in Bellwright or Going Medieval could def help with the villagers automation.

I think every task has a High, Medium, Low, None priority. Though sometimes a numbered one would be even better. For instance gathering huts have way more than 4 items which can be prioritised.

[Darkz]

Some improvement to workers would be nice, like a slower food decay or tool/weapon durability use would be nice. My villagers has a habit of hoarding food causing it to rot and be wasteful with them. Same with tools/durability, they seem to burn the durability on them way faster than I can keep up and I feel like I have to micro managed their inventory otherwise it grinds to a halt.

[barracuda521]

I totally agree with you. In demo they were fun, but in real game villagers became more like a burden rather than a help. They starve, they need fire, they leave, honestly, they do nothing good for me, they only need constant attention, but what about myself ? I also need food, warmth and so on. Now i've decided to pay no attention to villagers, just to improve my own skills at everything. If they want to leave or die - go on, suit yourself.

[Böser Beissbold]

The villagers are a pain in the butt, esp when it cames to the food storage.
Everytime i check the inventorys, they grab all they can and run away with ( and yes complaining they are starving...)

it really needs a rework