Farmers not harvesting in time

[Kyle]

I've run into a bit of an issue where as my village gets bigger the farmers seem to struggle to get the harvest done before winter and as a result I am constantly running low on food. I upped the farmers per field from 4 to 6 and made sure they have plenty of storage nearby and they will still only get about half way through one of the quickest growing crops. This applies both to new plots and plots ive had since the start of the game.

Is there something I'm doing wrong, or does the game just start to struggle at some point?

[quasimodo1957]

Remember that your laborers assist with the harvest. I've found that when harvest time comes around free up as many laborers as you can. Of course they'll still collect from hunting camps, fields, fishing docks and gathering stations but they'll usually get all or most of the crops in. Any doubts just click on your fields and stat harvesting at about 90% yield.

[Kyle]

I think i figured out the issue, for some reason nearly all the farmers wanted to live on the opposite side of the village from whatever farm they worked at so they spent half the time just walking back and forth. Is there any way to force them to live in certain houses?

[Kyznikov]

Originally posted by Kyle:

I think i figured out the issue, for some reason nearly all the farmers wanted to live on the opposite side of the village from whatever farm they worked at so they spent half the time just walking back and forth. Is there any way to force them to live in certain houses?

Maybe try to destroy their house, make sure the nearest house from their workplace is not occupied yet.
So after their house destroyed, they will look for a new house

[Garce]

Originally posted by Kyle:

I think i figured out the issue, for some reason nearly all the farmers wanted to live on the opposite side of the village from whatever farm they worked at so they spent half the time just walking back and forth. Is there any way to force them to live in certain houses?

Sometimes - with a smaller population - it can take time for your citizens to rearrange themselves into new homes / jobs. If the task they have already started is a LONG WALK from their new job they might even starve or freeze to death before things get settled. What might appear to be a short trip could actually be a few seasons for one of your Bannies.

I do not think you can easily force them to live in certain houses. It takes a LOT of micromanagement. It CAN be done, but you will neglect a lot of other things for one or two families. In the meantime, other people die.

Sometimes I will click "Demolish" to send people to the boarding house, then "Reclaim" the soon-to-be-demolished house once it is empty. But that is hit or miss. Your citizens are a resource - just like tools, food, firewood, etc. Sometimes they just have to die. Sometimes I just want to BANISH them.

I have been away from Banished for over a year. Felt like playing again and, yes, I got humbled REAL quick in my first couple of starts. Butt handed to me on a platter. With my head on a another platter laughing at my failure... Now I'm up to around 600 citizens. Everyone is healthy and happy. About as bright as a cloud, but they're doing ok.

My goal is to beat my record of 3,500 (give or take) on a medium map. I am sure I'll face hurdles. Food. Clothes. Tools. Heat. Roads. STONE ROADS. when affordable.

TL;DR. The game CAN be hard and take sudden unexpected turns. ALSO! Be patient. Don't be tempted and click the 5x or 10x button. Keep it on 1x or 2x and wait. At 5x plus you are not going to have a clue - or time to react - when things go south.

Edit: Fixed SO MANY typos.

[quasimodo1957]

Well...after reading what Garce said I'd suggest build a cemetery or two.

[Kyle]

I ended up having to give up on that village. It got up to about 700-800 people and then i kept having food shortages and it dropped by about 200-300. I think it suffered from the houses being fairly randomly placed at random times, and possibly even the lack of markets to transfer resources around. I've built up another one and been a bit smarter about the design of it and it has reached about 1,000 people now and I'm managing to keep the amount of food climbing!

[olympe]

Originally posted by Kyle:

I ended up having to give up on that village. It got up to about 700-800 people and then i kept having food shortages and it dropped by about 200-300. I think it suffered from the houses being fairly randomly placed at random times, and possibly even the lack of markets to transfer resources around. I've built up another one and been a bit smarter about the design of it and it has reached about 1,000 people now and I'm managing to keep the amount of food climbing!

Ah. Markets are important. They can make or break a game. Plus storage. There's a guide that explains this very well:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=376021525
The same principle applies to other needs, too. Leisure (places to idle - a simple well should do!). Healing (if the hearts go down too much.... In my latest attempt, I forgot to build a harvester and only realized it in year 6-8 or so. Once I did have one, all my bannies went on a trip to get some healing done - almost looked like a caravan in progress). Warmth (usually covered by housing. Any housing.)