Chickens

[Garion]

do they go in a Pasture? No option only Cattle.

[Garion]

holy crap I bought chicken meat not live chickens, ugggg. I'm having a hard time with this game. :(.

[mbutton15]

We've all done it !!
The livestock vendor sells nothing else so that's a good way to distinguish it from the meet.

Note also that you can order stuff, but doing that will push their price up.

[Garion]

Now I'm losing population and no babies. I have different food for them. I don't know what they want. I'm giving up on this game.

[mbutton15]

It's a tough game to crack, but once you do then it's quite easy. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

- You need 100 food units per person per year.
- But you really need to be producing at least 25% extra a year otherwise starvation can hit very quickly... as you've probably already discovered.
- Gatherer Huts are the usual first food source as they produce a continuous supply.
- Fishing Docks can do very well if placed well (see 'The Joy of Fishing' guide).
- Farms are good, but seasonal. Most people recommend 11x11 with 1 worker per field using Mild climate.
- Hunting lodges are a bit slow to produce food, but you get leather as well as food. The leather will be needed to make new clothes as the stock of clothes runs out.
- Make sure you don't run out of tools.
- Don't expand too quickly or too far all at once, Build houses for the initial population, then for 15 to 20 years only build a house when you see you have a male/female ready to move in together. If no schools then children become adults and ready to pair off at 10, otherwise a student is ready to pair up at 18. You won't get 2 students pairing up, but adult/student will pair up. Women stop having children beyond the age of 40.
- Educated workers are more efficient than uneducated workers so look to get a school going early if you can.
- The Town Hall is a very good source of info. It may be a big strain on resources, but for a newcomer it can help understand what is going on in the game. Don't try to build it in year 1, but maybe around year 3 if you can gather the resource.

Apart from that, check out the pinned thread. The guides section also has several which cover early game strategies.

[some moron]

The chicken thing is a very bad design. It can be simply fixed by renaming the one "chicken meat". But also you can tell by how many you can buy, usually you can buy less than 10 chickens, and more than 100 chicken meats.

About your second point, I would say this game is like a "survival puzzle" and the challenge is to survive the first couple years. So if you are NOT surviving the first few times you try, then that is because you have not yet figured out the puzzle. As opposed to being a game that doesn't work or is incidentally too challenging, that is precisely the point of this game, survival.

I know you can figure out the game :)

...unless whenever you meet a game (or anything) that challenges you, you always just quit when you can't figure it out immediately???

[dixiechow]

Don't be too anxious to give up. This game will challenge you in ways you just have to experience so you know better the next time. Most people have an issue with keeping their thriving town from suddenly starving to death. You MUST keep AT LEAST 100 food per person per year, and that includes children. More is better! I've always found that having less houses is better than having too many houses. It's better to grow slowly. This game reminds me of that old saying my father always told me "if you pay attention to your pennies your dollars will take care of themselves." So, keep track of the ordinary stuff. And...keep on trying.

[some moron]

Originally posted by dixiechow:

You MUST keep AT LEAST 100 food per person per year, and that includes children.

I agree with everything dixiechow says except in my games, I never use children as food

[maiden4meldin]

A great way to tell if you are buying Chickens, and not just Chicken meat is the price. If you can easily buy more than 12 Chickens, with Fish lets say, good bet it is Chicken Meat roflol. I been caught on it too. I think we all have. And with Mods, you have the addition of Ducks and Duck Meat. At least it says Duck meat lol. And yes, Chickens will need a pasture. About 8 x 10 is a decent pasture size to build right beside your Trader, so that when you get a livestock trader in, they can immediately go into a small pasture, and you have time to plan a much larger pasture elsewhere on your map, and not worry the livestock you bought and paid for will die from neglect at the Trading Post. Also, great to have extra stockpiles and a Barn or two empty by your Traders, so they can dump their trades, and get to restocking the post much faster as well.

And as per always. In Vanilla Game, Get Rid of those Mushrooms!! They occupy four times as much space in your storage barns and Markets. So make them a priority trade Item for Foods . As the Resource Trader will not take Mushrooms in trade, or any types of foods, be sure to balance your trading posts inventory of trade items if you are getting iron, or other resources. Firewood trades well for everything. But the Food Vendor will penalize you by giving you only 3 instead of 4 for the trade value of firewood. No big deal, give the food merchant your mushrooms first, then top up with Herbs, and Beef, or Mutton. And then use up some Firewoods.

[olympe]

Originally posted by some moron:

Originally posted by dixiechow:

You MUST keep AT LEAST 100 food per person per year, and that includes children.

I agree with everything dixiechow says except in my games, I never use children as food

:clap: :clap: :clap:

[dixiechow]

Originally posted by some moron:

Originally posted by dixiechow:

You MUST keep AT LEAST 100 food per person per year, and that includes children.

I agree with everything dixiechow says except in my games, I never use children as food

LOL....LOL....LOL!!!

[Parane]

Yes son!

[some moron]

beginning to understand why they were "Banished"

[olympe]

Originally posted by some moron:

beginning to understand why they were "Banished"

There's a reason families don't grow beyond child #3 unless one dies.