Things I've Learned So Far

[KingBobCat]

All right, there are a lot of unexplained things about the game and it's somewhat maddening. So, I'll try to explain the things that I have learned so far. The game isn't that bad (if you like these kind of games) and I have no idea why the developer would leave so many questions unanswered. The things it tells you when you hit F1 helps, but it's not nearly enough info. I don't even know how to retrieve my "Messages" on the top of the screen!

First of all, at start of the game: You obviously start with the horse (the E key) and a chainsaw. To get the chainsaw (the F key) to cut a tree, you have to click and hold the left mouse button to run the chainsaw motor and hold the right mouse button to turn it sideways to cut the standing tree horizontally (cut at the green band). If it's a smaller tree, you can drag the WHOLE tree to the lumber mill (I was originally cutting it into logs, which took forever to haul). If the tree is large, you will have to cut it at least in half for hauling or you'll get a message that it's "too heavy to haul" when you try to pick it up (left mouse button) with the horse's trailer. When you drag the tree over the "scale" area at mill, it gains a green outline which means you can click the left mouse button to sell it. By cutting, hauling (with the horse), selling trees in this manner, you can level up rather quickly and make quite a bit of money. So far, so good...

In the first game I played, I bought the garage at level 3 and found I couldn't afford any equipment. When I got to level 6, I bought the home office and then couldn't figure out where it was (Hint: It wasn't in my home). Also at level 6, I would haul logs to the scale to drop them off, left click to sell for money, and they would just disappear and I'd get no money.

So, I restarted using the above mentioned hauling method and leveled up to level 7 before I bought anything. At Level 7 (not 6), I could go around the back of the same building that you drop logs off at ... It looks like a loading dock, connected to the same building. When you hit the E key there, you'll get a menu that allows you so see what you have in inventory and sell it, if you wish. THAT'S where the logs that I dropped off at the scales went! No immediate sale and cash flow, they now go in to this inventory! (BTW, dropping off logs at other drop areas outside of town seemed just pay me on the spot, not add to the inventory...)

At level 7, you are also allowed to buy the office at the saw mill (Near the scale... Empty until you buy it at the real estate office). From there, you can hire and assign workers to either re-forest or fell trees. There is also a mailbox that offers assignments although I have no idea how to actually deliver those goods to complete the assignments. Do you have to have the order already in inventory? Do you have to drop it off somewhere? I have NO idea.

Anyway, so far, I've hired 4 workers, I assigned 2 for re-foresting, 2 for falling trees. And now I have NO idea where they are, what they're actually doing, or how to assign them specific areas to work in. (And I would love someone who knows to tell me!) BTW, before I bought the office at the saw mill (and of course, after I bought the home office feature from the real estate office), your "home office" is a log cabin north of your starting area (past the mountains, to the right). You can see it on the map in the form of a little blue symbol with a guy in it. Again, no idea what workers actually do or where they do it. Help!

By level 7, using the above method of hauling whole trees back with the horse, I had plenty of money to buy a tractor and trailer with a claw on it. The claw takes some getting used to and I still have a tough time picking up the very tops of trees with it. The fundamentals are W is raise the claw, S is lower the claw, A & D are left and right. Left mouse click to engage the claw when you are close enough to the log. But the most important control is the scroll wheel on your mouse as that allows you to move the claw back and forth for exact positioning for both picking up and placing the logs on the trailer. Now the bad part: It seems like I made more money/gained experience quicker just hauling whole trees with my horse. I'm getting better with the claw, but it still seems slower and more difficult. Plus you HAVE to saw the tree into log sections for it to fit on the trailer. I have no experience with the more expensive equipment ... the tree grabber/saw machine, the stationary claw, the larger hauling truck or the smaller cars.

One thing to watch for is the somewhat wonky physics. I literally flipped my tractor once and hit "reset" in the menu. All that did was warp me back to the area near my horse's corral and made me run all the way back north to where my tractor was still flipped. I exited the game, hoping it would go to an earlier save, but unfortunately, the game auto-saved on exit and my tractor was still flipped when I reloaded. That's when I restarted my second game and learned much of what I've written above.

I hope this post helps newer players and people sitting there going "Now what the heck do I do?!?" As I learn more, I'll post more here. Would love for people to add to this discussion with stuff they've learned and things I might have missed. Good Luck! Time to check my messages... Oh wait, I don't know how...

[Capuzzi09]

Tipp: if your tractor or trailor or any of the other vehicles flipped, you can go to the garage (where you by all vehicles). Pressing "E" will bring up the menu for buying cars and stuff. Beneath every single vehicle picture, there are various options available. One of them is "reset". Just click on the "reset" command below the picture assigned to the tractor will bring it back immediately to the garage - with the wheels on the ground, as it should be ;)

[KingBobCat]

Thaaank you!

[[OTG] NetBlaise]

to complete quest you have to have the logs and what ever else in the warehouse/inventory... Does reforestry even do anything? I put all my workers on felling trees.. Can you fire your workers or not?
How do you make a profet wonce you higher workers? They are so expensive. If I have 30 workers felling trees and Then I sell all the logs that I get from them in the warehouse it seems like I don't ever break even or wven make money.... 30 workers equal $88,000 a day.. crazy.. I just hit lvl 10 and I'm -100k or so... I even started production and still haven't made a lot of money

What do you guys spend your skill points on?

[KingBobCat]

My question to you is if you're having workers fell trees, can you assign them to an area? If so, how? How do you even know where they're working?

I spend my skill points on getting better prices for logs and getting up earlier... But I haven't had a lot of experience with workers and so on...

[Capuzzi09]

I try to summarize the questions from NetBlais and kingbobcat (nice nick, btw ;) ) as good as I can:
As far as I could learn, of course you can fire your workers. Just go to your office, bring up the workers menu and in the upper half you find a button for that. But I'm pretty sure, this is a bad idea, cause you have to pay a very high compensation for each worker. In my Opinion you better hire only a few workers in the early game, until you have a high credit balance.
Reforestry seems to do somewhat somewhere, although it's not visible for the player. I noticed, if I put all workers on felling trees, the yield decreases very soon. But if I put half of my workers on felling trees, while the other half is busy with reforestry, the harvest of trees seems to be quite equable over time.
It seems to be impossible, to assign your workers to a special area or let them harvest a special kind of trees. If it is, I don't know how. The same with reforestry. In both cases the workers fell and reforest all kind of trees and obviously they do it in a kind of parallel univers, cause you don't see them anywhere, and you can't see any area being harvested. I travelled the whole map, no workers, no cut down woods - nothing to see. But for sure: If you put all workers on felling trees, the yield decreases, as I already mentioned.
How to make profit - this seems to by pretty hard. I figured out, just selling wood doesn't give you a positive balance. So I decided to hire only a few workers (8, for example) in the beginning, when I'm allowed to rent the office near the sawmill. The home office is too far away. Half of them harvest, the rest is assigned for reforestry. I let them do their work, and I continue my work, felling trees near the sawmill and bring them to the warehose or to a depot for instant money. I accept the orders for wood delivery, if available. I skip the production and all other stuff, until I reach level 10.
When I reach level 10, I rent / buy the production and the warehouse and hire two more workers, producing planks and sometimes sawdust. The other workers continue felling trees and reforesting. Doing this, I collect a stock of raw material which is helpful for fulfilling production orders. So if there is f. e. an order for chairs or tables, I already have a number of planks and can assign one or two workers crafting the furniture. If my account is getting too low, I produce some paper, which can be sold with a pretty good profit.
In this game, the profit comes with time und you must be careful with your investment. Hiring too many workers in the beginning, results in an economical desaster. ;)
Good things are worth waiting for, I think that's the idea of this game.
I hope I could help you with your questions and I apologize for my english, since my native language is german. But I always try to do my best :)

[KingBobCat]

Thanks, Capuzzi. Your English is fine and you did a great job explaining things! Nice to now know the pacing of things, such as looking to level 10 to do the things with the warehouse and mill as you described.

It makes me wonder, when you hire workers and assign them to felling trees, do you actually see the inventory in your warehouse increase without having to do anything else? Does it ever get to the point where you don't have to saw trees yourself and can rely on worker production alone? Also, when you fulfill the work orders, do you simply have to have the order sitting in your warehouse when the time expires on the order (to complete the order)? And BTW, do you know to access the "Messages" in the upper right hand corner of the screen? Thanks for your input! It's been a big help!

[Capuzzi09]

Actually I reached lvl 12 and it seems, that the value of the orders rises with your level. It's just a guess, but this is how it seems to be.
I always try to keep the number of my workers as low as possible, because the personal costs are the highest of all, much more then rent for the production and the warehouse.
Actually assigning workers to felling trees, will increase the amount in the warehouse, without felling trees myself - but it takes some time. And remember, you also have to assign some of your workers to reforesting, otherwise the yield decreases soon.
I don't need to to anything - just let them do their job. But I need to observe them quite attentively. In particular, the production of goods must be constantly monitored. And as I mentioned, you should have proper financial reserves, before expanding with the production and the warehouse, otherwise, you go bankrupt.
Fulfilling an order gives you a higher profit, than selling the goods straight out of the warehouse. I usually start my day checking the stock in the warehouse and decide, if I produce planks, sawdust or paper, regarding to my credit balance. So I assign 2 or 3 workers to the desired production, while all others continue with harvesting and reforesting. Then I collect some trees myself and store them in the warehouse, regarding what kind of trees has the lowest amount. At the end of the day, again I check all stock and (if necessary) sell some paper, if no production order is available.

The "Messages" in the upper right corner just inform you, that there is an order available - nothing else ;)
You can open the order using the postbox in front of your office. But I'm sure, you already know that.
I hope, this was helpful again. Have fun with the game :)

[KingBobCat]

Thanks again, Capuzzi! I'll go give it a try and add any additional information I discover !

[[OTG] NetBlaise]

As far as fireing workers go I can't fire them.. The fire button is blacked out and I can't select it. Maybe be a bugg or something..

[Seth]

Originally posted by OTG NetBlaise:

As far as fireing workers go I can't fire them.. The fire button is blacked out and I can't select it. Maybe be a bugg or something..

Make sure the amount of workers you want to fire are withdrawn from the prodcution facility first!

[Psycho]

Nice beginning summary, good write up.

If you missed the level-up mesage at the top of the screen, prss U to show it again.

If you meant a received message, visit the mailbox outside the warehouse office. I'm not sure how to see it again once you've closed it though.

With the workers they don't seem to actualy do anything in the world (as in drop trees or replant them for you) it's a business simulation as Capuzzi09 said. They do their own thing invisibly and you manage them through assignments.

I guess if you wanted to in the end (levels aside) you could get rich by simply sitting in the office and managing the business, but that sounds pretty boring.

[Sky Bison]

good work people , alot of guess work going into this game which can be frustrating .

one of my first assignments was and order of 78 oak .
is this 78 oak trees ? 78 ton of oak ?
has anyone completed an assignment like this ?
do i need to have 78 ton of oak in my storage and sell it to complete the assignment ?

cheers team .

[Marc449b]

i don't even know where i can buy a tractor, trailer, truck and everything. Please, help me someone :)