Water Catcher

[jc_rabbit]

I played a couple of games and found the Water Catcher building quite useless. In one of the games, it didn't rain until after two villagers died from dehydration. Each building stores at most 320 units of water, which isn't that much. With both a Water Purifier and Water Catcher, villagers can prefer to take clean water from the purifier while the Water Catcher is full and not collecting additional rain water.

I don't see a great use for it, especially when building slots is at a premium.

[Shrinkshooter]

It's meant as a cheap method of gaining water so no one dies of thirst early game. Depending on your starting area, building a purifier can take too long, especially with housing and food considerations.

Still, it's unreliable and I would much rather build a well and upgrade it, since that's just as relatively cheap and fast. If you only have a few people, a well is the better option; if you have a lot (large migration) then you have the manpower to bust out a purifier before anyone dies of thirst.

The one situation where a raincatcher would be the best option is 1) game start with 2) lots of migrants in 3) an area that doesn't have a lake or ocean access. In such a scenario, you're going to need more water than a single well can provide (maybe build 2 or 3, but like you said: building slots), and building a purifier has issues because you need to build that AND a large hole in the ground to collect water, AND you need to wait for it to rain while ALSO waiting for the purifier to purify. That takes WAAAAY too long, and if it's going to rain, it's better that the rain gets converted directly into drinkable water.

So it's situational, but it's plainly not something you want sitting around beyond the first week. It's also only wood, so you might be in an area where access to rocks is difficult for you.

[Rayvolution]

My play style is probably different than most players, but I actually build 3 rain catchers by the end of day 1. They're risky due to needing rain so you're at the mercy of the RNG, but absolutely nothing fills faster. A single good rain with 2-3 max upgraded rain catchers can take your village from near-death from dehydration to doing well in less than a minute. So it's always nice to have a few on reserve to boost your water supply.

Although I wouldn't recommend depending on them in the long term. I tend to have at least one upgraded water purifier before the Summer starts.

[Tiberiumkyle]

On the topic of water supply playstyles, lately, I just use wells, unless a village breaks 100+ population, then I actually start building purifiers and raincatchers to help out at lower building slot cost.

[Pyoro-2]

I like purifiers best. At some point I'll want proper paths to speed up everything, and before that I'll have them dig a bit of a lake if needed. If it's large enough (or does it have to do with deep water?) it won't even completely freeze in winter (only periodically), so frankly I feel you can mostly get by with just that anyway. Although I do supplement it with wells in a "can't hurt" attitude.

Raincatchers, yeah, not really seeing the point of those either. Building slots feel crucial to me at the beginning and later on you have other options.

[jc_rabbit]

Maybe it's because I'm still playing on normal difficulty at the beginning of the game, but I haven't had difficulty with Water Purifier taking too long to build and purify water. It is nice to see the different options for different play styles.

[OKOK]

It quite useful. I dump a storm on my village everyday. So i can totally use clean water for farm.