This game seems Horribly bugged...

[Tim Stryker]

Really like this game...spent several damn hours already just learning the damn mechanics of it...which TBPH, some are just completly screwy...but learned em anyway, including needing signposts, carriers & merchants are hard as hell to use & not very well optimized etc etc.

Point is, first lvl of the campaign, I finaly get a small village going with around 60 or so villagers. Had about 6-7 lvl 5 houses all stocked with married couples...25 food & 25 cakes in EACH house & somehow all the sudden Im getting tons of spam about how this guy is tired & this guy is starving over & over. Then everyone starts dieing off...like 15 or so people in a few mins time, before I said the hell with it & quit.

I dont get it...had plenty of food in each house...signposts spammed all over the place, which I hate that aspect of the game btw, roads connecting all buildings & houses...knowing this game & how screwy it can be about stuff, Im wondering If maybe I did something wrong???

I checked out a few of the doomed people before they died...some showed ZERO hunger, others ZERO sleep...like they couldnt get to their houses...idk. Doesnt make sesne cuz for the entire few hours since I started the lvl there wernt any issues.

Id still like to put some more time into this game, I can see its appeal, but I was already irratated with the counter-intuitiveness to begin with...everyone starting to die all the sudden for no apparent reason just makes me feel even worse about the game overall.

[Basssiiie]

Only inhabitants of the house can eat food stored in the house. Make sure there is still enough food left in the warehouses for the "homeless" people. Sometimes the houses like to steal all the food and leave nothing for the people without homes.

Also, to reduce food usage in houses, you can build a pottery 3 for producing crockery. When there is crockery stored in the houses, the food supply will last longer. Furthermore, you can produce mead or nourishing potions for the people to carry. It's basically portable food and they'll eat it when they get hungry. ;)

[beeejahaa]

Were the doomed people (mostly) iron and gold extractors? They tend to get out of reach of the signposts in rocky terrain pretty soon, and then will spawn you with messages about being hungry and tired. And the annoying thing is you can't build more signposts until the terrain is smoothed a bit more. I found it helps having one or more quary stone extractors working the same area. Both for staying in reach of the signposts, so they can find their houses or sources of food, and for obtaining places for additional signposts.

In addition to the good advice Basssiie gives: I'd recommend producing and handing out mead, because it only takes water and honey to brew. While nourishing potions take water, mushrooms, herbs and gold coins.

BTW you took really good care of your vikings, building 6 or 7 level 5 houses! I usually have a lot more homeless vikings.

[beeejahaa]

Oh, btw, as soon as you see an urgent message (tagged red) about someone starving, you can prevent him from dieing by manually sending him to somewhere where there's food or to the nearest signpost that points to food. Of course you wouldn't want to do that constantly, but it works in case of an emergency.
Another reason for your vikings not finding their homes and starving could possibly be distances that were too large, but I'm not sure if they fail to find their way home if it's too far from where they work. However, the male vikings will fail to find stuff like tools or shoes when they are about 5 signposts or more away, no matter how many signposts you've got. (Makes sense, if you think about it: they stop working to eat, sleep and socialise often enough, you don't want them travelling much time to get stuff .) The women will walk amazing distances for furniture, crockery or oil though, when there are connected signposts pointing at it.

[Tim Stryker]

Thank you very much Basssiiie & beeejahaa for taking your time to respond to me. Yeah idk......I did have a huge influx of new people shortly before the genocide started.....Maybe I did have too many people wandering around without homes......But from what I remember I saw one lady just walking around my village close to houses & village center...but maybe she was homeless & there wasnt any food...idk...I thought people will still pick berries from bushes to eat if they cant find food elsewhere...also the fact many people were at ZERO rest at the same time makes me wonder....

I also dont get sign posts...Ik they let the villagers find areas...but how many & how far apart do they need to be? I wish there was like a snap tool or something when placing signposts to show its connecting to another sign post...

[beeejahaa]

Originally posted by Tim Stryker:

Thank you very much Basssiiie & beeejahaa for taking your time to respond to me.

You're welcome!

Yeah idk......I did have a huge influx of new people shortly before the genocide started.....

Oh, that might be part of the explanation, especially if they were babies: every child that is born takes up 5 food from the house.

Maybe I did have too many people wandering around without homes.....

Oh, that shouldn't be a problem at all. Those who live in a house spent less time eating, sleeping and socialising, so they are far more productive. But the others will be fine as long as they can find food and some place to rest. (They won't sleep in mountains, but pretty much everywhere else.)

..I thought people will still pick berries from bushes to eat if they cant find food elsewhere...

You're right, they will. But the bushes don't bear fruit constantly; when you see them blooming white there are no berries to pick for a while.

also the fact many people were at ZERO rest at the same time makes me wonder....

Well, they won't sleep on an empty stomach. I guess that was the main problem. I've never seen someone die only because of lack of sleep, it's the combination of hunger and tiredness that can be lethal eventually.

I also dont get sign posts...Ik they let the villagers find areas...but how many & how far apart do they need to be? I wish there was like a snap tool or something when placing signposts to show its connecting to another sign post...

If it's just a pole it's not connected to any other signpost, it should at least point to one other. Unless it's the first signpost you put up of course. But you'll immediately see if the second one is close enough; then they'll point at each other. Also, you can see if and how the signposts are connected on the little map in the left hand corner: the connections of the signposts are repressented by spidery white lines.

Don't be disheartened: usually you'll have to take it easy with having babies in the beginning, when you have to rely on the berries, fish and prey. Later on you'll have plenty of food, though you might have to distribute it with a merchant or two.
It's terribly frustrating when a dozen vikings die on you because of famine (happened to me a few times when I first played Cultures 1), I hope it turns out it was simply a matter of signposts that weren't connecting and/or too large an influx of your population in a short time. After all, the game certainly has it's appeal ... it can be downright addictive even :-)