My second thoughts on the Demo

[Fossa2]

I gave my first thoughts about Foundation Demo at
https://steamcommunity.com/app/690830/discussions/0/787664008885871611/

I started a new game figuring what I learned from the first game could allow me to progress faster. Not really. Progression was still very slow. I did figure out the coin issue and can keep my income in the positive. However refined food has me frustrated. It is just so inefficient.

Food is not transported very quickly from grainer to food stall. It will sit in a grainer forever before pushing it. By then, the food stall has been empty for a long time.

The butcher should be able to take in 20 boars. However it will only take in 1. When that 1 is processed, the butcher will wait forever for another boar to be delivered. The grainer next to the butcher has 80 boar, but only 1 is transferred to the butcher at a time.

Berries and fish are not an issue. With a few berry huts and 1 fishing hut, the grainers are pretty much maxed out and so are the food stalls.

My city has the following.
150 serfs
4 hunters
3 butchers
7 wheat fields
4 mills
3 bakers

Even with all that food production, there is never enough refined food for the serfs. The food sits in grainers and does not get to the food stalls fast enough. I have 150 breads in grainers and 2 bread food stalls that stay empty most of the time.

I love the EA version and play it hours every day. I find the Demo version more frustrating than enjoyable. I hope "casual" for the release version will be more like EA version. I want a challenge, but I not want to have to struggle so much trying to get ahead.

I may create more bread food stalls to see if that fixes the problem for bread. However I do not have an idea how to fix the meat problem.

[28rommel]

Are you placing a tent over your food stalls/tables ? This increases the amount of food the stall will hold from 10 to 30. I have found that others who correct this, see a big difference where the stalls are no longer empty, and thus the villagers do not experience food issues.

I think I have seen one or two other players, writing about the boar/butcher problem. Hopefully a dev sees your notation here, but if you are really into this game, please join and report the issue on the official Foundation Discord threads. The devs and all the veterans, are constantly monitoring and discussing everything regarding the demo and the final Jan 31st release.

[Fossa2]

Oh yes, all food stalls have tents. I should have said that. My bad. I look forward to the boar/butcher issue fixed with the release. I think that would help a lot in my village. I have my fingers crossed. As of yet, I am not on discord. I am proud of myself just being on steam. 8o)

[StandEZ]

I had trouble keeping a profit until i doubled up on selling Cut stone with 2 stonemasons and then 3 and sell all your cut stone it pays 3 for each stone. And remember to tax! :) Hope this helps.

[markakeen]

Place a granary near the butchers, and set it to 'stock maximum' boar. The transporters will gather boar from nearby hunters, and then deliver small loads to the butchers. This is much more efficient than letting the hunters deliver directly to the butcher. One butcher can handle 4 hunters.

Place another granary near the market, and set it to 'stock maximum' meat.

Keep an eye on the simulation. If you find you have lots of boars, build another butchers. Too few boars, build more hunters (assuming you have enough forest).

[attiladafun]

Cut stone isn't efficient to sell. It costs a lot more than you make. There are a lot of goods that are more efficient to buy or not mess with at all, especially boar.

[Madredor]

Starting with mid-game, your food and coin production will be strongly supported by trade, at least i always did that because it also increases the amount you can trade over time (so the trade pretty much grows with your city).

Please dont take this as a promise because i dont prfectly remember the mechanic but i think, dedicated warehouses/food storage that are placed next to your production help a lot. Place another one close to the market(s) and choose the "maximize" setting for storage. The other warehouse will still carry the goods, but they will carry them to the marketplace storage in the end.
Of course you only need the final product you offer on the market in this storage house.

Placement of both houses and production are important. The shorter the way to work and the way to the ressource is, the better the production (i dont think that this is your problem, but i wanted to mention it anyways).

[Zinie]

refined food is a problem for me too : the serfs claim to lack it while they are sitting in front of a full market >__<

[Fossa2]

With 400 serfs, I finally got refined food under control. For about every 50 villagers, I have 4 hunters, 2 butchers, 4 wheat farms, 2 mills, and 1 baker. I think in time I could figure out how much I can reduce the number of buildings needed. The map is pretty much covered with farms and hunting areas. As the cost of land and buildings increased, I had to increase my taxes to 25%. Otherwise I would go into the red. When I was at 300 serfs, coins were stable at 15% taxes.

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by 28rommel:

Are you placing a tent over your food stalls/tables ? This increases the amount of food the stall will hold from 10 to 30. I have found that others who correct this, see a big difference where the stalls are no longer empty, and thus the villagers do not experience food issues.

The issue still remains that when you reach 800+ your stalls will be empty, due to the size of your village(s) and the amount of people visiting a market. I have a market that easily gets 200 people visiting it, and even with a mod that gives 2 items per stall, its frequently sold out.

[Minotorious]

Originally posted by Inardesco:

The issue still remains that when you reach 800+ your stalls will be empty, due to the size of your village(s) and the amount of people visiting a market. I have a market that easily gets 200 people visiting it, and even with a mod that gives 2 items per stall, its frequently sold out.

That simply means that you need more markets.

e.g. 800 villagers with 2 food needs each means 1600 food needs, 1600/30 needs per market = 54 stocked market stalls to be 100% certain everyone will always find food. Having said that you might get away with 40 or 45 market stalls but you still will need approximately that many.

[Inardesco]

At some points your villagers will wander to the other side of the map because you they can spend their free time there. Ensuring that their travel to and from, and while, working, becomes too long.

In a quick glance I have over 15k food available throughout my village. Meaning that the food requirement is easily filled. The ratio of villagers, in terms of walking distance, becomes too large when they wander off.

All my segments are populated with people living, working, getting drink and markets closeby, with granaries and warehouses close to the markets to keep them stocked. Yet their wandering off to the other side of the map is the main issue, since it keeps stocks emptied too long despite a full granary 20 meters away from the market.

[Inardesco]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3394508165

This is kinda what I'm talking about.

The amount of stuff sold in a single market is just insane, and this is just a month! And this isn't even placed in the largest residential area!!!