Possible to explore in this game?

[HoHoHO]

I'm thinking of buying the game, but I read somewhere that you're forced to travel from town to town because money is too tight. Is it possible to explore around the map and walk around? or would exploring kill you because you can't afford it?

[Malarky]

I have found exploring to be extremely difficult to impossible, at this moment. They are about to release an update that promises to address this and make the early game period easier. Based on my 11 hours playing, I'm not going to play anymore until the update is out.

[Malarky]

The problem is that financially I barely make enough to keep my caravan moving forward. I cannot afford to actually get into ANY fights because I won't be able to afford to replace the dead, and even when you win a battle the profits are pitifully meager. Balance is a real problem at the moment

[Overcoming]

The finance stress is totally fine in this game. I have already explored the entire map. For now, I only have to focus on trading in like 10% of the time and the rest of time I can do whatever I want. (I do carry some goods or passengers that happens to have the same destination to mine)
The trick is in that 10% of time, I accumulate my wealth to a certain level using the most profitable trade route that I found, but just don't accumulate too much. Then, in the rest of time, I only carry supplies in my cargo and explore and the rate of my savings drop is totally acceptable.(extra expense due to adverse random events already taken into account) This is related to the taxman mechanism. The tax can be waived if you have enough faction relations, not exceeding certain level of wealth and not carrying expensive goods.

But the question would be how do new players survive and last until late game that they found all companions, built faction relations and got better equipment and items. This is also possible because in this game, there is so called safe zone (areas of map that are free of dangerous enemy encounters, i.e. protected by Imperial or dragonlords) and safe trade routes. However, it is not so obvious to new players that where is safe and where is dangerous. Also, some quests given to new players are actually dangerous and they may not know it and try to finish it before they are capable of.

[gevrik]

I went Half-Elf, Ranger and Explorer. Got the Dwarf at Barius (gives +cargo), an extra mount, the extended storage item for the caravan, hunting dogs, converted all slaves into workers, cut down to the bare minimum of required units and then spent 20 minutes doing trading runs between Tor, Lumen and Arken. Then I had a 100 Bors, enough insight to raise all hunting/foraging skills to 3 and went on my merry exploration way. :-)

[Malarky]

Well I just don't get it then. I'm 21 hours into the game and still can barely figure out how to stay afloat, and I'm CONSTANTLY save-scumming to avoid random encounters that will wipe me out. When one of you pros write a guide, maybe I'll be able to play.

[Overcoming]

Originally posted by Malarky:

Well I just don't get it then. I'm 21 hours into the game and still can barely figure out how to stay afloat, and I'm CONSTANTLY save-scumming to avoid random encounters that will wipe me out. When one of you pros write a guide, maybe I'll be able to play.

Try to explore Deven, Sunrock, Mine of plenty and Crimson's gate first. Always travel on the road. They've made Arken and Lumen far too punishing for beginner to visit at the moment. There is even a very rare chance that one can encounter the most powerful enemies in the entire game in the way to Lumen. They can be dealt with, but may be too difficult for new players.

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by Malarky:

Well I just don't get it then. I'm 21 hours into the game and still can barely figure out how to stay afloat, and I'm CONSTANTLY save-scumming to avoid random encounters that will wipe me out. When one of you pros write a guide, maybe I'll be able to play.

Hey,
Are you using Appease(Flee) to buy them off? It's often way cheaper to do so than suffering losses and trying to claw back from a negative spot. In general, it's rarely worth to fight (unless you have specced and geared for a mercenary profile company or for quest reasons).
Entering companion combat from crew combat might also help, as it gives better agency over what happens on the battlefield. It's actually in the next patch, so might be something to check out once it drops.

Thanks, cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims team

[Malarky]

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next patch.

I ended up giving the game a strongly negative review (no offense intended), which I will change based on the updates.

I got so upset, in fact, that I returned to playing Civilization 5, which should give you an idea of my mental anguish.

I want to see you guys succeed with this game, so I'm really hoping it improves with continued updates. I want to turn that neg review into a positive.

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by Malarky:

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next patch.

I ended up giving the game a strongly negative review (no offense intended), which I will change based on the updates.

I got so upset, in fact, that I returned to playing Civilization 5, which should give you an idea of my mental anguish.

I want to see you guys succeed with this game, so I'm really hoping it improves with continued updates. I want to turn that neg review into a positive.

We are happy to receive feedback on forums, tickets, discord, etc. We try to communicate frequently about how we plan to improve the game during this Early Access period. Reviews are a double-edged sword, unfortunately. They serve the purpose of giving feedback just as well as the other channels, and they are a great way to motivate big teams/publishers to focus their work since their revenue coming from Early Access has little to no impact on their ability to work on the game. For self-funded small teams, though, due to their high impact on sales, negative reviews lead to significantly less income which means less time (/ shorter runway) to work on the game; so a smaller chance of actually delivering a great game. It's a bit like a warning shot in the leg to run faster.😅

The game is still in EA so while every patch is a step towards the final product, even with this upcoming one we can be fairly certain that the game will not feel perfect just yet.
Hoping it will show the direction, though, and restore (some of) your lost confidence in the game and us.🤞

Thanks, cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims team

[Malarky]

I haven't given up, trust me. The day the update is posted I'll be in and trying a fresh start, and will revise my review accordingly.

[Malarky]

Devs...I changed my review. Good work on that update!

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by Malarky:

Devs...I changed my review. Good work on that update!

Hey, thanks. Glat to hear you like the direction the game is heading. Have a great weekend. Cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims team