Havan IronOak's Guide to Banished (Hard Mode- No Mods)

Banished is the first game for which I ever got a perfect game. (Completed all the achievements)

It can be brutal for newcomers expecting just another city builder game and I thought others might benefit from some tips and tricks. True, the beginning 's actually a bit methodical but once you have a solid base, feel free to improvise to your heart's content.

On the other hand, if your settlers are starving time and time again, perhaps it's time to RTFM (read that fine manual) and here's the manual to read!

To keep it interesting this guide is in the form of a village journal. The townfolk will meet yearly to discuss what's happened and what they're planning. The "How to Play" hints are in there but you may have to dig a bit.

This guide is intended to help you survive and build a prosperous settlement and the techniques described will work with mods as well. However, achievements cannot be earned if mod are used. (A separate section is under construction for guidance on how to get all 36 achievements)

And So it Begins...

Alone on a new continent!

After that first winter in Plymouth colony when 200 folks died of diease, or starvation or simply froze to death, we thought that the worst was behind us. But with the coming of Spring those of us that dared to criticize Governor Winthrop and those in power were invited to leave their colony.

Yes, we were Banished.
Four families - banished from all that once was home!
This time we've decided to go without money which several of us feel is the root of all evil. Yes, we'll build a church as soon as we can but each will be free to worhsip or not as they see fit. In the mean time each of us will produce what we can. Each will share in all that is available and all our trades will be for goods. With the Almighty's blessing we will survive.

We must now survive in an inhospitable new land. With only the supplies that we managed to cram into one small wagon we decided...

THIS PLACE LOOKS PERFECT (actually our horse died)


I started on map seed 201702 using large map valley harsh weather hard mode

Pause the game.

A Primary Forest Node

Food and Shelter

Now First things first!

Designate our first "Forest Node"

A Forest node will feed our settlers and provide herbs, and leather and logs. The center of a "Forest Node" is a hunters lodge. Find a wooded area where you can place a hunter's lodge so that it's at the center of the wooded area and where the circle of influence includes as few hills and streams as possible. `If a stream is nearby, a margin should be left around the stream for other buildings later
Lets plan for a Gatherer's hut and a Forester's lodge as close to the center of that area as well. All buildings should be placed on hold except for the Gatherer's hut.

How About some Housing?

Next, let's plan the boarding house!

• It's fuel efficient and will prevent hoarding
  
• It will keep everyone warm
  
• It's a good place to eat meals.

Find a suitable spot near the supply wagon and close to the perimeter of the forest node we designated and "site" the boarding house but place it on hold. The area just west of the wagon looks fine. Remember to place these plans on hold too.

Next Let's designate a tiny 2x3 storages spot near the building cluster in the center of the forest node. Any resources blocking these buildings from being built will be gathered and stored in this small area to reduce extra totin' to a minimum.

Lets also plan for a small storage area just outside the forest node but as close to the boarding house as practical. Leave a space or two for a path between them though.

OK... Who's gonna do what?

Now let's assign some jobs.

We obviously need builders and laborers but we'll also need 2 gatherers, 2 hunters, 1 woodcutter 1 Forester, 1 Blacksmith and 1 Tailor.

It's no problem that there's no work places built yet. All designated professionals will serve as general laborers until enough resources reach the first construction site. The builders will then start construction.

Since the Gatherer's hut was the first thing we planned that's NOT on hold it will be supplied first. Once the supplies are complete, the builders can get to work. Once they start building be sure to take the Boardinghouse off hold.

Once done with the Gatherer's hut, the builders will move on to task 2, the Boarding House. The 2 gatherers will start gathering but the rest will continue as laborers. As each building gets fully supplied, the next can be taken off hold. Each of the families has an eldest child and they'll be joining the workforce soon. The young uns can start as laborers until new jobs come along.

We Need More Materials

We'll need more Stone

First identify nearby stone deposits and flag them for collection.
For this include the entire forest node

We'll need more logs too

Next identify nearby trees that are NOT going to be part of our first forest node and flag them for cutting. This area should be about as big as the forest node itself but NOT include any trees INSIDE the node nor any that we'd have to cross streams or mountains to get to.

Can We UNPAUSE the game now?

Yep! It's finally time to let the folks get down to work. Remember to monitor the builders at the beginning and take the planned buildings off pause as the materials for the unpaused ones are complete.

There may be some material shortages but the colonist can sort that out on their own or you can adjust some priorities yourself. Remember colonists tend to do things that were assigned first but assigning a priority moves that item to the top of the queue. If you've assigned tasks A,B,C & D and want to add a task B2 that comes after B you'll need to create task B2 then prioritize it and then reprioritize B and the reprioritize A. That way the new order will be A, B, B2, C & D.

Early Winter of '01

OK...

Time for a town meeting

It's Early in the winter of what we've decided to call year '01. We've been working our tails off and we've just had the first snowfall. How are we doing overall?

Well first Congratulations to the four youngsters who've reached adulthood. Their help is already being felt and soon they'll be wanting houses of their own so thay can start families too.

We've got a Gatherers lodge up and running and to date Rome and Burrel have brought in over 800 additional foods.

We've got our Hunter's Lodge up and running and Donana and Lynneth have killed their first deer yielding 200 venison and 6 usable pieces of leather.

Collington has produced 145 extra fuel in his woodcutters' shack and swears it would have been twice that if builders Colee and Karriet didn't keep stealing all his best logs for new buildings.

Our forester, Thor, has brought in only six new logs to date but is busy planting new saplings. He assures us he'll cull at least twice as many in the next season. Though some help will still be needed from laborers outside the designated forest if we're going to keep pace with building demand.

The Boarding house is up and running and has close to 1000 food in stock and 100 firewood. Looks like no one is gonna freeze or starve this winter. Plus we've got over 100 surplus food and 150 extra fuel in our wagon and storage area.

That's great news considering the fact that all four families have had new children which means new mouths to feed. So Welcome to Trinidas, Auren, Malvis and Terench. It's amazing how much the little ones eat. One would swear that they consume just as much as full grown adults.

We are getting a bit low on tools and coats but Harmond's blacksmith shop is now under construction but some additional iron needs to be collected. Our builders assure us, if we all keep working hard, Ettina's tailoring shop will also be completed long before any coats are needed for next winter.

Future plans call for a storage barn and at least 1 new stone house before the next winter.

Tips

1) My Initial build order:

1. Gatherer's hut
   
2. Boardinghouse
   
3. Woodcutter
   
4. Hunter's Lodge
   
5. Smith
   
6. Tailor
   
7. First Stone House
   
8. Forester
   
9. Second Stone House

2) Build up gradually. Individual houses foster population growth. No more than two per year is a good early rule of thumb keeping # of builder to 1 or 2 will help keep that pace
3) Strive to keep walking back and forth to a minimum. Houses for tradesmen need to be near their workplace & storage

Late Winter of '02

Well another winter has arrived but as yet no snow has fallen. Still a short break for our second annual town meeting is in order.

First, all of our settlers made it through the first winter and it wasn't as lean as some had feared. However at one point the firewood ran so low that Rome and Burrell stayed in bed and "kept each other warm" a lot. By the way... congratulations to them on the birth of their new arrival, Jonathen.

Also congratulations to Winnafrida on reaching her majority.

It's getting a bit crowded in the boarding house with all these new faces! With the completion of the new barn, our builders have turned their attention to building our first two private stone cottages. The two best sites have already been spoken for. They're close to the barn so carrying food home is easy and yet border the forest node so our hunters and gatherers will find commuting to work will be fast and easy .

There's already been talk of setting up a trading post and a market but looking to the future we are gonna need a second forest area. We're already scouting out areas that look promising and this time we'll include an herbalist so folks can stay healthy. Course that's 5 or 6 jobs that we don't have people to fill yet but the 4 laborers can pitch in at first and the kids are growing. Colington's Leandry has his eye on a prime fishing spot and wants us to designate him our first town fisherman. There's even been some talk of setting up our first town school but no worries little ones, that's at least a year away.

Now for reports from our "department heads"

• Our gatherers report no problems and are bringing in about 1000 foodstuffs per season
  
• Our hunters brought in 560 venison and 16 leather bits last season
  
• Etina reports that she completed 14 coats last season and if enoungh new hides come in expects about the same next season
  
• Hamond completed 33 new iron tools but would love to try his hand at steel tools if anyone spots a likely spot for a coal mine.
  
• Firewood has been no problem with everyone in the boarding-house and Colington has been helping with resource gathering in his spare time but is planning to up his limit a bit with new houses under construction that will require their own supplies.
  
• Our two builders have decided to hang up their hammers and return to gathering but Thor has picked up the hammer and says that he should have no problem getting at least two stone cottages complete by next meeting. If there's time he may even try his hand at building a bridge since the spot across the river looks like such a prime hunting spot.

Tips

1) Individual houses can cause "startvation spirals." I suggest that once the boardinghouse is empty you have 100 extra food in storage for every house built before starting another.

An Early Snow - Late Autumn '03

With an early snowfall it was decided to hold this year's town meeting a bit early.

First some job changes to be announced:
Colington has decided to try his hand with the needle and produced 19 coats this last season.
Thor found that building didn't suit him but he has tried his hammer at the smithy and produced 14 tools last season.

Congratulations to Burrel and Lyneth on the birth of their youngest Howellie. It's fortunate that their new home was completed when it was... now any house warming gifts can be combined with the baby gifts.

Lion and Etina have also moved into their new home. Their eldest has asked that we tell all the womenfolk present that he's willing to move back out as soon as a suitable home and bride can be found.

His mom Etina says she's about 90% done with the building but that he'll just have to wait his turn as two other families are still making do in the boarding house. She's further advised that home construction is being placed on hold due to the early snow and a shortage of firewood is NOT a great way to start out a new home. Instead she'll concentrate on finishing the bridge across the river. Leandry asked if she might also find time to start on his proposed fishing dock and she promised to look into it.

So 3 years in we've got:
1 Builder
2 Hunters
2 Gatherers
1 Forester
1 Woodcutter
1 Blacksmith
1 Tailor
4 Laborers
and 6 children

Early Winter of '04

Early Winter of '04

With the first snowfall of the Winter of '04 it's time for another annual town meeting.
First let's welcome newborns Raynellisa, Misson, and Haron to their first meeting and congratulate the parents.

Let's acknowledge Tanjali, Harlyn, Leandry, Harvid, and Jonathon all coming of age this year and welcome them to the labor force.

Food started running a bit low so we agreed to hold off on any new houses being finished until stocks pick up again.

In that regard we've increased the number of hunters and gatherers to three each.

• Hunters Etina, Audine and Harvid are proud to report they've added 760 venison to the stocks this last season.
  
• Gatherers Harmond, Burrell and Tanjali have harvested 1528 of nature's bounty.

Work like that will soon have us back on track!

The bridge across Eden Creek is now complete and a 2nd Gatherer's hut and Hunter's lodge have been started.

Also a barn has been built near the bridge to make delivering these vital foodstuffs more convenient.

After a quick stint as a "working fisherman" Leandry found that he enjoyed it more as a past-time and opted to join the gathering crew. Lion And Harlyn have stepped in and while they've only landed 83 fish so far, theirs was not a complete season. They're confident next year's yield will be much higher.

Our Blacksmith, Tailor and Woodcutter have all been too busy helping out as jacks of all trades to prepare formal reports but assure us that their areas of expertise are all well tended and no shortages are forseen.

With the opening of our second forest node next year we can look forward to finishing up at least a couple more stone cottages. Hopefully crowding at the boarding-house will be relieved a bit more.

There have been discussions among the elders and next year's goal is to begin a trading post and possibly identify a good site for a market before thing go much further.

Tip

1) Multiple forest nodes ensure a steady source of food. Building a second one early is key. Ideally you can designate a town center that can be surrounded by forest nodes (all with barns on their perimeters nearest town) Then these barns can be linked by a market to ensure everyone stays supplied and fed.
2) remember to build a barn and one or two houses (as resources permit) near your second forest node - hopefully on the side near town

Winter of '05

The first snowfall of the Winter of '05 heralds another annual town meeting.

First let's congratulate this year's new parents and welcome our 6 newborns! Eugeness, Hillar, Santal, Lesteven,Edwardell and Wernest.

Second let's acknowledge Reynellisa and Howellie on reaching adulthood. Now get to work!

After last year's lean times I'm pleased to report that the new Hunter's lodge and Gatherer's hut are up and running. Our hunters have brought in over 1000 venison for the first time ever and our gatherer's (after some relocation confusion) harvested 1436 edibles - just shy of last year's total. They assure me now that the kinks have been worked out they're in position next year to top last year's record harvests. Meanwhile our two intrepid fishermen landed 319 fish between them and suggest if those big ones hadn't gotten away...

Our builders assure me that the Trading post is well underway but blame the delay on our last minute change in plans. That brings me to announce that Colington has agreed to assume the duties of head herbalist at our new herbalist shack and those health-giving herbs should soon start appearing at a barn near you.

Our little community is now more than twice its original size and so far no one has starved or frozen to death. With that in mind our council of elders pledges to make some progress in the coming year on a suitable church in which we can give thanks. Those of you who keep track of such things will know that Niew Amsterdam wasn't able to boast a church until 15 years after its founding.

New Chapel Dedicated Spring '07

At the suggestion of Hillar, our new clergywoman, we postponed our annual town meeting until the new church was ready. What better time for a meeting than this warm spring day?

First our congratulations to our newest parents. Here's hoping that newborns Terench, Rooseveland, Flossom, and Ernestie will be as happy here in New Eden as the rest of us have been. Also congratualtions to Misson, Maron, Raynelli, Eugenesse and Hillar for reaching their age of majority.

As planned, the trading post was completed some months back and Lion has been stocking it with all of our surpluses since its completion. Lion tells me he's hoping to have 100 coats, 100 iron tools, 100 firewood and 1000 vension cuts shelved soon and is hoping to add some herbs to his inventory as soon as our supply catches up with local demand. Lion further tells me he's been in contact with outside merchants and several have agreed to begin regular stops here some day soon. Given the richness of the land he's hoping to soon be able to trade for some seed and/or livestock or at least lay in some additional food stores in order to prepare for any eventuality.

Our Population has now reached 37 souls spread among 5 stone cottages and the boardinghouse with 1457 food on hand in communal storage.

It's been suggested that in the next few months we try once again to get some additional stone cottages built so that we might finally close down the old boarding-house. It's also been suggested that we begin to seriously look for a suitable site for a coal mine so that we might finally make the switch to more modern steel tools . It's also been suggested that we finally do something about starting a village school so that our youngsters might learn and become better citizens.

Census:
2 builders
4 2x2 Gatherers
2 2x1 Fishermen
4 2x2 Hunters
1 woodcutter
1 forester
1 herbalist
1 blacksmith
1 tailor
1 trader
1 Cleric

Autumn of '10

Well with the hurly burly of the day to day one thing has led to another and we've managed to skip a few of our town's annual meeting. Let's make up for that now.

First off, thanks to our builders we were finally able to close down the old boarding house in the Spring of '08. It's been agreed to leave the structure there in the event that any new wanderers show up needing a place to stay.

Since our last meeting we've had only a small number of new births Urie, Classidy and Silvestel have all been born and grown to adulthood. No longer newborns Elle and Terener are still in short pants but not for long. Also Terench, Rooseveland, Flossom, Ernestie and Wernest, belated congratulations on your coming of age.

Since our last meeting we've completed our town hall and our cemetery - though it remains blessedly empty so far. We've added a bridge north of town and staked out a third forest node which will ensure our continued food supply as our population continues to grow.

On that front, we're now 27 families which is a bit crowded with only 9 homes but we hope to remedy that in the near future. Classidy, is tending our new Peach orchard and it's expected to start yielding fruit any season now. After much debate it was agreed to go with a 15x4 layout as that has proven elsewhere to be the most productive http://banishedinfo.com/t/Size_calculator/orchard We've also readied a 10x20 paddock area but no traders have brought any livestock our way as of yet. We've also identified several prime crop locations 11x11 but no suitable seeds have been offered by traders yet.

We DID make a good deal on our peach seedlings though it cost us plenty of tools, firewood and coats and it took us almost a year to replenish our trading stocks without causing any local shortages.

Unfortunately some bad news for the littles among us, we've yet to build a schoolhouse but the town elders have agreed that that should be a priority for next year.

If there are no further announcements, that will be all for this year's meeting. As has been suggested by several of you, we'll be switching to periodic town meetings only when events warrent going forward. And in the interest of keeping these meetings shorter, no more Birth and Majority announcements!

A Sad Spring '11

It's a sad spring in that we must announce the passing of long-time village elders Thor and Colee. Thor was always the first to want to try his hand at any new endevor. If only he'd opted to NOT do that with the cemetery.

But on an up note traders finally brought us some cropseed so we should be harvesting squash this autumn to make our thanksgiving celebrations a bit more joyful.

Also we've managed to locate a vein of coal in the hills just south of our town hall and have already brought enough to the surface that we can begin making steel tools. It's reported that steel tools last twice as long as simple iron tools and don't break anywhere near as often when working with hard materials like stone.

Speaking of stone I'm sure our younglings will be happy to know that we're still running a bit short on stone and have been devoting it all to meeting our growing housing needs which means that there's not been enough left over to complete the new school. Let me assure you that that is only temporary.

Late Summer 13 - Nomads

It's late Summer of '13 and while we didn't have a town meeting scheduled for this year the arrival of three nomads seeking to join our community has required one.

Original colonist Lion, still with us at a spry 79 years young, said that he didn't think any nomads would join until a market had been established but apparently all that are required are a trading post and a town hall.

Our other two remaining founders, Collington and Lyneth at 82 and 80 respectively say 'Let 'em Join."
Since no one dissents, we've agreed to let em in but we stipulate that they help us construct a hospital in case they or any future nomads bring in any foreign germs.

The oldsters suggested that the boardinghouse be re-christened "Founders House" in their honor. That young wag Classidy suggested that the cemetery be named "Founders Field." Instead the three have agreed that they'll form a tontine with the honor of having the cemetery named after them will fall to the last one to ...er fall. Each of the others will be honored as well when they pass by renaming the Clinic and the school. Lynneth says she plans to live forever so the cemetery will remain forever unnamed but she volunteered to do the honors herself in rechristening Lion Memorial Clinic, and Collington School when the time comes.

Our Last Founder Passes

Autumn of '14 after a short illness our last living Founder, Rome died at the ripe old age of 80.

Collington died in the Spring of '14 and Lynneth died in Spring of '15 despite her protestations that she'd live forever. Rome attributed his longevity to his work in his late years as the village herbalist. Working amongst so many healthgiving plants made him feel younger than his years. All three of these founders will be missed.

And while some may find it an innappropriate tribute our new herdsman Wernest named our new stud bull Rome and his mate Lynneth in their honor so in some ways they will live forever.

On a brighter note - Garol has just completed his studies at the Collington School and has joined the work force. We forsee bright things in his future.

A Party at Camerilyn's Homestead! ('24)

Camerilyn and her fisherman husband Ishaad (But call me Ishmael) hosted a small get together at their homstead and the townfolk decided it could serve as this year's town meeting. (Can you believe we're into '24 already?)

Folks were amazed by how prosperous they've become but as Camerilyn says, it's all about working close to home. Each season Ishaad brings in over 300 fish and Camerilyn rounds out their stocks with Eggs and (beginning this year) fried chicken. Last season she gathered 42 eggs and 12 chickens, and with her husband's catch, that's more than enough to feed their family of four with plenty left over to trade with others in the village for the essentials.

The elders council also wanted to announce that we'd taken in another 13 nomads and while they're currently in the boardinghouse they'll soon be having places of their own as well. Plenty of fields have been platted close to existing houses and barns and a new barn has been completed just southwest of the outer boundary of the old Southwest fofrest node. It's expected that in coming years a new forest node will be established southwest of the "olde node" as population increases.

Finally, ground has been broken on a 2nd trading outpost Between our Southwest and Northwest forest nodes and Terencer, our Market keeper, assures us that he'll be able to keep even better stocks in the market and balance between the two trading post though he may be needing an assistant.

Nell and Larai Host the meeting of '27

Nell and Larai offered to host a town meeting since there hasn't been one in a while. When Orrel suggested that it just MIGHT be an attempt to marry off their forester daughter, Gertrendyn, Nell piped in "She's a lumberjack and she's OK"

Since our last town meeting there's been a good deal of progress to report.
1) Additional Stone cottages have been built just north of our Easternmost forest node and a seam of stone suitable for quarrying has been located. While our gatherer's assure us that there's still plenty of surface stone well within a day's journey of our settlement borders some preliminary work has gone into readying the site so as to ensure an ongoing and regular source of stone in coming years.

2) The SouthWestern-most Forest node is now fully developed with a hunter's lodge, a gatherer's hut and a forester's lodge. All of these are staffed at minimal levels as we continue to run surpluses in every area. In fact our top limits on stored food were increased recently to 15k as the old 10k limit was causing a shortage in hides for trade coats.

3) There HAS been some complaints about the shortage of peaches since the opening of the new tavern but our brewmistress Ernalish has gotten our trader to obtain a supply of apples from passing boats and while the apples become ale our peach stocks will have a chance to recover.

4) It WAS disappointing to learn that the wheat which we recently started growing isn't suitable for brewing ale but the yields have been very good and the variety to our daily fare is a welcome change to those who aren't overly fond of squash.

5) Our second trading post is now up and running. While some residents suggest that it be used to store ONLY venison that be traded for fruits and other edibles that we don't grow locally, the village as a whole decided that for now, both trading posts will be fully stocked with a variety of goods and both will just be on the lookout for bargains on fruit and other delicacies.

6) We've now completed our backup paddock project and have one spare of each type of animal paddock. These will prove invaluable in the event of infestations and may also be used in spliiting our herds when and if we decide to expand our livestock operations.

7) We've opened a second tailoring shop and our new tailor Jonathen has been specializing in warm coats while we funnel more of our old hide coats to our traders.

8) Several villages have complained recently about the distance that they need to walk to get to their jobs in the morning. The council has agreed to look into how cottages may be strategically placed to minimize this. One of our young smart alecs reminded us things ARE better than in the "bad old days" his Granddad Haron "used to have to walk 10 miles to get to schoole every morning and it was up hill both ways!"

Tne First New Eden County Free Faire

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the settlement's founding the elders council has declared the first Annual New Eden County Free Faire.

This year all food producer's are invited to show their wares.


The winner of the Blue Ribbon as the highest producer goes to Marjorie for her gathering of 888 woodland foodstuffs.
The runner up and the Red Ribbon goes to Bertanel for her Potato Crop of 806 Bushels
The Third Place and the Yellow Ribbon goes to Arther for his Wheat Harvest of 791 Bushels

All three are graduates of our local school which just shows that the youngsters are learning more in our school than just Reading, Writing, and Arithmeticals!

After the prizes were awarded there was a rather heated discussion from the hunters in attendance that their Venison yields ought to be counted at three times their harvest since it brings that much more in trade than simple "woodland foodstuffs". The herdsmen joined the dispute saying that they ought to receive some credit for the leather and wool and eggs that get produced along with their mainstays. But then our tavern keeper brought out a fresh keg of his special Peach ale and it was agreed to think it over and look to amending next year's rules.

A 30 Year Retrospective

Date	Surplus	Population	Homes	L/Hu/Ga/Fi	others	Notes
Winter 02	727	12/0/6	1	3/2/2/0	TaWcBl	TailorWoodcutter Blacksmith
Autumn 03	44	13/0/6	2	4/2/2/0	TaWcBl	2 Houses food short
Winter 05	837	19/0/9	3	4/4/4/2	TaWcBlHe	Added Herbalist
Spring 07	1457	25/0/8	5	6/4/4/2	TaWcBlHeClTr	2nd Forest Node Added Cleric & Trader
Spring 08	1515	30/0/5	7	6/4/4/2	TaWcBlHeClTrFa	Added our first Orchard - Peaches
Autumn 09	2219	35/0/3	9	10/6/6/2	TaWcBlHeClTrFa	Third Forest Node
Autumn 10	3543	36/0/2	9	9/6/6/2	TaWcBlHeClTrFa	Added Chestnut Farmer
Spring 11	4679	35/0/2	10	7/6/6/2	TaWcBlHeClTrFa
Spring 12	4400	34/0/3	11	9/6/3/1	TaWcBlHeClTrFa2	Added Squash Farmer
Spring 13	5181	32/0/6	13	4/8/3/1	TaWcBlHeClTrFa2	4th Forest Node
Spring 14			15		TaWcBlHeClTrFa2He1	Added Cattle Herdsman
Summer 22	8063	38/7/6	20	5/6/3/1	TaWcBlHeClTrFa2He3	Added Chicken & Sheep herders
Summer 23	9126	47/8/16	20	14/6/3/1	TaWcBlHeClTrFa3He3	Added Wheat Farmer
Spring 29	11061	61/10/13	25	16/8/4/1	TaWcBlHeClTrFa5He3	Added Potatoes

Our 100th Citizen ('35)

Our 100th Citizen was just born to Hurace and Yamiley! I guess we now know why they both wanted to work fields so near their home.

Tips WIP Note and Links

The Banished Wiki may be found at http://banishedinfo.com/wiki

The Crop Field Calculator may be found at http://banishedinfo.com/t/Size_calculator#11x11
I generally use an 11x11 field with one farmer for maximum efficiency.

I find using standard sizes makes dealing with infestations easier. When an infestation breaks out, simply empty the pasture, harvest the crop, or clear the orchard. Never plant two adjacent fields with the same crop. Same with pastures. This will stop an infestation from spreading.

As to pastures... If you go with a one size fits all strategy, 10x20 works good. However, I generally go with one size per animal type
Sheep 8x20
Cattle 10x20
Chickens 12x7

The Cemetery, Orchard and Pasture calculators may all be found using the link above.

Some basic rules of thumb....

Keep new houses down to two per year in the beginning otherwise newborns will eat all available food.

Houses should be separated by two spaces from anything else to help keep fires from spreading.

I find building STONE homes instead of wood from the outset slows my home building a bit which can be a good thing. It not only conserves firewood but helps me avoid building up too rapidly and causing later population peaks and troughs.

A Well right next to a house won't save it if it catches fire but wells do provide some happiness so having them is a good idea.

ALWAYS consider travel distances. Farmers must be close to their homes and to storage barns if they're to maximize harvests. If you build homes just outside your forest nodes and they are occupied by hunters, foresters and gatherers, those people should have the longest commutes. Use the tool to check each production building and build homes where they make sense.

Keeping the number of builders down to two in the early years will help stop you from overbuilding early-on.

When an infestation Icon appears - Zoom all the way in BEFORE clicking on the icon to take you to the trouble spot. It's sometimes hard to spot which field is the problem in the early stages of an outbreak.

Built my town hall as soon as I had everyone fed and housed and had a church and school up & running. Immediately followed that with a hospital so as to safely take in nomads.

Once the town hall is built I use the number of families vs the number of houses to determine how high my housing demand is. I try to gradually increase to 1 house per two adults for a stable town. Keeping new houses down to 2 per year is a good rule of thumb but if everything else is in good shape I sometimes add 1 or 2 more.

Have plenty of barns near your food producing areas so as to minimize producers travel time and maximize yield. Have homes near those barns so that your food producers can easily restock THEIR homes and keep producing

Have several forest nodes with a Barn and 2 houses just outside their perimeter (hopefully at the point nearest your town center) This will keep your gatherers, and hunters productive and their houses will always be well stocked

Use markets to distribute the food between barns and supply any houses within their radius

Remember that storage areas can be demolished and are set to empty before being destroyed. One good way to get your laborers to move mass quantities of a given resource is to set up a local storage area near the resource and then set it to be demolished so as to move the resources to a more central location.


Some people feel that the work/don't work indicators are confusing

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853168877

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853168730

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853169360

Maximizing fishing dock yields

The key to productive fishing docks is to maximize water. Anything that lessens the amount of water within the dock's circle of influence lessens yield.

Per capita yield is always best with one fisherman. The second fisherman at a dock will yield slightly less and so on. Of course yield also depends upon having a fisherman who spends the maximum amount of time actually fishing. One can up yield by having a cottage nearby where the fisherman can live and a barn nearby where the fisherman can store his catch.

XXXXXXXX Earlier notes XXXXXX

I added a couple of fishing docks with a cabin and a barn near all the great fishing spots for the food variety (1 fisherman per unless they really ARE great). Currently have 3 markets with 1 or 2 vendors each in the empty areas between my forest nodes.

Have switched to steel tools now because I had excess laborers and there were several good mine sites near my original boarding house. Also added a quarry in a small valley area where there were few trees that didn't look like a good spot for a forest node. I've kept my miners and stonecutters down to 3 or 4 per facility to stretch out the life of the deposit and to keep pathing issues to a minimum.

Had to add a second wood cutter the first year that firewood started to really dip but so far 1 tailor and 1 smith are enough to keep everyone in tools and coats.

[AB1]

I like it, and it's appreciated that you've put out a basic guide on the "new" patch when so many of the others use seeds from the old patch. It's helped me get back into it after some time away. I think I ended up with 100 cits about 30 years behind due to a few bad winters. if I don't rush the boarding house instead of the food at the start then everyone dies. I don't know if you're still interested, but I would still like to see you do a guide in this style for some of the achievements if not all.

[Lotrax]

This seems like a pretty informative guide, but I dislike the wall of text and the story behind it. Might not work for everyone and honestly I think newbies have more use of a concentrated informative guide.

[Havan_IronOak]

I've not gone back and concentrated on fishing but I fully expect that it's simply a matter of siting the fishing hut at an ideal spot. The map I've selected for the guide doesn't have any real good spots close to town so it may be a while before I experiment with that.

I like your idea about infestations and the three small orchards. I'll have to give that a try. I've always made it a rule to never have contiguous fields with the same crop but that's most useful in the late game when you want to be able to run the game at 10x on auto-pilot.

[mbutton15]

Did you ever get those fish returns you were looking for ? If not, have you checked out the 'Joy of Fishing' guide.
Small comment in infestations. I plant my orchards in blocks of 3 (sometimes even 6) when creating a supply for a nearby Tavern. I plant 15x4, with no gap between orchards, all the same crop. Yes, occasionally I do get an infestation, but when I do I immedately pause, destroy the orchard, chop the trees (marked as priority), unpause and recreate the orchard with the same crop once the trees are cleared. Never spreads to other orchards.

[Dredzy]

Liked the guide. Started out strong but I think if you incorporated more tips prior to each town meeting (cool gimmick) it would be a lot more helpful to noobs like me. Really liked the starting tips a lot and the links to the calculator will come in handy.