Banished - gameplay discussion

[LadyCrimson]

Mm, may as well make a thread for this game. Strategies, discoveries, tips, questions, mumbled frustrations, gameplay/review comments, maybe a pic or two, go!

 

 

Reached 85-90 citizens. No immigrants yet, maybe you have to build that temp-housing structure first? Did build a trader, the boats seem to come twice a year or so. Difficult to stock enough of the better items to trade with without depleting citizen reserves. Buying herd animals is expensive.

 

--Woodcutters like to cut down your crop-cherry trees when they get big enough to harvest! The little buggers. So don't build woodcutters near your orchards. (the farmers do regrow the trees, but then the woodcutters just chop them down again...)

--At 19 game-years, the rate of death by old age, so far, is close to the rate of new Adults, who thus immediately take over the vacant jobs. It puts a crimp in trying to accrue workers for new buildings at times. Think I need to build more new houses, a little faster, maybe.

 

--The game likes to use kids as basic laborers even if there are no Adult laborers available. Sweat shop labor?

--Pretty easy to keep citizens happy and healthy ratings wise as long as you have food variety. But they still eat way too much. I feel like I have to go overboard on food production (currently 3 fishing, 4 crop farms, 2 orchards, 3 gatherers) to make up for any bad crop or depleted gatherer moments etc. Also, bigger the town gets, the more tools they need. Man they want a lot of tools.

--Housing does affect population ... I think newly grown Adults don't couple-up and have their own kids until you build new houses for them to move into.

--It's definitely going to take ages for me to figure out "the best" way I like to do stuff for steady but stable growth. At the moment, can't even imagine filling up a whole Large map without it all falling apart. Sheesh.

 

Also:

 

[Sarex]

I'm around 60-65 villagers(workers), use steel tools and have between 10 and 15 thousand food in barns and market. Education is near 100%. I have every building and my goal now is to stockpile stone and iron to expand the housing, also to stockpile tools for trade (want to get sheep next so I can get better clothing).

 

I am on my first playthrough and started on medium.

 

As for nomads, did you build the city hall? Because that is how you accept or refuse them.

 

Also I think they need to add something more to the game, this is far too simple once you figure out how to get a stable food supply.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Sarex

[Malcador]

Yeah they're going through tools like water in my village.  I've got a mine, but iron production is slow.  I guess I expanded larger than my aging workforce will alow.

[LadyCrimson]

As for nomads, did you build the city hall? Because that is how you accept or refuse them.

Ah. That's what happens when you don't play the tutorials, perhaps. But I like the longer period of discovery-fun.

 

Also I think they need to add something more to the game, this is far too simple once you figure out how to get a stable food supply.

That's what the mod kit will be for. Hopefully you can add in other little things or tweak stuff to make it as hard/easy as you want.

 

But I think the main long-term challenge is "how huge can you get your population to be and still remain stable?" ... It's easy to keep it pretty stable when you have 30, 50, 100. I have a feeling tho, that somewhere around 200-250, as you're spreading all over the map and need more and more houses (which = a lot more kids eating...) to balance death vs. birth and more than one or two of everything else, that it'll get kinda crazy. I mean, 90 population hardly takes up any of the Medium map...

[Chilloutman]

I am torn on that game. Its awesome what one guy managed to create but on the other hand I was expecting much more. After playing Dwarf fortress, Banished feels like there is really not much to do in game. I hope some good modders will play with this extensively before I am going to buy it.

[LadyCrimson]

Btw, for those that aren't aware, the game creator talks about the mod-kit abilities somewhat, here. http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-01-28-controllers-ports-mods-and-languages/#mod

 

...would allow users to change and add to the game data. That includes textures, models, animations, string tables, audio, music, fonts, character sets, user interface configuration, user interface graphics, sprites, vertex and pixel shaders, and render state. It also compiles game data that configures all the objects in game – workplaces, trees, plants, resources, animals, buildings, citizens, weather, environment, lighting, professions, toolbars, general game balance, and more.

 

... the tool can also package a set of compiled resources into a single file which would be great for distributing mods.

 

You could add an apiary that has beekeepers and produces honey [ ... ] Or add a lumber mill and add a new class of houses and construction.

[ ... ]

You won’t be able to change behaviors or add new ones, and you can’t make new UI behaviors. You can’t make soldiers that fight off packs of wolves or change the AI of the people, or change the deer simulation. All that is in C++ code, and at the moment I don’t have a good way to allow plug-ins with new code to extend the functionality.

[Chilloutman]

Btw, for those that aren't aware, the game creator talks about the mod-kit abilities somewhat, here. http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-01-28-controllers-ports-mods-and-languages/#mod

 

...would allow users to change and add to the game data. That includes textures, models, animations, string tables, audio, music, fonts, character sets, user interface configuration, user interface graphics, sprites, vertex and pixel shaders, and render state. It also compiles game data that configures all the objects in game – workplaces, trees, plants, resources, animals, buildings, citizens, weather, environment, lighting, professions, toolbars, general game balance, and more.

 

... the tool can also package a set of compiled resources into a single file which would be great for distributing mods.

 

You could add an apiary that has beekeepers and produces honey [ ... ] Or add a lumber mill and add a new class of houses and construction.

[ ... ]

You won’t be able to change behaviors or add new ones, and you can’t make new UI behaviors. You can’t make soldiers that fight off packs of wolves or change the AI of the people, or change the deer simulation. All that is in C++ code, and at the moment I don’t have a good way to allow plug-ins with new code to extend the functionality.

 

 

Well that is sad, I dont miss more textures or houses but more mechanics and it seems these are hardcoded

Edited February 19, 2014 by Chilloutman

[Nonek]

Strangely enough this reminds me of the old RTS Warrior Kings, they share a certain ambience, and I was often a little disappointed when combat interrupted my civilisation crafting in that game. For the work of just one man this is a Herculean feat, I hope the gentleman finds success and thrives.

[catspwnme]

I am buying this tomorrow, Or should I? It looks pretty cool.

 

Was watching the gameplay intro on steam last night.

 

Edit - Is there combat in this? It just looked like city building,which is fine. Just curious.

Edited February 19, 2014 by catspwnme

[Sarex]

I am buying this tomorrow, Or should I? It looks pretty cool.

 

Was watching the gameplay intro on steam last night.

 

Edit - Is there combat in this? It just looked like city building,which is fine. Just curious.

 

No combat.

[LadyCrimson]

Problem with these games is I always want to start over, because I start thinking "wow this town ended up so haphazardly designed, I can do better than this!" Maybe that's part of their charm. I've been playing on Medium/Valley/Fair weather, too, so basically on easy mode to learn basics. Might be time to try a mountain/bad weather seed. I hear more snow and rain makes it harder.

 

That's what I ended up with 90 people. It started me almost center of map, and you can see in the mini-map I have tons of room to keep going. Actually, I'm at the point where I can't decide how/where to expand. eg, makes me want to start a new map.

 

 

 

P.S. I personally think this game is worth the $20, if you like sandbox building games. I might even have paid up to $30.  Still, I can understand if some would want to wait until it's on sale for $10. And I still like that it has no combat. There's enough micromanagment without that added. Could use more craft/building choices and a bit of tweaking here and there but so far, right up my alley.

[LadyCrimson]

30** game years in, more or less.

 

--orchards suck. Eventually either woodcutters cut so many of the trees (even if they're far away) or the orchard just goes bad, and then you have to cut it all down and wait 2+ years before it produces anything again.

--160 adults/20 students/35 children (approx. 56ish houses) = them all sucking up 12000-15000+ food a year into their homes. Each house can stock a whole lot, apparently. I can barely keep up, and I have a lot of food production. Also, the new adult rate is barely able to keep up with the loss to death at this point. Soon as a laborer is generated, some old fart dies 2 seconds later and the new guy immediately takes their place, so getting ahead labor-pool wise is terrible. If you build new houses all you get is oodles of children for 8-10 years and then they trickle into the workforce piecemeal.

--the game badly needs a "grid view" for placing buildings.

 

 

 

**wrote 20 before, for some reason. Memory dump.

[Malcador]

Gave up on my game as my old fogies are dying and now there is no one to hunt or fish.  Trying a new game, but will try to start farming sooner rather than later.  Would be nice to get some sort of overlay that tells you how viable an area is for fishing or hunting or gathering (the latter sure isn't helped when I deforest the entire area though )

[Starwars]

Man I really suck at this game!

 

Having a lot of fun though. I'm just starting on Hard because I guess I'll learn how to do it eventually. Switching over to Stone Houses as soon as possible (basically right after just getting the first few citizens housed in quickly) seemed to make a big difference right away. Gatherers are really good.

 

I haven't really delved into farming yet. On hard you don't start with seeds so I guess you have to trade for them? Do I have to trade for cattle also?

[NOK222]

How do I afford livestock? They're ludicrously expensive.

Edited February 20, 2014 by NKKKK

[Sarex]

How do I afford livestock? They're ludicrously expensive.

 

Steel tools and warms coats are the best trading item.

 

edit: Btw, you need to get 2 for obvious reasons.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Sarex

[LadyCrimson]

Can't stop playing. Started over. Was going ok but an inefficient mess for trying to reach really high population. New town, largest map, better planned/going smoother.

Nomads: seem to require Townhall, Trade Post, Marketplace and possibly the boarding house or empty houses. They don't show up all that often, maybe once every 2-5 years, but variable. They're mostly useful if your population is declining from age and no children, or if you want to keep population at a certain level (don't want to build lots of houses). Otherwise I'd reject them, at least for a while.

Reproduction: Adults apparently can't have more kids once they're past 40 or 50. So if you want the kiddies to have more kids, they need their own lovenest houses before they reach that age. If you want slower growth/less kids to feed, don't build them houses until they're 30ish. If you're using a school, 2-4 new houses every year or so seems to work fairly well.

Trading: Steel, or Iron tools if you don't have coal. Three+ blacksmiths and set their max. production number high. Then I'd tell the trade post to collect 40, wait a bit, then up it to 80 (or whatever suits you), repeat until there's a lot in the trade post, then wait for the right trade boat. Only need to buy one seed to get it in your farm option menu. I haven't bothered with livestock  (did try cows late in 2nd game just before I stopped) because farms take up so much room I just stick with the crops ... I focused on mining/tools instead and just bought wool coats when traders had them or, if you don't have any Hunters, leather for the tailor. Not as high sell price, but if you have a well staffed Quarry,  once you've built most stuff, stone isn't required often and you can easily push most of it to the trade post to sell.
 

[Sarex]

Can't stop playing. Started over. Was going ok but an inefficient mess for trying to reach really high population. New town, largest map, better planned/going smoother.

 

Nomads: seem to require Townhall, Trade Post, Marketplace and possibly the boarding house or empty houses. They don't show up all that often, maybe once every 2-5 years, but variable. They're mostly useful if your population is declining from age and no children, or if you want to keep population at a certain level (don't want to build lots of houses). Otherwise I'd reject them, at least for a while.

 

Reproduction: Adults apparently can't have more kids once they're past 40 or 50. So if you want the kiddies to have more kids, they need their own lovenest houses before they reach that age. If you want slower growth/less kids to feed, don't build them houses until they're 30ish. If you're using a school, 2-4 new houses every year or so seems to work fairly well.

 

Trading: Steel, or Iron tools if you don't have coal. Three+ blacksmiths and set their max. production number high. Then I'd tell the trade post to collect 40, wait a bit, then up it to 80 (or whatever suits you), repeat until there's a lot in the trade post, then wait for the right trade boat. Only need to buy one seed to get it in your farm option menu. I haven't bothered with livestock  (did try cows late in 2nd game just before I stopped) because farms take up so much room I just stick with the crops ... I focused on mining/tools instead and just bought wool coats when traders had them or, if you don't have any Hunters, leather for the tailor. Not as high sell price, but if you have a well staffed Quarry,  once you've built most stuff, stone isn't required often and you can easily push most of it to the trade post to sell.

 

 

You should make more then one village. Build one to a stable 100 and then just start another farther away, the only problem I can see with this is that you can't set what workers live where so travel time between villages could be a problem.

[Bester]

I built all buildings after 2 hours of playing. There's nothing else for me to do there. Boring.

 

 

Gameplay-wise, I never even used quarries and mines because it takes forever to create 1 metal/stone, while you can just send your laborers across the map to get tonnes of that stuff. It's really unbalanced that way.

[LadyCrimson]

Try playing for 40+ game years, reaching 200+ people. You'll find that easy to harvest stone/wood and stuff doesn't last very long as you're constantly building, creating tools/firewood for new folks, and trading. But yeah, not everyone's going to like the sandbox nature.

 

You should make more then one village. Build one to a stable 100 and then just start another farther away, the only problem I can see with this is that you can't set what workers live where so travel time between villages could be a problem.

That's the general idea, only I don't do it far apart. Build a stable area around one market place, create another marketplace hub the next plot of land over. Just a lot of connected suburbs, each with it's own shopping mall, storage/farms and eateries. Repeat forever. Still takes a long time.

 

The timing is still difficult, too, and the mines don't last forever. Already went through two (around the 35 yr mark), and they're now useless spots of land I can't build on. At least if you have more than one trading post, you get more trade boats per year to show up. Helpful.

[LadyCrimson]

 

[LadyCrimson]

38 strangers, who'll have more kids, eat all the food, bring disease, etc? Nonono, not ready for that, do not want.

 

DENIED!

 

...and so away they trudged, back into the wilderness, looking forlorn. I felt a pang of guilt, but what's a town overlord to do? (took them 6 minutes to walk off the map...)

[kalimeeri]

You horrible cold-hearted person, you!

 

I've been hearing the same thing from my daughter...  (but unfortunately for her settlement, she let them in.  Yes, within minutes they ate all her stockpiled food, and the rest were soon history.).

[Malcador]

I have way too much food, thanks to me getting a clue and keeping laborers around to move stuff. Have about 20k food stored for my 152 people and they're not making much of a dent in it even before I stopped farming for a year.

 

Nomads are good, need fresh genes

[LadyCrimson]

Heh, yeah...Nomads are all about the timing. Sometimes you're fine/want them, sometimes you don't. Just have a doctor built before taking any in - they tend to bring disease outbreaks. I currently have a very nice balance between new adult spawning, birth rate and death rate for my pop. growth/housing expansion wants, and Nomads would probably put that all out of whack.