Help needed - stagnation, what I'm doing wrong?

[aquilaspqr]

I made some changes. I moved fishing dock to a better place which more than doubled its production.



I also moved storage and built some houses as you suggested (it's still work in progress)



And built new farms, new forest hub and few homes/storage to increase production even more.



Right now I have a good surplus of food and decent production output of other resources (I'm building a lot currently so the levels are low, but I have steady decent income).

The previous crisis had one major problem - I admit that maybe my building were not placed in the best spots - but they were also not in terribly bad places either. The main problem was... overpopulation and my lack of preparation to accept new waves of migrants.



I had few deaths early in the game, but overall the population was steadily rising. Nomad waves became larger and I was accepting them. I accepted first larger one - and it was ok. Then another - same here. And then another - and I enjoyed the possibility of opening new workplaces. Of course I also built new farms to increase food production but it appeared I still didn't do enough. As you can see I had a fatal starvation, taking away 1/3 of my population. And after that I could've focused of food and everything would be fine, but... I decided to restore the previous population because I needed workforce to operate basic fields/forester huts/gatherers etc. I did it shortly after harvest hoping they will survive until another harvest which should've been bigger with the new workforce. It didn't so the next wave of starvation hit, this time smaller. So... I accepted another wave of nomads to replenish the workers and again hope they will survive until new harvest but this strategy again failed and I had to endure another starvation. But then I decided to change this strategy because it clearly wasn't working. I denied and sent away new nomads, focused on food, implemented changes you suggested and finally began to make food surplus. After I decided I have enough food - I accepted new nomads and... everything was fine. I still had a large food reserves. So I accepted another after I decided I can afford it - and it again went fine.

And then this happened.



The biggest extinction event so far. But the source of the problem was not the lack of food from overpopulation, but... lack of tools. Shortly before the crisis, when everything still looked good and I managed to finally give all workers rough tool - I decided to upgrade the blacksmith. Current one could have only one worker and I (I don't know why) thought that upgrading it would increse the number to two. So I gathered materials and when I had everything - I clicked "upgrade" button. And didn't expect it'll take SO LONG to finish. For some reason my workers (I don't know who was responsible for that - builders or laborers or both) did everything else except upgrading the blacksmith. I increased pririoty, I had all needed resources, I had free workers... but no - it took much too long for them to upgrade it. And when they finally did it - I had a lot of workers without any tools. I quikcly built another blacksmith (because upgraded one did not have increased number of workers) but this "upgrade" mistake actually ended in 60 workers - 2/3 of my adult population to be without any tools. This led to terrible harvest and then another one. And two terrible harvest caused massive starvation.

But right now things look ok. I endured, produced enough tools and with new tools those new fields produce good amount of food. I bought chickens, sheep, soon I'll buy cows and pigs, and things finally look ok. I hadenough food to accept new nomads and right now I have more citizens than ever. Right now I'm satisfied with number of workforce and won't accept new nomads. I don't predict any new "mass starvation" anytime soon. I hope I'm right

[grammycat]

What a comeback!  It always feels so good to find and fix problems that leads to a failing town being saved.  You really made a lot of good changes-congrats.

[brads3]

when i start a new game ,i always adjust the limits.every now and then during play you need to adjust them as well.doing this at the start helps use those early years to build surpluses. when the bannies clear land to start they will have more logs and stone than the limit.under the gear icon there is an arrow with a line over it,open that and change limits will help.
   tool shortages are a problem. 1 thing that causes it is not having materials near the blacksmith.i use the mini mod and early on stone tools. then as i go build up  with rough tools-iron ore and then iron and steel etc.even as i do that i leave the old mini shop on stone tools.i use it as a safety with CC in case i run low on iron or ore.

[Savidan]

For the blacksmith I build a little "Blacksmith" storage closed to him for fast (sometimes) load or (always) upload of blacksmith stuff.

Kid made a perfect little one with this mod:

Added 1/2/3 wide storage for general, food, blacksmith, tailor and firewood
Capacity 600/1200/1800. They are placed under 'Storage' button.

http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=272


Usually it's harder to recover from a management mistake than to handle it from start, that's why I restart all the time games to make a perfect "start" one ^^ But yeah it's fun too to solve the problems.

[purringcat]

Congrats on getting back on track.    There's a mod that enlarges the fishing area called 'Intensified Fishing Dock'.   It really helps in the beginning when lots of fish can keep Banies alive.