World of Banished

Sightseeing => Village Blogs => Topic started by: Abandoned on December 09, 2016, 02:50:55 PM

Title: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 09, 2016, 02:50:55 PM
Intro

  This is the 5th story in the Smallville series, it tells the tale of the 3rd expedition to leave from that town.  The story takes place far to The North of Smallville, farther north than Pumpkin Hollow, farther north than most have gone before.  The story begins the year after the 2nd expedition left in search of the choo choo to lighten their heavy load.  This group seeks a magical flying sleigh with eight tiny reindeer. Crazy, I know, ho ho ho.

  The map is # 912155136, Nordic Valley, small, mild, disasters off, Builders start condition.

Mods used:  UI improvement (for longer map name), Skill Experienced Gathers, The North, CC Impossible Trees, Forest Outpost, Christmas Mod, Color Roads, Covering, Decorative Plants, DS Fences & Deco, EB Apothecary, Farmhouses, & Windmill, Fantasy Castle, Garden Shed, Green House, Mini Buildings, Nordic Wooden House, Old Bakery, Blacksmith, Hunter, Tailor, Proper Time, Resized Profession Box, Red looking Creamery, Simple Tombstones, Small Well, Tiny Town Hall (for nomad well), Tiny Quarry, Vegetable Garden.

So, weary traveler, the weather outside is frightful so come sit by the fire, which is so delightful, while I tell you about the North Pole Fishing Hole.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: kid1293 on December 09, 2016, 03:56:54 PM
Sounds like you are inviting us to sit by the fire like in
Tolkien's Book of lost tales. :)
I'm looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: DesoPL on December 10, 2016, 04:11:21 AM
Starter condition builder? What is it? @_@
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 10, 2016, 06:55:14 AM
DesoPL, she is playing the north and that has a few differerent options that were recently added.plus she changes her mod list for each town she plays. its nice to see how some of the different mods look or function.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 10, 2016, 02:41:39 PM
@kid1293 No hobbits in this tale, just elves.

@DesoPL, @brads3 is correct, the North has new starting options and terrain types, I was impressed by how many choices.  There's Nordic Mountains, Nordic Valleys, Vast Forests, and Lakeland.  Starting conditions are Villagers, Builders, Farmers, Hunters, Survivors, Anders & Ella, and nomads.  The builders start with 5 families plus building supplies and other supplies, there's a picture in chapter 1.  I also included some magic fairy dust.

Hope you all will enjoy my story.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 10, 2016, 02:49:29 PM
Chapter 1

  My name is Leannemary, I'm an elf, a wood elf to be precise.  My husband is Waver, the grandson of one of Smallville's founders. My grandparents traveled to Smallville from the vast forests of the North; my mother, a child at the time, needed a milder climate.  She had been naughty;  she did not listen to her mother who told her to take her warm coat with her when she went out into the forest.  The weather turned suddenly cold and snowy, she became seriously ill and never fully recovered.  Because she had been naughty, she only got a lump of coal in her stocking that winter solstice time from Santa.  From who?  From Santy Claus  ...  ? ... Sinter Klaas ... ? ... Kris Kringle, Grandfather Kringle, Jultomte, Pelz Nichol, Saint Nicholas?  He's known by many names throughout the world of Banished, but not by all.

  The people of Smallville didn't know of Santa Claus either and they didn't believe our tales of his big red sleigh and flying reindeer, or presents left in our stockings hung by the chimney with care.  They hadn't even heard of elves.  A couple of naughty boys made fun of my pointy elf ears, Waver among them.  He laughted at me and didn't believe me when I said one day he would get a lump of coal from Santa.  He got a trip out behind the woodshed for making me cry and I learned that "sticks and stones can break my bones but names will never hurt me".  We were married and had our first child before he got his well-deserved lump of coal.

  It was the second worst winter the people of Smallville had ever known, with a damp cold that chilled one to the bone.  Everyone was sick with fevers and coughs and colds and sore throats.  And then one frosty morning we awoke to find that our washed stocking hanging by the chimney to dry had been filled with apples and oranges and bright yellow lemons. Some town founders remembered lemon mixed with honey for sore throats when they were children but never knew where the lemons came from.  Some claimed that during the night they heard the jingle of bells and others said they heard noises on their rooftop.  Waver said when he awoke he heard a ho ho ho, he found a lump of coal in his stocking . Our expedition left the following spring and headed North.

  We were sent on our way with plenty of supplies and words of advice.  We were to always remember the old ways and if we ran into difficulties in The North there was a wise Nordic woman named @Nila who we could seek out for advice.  It was a difficult journey, colder and snowier than we expected, and we were nearly out of supplies.  Just when we thought we wouldn't survive, we were rescued by Santa's elves.  Santa saw us in his magic snow globe and sent his helpers and sleigh team to help us.  We were whisked away to Santa's village at the North Pole and were well fed and bedded down for the night in the cozy warm guest house.  Next day we were greeted by Mrs. Claus herself.

   Santa's wife had a favor to ask of us.  Santa had been so busy, he hadn't been to his favorite fishing hole in years.  She wanted to surprise him with a vacation spot where he could stop and do a little fishing and pick up some extra stocking stuffers before beginning his yearly rounds.  He would need a small castle with plenty of snacks and milk and cookies, a small workshop, and fruits and nuts to load on his sleigh.  The elves already delivered building supplies to the construction site.  It was a ways south where the weather was less harsh.  How could we refuse, Santa had just saved our lives and the lives of our children.  So we agreed and before long, Santa's elves had two wagons loaded for us with supplies, potatoes, seeds, and a herd of sheep. They sprinkled the wheels with a magical fairy dust and we were off, dashing through the snow to Santa's North Pole Fishing Hole.

Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Tom Sawyer on December 11, 2016, 07:18:08 AM
There is a lot of magic in your story. I am excited which way it will continue! And I wonder where this wise Nordic woman is. Lost in the vastness of the North? Retired in a small cottage between ancient trees and overgrown with grass, far away from any civilization?^^
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 11, 2016, 10:58:30 AM
@Tom Sawyer, I too have been wondering where wise woman is.  I was hesitant to venture to The North without her.  I hope she is only having internet connection problems and nothing more serious.  The North is just beautiful, wonderful mod.  So far the settlement is doing well.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 11, 2016, 11:04:08 AM
Chapter 2

  We spoke not a word, just check our supplies and got straight to our work.  Harvid grabbed a fishing pole and Waver a bow, Isador took seed potatoes and a hoe, ho ho.  Cariellee herded the sheep and the children to the hillside nearby.  The rest of us grabbed the building supplies.

  We got quite a bit done that first spring and summer.  There were 20 of us, 10 adults and 10 children.  One of the boys was named after his Uncle Drakeem, one of the founders of Pumpkin Hollow.  Since one of the girls was almost school age and several others not far behind, we build an outdoor classroom first thing, adding the mini town hall made it feel like back home in Smallville.  By late summer we all had homes and a sturdy small storage barn had been built.  And like we learned back in Smallville, we all took to the woods to help Agusta gather wild foods and herbs.  To our relief, we found plenty of branches on the ground to use as firewood, as of yet we had no woodcutter or forester. 

  Despite all our labors we took time to marvel at the beauty of our surroundings.  The towering pines, the birch trees, and the grasslands were a vibrant beautiful green.  The sky was clear blue, the air was clean and fresh and the birds would sing.  We loved to hear the call of the cranes.  We didn't expect it to snow so soon, we lost some potatoes even though Isador worked until dark,  but even then we noticed the beauty.  The snowflakes were the biggest fluffiest flakes we had ever seen, and the golden leaves still clung to the birch trees.   Now that we had nice warm reindeer coats, we often stood outside just to watch the setting sun. The long shadows on the new fallen snow was a sight to behold.   But the days now were short and the nights were very cold.  Most of us now were ready for a long winter's nap.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 12, 2016, 07:13:07 AM
The wise ??? old Nordic lady is back! I was pretty ill but now I feel a bit better and strong enough to take a look at the WOB page.

A small advice to you @Abandoned: If you're not already doing this; try to start the harvest manually. I'm not sure of the best point on mild but I would try when the growth has reached 90% probably sometimes in late august.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 12, 2016, 07:49:58 PM
@Nilla ,   Sorry to hear you were ill, glad you are feeling better.    I did not start the potato harvest early and lost 9% of the crop.  I think I solved that problem by making 2 smaller fields with 1 farmer each.  Got a full harvest.  Now I see in chapter 3,  I only got 50% of the apple crop so I will try to start the harvest manually.  Would I be better off using 2 workers?  It is such a small orchard.  Glad you are back and hope you feel even better each day.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 12, 2016, 07:54:26 PM
Chapter 3

  The winter was long but the nap was short.  There was much to do, there was firewood to gather and when spring finally came, there was an apple orchard to plant.  We enlarged the potato field and then divided it into two smaller 6x12 fields.  Waver took over my job as builder so I could farm the new field and be closer to home.  Our daughter, Maiyana, was the first child born at the North Pole Fishing Hole settlement. 

  No one had more work to do than Agusta, who was now the blacksmith.  He wasn't very happy with this bog iron.  It was easy enough to collect but not easy to work with, it needed processing before it could be made into tools, and we needed tools, and we needed charcoal to process the bog iron into iron bloom and more charcoal to process the bloom into iron before it could be made into tools.  Poor Agusta went from the charcoal pile to the bloomery to the workshop and often he even had to stop to make reindeer coats when needed.  We just did not have enough workers for all the work that needed to be done.  We considered closing the school but Agusta and Cariellee wouldn't hear of it.  Their oldest child was about to become the fifth student for our mini classroom, we needed to build a schoolhouse before the other children became of age.

  The school children watched as the foundation for their new school was laid.  They build a snowman out back and when the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds and the wind blew the branches above, it was as if the snowman came to life that day.  Must have been some magic, I thought I saw that snowman wave.

  It was magic that brought 2 of Santa's helpers our way in April of year 3, actually it was Santa's magic sleigh and reindeer who dropped the husband and wife off at our well.  Mrs. Claus sent them, she had the elf who exercises the reindeer team take a little detour. She would sent more our way when she could.  Connell and Ressandi would become our forester and woodcutter.  We needed firewood for the charcoal pile.  Carielle had taken over as charburner & smelter to help her husband.  It was a dark snowy day when she died of smoking lung.  We did not expect to lose one of our own so soon, we had no cemetery in which to lay her to rest.  It was a dark day indeed.  She would be missed. 

  It was that year that Mrs. Claus began sending an elf with treats for the children's stocking.  She didn't want our children to miss out on a visit from Santa but she didn't want Santa to know about her surprise at the Fishing Hole.  She borrowed his magic snow globe so he wouldn't see.  Until the project was done, she would be the one to keep an eye out for who was naughty and who was nice, she would make the list, since Santa was so busy.  It sure was nice to see the children's delight when they found their stockings stuffed with fruits and nuts and a cookie man made with gingerbread spice.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 12, 2016, 08:43:12 PM
 i could find you a mod to fix your tool problem but they would be cheaper grade tools. stone and logs.but i think it would take the north"s iron challenge away from you. as for the farm yields,Nilla will have #'s for you. she likes micro-managing. i usually use 10x10 fields with a 500 food yield. yes i get more but that is easier to figure quick math with. plus it is nice to have extra for mistakes. in the harsh climate,i agree with you playing with field sizes. the other thing that can impact yields is where the workers are in spring. if they are busy collecting or clearing far from the fields, they will plant later. your growth season will be way behind then. i am bad at this ,i always keep my workers busy. but by building too far ahead or clearing a big pasture my farmers dont get back in early spring.  the banis always seem to go be laborers at the farthest point they can find.
    glad you did get Nilla some soup and tea. i thought she got hijacked on her trip back from being down south. must be she caught a cold when she was out kicking the snow in winter to steal nuts from the squirrels.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 13, 2016, 02:58:24 AM
I agree with @brads3, that experimenting with fields size makes sense, especially in the North. But don't make the fields too small. A bigger field, where you occasionally lose some of the crops to frost, gives average more, than a smaller "safe" field. But if it's too big, there might be problem to plant it all in time. @brads3 is right here as well; if the farmers get to their fields too late in spring, there will be a bad harvest, because it will be planted too late. Of cause larger fields are more critical than smaller. Always stop laborer work far away in time. I use to look at the temperature rather than the month.

The orchard farmers however could be used for other things most of the time. I use to close the orchard, when the harvest is done and let the farmers do other things until summer. You don't need two farmers for a small orchard. In the North they are faster harvested than fields, one farmer can manage quite a large orchard. The 50% harvest might be because the trees wasn't fully grown that first year. I think @Tom Sawyer changed the fruits a bit, but before that, you got an average of around 60% on harsh and I guess, that on mild there will normally be 100%.

I am sure that you're right when you choose not to close the school, even if you would need the laborers. You would have had to pay for that later, especially as Mrs Santa occasionally sends a few poor educated "Nissar". (I guess that Santa couldn't spare the best educated) ;)

But @brads you are wrong when you think I'm trying to steal the nuts from the squirrels. I've given that up a long time ago, absolutely useless to try.  ;) We do have a lot of hazelnutbushes (nut trees doesn't grow in my part of the world) but you will never harvest one ripe nut. Whole summer you don't see one squirrel but on good nut years, they suddenly appear in early autumn. They don't stop by stealing my nuts. In winter they steal the birds food.  >:(  ;D

But the cold part wasn't entirely wrong. I have an autoimmune illness. So every little infection has bad consequences. But I'm recovering this time, too.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Tom Sawyer on December 13, 2016, 07:36:51 AM
Nice to see you again @Nilla. That does not sound really good. I wish you the best!

What a tragedy to lost this young woman by burning charcoal. It is not healthy and has the same risk as mining.

I find, this small group of courageous adventurers is doing it very well. They are becoming better farmers and experts in iron processing. Ironworking is definitely too much for one man. It requires teamwork. With a small settlement it might be the best to do it in winter. When the fields are empty and no wild fruits are to be gathered. And keep the distance between the parts of iron processing short. Nilla is right. An apple orchard should have 100% yield in mild climate, even without manual harvest. But the amount is less than in vanilla or CC.

It's a hard life in the North but a hard life writes the best stories. ;)
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Turis on December 13, 2016, 10:38:38 AM
Quote from: Tom Sawyer on December 13, 2016, 07:36:51 AM
It's a hard life in the North but a hard life writes the best stories. ;)
Except, "Dead men tell no tales" - Pirates quote phrase.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 14, 2016, 06:36:32 AM
@brads3 yes, the iron & tool making is a challenge, quite different.  CC has a Iron is Iron mod but I haven't used it and don't know if it would work with the North, don't know if I would want to use it. I like that the North is different.

@Nilla, the crop fields are now doing well but that orchard I think will be firewood soon.  I tried early harvest, 2 farmers, houses and storage close enough, now some apple trees died.  Maybe will try a new orchard elsewhere.  I too have hazelnuts and squirrels at the birdfeeders. Don't tell @brads3 but Mrs. Claus put him on Santa's naughty list for suggesting you would steal food from the squirrels.  I said to my husband I think you and I are a bit similar, he sends his sympathies to your husband  :D. 

@Tom Sawyer tool production improved,  I moved the bloomery close to charburner and new blacksmith and mine.  The settlement was doing well, there is a major set back in chapter 5 but we survived. the North is a challenge but enjoying it.

@Turis  hope you are enjoying my story,  here is chapter 4.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 14, 2016, 06:43:59 AM
Chapter 4

Year 4.  Our to-do list just kept getting bigger.  We had a town meeting to discuss all that needed to be done.  In order to build a village by the fishing hole to make Santa feel at home, we would need bricks and roof tiles.  We would need a trading post to get some.  We soon discovered we didn't have nearly enough iron to finish building the one we started, the work was put on hold. We only had one builder. We needed an iron mine and another blacksmith, and we needed a tailor. We had a good supply of wool in the storage barn.  More helpers arrived at the well but we needed more food.  Our first crop of apples was a poor one, even though the orchard was small, we apparently did not start the harvest soon enough.  We needed grain and seeds and milk cows.  We were beginning to feel like we were failing Mrs. Claus. 

  We built a mini trading post and in April of year 6 a commodity merchant arrived before we had any trade goods moved to the port.  We ordered bricks and roof tiles.  Two more helpers arrived at that same time, Kareeman was a tailor who could make some fine Nordic wool coats.  He and his wife moved in above the new tailor shop. There was an outbreak of influenza, we began building a mini hospital behind the orchard.  The illness past quickly so the hospital construction was put on hold. We had plenty of herbs but we would need an apple a day to keep the doctor away.  Despite all our problems we continued to marvel at the beauty of our surroundings and the changing of the seasons.  The school children continued to build snowmen and they collected pine branches and made decorative wreaths as a class project.

  The mine and blacksmith were build and the trading post was completed.  Helpers and riverboat merchants arrived at regular intervals.  Norbertie the food merchant had a lot of goodies but nothing we needed.  Our food supply was holding steady and we sure liked the salmon being caught from the new fishing pier.  If we couldn't get sugar from the merchants to bake Santa's favorite cookies we now knew where we could get some gingerbread men. We also discovered that we could get a good trade value for Nordic wool coats.  We traded some to Rolon the commodity merchant for roof tiles.  Herbs and iron ore got us quite a few dalers and pennings from Kynda the export merchant, but not enough for dairy cattle or barley seeds when Kaelynett the seed and livestock merchant came to call.  No milk and cookies for Santa again this year.

  We suffered 2 tragic loses.  Ramie and Taney's son, Lyne, had just finished school and began work as a laborer when he died of a weak heart.  A newly arrived helper just began work at the mine when he was killed by a cave in.  Their graves were marked with simple white crosses in the cemetery. 

  Our final building project of those first 10 years was two bridges across the river, one to the east where Santa's castle and village would be built along  with a workshop and bakery, and the other bridge to the north where we hoped to have grain fields and a mill and dairy farm.  We have yet to see a merchant with sugar or spice for the cookies but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 14, 2016, 04:46:17 PM
Nice story and nice pictures!

I come to think of something about your bad orchard. There's nothing wrong. One farmer with automatic harvest will be fine. It's some kind of "bug" from the original game, it has nothing to do with any mod. You will hardly notice anything, unless you play on a mild climate. With some mods, you see more of this, than in a vanilla game. It's a bit hard to explain especially in English but I will try.

As the fruit has grown to 100%, the farmer starts to harvest. He/she goes on until the amount of fruit, that an orchard of that size will give is harvested. But if the temperature is high enough, the already harvested fruit will continue to grow or rather the pointer for how much fruit is left, will continue to grow, even after it's harvested to 100%. So if the fruit is harvested fast and the temperature is mild, even 100% could be shown.

You can see, that there is nothing more to harvest, if the farmer is hacking weed in the orchard, instead of carrying fruit away. You will for sure get a small amount of apples from that small orchard if you play the North. A maximum harvest is much less than in a vanilla game. You will need big orchards to support you population. But I'm pretty sure that 1 farmer can harvest all fruit from a 13*13 orchard most of the time.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 16, 2016, 12:11:29 PM
@Nilla , something wrong with small orchard for sure, farmer weeding and not harvesting, tried early harvest, even worse.  Orchard gone in chapter 6.  Several other problems then but still investigating.  Here is chapter 5.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 16, 2016, 12:20:57 PM
Chapter 5

  In spring of year 11, 7 helpers arrived.  Among them was an elf named Denningsley, a botanist.  He brought seedlings with him, he would need a greenhouse.  We had been hesitant to build one.  Felecta, back in Smallville, raised seedlings in a greenhouse and got a very good trade value from the riverboat merchants, seedlings were in demand.  Here, however, almost every boatman that came to call already had seedlings.  We did not know if they would take anymore in trade.  We took the chance and built a greenhouse near the trading posts.   Denningsley said his seedlings were for magically colored impossible trees, he would plant Santa's favorite reds and greens.  We were impressed with the vibrant colors.  He said he would plant some of the other colors over by the new clay pit for us to see.

  The riverboat merchants accepted our seedling worth 8 trade units each.  We soon had the bricks and roof tiles we needed to construct our own brickyard.  We traded seedlings and dalers for cabbage seeds and planted them in spring of year 13. We had a good harvest that year except for the apples.  The harvest was started a month early but produced our smallest harvest yet, nowhere near an apple a day for 75 townspeople.

  In April of year 14 the brickyard was complete and construction began on another bridge across the river.  The leaves opened on the impossible trees and they were such pretty colors and really brightened up the clay pit area.  That month 5 helpers arrived and we needed laborers and another builder for land clearing and new construction across the river. Even with the extra laborers, wild foods and other resources were not being collected.  In October Allington the miner was killed by a cave in, one of the new laborers took his place.  The cave in triggered the beginning of our downfall.

In spring of year 15, cabbage and potatoes were already planted in the new fields before the boat merchant arrived with barley seeds.  We finally would have grain.  He also had pear and walnut seeds, we hoped to have enough seedling to trade for at least one of them before he had to leave. We failed to notice our shortage of tools until it was too late. Our trader, Haskellyn, who had been working at both trading posts, felt responsible for what was to happen because there were tools sitting in the trading post for years.  Haskellyn got the tools out and to the workers as soon as he could but the damage to our production had already been done, and the boat left before we could trade for pear or walnut seeds.

  The harvest was a poor one even with the new fields.  The new barn and several houses were complete.  It was a cold snowy winter, Oliver the fisherman appreciated the covering built over his trout fishing spot.  With new tools hunting and fishing improved but our food reserve was critically low in spring of year 16.  To make matters worse, Waver and I discovered our 19 year old son, Rosendon, was living with the 49 year old woman and 2 children.  We assumed the youngest was our first grandchild.

It was a child who was the first to die of starvation.  We traded for food when a food merchant came to port, but it was not enough.  We lost 2 students, 2 miners, the smelter, a farmer, and our botanist.  A child was the last to die of starvation in August of year 17.  Our small cemetery was full of simple white crosses, our town full of mourners.  We were short of food and workers.  We needed help.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 16, 2016, 01:19:41 PM
Bad news! :'(
No wonder, these terrible trees distracted everyone from working. That's the reason for your trouble! ;)

Without joking; I know the North is harder than a vanilla game. I had my doubts, when you built that nomad well. It's hard enough with good educated people. A lot of poor educated "tometenissar" diligently helping out here and there.... hm..... I had my doubts, as I read your last threads. Find a polite way to say no to Mrs Santa, when she sends more of them and you will do better.

Where did you find these red houses looking like the vanilla version. I can't remember them since the very early days of the Nordic mod.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 16, 2016, 01:33:08 PM
Nilla do you mean the red and white nordic wooden houses from wayyy back in the beginning of developing the North?
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 17, 2016, 02:07:19 PM
@Nilla , those houses are Nordic Wooden House mod.  I think I got it from a  link posted by @brads3 in the Colonial House mod discussion.  They are not part of The North mod. They don't use brick or roof tiles, they use iron.  Maybe part of my tool shortage problem. 

Edit:  Nordic Wooden House.zip is on first page of Nordic Landscape mod discussion thread.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 17, 2016, 02:14:17 PM
Chapter 6

  In May of year 18, 13 helpers arrived.  We again reevaluated our work assignments, production of food, tools, and trade goods taking priority, then building materials.  Everyone loved the new red houses across the river but were anxious to see red cottages built with our bricks and roof tiles instead of stone and iron.  We now think building those first two red wooden houses by the barn contributed to our tool shortage.  We planted another field of barley hoping the extra grain would improve our failing health.  Our food reserve was good before the harvest of year 19 was even finished.  After the apples were harvested, the trees were cut.  A larger 13x13 orchard was cleared and planted.

  Our food supply was again low by spring of year 20.  We ran out of potatoes to bake at the new brick-oven snack stand.  Hopefully, the new orchard would  supply enough apples to bake.  Roasted chestnuts and corn would also be nice.  We will have to see if the next food merchant has any, we bought cabbage last time he came to call.  We bought 3 dairy cattle and rye seeds from the seed and livestock merchant, we had a pasture ready and waiting for them.  We were surprised when Elainey, the herdsman, said the 10X20 pasture would only hold 5 dairy cows.

  The following year we built an apothecary and the townspeople lined up in the rain to visit the herbalist. The schoolhouse was filled to capacity so the outdoor classroom was reopened.  We needed educated workers. We planned to build a little red schoolhouse over by the new rye field and mini gatherer.  A flour mill was built by the creek, we planned to build a bakery,  we looked forward to rye bread.  We wondered how we would be able to bake cookies for Santa when we were struggling to feed ourselves.  At least we would have milk. 
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Tom Sawyer on December 18, 2016, 02:47:25 AM
Yes, these wooden houses were my first attempt... by painting the vanilla models. I had no idea of modding. Haha.

The village is going well. Your settlers have managed the food crisis, you have managed it. Despite the many uneducated helpers! I think the new grain fields will help a lot and especially rye when processed up to bread. Think of it, the bakenman will need salt. Not much, exactly 20 g on 1 kg flour.^^ And it is an import product.

And cows need more space to find enough food in this environment, thats true. Nevertheless, it is worth it. But better to build a larger pasture. 20 x 20 for 10 cows or more.

The 13 x 13 orchard is clever!

Great Story. I vote for an award. Best Director or so. :)
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 18, 2016, 06:40:08 AM
@Tom Sawyer , thank you for award vote.  I am glad my story is doing justice to such a great mod, not only a good challenge but so beautiful.  I took wise Nordic woman's advice on orchard size, it is a good size with good harvest totals.  I made note of bigger pasture size for future North maps.  I really like the black and white milk cows, just like farms here at home.  I have come across one small problem though.  There is no little picture of the milk on the inventory screens, not the pasture, barn, storage shed, or houses. The beef and hide have pictures.  I think it might be because of conflict with Red Ketchup's Red looking Creamery, it uses milky cow.  The mod is loaded after The North.  I have not gotten the creamery built yet. There seems to be no other problem with the cows or use of the milk. 
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Tom Sawyer on December 18, 2016, 03:39:55 PM
Wow, not even a string. This must be a bug in the Nordic mod. I will fix it. Thank you!
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 18, 2016, 04:32:11 PM
could it be a conflict between mods? i get those tagless items after i change the mod order and then play hell trying to determin which 1 is causing it. is RED's creamery above the north?? good ting is you is sure it's milk. i usually can't tell what the item is.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 19, 2016, 02:17:22 AM
You have my vote, too. :)

Your stories describes the gameplay in a very pleasant way.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: kid1293 on December 19, 2016, 02:32:15 AM
May I join the fan-club?  :)

These stories are top priority when I come to read messages!
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 19, 2016, 11:38:17 AM
Thank you all for kind words, great mods, and good advice.  I am so happy you like my stories.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 19, 2016, 11:49:11 AM
Chapter 7

  By spring of year 23 we had several more educated workers. The outdoor classroom was closed and the new school was completed and ready for its first students. We built several storage sheds hoping to shorten travel distances.  We had no markets yet. Without enough markets and merchants we feared some areas would be left with shortages.

  In August the first apple harvest began in the new orchard.  We were eager to see the harvest total, and it was a good one, far more apples than we got from the small orchard.  We were dismayed to find the farmer, Harvid, one of our original educated settlers was in such poor health.  When questioned he said there was plenty of food at home in his pantry, a good variety but no grain or herbs.  We built a bakery over by the mill, but were waiting for our order of salt to come in.  Going into winter our food supply was the best it has ever been and it remained so well into spring of year 24. Thanks in part to our best hunter, Amelana, educated in outdoor classroom.  An educated herbalist across the river was ready and waiting to get out to collect more herbs.

  Other than the helper, Migdalena, dying of old age, things seemed to be going well.  We had thought to use the old orchard site as a second graveyard but the old one still had room.  We found that the simple white wooden crosses did not last long.  We had other plans now for the old orchard site.  When the next group of helpers arrived, they only stayed long enough to give us recipes for fruit cake and other baked goods from Mrs. Claus.   It seems that wise Nordic woman, @Nilla , paid her a visit and explained our situation to her.  Mrs. Claus understood completely, she would not be offended if we returned the helpers to her.  Wise Nordic woman has stopped by our town several times on her way south for respites from the harsh Nordic cold.

  It was nice to see people starting to enjoy themselves a bit, decorating with plants and color roads, even taking time to do some crayfishing, actually wading out into the sun warmed stream.  Not a bad catch, 48 crayfish.  Upstream the mill and bakery were producing flour and rye bread after our salt order came in.  The first red cottage with tiled roof was built.  One of the builders said the roads he started experimenting with were CC color roads. He said he had 9 colors and CC stood for color clay but I don't think he really knew what CC was.   

  Our second apple harvest was less than the first one due to an early snowfall but it was still a very good one.  We got walnut seeds from the boatman but did not get the orchard planted yet.  When wise Nordic woman stopped by on her way south we thanked her for the orchard size advice and gave her a large sack of apples to take with her.  I wish we would have had some nuts to give her, I heard a rumor that she took nuts from the squirrels but I don't like telling such tales. :D  You didn't hear it from me.  Ho Ho Ho
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 19, 2016, 04:17:03 PM
:D
As the Nordic woman passed by, she also gave the advice to build at least another apple orchard. It takes long until the trees are big enough to give a harvest. The population however will grow fast and need more. Even though she very much likes nut, she wouldn´t give the advice to plant any walnut trees. The harvest would most likely be bad. Nut trees don´t grow well in a Nordic clamate, probably not even in a fairly mild one.
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 19, 2016, 05:15:16 PM
hmmmm i guess i'll save the comments bout nuts being up north.lol
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 20, 2016, 11:00:02 AM
lol @brads3  :D

@Nilla , good advice to build another apple orchard, I will do that if I continue playing this map after the story is finished. Will probably cut down the walnuts to make room. It is almost time for Santa to arrive at The North Pole Fishing Hole.  Here is chapter 8
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 20, 2016, 11:06:56 AM
Chapter 8

  That December we trimmed a pine tree that sprouted where the old apple orchard use to be.  Everyone in town just loved it and said it should stay that way all year round.  Santa was sure to love it too.  It was December of our 24th year, we had hoped to have his vacation village completed by the 25th.  We would now concentrate on building Santa's village at the North Pole Fishing Hole, but it was sure to take a few years longer to complete than we had anticipated.

  We realized that we should have built Santa's workshop a lot sooner.  Santa's Elf immediately began making gifts for us, tools, coats, firewood, and alcohol. We built a house above the workshop for him and his family.  We had a lot to do but we added a tavern to our to-do list.  That year the schoolchildren decorated a tree over by the schoolhouse.  It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Even the new red looking creamery added to the holiday spirit, and tasty cheese was added to our diets.  One of our very skilled blacksmiths made the weather vane for the roof peak, everyone in town loved that weather vane, and the cheese. There was a lot of talk about how good that cheese would go with a thick slice of rye bread and a mug of beer. 

  Construction of the brewery and the dairyman's house was put on hold for lack of iron.  We began building Santa's Fantasy Castle which took a good deal of logs and stone and 60 iron.  We had to keep a close eye on our iron and tool supply while working on these 3 building projects.  We did not want another food crisis this close to completing Mrs. Claus's present to Santa.  The extra tools from the Workshop Elf sure helped.  Completion of the 3 buildings called for a festive celebration in the new tavern and beer garden.  We drank to the health and happiness of our building designers and builders, and tree trimmers, and wise elders, and everyone else we could think of at the time. 
 
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Abandoned on December 22, 2016, 06:53:15 AM
 Chapter 9


  No time for a long winter's nap now. Mrs. Claus wanted to give Santa his gift this year. She would be sending plum cakes and gingerbread men cookies our way via the river boatmen, and the elves would make sure there were enough fruits and nuts on the sleigh.  Did she mention we needed to build a landing field for the sleigh and reindeer?  Oh dear, there were only a few months left before Christmas and there was still so much to do.  We had a list and we were checking it twice.

  Finishing touches were added to the Castle.  The school children made pine wreaths.  The builders paved the way to the fishing hole and added a covering. The red and green trees were doing well and a set of garden furniture was in place.  A large field was cleared in front of the workshop and new warehouse with a designated spot paved for the miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer: Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen.  Oh no, we forgot about the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Hopefully, the good weather will hold and Rudolf's very shiny nose won't be needed to guide the sleigh that night.  The hunters were given strict instructions to lay down their bows whenever Santa and his reindeer team were present.  There was bound to be some summer reindeer games out back behind the castle where the new walnut grove was planted.  Santa's elves worked late into the night making last minute gift for all the townspeople and it had begun to snow.  There was little doubt that it would be a white Christmas here at the North Pole Fishing Hole.

  Yes, weary traveler, everything appeared to be ready.  Mrs. Claus would use Santa's magic snow globe for an overview of our settlement just to make sure.  Yes, it twas the night before Christmas, and the children were nestled all snug in their beds, and their stockings were hung by the chimney with care. Plenty of plates of cookies and milk were ready and waiting there.  Some claimed that during the night they heard the jingle of bells and others said they heard noises on their rooftop.  Waver and I heard a Ho Ho Ho and a:

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night

Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: kid1293 on December 22, 2016, 09:41:02 AM
I love the landing field! :)

Merry Christmas to you too!
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: brads3 on December 22, 2016, 09:43:18 AM
merry christmas
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: Nilla on December 23, 2016, 11:55:35 AM
Merry Christmas from the wise old lady, too! ;)
Title: Re: Abandoned - North Pole Fishing Hole - Story 5
Post by: QueryEverything on December 30, 2016, 10:13:54 PM
Thank you for your lovely story and village share, it's been a lovely adventure :)