Challenging Myself!

[Hawk]

Well, I decided to forgo the fantastic mods for this game for a while (not that I have any complaints with any of them  ) to try and attempt some of the achievements (it’s my understanding that achievements are disabled if any mods are added).
I scrolled through the list looking for what I thought would an easy one to start with and found:

Mountain Men
Using a harsh climate and a small mountainous map, maintain a population of 50 people for 20 years.

Map Seed: 528926593
Terrain Type: Mountains
Terrain Size: Small
Climate: Harsh
Disasters: Off
Starting Conditions: Easy

Challenging Myself!

Turns out this wasn’t a very difficult task at all. Probably because I started with Easy Starting Conditions and Disasters Off. I was awarded this achievement in the 24^th year.
I then decided to play on a little to see if any other awards could be had on this map, so I scrolled through the list and found:

Miner
"Maintain 2 mines with 30 workers each for 3 years."

I already had two mines going (coal and iron) so it seemed a logical choice. WRONG!!!!!  I failed miserably at this goal. This small mountainous map just didn’t have the real estate to grow enough food to keep the number of citizens around to have 60 dedicated to mining.
Then I found this at a Wiki:

Avoid crop fields, orchards, and pastures, as they take up a lot of space, and you won't have much space to spare.

I already had several crop fields and a couple of pastures.

However, in the process of trying to gain this award I somehow managed to attain this achievement.

Smiles all Around
Maintain high happiness for 10 years in a town of at least 100 citizens.

I finally just closed out that map and accepted the two awards I got and decided to move on. Now to find the next achievement to try and gain.

I hope to post back here with updates to this personal challenge. I say personal challenge because I normally don't play a games default challenges/missions/quests/etc. I prefer a more free play style, so this should be a 'challenge' for me. 

[pappa]

good luck with your tasks

[Hawk]

OK! I fired up a new map with the main intent of going after the Isolationist achievement.

Isolationist
"Reach 300 citizens without building a trading post"

Map Seed: 765046270
Terrain Type: Valleys
Terrain Size: Medium
Climate: Mild
Disasters: Off
Starting Conditions: Easy

Challenging Myself!

This map started with cows, wheat, chestnuts and apples. I was kind of hoping for two crops instead of two orchard types, but – what the heck, I thought. I can work with this.

I need to say right off, I really screwed up on this as I didn’t really keep a lot of details as I went. I was too intent on playing and forgot all about taking notes.

That said, finally at year 17 I got my first award, but not the one I was after.

Golden Gate
"Build a bridge that is at least 50 units long."

And that was mainly due to not getting very close to getting the award I wanted, I figured I’d at least get that one while I was waiting.

I kept striving towards my goal and sometime between the 23^rd and 27^th years I got two more achievements.

Healthy
"Maintain high health for 10 years in a town with at least 100 citizens."

and

Educated
"Have a fully educated population with 200 adults for 4 years."

Great! So far, so good, but still - not what I was after.

Year 27 brought the next award.

Foodie
"In a single year, produce at least 2000 food each from hunters, gatherers, fisherman, pastures, fields, and orchards."

My population, at this point, was not doing so good as there just didn’t seem to be enough food to go around and it kept going up and down due to starvation and it seemed that my goal would not be achieved on this map, but I struggled on anyway.

I did notice there was a ton of stone on this map so I figured I’d try to take advantage of that and go for another achievement.

Built from stone
"Build a town with 100 stone houses."

That seemed easy enough so I just upgraded all the wooden houses I built to stone, then started building exclusively stone from that point.
A few years later I got that award, but I was still somewhat hopeful I could get the original award I was after.

Finally, after a couple more mass die-offs and rebounds (due to starvation) I got the Isolationist achievement, along with another:

Settlement
"Reach a population of 300 citizens."

 I immediately built a trader. I really needed more food types. Not only for more food but more variety.
At this point I had 17 wheat farms at 11 x 11 for one farmer each, 6 apple orchards at 7 x 15 aligned east to west for one farmer each, 8 chestnut orchards – 6 at 7 x 15 aligned east to west and 2 at 5 x 15 aligned north to south, and 5 cattle ranches, all full.
Those Bannies were screaming for more variety so they could maintain better health, even though I had already received the Healthy award, but that was with a lot smaller population.

Things started getting better after that, as I was getting more crop types from the traders, as well as sheep and chickens.
With things looking up I figured I’d try for one more achievement on this map, then start a new one.

Miner
 "Maintain 2 mines with 30 workers each for 3 years."

I was going through a lot of iron and coal trying to keep the growing population supplied with steel tools, so this one just made sense.
As I was moving in that direction I noticed I only need a couple of building types to earn another achievement:

Builder
"Build a town that has at least one of every possible structure."

It dawned on me that I only need to build one wooden house and a boarding house to earn this one, so I did.

In the process of going after the Miner award, I earned another one.

Blacksmith
"Equip a population of over 200 adults with steel tools for 4 years."

Finally, somewhere near the 55^th year I got the Miner award, and shortly after that, in the 55^th year, I got another award.

Stonework
"Produce 10,000 iron in a 100 year period."

(Note: I did get this one in the 55^th year. Even though it says 100 year period)

At this point, this map is such a mess because I didn’t really plan on it going on so long so I didn't plan my community out very well, that I think I’ll quit this one and start a new map to go for more achievements, but I may try and get the Mason achievement first, just to get it out of the way. I already have the two quarries built and I’m pretty close to 3 years, so why not.

Mason
"Maintain 2 quarries with 30 workers each for 3 years."

That’s 13 achievements so far between these two maps (14 if I get the Mason award). Only 23/22 to go. 

I think I’m going to try this one next.

Uneducated
 "Reach a population of 300 citizens without building schools."

No telling what other achievements I’ll get along the way to that one. 

[pappa]

Good going

[Hawk]

Just a brief update to my above post. In year 57 I got the Mason award, along with the Village award.

Village - Year 57 - Early Spring
"Reach a population of 600 citizens."

Here's a couple screenshots of the Status and Inventory of this map.
I'm done with this one. Time to move on to the next. 

Good going

Thanks! 

[Hawk]

Well, I've been trying to get the Uneducated award but it's proving to be a royal pain in the ***. I may have to pass on that one for now and try something else. Those uneducated Bannies just can't seem to get things done that need to be done.