World of Banished

Intro

This is the 15th Story in the Smallville series and tells the tale of 2 nomads who join up with the 11th expedition to leave that town.  The expedition left Smallville shortly after the last one, approximately year 37 SVT, and went in search of farmland over the mountains to the west of Smallville.   The main starting mod I am using is Natural Diversity by @Bartender and @despo20, thus the town name Meadowbrook.

The meadow reminds me of my favorite song "Home in the Meadow" sung by Debbie Reynolds in the 1962 epic film "How the West Was Won".  The movie covers 3 generations of American history and tells the tale of a family in the 1800's that left the east and headed west.  They took the wrong fork in the Ohio river and were caught in rapids and went over the waterfalls. The parents did not survive.  The eldest daughter said ma and pa wanted a farm in the west and that was as far west as they got so she reckoned that was where the farm was meant to be and that's where she would stay.  The beginning of my story is based very roughly on that part of the movie.  The song is sung to the same melody as an old English folksong "Greensleees", a song by Elvis "Stay Away", and the Christmas song "What Child is This".  I sing the song all the time outside in my garden (and still my noisy neighbors here in the peace and quiet of the county, won't pack up and move away).


Edit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcldPotf82Q


The map for this story is #171036330, Plains, Small, Mild, disasters Off, (NatDiv) Easy Start.


I have updated my game to Banished 107. The 106 & 107 mods I am using are:

Starting Mods:  Call of Nature soundtrack, Banished UI Mod, Maps, & Professions, RK Minimized Status & Vanilla TP, Plain, Maritimes Riffle, Natural Diversity, New Flora

Tweak Mods:    Better Fields, Bigger Wheelbarrow, Busy Pastures, Fishing Dock 25%, More Stone, Iron, Wood, 1:1 aging, Rock Respawn, Simple Tombstones, Tool Value Up, Woodcutter +3.

Major Mods:    An Empty Square*, Smallville (sign)*, Kid Alotofseeds Trader, Forest Outpost (NatDiv), & Plimouth Harmonized.

Supporting:   Better Stockpile Storage, Brads Smoking Shed, Coal Furnace, Chicken Coop, EB Natural Irrigation Deco, EB Sunflower, Fenceless Pasture, Garden Shed, Idle Small Fisherman   Dock, Kid Old Fence, Kid Washing Mod, Old Hunter Hut, Sample White Chicken, Storage Crates, Tiny Chopper, Market, Mine, Town Hall, Trader, Quarry, & Vegan Scarecrow.


Mod note: The two * mods are not major mods but rather frequently used dividers in my mod list.  Also note:    Originally for test map I had New Flora before Natural Diversity but got no firewood branches. I changed load order before starting story map but now have no New Flora items spawning.  I will leave it as is.


Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQu6mc3VvU4



And so weary traveler,

"Come, come, come away with me, where the grass grows wild, where the winds blow free"

               "and I'll build you a home in the meadow."

WB,glad you have the work on updating done.

@brads3 , me too  :) what a project updating and arranging.  I still have The North install and CC install to do but decided to take a play break and try some of the new mods.

i know that feeling well. i spent so much time testing i forget how to play sometimes.LOL. i just tried testing EB's canals for texture affects to my mini map. i been a week or more trying to decipher glitches with the pine mod.the forever orchard doesn't like the nat div. lots of stuff takes full play tests to find too. we will be at this a year.lol

@brads3 that is one of the reasons I like playing a select group of mods.  I've been looking at Necora's sets and they all seem to have something one of the other needs.  I am eager to try them, especially the pine set. I hope this map and story goes well, I am already experiencing some lag especially when it rains and I don't have much built yet.  I hope it doesn't freeze like cc did.  This may be a short story.

not really. you can run the pine mod by itself with no others. i run that and the sherbrooke now. the storage is just extras.i think the pine matertial barn is included with the pine.the storage i think is mainly a shed and the food cellar.i don't run the fish mods since the new setups. i have a dock set in CC,so opted not to add more.
   as for speed,i never have any but i can run many mods. i actually have more speed by minimizing the screen and let the game run a minute.my load up since i shuffled a few mods is slower.are you using the autosaves? full screen? you could try changing some options.

Always nice to see new stories from you @Abandoned. :)

One question: I see you use the 1:1 mod. Why this in a story? OK, you say, it will probably not be a long story, so the weirdest effects might not be shown. I can remember once I used this mod with an Adam&Eve/Anders&Ella start and a 12 year old hooked up with his widowed grandmother (or was it the great grandmother?). In this case you could say to take care of her but I also had very young girls moving in with old widowers...... :( :o

lol whats happening when you play adam & eve when eve dies while giving birth ? lol

@brads3 This mod with all the spawning is the only time other then trying cc that I had any lag. (Most of CC trials completely froze up)  Here game lags when it is raining (adding note to notebook, next time use light rain mod) and lags when by thick tree sections of map.  I will see how it goes before adjusting settings.

@Nilla  you must be feeling better.  :)  Regarding 1:1 aging, I've tried all the aging mods and like this one best, better than vanilla. Yes it is very good for story telling especially at the beginning, I really like school starts at age 6 and at age 12 I have an educated worker.  I try to get a school built for first child, not only for education but to avoid weird stuff.  But weird stuff does happen but later in the game and then I don't often notice.

@RedKetchup LOL I haven't played Adam & Eve yet but have a story in mind. I won't try it on the same map I try your Garden Utility mod just to be on the safe side just in case.  :)   I nearly had a panic attack on the one map when my main character, the storyteller, came down with a disease, luckily I had the mini mod enabled and quickly built a mini hospital right next to her house and she was not one of those who died.  What would I do?  Could some wonderful talented kind modder please make me a bannie-sized ghost in a flowing white gown, ghosted ghost deco.  ;)

i was going to suggest the no rain and CC no ducks to help the freeze ups.you could try the light rain without CC also.

@brads3 I used light rain in last story, red desert map.  There is a cc mod No Smoke, does that work without cc?  If you're trying to quit you could use it in Brads Smoking Shed LOL

i would try it.it is noticeable very quickly. i actually dropped back to the original nat div. the slowdown became too much.didn't matter what i tried to speed things up either,nothing worked.the workers were no longer walking they were starting to stutterstep or skip. i minimize my screen and gain lots of speed but that also did not help much with the upgrade. i worry that the more a map is played and the more you build and add workers the slower the game becomes with the mod enabled.i mentioned somethings i found that maybe BARTENDER can fix  the lag times with.

Thanks @brads3 , if the lag gets worse I will give no smoke a try.  It really isn't too bad yet, small map, so will have to wait and see.  It is such a pretty mod, I hope Bartender can fix the problem.  I would be happy with the branches added to NatDiv Light, with my slow start 1:1 and few people the thatch chain is a little much but it is pretty cool.  I am trying to show a few more production statistic.  Here comes the first chapter.

Chapter 1

  Welcome to Meadowbrook, weary traveler. My name is Griselle and my husband is Ibraham.  We had just been married when our village in the mountains north of here was destroyed by a flash flood.  We were the only survivors.  We had such high hopes for the future and dreamed of our own farm and home in the meadow, we wondered if we would survive to see those dreams come true. 

  It was months before we got out of those mountains and found the river.  We built a small raft hoping to find a town downstream, instead we found white water rapids and a series of small waterfalls.  The raft was torn apart and we lost what little we had but again we survived.  We still had each other.  We traveled on on-foot and did indeed find a town, or rather the very beginnings of a town.

  There were 5 families who came from a town called Smallville.  They too wandered in the mountains west of that town before following a small brook to this meadow. They marked the spot with a sign showing the way back to that town before continuing on to the river.  They had a large barn and several houses built and supplies gathered when we arrived.  It must have been fate that our arrival times coincided, we reckoned this was where we were meant to stay.  They welcomed us gladly.  We numbered 12 adults and 10 children and since Ibraham and I had no children they thought it best if we became town overseers.  We named the town Meadowbrook.

  There were a lot of hungry little mouths to feed, keeping an eye on the food supply would be vital.  We immediately gathered what wild foods we could find to vary our diet and Ethanial headed to the river to fish, his wife Anti was a builder.  Although a small school was a priority it was not completed in time for Elene to become a student.  It would be several years before the first set of twins was ready to attend.

  We made good progress that 1st year building a pasture, hunter cabin, gatherer's workplace, a woodcutter, and workshop.  Our buildings required thatch for the roofs so a reaper would gather grasses for the thatcher to process.  There was edible grain on those grasses and with the help from the thresher, we had wild cereal.  At our first Town Hall meeting we decided to plant cabbage instead of corn next spring.

Chapter 2

  By early spring of year 2 our population had grown to 27.  During the winter months, 1 boy and 4 girls were born, including our own daughter, Shastasia.  By then, we only had 1 builder and 2 laborers, barely enough workers for the tasks at hand, and 1 of those laborers would have to become a teacher before the end of the year.  Other workers would help while they waited for supplies. We did not have enough grasses for both the thresher and thatcher to work full time.  We also did not have enough hides for coats but we did have quite a bit of wool so a tailor shop was built by the pasture and the workplace would close until we needed tool.  Wool coats and warm fires would be nice come winter, and there were plenty of downed branches to collect for firewood.  The thatcher suggested we also collect some of the reeds along the riverbank, he could use those when he was short of grasses.  Although there was plenty of wild foods, branches, grasses, and reeds there was a lot less surface stone and iron to be found. We had no spare workers for a mine or quarry so we began construction of a bridge across the river where there was stone and iron.   

  After 2 years our town was doing well.  We were a bit concerned that the bridge was interfering with our catch of fish.  Ethanial, the fisherman, said the builder scared the fish away, they'd be back.  We hoped he was right and besides we had plenty of venison and mutton.   I knew Ibraham also felt a sense of security that winter having a warm house, a wool coat, and a full pantry and woodpile. 

  In spring of year 3, 3 nomads came out of the mountains and were overjoyed at having a real house and jobs they knew they could do.  We were a bit concerned by their lack of education but they had willing hands and we needed the help.  Our food supply was good and our cabbage crop looked promising again this year. We thought Bald, the farmer, was a bit careless with the seeds when planting because several cabbage grew outside the crop field.  But no matter, we would gatherer those up too.
 
  That year our cabbage harvest remained the same, the catch of fish increased and so did the amount of wild cereal threshed.  We closed the thatcher workplace so more grasses went to the thresher hut, the thatcher's work would resume when we had more reeds.  There were plenty on the other side of the small brook so a second bridge was built.  We looked forward to expanding our town to that side of the river next year.

Nice story to have with me this evening. :)

Good night @kid1293  :) and have a good morning tomorrow.

and thank you, glad you like the story

Chapter 3

  By year 4, our pasture was a busy place.  Dora was either a very good herdswoman or the sheep really liked this meadowland, we had twice as many sheep in our 14' x 12' pasture plus bonemeal.  The tailor was never short of wool and we had plenty of mutton.

  I had been doing the threshing and often wondered if it would not be more productive to plant a field of corn with 1 farmer working than having 1 worker reaping the grasses and another worker threshing.  Even though the amount of wild cereal increased using all the grasses, I still thought I could  harvest more grain from a field than what I could thresh.  A 10" x 12" crop field was cleared but since our 2nd child was due in late spring, Ibraham said the corn planting could wait another year.

  Lelano built a small boat and bridge across the brook so he could plant and gather his own reeds for the thatcher's workplace.  The new storage barn did not require thatch, the builder used shredded tree bark.  A few houses could be built that way also, and I especially liked the house with the wood shingle roof.  In Spring, 4 nomads arrived so we needed more housing.

  The meadow on that side of the river was just beautiful this year and I thought the rocks in the brook and river were beautiful too now that I wasn't on a raft going over them rapidly.  The rocks and the shade of the bridges seemed to attract fish so a fish trap was constructed across the small brook.  A new family had arrived so we now had a few more workers.  Next spring we could have a farmer plant corn while I continued to thresh so we could do a comparison.  The amount of wild cereal I thrashed this year had increased substantially but I still thought a corn field would do better.  Next year, we shall see.

if you can't get 500 cereals than the field will beat it with no problem.on a 10x10, 500 is minimum produced.

Chapter 4

  In spring of year 5 the cornfield was planted.  I had a short wait for more grasses to thresh.  As soon as I got the grasses Ethanial would take my place as thresher and I would tend the cornfield.  Ethanial's wife, Anti, would take over his fishing spot on shore.  My Ibraham was now trader at the newly built trading post.  A new school was also built since the old outdoor classroom was filled to capacity.  The workshop was reopened to make iron tools after 2 nomads arrived and became laborers.  The tools would be added to our growing assortment of trade goods.

  It was not until autumn that the first trader arrived at our port.  Veliah, the seed merchant, had no trouble navigating the rapids.  He knew they were there and what to expect and had done it many times before, he was a skilled boatman.  We traded for sunflower seeds and began clearing a field next to the cabbage patch.  Shortly after he left, it began to snow.  I tried but failed to get all the corn harvested but still I was proven correct.  I alone harvested more corn in 1 season than a reaper and thresher produced wild cereal in 2 seasons.  It would have been worth it to have grain had the Smallvillians not brought corn seeds with them.  Since the children especially liked the wild cereal, we decided we would continue the threshing operation unless our food supply became critical, then the reaper and thresher would become farmers.

  If need be we could always extend our catch of fish by building a smoking shed.  Anti did not catch as many fish as her husband had the year before but her catch was considerably more than Adric was catching in the fish trap.  Had he been educated his catch may have been more.  Then again maybe they had been under the weather.  Despite our varied diet some folk were not at peak health, perhaps the new herbalist will help people feel better.  After 5 years our population was 43, 21 adults, 9 students, and 13 young children. That winter a second daughter, Bloosie was Born.

how is you lag time now? about here is when my bannies went to stotter stepping and skipping.

@brads3 the lag time was a little better I think after having cut more trees but still slow going. More buildings did not seem to make any difference.  I increased the speed to 2x so bannies moved a bit faster than they should have been at 1x.  I am a ways ahead playing the map than writing story, only a few more chapters to go, then, I want to remove some mods and restart map to see if there is a difference.  Maybe it is a conflict. It is such a pretty mod with the meadow and the reeds.

Chapter 5

  We seemed to have a lot of rain that spring of year 6 but the cabbage, corn, and sunflowers got planted on time.  It took a while with only 1 builder but the new small barn was finally completed.  Early summer brought more rain so work slowed again.  The log house for the 4 nomads that arrived was not getting done.  I felt sorry for Ibraham out so long in the pouring rain, he was now working the cornfield.  The log house when finished was very nice indeed.

  All the rain brought out the best in our meadows, they were just beautiful and had an abundance of wild foods, including blueberries and herbs.  We built a gatherer's workstation in both meadows.  Another house was being constructed over on the other side of the river also.

  During year 7 life continued on at a slow and leisurely pace.  A pretty little chapel was built by the river. Another nomad couple joined our town and another house was built.  Our only concern during this time was a shortage of iron for the blacksmith.  We found a small pocket of stone and iron in the western forest not far from the creek.  We built a small garden shed so a forester could cut trees and gather the resources we needed.  There would be enough iron to delay the mining decision for at least another year.

it is weird that you have problems with CC yet yu run the nat div. i can run CC with no problem but the new nat div slowed me a ton.and i normally run at 10X. i should try a couple more things to see if i can make it better.

@brads3 try changing map size.  I use small maps and speed 1x, here I increased to 2x.  I agree weird.  With cc the problem was when changing camera location and with freezing up.  When I get a chance I will start a general discussion thread on my cc problem.

Chapter 6

  Year 8 was off to a good start.  Last year's catch of fish had increased since Ethanial returned to his favorite fishing spot on shore, this year's catch promised to be the same.  In spring 7 nomads arrived so we gained another builder and a tiny chopper for firewood across the river where another house was being built.  The construction was put on hold when a medical emergency broke out, diphtheria.  A small sauna was hastily built and Vannis became a physician to care for those afflicted.  It was early autumn before the 4 patients were cured and returned to work.  Dariel, the farmer, did not get all the sunflowers harvested but they sure looked pretty when the first snow fell.  By early winter the Meadowbrook residents were 100% happy and healthy. 

  Although Zander's, the gatherer in the forest to the east, had not been ill, his total of collected wild foods was again much less than the meadow gatherers.  Zanders collected 396 foods this year and only  288 last year compared to the meadow gatherers south of town and across the river.  They took in 766 + 833 this year and 990 +992 last year, a higher yields of food than our corn field.

  That winter, we were amazed at the different types of foods and trade animals that Linwoodrow, the General goods Merchant, had with him or said he could bring.  He said there was a town to the west called Cedar Creek (CC for short) on his trade route that produced a number of different things.  He said it was a much bigger town than ours.

  Well, we may be a small town with only a population of 71, 33 adults, 15 students, and 23 young children, but by summer of year 9 we are doing alright in Meadowbrook.

And yes, weary traveler, I did build you a "home in the meadow"  "where the grass grows wild, where the winds blow free."


The End.