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Fast Path to Food, Coats, Tools, and a Market

Started by irrelevant, September 13, 2017, 06:20:37 PM

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irrelevant

I think we all can agree that early security in food, fuel, tools, and clothing is the foundation for success in Banished. So I have been thinking a lot lately about what is the best possible start that would lead to this.

I am limiting my focus to vanilla, medium start.

Build order is crucial. I have come to the conclusion that the very first thing you must do is to make two farms, as large as you can manage them. Both should be in the 150-200 tile range, but be careful not to include so much real estate that you need lots of clearing before the field is complete. Two to four items to clear is the limit here. As soon as they are ready, select your crops and set one farmer to working on each.

The second priority is the school. Put it directly north of the barn. This makes it easy for the laborers to clear and to bring in construction mats, the stockpile is right there. Don't forget to assign your two builders before the foundation is complete! Almost all of the time you should be able to get the school built before your first child turns 10.

Next priorities are a hunting cabin and a forester. Then the woodcutter and a gatherer. Finally, in late summer, build a single house. You may need to manually harvest some logs and/or stone to get all this done.

Through all of this be certain always to keep at least one laborer, just in case your teacher dies.

So this is the outline. Now here are some specific cases.

Simpsonville

Year 1 - pumpkins and squash, bummer. But they do okay, and there's nearly three year's worth of food.

Year 2 - both crops do well enough that a second barn is needed. Those big fields really pay off, 2300 food between the two, instead of the conventional 1680 you would get if you bothered to make 120-tile farms, which so many do not do; why?!

End of year 4 - got the market, coats, and tools. Not quite three years of food, but a pretty good amount. You can see one of my hunters is uneducated, didn't get the school up fast enough for the eldest child.

Going to do a few more starts like this so you can see how well it works in any situation.

Necora

I think it is medium start... with only a stock pile and barn?... you can fit 2 11x11 fields (I think that big) directly in front of the barn without clearing any trees etc at all. If you do this ASAP you can definitely get a year of full crop from both fields in your first year.

irrelevant

#2
Yes, but why just 11x11? One of these farms is 12x13, the other is 13x14. The 13x14 got 1246 squash the first year, the other got 725 pumpkins; the second year the result was better, 1260 and 971. Year three was 1243 and 1052. If I had built your 11x11 farms I would have had just 847 of each. In three years, these two farms got 1415 more food than 2@11x11 would have gotten. This is the point. Don't let conventional thinking limit you to conventional results.

Look at the next town, the results with the farms are even better.

irrelevant

#3
Drifton - corn 14x15 and potato 11x15, one farmer on each.

Year 1 - 1352 corn, 1149 potato

Year 2 - 1340 corn, 955 potato, a second barn was needed.

Year 3 - 1344 corn, 1145 potato. In three years outperformed 2@11x11 by 2203 food. This is huge at the start.

Year 4 - knocked down those farms to build the market, tailor, and smith. Got 3 1/2 years of food in the bank.

embx61

#4
I think a lot of stuff will work but a very good point made by @irrelevant is to be careful with a lot of clearing.

I mostly start with only a cart, barn and stockpile as I mostly not like the places of the houses build on easy so have to tear them down later.

I mostly pause my game and layout all the basic stuff footprints and put them on pause.
I do it this way because I like a certain structure in my maps so things just have to be looking nice as well as being logical.

So a forester, gatherer, hunter, barn and as start 2 houses in a hub in the forest.
Mostly start with 2 gatherers, 1 forester, and 1 hunter assigned.

I know a lot of players want as much space as possible in the forest/gatherer/etc circles but I never had any problems with dumping some stuff in there together in the middle of the circle.
Because the houses are so close by some time is gained if the bannies go to eat.

The rest of the houses go close to my planned Market.
Fishing depends if a lake/river is close enough but if it is then I build a fishers dock with 1 or 2 fishers depending on the work force.
And of course a wood chopper.

Some laborers are set on chopping some trees, collecting some stone iron but in small patches to get those resources a bit up.

Herbalist, tailor, Blacksmith and stuff I mostly do the second year after the first winter as I never run out of clothes or tools by then.

I mostly have about 1 to 4 bannies becoming adults before I build the school. I have no problems with that and give the extra few laborers in the beginning to clear some stuff.

From there on it is just a easy ride and beside I think only the first two or three games I played Banished I always succeeded to have a logical but also nice looking town.

After all is laid out I save the setup and slowly release one building after the other from pause so they can be build.

If the winter falls I have enough resources and houses build to roll through it and from there it is just a easy game to be honest.

I like to add that my beloved wife was not a avid gamer at all and after I told her the basics of the game she screwed up about 2 or 3 times but since then always succeeded in having a nice looking and good running town as well. :)

That is the main reason she loved Banished so much. It is peaceful, no wars, and after the first year in the game was over she played the game and watched some TV at the same time.
[size=8pt][color=teal]My beloved Kathy
As you were you will always be
Treasured forever in my memory[/color][/size]

[size=10pt]For my list of Mods with download links go here[/size]

brads3

i could argue but i will behave instead. what is the goal? to have a fully functioning town in under a year?to give the best start? to build excesss reserves early?survive and function from 0?? i ask cause you left it open with "best start". that i think goes under the everyone plays different idea.

irrelevant

#6
Quote from: brads3 on September 13, 2017, 06:56:26 PM
i could argue but i will behave instead. what is the goal?
"...early security in food, fuel, tools, and clothing..."

You are looking at this from the point of view of an expert, which you are. I am writing for the benefit of those who are not; over on reddit/r/banished nearly every day there is a post by someone who's town has died because he didn't produce enough food at the start. This is for that guy.

At the moment there are 10 WOB members logged in, and 68 guests. I'd guess a lot of those guests are from Reddit, WOB gets linked over there a lot.

Don't behave, I enjoy arguing! ;D

brads3

LOL,expert at what goofing off? i agree with the idea of teaching and helping new players. i try to throw tid bits of useful info when i do the village blogs.i think most have problems due to the limit flags stopping the builders for a while.drives the newbies nuts trying to figure out why such and such isn't getting built or they run out of firewood.

    as for this i disagree with needing 2 fields unless the game did give you a grain and a veggy to start.i also like having a house,at least 1 early. this can be built while the bannies are clearing for the hunter and gatherer especially if placed where it is clear.the school i would have waited on. if the children are old enough to need it,then they will turn to laborers too fast. i usually find them to not need it for several years.

Necora

Quote from: irrelevant on September 13, 2017, 06:30:59 PM
Yes, but why just 11x11? .......... Don't let conventional thinking limit you to conventional results.

Oh, I don't ;) 11x11 is just the size I know will fit from memory without clearing a single tree, I just thought it worth sharing. I often use different size fields, to fit in the space up hills. The largest I have right now is a 10x14 field of wheat, but it never seems to produce more than a 10x12 field (even with auto pick up disabled).

Usually I start with 2 fields that I can plant without clearing a thing, then add the forestry stuff and a chopper, then a couple of houses dotted around. I find if the woods around are dense enough and the area large enough to fit most of the radius, gatherers are good for a steady supply of food. As for protein, I would faster go for a fisher than a hunter, if the river is close enough, then the hunter for the leather when clothing starts to run down low. As with @embx61 I am not immune to putting a house and storage in with the forester, hunter, and gatherer as I think the proximity of stores and house for warmth outweighs the loss of those radius tiles.

As for schools, that is not as much of a rush for me. I usually wait until the population is 20 before opening up the school, as I would rather get all of the basics all running then start educating rather than having to wait for children to get through school.

irrelevant

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
I mostly pause my game and layout all the basic stuff footprints and put them on pause.
I do it this way because I like a certain structure in my maps so things just have to be looking nice as well as being logical.
I do this as well.

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
I know a lot of players want as much space as possible in the forest/gatherer/etc circles but I never had any problems with dumping some stuff in there together in the middle of the circle.
Because the houses are so close by some time is gained if the bannies go to eat.
I agree with this as well. I put all manner of houses, barns, stockpiles, ever occasionally a small farm in my forest circles. I feel that building things where it makes sense to build them is more important than wringing an extra 20 logs/year from the forester.

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
The rest of the houses go close to my planned Market.
Yep. I like to put everything close to my planned market. :)

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
Some laborers are set on chopping some trees, collecting some stone iron but in small patches to get those resources a bit up.
Small patches is very important, the last thing you want is to get your farmers caught up in some far-flung resource clearing project when it is time for them to plant or to harvest.

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
I mostly have about 1 to 4 bannies becoming adults before I build the school. I have no problems with that and give the extra few laborers in the beginning to clear some stuff.
Here we shall have to agree to disagree. The last thing I want is some uneducated blacksmith wasting logs and iron.  ;)

Quote from: embx61 on September 13, 2017, 06:43:36 PM
I like to add that my beloved wife was not a avid gamer at all and after I told her the basics of the game she screwed up about 2 or 3 times but since then always succeeded in having a nice looking and good running town as well. :)

That is the main reason she loved Banished so much. It is peaceful, no wars, and after the first year in the game was over she played the game and watched some TV at the same time.
She sounds like a lovely lady. So sorry for your loss.

irrelevant

#10
Quote from: brads3 on September 13, 2017, 07:16:21 PM
LOL,expert at what goofing off?
lol!

Quote from: brads3 on September 13, 2017, 07:16:21 PM
as for this i disagree with needing 2 fields unless the game did give you a grain and a veggy to start.i also like having a house,at least 1 early. this can be built while the bannies are clearing for the hunter and gatherer especially if placed where it is clear.the school i would have waited on. if the children are old enough to need it,then they will turn to laborers too fast. i usually find them to not need it for several years.

Unless one was a grain, I wouldn't normally grow two different crops, I'd pick the best one and grow it on both fields. But I'm just trying to show that it doesn't really matter what crop you have, even the bad ones can perform well at the start in big fields like this.

I build the school fast because my uneducated guys like to become blacksmiths, and that drives me bonkers. Building a school always results in a delay in getting additional laborers no matter when you do it, I'd just as soon get it out of the way at the start.

irrelevant

Quote from: Necora on September 13, 2017, 07:19:27 PM
As for protein, I would faster go for a fisher than a hunter, if the river is close enough, then the hunter for the leather when clothing starts to run down low.
I don't really like fishers, for me they are too iffy, and really need to have a barn and housing right by them to do well. I prefer to get the leather flowing right from the start. I seem to have really good luck with hunters, I normally can get 5 or 6 kills a year with just a single hunter, far outperforming what a fishing dock can do.

Quote from: Necora on September 13, 2017, 07:19:27 PM
As with @embx61 I am not immune to putting a house and storage in with the forester, hunter, and gatherer as I think the proximity of stores and house for warmth outweighs the loss of those radius tiles.
I completely agree with this.

Quote from: Necora on September 13, 2017, 07:19:27 PM
As for schools, that is not as much of a rush for me. I usually wait until the population is 20 before opening up the school, as I would rather get all of the basics all running then start educating rather than having to wait for children to get through school.
Having run a 100% uneducated town for more than 1000 years, I've really gotten to despise uneducated workers. Especially when they become blacksmiths  ;D

irrelevant

Quote from: Necora on September 13, 2017, 07:19:27 PM
Quote from: irrelevant on September 13, 2017, 06:30:59 PM
Yes, but why just 11x11? .......... Don't let conventional thinking limit you to conventional results.

Oh, I don't ;) 11x11 is just the size I know will fit from memory without clearing a single tree, I just thought it worth sharing.
You can clear out a few trees and rocks at the start, and still have plenty of time left for planting.

irrelevant

Colvilia - Wheat and Cabbage, both 15x12

Year 1 - 1259 wheat, 1250 cabbage

Year 2 - 1162 wheat, 1243 cabbage

Year 3 - 1258 wheat, 1258 cabbage, 3 1/2 years of food. Beat 2@11x11 farms by 2288 for the three years.

Year 4 - market, tailor, and smith. Plus a bonus fisher in a great spot.


gatinho65

So something I've wondered as I've been playing with the mods that will work well on my mac is: Do the bannies gather food/resources for their home storage from all/most/any of the modded storage options if built right near their houses?

I'm asking because I lately I tend to plop a house near the foresters, gatherers, herbalists and I've been putting small storage options near them now that some are available, I never wanted to build lots of big vanilla barns lol and never did it before. Say for example that I'm building Maritime cellars, so pretty and small even if they take time and resources to build, and they don't take up space in the forest. My hope is that the workers will store and then stock up from the nearby storage 'barn' rather than walk all the way to the first provided barn (from medium or easy) at the center of the first placement. But I'm not sure how to notice if this is working yet. Resources are definitely being put into the cellars but I don't know if then the bannies are revisiting them for their own home needs.

Will the bannies always go to the vanilla barn for their storage needs during the usual times of the year instead of treating the mod storage items as a barn?

Also, I can't remember which is worse for quick early death: getting cold without a house, or starvation? Because I always build the resource posts and a school before any housing, building up food before the first winter, and sometimes it gets cold before enough houses are available and I don't know if I should focus more on earlier housing and let them stay hungry for a while until the next year lol. I used to know these things but I'm having to relearn the game again in some basic ways;)