Small Questions

[snapster]

I'm not sure a thread like this exists and it would be useful.

Can you fish out a lake?

Do trading boats come down the big river only or do they also travel on the seeming creeks or tributaries?

[irrelevant]

Lake fishing, river fishing, all good. The most important thing is to get as much water in that dock circle as you can. So locations on promontories, on the inside of river bends, where streams feed into rivers, where rivers feed into lakes, etc are the best spots. Streams aren't as good because they are narrow, so less water.

Merchant boats can go up creeks too. The real trick there is finding a spot where the trading post will fit.

[snapster]

So fish are not a depletable resource. I guess the advantage of a big-ass lake is that although only half the circle will have water it will have a lot of water, making it an ideal fishing spot?

You can't fit a trading post on a creek, can you?

[irrelevant]

So fish are not a depletable resource. I guess the advantage of a big-ass lake is that although only half the circle will have water it will have a lot of water, making it an ideal fishing spot?

Many lakes have irregular coastlines, there often are peninsulas that have more water around them, like the one in Reply #3 here: http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=567.0

You can't fit a trading post on a creek, can you?

It's hard to find a spot where one will fit. Everything has to be just so. Not possible on every map. You have to hover the TP building image over the creek and move it around until you find a spot where all the red squares have turned green. Depends how bad you want it 

You can rotate the image with "R" or "T"

[snapster]

How do you tell what are appropriate ratios in this game? For instance, farm size to citizens?

[irrelevant]

Check out the size calculator http://banishedinfo.com/t/Size_calculator Good thing to play around with.

Consensus is that a farm with ~120 tiles is most efficient use of land and labor; so, 11x11, 12x10, and 8x15 (my personal favorite) are commonly used sizes. If you get a full harvest from one of these, that is 840 food.

Usually when towns are small, I'll use just one farmer on a farm this size. They may not fully harvest, but usually they will come close.

You need to locate your farm very close to a house (for the farmer) and also to a barn (for storing the food). If not, that could really wreck your harvest.

Also in the early going, consider using a gatherers hut in a forest. They can produce tons of food.

You need to produce at least 100 food per citizen per year. More is better.

[snapster]

What if you want to figure it out on your own? Where can you find the necessary information in-game? And how is a 120-tile farm most efficient? What does that depend on? Why not just have bigger farms if necessary?

[irrelevant]

Then don't look at the size calculator  It is nowhere in-game; in-game is trial and error, and death

Farms grow 7 food per tile. So 120 tiles = 840 food. A farmer can carry 84 food at a time (actually he can carry 100 at a time, but the food is harvested into baskets with 21 food in each one, and a farmer carrying 84 food will not be able to pick up another one). This means ten trips between his field and storage. If the storage barn is right there, that's about the max number of walking he will be able to do between the time harvest begins (ideally when late summer turns to early autumn) and the time the temperature drops to freezing and the crops begin to die in the fields. If storage is farther away, he will spend more time walking compared to the time spent harvesting food, increasing the chance that part of the crop will get frosted. It isn't the end of the world, but cumulative efficiency is the key in this game.

All of this can vary depending on what crop you are growing. Each one has different growth characteristics. Beans are easiest.

You can have bigger farms. Just more stuff dying from frost, unless you put on another farmer. So, two farms, one farmer on each, or one farm with two farmers. It's a valid choice. I feel with two farms you are diffusing the risk of something going wrong.

[snapster]

So if you aren't sticking to the one farmer per 840 food ratio assuming a thing or two you are exposing yourself to risk. Even if the game automatically increases the number of farmers required... how does the game do that? Does it abide by this ratio? Does it put the second worker at 841 or 1680 or some other number?

Does the game tell you the different characteristics of crops?

Can you upgrade dirt roads to stone roads? Or can you build stone roads on top of dirt roads?

[snapster]

Do you need storage barns by buildings like the herbalist place and the hunter's lodge? Can those buildings store their own stuff as well? The gatherer's place is another one. Barns all one size?

[A Nonny Moose]

Thanks.  This discussion, so far, has clarified a problem I've been having with farm size.  With a 100% farming community with one fish dock and one gatherer, I've found you need one 15 x 15 crop with 2 (minimum) farmers each for each 10 citizens.  This sucks up land at a tremendous rate.

In my next town, I am going to try it with smaller farms and more barns.  How do you feel about one barn every two or three farms?

[slink]

So if you aren't sticking to the one farmer per 840 food ratio assuming a thing or two you are exposing yourself to risk. Even if the game automatically increases the number of farmers required... how does the game do that? Does it abide by this ratio? Does it put the second worker at 841 or 1680 or some other number?

The rate at which farmers move and how far they must travel determines how many farmers must be used for a crop field.  If the field is larger than the farmer(s) assigned to it can service in one growing season, then some of the crop will be lost.  You must set the number of farmers working on a crop field.  The game will not do that for you.

Does the game tell you the different characteristics of crops?

No.  See the thread at this link: http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=353.0

Can you upgrade dirt roads to stone roads? Or can you build stone roads on top of dirt roads?

By building stone roads on top of them, and yes.

Do you need storage barns by buildings like the herbalist place and the hunter's lodge? Can those buildings store their own stuff as well? The gatherer's place is another one. Barns all one size?

You can place barns near to herbalists, hunter's lodges, and gatherer's places.  You don't have to, but it may help.  They cannot store their own stuff.  Barns in the standard game are all one size.

[snapster]

It's just not the most efficient option per worker (240 tiles versus 225), the land will still be sucked. 1575 food for 10 citizens. If more than 100 food is a good thing for a citizen I guess you can still keep going with 150 food? Do crop characteristics enter the discussion somewhere around here? Maybe the crop has a different yield per tile. Baskets still constant at 21 food per basket?

Another question, do you need a trader to be at or employed by the trading post to accept a merchant? Is it a good idea to transfer traders once the trading post is stocked? Should just one be left?

[snapster]

Does the game tell you the different characteristics of crops?

No.  See the thread at this link: http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=353.0

Jeez. :/ What's the abridged version of this? What are the crop characteristics in the game? Is it all trial and error, observation?

Do you need storage barns by buildings like the herbalist place and the hunter's lodge? Can those buildings store their own stuff as well? The gatherer's place is another one. Barns all one size?

You can place barns near to herbalists, hunter's lodges, and gatherer's places.  You don't have to, but it may help.

Since workers rather than laborers are the ones who transport their resources to storage it would improve productivity.

[irrelevant]

Herbalists and farmers store their own products in barns. For hunters and gatherers (and foresters) the storing can also be done by laborers (and is usually done by laborers).

Crops all yield 7 per tile. 21 per basket (three tiles worth) is constant. What's different is how long each crop takes to mature, and how resistant each one is to heat and cold.

For example, beans grow the fastest, but they also are the quickest to die from frost.

100 food per person is subsistence with no margin for error. More is always better. I like to build a cushion in storage of 2 years worth at least.

Boats will stop at TPs with no traders. The purchased supplies will not be moved out of the TP until at least one trader is assigned however. Same with moving stock into the TP. That's what traders do. They can carry 500 at a time, as can vendors (they have wheelbarrows).