The 100-challenge

[Chon Waen]

My machine starts to lag at 600. I think it would catch on fire at about 6k, let alone 10k.
Thats not even considering the hellish logistical problem of 1,000,000+ food consumed each year!
Let alone clothes, tools, and firewood

[kee]

Tried that hardball version of the challenge and ... well... 15 bloody years. Somebody's got to do it a lot quicker than that. Oh, well.

[Nilla]

I've finished my first attempt; with an easy start. I'll try the hard one, too, some time and @kee, I'm not sure, that anyone can make it so much faster than in 15 year. There is a big difference between hard and easy.

I think it could be a big difference between easy and easy as well. I opened some maps, in fact number 1-10 small maps. The number of children were between 2 and 13, I am pretty sure that you are much faster, with 13 than with 2 children from the start.

I choose the 13 children   

I made a save of the one with 2 children as well and will play that sometime, too.

Map 8 small valleys

Start 12/0/13
End 70/0/30
Summer 7

Same time as you, @Trizeropz !

I couldn't have played that map faster, there were houses ready as soon as one couple could move out. But you could play an easy game faster, with more luck. The girls were older than the boys all the time. At the end I had a lot of young single girls 10-17 years old and  only one 9 year old, one 8 year old and a bunch of 6 years old boys.

First picture year 2

You can build a lot the first year with an easy start. I keep an eye on the elder children all the time so I build enough hoses. There are more girls than boys from the start, or at least they are older.

Second picture, year 4

Not a very nice looking settlement,but it works.

Girls are older than boys, but at least there are some boys only a couple of years junior. But it's getting worse........ 


Third picture, year 6

...........and worse........... 

Fourth picture, year 7


..................until the end

Sorry I was a bit late with the screenshot, but you can see at the log, that inhabitant number 100 was born in summer 7.

[Trizeropz]

@Nilla yeah you need to wait for them. i could easy built more houses and the food was alright (before the end). they dont reproduce fast enough:D you need luck to be better than year 7. congratulation:) i am doing the hard one too and i retry the easy.

[Nilla]

I'll make a small competition in this challenge: For you to guess:

I just played a game to 100 inhabitants. The same as my last game, easy start, no mods. But this time I choose the "wrong " map,the one with only 2 children from the start. I used exactly the same tactic, as far as I can see, you can not make it faster, every couple could move out as soon as possible. This time it was a better balance between boys and girls, not perfect but not so bad as in my first game,

Guess when I reached the 100 people. What is the difference, if you have 2 children or 13 children from the start?

[Trizeropz]

Year 8 Summer i guess

[irrelevant]

@Nilla, so two variables, far fewer children to start, but better balance between M&F. I'd guess you got to 100 around the same time, possibly even a few months sooner. I think the MF balance is crucial.

I tried this with a 12/0/09 start, and had miserable luck with the MF balance. After year two or so I always had 12-14 y/o girls living alone waiting for 7-9 y/o boys to turn 10. I reached 100 in Early Autumn 08. Going to give it another try.

[Bracken]

Variation B

12/0/10 start
70/0/30 finish
Early Summer 8

[Nilla]

@Bracken, your settlement looks so nice. It's astonishing, how much you can build in that short time. Nice! If we have a category for best looking, you would be ahead.

@irrelevant, as I look at your screenies, I must really laugh!!!!!! 10 barns for 100 people! Isn't that a bit overkill? 

[irrelevant]

@Bracken Beautiful town! Nice work.

@Nilla well, they keep filling up, I can't help that      Also, I hate it when guys have long walks to find storage

[kee]

There's a bit to consider in your hard challenge.
*Status educated at finish, which means that often some founding children must have passed away- in the worst case scenario that means that a founding child aged 9 passes away early spring year 14 at a ripe age of some 80. Usually your founding fathers are away earlier than that, but if your seed gave you children aged 9 you simply won't have time to erect that school in time to escape at least one doofus.
*Balance of equal age sexes: Next to pure numbers of fertile banishims this is probably the most decisive factor for the growth rate.
*Avalability of housing: One new house for every new possible couple, but not have so many houses that they decide to have the shack all to them selves- here the avid micromanager will hsve his day with closing down, forcing people together and splitting up families with a godgiven authority.
*And of course having enough food, tools and clothing. You can see I stopped at 103, had a bit of a distribution problem so the market hadn't put shirts on the backs of more than 98 banishims when I reached 100.

[Bracken]

@kee  I like to use a boarding house for overflow. It means I can bounce families around, and get new pairs paired up without worrying too much if established families will split up. A boarding house right at the start also means a quick set of births to boost numbers, and you only need a single builder/project instead of 4-5 builders and projects for single homes.

@Nilla , @irrelevant  Thanks! I did most of my building in winter, with all those farmers hauling materials.

[Trizeropz]

@Bracken what size are your fields?

[Brugle]

I have a question about challenges in general.  In a challenge, is it legit to save the game and keep repeating an action until it comes up the way you want?  In this challenge, you could get the desired sex at birth, since the time of birth seems to be determined but the sex is apparently random.  Selecting the merchant who arrives at a dock might be useful, and I expect there are other things which could be improved by repetition.

In my "regular play" I don't do this, except sometimes to find a good seed.  But I might want to do it in a challenge to stay competitive if it is OK.  Is it?

[Bracken]

@Bracken what size are your fields?

8x7 fields in blocks of 4