Mental Note to Self

[LadyMarmalade]

I have to share this here amongst fellow players - when I vent to my family they stare at me blankly, shaking their heads and tell me "it's only a game, Mum". I know you will all understand!

I started a game yesterday and right from the start I knew it was going to be a good one.  Am I the only one who has these feelings about their new towns?  Sometimes I just don't 'feel' right about the town and no matter how I try I can't get into it and I usually end up deleting it and starting again. Sometimes they just feel 'right' from the start. This was the latter. This was a town that I loved from the moment I set down the first houses and as the years passed and it flourished I had high hopes of it becoming my most successful yet.

I always have a backstory or theme in mind when I start a new game. The map this time was a very large island and my idea was to see if I could survive entirely on the island without crossing to the mainland.
I built it up very slowly. Making sure I had plenty of everything before increasing population and it took alot longer than usual for me to get a Trading Post set up which I needed badly as I had exhausted my iron reserves and the island had nowhere suitable for a mine. My citizens were also regularly petitioning me for more variety of foodstuffs and threatening to go on strike!

I was paying so much attention to the population, housing etc that it wasn't until many years had passed that I realised my Trader wasn't bringing any animals or seeds.  At first I thought I was just unlucky - going through a bad patch. Then as the years passed and still none came I began to wonder if my game had a bug. My Bannies had peaches, peppers and corn - the seeds they arrived with and nothing else. No livestock. Being an island I had plenty of fish so Im assuming that made up for the lack of meat ( apart from the venison). Suprisingly they didnt seem to be any the worse for it.Their health remained a steady 4.

Finally after another few years I had a sudden thought and, sure enough, on checking the modlist I discovered I had accidentally enabled a mod to stop seeds and animals that I had downloaded to use later in games when they are no longer needed.

I quickly disabled it and went back to my Bannies looking forward to giving them new foodie treats and keeping my promises to the Tailor to get him wool for coats and all the Mums, who I had promised eggs to bake their birthday cakes!

I watched excitedly as the Trader pulled into dock and 'BANG'

Black Screen

Game crashed.

Obviously you can't enable that mod half way through a game.

I'm gutted but I suppose my Bannies will have to live out their life on peppers and corn washed down with peach ale. It could be worse. The Tailor hasn't forgiven me yet but I've built another Tavern next door to his workshop so he can drown his sorrows more easily-we have a real glut of peaches anyway! The Mums still aren't talking to me -  maybe I'll just squeeze in another small chapel and hope that the young and handsome new cleric will take their mind off birthday cakes?

The town has survived the first 41 years without livestock or a variety of fruit and veg and the 303 citizens all seem reasonably healthy if not entirely happy.

Mental Note to Self to check which Mods are enabled before starting a new game...

[Tilleen]

It may be worth destroying the trader (in a fire or after the peaches destroyed it) and rebuilding a new trader after the mod is disabled.

Just to see what happens. I have had traders that have had items from mods not actually turned on at any point in the game, but still appearing on boats causing issues when I cleaned things up.

[LadyMarmalade]

Rumour started to spread around the town that the reason the Traders weren't bringing seeds or livestock was that the Trading Post was cursed! The Elders in the village remembered when it had originally been built and strange carved stones had been unearthed when the foundations were being dug out and unusually large numbers of human bones were scattered in the surrounding area. Then there had been the strange sightings. People foolishly passing the Trading Post late at night had reported seeing ghostly figures in doorways and looking through windows.

A meeting of the Town Council decided something had to be done. It was decided that the cleric, Hermonius Crankel,should perform an exorcism and try to rid the Post of its bad spirits and bad karma and restore order (as well as regular arrivals of livestock and seeds).

So at the stroke of  midnight the community gathered at the Trading Post and Hermonius began his incantations. The crowd stood around in silence,watching and waiting. For several minutes nothing happened and one or two people started to grumble and shift restlessly from foot to foot.

Suddenly someone cried out "Smoke! I can smell smoke!"

Seconds later, a huge glowing red flame engulfed the Trading Post and the villagers scrabbled frantically to remove the goods stored inside before they too were lost to the flames. They tried in vain to extinguish the fire but hours later all that was left of the Post was a smouldering heap of firewood. No-one had noticed a drunken Worsted the Tailor stumbling out from behind the building having tripped and fallen, knocking one of the ceremonial candles over and setting light to the large puddle of Peach Ale on the floor.

It took weeks to rebuild the Trading Post and the whole community helped. One or two people commented on how hard Worsted was working, spending all day in the shop making his leather jackets and then going straight from there to the Trading Post and putting in several more hours rebuilding. They'd never seen him work so hard. Strange they thought.

When the new Trading Post was finally opened the people waited anxiously for the Trader's barge. The children gathered daily on the docks scanning the horizon late into the evening before their mothers called them home to bed.

One day, weeks later, a cheer went up on the Dock and the children began shouting excitedly "He's here! He's Here! The Trader is coming!" and sure enough the barge drifted slowly across the lake and pulled up against the quay of the new Trading Post. A large crowd ran down to the dock to greet him and a loud roar went out when a pair of rather scrawny looking Sheep and half a dozen slightly bald chickens were led onto the quayside.....

..........................................................................................

Thank you,Tilleen. The new Trading Post worked a treat and in your honour the citizens have renamed their Market Square which, from now on, will be known as Tilleen Square!

[A Nonny Moose]

My dear @LadyMarmalade : Your imagination shows that you could come join us in the Fan Fiction section, where you could easily give us a complete history of this island community.  It is interesting that you are able to retain the names of your players for very long, as mine seem to shift with the wind.

[Bobbi]

@LadyMarmalade, tell us a story! Take pictures and post your story....please?

[LadyMarmalade]

Nonny and Bobbi,I wish I knew how to do the 'mention' thing but I don't so I'll have to hope you read this spontaneously!

I've loved writing stories since I was a child but never ever shared them with anyone before (except the ones I wrote for my children when they were little) so you might both regret your words of encouragement to write when you realise my tendency to go overboard. I find it virtually impossible to write 'short' pieces as I inevitably get carried away and end up writing a short novel when a brief essay is all that I intend.

Anyway,I decided to have a go at writing a story based on a Banished theme and am about to put the first chapter in the Fan Fiction section. Let me know what you think!

[irrelevant]

@LadyMarmalade to do a mention, just type the "@" symbol, then start typing the person's name. After a few characters you will get a list of possible names that you can select from.

[Bobbi]

Oh goody. Running off to check the fan fiction section.