Forum Challenge #1: Most People Inside a Market Radius

[rkelly17]

Yeah, @slink, I know exactly what you mean. I'd never build a town like this for fun. In fact, I started another town with the same map seed so I can take a regular break from this one and relax.

Silly me, I didn't think of building stone houses. I guess I'll have to do some serious upgrades. I, too, am stripping the countryside of trees, stone and iron. With 9 trading posts I finally have plenty of stone and iron, but logs not so much. And that incessant "Firewood is low" bonging is going to drive 'round the bend.

[solarscreen]

It seemed so simple at the time.

Keep everyone close to the market. Such a simple plan and it should have worked.  But who knew how things would go wrong.

So... wrong...  I'm better than this. I was. 

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Not so easy, eh?  That's why it's called a challenge!  I'm glad we are learning some things here though.  Keep at it!  We crown the first champion in a few days!

[mariesalias]

Only thirty-two Nomads you say?  Sorry, I can already see further along where keeping the town fed is going to become a serious issue. I am wondering how far a population I can get with my layout before people start starving.

Year 37 and I am starting to have to think outside the box (or circle ;p ). At this point I am waiting for the last (small) group of nomads I accepted to finally die off.  The 15 houses in front of the boarding house to the east have been my nomad housing (it is all laborers there and a teacher). It is too difficult to keep the uneducated out of production jobs now so there will be no more nomads now unless the people start dying out and it is the only thing to save them.

The stone situation is finally to the point where I need to build a quarry. Most of my trading is for food and logs. Never enough logs.

I have a plan though....

[mariesalias]

Year 52 and the circle is slowly filling in. It is getting more difficult to keep a steady population growth though because if limited food production/trading.

Growing forests just to cut the logs. I really wish you could designate stockpiles for certain resources, it would make this part easier.

My town kind of looks like a lightbulb. 

[mariesalias]

Year 62 and I finally hit 600 population! I am really hoping I can fill it all in before the town implodes.

The first two mines (one of each) finally both went belly-up. Although I have back-ups, the farther away from the circle they get, the less they will produce. I have no shortage of laborers though, as there are only so many jobs to go around.

The commutes can be brutal though. ;P

[mariesalias]

And final post for tonight! Sorry for the multiple posts, the forum kept timing out if I took too long or attached more then 3-4 pictures. I wanted to get it all updated now while I was thinking of it.

This last screenshot catches me up to where I am in play. Year 66 and 664 population. I don't like that they are down to 150k food after the harvests. I wanted to complete it with my original model but I may have to make some changes to be able to make it to completely fill the Market circle.

[Demonocracy]

All of your progress looks amazing, guys.  It's fantastic!

I don't think I'm going to be able to make the deadline.  I've lost most of my free time during my weekend to other responsibilities.  I played around a bit, but it's not close enough to bother.

I'd like to ask that future challenges be given maybe 2 weeks to complete?

[salamander]

@solarscreen -- Yea, it seemed so simple at first.  It seems I need a lot more practice on 'normal' towns before I can hope to be able to do this type of challenge  .

All I've managed to do so far is litter the countryside with abandoned ghost towns.  It's become a real mystery to travelers from other areas ... abandoned forester huts ... some houses completely empty, others with food still on the table and in the larder, but all clustered around an empty market ... but no sign of people.

I'm going to start naming all my towns 'Roanoke'.

I look forward to seeing the final entries, and finding out who will be crowned the very first Champion.

[Bobbi]

@ Demonocracy "I'd like to ask that future challenges be given maybe 2 weeks to complete?" I second this!

[mariesalias]

@salamander  I like your description! Nice imagery!


@rkelly17  and @slink  I am also finding this a surprisingly stressful challenge and feel like my town could implode any minute! I think I must have subconsciously 'borrowed' your word rkelly17; it fits so well though.

I am very eager to see how everyone has dealt/will deal with this challenge! One interesting thing I found is that distance does not seem to hinder hunters near as much as it does other food producers.


@solarscreen  Yes, it did seem simple! I am having fun though playing in a way I normally wouldn't. I am glad you came up with it!

[rkelly17]

@mariesalias, I once read in some forum somewhere that hunters begin hunting as soon as they enter the circle, so that could be why they seem to get to work faster. Not sure whether the same applies to gatherers and/or foresters. Everybody still has to get their stuff to the nearest barn or storage yard.

[slink]

Year 27 with 381 people.  I have four trading docks, which I manually manage, more or less.  That is, whenever I see that a boat is coming, I save and reload until I get a load with something in it that I want.  I have been trading venison and mushrooms for nuts, and firewood for stone.  My houses are in a bit of a mess because over the several years that it took me to buy out the 4000 stone that one trader brought to me, I failed to manage the availability of houses properly.  It's okay now.  And in answer to a question posted on the Shining Rock board, no, new couples cannot by themselves push out one of s separated couple who are jointly occupying two houses.  You have to manage them yourself.

[Bobbi]

That looks like a really good map seed. What number is it if you don't mind sharing?

[slink]

The map seed is 281, medium valley.  I believe I got it from Lady Crimson on the SRS forum.  My apologies if I've misremembered. 

It's a very nice map.  I built the colony of Shoshong on it some time back, which contained over 1000 residents, but not all in one market circle.   

[Bobbi]

Thanks, I usually play on large valley but I will check it out