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[Rentahamster]

Playable beta patch is out:

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-04-30-want-to-help-test/

I like how he listened to the input from his first post about the patch.

A beta of the new patch (version 1.0.2) is now available on Steam. To get it you can opt into the beta by right clicking on the game in the Steam Library, select properties, and then pick the BETAs tab. You can switch to the Beta version 1.0.2.

While I’ve tested loading a bunch of save games from before the patch, I’d recommend backing up your save games before overwriting them. The new save games won’t work with the previous version of the game. Saves are located in Documents\Banished\Save\

If the community can give some feedback on the patch and make sure everything is working properly, that’d be great. If no major issues come up during testing of the patch, it will be come official in the next week or so and installers will be sent to all distributors.

In response to previous comments on whats changing in the patch, I’ve made a few more fixes and changes to game balancing:

* Citizens are now more effective at fighting fires and putting them out.
* When fires break out, citizens fighting the fire now run at high speed.
* Citizens working in an area where a fire breaks out will now be interrupted to help fight the fire.
* Fixed a bug that caused non-laborers to not fight fires.
* Citizens fighting fires will only be interrupted by sickness, freezing, or starving.
* Citizens will now only search for water in an area around the fire. Far inland areas need wells for fires to be fought.
* Increased the number of citizens that can fight a single fire to 50.
* Increased the area of effect for citizens fighting a fire.
* If enough water is brought to a building on fire, the chance of the fire spreading is lowered.
* Fixed a bug that caused buildings on fire not to be high priority.
* Fixed a major slowdown in large towns when fires break out.
* If citizens are already walking to get food at a distance location and become starved, they’ll now interrupt the walk and get food at the closest market or storage barn.
* If citizens are working far from home and become hungry, they’ll eat food from their home as if they brought food with them. This will not interrupt the current task. If no food is available at home they will interrupt the walk and get food at the closest market or storage barn.
* Because citizens can eat from home when far away, they can better deal with freezing, and visit a warm place when needed.
* Fixed a bug that caused citizens not to warm up when eating at home in some cases.
* Citizens now won’t be assigned far away tasks without a specific profession (pickups, gathering, clearing, etc) unless the tasks have been around for a long time, or haven’t been assigned to someone local. This keeps citizens far away from walking across the map in most cases.
* Citizens now limit the distance they’ll walk in the winter when it is very cold.
* Tombstones now decay in 4-6 years instead of 13-17.
* Existing tombstones have had their decay time reduced by half.
* The trading post volume was been increased to 60000. This allows larger auto purchases to occur without overflowing storage. Existing trading posts need to be removed and replaced for this change to take effect.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

This game is insane. But it's frustrating. It's really frustrating.


I've spend 10 hours just doing it over and over again. Either my population starves during the winters or they die of cold.



I'm doing okay now. Im not expanding too fast with houses. My market is close to my houses(within range). I switched from crops and pasture based farming to hunting and gathering. it seems more stable now, but even though I build a tailor I am not having any leather. what gives? I thought my hunters are supposed to bring back leather?

 

[smokeandmirrors]

i hope we see a modkit soon. the game is kind of boring but i find myself relaxing and playing when i get drunk

 

[Mengy]

I just realized that patch 1.02 is live now as of last week:

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-05-28-1-0-2-available/

I think I'll start a new game this weekend to chase after an achievement or two and to check out the new pathing changes.

 

[Rentahamster]

I just realized that patch 1.02 is live now as of last week:

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-05-28-1-0-2-available/

I think I'll start a new game this weekend to chase after an achievement or two and to check out the new pathing changes.

It's a decent improvement. I can't wait for the modkit tho!

 

[Orlandu84]

It's a decent improvement. I can't wait for the modkit tho!

Nor can I wait! I think that the mod kit will likely add dozens if not hundreds of hours of content to the game. Nevertheless, I am very grateful that the game has been such a solid contribution to the genre as well as the developer's continued support.

 

[Mengy]

Banished is on sale for 50% off on Steam for the next 48 hours:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242920/

That's $10 for this really great city builder survival game. Super great deal, if you are at all interested in the game now is the time!

 

[super-famicom]

Bought this game today, played 4 hours straight. Banished is digital crack. I'm having a lot of fun!

Question:
How do I get more citizens in my town? I know that nomads can come once you have a Town Hall, Market, and Trading Post. I built those and no one came for a few years. Eventually my town started dying of old age in year 10. How soon should I aim to increase population?

 

[Jintor]

Bought this game today, played 4 hours straight. Banished is digital crack. I'm having a lot of fun!

Question:
How do I get more citizens in my town? I know that nomads can come once you have a Town Hall, Market, and Trading Post. I built those and no one came for a few years. Eventually my town started dying of old age in year 10. How soon should I aim to increase population?

Nomads are not reliable. You should be aiming to have second-generation settlers and the like asap. Schools are therefore less desirable early game because they push the 'working age' up by about a year or so, depriving you of usable workforce when you most need it.

 

[Cerity]

Increase population ASAP. Kids are able to move out and start their own families at 13, 20 if you've got a school IIRC (haven't played for awhile). You need to keep on building houses for them to move into.

Also for anyone on the fence about this game due to the daily on steam, just jump in. You won't regret it.

 

[Jintor]

By the way, citizen years are a season, not an actual year

 

[Rentahamster]

Bought this game today, played 4 hours straight. Banished is digital crack. I'm having a lot of fun!

Question:
How do I get more citizens in my town? I know that nomads can come once you have a Town Hall, Market, and Trading Post. I built those and no one came for a few years. Eventually my town started dying of old age in year 10. How soon should I aim to increase population?

In this game, you have to keep building houses to increase your population. Otherwise kids will never move out of their parents' house and have kids of their own. A good, safe rule of thumb would be to build one house every year, or every two years. Make sure to keep up your food supply while you're at it.

Depending on how you can support a growing population, you can increase or decrease your rate of house building.

 

[Rentahamster]

Also, I actually prefer to build a school earlier than later. Sure you'll delay kids' entry into the workforce by a bit, but after they graduate, their output increases by a lot, some jobs see an increase of 100%. This more than makes up for it. You'll be able to acquire much more food with less workers, for instance.

 

[Mengy]

Also, I actually prefer to build a school earlier than later. Sure you'll delay kids' entry into the workforce by a bit, but after they graduate, their output increases by a lot, some jobs see an increase of 100%. This more than makes up for it. You'll be able to acquire much more food with less workers, for instance.

I agree, early education makes a huge difference. You just have to pace your expansion and growth slowly and accordingly.

With regard to Nomads, you need both a boarding house and a town hall I believe, then they come pretty regularly. I almost always turn them away though, unless I've had a huge population decrease due to fire or some other disaster.

 

[Sarcasm]

Trying to sell cards so I can buy this game..but 0.09 cents only gets you so far heh

 

[Gaz_RB]

Goddamn this game is good.

 

[Deadstar]

Goddamn this game is good.

I bought it but haven't played it yet. Looking forward to it.

 

[super-famicom]

Thanks for the advice guys! I started building more houses, and now lots of children were born. I'm also putting some houses by the forester and gatherer stations to improve work efficiency. I'm not yet in year 10 but doing a lot better than before.


Edit-
I'll probably restart (again), but I like doing that. Since starting the game, I've been playing on small maps with the hard setting. Any recommendations on what to build in the first 5 years? I've been going: storage yard and barn, 2 houses, then hunter lodge, fishing dock, gatherer. After that forester, wood cutter, and blacksmith, with a house to accompany each one. If I have enough food I'll open a trading post. Anything I'm doing wrong?

 

[Gaz_RB]

I bought it but haven't played it yet. Looking forward to it.

It's got a learning curve as most these games tend to, but it's certainly addicting. Almost...relaxing, but with moments of panic and terror haha.

 

[old manatee]

I just started playing this and I'm already forcing myself to play hard mode because I want a cart.

 

[Mengy]

I just started playing this and I'm already forcing myself to play hard mode because I want a cart.

I only play hard mode and on large maps now. I find that starting with the bare essentials keeps me growing safely, where the easy start has me planting fields and orchards before I really have the people to support them. And large maps gives me more expansion options and land to choose from.

And yeah, it is an addicting game.

 

[Arthea]

Tornado just killed all my population, that was shocking experience. Does it happen often? Can it be avoided somehow?
I can't believe I lost my town just like that in seconds.

 

[Rentahamster]

Tornado just killed all my population, that was shocking experience. Does it happen often? Can it be avoided somehow?
I can't believe I lost my town just like that in seconds.

Disease can be mitigated by having a hospital already built. Fires can be mitigated with smart building placement and wells. Not much you can do about tornadoes.

Unless you turn disasters off.

 

[Arthea]

Disease can be mitigated by having a hospital already built. Fires can be mitigated with smart building placement and wells. Not much you can do about tornadoes.

Unless you turn disasters off.

I should have turned off... wait if I load older save file and turn them off, it will work. I lose some progress, but it's better than starting over.

 

[Korten]

Hm.... Really debating getting this. I don't have many sim games.

Question, does the game last for a while? Or is it short?

 

[Rentahamster]

Hm.... Really debating getting this. I don't have many sim games.

Question, does the game last for a while? Or is it short?

At the current price of 10 bucks, it's a pretty decent deal.

I bought the game for 20 bucks, and have played enough of the game for it to come out to about 10-15 cents per hour played. Not a bad value.

 

[bengraven]

This game is insane. But it's frustrating. It's really frustrating.


I've spend 10 hours just doing it over and over again. Either my population starves during the winters or they die of cold.



I'm doing okay now. Im not expanding too fast with houses. My market is close to my houses(within range). I switched from crops and pasture based farming to hunting and gathering. it seems more stable now, but even though I build a tailor I am not having any leather. what gives? I thought my hunters are supposed to bring back leather?

God I want to play it, it sounds so much fun, but shit like this makes me worried.

I don't mind losing in a strat game, but man, this sounds like harsh.

 

[super-famicom]

Just finished a 4 hour session. In less than 24 hours, I've played Banished for 10. My town is getting bigger and bigger, just one more turn...

 

[Rentahamster]

God I want to play it, it sounds so much fun, but shit like this makes me worried.

I don't mind losing in a strat game, but man, this sounds like harsh.

The hardest part comes in the beginning, when you're still learning about the systems. As you get the hang of the game, it becomes kinda easy. It does have a learning curve, though. The hardest part most people have is keeping their population properly fed, which is why I called it the Starvation Simulator 2K14 in my Banished challenge thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=788912

As you can see, even on hard conditions, I was still able to cram a crapton of people in the map without anyone dying.

If you set the game to Easy and mild weather, the game isn't so hard.

Hey, in the end, it's only 10 bucks.

 

[Korten]

The hardest part comes in the beginning, when you're still learning about the systems. As you get the hang of the game, it becomes kinda easy. It does have a learning curve, though. The hardest part most people have is keeping their population properly fed, which is why I called it the Starvation Simulator 2K14 in my Banished challenge thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=788912

As you can see, even on hard conditions, I was still able to cram a crapton of people in the map without anyone dying.

If you set the game to Easy and mild weather, the game isn't so hard.

Hey, in the end, it's only 10 bucks.

I guess I must ask, when you do learn the system, does the game lose all semblance of challenge? Or is it able to keep the challenge?

 

[Rentahamster]

I'll probably restart (again), but I like doing that. Since starting the game, I've been playing on small maps with the hard setting. Any recommendations on what to build in the first 5 years? I've been going: storage yard and barn, 2 houses, then hunter lodge, fishing dock, gatherer. After that forester, wood cutter, and blacksmith, with a house to accompany each one. If I have enough food I'll open a trading post. Anything I'm doing wrong?

The first thing I ever build is a gatherers hut. It has the best food production per worker, and also provides a nice variety. Then a woodcutter so my people don't freeze. Then houses. I build one house next to the gatherer hut so that the workers are more time efficient. I try to build the gatherers hut as close to the cart as I can as long as there are enough trees.

At this point we are probably running out of tools, so a blacksmith is good, then a forester next to the gatherers hut to make more trees. I only build a storage barn when the cart is overflowing.

As needed, I try to make little productive forest pods that consist of: 2 houses, a gatherers hut, a foresters lodge, and a storage barn. They take up a lot of space, but they provide lots of food and wood, which are really needed in the beginning.

The trading post is the key to really exploding your population late game, but I don't really bother with it in the early game because it's kinda useless. The amount of goods that the merchant brings in scales to your population, so it's usually only worthwhile when your population nears about 100 people.

I like to build a school early since that allows me to get much more output out of the same number of workers. Without education, large populations are pretty hard to do.

 

[Rentahamster]

I guess I must ask, when you do learn the system, does the game lose all semblance of challenge? Or is it able to keep the challenge?

Yes and no. Once you know the basics of how to not get your people to starve, it's not that hard to keep it that way. Getting there in the first place is an uphill climb for most people, though, as they are getting familiar with the different food types, and the pros/cons of each food production building.

Once you get there, the challenge is in min/maxing the system and seeing how many people you can fit on the map. At this point, your supply chain and food production knowledge is put to the test as even a small bump in food production could lead to a cascade of failure if not properly prepared.

That's why I made that challenge thread, because at that point, a month later, most people more or less knew how to make a decent town that doesn't die in the first 15 years. It's one thing to make a town, it's another to make a town of 1000 all crammed into a small map that doesn't eat itself.

Some of the achievements are also challenge-oriented, and this was the first game in a long time that I actively tried to do all of the hard ones.

The developer is currently making a modkit, so once the community gets a hold of that, I'm sure more goodness will come out, but when that happens, the summer sale will be over, and the game might be at full price again.

 

[kubus]

I picked this up earlier when it was a daily sale (or flash/whatever) and I've played 8 hours already, in two sessions . So addictive...

Playing on Medium with normal conditions and I'm not having much trouble actually (this is my first citybuilder game ever). But you MUST do the tutorial. Not only does it explain what each button and option does, it also explains why and when you should use them. The tutorial consists of 5 chapters or so but they're very short and not annoying at all. I highly recommend it.

Once you start playing for real you will notice very fast what you should do and shouldn't do. The game punishes you immediately for making stupid decisions so you'll learn things very fast. Make sure new families can be started so your population can't die of old age, but don't build too many houses because you WILL starve to death. Focus on gatherers for your food supply first: they give a huge variety of food which benefits your people's health but they also give a steady supply of food. With crops and fruit, you can only harvest once in a year so you shouldn't rely on that too much [in the beginning]. Fish is good too!

Also make sure to build some Foresters in dense forests so they can chop down trees and plant new ones. I have three foresters now and there are trees literally everywhere even though I keep churning out 1000+ firewood a year. Firewood is essential, not only to keep your people warm but also for trading for new seeds and cattle.

My city is now at a population of ~45 and I got 12 students and 8 children. I'm very careful with expanding because I learned that starvation is the biggest threat in this game. Once the people are hungry you get dead bodies piling up very fast and this becomes a major problem for keeping your facilities running. So I make sure to keep a stockpile of ~1500 food.

Last advice: don't build a market too soon, not worth the materials. Hospital is useless if there isn't any sickness (but if you got the resources, build one to be prepared for one, just don't man it). School is very useful but only build one when you have a good base population to work with. Children will take their sweet ass time to become Workers if you have a school, but in return they're much more productive once they actually leave school.

Loving this game so far, glad I picked it up. And I'm still absolutely amazed by the fact that this was made by one dude. Like what the hell?!

 

[Mengy]

I guess I must ask, when you do learn the system, does the game lose all semblance of challenge? Or is it able to keep the challenge?

If you go for all of the achievements then it is very challenging. There are still a few I've not gotten. The achievements can act kind of like quests in the game, and some of them are not easy to get.

 

[Korten]

Well I bought Banished! Not sure when I will get to starting it, but I'll post my thoughts here sometime.

 

[super-famicom]

The trading post is the key to really exploding your population late game, but I don't really bother with it in the early game because it's kinda useless. The amount of goods that the merchant brings in scales to your population, so it's usually only worthwhile when your population nears about 100 people.

Thanks for the advice! I've already been doing the multiple forester/house/storage thing you mentioned. Didn't know that the traders' goods scale to your population, good to know.

 

[Rentahamster]

Thanks for the advice! I've already been doing the multiple forester/house/storage thing you mentioned. Didn't know that the traders' goods scale to your population, good to know.

No problem. Feel free to mess around with the ratios of buildings in those "forest pods" to see what works well for your own play style.

As for trade ports, make sure to notice how the prices of things change depending on which merchant visits you. Also try to pay attention to what kinds of goods have more trade value than others, all things being equal. in other words, which kinds of goods would be better to make and then trade for other goods. For example, making only good A and then trading it for goods B, C, and D. Instead of having production facilities for goods A, B, C, and D.

There are other protips this game has. Try to figure them out yourself after you get more familiar with the system. If you get impatient, then feel free to ask about more specifics.

 

[Korten]

Played the tutorial and then went on to my first game, everything was going fine... Then winter came early, most of the adults died and no children can work. Only lasted 20 min or so...

I'll try again later.

 

[Rentahamster]

Played the tutorial and then went on to my first game, everything was going fine... Then winter came early, most of the adults died and no children can work. Only lasted 20 min or so...

I'll try again later.

Welcome to the party!

 

[Arthea]

it seems you can't switch off disasters in midplay...
I had to start over, it's a pity as I was doing fine, my population was healthy and more or less happy, only its growth was rather slow.
I did no tutorials and so far I had no problems, until Tornado came and laid my town to waste.

Talking about population growth, is it supposed to be so slow?

 

[Rentahamster]

Talking about population growth, is it supposed to be so slow?

Sorta. You actually don't want it to be too fast, otherwise it'll outpace your food production. If you want it to be fast, build as many houses as you can so that all the mature kids move in and start having sex.

 

[Arthea]

Sorta. You actually don't want it to be too fast, otherwise it'll outpace your food production. If you want it to be fast, build as many houses as you can so that all the mature kids move in and start having sex.

I should have guessed that I need more houses built all the time, totally makes sense. I was building them but not fast enough apparently, as my storage was full and nobody was starving ever.

 

[Rentahamster]

I should have guessed that I need more houses built all the time, totally makes sense. I was building them but not fast enough apparently, as my storage was full and nobody was starving ever.

Just be careful. Everyone, at least once, builds too many houses too fast and suffers a catastrophic starvation cascade at one point or another.

 

[waby]

Having problem in increasing my population. I need those new laborers for mining and stone carving. Does the nomads only comes if I build the boarding house?

 

[Gaz_RB]

Having problem in increasing my population. I need those new laborers for mining and stone carving. Does the nomads only comes if I build the boarding house?

No they come all the time, regardless of Boarding Houses, though I recommend not accepting them as they are usually more harm than good.

As for your pop. growth, are you making sure that you're building lots of new houses?

 

[Vyer]

I don't understand the food system in this game. It seems like the stock just drops like a rock suddenly with no warning and barely any increase in population and then everyone starts starving.

 

[super-famicom]

I don't understand the food system in this game. It seems like the stock just drops like a rock suddenly with no warning and barely any increase in population and then everyone starts starving.

Are you keeping a stock of food in the trading post? If so, your trader is taking food from the barn to put in storage for future trades.

 

[Korten]

Okay started a new game today, 5(?) people died early on... BUT! I've been doing a lot better, my town is getting big, and I've managed to thus far, shave off hunger and warmth issues. Now it's just a need to get more people.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I don't understand the food system in this game. It seems like the stock just drops like a rock suddenly with no warning and barely any increase in population and then everyone starts starving.

also, it can snow early. You might lose a portion of your crops because of this.

Get trading going and your food problems are really easy to overcome. Get a few firewood choppers by a stockpile and a trading post and get to work.

 

[Rentahamster]

I don't understand the food system in this game. It seems like the stock just drops like a rock suddenly with no warning and barely any increase in population and then everyone starts starving.

When you're food stocks are low, sometimes you citizens engage in hording. One person will take more than his fair share of food back to his house, and this will cause the rest of your citizens to starve.

To avoid this, make sure to have at least one year of surplus food. Each citizen eats about 100 units of food a year.

Another way to avoid hoarding is to build a market. When you have a market, citizens aren't allowed to hoard.

In the early game, just make sure you have educated gatherers working on one to three forest pods (forester/gatherer combo). Eventually, when you have more resourced available, you can build a marketplace.

One thing I do when I first start out is to lay down the foundation of the marketplace, and then plan my city around that. You can lay down a building and then pause construction so that no resources are spent, but you'll still see the layout, and can use it for planning purposes.