Cantr II Discussion Forum

I'm struggling to find new-ish games that have the same appeal as Banished, where you start with nothing and have to build a colony from just what's around you. Any tips?

Please only respond if you know the type I'm talking about - I've seen so many discussions elsewhere where people suggest things like Age of Empires - argh!

The Anno games, definitely.

Unless 'uncontrollable death spirals because I wasn't paying attention to the stockpiled' is a necessary part of the experience for you, in which case, uh...Dwarf Fortress?

Thanks Marian, both answers are spot on, but unfortunately I have also played those to death. Anno could be good to try again though.

And you gotta play it with mods! I have plains (so all flat land), extra large map, stable population, more wood/stone/iron per, 4000 fish per year per dock (I forget the mod name), and smarter AI. I was reaching a population of 1,500 before it started running uncomfortably slowly on my computer.

returner wrote:And you gotta play it with mods! I have plains (so all flat land), extra large map, stable population, more wood/stone/iron per, 4000 fish per year per dock (I forget the mod name), and smarter AI. I was reaching a population of 1,500 before it started running uncomfortably slowly on my computer.

That's all well and good but how do you make your villagers make more villagers? I always feel like I'm trying to breed panda bears or something, they just won't get it on. I know there's some trick with kicking everyone out of their huts to make them reassemble into better households but I still must be doing something wrong, there would eventually be this huge die off of old people and then I didn't have enough workers left to recover.

Oh, and it's not actually out yet, but if you're a fan of city builders and the Victorian era and urchin exploitation and Perfectly Safe eldritch abominations and being eaten by fish men, Clockwork Empires might be right up your alley.

Marian wrote:

returner wrote:And you gotta play it with mods! I have plains (so all flat land), extra large map, stable population, more wood/stone/iron per, 4000 fish per year per dock (I forget the mod name), and smarter AI. I was reaching a population of 1,500 before it started running uncomfortably slowly on my computer.

That's all well and good but how do you make your villagers make more villagers? I always feel like I'm trying to breed panda bears or something, they just won't get it on. I know there's some trick with kicking everyone out of their huts to make them reassemble into better households but I still must be doing something wrong, there would eventually be this huge die off of old people and then I didn't have enough workers left to recover.

Firstly, are we talking about Banished?

Secondly, don't build Boarding Houses! Well, not more than one early on. Invest in actual houses asap - once food sources are stable. In the early game - hunters are best. Don't cram too many hunters in the same location and make sure they've got plenty of forest to hunt in. Get a market near the houses, build a town hall and a trading port and you'll start to receive "Nomads" if you haven't already.

If you're struggling, read some strategies and wiki pages!

Space Colony hits the same buttons for me.

I have banished, and at some times have streamed it. In any case I should do a tips and tricks video on how to thrive on banished if you absolutely can't wait however, go ahead and message me and I can fill you in.

I guess I just need to sit down and read some strategies sometime.

My villages always start off really good, they have plenty of food and plenty of houses built, but it's like kids will never voluntarily move out of their parents house to go start their own households and the population dips massively when the original settlers start dying off and never recovers. I know there's a trick of setting all houses to be demolished and then unselecting them shuffles everybody around, it helps some but is never enough.

I've tried Banished but I felt discouraged after a few minutes, I don't know why.

I've recently started to play Cultures (by Funatics). It's a simulator of a viking settlement, focused on building and micromanaging people. I've played Cultures 2 in 2003-2004 and now I'm trying to complete the original game. The main issue with it is that it's extremely slow-paced. But it's fun anyway, at least when I play it when doing something else at the same time.

Give Banished another try. Force yourself to play for 20 minutes. Get the UI set up how you like (e.g. map in the top right corner, events in bottom left, resources etc in top left).

Just try building stuff and see what happens. There's always this huge learning curve for RTS games - BEFORE you can even play it. Once you get the core concepts, then there's usually another huge learning curve to actually succeed or thrive. Get past the first one and you'll be hooked, I promise.

I've just realized this post is 2 years old, but I will reply anyways.

I am an Indie game developer, and my team (unfortunately it is myself and one other) are developing a game in a similar vein, but instead of being a god like player who controls a town and no player individually, you play as a single characters (or group of characters). For the most part (and in the first release) you start as just you in a more or less a survival situation. Every world you make is a procedurally generated globe, and will spawn with NPC's and towns (eventually but not in the first release). We also have plans to make a city builder in it (eventually) where you can band together with NPCs (we do eventually plan on making a multiplayer version) to make towns, trade, etc. It is meant to be generational, meaning you can make a family in the same world and play for generations, OR 'retire' a character into the world at which point you can actually run into them on a new character.

I'm pretty sure we are close to a first release. I was going to make a thread before first release, but I figure it doesn't hurt to throw it out there now. There is currently only the facebook page that we post updates to if you are interested in following development.

https://www.facebook.com/syndhal/

That's similar to a game I've always wanted to make.

So naturally I LOVE it.

Please let me know if I can help in any way.

e.g. I could give you free or discounted hosting at https://fairhost.com.au - or technical advice, support, game design... community building...

You should start a thread for your game!

Yes, that definitely looks interesting. I'm especially interested into an environmental mechanics.
I've just looked at it, but I've seen something about volcanoes. Does it mean when you are unlucky with selecting a place to live you and your town can die without a chance to run away?

In Banished? Or their game? There's no volcanoes in Banished.