The Strange Plants

This question if for the folks at Last Day of Work. There are a lot of threads about getting master doctors, but I have seen no comments from the LDW crew. So, my question is:

Why are the little villagers programmed to stop studying the strange plants as soon as they reach Adept Doctor?

This is one of the most frustrating things about this game, I love watching them walk across the island studying the plants (except for the sticky spot, gggrrrr), but then they stop !!

Please respond, LDW !!

That problem has been aired earlier. I believe it will be addressed in the update

And does that indicate anything to you?

Arnie, what it indicates to me is that there are a lot of bugs in this game that should have been worked out before it was released. All of the bugs from VV1 are still there, plus many more now.

No, not all of the bugs. There are many things that were problems in VV1 that are not any more. For instance: everyone in the village trying to bury dead villagers, women caring for babies late in life and then the baby also dies when she does, etc.

Yes, some bugs may still exist, and some may be new to VV2, but many were found and fixed before the game was released. If LDW waited until every _bug_ was fixed, the game might still not be released.

The LDW folks worked very hard to produce such an extraordinary complex game, and there were under time constraints by their "publisher." With all of the "match three and get points", or "repetitive mouse clicking" games on the market, the LDW games are a wonderful change.

Please try to be a bit more understanding.

Besides, it is possible to get Master Doctors without them studying the plants, and it is not necessary to the game to have a Master Doctor. I even have one game in progress where they didn't complete the herb puzzle (yet) but I haven't really needed an doctors; the stats show that I've only cured 13 villagers. (The oldest is now 54...)

sfrose, you don't need to get so defensive. I asked one question about the programming of the little villagers. Now this is going to turn into yet another thread about getting master doctors and that is not what I asked. sigh

Besides, I thought the little villagers carrying dozens of skeletons to the cemetery was wonderfully macabre, and I am disappointed that the cut off age for having babies is only 50. I wish I could bring my little villagers from the first game into the second game.

If you read the third installment of Arthur's Developer Blog you'll have an answer to your question.

zippie, sorry, but your mad icon set me off, and your complaints about the bugs seemed un called for, so that prompted my response.

Thanks, Barbara, that was interesting, but it didn't really answer my question as to why they stop studying the strange plants. Do you mean that the developers don't know why they stop their studies?

And sfrose, I'm sorry that I used an icon that you didn't like, but I am entitled to my opinion. I've had 3 villages running on VV1 since September, and the villagers in VV2 are just programmed differently in this game. The builders won't fix huts until the thing on the beach is uncovered. And if you take a master scientist and put them on farming, then that is what they will continue doing, even though you haven't checked that skill. There are a lot of great things about this game. I thought the way the puzzles played out was fiendishly clever the first time through the game. The graphics and added behaviors of the children are wonderful. My grandson loves the collectibles. However, after playing the first game for so long, I just find a lot of things frustrating in this version. So, I'm entitled to be a bit about it if I want to. I hate that they go grey at 55, that just seems too much like real life. And I'd prefer just to F6 my way through their clothes, and not have the sewing hut there to block the exercisers. It's cute to have the hospital, but the doctors get stuck pacing back and forth above the hospital. I miss having the drum to summon all the children. All computer games have bugs, and nothing in life is perfect, but I guess I just prefer the first game.

Actually, zippie, I think it did answer your question. You asked why the villagers were programmed to stop studying the plants when they became adept, and Arthur's answer is that they weren't programmed to do that. They were programmed to make their own decisions, and that's what they decide to do. Much of what the villagers do is not predictable ahead of time. We do the best job we can of coding and testing within the time constraints that we work under.

The builders won't fix huts until the thing on the beach is uncovered. And if you take a master scientist and put them on farming, then that is what they will continue doing, even though you haven't checked that skill.



That actually isn't exactly true.

If you put a scientist on farming, sometimes they will continue to farm for a while but most of the time they go back to researching.

And the builders will fix the huts even if the crate is not opened yet.

Sharon

zippie, you said that I shouldn't get so defensive. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, but when you say that you are "mad" by using the icon, and then complain about the bugs and everything else that you find wrong with the game, I'm entitled to my opinion to defend the LDW developers.

It happens that I agree with many of the things you are saying, I just don't feel that the programmers should be put down because there are bugs in the game, or that they won't fix things that you feel should be fixed.

I am sure that others have noticed that you can get a jump on getting a Master Doctor by having children heal. I have got several to trainee doctor before they turn 14. A couple had the preference for it, but at least one was just the closest person when I noticed someone was ill.

Since this is a topic about the plants, I would like to say that the picture of the herbs in the guide is incorrect in one aspect. They picture the white herb incorrectly. They enlarge and outline a piece of rock. The herb itself is a little below that, and it sorta looks like a peacock feather.

I can tell you for a fact that I have had several Master Doctors that I have not done anything to create. When your tribe gets large, the puzzles are mostly solved, etc., you'll find that you'll get Master Doctors, Master Researchers, Master Builders, Master Farmers that really motivate themselves. At the same time, you'll also end up with 70 year olds with absolutely not skill one after all that time unless you bully them into it.

So, I'm quite confident that there is no automatic programming that turns off Adept Doctors ability to self-teach.

Tess

Thank you, LadyCFII, that did answer my question. Thank you for not deliberately programming them to drive me crazy.

I have noticed that healers continue to learn the strange plants by their own only if they are not appeal to do something else. I mean, if "healing" is their most important skill. If they are master scientist (for example) and only adept doctor, they prefer doing any thing else except studying the plants. I had villagers, after that all puzzles are solved, who are only healer and they became master doctors!
I don't know if it is the only explanation but I think it is one of them.

i've noticed the same thing laurence

if my doctors have training in any other category, they never become master doctors (stew induced training aside)

but if they are only trained in healing, they become master doctors fairly quickly

OH NO, not another person moaning about glitches!!!
As long as the glitch doesn't blow up your computer just chill.
Yes the villagers in vv2 act differently to the ones in vv1. They live on opposite sides of the island and until now haven't mixed. In real life people in towns next to each other do the same thing differently, that's what makes humans interesting.
I think you and pinkfish might get on quite well, look up some of his posts.

I usually make healing the second speciality (mostly after research) so they are already masters in one skill. I've had several become master doctors and quite a few have gone on to learn a third skill and become Elders. They haven't gone around the plants studying on their own though; they've only gained skill if I've manually dropped them on a plant to study or by healing people.

has anyone had an adept healer and then put them on another task? do they still study the plants on thier own???

i think i need to try that

would work better with a newish game though where the 14 year olds aren't coming up with skill already

Eyeshigh, I tried that, and they stopped studying the strange plants. Even if healing was the only thing they knew how to do, they stopped. They still heal sick people, but that's about it.

you gave trained adept or master healers training (3 ticks of the bar) at farming, building, or parenting, and then they change behavior? or did you make them do something else once and they stopped?

Yay For Emergence! I sure hope you can improve on that, once you know how to do it.

eyeshigh, I'm going to try to print a picture of my doctor. She has always been clicked on healing. She had a little bit of building skill from the Exercise Stew. I taught her how to farm and research, it gets annoying just seeing her "enjoying the pond" when there is so much work to do !!

edit: ok, the image won't post, I don't know what else to do, I've followed all the instructions. Anyway, her blue tubes are all at the exact same level, which is sort of strange. I'll keep working on posting the pic of her.

its okay if you cant get the pic posted

the question is, what order did she learn those skills? did she become an adept/master healer before she had any other skills?