This my first time playing VV 1, but I have been playing it for awhile now. My problem is that no matter what I do I can't get a Master Builder or Master Farmer. Two of the original people have passed on after 70+ years. I've completed 9 of the goals, and have all of the upgrades. I've made sure to put preferences on each person, and they have been working their butts off on those tasks. Surely after 70+ years I would have a Master Builder or Master Farmer. Am I missing something?

Very perplexed,

Matt

First I must welcome
so a welcome you'll get
then to your subject
I'll go in a bit.

For questions like these
to the right place you've come.
We'd like to invite you
to join in our fun!

And after a while,
an expert you'll be
then you can try
to help out Newbies!


OK, now that I've properly welcomed you I've got a couple of questions/suggestions. First, What skill level is your game set too? If it's set to "hard" then it is very difficult to get a master or complete any of the tasks.
My suggestion is that you start your 1st game in easy mode, but since it's already in process, you can still change it to easy.
Just go to your options menu and set the difficulty level there.

My other suggestion is to set your game speed to 1/2 unless you are actually playing it then go to normal speed. I don't suggest 2x speed until you're fairly adept at the game, and even then be sure to set it to 1/2 or paused when you're going to leave it for very long.

Finally, in the VV1 section of the forums page (near the bottom) you will find a section that has some good strategy tips and some hints for solving puzzles etc. Be careful of anything that has "spoiler" in the title because these WILL give away game events etc that you may want to figure out on your own.

Have fun, and be sure to write back if you need more help.

Thank you for your kind welcome. To answer your questions, I am playing on the easy level, however I am playing on 2x. I don't understand the whole speed thing and I haven't found a good explanation of it either.
In my first tribe I got a Master Farmer but not a Master Builder or Master Scientist. This time I got a few Master Scientists but not the other two. I'm feeling like it's impossible to get all three.
I have read through several study guides and try to blend them. One guide said to have all of the tribe work on research, farming, or building until they master it. So I started off with Master Scientist (gosh that takes a very, very long time to achieve). It now seems to me that they can't be a Master in more than one thing. Another guide said to have 2 people on foraging, 2 on building, 2 on farming until they master it. It also mentioned having 2 healers, but the highest I get with that is Trainee Doctor.

I am open to any and all suggestions :-)

Perplexed,

Matt

I've never had any problems getting villagers to master skills. Master scientists are usually the quickest to reach master, since they don't have far to walk and usually stick pretty close to the research table. If I put 2 villagers on farming, 3 on research, and 1 on building at the beginning of the game, after 10 hours on fast speed at the easy setting, I will have 2 master scientists, with the rest of the villagers adept, but well on their way to master.

It can be more difficult, but not impossible, to get master builders if you have too many villagers working on building projects, since each villager's share of the work is reduced and they don't gain as much skill. As long as you have their preference set to building, they will fix huts and gain skill when there are no construction projects to work on.

Once your tribe has attained level 3 of farming tech, farmers should be able to reach master easily, as well, since there is no limit to the skill that they can gain.

Female villagers who spend a lot of time increasing the village population will have a harder time at mastering skills.

One more little thing, not really a big deal. To the best of my recollection, in VV1 you do need a master builder to solve a couple of the puzzles and a master scientist to solve 1 puzzle. I won't tell you exactly which puzzles these are unless you specifically ask me, cause I don't want to spoil any surprises for you.
Other than that, in VV1 the only real advantage to having masters are that master scientists gain tech points faster than and master doctors will heal villagers faster.
While it's certainly nice to have masters in all the fields, with the exceptions noted above, they aren't a major advantage to the game or necessary for completing it to success.
(don't worry, if I'm wrong about this somebody will surely correct me post-haste )
Now when (not if) you move on to VV2, that's a whole nother scenario. There you'll need, and want, masters a plenty and the sooner the better!
Enjoy you're game, you'll soon be an addict like the rest of us!

There are advantages in all fields to having masters, although not all of them are related to puzzles.