Has anyone here ever heard of a child chief refusing to 'direct work' on the construction of one of the village buildings? This one I have is nine years old, and is refusing to direct work on the construction of the clothing hut.

I have always preferred juvenile chiefs when possible because they have their longevitiy. And, I have never encountered a chief, juvenile or otherwise, that has refused to oversee building construction.

What does the action line say when you place the chief on the hut? Is it actually saying that s/he refuses to direct the work?

No, it does not actually say those words verbatim, but instead no matter how many times I place the chief on the building site, she always finds something else to do, i.e., "Inspecting the food," "Proud of the Tribe," "Thinking." I'm speaking here of a child chief that has not yet reached the age of 14.

I have already discovered that a child chief will not lecture other children until they, themselves reach the age of 18. They do produce magic food and point out rare collectibles every 24 hours.

Edited~ I need to clarify that the child chief WILL direct work in the science lab and in fishing, but not in building huts.

The Chiefs can direct any work.

I like the child chiefs because they also participate in collecting scientific items and mushrooms. The only construction they do for me is to direct work on the statue.

Two things wrong with having a child chief, as far as I have observed....they will not 'direct work' on the clothing hut, nor will they lecture other children until they are the age of 18. I don't know if this is a glitch -- if was specifically designed this way, or not, but I do love it when the robe fits a child simply because they will have a much longer lifespan than an adult chief.

I just had a sad thing happen. I started the game and didn't have time to play and thought I had paused it. I went back and all the adult villagers had died. The only survivor was a 2 year old little girl. I made her chief and she did make the fire, made magical food, and started the honey, she even buried the dead. But that's all she could do. She just kept running around 'Looking for Mommy.' I was hoping I'd get an event where some other villagers came to the Secret City, so I could start to populate the village. The little chief couldn't work in the lab or harvest food or build. I keep her going for a long time, until she was in her 50's, but she was very lonely. She had food but no tech points. And no new villagers came. So she also died, alone on the island. It was so sad!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww, that is sad. But I'm glad that you did stick with the game in hopes that there was an event that would give you more villagers. Sorry that it didn't work out.