Is to try to complete 15 of 16 puzzles without losing a single villager (well at least not to old age and not counting fatal choices for events). The remaining puzzle would obviously be the graveyard.

that would be quite a challenge! I'll have to try it in my next game.

YAYYY! I did it at "normal" level - only succeeded at easy before. My eldest was 73 and she hung in there. Now I <sniff> have to finish the final puzzle when she dies. Or I could leave that game on pause forever... lol

Thought I'd send the stats page too

I am way past impressed! I only got a few puzzles solved before I lost my first villager ~sniff~. I think part of the problem was not watching the progress of game carefully enough so there was a big gap in the population. It's tricky to find the right balance since the tech points build up faster when you're NOT watching!

If you could PM me with your strategy on this amazing accomplishment I'd really appreciated it. Not that I've become OBSESSED with this game or anything - I only downloaded family tree software to try and better control the gene pool!

Here's my best results to date with this challenge.

You're right about one thing... I don't think it will work unless you put it on "pause" every time you're away... makes for taking much longer to complete. will PM

I just achieved that goal. My eldest is 71 and healthy. Let's hope he stays that way for a while (in 2 games, I haven't had anyone live past 77). I achieved this in Normal mode and did not use pause at all; rather, I kept it at 1/2 time. My current population is 23, but 2 of those villagers are "guests"--that is, not born with the group but found elsewhere.

BTW, how many children must a woman have before she gets out of "trainee parent"?

Well, it depends. The breeding (parenting) skill is increased with each kiss, not with each child. The more "tries" it takes to produce a child, the more skill the villager gains. Also, a villager gains skill in an area only by initiating the activity. So, if your women are being "courted" by the male villagers, the men will get the skill (even though the mom is the one who cares for the child). That's just how it works.

YAYY!!!Congrats, parcay

Thank you for that response. I figured out that the initiator got the points, so I ensured that it was always the female. My parent kissed many times before she finally bore and since has mothered 5 children. She is the only one for whom I have checked Breeding. She's getting a bit on in age to continue this, but she's the only one with a chance at being even an adept parent. Anyway, it's just another challenge of the game, especially as I prefer a low population growth. When I look at my other game with 35+ villagers scattered hither and yon doing mostly laundry, I cannot imagine a village with double or worse, triple, that population. Egads, they already look like ants in a colony

<really wants to know of this family tree software...>

I had a trainee parent who was aged 68. She was nursing until a little while before she died. For most of her life she was 'untrained' until I thought I'd give her something to enjoy, and clicked against 'Breeding' in the Detail panel.