Yes, I said Farmer, singular!

In a new game I started recently (hard mode, 1/2 speed, attempting another no-fishing village) things were going well. The Population was in the teens, I had L3 in Construction and Science, L2 in Farming, Medicine and Spirituality. One woman set as a breeder and she was producing a child every two years. The two eldest villagers had already passed away. Most of my adults were trained in Farming, Building, Science and Healing at some level. There were villagers already working on the ruins and digging for the treasure!

I checked in on the game yesterday and was disheartened to see that every died buy two Villagers, and Master Scientist named Guapi and a kid named Obi. They had run out of food, even though I thought that I had left enough for them in the food bin and had Farmers to collect the crops as they grew. They weren't all Farmers, so enough of them continued at the Science table as long as they could and there were enough point to buy L3 in Farming. However, a previous event shipwrecked a boat and the beach yet cleared (and 20% remained.)

Since I was completely out of food, and one year (200 minutes) until the next crop would come in, I knew that I needed the Fishing for Guapi and Obi to survive long enough to hope that they will someday find some women to continue their tribe.

First I let Guapi bury all of their tribemates while I helped Obi search for mushrooms. Obi was very good at that job and even found three rare red mushrooms! The Guapi got busy clearing the rest of the beach. Occasionally he got distracted and wanted to Research or Water the Crops, but I nudged him toward the correct job.

Once that task was done, I taught him how to fish (and checked that as his preferred task) and let him fish on his own while Obi continued to look for mushrooms. I felt confident that I left the two of them in good shape to survive another day and hope for a good event to come to their lives.

But when I checked the game today, the good news was that they were both still alive, and Obi's health had improved. But their food bin had diminished and as far as I could tell Guapi didn't Forage or Harvest while I wasn't working. (He may have Fished, but that didn't show up in the log, and as I said, the food bin was lower than yesterday.) (Lost 1600 crops!) He also didn't work at the Science table or the ruins.

The game is running "live" and he is now Fishing or Harvesting and occasionally Researching, but he probably knows I'm keeping an eye on him. BTW, he likes "work" and dislikes "ants."

Does anyone have any idea why he didn't Forage/Harvest/Fish while the game was shut off?

Maybe he was sick?

Which skill is Guapi best at

No, not sick. I would have noticed that (and given Obi some healing skills! )

He is a full Master Scientist, but I had his preferred job checked to be Farming, and log didn't show that he was doing researching.

Maybe he is just a slacker, ha. He sounds like some of y employees. When I walk into the department they are all bustling around and then I am informed by other managers they slack off when they think no one is wathcing. Anyway, I have had such occurences, I think maybe it is the randomness of the game, it can be frustrating, but at the same time it gives me more of a challenge now that my puzzles are solve. Especially for you since you are playing that game on hard mode. Good luck.

So I just opened up the game again, and sure enough, he didn't get any work done (Farming, Research or Building) in the last day. The game is clearly moving in time since he and Obi are getting older, more berries are on the bush and the log shows that Obi's health is improving, and crops are gorwing, but they are spoiling in the field.

I also noticed today that I didn't get an event. I also didn't get one yesterday, but I figured that might have been a random timing thing.

It really looks like that the game doesn't know that Guapi exists! (events only occurs if there is an adult in the village.) Guapi's health doesn't change, I also went back and checked the log (I saved it!) when the rest of the village died from starvation, and Guapi doesn't show up there until he started burying the other villagers.

It's possible that earlier in the game, he ate/drank something that changed his age, and the game is just waiting until he returns to that age, but I really don't remember.

ITMT, it is an interesting challenge for me to keep the game running for Obi's sake and hope for an event that will bring him a mate.

Today Obi turned 14 and an Event occurred (a celebration in Isola!) Guapi also aged three years, but is otherwise ignored by the game. If I have the window open and running he will Fish or Harvest, but not while the game is closed. (I'll try to keep track to see when the game notices him again...)

It's weird ignoring the mushrooms that popup, but Obi won't pick them any more.