I'm having a lot of fun with this new version and love all the adds to it. Such as the clothes, collectibles etc.

But I've noticed something and I'm not sure if it's a glitch or programmed this way.

In the first VV even when I was away from the game my farmers would continue to harvest the crops etc and still store the food. In this version if I'm not playing the game my farmers don't seem to bring the harvests in because my food is always back at or very near 0 when I start playing again.

I only have 21 villagers and several are farmers. Though now none of them want to fish, they only water the crops all the time.

So does anyone know if this is a glitch or just a harder aspect of the new version?

Thanks!
Chase

I have noticed the same thing, they sometimes continue to fish and harvest crops and other times they dont, unfortunately, I do not know if this is the way it is supposed to be

Please give me more details. What level food tech do you have? Have you built the dam?

With more information I can figure out if it is a bug or not.

Ok sorry folks if this is a bit of a spoiler but everyone should be past this by now,, If you let your villagers deplete the ocean and create the algea b4 you get level 2 farming with coconuts, the food situation will go smoother, and yes your villagers do farm while your away, at least mine do, you just maybe have too many villagers too soon, This is my second attemt, cause i had those same problems and i lost my village to starvation, so heres where im at. I have 11 villagers level 2 of each Farming engineering, science and exploration, and level one of everything else, I also just got the dam, so my crops are nice, were clearing the briar patch, i have also completed most of the puzzles that go up to that point, like the crate and herbs and stew and tools, i noticed everyone is in such a hurry to get to the end, why? if you take it slower and yes stop time traveling, it will be much better.

Okay, I'm confused. In what way will the food situation "go better" by allowing algae to develop before having the ability to harvest coconuts?

Thanks,
Jer
Optimists invent airplanes; pessimists invent parachutes.

I know its sounds oxymoronic, but it is true, my food situation right now is perfect, i have no problems, im just waiting for the briar patch to be cleared b4 i do anything else, i think its more to the fact that taking your time and not rushing through ,,, helps more then getting the algea,, but then you dont have to work as hard to get the algea by placing the villagers into the water every time cause their not fishing anymore with crops and coconuts

Arthur & Chase, I have noticed the same thing, where none of my farmers seem to want to actually gather food.

Here are my details: I have a population of 17, 4 of whom are farmers (one master, the others adept.) I have tech level 2 of farming. I have not yet overfished the ocean, the coconut trees are fully depleted, and the dam is built.

While the crops are growing, all my farmers seem to want to do is water the crops. Forget about fishing, even though there is no other source for food at the moment. "Worried about food," my foot! If you were that worried, you'd go fishing! Once I actually have crops ready for harvesting, the very first thing my farmers do is try to harvest coconuts!! No no no! There are no coconuts! The veggies are right there! Don't you want some nice crunchy carrots? Mmmm, cabbages! Alas, no, their first instinct is to go after the non-existent coconuts. (And sometimes go fishing, which I don't mind so much because if they do that at least they're bringing food in.)

Anyone else? Or is this a bug or a "feature"?

I have this exact same issue... I keep getting so FRUSTRATED!!!
K

I also am having this issue. I have the dam built and level 2 Farming. Every time I check the game, my food has been at zero and the ocean has alge so I can't fish, I just have to sit for hours and collect mushrooms and wait for the crops to grow so I can harvest them. I have at least 2 Master Farmers. It's very frustrating becuase I don't want my village to die of starvation. I only have a few more puzzles left to figure out
K

I had the same issue. Once your coconuts get down to miniscule levels, they'll stop climbing the trees and harvest the crops. I was pulling my hair out til then. You'll still get some with each crop, but it's not much. I found if I let them get the coconuts, as soon as it was to the "reserve" level, they went back to the crops.

If you want them to fish, you'll have to boost your population a bit & then make 'em fish til the algae arrives. (Of course, if you already have the algae, forget this.) Fortunately, when I finally got the algae, I wasn't far from the necessary level of tech to clear it up. Now, all they want to do is fish

I was down to only 6 coconuts on the trees and they still wanted to pick them, instead of harvesting the nice yummy tomatoes right next to the food bin...

Edited to add: Plus, that doesn't help the issue that when they're waiting for the crops to grow, all they're doing is watering, watering, watering, instead of fishing - as I said, I haven't overfished yet. I shouldn't have to babysit them THAT much that they can't even gather food on their own. Isn't that the point of setting their preference so that they can do these sorts of things when you're not there? Right now I have to make sure I set it to 1/2 speed overnight just so I know there will still be food there when I wake up.

I have had this problem also, throughout the game. Currently I have a population of 22, of whom 15 are farming (I took it down to the wire to get enough tech for Farming 3 ). Coconuts are more or less gone, but as soon as they get up to 20 or 30, everyone rushes over there to pick them, despite the fact that I have cleared the algae (thus leaving them a pristine fishing spot) and of course the irrigated cropland.

The cropland, though, is the real problem. As a couple people said above, it seems like all the farmers want to do is water the crops. Now again, I have 15 villagers farming. When the crops were growing, I had to keep babysitting them, dragging them back to the ocean -- at one point I'd stepped away and returned to find 8 of the 15 watering the crops! Now, the crops have come in, and suddenly nobody wanted anything to do with the farming patch. I had four people there, when they first came in, which has rapidly dwindled to one, and the rest of my farmers have suddenly decided they really like to fish!

I, too, am having the same issue here. Im at level 2 farming, I have algae, I have a scarecrow, and I was due for my next batch of crops and went out of the game. i expected that when I came back, I would have a field full and villagers harvesting but to my surprise, the crops were gone, it tells me I have 90 minutes till my next batch and there is no food in the bin. What the heck is going on? I have 22 hungry villagers to feed! Also, is it me or does this game seem to take longer to get tech points than VV1? I feel like it is going to take me days to get to tech farming level 3. Is there anyway to get tech points faster? Then at least I could clear up that algae and fish instead!

The problem I'm having is that unless I drag my farmers over to the ocean they won't fish! I have level 2 everything. Population of 21, out of those I have 2 Master and 1 Adept Farmers. They will pick the coconut trees bare then harvest the crops until they're gone, then they'll water those crops until until they come in, then pick them and the cycle repeats from there. I won't ever get the algae at this rate!

I was growing my population slowly because I don't want to have a food crisis, but I have it anyways, and I shouldn't be having one if they'd only FISH!

Sorry about it taking so long to respond back.

I have level 2 on everything, and have not yet had the algae.

I have 21 villagers, half working on tech the other half as farmers. All the farmers want to do is water the crop. The only way I can get them to harvest is to be playing when the crop comes in and drag them over to it each time.

Then, like others they want to go get the coconuts. They don't want to fish at all anymore, but I've not gotten any island event about having the algae. I've been waiting for it so I could cure it and finish out the farming.

So unless I am playing the won't fish, pick coconuts or farm because the food is always at or near 0.

I, too, seem to have farmers who want only to harvest coconuts, both when fish are available pre-algae, and when crops are available. Of course this is frustrating, as I would like to use the coconuts in a similar fashion as the berries from VVI, to fill gaps while crops grow.

Along the same lines, you are not able to grab a villager off a coconut tree during climbing. I'd like to have the ability to stop their annoying harvesting midway up the tree just as you can any other time until they get the coconut in the bin.

Finally, in VVI and VVII, if you gather all your villagers in the crop patch just as the crops are about to be exhausted, they can all take in a full bushel, so long as they don't shake their head, and they start harvesting before the first villager reaches the bin with the last of the crops. I like this "cheat," as it rewards those who are not time traveling or away from the game. Nevertheless, I have always been curious if this is purposeful or not.

Miscellaneous: I changed villagers names, but the genealogy does not change... will this resolve in time?

You can grab a harvester off a tree. Just grab at the base of the tree they're on and you'll get them.

The genealogy disappears when they turn 18.

I noticed this issue myself, that my farmers wanted to harvest the coconuts before anything else. By the time another child came of age to farm, the coconuts were already being hogged by my first two farmers. My new farmer was perfectly happy to fish though, and leave the coconuts to the first two. Even with the farm and algae, the farmers went for coconuts as soon as they had grown. Now that I'm post-algae, the farmers seem to actually want to fish again, but the coconut-before-farm logic seems a little skewed.

I seem to be having the same problem. I am at level two on everything. There is algae in the ocean so they don't fish. They have depleted the coconuts, and the fields and they only have 615 food points. The next crop is due in 90 minutes. I have 16 villagers. Before this the crops were coming in every 30 minutes or so. Is this a normal occurance? One other thing.. is it normal that reasearchers and farmers become masters quickly, but builders take years. I have one builder that was an apprentice builder as a child, and they still have not become a master even though they are in their twenties, and only work on building.
Thanks for the help, and despite these little problems, I love the game.

Could have been describing my game. I had to leave the game alone all day yesterday due to other responsibilities and this morning found four dead (I think my max population has only been 15 so far). Two dead adults and two dead 9 year olders. I don't get it! Why do I need to babysit them when they have a cleared ocean, the coconut trees and crops? I don't know how to "time travel" as I read many refer to, so to get as far as I have took hours of my time. I still like this game and still have puzzles to solve but I don't have a lot of hope my villages will survive over the long run.

We are working to improve the game's AI for the upcoming update.

I had this problem too, and this won't solve the problem but I found the revitilising stew helped.

It is a pain but I'd just heal everyone (if they got sick because they were starving) then make the stew. It just means you are less likely to lose people because they are starving as the stew completely fills up their health bar. In the meantime, I'd have as many on tech as possible and not worry to much about what they farmed.
In effect it was: as many people on tech as possible while people starved. Come back, heal and serve stew. Repeat until food problem solved.

Like I said, I can't solve the problem but this did help in the meantime for me.

PM me if you want to know what the stew is or you can find it on posts.

Hi LadyEmz, thanks for your help. I can't believe how devastated I was when I found out two of the children died! LOL, afterall it is just a game. Anyway, I ended up starting over again and this time I put my energy first into getting the crops going then switched all adults (I only have 9 people and two are children) into tech except for one adult. I haven't yet started the game this morning, so I'm crossing my fingers that they will still be alive. Oh yea, I also put the game on 1/2 time overnight. So we'll see.

This is almost exactly my situation except I have 22 people now, 3 Master Farmers, 7 children, and the rest Tech and 1 builder. I went to bed with 2800+ food to wake up to less then 1400 food and them merrily watering the crops again! Ocean is still not over fished! It's not fished at all unless I MAKE them do it! I have noticed now they will start watering the crops while I still have 2-4 coconuts left on the trees.

What sense does it make to have them Watering Crops with bowls of water in an irrigated field when there's an ocean with fish in it to harvest? I need to start building my population and I don't dare with this situation going on.

Grrr, My game's on pause until I get an update that fixes this mess or they're all gonna die while I'm not looking. I cannot spend 12 hours a day making sure they have enough food to last through the night!

Well, my daughter inadvertently solved my food glitch! She was playing around with Elder Tamil's preferences and changed him from Researching to Parenting and guess what happened? Yep! Every single adult woman is now caring for babies!

In desperation I threw everyone left into the ocean to get fish so they all wouldn't starve and there comes the algae! Good thing I'm only 10k short on tech points for Farming 3.

I have everyone now working on tech points until the crops come in. Shouldn't take that long, then I can finally progress.

(RE:LadyCFII)

I can't wait 'cuz the only time my game isn't paused is when I'm playing it. After leaving it go for about 6 hours on half speed my food depleted way too fast and my 2 farmers were slacking by the pond and everyone else was working away right where I left them.

I know that since the game is already out it is probably too late for this. But my thoughts would be since the field is irrigated that they would not perform the Watering action at all. Instead, I would prefer them to do something like Weeding the Crops.
Also, it would be nice if working the cropland would give a benefit in addition to increasing skill. For example, after a certain number of succesful actions on the field, the crop timer decreases a set time. (Sample: weed the field successfully 3 times by a master farmer, time to next harvest decreases by 1 minute.)

you're all so lucky to still have food left to brew stews or keep them alive for some time.

i have algea, ran out of coconut, some wind that makes them slower, crows on the field all the time, 35000 tech only (so there's still another 55000 to go to solve the algea problem with slower villagers) another 102 min to go on the field and NO food left at all - and this situation started already 30 min ago when I was still down to 28k tech and the coconuts still haven't replenished - I'm going nuts here swooping around looking for mushrooms - just have a couple of min to relax now a red one popped up!

Have you completed the 3rd puzzle yet that would at least stop the crows bothering you?

no obviously I haven't :-(
but I'll manage somehow - just found another red one, now there's over 60 in the bin - at leas that'll last until I was able to fetch myself something to eat t ;-)

Yeah, I'd be working on that third puzzle, if you want to save your village. I thought the crows were random the first game I played, then I went to bed, and woke up to a dead village. All is well now though... I started my second game much more efficiently, and now I'm stable and working on building a thriving settlement.

this is it - I've got enough!!!!!!!!!!

finally I'm down to 0 minutes until new crops and then there's this ****************** message telling me that the birds ate my crops before my villagers could harvest them!!!!!!!!!!
I've got 14 left in the bin, I'm having a headache of the last two hours of searching for shrooms and that's the output ???!!!'*'*'!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

oh well - looked the solution up in the guide, I got so frustrated - I really intended on finishing everything of myself.well i had, hadn't it been for the right villager set on the wrong preferences.
now: no crows, almost no food, 207 min to go for crops, 32k to go for fish. but somehow they'll survive

I have four vilages running at the same time right now, and I have found that the one helpful thing is to not buy level two of farming tech unless you absolutely have to. On my newest vilage, I was able to get the population up to about 20 with no deaths and I was just farming. I was able to survive untill i could get level two and three of farming tech at the same time. It really helped to keep the farmers focused on the farmland. One question, how do you get the dam built before the alge comes? I have never succesfully been able to get enough pionts to even start building the dam before the ocean is overfished.

had the dam long before there was the slightest hint of algea - dunno why

I started a new village yesterday.
Start with 2 fishing up to about 200 - 300 points then one to research.
3rd one on research from the start.
Next child old enough to farming, farmer to research.
Enough points Farming first then engeneering.
Move 2 researchers on to the main building project (not the huts)
Once thats done food is not a problem and I get one builder back to research and start the babie boom (1 at a time)about 4 yrs between, keeps kids handy for collecting but not overpopulating.
And try and get the points for the Science upgrade which makes the points come faster. So many points needed. Will I ever get there.(YES)eventually.
Up to now no alge.
Hope this helps.

CROOOOOOPS!!!!!!!!! Finally I made it!!!!!!!!
They won't starve, we're close to finishing off the algea and I'm happy again. what a day!!!! :-)))))