Hey all!

I'm new here, but have played both VV 1 and 2 and just thought I'd throw some ideas and experiences out there and see if anyone else finds them helpful.

When I start my village, I name the 2 adults Adam and Eve (cliche I know) and then for the rest of the game, I use the alphabet to distinguish generations. An example as follows...

So, I just started a new tribe... Here's what the game gave me...

Latipa (f) - 26 --> change to Eve
Rongo (m) - 23 --> change to Adam
Dodo (m) - 15 --> change to Barry
Ema (f) - 13 --> change to Cathy
Bass (m) - 12 --> change to Cody
Bobo (m) - 9 --> change to Darren
Bati (f) - 4 --> change to Ellen

By doing this, it's easy to remember a) who you started with, and b) a rough idea of ages just by names.

Each new baby gets the next letter of the alphabet. And when you hit Z, just start again! You'll be far enough into it by then, it will be easier to keep things straight in your head, and not have to spend so much time in the Details screen.

Hope this helps!!

Caireann

********WARNING - MAY CONTAIN INDIRECT SPOILERS*********

Easy way to get Elders...

Another thing I do at the beginning is train everyone together. For example, I'll use the same villagers as above...

Adam is the trainee builder, but we won't worry about that yet. Most important is food. (Although you might want to start with a fire, as I think it helps with everything overall)

Have Adam, Eve and Barry begin fishing. OK, as it so happens, Barry dislikes swimming, so I'll start him researching. (Don't forget to mark off the corresponding 'skill' in the details screen)

Once they're all 'trainee farmers' (and 'trainee scientist' in Barry's case - and as your young ones come of working age, get them farming as well.) I leave them be until all the fish are gone. By this point you should have 3 (or more) adept farmers. But now there's no food! So get them all researching. You should have plenty food to sustain you until you have enough tech points to get the next farming level. Again, as the kids age, teach them to research.

Once you reach level 2 in farming, you should have 3 (or more) adept scientists. Change half the villagers back to farming (now Barry can farm!), and leave the other half on researching. Work them until they're 'masters'. When a villager reaches a 'Master Farmer' or 'Master Scientist' change them back over to the other skill.

Before long, your villagers will all be 'Master' level at BOTH farming and researching. And you should have plenty of food again. Now you can set your 'Masters' to building the hut and repairing the 'love shack'. Soon they'll all be Village Elders!!

Use this techinque as your kids grow. And my suggestion for when building opportunites get low is, parenting. (just make sure you have a good store of food and at least a few farmers) I would suggest to start your 'parents' at a young age so by the time they reach 'Master' they still have time to farm and/or research.

Also - healers can gain skill from "studing herbs". So you can help increase their level even when no one is sick.

I've been playing for about a week now, and I have 20 elders!! (not all still living of course )

Caireann