I am on my umpteenth (okay, probably about sixth) tribe attempt now. The first two, I hadn't quite figured out how to keep them sustained with food, so everybody was on the way to dying and I started over. I expected that to happen, after VV1. (The first was very early, the second I didn't figure out the scarecrow until too late.) But now... every single time, I get some random event that takes away *huge* amounts of stuff. Several times in a row I got hit with huge food decreases when I hadn't yet opened up farming and was subsisting on my last few coconuts, this time I haven't yet gotten the first farming upgrade and I just got hit with a 3000 decrease in tech points.

I don't want to cheat and have a list of what responses to use or anything, that's not how I want to play the game. I would like to know, however, if this is just me somehow managing to get the worst possible chance cards... or if this is something others have encountered? I'm starting to suspect these aren't balanced very well considering how precarious the situation is at the beginning of the game.

there is a patch coming that will likely fix some of your problems. it is in beta testing now. we will probably here more about it next week or the week after, whenever the beta testers are done with it.

I usually get one person started on fishing right away and get everyone else on research, then keep the minimum (2-3) on getting food till you get L3 farming. Don't have kids too soon and until your village is well on its way, don't take chances on island events. Don't open the box, crate, etc. Yes I have gotten lucky on these events before, but as you're having a tough time at getting going in the first place, I would play it safe....I hope this helps a little