I'm sort of getting frustrated, I've read the strategy guide but it's simply not detailed enough. Two nights in a row I left work and came back in the AM to find everyone dead.

This last time I had 600+ food, 10 tribe members, 6 were adults, I had no tech advancements yet, I had 3 people concentrating on tech, the fire had 9 hours left to burn, and I'm not sure why everyone died, I assume lack of food. I have yet to find any other source than fishing in the ocean but I had algae when I left work last night. The people couldn't climb for coconuts and as far as I can figure I can't farm the land without Farming 2, and I can't use farming 2 until I build a dam and irrigate which requires Engineering 2 I think. I haven't found the berries I've seen referenced here.

Is there a VERY SPECIFIC walk thru available that will at least help me get to the point where the tribe can sustain itself and I can go home on Friday and come back to work on Monday and they're all still alive and well?

Thanks!

Try pausing you game when you leave. I don't even leave it going over night.

10 villagers is more than the food supply can really support until your villagers have a more constant food supply. In the future, you can find out what happened while you were away by checking the game log immediately after you quit the game. The log is overwritten every time you start the game, however, so it must be examined right after you discover a problem. For more information about the game log, see the sticky post near the top of this forum.

There is a thread called Fan Guides to VV: The Lost Children in the Guide Section, which contains more detailed help, including a walkthrough.

I knew about the log, but obviously I wasn't expecting everyone to be dead when I restarted, and then it was too late :). This seems like the sort of game you'd want to not pause, otherwise it takes forever. Anyway, Village_Monk's guide appears to be what I was looking for. Thanks for the pointer.

The log contains the details of the last time the game was opened. So if you have a disaster, as long as you check (or rename the log to archive it) immediately (i.e. before you start the game again) it'll have the information.

It'll take some practice in discovering the best order to buy the tech upgrades and which tasks to assign your villagers. But that is part of what makes this game fun! If it was easy to solve the first time through, it wouldn't be as popular.

Most of the time that I start a new game, I'll pause it at key points if I'm going to be away from the computer. But there is a point where the village will survive on their own for hours, or even days at a time.

Good Luck!

actually, when you get engineering 2, you can build the dam and start farming after it is built. you dont need farming 2, that is for the coconuts

ARGGH!!! I paused the game last night before I went home (dam was 80% done), came in today and the application window was blank/transparent. ie, the process was still there, but you couldn't see anything in the game window (I'n not running full screen). I had to hit the red-x to close the window, then I restarted the game and it started me back at the beginning :(.

Oh well, I just kept restarting this time until I had a runner again (which I had the prior game, big help).

At least I think I paused, I just hit MENU, does that pause the game? I just want to make sure I get it right before I go home tonight and back up the game while paused.

I def don't want to mess this one up, I have 3 runners and one of them likes to work. Also have a swimmer.

To pause the game the simplest way is to hit the space bar. Alternatively go to the Options screen and choose PAUSE.

After pausing exit the game. From what you say, it sounds like you left the game open on screen and still running. In such cases a problem with the computer (perhaps when going into "sleep" mode or when a screensaver kicks in) could interfere and cause your savegame files to become corrupted.