I can't determine if I just made a mistake at some point in playing, or if I'm just really bad at this game, but I need some help. I'm on my first game that has lasted successfully for any amount of time (on the others I left the speed on Fast and forgot to check it for a day or two at a time, so all my villagers died). My problem is that I can't get my food store up to an acceptable level. I have 2-3 people either harvesting or foraging at any given time, yet right now for instance my food level is below 100. Is there anything I can do to get this situation flowing in a positive direction?

As long as you're not at zero, I wouldn't worry too much. If you have at least 3 of them harvesting and you keep at them to make sure that's what they are doing, you should be fine. Make sure you have people researching as well so you can get that level 3 harvesting. Then you won't have anymore food worries. Good luck!!

I have people researching, but the problem is they keep stopping to harvest or forage. Also, because of my lack of food (which I have pretty much had the whole game), I can't get anyone to breed, and my villagers are all in their late 40s - early 50s already.

Quick question. How many villagers do you have? In the beginning I put two villager on harvesting and the remaining three on research until I get level two in harvesting and until I get about 900-1000 in the bin, then I’ll take one villager off harvesting and put him on research. It is all-dependent on how many mouths you have to feed. With five villagers, or even six, one person can keep the food supply pretty level. But of course each mouth you add, they will consume more. With about 20 villagers you will need around 5 or 6 villagers doing food.

That does become a problem. I would keep at least two harvesting constantly and the others researching. They will start breeding easier once you get to about 400 food.

Having at least 500 in the food bin will also keep them healthy. Once food drops below this they start worrying about food, and seem to eat less to help conserve. By doing so their immune system starts to drop.

Right now I have a population of 7, five adults two children. I have three on research, one on harvesting and one on building. 1351 in the food bin. JFWI


Green=Edited

Warren, you keep putting JFWI.....am I being slow in not knowing what this is?

Eric, a few things I have learnt while playing...don't keep the game on fast even overnight when things are not running totally smoothly yet. I have mucked up many games this way. My solution is to pause the game if I am leaving it for an extended period of time. Running it on slow may also help lessen the deaths and disasters

I always try to aim for 300 in the food bin. This seems to be the magic number to stop the villagers complaining quite as much about food....however, there is usually the whiney on who continues to complain, and not look for food

The stage you reported your game at can be saved still, but takes a little bit of attention. I don't bother even trying to breed while food is low. everyone concentrates finding food, and if they seem to go off to do other things, I just drag them back to food gathering. I only set them off reseraching and breeding, when things seem to be going smoother. I think it has been mentioned elsewhere, that if they are highly skilled in another area, they may spend time doing the other task as well

After all that, good luck trying to save your game

Whoa, VillageIdiot... That's a lot of food.

I have 12 villagers (8 adults 4 kids), and i have 3 people on research and 5 on farming, and the food goes up to 400 about, but as soon as the crop dies and they have to water the field for a new crop, the food drops down as low as 50... Then the crop grows and it rises to about 350-400, and the cycle starts again.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm at Level 2 everything except for Medicine and Fertility. And I haven't had any floods to wash the food away, or anything like that. I'd love to keep a minimum of 300 in my bin, but I don't know how.

That's a lot of villagers to support from just the farm. It's usually better to wait to grow your population that much until you have Harvesting Level 3. It's going to be tight until your villagers learn how to fish. It sounds like you should be OK, though, as long as you don't make any more baby villagers until you have that next food source.

Thanks, Barbara Yes, it's a lot of villagers... But at one point my first generation kinda went crazy with the baby making. Right now everyone is young and healthy, so I may make it to the next Harvesting level with them all intact. Just 32000 more tech to go! Agh...

Be happy that you have so little food. I am very bored with my current game. I currently have 109,573 food in my bin, and am almost hoping that a typhoon will wash it all away.

When I first played the game I was lucky if my villagers could have 100 food in the bin. (with about 16 villagers at the time) I also had my game on fast and it almost wiped me out. Then someone suggested that I change my speed to slow until I got to Level 3 Harvesting. It made all the difference.

I am on level two of harvesting and the berry bush is empty and I have been planting and watering now for 2 years and nothing will grow... please help

Two years? What have your Sims been eating in the meantime?

Depending upon your game speed, it can take awhile for the first crops to show up. They should be along soon.

I used the Berry Bush until there were no more... I was able to harvest for a while and then I could.... so I went back to the berry bush. I had two people on the bush and 3 people on the fields.... One of my children was 11 turning 12 and now she is 14 and still no crops. Two of them are weakened now and will probably die soon.....

That's unfortunate. How many villagers do you have, by the way? You may have more villagers than the farm can support, so they're eating all the food before the next crop comes in. What speed are you running the game at?

I have 8 people in all. Running the game at Slow. Two are weakend and two kids (one by drinking the vile) There isn't any food to eat.... over 2 years no crops... is that normal?

Ok so now three people are weakened... is there a way to see when the crops should come in

i Guess i will turn the speed to fast and watch them die.... it's sad... This is my 4th time playing and the furthest I have ever came... I am on level 2 on Harvesting, Building, Science, and Spirituality. Solved 3 puzzles
Hours played : 72
Villagers Born : 2
Cured: 5
Buried :0
Oldest: 44
Village pop: 8
Food harvested: 3139
crabs:0
Tech points: 51713
levels completed: 4
events: 5

You should be OK with only 8 villagers. The farm takes longer (in hours) to replenish on slow speed than it does at the faster speeds. Two years is about right (8 hours at slow speed), although it's not precise, depending on how you run your game. I really think you should see crops soon.

4 people are weakened now.... is there a way to help them... the lagoon maybe

Yoki just turned 15 so that would mean a little over three years now... Maybe there is a glitch somewhere with my crops.

Until your food supply returns, there is not much you can do for them. Their health is probably declining from lack of food. Sometimes switching the weakened villagers to a "healthier" occupation seems to help - like farming or medicine.

all are weakened except 12 year old Achak... oh well... sigh... It's sad to see them go. we came soo far together. Release..........release......

Is there anything else that would casue the crops not to grow? Maybe I missed something.

There's nothing you can overtly do or not do to make the crops grow (or not grow) once you've purchased Level 2 of Harvesting. There have been rare reports of the farm occasionally taking too long to replenish, and this is being looked at for the v1.1 update. I wish I could give you more assistance, but there's really not much else that you can do but wait for the crops.

Nina is now 16, one villager died and still no crops.

how many villagers should i have to start researching lvl3 harvesting? i have 14 now, and farming, no fishing yet, and it seems to be not all right, 7 vills harvesting and the food osilating about 100. Should I aim for lvl 3 harvesting

That's what I'd do! You won't have a problem with food once your villagers know how to fish!

There's always a chance if you pause and then unpause the game, it might galvanize the crops to show??? But Level 3 harvesting is the best way to go!

all right then, I'll boost my research, but should I invent researching lvl 2 first in order to get 50 000 pts quickly?

I wouldn't. A 12,000 research point expense is difficult to overcome early in the game.

well too late, i did:) now its almost 50 000, with 7 vills working on farm and 7 on research table and one kid, and the village is periodically attacked by famine, but everything is turning up to be OK

Just let me make sure I'm getting this right. Nothing you do (ie. watering the crops, planting, etc.) makes any difference in the crops growing once your have Level 2 in Harvesting? So, I should probably have all available villagers doing research instead of watering and farming?

That's not exactly true! Village Sim is more complicated than that. Villagers will continue to gain valuable farming skill working the farm (even when there are no crops to be harvested), which will pay huge dividends a little later in the game. While putting all of your villagers at the research table during times that the farm is bare will not necessarily disrupt your tribe's immediate food supply, it will have an ongoing effect on overall food production. That will, in turn, affect how quickly you are able to grow your tribe, since increasing your village's population depletes the food supply more quickly. It's always a balancing act to decide where to deploy your villagers at various stages of the game.