Where is a runner best?

I just started a new village and got a runner! YAY! Where is a runner most valuable, builder, farmer, researcher, doctor or breeder?

I put the runner on food & everyone else on research. When he plucks the bush dry I switch to building. Runners for me seem to leave the research table to often.

I think there most valuble at research or being a doctor...

Runners seem to work best as farmers and builders. Really any job that requires walking (or running in this case :P) will make the best use of runners!

I agree with Warren. I like to use mind for farming if I am in a new village that is vulnerable for food, otherwise building. They are great for clearing the beach and the lagoon.

I'll start them with farming, then, when there is a pretty good surplus, I'll switch them to building. I'll take somone off research (probably) to train up as a farmer in her place. They are great on most building jobs, particularly hut-building, clearing the beach, unblocking the lagoon, and watering the field. They are pretty much wasted on research, medicine and breeding.

i agree a runner is best on food(at the beginning) and building when doing the beach and most important the lagoon. i have used them on the tech table but they are done before any one else( i pause the game and pick up and drop all scientists after they do their kick thing, so a runner messes this up). i've never tryed one as a doctor or as a parent(quick fix for the population i bet).

LOL

I can imagine a male runner would get the entire adult female population with child in pretty short order!

Talking of which, I can't quote figures, but most of my runners have been female. I have had some males, but there seems to be a bias towards women, at least for me.

The one I have now is a male and I made him a builder. On a previous game I had another male runner who I made a breeder and he would go to the love shack and be finished before his mate and even got there...so funny to watch. It is also amusing to watch two runners breed, it's difficult to finally get anything to happen but when it does they run as fast as they can to the shack and then quickly move on with their lives...

i love using my runners on anything that requires distance, building especially.

i think tho, that my favorite time to watch runners is when I have then on farming, and they are running back and forth fishing. i time them, sorta, by watching who they come out of the water with, and then how close that villager is to the bin when the villager passes him the second time. its especially funny when they are fishing with a group of elderly villagers who are just doddering along slowly and then this young buck just swishes by them. i imagine all sorts of conversations those older villagers are having about the runner!

LOL!

I'll just be the opposite here and say that I like to put my runners on the research table. I've found that the berry bush or field get depleted too soon and in the games that I've been playing I haven't been in a rush on the building projects anyway. (Clearing the lagoon just distracts everyone else into doing laundary!)

At the research table, I try not to overwork them (i.e. restart the research after the "kick") so having one runner who gets things done twice as much as the others is like having an extra villager at the table! Since I try to get the Science Levels early, a runner here can be very useful.

That said, I still make sure that any runner I get early in a game gets trained in farming, building and medicine as well just for when I need that extra boost.

The nice thing about Virtual Villagers is that there really isn't a right or wrong way to do things, and sometimes it is good to experiment with different strategies. IOW, YMMV!

I find them best for building. Farmer-Runners seem to get "caught" on buildings a lot and you lose food. Builder-Runners clear the beach and build a hut faster. I also like to give them the healing skill because later when you need them they make the quickest doctors.

the medical skill is a good idea

i had a set of triplet runner farmers, and then some pandemic hit the village- everyone was sick, so i healed the triplet runners and set them to healing the rest of the village, within minutes they had healed all of the sick villagers

Even though it may seem like food is lost, it really isn't; the food only gets deducted from the harvest ground when it goes into the food bin. Plus, there are no buildings between the ocean and the food bin for a runner to get caught up on.

On the flip side, I've had runners trying to build things, get caught on a building, and lose their building materials. I personally prefer putting an early-game runner on building since the lumberyard and the rock quarry are on opposite sides of the village, and late-game or end-game runners get to fish to their heart's content.

There are buildings between the food bin and berry bush though, and that's when they cause the most problems with a runner. Also between the ground and the food bin. I'm talking about early in the game before you have fishing.

But since you don't actually lose the food in the count, the odd time they get caught doesn't really matter, cos they more than make up for it in the number of trips they can make

It doesn't make it any less of a pain though, Baj, especially when I've decided to restart my game and my food is only like 50.

Like I said, I like runners best for building if I get one as one of the survivors. Get the beach cleared faster. Then get the hut built.

I also though give them a smidge of a healing, farming, and research skill. Then when the beach is cleared and the hut is built but there isn't enough tech points to do the lagoon, I switch their preference to research and plunk them at the table. (Actually, I do this with all my chosen builders.) If the food gets too low before there's enough tech for farming I switch their preference to farming and set them at the berry bush for a moment before plunking them back at the research table.

And of course, as I said before, I love them as healers. Especially when you get that event that makes all your kids sick.

maybe that is why i tend to prefer them to farm, because i have never had a runner before my pop reaches 35. i don't restart games to get a better tribe. the only time i have restarted was when i wanted a hard tribe and i forgot to put it on hard before i started. i think. i could be wrong.

Huh? I'm not following this...



When I feel like starting a new game, I'll sometimes look for interesting likes/dislikes, but not always. I think I like the games more when I don't get a adult runner right away, but it is the kid or one of the first kids born.

that would be me trying to be coherent on two hours of sleep. i meant i never have a RUNNER before my population reaches 35. I chaged it in that post too so as not to confuse too many others.

sorry.

I don't restart to get a better tribe, but because I'm bored with my current one and want to start doing the puzzles again. Only times I've restarted otherwise were either because everyone died or there was a lack of females.

I like to breed my runner with the slower folks and far away from the Love Hut...not necessarily better breeding but sure as heck is funny. I mean my runners clear beach, clear blockage, and water field long before the researchers are ready to chisle an idol or buld ruins, so I have to keep them busy somehow when there is plenty of food.

I agree!! When I get a guy runner it's like gold

I restarted my original game to try the HARD setting and well my population died off so I had to restart again.

Upon restarting, I received a RUNNER for the first time. She died today and I am still mourning her death because she was the best Villager ever!

This girl loved to work! I didn't have to keep watch on her too much because she stuck to whatever job I placed her on. Even if she wandered off to take care of another task for a quick moment, she would always come back to her original job. She was great for building and cleaning up debris and the lagoon.

I am sad that all of my 1st generation villagers have now passed away because my 2nd generation villagers are SO lazy. I can really use a few runners with this group I have right now. I have to keep watch on them constantly!

I have a runner farmer who is nursing, and I can't help thinking she must be really, really bored. After all, how much fun can it be running in a two-foot diameter in the village centre? heh

LOL! Occaasionally nursing mothers go outside that area, or I'll just move one just to give them a bit of scenery.

BTW, everytime I see this thread I think I'm on Pern because I keep reading the subject line as "Where is the runner beast?" ROFL