Banished - Medieval SimCity

[sser]

 

[Severian Silk]

Dark elves.

 

[DakaSha]

Bought this today. Already bored

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Got it this morning. Barely runs on my toaster, but it still works. About 2-3 hours in so far and I am pleased. It seems like gathering food is a little bit harder that it was in LP videos that I watched before launch. I had to start out on Medium in my current town because just couldn't get my Hard town off the ground.

I think that the difficulty is pretty reasonable for what the game is trying to be, so that is a plus.

 

[Ashery]

Feelings are a bit mixed. Only two decades in on hard/harsh despite playing all day, but I seem to be cruising along nicely now. Had some starvation early on while getting familiar with the mechanics and balance, so it's only in the past few years that I've built momentum up.

Food structures need to be seriously rebalanced. A single villager in a hunting lodge will generate an average of 400-600 venison a season along with the skins to make into coats. A fishing wharf right next to a storage barn only generates around 240 and a fifty tile field only generates around 300. Gatherers are even more absurd food wise, with a single villager regularly over 800, but those foods aren't worth much in trade.

Villager AI can be frustrating at times. Really noticeable when you've got a cluster of single man farms as there's always a field that starts half a season or more after the others. Same situation held in the original Tropico, but it seems like I'm noticing a lot of builders walk a screen and a half away for some new expansion and then turning back after a single tick of construction. Hilariously, I've also seen a villager abandon their job to get something to eat when their job was to harvest a field...and they were carrying twenty corn.

Oh, and make sure to always have a laborer. My only reload all game has been when my teacher died of old age with no laborer for a replacement and nine students got kicked into the workforce permanently.

Also, bug wise, anyone have any idea why my fucking cattle keep dying? Bought two, moved'em into a small pasture (4 max) while I built their larger, permanent one. Moved'em over and they slowly died down to two. Moved'em back to the small pen and now I'm down to one. Not really a big deal now that my economy is running and I've got a ton of stuff at the dock, but it's annoying as hell.

 

[Zewp]

I've been playing it a bit since last night and I think it's a bit more of a casual city builder. It seems very complex from the outset, but seems very shallow once you've got the mechanics down. Steep learning curve, but not difficult to master.

The fun lies in trying to get your town to survive the harsh environment, but once you have a fully functional town up and running I think it's going to be very boring because you'll have very little left to do. There isn't a lot of variety in what you can do/build, so you don't even have the same lure of building large, diverse cities like in Pharaoh/Zeus.

Not really sure I can recommend it at $20. If you're looking for a city builder in the vein of Pharaoh/Zeus/Simcity, then this is likely not for you. If you're looking for something casual and relaxing to play in short bursts, it might fall within your tastes.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and my experience changes once I've played more, but after about three hours in this is my impression of the game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

No I think you are right. Many of the buildings seem like useless fluff to me like the tavern aad chapel for example. They give happiness but my people are at full happiness all the time anyway without them. My village is perfectly functional now without really needing half the shit that I have built. There is no real goal to the game beyond making a nice looking village / town. But that's all I really wanted out of the game anyway so I'm fine with it. Bummer for those who wanted more, though.

Edit: I mean if I really wanted something deeper then I'd just go play The Guild.

 

[Angthoron]

Food structures need to be seriously rebalanced. A single villager in a hunting lodge will generate an average of 400-600 venison a season along with the skins to make into coats. A fishing wharf right next to a storage barn only generates around 240 and a fifty tile field only generates around 300. Gatherers are even more absurd food wise, with a single villager regularly over 800, but those foods aren't worth much in trade.

Fields lose fertility if worked several years in a row without giving the land a bit of a "rest". My fields (nowhere as large - I think) return ~1K per season. Think same might be with fish as well. Hunting and gathering is "overpowered", though, largely due to players never spamming hunter/gatherer huts too close to each others.

 

[oscar]

My population dropped massively, not because of starvation, but because apparently no one gets married if they're living in their parents house.

 

[cvv]

Bought this today. Already bored

Oh?

Seen some previews, I thought it looks pretty tasty, thinking about buying, actually.

What gives?

 

[Angthoron]

My population dropped massively, not because of starvation, but because apparently no one gets married if they're living in their parents house.

Yeah. This is sort of funny considering the period that the game supposedly covers, but then again, gamey elements.

My very successful town is currently in its 14th year, and it looks like it's running a serious risk of losing a huge chunk of population. Not to starvation or disease, nor to the lack of housing, but for the lack of strong Y chromosome. Yes - the dudes are swimming in booty, since the women outnumber them at a rate of 3 to 1 now. It's funny to see some houses populated by a single woman having 3 girl children - without a husband. I guess screwing around is a thing.

Bought this today. Already bored

Oh?

Seen some previews, I thought it looks pretty tasty, thinking about buying, actually.

What gives?

The type of a game it is. It's not really like, say, Pharaoh or Anno where your houses improve as the town gets access to more resources - it's more about balancing your checkbook, planning for a potential disaster, slowly expanding. Can feel too slow and lack tangible rewards that some people like to see in certain kinds of citybuilders. I'm enjoying it, personally, but definitely looking forward to editor and mods.

 

[Zewp]

My population dropped massively, not because of starvation, but because apparently no one gets married if they're living in their parents house.

Yeah, my population is currently failing on me because of that. I thought that people would indicate when they needed new homes, not that I would need to keep empty houses around. Oh well, just about 3 hours of progress to redo.

 

[Calapine]

Just bought this, so no comments yet, but a tip for Euro buyers: Getting directly on the dev-homepage is ~€4 cheaper than via Steam store. (Steam key is included).

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/buy/

 

[Metro]

He said he planned on developing it/adding over time. Seems like it's really just an early access title at this point.

 

[Toffeli]

Just bought this, so no comments yet, but a tip for Euro buyers: Getting directly on the dev-homepage is ~€4 cheaper than via Steam store. (Steam key is included).

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/buy/

This was pretty confusing post.

 

[Calapine]

Just bought this, so no comments yet, but a tip for Euro buyers: Getting directly on the dev-homepage is ~€4 cheaper than via Steam store. (Steam key is included).

http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/buy/

This was pretty confusing post.

You look like me!



I guess it shows that English isn't my first language. I will try again:

If one is an European Steam user (i.e. billed in Euros) it is more economical to purchase a Steam-key from the developers (Shining Rock Software) than using the Steam store. This is due to Steams stupid currency conversion of 1$ = 1 €.

 

[Toffeli]

I only ment that for a moment I thought wait, I'm not drunk and still don't remember posting that.

 

[Stonewolf]

Why would you play this shallow thingy when you can just play Dwarf Fortress instead?

 

[Berekän]

And why would you play Dwarf Fortress when there is Age of Wonders?

 

[Zed]

Ashery keep in mind that venison and berries aren't exactly hot produce in the trade house.

I got a pretty nice place going. Was stocking up on tools and tons of food in the trade house.
Then this:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=229878535

 

[J_C]

Why would you play this shallow thingy when you can just play Dwarf Fortress instead?

Because you are retarded. Yes, I'm agressive, because this was a retarded question.

On another note, the game is No. 1 on the Steam Top Sellers page. Good to see that the game is doing well.

 

[Stonewolf]

It was a rather simple question, if it exceeds the capability of your intellect then just ignore it, no need to get butthurt and defensive.

 

[J_C]

It was a simple, but retarded question, yes. It's like asking why would you play the Anno series when there is Sim City 4? Both games are good, interesting, why should you exclude one of them?

 

[Ashery]

Ashery keep in mind that venison and berries aren't exactly hot produce in the trade house.

Wait, what? Venison sells for 3/per and can be sold to anyone except animal merchants (From my experience so far); it's a fantastic way to buy seeds.

 

[JudasIscariot]

My population dropped massively, not because of starvation, but because apparently no one gets married if they're living in their parents house.

Well, it's rather difficult to get your freak on when you're living in your parent's house :D