Some people won't buy a game unless it has achievements ripe for the plucking.
Others believe achievements are a waste of space and time.
And then there are those who don't care either way.
Whether or not a game has achievements is not a deal breaker for me. However, when achievements are available sometimes I can't help but go out of my way to get them.
Take this one from Banished. It encourages me to play in a way I would not normally -- a challenge! -- and then gives me recognition when I complete it! Note: I have not yet completed it. I did try though. 😊
Welcome to Midwestcreedmoor, a lovely name for a settlement delivered to us by the random name generator. The souls of this poor village do not yet know what they are in for, but the requirements are:
The map must be Mountainous, small, and harsh.
Disasters are off because I'm not a masochist.
Starting Conditions are on medium because 'easy' starts with crappy wooden houses, and 'hard'... well, as I said: I'm not a masochist.
By some miracle the first map seed I entered was not entirely abysmal! And there was much rejoicing. Seriously. Sometimes it can take an entire hour of starting new games until you finally get a seed you're willing to work with.
This one was close enough to a river for fishing and trade.
It had a good smattering of iron and stone around; not the best smattering, but a decent smattering.
The placement was in a decent enough spot to place a gatherer/forester/hunter combo and had a bit of land available for marketplaces and assorted buildings.
Pretty good!
The requirement for the achievement is to maintain a population of 50 for twenty years. The map was acceptable.
By first Winter everything was on track.
The gatherer/hunter/forester combination I swear by had begun nicely. A house had been placed for those seeking warmth. And a woodcutter/tailor/blacksmith was the next step.
Unfortunately, I also built a fishing dock. It was probably too early to build a fishing dock and I may have used resources unnecessarily.
Still, I continued on.
I realised fairly quickly I had made a great error.
When I play, it's acceptable to only have one house by first Winter, but if you don't have the whole town housed by second Winter you're gonna have a bad time.
The population slows -- turns out people don't procreate unless they have houses to do so in!
Here I was, heading into second Winter with only one house and I was all outta stone.
I only build stone houses. Wooden houses are a poor choice. They consume far too much fuel and you'll need twenty odd woodcutters working non-stop to keep the supply going whereas if you have only stone houses you'll end up in a firewood surplus and have trading materials!
SO I blame this solely on my fishing dock. It was un-needed this early on in the game and forced me to make a very untimely quarry.
See, tools are required for Stonecutting and Iron/Coal mining, andddddd when people are doing those jobs, they go through a helluva lot of tools! 😬
Woops. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So here we are. Year 7. And it's only now I have at last housed the entirety of my village! Look at the poor population numbers. 23 adults and 8 children.
Those 23 adults are heading into their forties and fifties by now and I'm not sure I can get out of this mess, but I'm damned well going to try!!
So far tools are all good. Clothing is all good. Firewood and food are good. Stone is squiffy but I've got a teensy bit of iron.
All that really matters is getting these aging suckers to breed before it's too late!
😬😬😬
Then it happens. I wasn't expecting it quite yet and it took me by surprise.
One person was without a tool.
Ironically, it was the blacksmith. The person who makes the damned tools!
If only it was a farmer or fisherman, but no, it was the blacksmith.
Ignoring the tools placed on the ground at his back, he worked and worked and slaved away making tools without using a tool.
Working without a tool slowed the poor fellow riiiiiiight down, and before I knew it A CRISIS WAS UPON MY DEAR VILLAGE!!
Look at these tool-less slobs! Look at them as they scurry around and try to work with their bare hands! Watch as they bleed their own blood!
Futilely, I spent three odd years building another iron mine for my people to pillage. Without tools to make it and without tools to mine within it. All in the hopes they could give this stuff to the village smithy to transform into tools. Lovely tools.
I was getting a lowly ONE iron per season.
I was making a lowly ONE tool per season.
My people were frantic -- I was frantic! My population was at last rising and they had no tools!
Without tools and resources to adequately gather materials to build, the population of Midwestcreedmoor began to decline. People stopped having children. Their houses were full of adult children who didn't want to procreate under their parents' roofs!
Too late, a resource merchant dared grace the village.
After years upon years of food vendors trying to sell off their un-needed wares, someone useful finally came along.
The Mayor of Midwestcreedmoor threw all the firewood at the merchant, took all the tools, and demanded she come back WITH MORE TOOLS!!
But she would never be seen again.
Next time Ressika the Resource Merchant dares sail past the Midwestcrestmoor Trading Post, no-one will be there to greet her.
For the aging trademaster has died.
Others died also.
And soon the population fell under fifty and I decided to leave Midwestcrestmoor to its fate.
Farewell, ye unlucky hamlet; may your peasants find tools in the next life and may the successor of Midwestcrestmoor find victory.
Banished is so much fun! And so frustrating at times! From finding a seed you like to the blacksmith forgetting how to use tools. I look forward to seeing how the next town fares.
I haven't looked into the achievements yet and my towns often collapse after mismanagement of resources on my part. I have a bad habit of relying on food to keep my citizens alive in harsh years at the neglect of shelter, clothing, and tools. Generally until it is far too late to correct.
This is my usual strategy.
It solves food pretty quickly, but I think I'll have to rethink it for my next game; which I'll be starting soon! 😊 Since I had the misfortune of waking up at 4am haha. Might as well spend my early hours whipping peasants into shape.
You should look into the achievements! Some are interesting like this Mountain Men one. This one's the only one that really encourages you to exchange ideal starting conditions for a map no-one in their right mind would normally choose.
Nothing like a small notification telling you that you did something special to make you keep playing and striving for greatness. 😅
I love Banished! I usually dont run into the tool problem although it has killed many a game of mine. My strategy is lots and lots of firewood. Make that the towns economy and set up three trading posts to have coal and iron constantly coming in once or twice a year. Then i run into one of my problems. Mismanaging housing and the population explodes so then i have to turn fifty percent of the board into vast farmlands and orchards. Eventually i cant make anymore farms to support the population and realize my village must trade for a good amount of my food then it goes into a death spiral. But usually im at about 500-700 population at that time. Obviously i need some new strategies and tricks for this game. But man is it an addictive game. I often imagine myself strolling the streets of the town. Its a delicate balance of making a town thats pretty and worthy of wanting to live in and actually functional. Love this game. Now im craving to play it on the mountains challenge.
You'll have to try the Mountain Men challenge when you get back! 😁