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well you only get a certain amount for the amount of blocks it covers, i believe that you get 3 traps instead of 2 in a 30x30

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It’s a ballpark figure.

A trapper can place up to 4 traps per zone. The minimum distance between traps is 12. There is some randomness to how the traps are placed, but a 30x30 zone is highly likely to have your trapper set up 4 traps in the zone.

When the trapper goes to inspect traps, he does it for a single zone. So if you use smaller zones, he’s going to go out there, clear out one zone, take the stuff back to town and then maybe think of going out and checking another zone. So generally speaking, you want the guy to clear out as many traps at once as possible and 4 at a time is it.

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So why not a 50x50 zone instead? I can see how a 30x30 would be desirable when space is limited, but if you find an area with enough space, you might as well do the largest zone possible to maximize the number of traps. Recently I’ve been doing 4 50x50 trapper zones 2x2. They are right next to one another to cut down walking distance, and I get the maximum number of traps per zone, all within close proximity of one another.

Its because of the randomness of how the trapper places traps. It could end up with him walking farther to check all traps.

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I’m just saying 30x30 because that’s roughly the minimum you need. Any less than that is certainly less desirable. More than that may not be perfect either (due to additional time spent wandering around), but it is probably less of a problem.

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That makes sense. I suppose if you’re trying to maximize the trapper, this may be best. I just don’t see how the additional 20x20 space adds much from to the walking distance, though the trappers carrying capacity and the fact the trapping zones need to be in undisturbed locations makes this suggestion something worth considering next time. Thank you.

To avoid being attacked by evil goblins, start your city on the first level of a moutain. Then build a ladder to get down and build a little farm here ( like 20x20/30x30, you won’t need a bigger farm ). Then chop trees, and, with your carpenter, build lots of picket fence to surround your city, and surround your farm too. Now, goblins will never attack you anymore !

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I followed an example given much earlier about finding a narrow stretch of land, building what I needed in as small an area as possible, then putting fences along both sides to essentially close it off. I used ladders to get in and out, destroying them if necessary, as well as gates along with the fences. I’ll be damned, goblins still spawned inside my fenced area, even though I built in a confined space, so as the line goes in Jurrasic Park—“nature will find a way.”

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The reason why is because there needs to be a way for the goblins and your hearthlings interact. So long as you leave some way the two to get to each other, the goblin camp shpuld spawn at the edge of the fog of war.

30 x 30 to 50 x 50 is not a 20 x 20 space difference. Comparing dimensions alone can be unreliable, ao let’s compare area instead.

30 * 30 = 900  square tiles
50 * 50 = 2500 square tiles
2500 - 900 = 1600 square tiles 
= 40 * 40 

So a 50 x 50 has more area than two 30 x 30s, but it also can take longer to walk around.

50 * sqrt(2) = 70.17 tiles diagonally

After working in one zone, the trapper can move to the center. If he’s programmed well, he should only rarely have to go farther than

30 * sqrt(2)  + distance_between = 42.43 + distance_between

Though, if they’re diagonal, he’d have to go 60 * sqrt(2) + distance_between in the worst-case scenario. So 30 x 30 may be slightly better, depending on your configuration, but overall, it’s a matter of personal choice.

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And this, sir, is why I claimed I’m not smart in my Faming Efficiency and Performance thread. You are a mathemetician.

Ya know, I never gave my own tip, I suppose I should give one.

The only reasonable tip I can think of is dealing with your first encounter with a goblin camp (those that demand items 'n such). Unless you’re already decked out in sweet armor and have your borders protected, it’s not that difficult to give into the goblins demands, at least in my own experience. They rarely ask for anything you don’t have at that moment or can’t make real easily, as such you should try to stay peaceful with them for as long as possible.

They can actually be a good ally, as due to them spawning near the edge of the fog of war, they tend to be near where undead sometimes spawn, and can act as “guard dogs” for a certain area. With some careful positioning and exploration, you could even get them to spawn and act as an outpost against such unsightly creatures. Essentially the items you give up to keep them from attacking you can instead be investments in having a fairly powerful ally spawned right at your doorstep.

As a side note, don’t worry about attacking goblin raiders and thieves, as far as I’ve seen, the goblin camps don’t care about them, and won’t attack you if you attack the raiders/thieves. However, if your hearthlings chase after said raiders/thieves into the goblin camp, they WILL attack the goblin camp. I’ve only seen one instance of this, and as such I normally call off any attacks I’m making against raiders/thieves if my hearthlings stray too close to the goblin camp. A workaround is to simply set up your hearthlings in a attack party at a choke hold point to enter your town, if any raiders/thieves come near, they’ll be attacked, and your hearthlings won’t chase after them if they move too far.

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Yeah, goblins will always spawn at the same place so, try to surround this place, or build your city somewhere else… I tried to put some lights and other things to avoid them but it didn’t work :confused:

One additional factor with setting up trapping zones is that you need to place them far enough away from places that anyone might go normally (mentioned in Thursday’s stream). Why is that? If a critter is going to spawn and go after the bait in a trap, but he sees anyone near him or the trap, he won’t come out. If someone comes near while he is going to the trap, he’ll also run away.

So you actually don’t want your trapping zones too close to each other or in a line where the trapper might walk across one zone to reach another from the stockpiles. You especially don’t want a stockpile right next to the zones, because then a footman will probably patrol the stockpile and scare off the critters. Scare too many critters and there are none trapped when your trapper checks the zone.

Additionally, it’s probably a good idea to place your traps in an area without a lot of adornments (trees, boulders, bushes, etc). The lua code that tries to place the traps is pretty simple. It picks a random spot in the zone, then performs two tests. If the spot is too close to another trap, it fails. If the spot is unreachable (inside a tree or a boulder or something), it fails. If it fails, it can pick another random spot up to 5 times total. After the fifth failure, it will stop trying to add any more traps (even if no traps have been placed). In a relatively clear area, it probably won’t fail 5 times in a row. In a densely wooded area, the chances go way up.

So in an ideal situation, trapping zones should be:

  1. Off the beaten path.
  2. In open areas cleared of trees and such.
  3. Large enough to spawn the maximum number of traps.
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Thank you for the thorough explanation.

Use your carpenter to continually make wooden shields. They only use one wood block to make, but sell for around 10G.
If you have at least 20/30G by the time your first trade appears, it sets you up nicely to increase your town value, buy additional food (for extra hearthlings),
or bulk buy stone (for defences etc) and wood (for more shields -> more gold).
It is also useful to buy in resources as they all spawn around your flag, saving the hearthlings from running all over the place to collect chopped down trees/mining.

I use the following principles.

  1. Location, location, location. When choosing my starting location, I always try to settle as near to water sources and mountains as possible. Water doesn’t play a real role right now, but, in the future it will. I think it’s just a good habit to start early.

  2. Efficiency. When placing buildings and stockpiles/farming fields, keep in mind the general layout of your town. Try to keep the Granary (Food Stockpiles) near-ish to the farming fields and if you have a Tavern (or Cafeteria) try to keep that within a manageable distance from the Granary. You don’t want to lose a bunch of productivity because your hearthlings are running all over the place.

  3. Storage. In the beginning of your game, having 1 or 2 stockpiles that accept everything is perfectly fine. As you progress, however, this becomes increasingly inefficient. Your town won’t be a random clump of stockpiles to try to think ahead. Is the Blacksmith going to be in building 3? If so, make sure to put a stockpile near him that accepts ONLY ores and maybe a smaller one for only wood. Same thing for the rest of the crafters. When you reach the point where you’re giving your hearthlings individual homes, try to remember that in reality a lot of these crafters worked where they lived. This is personal preference, of course, but I’ve found that it is extremely helpful. I personally put the general purpose stockpiles near the town banner and, if I’m near a mountain, I’ll mine out an 8-wide corridor and build off of that for stockpile rooms. Raws ores go in one, ingots in another, furniture in another. I also have a habit of making a stone building with 1 window on the front, with a stone roof, and calling it my treasury.

  4. Growth. Some might disagree with me, but don’t sweat growth right away. Try to get a solid base to work from. Get a couple of buildings down. I try to go for 1 or 2 boarding houses, a Tavern (large dining hall, really) and a granary where I will store my food (I like to make it large enough to fit 3 full stockpiles on 2 floors, 20W X 34L). If you build extra craftables early, you accomplish 2 things: 1. You level your crafter to the levels they need to be for the bigger/more important things and 2. You have a decent supply of extra craftables to sell for supplemental purposes, use those to sell and buy food or weapons. Growth is important, but making sure you have stability early is also important. Don’t freak out if you don’t get your first extra villager until Day 10. Just remember that the first few extra villagers can come in pretty quick succession and make sure you have some tools in the stockpile. I try to keep a Hammer & Chisel, Blacksmith’s Hammer, Tailor’s Spindle, a Shepherd’s Crook and a couple of Wooden Practice Swords.

  5. Resources. Try not to let unrefined resources sit around for ages. They do more when they’re refined. If necessary, have a second Blacksmith to smelt ores into Ingots. Remember, you want them working as much as possible anyway, they need to be level 4 (currently) to make the best armor available, Steel Armor. If you go the route of not having a trapper (as I do pretty often), make sure you’re buying hides, or leather, from vendors for any crafting patterns that need them. For a full set of the best armor/shield/weapon you’re going to need 2 leather (currently). Keep that in mind when those vendors show up.

  6. Vendors. Don’t be afraid to use the vendors. Don’t think about how much net worth you have as the be-all and end-all of your progress. You measure your own progress. There are plenty of people who don’t want to have a lot of hearthlings, but would rather keep a small village. Just as there are plenty of people who hope you can have double the current max number of hearthlings in the final game, as you can have now. Buy and sell according to your town’s needs. Did you clear cut the trees readily available to you and have an abundance of stone? Sell some stone to buy some wood, or even better, sell some stone furniture to buy some wood.

  7. Numbers. If you’re all about layout of buildings, like I tend to be, remember some of the important numbers associated with furniture size. Beds are 3 blocks wide and 5 blocks long. I tend to put once side of the bed against a wall an the other side open. I tend to leave 2 blocks completely empty along the side of the bed, or 2 blocks empty between beds. Remember that doors are 3 or 4 blocks wide (I think the double door should be 5 blocks wide, personally) and adjust accordingly. Windows are currently 2 blocks wide and 2 block high. Things that seem unimportant or ancillary to gameplay can be a great bit of information to keep in the back of your mind when designing buildings.

  8. Classes/Jobs. When going about how to allocate hearthlings into jobs, I use the following idea. Food production works are about 1/3 of my population; defense forces are about 1/5 and workers are about 1/3 to 1/2. These are numbers I find to work when the later game rolls around.

  9. Peaceful Mode. Don’t be afraid to try Peaceful Mode and play that for a little bit, instead of just jumping into game modes where you have to face enemies. Peaceful can be as much of a tool as it is an experience. Don’t be afraid to use it to figure out your personal flow or style.

I’m sure that some, or all, of the things I’ve mentioned have been mentioned by others. Just remember, above all else, have fun.

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All I can say is… Don’t start off far away from the mines! You’re gonna need minerals!
Also, I would suggest starting off with farming and hunting! Food is valuable (Eventually gets easier).
Build One house at a time! (Takes about 1-2 days - Depending on which kind of house (Usually do the 4 bed house))
Always be prepared for raid and rush with a carpenter that will make wooden swords. (Usually need at least 2-3 villagers)
I usually just keep the farmers working and regular workers switch off between worker and soldier.
Then you’re basically set!

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Don’t be afraid to use the PAUSE button…ALOT :sunglasses:

Plan - zoom out and devise a preliminary mental layout
Assess - determine the efficiency of your hearthlings, are the stockpiles too far etc.
Strategize - the goblins are coming! the goblins are coming! remain calm & determine where you want to engage them

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Build ladders to remove clutter

hearthlings want to clean every item on the map, even those who are situated on a roof.
Make the roof accessible with a ladder. Remove the ladder afterwards.

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