The farthest frontier is far from the first foray I set foot in the merciless land of fir-spotted forests. But as survival city builders progress, it offers some targeted depth and realism in areas that are often ignored. While things quickly disappeared to get interested in games like Banished, the agricultural and food spoilage system here makes the operation and development of the settlement much more attractive.
The assumption is fairly simple. You were abandoned in the woods with a few medieval settlers and did not encounter bad weather, illness, hunger, wolves, bears, and finally-thankfully-the bandit attacks, but need to survive. there is. Providing housing, firewood, fish and berries is a top priority. But things get even more complicated as the population grows, the town center level up, and the tech tree gradually unlocks.
The most important wrinkle here is the highly detailed food spoilage system. If you were planning to rely on the food you brought to survive the first winter … I have bad news for you. They will rot almost faster than your villagers can eat them. Getting food is only half the battle, as you can make huge piles of fish and berries in the warm summer months and become muddy all inedible by the middle of winter. Therefore, the tech tree is as much about developing and preserving food as getting more food.
Agriculture
Surviving hunting, fishing, and foraging alone, even in your small first population, is a tough life at the edge of a hungry razor. Agriculture needs to be developed to maintain much larger ones and to create wiggle rooms. That’s where one of the most interesting systems at Farsast Frontier begins. In addition to having to find a place with fertile soil in their field, the ground is also valued for sand and clay content, and certain crops prefer one or the other. If you need to adjust the configuration, you can collect both from elsewhere and add them to the field.
The fields are also rated as rich in weeds and rocks, both of which require maintenance work to reduce crop yields and reduce available growth times. Some crops control weeds but don’t provide much food. Some can be stored longer, but are more susceptible to late or early frosts that can ruin the harvest. Also, some crops replenish soil fertility, while others reduce it. This makes crop rotation essential. Over-planting wheat or rye can eventually ruin the land and should be replaced with a bean-like nitrogen fixative every few years.
There are several different ways to help keep your food longer. Meat and fish can be smoked in smokehouses, but they tend to catch fire. I didn’t get a good clip because I was trying to stop the settlement from burning out, but let’s say there were more forests here. Vegetables can be stored in the root cellar, which is also useful. And finally, you can build a Cooper and stock the barrels in the storage area. This makes the collapse even slower.
Against grain
But in the end, we need to do what the largest agricultural communities have done over the last few thousand years and move to a grain-based diet. Grains can be stored virtually permanently in their raw form, as long as they are kept dry and mousetrapd for pest control. However, it cannot be eaten raw, so you need to hire a miller or bakery to turn it into flour and eventually bread. This adds a lot of complexity and the need for day labor to the place of residence. The practice of good field rotation is even more important, as it also does a lot in the soil. Cereal is really a devil’s bargain.
This is a very interesting and novel highlight for the technological progress of Far The First Frontier. As the population grows, we need to completely rethink how we feed everyone, creating additional problems to solve. I was impressed by playing a lot of similar games where the progress of the tech tree is much more predictable and less driven by real historical reality and interesting logistic puzzles.
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In the process, I had to keep an eye out for illnesses and wildlife. If your townspeople do not have easy access to the well, they will swallow the water in the pond and get dysentery. In the end, I had to hire a soil collector and a grave digger, otherwise everyone would throw their poop and dead relatives down the street, which is ultimately for public health. not good. Fortunately, we were able to buy all of these new equipment by building a trading post and selling valuable fur to passing merchants.
Mysterious wild
It looks pretty good too. The realistic color palette sets it apart from the more stylized urban builders, the building has lots of details that make it feel like living, and the changes in autumn and winter lighting and ground cover plants are the world. Really helps to feel alive. The interface is a bit busy, but especially the farming and crop rotation screens are very readable and easy to operate, given how deep the system is.
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There are still many of the farthest frontiers I have never seen. Raids on bandits and dealing with local aristocrats later became important, eventually allowing them to build roads and walls and train soldiers. There was a third layer of technology that I hadn’t touched on yet, and I couldn’t open the pub because of a tragic lack of beer. When I get the full version on August 9th, I’m looking forward to seeing my little wilderness village grow into a suitable medieval settlement.
