Virtual Villagers A New Home Trainer

• Virtual Villagers A New Home Walkthrough
• Virtual Villagers A New Home Trainer

Virtual Villagers: A New Home - WalkthroughVirtual Villagers General Guideby Freyashawkemail: castleenchanted aolCreated on 1 July 2007Last updated on 2 August 2007NO ATTACHMENTS - PLAIN TEXT E-MAILS ONLYIntroduction:'Virtual Villagers' is a game for the PC, created ostensibly for so-called 'casual gamers'. I find that a rather derogatory description as I feelthat individuals who love 'Harvest Moon' and 'Lost in Blue' may find 'VirtualVillagers' rather intriguing as well. 'Harvest Moon' and 'Lost in Blue',however, definitely are not designed for 'casual gamers'. One must putenormous effort, time and concentration into those games in order to succeed.For those who may be put off by the 'casual gamer' label, however, my adviceis to ignore it.

It is a game that can be played rather 'casually' byindividuals who ordinarily eschew games, but it can be enjoyed by veterangamers as well.The premise of 'Virtual Villagers' combines 'Age of Empires' with 'HarvestMoon' and 'Lost in Blue'. A village has survived a terrible naturalcatastrophe and must be restored. Solving a series of puzzles will improvethe lives of the villagers, as well as unlocking new options.The primary goal is survival, but there are advances to be made in the artsand science as well as farming, construction, spirituality and medicine.You begin the game usually with five adults and one child. The adults may be3 males and 2 females or 2 males and 3 females.

There are six cateogries ofactivity for any adult to pursue: Farming, Building, Research, Healing,Breeding.Every category is vital to survival, but the one that will advance the plotmost is 'Research'. When any individual performs Research, he/sheobtains 'tech points'.

These can be used to purchase upgrades in knowledge,unlocking new options.The game was designed with a 'real-time engine' which means that it continueseven when you are not playing it actively. You can keep the window open onyour PC or laptop. You do not have to be in charge of every movement that thevillagers make, but you do need to oversee the progress every couple of hoursif you wish to avoid disasters.The further you advance in the game, the less you need to oversee the actionsof the villagers. At the beginning, it is fairly vital to watch them ratherclosely as they will be untrained and ignorant.Some people may ask if this game really requires a guide at all. I believethat a guide can be helpful.

It can prevent horrible disasters and allow theplayer to enjoy the unfolding of the story better.The BeginningWhen you begin Virtual Villagers, your village will consist of 5 adults and 1male child. Your work force consists therefore of 5 individuals. A childcannot work until he/she reaches the age of 14.ResearchEvery category of skill will be at Level 1. To advance to Level 2, you needto purchase the upgrades with 'tech points'. These are earnedthrough 'Research.' You therefore need to set one villager at the task of Research instantly. Itdoes not matter if this is a male or a female, although females will berequired for childbirth at some point.As the game progresses, you will need an enormous number of 'tech points'.The preference for the majority of your villagers should be setto 'Research'.

You always can change their preferences temporarily or simplyset them a different task when needed.Influencing your VillagersYou can influence the actions of your villagers by picking them up bodily anddepositing them at the location where the desired activity occurs. To enablea villager to perform Research, place him/her at the long table in thesouthwestern part of the map.DetailsThere is another, less overt way to influence the actions of your villagers.You can set a preference for each villager by accessing the 'Details' screen.When you access this screen, you will see the statistics and preferences ofeach villager. Place a mark in the box next to the primary 'career' that youwould like the villager to pursue.

You can do this even for the children inyour village. When they reach the age of 14, they may wander about aimlesslyif you have not set a preference for them.The 'Details' screen serves another vital purpose. It will display thecurrent age and health status of each villager. Life expectancy varies inthis game and will depend on your progress. The age at which any villagerbecomes 'Elderly' is determined by the health of that individual throughouthis/her life. Each illness will weaken an individual. If a person becomesill and is not healed instantly, he/she will become 'Weakened'.

Even if thevillager is healed ultimately and recovers to full Health gradually, the ageat which that person will become 'Elderly' will be lower than one who neversuffered from any illness. It therefore is important to look at the 'Details'screen for each of your villagers quite frequently. Healers may heal avillager who has fallen ill voluntarily but often they will ignore theirappointed task in favour of learning more about medicine. It is yourresponsibility as the presiding 'Deity' of the village of Isola to makecertain that your villagers operate at their maximum potential.If your village suffers any catastrophes in the early stage of the game, lifeexpectancy may be 60-65.

When you have advanced further, individuals may notdie until they reach their late 70s. Life expectancy is both a matter ofgeneral health and degree of advancement in your civilisation.ForagingFarming is not an option until you purchase the Level 2 upgrade. Your onlysource of food is berries obtained by foraging. There is a berry bush in thenorthern section of the map at the centre. Set two individuals the task offoraging for food.Until you have a cache of at least 1000 food, your villagers will tend toworry about food.

This makes breeding less successful. You should try toencourage your villagers to forage until the storage bin contains 1000 food.At the very beginning, foraging is more important than building.HealingAs explained previously, healing skills are extremely important in this game.One or more of your villagers will become ill randomly every 24 hours or so.Set an individual the task of learning to be a healer. Do this by draggingthe individual to the cactus at the northern border of the map, in the verycentre.Stubborn VillagersVillagers may not be as malleable as you might wish. Sometimes they willrefuse to perform a task, or they will be intellectually incapable ofunderstanding it. You therefore need to deposit the individual again andagain at the location where the task is performed until the person succeeds.If the individual fails, he or she will stand there, shaking his/her head,murmuring 'No'.You have to ignore this reluctance and force the person to do what he/she istold!You can change the preference of a villager temporarily by using the Detailsmenu. If you want every villager to participate in a construction project,for example, you can set the preference of each villager temporarilyto 'Building'.

When the project is completed, you can reset the preferences.The 1st PuzzleYour villagers will need both food and water. The only source of water at thestart of the game is the well in the northeastern part of the map.Unfortunately, it is blocked.

You do have one trained individual at thebeginning of the game. He is a builder. Take the builder to the well and hewill unblock it almost instantly. This will solve the first puzzle.Each time a new puzzle is solved, your villagers will 'celebrate'. They willcongregate in the centre of the village to do this.

You can accessthe 'Puzzle' page by pressing the 'Puzzle' button at the lower left of yourscreen. There are sixteen puzzles. When you unblock the well, you solve thefirst of these, and a picture representing this 'milestone' will be displayed.Initial TasksThere are a limited number of tasks that your villagers can perform at thisstage. These tasks are:1. Foraging: Any number of villagers can forage for berries.

There are afinite number of berries on the bushes at any given time. At the beginning ofthe game, the number of berries is approximately 1300.

You need to unlock thefarming option before the food supply is exhausted.2. Building: You can set your villagers to one of two construction projectsat this point. They can build another hut or they can remove the debris fromthe beach. Completing the Hut will solve the second Puzzle. Clearing thedebris will solve the third. Neither of these tasks will produce any realadvances in the game at this point, but as they take time and energy, youshould have at least one villager working on one of these projects from thestart.

Your Builder probably is the logical choice for this.3. Research: This, apart from the constant need to increase your foodsupply, is the most important task at the start of the game. You can set twovillagers the task of Research immediately. You need to earn 'tech points'to be able to upgrade essential skills in every category.4. Healing: It is vital that you teach one villager the art of healingimmediately. Do this by placing the individual in front of the 'medicalcactus'.

You will need another healer as well in case the primary healerfalls ill. Even an expert Doctor cannot heal himself/herself in this game.Your secondary healer only needs the minimum amount of knowledge, so you maywish to do this at the start of the game, to provide for any eventuality.The Tech ScreenThe Tech Screen is where you can purchase upgrades in Skill Categories. Thecost of Level 2 upgrades are as follows:Farming: 6000 pts.Construction: 2500 pts.Spirituality: 5000 pts.Medicine: 15000 pts.Science: 12000 pts.Fertility: 11000 pts.In my opinion, the most important upgrade to purchase first is the Farmingupgrade. Do not spend your 'tech points' on construction at this point. Saveyour points until you have a total of 6000 in order to buy the Level 2 Farmingskills. This will allow you to plant crops in the 'rich soil' below theResearch table.Villager ConfusionProjects will be unlocked only by two methods: you either need to purchasethe appropriate level of skill or you need a villager who is at the expertlevel of his/her chosen profession.

When neither of these requirements havebeen met, your villagers will be 'confused' when you place them at the site ofa project or puzzle. If, however, your villagers are inspired to perform aspecific activity at any site, you have met whatever requirements exist thereand can allow them to continue to perform the action until the puzzle issolved, provided there are no more pressing tasks for them to pursue.For example, there is a field in the southwestern part of the screenwith 'strange, dead flowers' in it. If you place a villager in the field,he/she may be prompted to 'water the field'. This is not a vital action,however. You do need to water the field in order to solve one of the puzzlesin the game, but doing so will not advance your chances of survival.

If,therefore, the debris on the beach has not been cleared yet, or you do nothave at least 1000 food in the storage bin, you would do better to set yourvillagers to those tasks now.The First Four PuzzlesThe first four Puzzles in the game are as follows:Puzzle 1: Clearing the Well for fresh waterPuzzle 2: Building a Hut for more villagersPuzzle 3: Clearing the debris from the beachPuzzle 4: Founding a school.The first three require no upgrade in skill. By performing these tasks, yourvillagers will gain in expertise but you do not need to purchase Level 2skills for them.Master ScientistThe fourth puzzle is different.

In order to solve this, you need to have onevillager at expert level in Research. As soon as one villager has become aMaster Scientist, place him/her at the long building above the Researchtable. Your Master Scientist will convert the building into a School almostinstantly.The School is rather bizarre actually. Children sometimes will congregate infront of the school, but hey never enter the building, nor are there anyTeachers. What does occur, however, is that children born after the Schoolhas been created have a better chance of being born with more skills thanchildren born before the creation of the School.Population ExpansionWith only 6 villagers in Isola at the start of the game, obviously one of thegoals is to expand the population. Your villagers will be able to breedimmediately, but they may be reluctant to do so, especially if food suppliesare low or if they are 'weakened'.

To breed, simply place a male on top of afemale, or a female on top of a male. If successful, they will 'go indoors',but you needn't wait for this to occur. Simply watch the Population number atthe top left of the screen.

It will change immediately if pregnancy hasoccurred. If the number does not change, you can place the breeding coupletogether again and again without pause until the number increases.You will not know if the couple has produced a male or female until 120minutes has passed at double Speed, or 240 minutes at Normal Speed. This isthe time during which the mother nurses the child and will be unavailable forany other task.As soon as the child becomes independent of the mother, its gender and nameare determined.

You can change the default name of any individual inthe 'Details' screen. You can set a future preference at this point as well,even though the child will not begin to work until he/she reaches the age of14.Breeding age appears to begin at 18 both for males and females. Anindividiaul can continue to breed even when he/she becomes 'Elderly', althoughan Elderly villager, especially a woman will be less likely to live as long asotherwise if she continues breeding after she becomes elderly.

Lifeexpectancy is between 60 - 70, depending on the advancement of yourcivilisation.Furthermore, activities such as farming and building are as strenous asbreeding for the Elderly. It is best to set the preference of Elderly membersof your population to 'Research' if you wish them to live longer.There are a number of 'milestones' in terms of population. After a milestoneis reached, when you increase the population, the foundation for a new hutwill appear.

Virtual Villagers A New Home Walkthrough

You then must build the hut if you wish to increase yourvillage population further. The first milestone is 15, the second is 25 andthe third is 50.Untrained AdultsWhen any villager reaches the age of 14, he/she will be untrained until somework has been done in a specific field.

If the child inherited someexperience from his/her parents, that will help to encourage the child to workin that field, especially if it is set as a preference. Otherwise, youprobably will be forced to persuade the individual to begin working by settinghim/her at one of the designated locations for that career. Some individualswill work immediately and gain experience rapidly. Others will refusestubbornly again and again. Simply persevere.There are villagers who are inherently lazy, even when they have experience ina specific career.

They often will wander off to 'relax' or 'eat'. You haveto be vigilant where these people are concerned. If the lazy villager is awoman, I breed her frequently as she will not be of much use in any othercareer.Illness and Old AgeIllness will be the primary cause of death at the start of the game unless youmake certain that you have a Healer and consult the Details screenperiodically to see if any of your villagers are 'Sick'. A villager who isill must be healed immediately or he/she will lose strength on the health barand become 'weakened'. The health bar is shown on the 'Details' screen. Whenhalf filled, a villager will be 'Healthy'. When less than half filled, thevillager will be 'Weakened'.Any villager who has been ill long enough to become weakened willbecome 'Elderly' faster and probably die at an earlier age than those whonever became weakened.

It therefore is important to heal a villager whobecomes ill as quickly as possible. Moreover, villagers who are ill do notwork.For the most part, villagers will tend to their own needs in terms ofsustenance, but if you have an Elderly or Weakened individual, you can sethim/her in front of the food storage bin to 'eat' or in front of the wellto 'drink'.If your village has no food supplies and no means to obtain more food, thevillagers will die of starvation. By purchasing the Farming Level 2 upgradeas soon as possible, you will prevent this from occurring. Even so, you mustmake certain that food supplies remain high.

If all your villagers areperforming research and no one is farming or fishing, the food supplies willrun out ultimately. You cannot trust your villagers to be sensible always,although you can set a few villagers' preferences to farming in order to makethe possibility of starvation less likely.The Second Four PuzzlesPuzzle 5: Clearing the LagoonPuzzle 6: Hunting the Magic Fish of FertilityPuzzle 7: The CemetaryPuzzle 8: Identifying all HerbsPuzzle 9: Magical GardenYou need not solve these puzzles in order. In fact, the eighth puzzle can besolved at the very start of the game.

All you need to do is set villagers infront of each of the plants growing in the village area. When each of theplants has been studied (not necessarily by the same person), you will solvethe puzzle of 'Identifying all Herbs'.Clearing the LagoonClearing the Lagoon: You will not be able to solve this puzzle until you havepurchased Level 2 Construction Skills. When you have upgraded that skill,simply place a villager at the mouth of the river in the top left corner ofthe screen and he/she will begin to clear the blockage from the lagoon.The lagoon has a number of uses once it is filled with water. Laundry willnot be done until the Lagoon is clear, nor can the Magical Garden be restoredto splendour. The Magic Fish of Fertility lives in the Lagoon as well.LaundryYou must purchase Level 2 Medicine in order to unlock the villagers' capacityto keep their clothes clean. You must have the Lagoon as well.

As soon asyou purchase the Medicine upgrade, your healer will begin to do laundry in theLagoon and other villagers will follow his/her example. Obviously, goodhygiene contributes to good health.Hunting the Magic Fish of FertilityThe Magic Fish of Fertility lives in the Lagoon but only a Master Farmer cancatch this fish. As soon as you have a Master Farmer, throw him/her into theLagoon to hunt for and catch the Magical Fish of Fertility. It will increaseyour chances of breeding.The CemetaryThe Cemetary is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

It will notbe recognised as such, however, until you have purchased Level 2Spirituality. When you have purchased the upgrade, simply place a villager onthe field to solve this puzzle.Until your villagers recognise the graveyard, dead villagers simply willdecompose in the Village Square. Once you have a Cemetary, however, thevillagers automatically will bury their dead.Identifying all HerbsAs previously stated, all that is required here is that a villager studiesevery plant in the village area.

These include the Medical Cactus, the RareRose, the Rare Lily, the Fruitless Plant and the green fruit below the Lagoon.Puzzle 9:The ninth puzzle is fairly easy to complete, and can be solved after you havecleared the Lagoon.The Magical GardenThere is a field in the lower right of the screen where 'strange, deadflowers' can be found. Your villagers need to water this field with watertaken from the Lagoon. You therefore cannot solve this puzzle until theLagoon has been cleared. Once the Lagoon is cleared, you can place yourvillagers on the field to encourage them to water the field. Flowers willbloom, creating a magical garden. The flowers will be used to honour the deadand to be given in offering at the Temple, once it has been rebuilt.Leaving your ComputerThe game is saved to your hard drive and will run even when you are not atyour computer. You can mitigate the effects of any neglect on your partsomewhat.

Go to your Menu, and choose Options, then choose 'Game Speed'. Youhave the following choices:Paused1/2 SpeedNormal Speed2x SpeedIf you choose 'Pause', the game will not move forward until you choose adifferent option. Do note, however, that the options are individual to theplayer. If you are playing in more than one slot, you need to access the GameSpeed option for each slot!If you are going to be away from your computer only for a few hours or evenwhile sleeping at night, instead of choosing to pause the game, you canchoose '1/2 Speed'. This will slow time to the point where you should be ableto avoid any huge catastrophe.These situations are more critical at the beginning of the game, when yourpopulation is very small.

Once you have achieved a few upgrades and haveincreased your population to 30, you basically can allow the game to runitself for the most part.When you have left your villagers to their own devices, the greatest riskappears to be in the department of Healing. Young adults who have been setpreferences like Farming or Research often will begin to learn without anyinterference on your part.

Healing, however, usually requires your activeparticipation. You must set the villager on the Medical Cactus a few timesbefore he/she will take to the profession. (This is not always the case, butit does appear to occur more than it does with any other chosen profession.)The situation that changes most with the Game Speed is the number of minutesthe mother will be restricted to her maternal role. At double speed, it willbe only 120 minutes. At normal speed, it will be 240 minutes. If you play at1/2 speed, it will be 480 minutes before the woman can work again.Advanced GameplayAs you make progress in the game, purchasing Level 3 skills in every categoryas well as making certain that your villagers are experts in every field ofendeavour, you will find that children, rather than being simply 'Untrained'before they reach the age of 14, will become Apprentices in their field ofpreference or the field in which they inherit some skill.

To bean 'Apprentice', a child must have a certain amount of skill in the field towhich they are apprenticed.Tech Screen: Cost of Level 3 UpgradesThe cost of Level 3 upgrades are as follows:Farming: 50000 pts.Construction: 80000 pts.Medicine: 250000 pts.Science: 150000 pts.Fertility: 240000 pts.Spirituality: 80000 pts.Many of the Puzzles that remain unsolved depend on having more than one Skillat Level 3. For example, you need both Level 3 Construction and Level 3Spirituality in order to restore the ruins and chisel the large stone on thewestern side of the village.To solve three of the last eight puzzles, moreover, you need Level 3 Fertility.The Last 8 Puzzles:The last four puzzles are based primarily on having purchased Level 3 Skillsin all categories. By now, you should have done so in any case, and havereached the maximum population of 90 villagers.

Virtual Villagers A New Home Trainer

General WalkthroughMost of the puzzles are dependent upon some combination of Village Tech, villager skills, and other puzzles. Although some puzzles depend upon the completion of specific puzzles, the 16 puzzles are rarely completed in the order that you see them on the puzzle screen. Pay attention to the things that your villagers are curious about and the messages that you see when you take one of your villagers 'exploring' around the island. These often provide clues that will help you solve the puzzles. Another good strategy is to drag one of your adult villagers around the island after every tech purchase and look for new things that they can work on.

Most of the frustration related to solving the puzzles is brought on by impatience.