TribeNet: Feeding your people From: Patrick Travers <ptravers@flash.net> Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000 Well, it's getting into the middle of summer and the clan elders have started thinking about providing food during the long winter ahead. Granted, it's six turns away, but better to be prepared. The main food resource to this point has been hunting. As experience has shown, however, hunting sucks in the winter. We of the Green Horde began life right in the middle of winter (turn 913/11) and each hunter brought in LESS than half of a prov each (.4985 to be exact). Right now each hunter is bringing in approximately 3 provs per hunter, so 1700 hunters are keeping the tribe fed. This will begin falling off (it has already!). My question is this: What are better ways to feed the people, especially when hunting drops off completely? I know what the available options are: Hunting with more people during the spring and summer, farming (which needless to say can't be done in the winter), fishing, and slaughtering herd animals. Of these four options, slaughtering herd animals is the easiest, but if you were to provide 5000+ people with food solely from animals, you would quickly decimate your herds. Personally, I only have about 120 cattle, which would provide a grand total of 2400 provs; and 5500 goats which would provide 22000 provs. But you need to keep enough on hand to last out the >following< winter... Hunting with 2000 or more hunters is feasable, if you don't want to do anything else (like mine for minerals, tan skins, make spears or slings, or mount a substantial defense 'just in case'). Fishing seems to be the next best option, but I have no idea on how to get started (duh - you need water). Also, you have to attain a skill level in fishing. And it would be best to have nets, which requires rope, which requires weaving, which requires cotton, which leads us to the last option... Farming seems like the the least attractive alternative of the four because it's so equipment intensive. A plow takes a lot of metal and a high metalworking skill level. Not to mention that you have to take farming skill attempts to gain the ability to farm. Also, to feed your people grain requires 40lbs of grain to make one provision. Of course, you can make bread, but that requires a bakery, which is expensive to construct. Ok, now that I've thoroughly confused myself, I'm looking for input. Cheers, Patrick *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Patrick Travers ptravers@flash.net ptravers@gtech.com Java, HTML, Visual Basic, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server developer. Avid (rabid?) player of the best pbEm game in the world: TribeNet. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Referenced By Up