How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

futurebird · 2019-05-17 05:09:38

With the new update we'll be spending more time in towns with broken baskets, the rubble of adobe and fences, with that old decayed feel.

I was in a town in my last life and there were about 10 people there but it felt like just 2 or 3, the town was just so huge and there weren't many of us and not many kids were being born.

I always have a hard time thinking of what to do in towns like that. Nothing feels very urgent. There's often food, and water, and since there aren't a lot of people no reason to make more. Organizing isn't very satisfying. And the real problems that such towns have can be hard to tackle and get others excited about.

I decided to try to tackle a hard problem: the town had very little iron, there was some recycled iron, but not much at all. So holding out hope for a baby boom I prepared a horse and rode out into the wild, but what I saw was not "the wild" as I know it and love it... it was a wasteland. For miles about every resource was stripped, even bananas and burdock were scarce. I rode for 30 min and found one piece of surface iron and one iron vein so far from home that I knew I would not be able to bring a kit to it and mine it before I died.

Even the other abandon towns that I found were disappointing. Every item with iron was gone. What I did find was knives. Knives are an excellent source of iron and I brought 3 back along with the single piece of iron that I found in the jungle.

It wasn't a bad life but it was bitter sweet, by the time I got back most everyone was dead. The town was empty so, there was no one to enjoy my finds. I melted the knives anyway and stacked up some kindling and charcoal so that anyone else who lived there in the future could make kerosine.

So, my question is what would you have done with that life? How do you make the most of a tired old town?

As the iron runs out we can move to stone hoes, so farming can go on... but how will we cut down trees without new axes? How will we make new carts and replace wandering buckets?

I suppose you could take the car and get iron from even further away.

Or you could do a raid, but really I can't see killing for iron when the real issue was it was just so empty and lonely. If I found a living town I would have settled down to happily work there.

But, I'm curious how this scarcity will play out. I must admit, I'm tempted to avoid burnt out places and search for somewhere more lush... how are the rest of you felling?

RodneyC86 · 2019-05-17 05:22:50

futurebird wrote:

With the new update we'll be spending more time in towns with broken baskets, the rubble of adobe and fences, with that old decayed feel.
I was in a town in my last life and there were about 10 people there but it felt like just 2 or 3, the town was just so huge and there weren't many of us and not many kids were being born.
I always have a hard time thinking of what to do in towns like that. Nothing feels very urgent. There's often food, and water, and since there aren't a lot of people no reason to make more. Organizing isn't very satisfying. And the real problems that such towns have can be hard to tackle and get others excited about.
I decided to try to tackle a hard problem: the town had very little iron, there was some recycled iron, but not much at all. So holding out hope for a baby boom I prepared a horse and rode out into the wild, but what I saw was not "the wild" as I know it and love it... it was a wasteland. For miles about every resource was stripped, even bananas and burdock were scarce. I rode for 30 min and found one piece of surface iron and one iron vein so far from home that I knew I would not be able to bring a kit to it and mine it before I died.
Even the other abandon towns that I found were disappointing. Every item with iron was gone. What I did find was knives. Knives are an excellent source of iron and I brought 3 back along with the single piece of iron that I found in the jungle.
It wasn't a bad life but it was bitter sweet, by the time I got back most everyone was dead. The town was empty so, there was no one to enjoy my finds. I melted the knives anyway and stacked up some kindling and charcoal so that anyone else who lived there in the future could make kerosine.
So, my question is what would you have done with that life? How do you make the most of a tired old town?
As the iron runs out we can move to stone hoes, so farming can go on... but how will we cut down trees without new axes? How will we make new carts and replace wandering buckets?
I suppose you could take the car and get iron from even further away.
Or you could do a raid, but really I can't see killing for iron when the real issue was it was just so empty and lonely. If I found a living town I would have settled down to happily work there.
But, I'm curious how this scarcity will play out. I must admit, I'm tempted to avoid burnt out places and search for somewhere more lush... how are the rest of you felling?

I don't linger in decayed towns. If I were the last guy in the town with no girls, I would try to scavenge two ropes and a sheep skin and get a horse. Then ride into the sunset.

But I guess it sucks because wilderness is just random repeated same 7 biomes. I do hope to stumble into another town though and say Hi. Then I can tell them my story. Also at least I brought a horse to the town

wondaland · 2019-05-17 08:41:27

I tend to go through a check list to see what needs doing.

First food- is the farm functional, any decaying bushes, planted carrots etc. Is there enough leftover pie/stew/broth etc to sustain us for a while.

If yes then are there sheep?

If yes do we have iron?

If yes, what state is the well in? Does it need upgrading and do we have enough alternative water if it does.

If yes I survey to see what tools are needed. Iron tools, buckets, carts etc.

Though this doesn't really address the lonely feeling which I can absolutely relate to. I think one way to help, especially if female is after completing the workload assessment stand by the fire, hopefully there are at least a few babies at this point and you can share your info on whats missing/needs doing. Obviously the wasteland thing is still an issue. I've been born into several towns with absolutely no milkweed recently, no seeds, none in the wild, and no farm. It is the same with iron, when you are repopulating an old town you generally don't have time to travel hundreds upon hundreds of tiles to tap that one iron mine. it's even worse if your town is cartless and ironless. The whole process is very hard and requires a lot of coordination from the population which, with so many varying skill levels is really freaking hard.

The few suggestions I have are 1 regenerating wild plans such as milkweed make the timer quite long 2+ hours but enough to give someone finding a dead town a better chance at reviving it. and a slight increase in iron mine spawn chance, possibly more mines but less iron pieces per mine.

Last edited by wondaland (2019-05-17 08:43:14)

Spoonwood · 2019-05-17 09:42:50

See if there's a plane around, or if you can convert a car to a plane, and try to fly near to a tutorial area. I had started thinking that doing such might be a good idea with how people were making these posts about nature as nothing more than a teenage wasteland. I didn't say anything though. There's some talk on Discord that people are living near tutorial areas now.

"Come together" might just end meaning "fly away" in the end.

wondaland · 2019-05-17 10:10:27

Spoonwood wrote:

See if there's a plane around, or if you can convert a car to a plane, and try to fly near to a tutorial area. I had started thinking that doing such might be a good idea with how people were making these posts about nature as nothing more than a teenage wasteland. I didn't say anything though. There's some talk on Discord that people are living near tutorial areas now.
"Come together" might just end meaning "fly away" in the end.

I was born into a tutorial are twice today, they're definitely out there.

Buggy · 2019-05-17 14:58:36

We were able to pull eves into the tutorial area after the server reset with the new eve spawning.

As far as making the most of life in a decayed town I find if you are up to organizing it can revive an area. If you organize the kitchen it gets swarmed by bakers, if you clean the farms and bring the tools next to it people will start farming again. I know cleaning isn't very fun but it can be satisfying when you see someone get to work because they know what to do now. Take the clutter out of town move tools next to where they are needed, neaten up the farms and sheep pen, and watch as the town gets back to work. Also I like telling people they are doing a good job so they know that their work is appreciated .

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2019-05-17 05:09:38

How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

#2 2019-05-17 05:22:50

Re: How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

#3 2019-05-17 08:41:27

Re: How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

#4 2019-05-17 09:42:50

Re: How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

#5 2019-05-17 10:10:27

Re: How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

#6 2019-05-17 14:58:36

Re: How do you make the most of a life in a decayed town?

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