How do one play this game?

Farthest Frontier General Discussion
1

I read the intro guide pages on this site, but so much is missing.

I select the easiest mode i can find, but it isn’t easy enough. I switch off military, set pacifist mode, wanted to disable diseases but that setting which should be there according to instructions isn’t there.

I’ve tried this game 2 days and it just doesn’t work. The population die all the time, usually because there’s no food, but they also can’t find water, can’t pick berries, they are there but harvest nothing or nowhere near enough. Hunters don’t hunt, wells often provide no water or they don’t go there for whatever other reason, berry pickers don’t touch the berry bushes. I’ve moved the tiny little circles to exactly cover it, but it’s like they don’t have any function. A few times there’s no wildlife at all and population die year 2. Sometimes there’s wildlife running around, but hunters can’t find them even when they are running between houses and population die year 2. I tried the fisher, same thing there. There’s fish 2 meter outside his door, yet he can’t find it. I tried building several of all sorts of storages, but they don’t store in them, only timber and stones work. The other one, it stays empty and the root cellar fill a little and then it all rot and all population die.

Easymode feels to me like it’s the most difficult mode, several levels of easier must be added, examples, tutorials, documentation, step-by-step instructions. I tried farming, but that doesn’t work either, crops are destroyed by heat, by frost, eaten by the animals hunters don’t hunt, rotten, crops fail at least 2 times every year and farming give nothing, population die. Whatever i do, it doesn’t work as told it should in the guides.

Easymode must be made easier, documentation for an offline game must be in game and not on some /online/ website. There should be an intro with an example world, showing step by step how it works, unlock one single thing at a time, tell exactly where to build them, how many, explain it in detail, make sure it works, explain exactly how, why and what needed for it to work before next part unlock. Currently the game nag about houses before they can even be built, then more buildings come available but with not a word about where to place them for population to use them or how many needed, e.g how many berry pickers are needed? how many hunters? how many wells, etc. How to get them doing something?

I have so many questions, but i’m about to give up on this one. Too complicated, barely documented at all. It needs an ingame step-by-step and well illustrated tutorial. It’s obvious i guess, that i’m not very used to games like this, so maybe there’s an undocumented procedure players are assumed to be familiar with and supposed to follow in all games like this without it being in the documentation, but to me it’s a mystery.

2

Hi, have you tried activating the tutorial, it will guide you at the beginning and believe it or not it is easier than you think, don’t get frustrated. :wink:

tutorial
tutorial1920×1095 150 KB

3

game is pretty hard for entry level agree. i suggest you watch some introduction and mechnics on youtube. its just that.
and game becomes amazin when u understand basic mechanics.
also vanquisher and middle difficulty (dont remember name) dont differ much. vanquisher has more often raids and its all.

but turning off military is way to easy once u understand mechanics, game is hard because its very unique in survivng mechanics. in terms of little fail can wipe all people. and this is what makes is challenging and interesting simultaneously. u need always keep u atention at multiple things

4

The ability to go pacifist mode is essential to me, the reason i chose this. I don’t want “challenge”, we have enough many wars, conflicts and murders outside our own houses, so there’s no need for anyone to have it in games too. Them who desire to experience death and destruction, visit ukraine or another conflict zone, or just watch the world news, we don’t need games about it. It’s sad to see all the millions of games focused on war, violence, fighting this, fighting that, while there are almost no games without it, so that’s why i decided to try this one with a pacifist mode.

Tutorials have been on all the time, but they don’t give any useful information beyond the obvious, and it’s like they were written for another version of the game. It doesn’t explain why hunters don’t hunt despite deers run between their houses, within the circle. It doesn’t explain why, after 1 year, all deer move away and there’s none on the whole map. I set the exploration flags far out to search, but no animals, and ofcourse all people starve to death unless they freeze to death in the winter that happen every week. Years are too short, they can’t do anything in that little time. It take population a year to walk around the town, while really it should take only a day. Years are over 50x too short in game.

Tutorials don’t explain why fishers don’t catch any fish while they have a fish icon right on their doorstep, within the circle, and then all population die of starvation. Where do the fish go if they caught one? Do the fisher use it all himself? There’s a beef icon above every house as if they don’t eat fish anyway, which could perhaps also explain part of it, but then what’s the fish for?

There are wells neighbour with their house, but population have no water. There’s a large lake near, but even if i build houses alongside the lake they can’t find water. Why can’t they take water from the lake like the rest of humanity have done since over 2 million years, why suddenly all need wells and then not drink from it? After some die, then they stop complaining about water, but it’s a mystery to me why they need to die first and a mystery to me why wells are needed 10 meter from a lake.

They have many berries, but they only store some, leave it to rot and then starve to death. Vegetarians can survive on vegetables, but not this game population, they only eat deer meat? There’s no explanation to this in the game. What do they need berries and vegetables for if they don’t use it? Why is there so little beef if that’s all they eat? Why are there no farm animals like cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry if that’s so important? There are two bulls pulling a useless cart, by can’t they eat the bulls if they are so starved? The ingame documentaton is nothing less than a disaster and i can’t understand at all how anyone can actually play this.

When other play, they don’t explain what they do or how things work, they just play and i can’t copy their map, i can’t get the same start. There’s no standard tutorial world everyone get the same, so when i try, all die.

If i info a building, it says the person can’t work, there’s no food, no fish, no resources, but it’s there. They all don’t work, but they don’t say why, no help from them. Furthest i got was year 10, most population died every weekly winter, but i thought i found a somewhat functional map, then all died and the only survivors were the two useless bulls pulling a useless cart, so these two bulls are obviously smarter than all of the population, they know how to not starve to death or freeze to death.

The current easy mode need at least 5 more levels of easy, easier, even easier, down to a true easy mode where it actually is easy and not so difficult i have to ask questions like this. I assume most players only switch to another game instead, and i probably will do that too. There are only a handful few non-violence games out there like cities skylines, transport fever, various simulators without wars or other conflict in them, so it’s sad to see that a game which could be ok is then so very full of flaws and so newplayer-hostile. It should be warned in game description that it is so extremely difficult.

2 Likes
5

Hey! I can understand you’re frustration as the game isn’t very well documented yet. And if you’re not totally used to survival colony sim games like this, on top of the low documentation/tutorials by the developers so far, then absolutely it would be hard to grasp.

Sometimes i’d think that this game just isnt for someone but I actually do think you’d like this game and just need a better idea of how the mechanics work. As someone who really enjoys the game, gimme some time and ill make a video and post it here to explain some of the details, specifically the stuff you are addressing.

Also just a small reminder that you do address some really good points, but the game is still in early access and has a very small dev team. Its far from perfect but they are working on it and improving it pretty consistently.

6

Im from Kyiv actually. I appreciate your concern. You are right in some way. But abillity to distingush game from real world and distract is what im enjoing in games.

In tearms of the game turning off the military makes half industry and resourses useless. so that i meant, not that i like death and violence.

7

Check on YT for Tacticcat, he does several guides for every difficulty mode

1 Like
8

Sorry it took a day, some stuff came up I had to attend to. But i made 2 little videos to kinda help explain some of the mechanics that will help you understand the game. Part 1 and Part 2

9

Hello again, I agree with many of the things you say, in fact I don’t like games with violence either (unfortunately life already is!).

I started playing FF for being a “city simulator” and I didn’t expect that violence, but it’s true (as you have said) that if you play in peaceful mode you lose part of the dynamics of it, something that the developers should take into account for the future. Will this game be in the line of “Anno xxxx”? I don’t like so much violence or will it be more like “Banished”? a wonderful game.

As they have already said, the game is still in development and I’m sure that many things will change, time will tell.

I can only tell you to be watching it and when it is fully developed decide whether to play it or not.

10

I tried. Thank you for trying, hopefully it can help someone better then me to overcome the problems.

What i done different from video is that i build 4 houses first to stop the game making so much noise about it, then the other things shown and then 4 more houses.
And i make houses in group with 4 and a path between, not sure if that is needed but it help for me to see placing so i don’t block a passage with buildings. I built fence around a farm in a try to stop animals eating it all, but it didn’t help, crops destroyed by cold instead, and then destroyed by rot.

I use translated version, but it appears buildings are the same and place in same method.
End of “year 2”, first people die. I didn’t see cause, they only died and i must build a cemetery.
Year 3 or 4, no meat. First cemetery is being 1/3 full. End of summer many die and there’s no way to fix it.
Year 4 or 5, they all have no food, meat icon over almost all houses. Around half population die as always.
I build a second cemetery, first is almost full. A few more die from snow stars in winter.
Year 5 or 6, so many died i closed the game, no need to wait for the last 10 to die, it’s hopeless.

Highest number of alive population i ever reached is probably short under 80, not sure exact how many, but then all die.
Collector pick one berry, then leave the rest in circle untouched.
Even hunters have no meat and they die from no beef available. Deers have untouched nature, but they all soon go hiding and is probably on other side of earth, not on the map even if i set explore flags far aside in the dark. I set them as far i could.
All population starve to death and say no beef available. They don’t obey the circle, only say no resources.
They don’t eat anything else than beef, everything else they don’t touch, let rot and don’t use.
There is smokery, but it have no resources.
I made even 2 root cellar, there are things in them but they don’t use it, they starve to death from no beef.
There is a store house with things in it, but they don’t use it.
There are vegetables, in circle, but they don’t go there.
There’s fish in circle, i made another fisher too with another circle with fish in middle, same as in video example, but they don’t eat fish, only let it rot and then even fisher say there’s no beef, they don’t eat fish, they complain about beef all time.

I made 2 screen photos of the disaster, but don’t know how to make it visible here.

I give up on this, i don’t see what i do different, looks like i do it right but they all die. It’s unplayable to me. Maybe it’s some small detail or maybe it’s so full of bugs it’s not playable yet, but i surprised see some say they have 2.000 population, i don’t even get 80 before all die.

I uninstall this now and leave it on steam, maybe try reinstall in a few years if programmers maybe fix all problems with it, and most of all create an easy mode which is easy and not almost most advanced and the 5-15 easier modes necessary below that level is missing.

I can understand programmers feel it’s an easy mode, as they know all parts of the game and themselves can play it easily there, but for someone who is new and not knowing all secrets, it’s beyond hopeless.

11

You surpriced me. Never experienced such thing like you described. Fishermen were for me always very good source of food, and my settlers eat no problem what gatherers bring to them. Now I have around 800 population, what I consider not very big town.

12

when you start don’t do too much. Place one hunter near deer. place one forager near different kinds of food and other resources. place just one fisherman. place your firewood maker a little away from the houses you place. Only build 3 houses until they are built don’t build more. also you need to build a smokehouse to make your meat last longer. the first year don’t build more than this or winter will come, and your houses won’t be built and stocked with firewood. don’t forget to build roads so your workers move faster.

13

Well before roads really. You can do without roads initially, but need a well or two.

14

I forgot to mention that my first build is always one well. I build nore later.

15

If you are finding too hard, try using the WeMod App it will help.

Just search Google for WeMod

17

Cheats??? Maybe it’s better to watch a video on YouTube of how others play? What can you learn by playing with cheats?

1 Like
18

Hey! Learning to play a new game can be a fun adventure. Usually, it starts with understanding the rules and mechanics—often, tutorials or guides help a lot.

1 Like
19

Hello, I understand your frustration, I also play in peaceful mode since the first day they released the game. I have started many games to try to know how to play (I also read guides, etc.). It is true that pioneer mode is not the easiest (being the easiest), and with each update, you must relearn. In my case, I was playing yesterday and I don’t know how the relics thing works, but I’ll look for information. It is the first time that I am involved in a game, participating in the forum and reporting bugs, sharing wishes and/or asking questions and I have to say that the team behind it does an excellent job with updates and advice. Could there be an easier way? I think so, but if you try hard you will surely advance, someone who is very bad at playing in general tells you this. Farthest Frontier is my favorite game and its music is delicious. Cheer up, don’t lose hope! :wink:(Translated with Google)