Few questions about trapping and a couple of misc questions

[PALU]

I don't know the answer, but a possibility is that there is frost in the ground, and I think you can't prepare the ground until the frost is gone. The way I know how to check that is to start to dig a hole. If the game tells you the ground is frosty and it's going to take a long time, don't proceed. If the game doesn't ask you, abort the digging (unless you actually wanted a hole there), and start your fertilizing fires.

Also, using firewood is gross overkill. 3 branches is enough, and is MUCH more easily acquired.

[JEB Davis]

The game should require much more wood because each tile is 4 square-meters.

[Kantall]

Good news - Frost cleared!

Bad news - I burned a 10x10 area before realising I can't farm on marshland. OOPS. Time to do some deforestation.

[LoLotov]

The best places to farm IMO are the natural clearings and bushy areas you'll find scattered throughout the woods. They're generally clear of all but a few trees, might have a few berries and herbs, and you just have to start your burning near the border of one of the forested tiles.

Alternatively, you can search for settlements that consist of one or two buildings and are populated by a single old man; he'll usually have several tiles that are at least clear, and frequently several planted fields. Wait til winter so he does all the harvesting for you, kill him, then come back and plant in spring.

[spamgoose]

You don't need to worry about open areas if you do it "slash-and-burn" style. Just lay your branches piles in the field shape you want and ignore the tree squares. Light a bunch of the piles and you'll burn down the trees. If you're concerned about spreading fire outsides the field just cut down a couple trees to make a one-square fire break all around the field you want.

oooooooooooo
oTBBTBBBTTBo
oBBBTBTBTBTo
oooooooooooo

o = open
T = tree
B = branches pile

I tend to use 5 branches, but it likely doesn't matter. More probably makes the fire spread easier, but this always works for me. I then move around the branches pile lighting them on fire... by the time I've done a handful of fires it's usually spread to almost everywhere I need. It's a "waste" of trees.. but it's not like any one of us will cut down *ALL* the trees. And it feels more legit.

[Kantall]

Following on from my marsh screw-up....I made such a big mistake. I just made a MASSIVE trap fence, going around 7-8 overworld tiles to fence off the entire peninsula I'm in. Then, excitedly I come to build the pits and....NOPE.

If it wasn't so funny I'd be devestated.

[spamgoose]

Following on from my marsh screw-up....I made such a big mistake. I just made a MASSIVE trap fence, going around 7-8 overworld tiles to fence off the entire peninsula I'm in. Then, excitedly I come to build the pits and....NOPE.

If it wasn't so funny I'd be devestated.

Oh that's so painful. Well at least you have a giant protective fence. If there are any areas you can add pit traps, it's still useful because it will funnel things into them. If any parts of the fence are near diggable terrain, add some pits a few squares from the fence as well, and add a mini perpendicular fence.

F
F
Ffffffffffffffffffff
F              T
F


F = Fence
f = perpendicular fence
T = Trap

Animals of all ilk tend to travel along the fence for stretches so this can still work.

I, too, love building ridiculously big fences, though I often have more success with smaller fence/pit setups placed in more places. If you notice a couple reindeer herd in an area, you can build a small setup (maybe 12 fences, 3 pits) in the area, and actively try to herd them into it. I've had a lot of success with those. More often than not, I can come back in a month and find a random elk in them too.

[Kantall]

Following on from my marsh screw-up....I made such a big mistake. I just made a MASSIVE trap fence, going around 7-8 overworld tiles to fence off the entire peninsula I'm in. Then, excitedly I come to build the pits and....NOPE.

If it wasn't so funny I'd be devestated.

Oh that's so painful. Well at least you have a giant protective fence. If there are any areas you can add pit traps, it's still useful because it will funnel things into them. If any parts of the fence are near diggable terrain, add some pits a few squares from the fence as well, and add a mini perpendicular fence.

F
F
Ffffffffffffffffffff
F              T
F


F = Fence
f = perpendicular fence
T = Trap

Animals of all ilk tend to travel along the fence for stretches so this can still work.

I, too, love building ridiculously big fences, though I often have more success with smaller fence/pit setups placed in more places. If you notice a couple reindeer herd in an area, you can build a small setup (maybe 12 fences, 3 pits) in the area, and actively try to herd them into it. I've had a lot of success with those. More often than not, I can come back in a month and find a random elk in them too.

Some of it was on the border of a forest, so I just made a little funnel to extend the trapfence in a couple of tiles, but a large stretch of it is between two sections of marshland in the middle of the forests I was bordering off. It's certainly not a total loss, just a little frustrating.

[PALU]

The failure to add pit traps due to it being marshy is not a great setback: just use bear traps instead. I haven't seen any difference in how they operate from a practical point of view anyway.

When it comes to burning for fields, I make mine 9*9 (you can harvest 3 lines by walking along the middle one, so that makes three sweeps at harvest time), and I place branches on every tile in every second tile (usually prepared during winter, at which times the trees are removed as well). I then set fire to all branch piles in a line, and by the time the last one is lit the first one has usually expired, so I go back and prepare the soil. I then do the same for the second line of branches (on the third line), and by that time it's usually time to call it a day. Once all the lines have been taken care of, I place branches on the unprepared lines and repeat the process. By not burning more than I can process in a day (or the next one, if I'm unlucky with the RNG so preparation takes unusually long), I make sure I don't waste burned tiles due to interruptions such as having caught an elk in a trap (which takes about two days to take care of).

[koteko]

I agree on heavy bear traps, they are awesome.

[Kantall]

For most of the areas I managed to go a couple of tiles deeper, into the forest so I could dig pit traps. For the rest, I will use bear traps, thankyou. Will bear traps, out of interest, kill wolves?

[Kantall]

RIP

My character passed away in an unfortunate drowning incident during his second winter as a man.

Damned shame, I was doing really well but got a little cocky going over ice.

I'm going to start again, this time modded, any recommendations? I'm currently using...self sufficiency I think?

[Silenia]

I've always been rather fond of the Njerpez Cookery Mod, myself. It doesn't seem to be up on the new forums yet, but the old board thread is here: http://z3.invisionfree.com/UrW_forum/index.php?showtopic=7253

[PALU]

Bear traps work well with elks, reindeer, wild boars, and, yes, wolves. Badgers are too small. I may very well have missed some animals they can trap, as that's from the top of my head (well, humans can be caught if the trap is not part of a trap fence/array, but they're not particularly effective against Njerps).

I like the Njerp cooking mod and use a customized version of Buiodda's mod (I've changed a lot of crafting skills to use carpentry so there's something useful to train that skill on. Carpentry then really is used as a handiwork skill). For my next character (with the next version) I intend to try Jaredonian's mod to increase the cultural diversification.