Real Life has finally stopped being a poo-head, so I started the game which has been in limbo so long. Though I have to admit, I spent quite some time in the planning stage before I ever hit "unpause." Parrot, my builder, had a small, cramped shelter constructed fairly quickly, with time left over on the first day, so I had her build a table and chairs too. Sadly, Carey and Loser weren't nearly as quick getting their planting done, despite the rather harsh work schedule I'd started them.
It also didn't take long for me to regret that I didn't consider Parrot's inability to do "dumb labor" a deal breaker. Carey and Loser spent a lot of time getting survival meals when they could've been planting, and Parrot herself also spent a lot of time gathering up food to cook, and animals to butcher, that could've been eliminated if she'd spent her extra time hauling stuff to the stockpile, rather than constructing a covered construction zone. Most of the stuff that would go in there doesn't decay quickly, or would've been used before they did decay. But it was either that, or have Parrot create some sculptures, so I chose the former.
By the end of day four, the planting was done, so I relaxed their work schedule, and had Carey start hunting, her faithful hound Kiko at her side. Between that, and Loser foraging for berries, Parrot was able to produce simple meals. The survival rations were, of course, carefully packed up for future use.
Day five allowed me to name our faction and settlement. I kind of liked the random name the game gave us, so I accepted the name "Southeastern Aseron," for the faction, and Konewood for the settlement's name.
Day six, our first "recruit" arrived: Black, who had the passion for mining our faction was missing. I didn't want to accidentally kill her, since she arrived naked, armed with only an awful knife and no combat skills, so I sent Parrot and Carey out to bludgeon her into submission. She was housed briefly in the storeroom, until Parrot could construct a proper jail cell.
On last day of spring, we rescued a Praetor from the Broken Empire, who was being pursued by a vicious, man-eating squirrel, with big teeth and pointy claws. Loser, being unable to do any kind of direct violence, was chosen as our faction's respresentative to the Empire, for that sweet, sweet psionics.
Four days into the summer, our second "recruit" arrived: Fox. She was addicted to Ambrosia, but fortunately, a field of this most wonderous of fruits had recently sprouted, so I'd be able to supply her addiction. She was an extremely skilled brawler, though, so I took the risk of engaging at a long range, despite being equipped identically to Black. She's the second cannibal in our group, and if we get many more, it could very well be that this particular colony may consider raids to be "free food." I'm sure the large pack of muffalo on the map will rest easy if that's the case.
We've finally finished our fifteenth day. Black officially joined the colony the day before, and we'd harvested our first cotton so that both Black and Fox would be properly attired. Casey had tamed a female Muffalo, and was working on taming a male, so we would at least have a breeding pair. And Loser got the psychic power... "Word of Trust." It isn't a combat-oriented power, but it will allow her to quickly break the resistence of new recruits. Since she's our only warden at this time, this'll help add new blood rather quickly... assuming any attackers survive to be captured, of course.
