This game is a great time sink, but I also do think of it as essentially having paid to beta test. I get that that's not everyone's cup of tea though.

I definitely agree with 2 & 3, especially given 4. I've found even when I try expanding and building relay areas they still end up in the middle of nowhere.

I'll notice people heading out into the darkness to do stuff and I don't get it. Those in particular tend to give up and spend a night out, then complain.

As for resources: food, trees, sticks and hay is buildup. I usually plant forests nearby that I can then regularly harvest sticks and logs from - once they've matured. Then that becomes a regular resource. Apple and peach orchards will also provide branches for example in addition to food.

Clay and stone are more annoying at they're not a renewable resource.

Not sure if the fire issue - them being out constantly for me - is a fuel issue or a priority/Sapien issue. I usually have plenty of branches, they just aren't being kept up. It doesn't help that the priority level resets when the fire goes out.

Agreed! 2, 3, and 4 really add up to an ugly synergy; and we need quicker processing of meat.

A lot of discussion of the game is on the Discord. You might want to file these ideas in the Feedback-Suggestions channel there!

They only need campfires for cooking, so I've stopped caring if they are lit unless I want my saps to cook something. I have 2, so one can cook and another investigate if needed. I usually have plenty of fruit and berries, so nobody has to wait for the fires to be free.

If you look up logs under the resources tab you can turn on logs being used as fuel for campfires and ovens.

Originally posted by Therious:

I really do enjoy this game, but there a few things that frustrate me and maybe im doing something wrong.
*snip*
i know it is still early access, but this has always been a problem

1: I haven't had any real trouble with the length of the day. Not to long or short for me.

2: Agreed.
Whatever was done to make them able to do some jobs at night, means they no longer loiter around torches/campfires at night. Oddly enough, saw one moving into the darkness for no reason. Saw them when they ran past a campfire. Paused and clicked them, said they were moving toward the light, as they ran into the darkness....

3: I could see a 50-100% increase in the range they will travel to do stuff. Sleds also work to move stuff longer distances.

4: This is normal. When a map is generated, the game seems to randomly decide some plants will be rare, and one or two will be next to impossible to find. (aloe basically did not exist on my previous village, the present one it's the purple flower that starts with E whose spelling I can't remember)

5: Odd. I never really have such problems. Closest I have, is of bread production requiring to level entire mountains, since they might as well use the 'smash tool into ground' animation, for grinding flour, with as fast as they destroy quern stones,

6: Agreed with digging, definitely could do with more rock, clay and dirt, at least double. I also could see more branches from some types of trees. Also would like to see upwards of a dozen small rocks, when breaking down a larger rock. Log amount seems ok.

7: As others mentioned, go into the Resources menu, select Logs, un-tick use for fuel. Do similar for Pinecones, if you plan on planting pine trees. Also useful since you can select specific types. Like if you want to allow them to use Birch logs for firewood, but not allow Pine logs for firewood, due to building with them.
I would 'love' to see there be proper firewood in game. Wood that has been cut, and allowed to dry, will burn a 'lot' better, then just tossing an entire, freshly felled tree, onto the fire.

8: Hunters do that in general. Babysit them when hunting mammoths. After spear throw, if they stand there when the mammoth charges, pause, give move order to 'side step' the mammoth. If mammoth moves v then move hunter < or > .

9 (& 10): Don't make to many campfires. 2-3 campfires are plenty, for a village of around 50-100 people.
Go into the Roles tab, select basic cooking. Make sure it has not assigned a ton of unskilled people to basic cooking. Even with auto-assign off, I have had to remove basic cooking from 18 kids, which often prevented my 5-6 skilled people rarely were able to cook.(annoying until I figured out what was going on with that issue)

Some other tips, that might help improve the gameplay experience.
Rocks and stuff on the surface, mark what is underground. So if you find Flint in a spot, start digging.
Harvest grass in long rows, leaving every other row alone. This gives each cleared hex, 4 adjacent hexes of grass, which seems to increase the chances/speed at which the grass regrows. Setup dedicated stockpile outside for wet hay (dries faster outside), setup route to transport dry hay to an indoor stockpile that only accepts dry hay (lasts longer inside).
If not living in the desert, make your own personal forest. Or several.
If you have plenty of spare berries/fruits early on, plant some of them. Having a few dozen ready to go berry bushes or fruit trees, can be a life saver, during unexpected food shortages. Also, if you got reliable cooking capability, make sure stuff like beetroots and pumpkins can only be eaten when cooked.
Discover Mulching and Composting, improving soil to Rich Soil, will greatly help with whatever plants (and I think even trees) you are growing.
Use sleds or stockpiles, close to areas where you do a lot or mining or tree felling, or when harvesting a lot of a smaller items. This helps reduce time wasted hauling single small items (and so needed tools aren't being hauled back and forth over long distances)
Speaking of the above, don't allow elders to do general labor, or jobs that require them to walk a lot, since their slow speed will cause all sorts of delays. Unless they are the only one available, anyways...

This is not a game you can be hands off with. It's as much of a supervising (or babysitting) a village full of village idiots type of thing, than anything. The AI definitely needs some fine tuning and balancing.

Oh sweety this poor AI or code or whatever you want to call it is broken so bad. The game states 600 villagers no. There is a lot of hopes and dreams piled up like unused split logs. Desert is almost unplayable. The drones in the game is like a pong AI hitting itself.