Krougal

I've come up empty on searches and even watching vids. Sure, people build some nice elaborate buildings but I am just looking for a functional base design for when a single 7x7 room and a cellar starts getting cramped. I'm also struggling with mechanical power, which I figure the base needs to be anchored around since moving a windmill is labor intensive. I have read all the readable tutorials and posts I could find, as well as watched several videos. I am finding everything comes to a halt all too often. Rotor is at 170 elevation. Full 5 sails. I've got the angled off the rotor feeding a large gear. At the bottom another large gear. Angled feeding quern on 1 side, pulverizer on the other. Everything has a transmission and clutch. For the helve hammer I have tried putting the angled gear on the bottom of the large for more torc (but then it is way too slow) and well as on the level with the faster devices(which means definitely can't run others at the same time) . I've also tried with and without giving the quern it's own large for more speed. Nothing seems to work consistently well. Sometimes I can run more than 1 device, sometimes not. Sometimes not even 1. Obviously I am not talking about periods of no wind, at least if the HUD is accurate. I am using https://mods.vintagestory.at/pelaguswinds which I am assuming is still going to report correctly (I know sometimes mods have their own systems that ignore the vanilla) and not do anything crazy with the wind or really do anything other than normalize it like it says on the tin. Do we really need to spam windmills? I am not looking to make some massive industrial factory, just a dependable and efficient setup. Is it best to put each thing on it's own mill?

Oh. I haven't gotten to the point of using the double-distilled stuff yet. I've had the game like a week but I have also restarted many times so far. Still haven't made it to my first winter or past iron tools yet. I have probably been stocking WAY too much food already, but I've found starting farming early is the way to go. Jugs of wine are useful field rations and extend the life of whatever fruit you can't make into jam.

Shields! The guides and even any videos I have watched don't seem to stress it enough, but just like IRL, a shield is almost as important as your weapon. I was very frustrated before I realized this. That crude shield will block so much damage you should always carry 1 in your inventory. Keep enemies in front of you and you can just hack through them. You can even keep the shield in your offhand while you use a bow or throw spears. Also make improvised armor. It is crap and it breaks constantly, but between that and the shield you just might survive a wolf attack. As Thorfinn mentioned early on spears are awesome. Don't bother with the club. After a knife, the next thing I make is a spear and I usually carry 3 until I get a bow. Speaking of, hunter is awesome and if you are playing as one (or disabled class specific recipes) you should make a crude bow and a stack of crude flint arrows ASAP. The damage may suck, but if you stay mobile and use your shield you can take out wolves. It really turns you from hunted to hunter. Most game is too fast for you to melee.

You have to go into the hills to find sheep. Bees are funny, I have had trouble finding the 1st hive, but after that I just stumble into hives all over. Bauxite shouldn't be that hard to find with exploration as it surface strata at least. Granted I am still a bit of a noob and I haven't gotten past iron yet. Borax can be a pain especially since I am off looking for it as soon as I have a bronze pickaxe. Once you've got borax, then you make barrels, and more barrels, and more barrels. And clear forests of oak trees. In between you mash cranberries and pour them into barrels. Then make more barrels.

This is not a game about combat; this is a game about making barrels.