"Despite barely surviving, the constant struggle and now the ever encroaching cold we haven't lost our compassion or ability to care. To help someone who needs it whether it is wise or not. Winter is nearly here and we wouldn't want to leave anyone out in the cold.. Plus, we need all the help we can get."
Day 25
As the night rolls on it occurs to me that this base is looking very messy, given that multiple cases of food poisoning have lead to vomit being everywhere, ick. Angel starts the day hunting which is going to be crucial I feel, she takes out the cougar roaming the east of the map, which means I don't have to worry about someone getting mauled for wandering too close to it's hunting ground.
However things take a turn for the worse when Angel succumbs to the cold and literally hides in her room, refusing to work or do anything at all. Then Nicole also due to a low mood (again the cold) goes into a daze, oh boy, rough start to the day. Sappy at least gets to work finishing another hydroponic basin... And then an electrical fault causes the batteries attached to the solar panels to discharge and starts a fire in the greenhouse. Ash rushes from her mining job to douse the flames before it gets too far thankfully but the damage is done.
Seriously the game hates me today I think or at the very least hates my colonists. Whilst a group of travelers happen by our little dwelling in the evening yet another pair of unfortunate events adds to the woes the colony faces. First due to there now being no power in the batteries to keep the hydroponics running, the plants are dying. Second, hard snow becomes the weather of choice meaning it's going to be touch and go to even survive long enough to hunt and I can feel this colony starting to slip away from me already. The hunting opportunities on the map are drying up fast so unless I can sort out the greenhouse promptly, people are going to starve.
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| A power fault causes the greenhouse batteries to lose all their charge, killing off the plants in the the basins. |
Day 26
Nicole is wandering around outside in the small hours of the morning in the dark and driving snow, if she doesn't snap out of it soon she will need a rescue. Food reserves are dwindling as the last simple meals form the colonies breakfast whilst Angel goes to hunt the few remaining animals still roaming the map. The solar panels aren't kicking out enough juice to keep the greenhouse going now so in an attempt to remedy that I have ordered a pair of wood-fire generators to be built to help run the greenhouse.
At this stage I am really stumped as to how to ensure this colony survives until winter much less through it. Again a lack of steel slows down construction, I seem to be using a lot of it so I set some mining orders to try and stockpile it even if I am worried that Sappy and Ash may suffer due to the plunging temperatures and the snow now turning the map white.
I also opt to link both the power systems together rather than have them separate, so I lay some conduit's hoping that may help things at least for a little while. Angel and Syd butcher and cook late into the night ensuring the colony should survive another day or two as I scour the map for more animals to hunt. A war merchant arrives, but he has no food for sale and I have no need of weapons right now so they just wander around the colony for a while.
To put it simply, things have gone from bad to worse so far, I fear this colony may not make it to day 30. I had planned to start crafting winter clothing as a priority to combat the cold and ensure outdoor work isn't dangerous but the ever present specter of starvation seems determined to keep stopping my plans.
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| Syd and Angel butchering and cooking as the hunting prospects on the map dwindle due to the cold. |
Day 27
Angel tends to Ash who suffered frostbite during the night, warm clothes are sorely needed but I am having to make do without simply due to how short of food the colony is. Ash was simply too persistent in mining that last piece of steel, luckily she got home before it got too serious. Now with the greenhouse being on a brownout most of the day crops are struggling or just dying.
Sappy tries to build one of the solar generators and promptly botches it wasting precious resources, I just.. I don't even.. Come on Sappy, work with me here! Most everyone else spends a good deal of time mining or cooking, we need steel and lots of it. Not to mention power to keep the greenhouse juiced up 24/7, which feels like the last hope for this colony.
A grizzly bear also then decides that Angel looks particularly delicious and decides to try and hunt her down. It very nearly succeeded but luckily between Angel and Nicole they manage to bring it down before Angel gets turned into lunch, losing Angel would be catastrophic at this stage. Instead the bear ends up on the colonists dinner plates, bear steak anyone? It likely won't surprise anyone that there was a lot of meat on that bear, easily a couple of days worth of meals by itself.
On the plus side linking the two power circuits has stabilised the power and the greenhouse for now appears to be functioning. Ash who had been bedridden recovering from her frostbite spends the night planting rice and potatoes in the greenhouse, which maybe just maybe might stop people from starving over the winter.
I will make sure the two extra wood-fire generators and the two solar panels go up though so I can place more heaters as well as start putting electric lighting in to cheer the colonists up. If I can also remedy the food situation I may be able to start working on other things.
I do hope you are continuing to enjoy this, do please leave comments, constructive criticism either on the twitter post about this or the blog itself. Thank you very much for reading, watch this space for the next part!
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| Sometimes the bear eats you, but in this case we eat the bear instead. |
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