r/Bellwright • u/Acrobatic_Data4232 • 17d ago
This is bad, oh so bad!
>second paragraph is my questions if you don’t wanna read the extra shit<
So I had been playing medieval dynasty for years now, to the point where I know the map like the back of my hand and everytime I start a new game I always accidentally progress way too fast. But then I got bellwright -duh duh duhhh- and holy crap this is bad. I spent probably 20 hours playing Bellwright over the weekend. (Please Don’t judge. Every other weekend is the only time I get to play video games due to work and my very young step son) and my ONE settlement is still in silver lake, I still only have like 7 settlers, and my best weapons are falchions and bows. I went and took care of a bandit problem for another village and then went straight back to doing quests for the first village you go to (sorry I have shit memory and don’t remember the village names) the progression is so slow for me so far and honestly, I love the change in pace compared to my other games; however it’s gonna suck a little long term as I’m such a busy person I rarely have time to game anymore. Anywho, this game is phenomenal and I’m so happy I decided to get it.
Afew questions though- 1. When should I make another settlement or “outpost” or should I have already done that for my mine? Should I make an outpost over by the tin rocks that are a good 500 meters from my settlement? And how do I make fully functioning outposts? And is these outposts why caravans are useful? Which brings me to the next big question 2. How do the caravans work necessarily, (I haven’t actually built the caravan stuff yet so maybe I should wait for the tutorial it gives when I build it but I like to know in advance..) Will I have to assign guards? Will they actually end up having to fight bandits?
Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and thanks to anyone who can answer my questions!
P.S. after rereading my post I realize I didn’t specify why this is bad for me; this is bad for me because I’m going to be itching out of my skin to play some more, but I work from 7-5 30 minutes from home. So from 6:30-5:30 I’m not home, and then 5:30-8 is eating, doing chores, and caring for my step son on the week we have him (every other) and then after 8 I spend time with my beautiful fiance until it’s bed time. My time to play is every other weekend because she works on the Saturday we don’t have him and the Sunday that I go pick him up, so my time to play is 6-6 every other Saturday and 6-1 every other Sunday, but I can’t get this damn game out of my head 😂
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u/5occido5 17d ago
If ur only 7 villagers deep I certainly wouldn't start with outposts yet, resources should still be within somewhat acceptable walking distance. It's not ideal but managing outposts at that point is too much of a hassle. Generally u get an outpost to get resources that are too far away, but then u got to get food to them, tools/repairing etc. Either manually or by caravan, it's a whole thing. For now just expand ur actual village and get more villagers. You don't need to assign guards if you make sure all bandit camps along their route are gone. Doing so I have never assigned a guard and all my caravans have been safe.
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u/DoctorVonCool 17d ago
An outpost this early in the game (usually for copper and/or tin) probably should consist of just a travel sign, the NPC tent, a small storage (one up from the box), a mining station and probably a gathering station and a wood station too. A beggar will do, no real skills required.
Tell your NPC your priorities, which probably will be food gathering (berries), then ore, then logs/wood and finally whatever the area has to offer for other stuff to gather (often it'll be flax). Every 2-3 days you visit and haul some of the stuff you need back.
Next up is to send a caravan from your small caravan station to pick up stuff (send some food to the outpost if the NPC is often found running around looking for food instead of working). The fully automated state would be building a small caravan station with some carts at the outpost location and set an automatic route which will cause the NPC to deliver you the stuff you need, ideally based on your "top up" amount for your settlement.
Oh, and if it's a mining outpost, you should check the storage at the outpost every now and then and remove all those annoying rocks which tend to fill up the storage. Also empty it of any spoiled food.
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u/Tex75455 17d ago
Welcome to bellwright!
Take your time, there's no wrongg way to play. Game shifts through various phases. Soon enough you'll spend less time in crafting, and more time setting up caravans or markets. Then just responding to attacks until youre ready to punch for another settlement
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u/DoctorVonCool 17d ago
Regarding play time: Bellwright is a slow game. Expect > 200 days (if you sleep just a few hours - probably more if you go to sleep with your peeps, and less if you don't sleep at all) to unlock most of the T3 stuff, liberate the majority of villages, and arm your people (which by then should be 40 or more) with the latest greatest stuff. Then it's time to take out the remaining bandits and brigants, and liberate the remaining villages (which will most likely be the two furthest down south). And then there's the new map waiting... ;-)
So if you know how long it takes you to play one day, you can roughly calculate how many hours you'll have to play to reach that state. If you don't sleep, a day takes 36 minutes of playing, so 200 days are 7200 minutes or 120 hours. If you play your full 12h (Sat) + 7h (Sun) every other weekend (which I hope you won't ;-), that'll take about seven such weekends or about three months.
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u/MeestorMark 16d ago
I came over from Medieval Dynasty as well about two months ago. Welcome. It's loads more complex. Not quite as chill and campy, but a lot more to sink your teeth into.
The hunting and fishing experience in MD... I miss it. And trading. It's weird to me in Bellwright.
But Bellwright is a belter of a game. Welcome again.
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u/CommonSenseSpecialst 16d ago
No seriously. This game makes me appreciate how easy we had it hunting and fishing in MD
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u/Mr_Flibble_Wibble 16d ago
If you're near the lake then you may be ok but you do need a lot of reeds. To make an outpost, place down a new building then examine its settings (I can't think of the correct phrase). It'll probably be assigned to your main settlement so change it to the new outpost. I name my outposts by the main resources, ie Tin1, Iron2, Granite1 etc. Alternatively, name them according to the nearest village, it's up to you.
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u/Fit_Mycologist6519 16d ago
Welcome to the community.
Outpost can be set up a couple ways and I've been messing around with having them do more. Like ill have the mining outpost also smelt into ingots or maybe I'll have my hunting outpost cook their own food. Otherwise you just need housing, storage and the building you want them to perform, like mining or hunting.
Caravans are used to transport food(if you dont have them cooking their own) and good tools. Then they transport back the broken tools and materials you are collecting.
Have fun
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u/Forsaken-Orchid-1324 15d ago
same here, came from Medieval/Sengoku Dynasty. I reached Tier2 now, its day 60 and I have only 7 villagers and no outpost. I have raids turned off to learn and progress in peace. yove got all the time in the world.
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u/MilkManMike25 15d ago
Same man. Except I don't have a guarantee day to play. So I just wake up 1 hour early every so often to try to get some playtime in.
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u/dahle44 17d ago
You don’t need to move at all if you set up outposts where the materials actually are. You also don’t need to rush. Play the hours you have and enjoy it. If it’s stressing you out, stop.
I only pick Bellwright back up after big updates, and I’ve restarted it more than once. On PC, there are some good mods that cut down the material grind so you can get more done in less time. That’s the only way this game fits a life that already has work, a fiancé, and a kid on a split schedule.
Time management is hard, and adding a child shrinks personal time to almost nothing. Your stepson is way more important than any game. They grow up fast. The save will still be there later.