General Hints and Tips:

  • Start the game with 2 kids, 2 young women and 1 young man.
  • Spend your tech points in the most logical fashion: from the cheapest to the most expensive on level 2. Once all the second level techs have been bought, save up that 70k for the extra tech points.
  • When you start the game, drag one adult all over the map to familiarize yourself with the hot spots.
  • The numpad is great for jumping to spots on the map, but it misses large portions of it. Don’t rely on it too much in hunting for collectibles.
  • VV4 is more forgivable when it comes to food than the other VV games – it’s pretty hard to starve to death, even with a large population.
  • If an adult refuses to do something, it might a job for a child.
  • Sometimes it takes more than just tech levels to solve a puzzle. It might take a skilled villager. Or a store of supplies.
  • Fresh water is for drinking. Salty water is for crafting.
  • When you see a collectible, pause the game and drag one kid on it. Then quickly hit the spacebar twice (unpause and pause again) and drag anther kid on the same collectible. This also works on mushrooms.
  • If you already collected the collectible, it will be turned into tech points. If you pick up the child and make him drop it, your tech points will go up immediately.
  • To make babies, pause the game and drag a villager on top of another villager until your population counter moves up. You don’t have to wait for them to go into the shack – the chance of pregnancy is calculated as soon as you put the villagers together.
  • A 2 year old can’t work…but she can be a healer.

Puzzles hints (as spoiler free as possible!)

  1. Covered in the tutorial. (check the fish bones.)
  2. Check the top of the river near the falls. When you’re done with that, look at what was under the waterfall. No luck? Check again after science level 2.
  3. Look at those wooden bowls for water near the river and the ocean. There are also some blackened rocks near the research area.
  4. Soapy-smelling plants and salter water equals…?
  5. Requires completion of #1 & #2. Cut down the greenery covered in butterflies and SLOWLY bring them to the tree.
  6. Requires #2. Check the pond near the top right cliffs in the midst of a monsoon.
  7. Clear the debris near the hard fruit trees. Then heat and use 4 blacked rocks. Cover with broad leaves from the tree right next to the blueberries.
  8. Requires #1, #3 and a clothing hut. Involves salt water and pulpy vines.
  9. Needs learning level 3.
  10. Take a couple of kids and an adult to the crab. (it’s red, it’s on the beach, it scuttles, and it’s really fast.)
  11. Requires completion of #7, & #12. Stew ingredients: 1 of each herb plant, fresh water, berries, baked fruit, fish, mushroom, and 2 bins of food from the food bin. A lot of people have trouble with this one – some say you need all those food already in the bin first.
  12. Needs #8. Have something to do with the piers.
  13. Needs #1, #8, and #4.
  14. Needs >20 people and dendrology level 2. Make a sweet stew and put everyone on it.
  15. Needs all pipe pieces, level 3 dendrology, #2, and #4. Bring a villager of pure body and mind to the tree.
  16. Needs Rope (in the research area), some supplies of #8, and then…follow the hummingbird.

Got questions? Post them in the comments.

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