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Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children - Strategy Guide Tips and Tricks

Food, as always, is your villagers' primary need, and you'll also need to provide adequate housing so that the tribe can grow in number and gain the skills they need to solve the puzzles of Isola. Be careful, though! Grow your tribe too quickly, and you'll find that they have nothing to eat and will have to rely on the children to gather precious mushrooms to keep starvation at bay. The best strategy is to find the right balance between food and population growth.


There are some important tips and tricks to keep in mind as you develop your own strategy for playing Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children.

  1. Some food supplies may be limited, so be alert for the opportunity to discover new sources of food.
  2. Clicking on the mask on the main game screen will reveal many different tips that will help you play the game more effectively.
  3. Nursing mothers devote all of their time to caring for their baby and don't do any productive work in the village for 2 years of game time.
  4. Babies eat as much as adults and making too many babies too soon can quickly create a food crisis.
  5. Any villager (even a sick one or a child) can heal another villager, but healing is only possible when a villager's status is "Sick" (check the Details screen).
  6. Sometimes a villager will "resist" healing attempts by a specific doctor. If that happens, try to heal your sick villager again with a different villager.
  7. Sick villagers need to be healed or they will weaken and die
  8. Villagers can become weakened by such things as prolonged disease, starvation, on-the-job injuries, Island Events, or old age.
  9. Villagers who show a status of "Weakened" will generally improve in health over time unless they are sick, elderly or continue to suffer injuries. Switching them to a less demanding job will help speed their recovery.
  10. The villagers need to be taught to perform a job; they will not start working in a new job on their own. It can be a good idea to monitor their learning progress until they reach Trainee status, so that they will work more reliably on their own.
  11. You can view information about various technology advancements on the Village Tech screen by clicking on the "?" button for that technology. This information will help you choose the order in which to purchase new technology.
  12. The villagers' curiosity is often a clue to puzzles.
  13. The children can find and harvest mushrooms to augment the village food supply, but only if you make them do it.
  14. Using the keyboard to zoom around the map is an easy way to search for those collectible items. There are 9 sectors of the map, which correlate to the numbers 1-9 on the numeric keypad. You can also use the row of numbers at the top of the keyboard, if your computer doesn't have a numeric keypad.
  15. Picking up a villager while they're working will interrupt them, and they will drop (and lose) the object that they were carrying.

General puzzle strategy guide:

Most of the puzzles are dependent upon some combination of Village Tech, villager skills, and other puzzles. Although some puzzles depend upon the completion of specific puzzles, the 16 puzzles are rarely completed in the order that you see them on the puzzle screen. Pay attention to the things that your villagers are curious about and the messages that you see when you take one of your villagers "exploring" around the island. These often provide clues that will help you solve the puzzles. Another good strategy is to drag one of your adult villagers around the island after every tech purchase and look for new things that they can work on, since many of the technologies open up new possibilities for your villagers. Most of the frustration related to solving the puzzles is brought on by impatience. It takes time for your villagers to gain the necessary skills and technology to work through all of the puzzles.

Hints for the 16 puzzles:

You can safely browse these if you just need a gentle push in the right direction. Each puzzle is referred to by number. The puzzles are counted sequentially, with 1 being the leftmost puzzle in the top row, and 16 being the rightmost puzzle in the bottom row.

  1. Puzzle 1 is something that will provide warmth, protection, and technological advantage to your tribe. It can be solved at the beginning of the game.
  2. Puzzle 2 requires a certain level of technology and will allow your villagers to enjoy a regular, if limited, source of food.
  3. Puzzle 3 requires the completion of Puzzle 2 and a skilled villager to fashion something that will protect one of the sources of food.
  4. Puzzle 4 requires a certain level of technology and a highly skilled villager who will fashion something that your villagers will need in order to completely explore some areas of the village.
  5. Puzzle 5 involves the flowers and herbs located in various parts of the village. This puzzle can be completed at the beginning of the game.
  6. Puzzle 6 requires a villager with well-rounded skills.
  7. Puzzle 7 will open up an unlimited food supply by restoring the ocean to its former condition. You will need to have highly skilled villagers and a certain level of technology.
  8. Puzzle 8 reveals ancient writings. Your villagers will need a certain level of technology, as well as the completion of Puzzle 4.
  9. Puzzle 9 requires the completion of Puzzle 1, a certain level of technology, a hidden item, and the flowers and herbs that your villagers can find in various parts of the village.
  10. Puzzle 10 requires a certain level of two different technologies. Drag a villager to the southeast part of the village.
  11. Puzzle 11 is a special building that requires a certain level of technology. You will see a foundation appear, which your villagers can work on.
  12. Puzzle 12 is another special building that requires a certain level of technology. You will see a foundation appear, which your villagers can work on.
  13. Puzzles 13-16 involve the recovery of pieces of the Gong of Wonder, which can be retrieved only after meeting the necessary requirements. Retrieving the pieces will variously involve teamwork among skilled villagers, purchasing of required levels of Village Tech, and completion of Puzzles 6, 9, and 10. Your villagers will reveal some clues as you try various things in the game, and there will be more specific clues that you can study when you complete Puzzle 8.

Detailed spoilers for the 16 puzzles:

Don't read these unless you want to know exactly how to solve each of the puzzles.

  1. Puzzle 1 involves building a fire in the fire pit. Drag one of your villagers to the pile of dry wood in the southwest part of the village to gather firewood. After the wood is placed in the fire pit, take a villager to the very dry grass that can be found to the west of the coconut trees. Once the firewood and dry grass have been placed in the fire pit, drag a villager there to light the fire. You will need to replenish the firewood periodically to keep the fire from going out.
  2. Puzzle 2 is the construction of a dam that will divert water from the stream to an area that can be used for farming. After you purchase Level 2 of Engineering Tech, drag a villager to the rocks that are in the middle of the lower portion of the stream. You will see a message, "He/she could probably build a dam here."
  3. Puzzle 3 is a scarecrow that an adept farmer can construct in order to protect the crops from the birds. After you complete the dam (and have a farm), drag an adept or master farmer to the twisted pieces of wood and vines that are located in the northern portion of the village. The scarecrow requires two trips to complete, so make sure that you finish the construction, or your crops will not be protected.
  4. Puzzle 4 is the fashioning of special cutting tools that will be needed to cut away vegetation in some parts of the village. After purchasing Level 2 of Exploration Tech, drag a master scientist to the northern part of the village where he will see something among the rocks near the twisted pieces of wood and vines (look for things that resemble spear tips that have little sparkles coming from them). Your scientist will need to make a second trip to finish the tools, so take him to the twisted wood and vines (where you got the material for the scarecrow) to get the necessary materials.
  5. Puzzle 5 is completed when your villagers learn mastery of six special plants located in various parts of the village. Drag a villager to each of them and watch for the message that each has been mastered. The plants are (beginning in the northwest part of the village and moving clockwise): the odd-looking plant immediately to the left of the very dry grass, the blue flower between the thorns and the rocks, the small lavender flower at the northern edge of the graveyard, the black flowers near the waterfall, the bright reddish flowers south of the dam site, and the large orange-red flower at the south edge of the village.
  6. Puzzle 6 is completed when you have sufficiently trained a villager to become master in three skills. That villager will become an Esteemed Elder, and a totem will be created to commemorate their new status in the village.
  7. Puzzle 7 is the elimination of the algae in the ocean that was caused by over fishing. After purchasing Level 3 of Farming Tech, take a master farmer or master scientist to the pond, where they will collect algae-eating fish that they can use to repopulate the ocean. Once sufficient fish have been placed in the ocean, the algae will once again be under control and the villagers will have unrestricted fishing.
  8. Puzzle 8 is the removal of the vines that cover the wall on the east side of the village. After you purchase Level 3 of Culture Tech and have completed Puzzle 4, drag a villager to the vine-covered wall and they will begin cutting away the vines.
  9. Puzzle 9 is the ability to make various stews for your villagers. To make stew, you will need to have purchased Level 2 of Exploration Tech, retrieved the cauldron from the wood pile, mastered at least one of the special plants, and started a fire in the fire pit. The steps to make a stew are: 1) Drop a villager on the cauldron to put the cauldron on the fire 2) Drop a villager on the cauldron again, and he or she will go get water for the stew 3) Drop a villager on any of the mastered plants, and the villager will gather herbs for the stew. Each stew requires a total of 3 herbs, in any combination. 4) Drop a villager on the cauldron again, and he or she will go get food to add to the stew. When the stew is complete, the villager will move the cauldron off the fire. Some stews are good, some are bad, and some make your villagers do interesting things. Experiment and have fun with them. You can also find different "recipe books" that have been created for the game that contain all of the stew combinations.
  10. Puzzle 10 requires Level 3 of both Engineering Tech and Culture Tech. Drag a villager to the ancient covered floor in the southeast part of the village and they will begin uncovering the site.
  11. Puzzle 11 is the construction of a hospital. After you purchase both Level 3 of Engineering Tech and Medicine Tech, a foundation will appear that your villagers can work on.
  12. Puzzle 12 is the construction of a sewing hut, which will allow you to change the clothing that your villagers are wearing. After you purchase Level 2 of both Culture Tech and Science Tech, a foundation will appear that your villagers can work on.
  13. Puzzles 13-16 are the pieces of the Gong of Wonder. The four pieces can be retrieved in the following ways:
    1. A team of 3 Master Builders can open the crate on the beach, where one of the pieces has been hidden.
    2. After purchasing Level 2 of Exploration, your villagers can clear the thorns blocking access to the gong encasement, which will also reveal a piece of the gong.
    3. Prepare a magic stew that will allow one of your villagers to dive for the sunken gong piece in the pond. The herbs needed for that magic stew are: one of the black flower near the waterfall and two of the red-orange flower on the south side of the village. The pictures of the required herbs can be seen in the drawings on the wall once the vines have been removed.
    4. After finishing Puzzles 6 and 10, drop a totem in the center of the uncovered mosaic to reveal a piece of the gong. Once the gong is assembled you can experiment with the effects that it has on your village. You can bang the gong once every 24 hours.


    _________________________
    Barbara
    Director of QA and Testing
    Last Day of Work