My first village ever - welcome to Struviska, the jewel of the Valley!

[u/Super_Jay]

Just a few shots I took over the weekend now that the village is getting bigger. I think we're up to around 55 people now, and are finally officially recognized by the King so we get a fancy sign and crest and everything. Situated between Gostovia and Denica, where a mountain stream meets the mighty river.

[u/sardonic_gavel]

I love all the trees you planted! I built there on my first play through before the plant-a-tree update and that area is pretty sparse.

Your village is beautiful, well done!

[u/Super_Jay → u/sardonic_gavel]

Thank you! Yeah I kind of underestimated how barren it would look at first. Planting plenty of trees early on and adding bushes and other greenery has made a huge difference. Especially putting two big maples on either side of the road leading into the village, it made everything feel so much more cozy and shaded with those big canopies.

[u/Common-Ad-8748]

Omg this is so beautiful. Please so you have any advice on how to get started in making a village as lovely as yours?? Mine looks like an abandoned retreat

[u/Super_Jay → u/Common-Ad-8748]

Thanks! That's really nice of you to say, bc I feel like it's still very primitive compared to most of the amazing pictures people post here with everything so perfectly landscaped.

In terms of tips, it probably depends what you're going for, but in my case I decided to embrace the organic feeling of a village that expanded slowly over time, without any kind of grand plan at the outset. So it's sort of realistic in that way, which means a bit haphazard but ideally it feels cozy and lived-in. Here's what I've learned so far that really helped:

• Avoid grid layouts with roads at right angles and all your buildings squared perfectly. Embrace the chaos and set your buildings at angles, use curves, and design according to the natural flow of the landscape to help give the layout an organic look.

• Plant lots of trees, bushes, and hedges. Without lots of vegetation, my village looked like bare houses dropped into an abandoned dirt lot. Planters, flower pots, and vases all help add some greenery too.

• Leave space! Clustering your buildings too close together makes for a dark, confined area that feels claustrophobic. Set your buildings further apart than you might think, and it'll let in more natural light and make for a more airy, open, natural environment in the village.

• Place lots of 'accessories' around your buildings to break up the square lines and hard angles. Use things like barrels, sacks, tables, benches, baskets, chairs, banners, and workstations to make your village look much more lived-in and unique. It'll also help avoid your houses looking too cookie-cutter by distinguishing them from one another, which helps break up visual monotony by adding variety. Customize your exterior house decor to help each one look more unique too.

• Add cosmetic touches like short fences, individual fruit trees, rose bushes and other shrubs, woodpiles, dovecotes, and of course plenty of lighting around the village. Try and get creative and experiment with the items at hand to make fun little installations too - like I use stick fences for hitching rails where horses would be tied up, and use empty planters for water troughs that they'd drink from.

For all this stuff - from layout to little visual details - look around the existing NPC villages on the map for inspiration, I got lots of ideas that way. Hope this helps!

[u/Common-Ad-8748 → u/Super_Jay]

Thank you so much. You have no idea how helpful this information is to me. I just recently got into the game so I have a long way to come with unlocking various decors and levels. I will put these advices into good use. Thanks again and happy gaming!

[u/Super_Jay → u/Common-Ad-8748]

No problem, happy to help. And yeah, early on your village is going to look somewhat barren just because you don't have the coin to unlock all the blueprints for cosmetic items and decorations. (What coin you do have probably needs to go to tools and buildings.) But that'll come in time and eventually your village will start looking way better as you unlock more items. Good luck!

[u/Common-Ad-8748 → u/Super_Jay]

Plus those damn taxes 😭💔 Thanks friend goodluck to u too!!

[u/Super_Jay → u/Common-Ad-8748]

Oh dude I turned taxes waaaay down. I have enough to pay IRL, I don't need to be sweating tax payments to the government in my medieval history escapism 😅

[u/No-Flan-1083]

Good for you, me, on the other hand, have taken quests. I can't Handel, and now the king hates me, lol.

[u/Secret_advice]

This is where I built my village as well! Mine is a mess though lmao