My Tribe
Platform: Download (Mac, Linux, Windows)
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and you had to pick one computer game to take with you, what would it be? I can't speak for you, but I'd take a game where the characters are stranded on a deserted island with one computer game. That game, naturally, would feature characters stranded on a desert island with one computer game, centered on a deserted island with...
Ow. Okay, maybe that isn't such a good idea. If the recursion makes your mind hurt too, you could get a copy of Grubby Games' (the creator of Professor Fizzwizzle and IncrediBots) latest release instead. In My Tribe, you play as sort of a guardian angel for a tribe of island-dwellers, telling them what to do, dragging them from place to place, and occasionally sprinkling them with a (hopefully) beneficial potion.
As the game starts, you're given a chance to pick an island. For a starting player, it doesn't really matter which you pick; they all have plenty of trees and rocks for you to harvest, and the oceans will provide more than enough fish for your small starting tribe. From there, it's pretty much your standard resource management game. You need to harvest food (in the form of fish and later crops) and wood (for the fire) to feed your tribe, wood and stone to build with. You'll also need to build huts for your tribe to live in, and other buildings when you have enough resources to spare.
The tribe of My Tribe continues to work even when your computer is off. If you've played the Virtual Villagers series before, this mechanic will seem very familiar. In fact, the games are similar enough that you may be tempted to skip the tutorial, but there are enough small differences that it might be worth your while to play through it.
One novel mechanic of My Tribe is that it rewards you for being around. Every so often a crate or barrel will appear in the ocean, or Stardust or Moondust will land on the island. Drop an islander onto these gifts to collect them. Crates and barrels contain recipes, items, or even dangerous insects while Stardust and Moondust can be used in various places to provide all sorts of useful effects, from stocking your stockpiles to building your buildings and researching your research.
Each island also comes with three of the game's eight mysterious objects for you to solve. Once you've figured them out, each one gives a powerful benefit to your tribe, and one of the game's 25 trophies. Trophies can also be gathered by other tasks, ranging from the simple (build a building) to the complex (keep an islander alive for 969 years).
Analysis: When a game as successful as Virtual Villagers comes along, there will naturally be a host of similar titles following in its wake. My Tribe rides the wave of the village sim but is careful to tread its own innovative path while keeping the core concept in familiar territory. The number of islands you can inhabit is staggering (numbering in the billions), and the potions system really sets the game apart from Virtual Villager knockoffs. Grubby Games is an experienced studio and covered all the main bases a casual game should touch upon, making the game easy to get into, easy to come back to, and rewarding no matter how long or short you play.
The biggest strength and weakness of this kind of game is its persistent nature. Part of the reward in playing My Tribe is coming back every so often and seeing how your tribe has progressed while you were away. This also brings two big problems: not being able to play continuously and coming back to find your entire tribe dead. My Tribe has done an admirable job with the first part, though time doesn't seem to work quite the same when the game is open. Unfortunately, the tribe is still prone to sudden die-offs when your back is turned.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the reasons your tribe dies off. It only takes a few islanders to provide the food and wood needed by the entire tribe, so there are basically three things that can go wrong. If you don't stop in and call the stork regularly, your entire tribe may grow too old to have children. If your food gatherers die from old age, the rest of your tribe will lounge around until they starve. And if you forget to mark trees for harvesting (they all start marked "don't harvest me!"), your builders may use up all your firewood, again making everyone starve.
As much fun as it is to look after a tribe of island-dwellers, it hardly seems believable that fifty people would starve themselves because the voice in the sky forgot to tell them which trees were OK for firewood. Even though he didn't forbid them from harvesting trees to start with.
I also find myself underwhelmed by the amount of content in this game. It boasts "billions of islands", but the only important feature is which three of the eight mysteries you get (only 56 possibilities, with repetitions). It also advertises "over 40 powerful potions", yet many of the ones given are purely cosmetic.
Despite its downsides, however, My Tribe is very compelling. I have spent many hours in-game, and in the end, it was well worth the price of admission. If you start playing you will find yourself coming back to it again and again, even if you don't need to yet. You'll set it on Fast overnight and check it nervously in the morning to see if your Lunar Tower has finished. In the end, I had to stop playing not because I'd run out of things to do, but because I had too many other things to do... and had been neglecting them while I played.
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Linux:
Download the demo
Order the full version
My Tribe is available to download from these affiliates:
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November 28, 2008 1:49 PM
Walkthrough Guide
Potions list
If you're not in the mood to waste valuable ingredients mixing potions, I have created a cheat sheet with all the potion recipes you can get from a barrel or crate.
Remember, the catalyst is only wasted if you mix a bad potion, one of each will allow you to make as many potions as you like.
[Note: The list will be updated with other potions as they are discovered. -Pam]
Posted by: FunnyMan
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November 28, 2008 1:49 PM
Walkthrough Guide
General Tips and Hints
Trees have to be marked for harvest. If they are not marked for harvest, your tribe will run out of wood while you have the game closed. If they run out of wood, the fire dies. And if the fire dies, the tribe starves to death because they can’t cook any food. Always be sure to have lots of trees marked for harvest when you leave the game!
You have to mark rocks for harvest, too, but it’s not as crucial as wood. You’ll just run out of rock and be unable to finish a building project.
You can only use rain water for potions while it’s raining. To make it rain, make a potion and use it on the ground (fish+sea water+star dust).
Making successful potions doesn’t take away from the quantity of star dust, moon dust, and golden relics. However, if a potion blows up, you’ll lose that catalyst.
If you don’t make enough huts for your tribe, the people will sleep standing on their feet.
The maximum population is 50. Nothing will increase that number.
High levels of physical strength make your people move faster.
Only use the youth potion on the elderly with gray hair. Otherwise, it won’t work and you’ve used up a potion. Plus, it will be awhile before that person can have another potion.
Look for golden relics on the beach when a storm comes.
Mysteries and Their Solutions
There are a total of eight mysteries. Screenshots of each are inside the spoilers.
Unhealthy Bush
The soil is bad.
Use the fertilizer potion on the bush (Guano+Sea Water+Stardust).
Have a Legendary Farmer examine it.
It becomes the Cornucopia Bush and produces the berries that can be used in potions.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_unhealthybush.jpg
Big Red Rock
Drop an adult who has Legendary status in both Science and Construction on it to realize it’s iron ore.
Tools are now made of iron, allowing people to work faster on any task using tools.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_redrock.jpg
Old Glowing Stump
It’s heavy and something is growing under it.
You need a person who is at 100/100 on physical strength to pull the dead stump off. (Stardust will eventually produce physical strength, along with every other increase in skill or you can use the physical strength potion of Rocks+Rain Water+Golden Relics.)
Now it needs special magical rain (use potion Fish + Sea Water + Stardust). Be sure to have your strong person tend the plant while it’s raining.
It grows into the Ever Tree and produces ironwood, which is much stronger than regular wood.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_glowingstump.jpg
Rock With a Fossil In It
Put a Legendary Rock Gatherer on it to crack it open further.
Have a Legendary Scientist examine it.
Your tribe gains 50,000 science points.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_fossilrock.jpg
Stone with Star Carved Into It
Drop a person (on which you have used Star Dust) on it.
Put three Star Dusts on it quickly to solve the mystery.
Star Dusts will now drop more frequently on the island.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_starstatue.jpg
Stone with Moon Carved Into It
Drop a person (on which you have used Moon Dust) on it.
Put three Moon Dusts on it quickly to solve the mystery.
Moon Dusts will now drop more frequently on the island.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_moonstatue.jpg
Flower Tree
Complete the flower pattern by planting flowers.
You’ll get a new color of flower to plant.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_flowertree.jpg
Flower Tree Completed:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_flowertreecompleted.jpg
Fountain
Drop a Legendary Scientist on the fountain to collect some water for the Science Lab, unlocking the fountain water potion ingredient.
Use the “restore youth” potion (mushrooms, fountain, golden relic) on an elderly person to solve the wonder. Elderly is when their hair goes gray, around age 65.
Screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_fountainofyouth.jpg
Effects of Moon Dust
Moon Dust does nothing to the ground, ocean, trees, wood storage, rock storage, food storage, rocks, huts, fire pit, or barrels.
Other items:
Buildings
Accelerates percentage built.
Adults and babies
Changes appearance.
Crops
Grow to full size.
Science Building
Gain 500 science points at level 1 technology.
Gain 1,000 science points at level 2 technology.
Gain 2,000 science points at level 3 technology.
Craftworks
Instantly completes clothing projects.
Wood pile, rock pile, food pile
Instantly increases quantity by a larger amount.
Effects of Star Dust
Star Dust does nothing to the ground, ocean, huts, wood/rock/food storage building, fire pit, or barrels.
Other items:
Trees and rocks
Regenerates it, raising the amount of wood/stone held back to its maximum.
Buildings
Accelerates percentage built.
Adults and babies
Randomly increases skills, mental strength, and physical strength.
Crops
Grow to full size.
Science Building
Gain 100 science points at level 1 technology.
Gain 200 points at level 2 technology.
Gain 400 points at level 3 technology.
Craftworks
Accelerates percentage completed on clothing projects.
Wood pile, rock pile, food pile
Instantly increases quantity by a small amount.
Contents of Crates and Barrels
Science potion recipes.
Items to increase various skills.
Beetles that destroy some trees.
Contaminated water that makes person lightheaded.
Flies that swarm out and devour some food.
Extra food.
Scary stuff that turns hair gray.
Sometimes even nothing at all.
Tips for When You Move to Another Island
You keep your scientific progress, but must build another Science Lab to use potions again.
You keep all of your potion ingredients except food, wood, and stone.
Potion ingredients from Mysterious Objects are still available.
All living islanders come on the ark, but tombstones are left behind.
You again start with no food, wood, or stone. It’s a good idea to have a few Stardust to seed the piles with.
If you bring a lot of people, you’ll likely have them falling asleep on their feet before they get enough huts built.
Posted by: Pam
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November 28, 2008 3:07 PM
My Tribe – FAQ
If you have a question about My Tribe, please check here first as many of the same questions are asked over and over again. If you don’t find your answer here in the FAQ, please post the question for us in the forum and we’ll try to answer.
Question #1
Where do I find Golden Relics?
Golden Relics are washed ashore by storms and can be found along the beach at the start of a storm. Either wait until a storm comes, or summon one using these potions:
To summon rain – Fish+Sea+Stardust
To summon thunderstorm – Fish+Rain+Moondust
Here is a screenshot of a Golden Relic so you’ll know what to look for –
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_goldenrelic.jpg
Question #2
How do I get Ironwood?
Ironwood comes from the Ever Tree, which is a result of solving the Old Glowing Stump Mysterious Object. Once you solve it, you’ll have ironwood for the rest of the game, even when you move to other islands. The ironwood stays with you.
Question #3
How do I make potions with rain?
You first need level 2 Technology. Then it must be raining in order to use rain water in potions. Rain comes on its own randomly or you can summon it with the potion Fish+Sea+Stardust.
Question #4
What does it mean when I open a crate or barrel and get showered with colored dust?
When this happens, the person who opened the crate/barrel gains Legendary status in a skill. The different colors of dust indicate different skills.
Question #5
How does the observatory work?
You need to have sound turned on for this one. Any time Stardust or Moondust falls anywhere on the island, it will sound like a fog horn.
Question #6
How do I find guano?
Guano is sea gull droppings. You find it randomly around the island, like mushrooms. It looks like a cluster of small white dots. Here’s a screenshot:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_guano.jpg
Question #7
How do I get Lodestone?
The only way to get Lodestone is from crates and/or barrels. It comes randomly... sometimes often and sometimes rarely. It will eventually come. Lodestone cannot be found anywhere else.
Question #8
Why does my game crash every time I try to sail to a new island?
This is a known bug in the game. Restart the game and make sure that all tree saplings have grown to full size before sailing. You can use Stardust on a sapling to make it full size instantly. We will post when the new version that fixes this bug is released.
Question #9
How do I get berries?
Berries come after solving the Unhealthy Bush mysterious object.
Question #10
How do I sail to another island?
You must first achieve level 3 Technology. Then you build a shipyard and then build an ark. Drop one person on the ark for all living tribespeople to sail to a new island.
Question #11
Do I lose everything when I sail to a new island?
No. You retain all of your technology and all of the benefits from solving the mysterious objects. You only have to solve a mysterious object once.
Question #12
Why can't I find the rest of the mysterious objects on my island?
Each island only has three of the eight mysterious objects. You must sail to other islands to get the rest of them. The benefits of solving each of the objects stays with you when you go to new islands.
Question #13
How can I keep my tribe from starving? Why won't they catch fish?
As your tribe progresses, the fishing seems to slow down. You need to prepare a second food source, which is farming. It comes when you purchase level 3 agriculture. Build as many farms as you need to keep your tribe fed. Also remember that Stardust and Moondust can put food on the foodpile and can also make crops immediately ready for harvest.
Question #14
How do I get fountain water for my potions?
You must solve the fountain mysterious object in order to have fountain water for potions. If the fountain isn't on your current island, you'll have to wait until you sail to an island that does have it.
Question #15
What hairstyles do the various potions create?
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_mytribe_hairstyles.jpg
Question #16
How do I make my tribespeople live longer?
The people in your tribe will only live into their 60s and 70s on their own. Most don't reach 70. In order for them to live longer, you have to give them the youth potion when they become elderly (have gray hair). You can only make youth potion after solving the Fountain Mysterious Object. Check the walkthrough section at the top of the page for help with the Fountain. You can give them youth potion again when their hair turns gray again. If you give it to them earlier than that, it won't have any effect.
Question #17
Why won't my people have babies when I drop them?
This is something that tends to happen when you get further into the game. Sometimes it just doesn't "take" when you try to have a baby. Just keep dropping them and they'll have a baby eventually.
Question #18
Why do I have mystery babies that I didn't make?
This is also something that shows up further in the game. Babies appear on their own without dropping the parents. It's not a bug. It just happens.
Posted by: Pam
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December 7, 2008 11:11 PM
I've read through all five pages of comments here, and have not encounterd any kind of discussion regarding mental and physical strength, so thought I'd add some additional hints.
All 50 members of my tribe are at 100/100 on physical and mental strength. This is fairly easy to accomplish, and offers real benefits to progressing through the game.
I'm marking all subsequent text with the spoiler tag...
First, the benefits of which I am certain. The higher a character's physical strength, the faster he/she completes a physical task (all tasks but Science and Art, I believe). A tribe member with 100 strength attacks rocks like a jackhammer, and wood like a chainsaw. Tribe members with high Mental strength learn skills MUCH more quickly than, well, morons. (I had 60-year-old tribe members with 10 mental strength who never mastered a skill, and 25-year-old members with 100 mental strength who maxed out. No other differences between them than mental strength). Presumably, mental strength has a direct impact on how quickly science points are accumulated. I maxed out science points in my first day.
I've no idea how either physical or mental strength impacts the art skill. Also... I don't care.
I quickly noticed - as must have many of you - that the children of parents with high physical or mental strength tended to be born with similarly high attributes. I stopped making kids until I had both a male and female with maxed strength and mental. Here's what I have discovered (and what I have not seen anyone else offer as a hint/tip): mating two 100/100 parents produces a child with 100/100. Every time. Guaranteed.
An island full of 100/100 prodigies is ridiculously easy to manage. Tribe members learn skills efficiently. They harvest resources with lightning speed. Fish and vegetables leap onto the food pile. Huts are constructed almost instantly. All construction is completed in record time (though I still leave the game in order to complete the largest building projects).
Tips on getting started:
1. For your starting island, select one with the stardust mystery thingie. You'll want lots of stardust, and this will help (other good choices for starting island mysteries are Ironwood, Trilobyte rock (the one that grants a ton of science points, and the moondust one. I'm being vague here; go read the walkthrough at the beginning of this forum to learn more about mysteries. It helped me! :D )
2. Select a male and female adult with the highest total of both physical and mental strength. You'll focus your efforts on these two until they both achieve 100/100.
3. Always keep an eye out for stardust. Collect all you can.
4. Whenever a chest or barrel appears, drop either of your two chosen tribe members on the item. Very often, a random skill (agriculture, construction, science, etc.) will be increased.
(Sub-spoiler: I don't know if this is always true, but I experienced very few detrimental effects--none painful--from a barrel or crate at the beginning of the game. I received many boons: increases in skills, lodestones, extra rock or wood or food, etc. Especially frequent were the increases to skills (harvesting, agriculture, science, etc).
5. Once a character has received enough boons from crates and barrels and useage to boost two skills to maximum, begin to apply stardust to that character. Stardust randomly increases skills and strengths. Enough stardust applied to a tribe member will eventually raise that member's skills and strengths to maximum (another poster earlier suggested that 50 stars is required to maximize the average starting character. I have not tracked my stardust usage...).
6. As soon as one male and one female tribe member are both at 100/100, use the Twin Potion (don't ask, read the walkthrough) on the female, and the happy couple will proceed to a hut. You do have a hut, right? :)
7. Now you have two infants with 100 scores in both physical and mental strength. Good start, but now their mom is reluctant to mate again (for two years, seems to be the case. And is hard to argue). So, immediately begin using the above techniques on your "next best" female. In this game, a single male will mate with as many females as possible (whatever comment I insert here will be edited by the moderator, so I'll simply say "no comment"). So: max out as many females as you can, and mate them with your lone maxed-out male. You're on the way.
8. Build an observatory as soon as you can. It is of significant assistance in gathering stardust (and moondust).
9. It is possible to raise your tribe members' skills and strengths with potions. For the most part, you'll need to achieve level 3 in science for this option. In my case, I used crates/barrels and stardust to raise my tribe members' strengths and skills, as I had not yet achieved level 3 in science. Potion recipes available in the walkthrough...
Enough with the numbered bullet points...
You'll probably find that if you wait for all the above to happen, you'll not be able to produce children until your adults are in their forties. (Don't hold me to this, but all my females refused to have children as soon as they hit 45.) So, it is a good idea to have your 100/100 male reproduce with all of your available adult females for one generation. At the beginning of the game, you will need tribe members of any capacity, simply to keep production flowing. But always let your "best" male sire the children.
Let me re-emphasize that two 100/100 parents ALWAYS produce 100/100 progeny. But, parents with less than 100/100 can produce children with far lower strengths. For example, I had parents at 94/14 and 76/36 produce a child at 66/10. Presumably - though I've not tested this -- two 99/99 parents could procuce children with far lesser strengths....
Enought of that. If you have enjoyed my contribution so far, here's a few random things I've discovered that have not yet been noted in this forum (some noted in my post above are herewith restated for simplicity):
1. Barrels and crates tend at the begginning of the game to produce many more beneficial results than malign (WAY more good than bad). Use them every chance you get! (And also, as has been mentioned many times by other posters, the only way to acquire Lodestone).
2. Science is good. Focus on it early. Build a science station as soon as possible. Put all your tribe members to work in science, in addition to their other chores. If you have acquired moondust, this is the best place to use it at the beginning of the game (many posters have detailed previously on how many science points per level can be acquired by using stardust and moondust on your science station. But - use stardust on your tribe members; moondust on your science station).
3. Art is stupid. Don't waste time on this skill at the beginning of the game. It can be useful to help identify particular tribe members, but so can naming them. Naming your tribe members is free; wasting time and resources to identify them by their attire is not (hey, once you're maxed out everywhere else, it's fun to play with outfits. But not at all critical to success).
4. When inhabiting a new island (after leaving the first), immediately build one hut per five tribe members. Ten huts for a full tribe. At once, the moment a hut is completed, grab any tribe member and drop him/her on the hut. Continue this while the huts are completed (not a bad idea to use stardust on them at this point. But, don't waste moondust). I found that on landing on a new island, all tribe members' "sleep clock' was reset to zero. Meaning, all fifty would work hard until all fifty wanted to sleep at the same time. Requiring fifty huts. Which really slowed down the initial landing (almost the whole tribe either sleeping in the available huts or simply standing in place "exhausted"). This approach seems to force the newly-landed tribe into a smooth sleep/wake cycle.
5. Again: crates and barrels are our friends. The "bad" things that can come from crates and barrels are few; the benefits many. Also note that they are easy to find. On all eleven islands I have inhabited, crates and barrels ALWAYS appear along the south and south-west shores. Just call up the map every four or five minutes, and you'll likely find a new arrival on your south/south-western shore.
6. The best use for lodestone very hard to obtain) at the beginning of the game (is to make more stardust or moondust. See the walkthrough for potion recipes to accomplish this.
7. If you are having difficulty locating stardust and/or moondust--even with a functioning observatory--here's a trick: Plant trees (or rocks, or buildings) everywhere except in a narrow perimeter surrounding your materials storage area. (Be cautious to leave room for your tribe to walk around buildings.) Stardust and moondust only land in "unoccupied" space. So, if you fill up the grassy terrain with trees and rocks and buildings, you'll essentially "force" stardust and moondust to fall in a small area that you can quickly locate. Try it. It works. Plus: you know you want your 100-tree planting trophy. :) Do note that this trick does not work with flowers.
8. Finally, it has been noted many times by prior posters in forum, but it bears repeating: much of this game is best accomplished by simply leaving the game. Accumulating science points, large-scale construction, and improving tribe-member skills occur much more rapidly while the game is "dormant" than while actively playing. Take a break. Play another game. Go for a walk. Call a friend. Do some laundry. Explore personal hygiene. Eat. :D The game seems to proceed at a pace of about five-to-one while logged out at the fast simulation speed setting. (Now that some of my tribe members are in their 200's, and I've visited close to a dozen islands, I leave the game at the Slow simulation speed when I exit. Otherwise: dead tribe members.)
Any potions and/or mysteries referred to in the above post (article? thesis?) can be referenced in the walkthrough. Don't be asking me how to collect lodestone, or solve the stardust mystery, or obtain mushrooms, or seabird guano, or any other guano. There is a wealth of information on the very first page of this forum/thread/post/thingie. Read it! :)
If you got this far, thanks for reading! And have fun!
Posted by: JIGuest | December 19, 2008 3:19 AM