Tips and Tricks for Virtual Villagers: The Secret City

HOW DO I GET THE BLACK PEARL??? I HAVE TRIED EVEYTHING I CAN THINK OF AND STILL NO PEARL.

Hi BFG Aegean!

I had so much trouble with this one. Before the pearl gets from the waterfall and to the clam, it has to be "polished" in the science lab. Have a builder take it to a scientist, have it polished and then the Chief will take the polished pearl and exchange it out with the clam.

I think out of all the puzzles, this was my biggest headache!
Zoe

HI bfgagean,
I'm having a problem getting enough food. I read your tips, but I don't have either a pitcher plant or a berry plant. What am I missing?? Where are they ? I have Lotus, Black Orchid, Tiger Lily, Cactus and Rose - that's it.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

When you buy second level Nature or Magic (whichever you are playing in) you will get another special plant. The pitcher in Nature or the Berries in Magic. They appear towards the left hand side of the screen. Don't try to do Alchemy with this plant though until you have third level Alchemy or your villager will get seriously injured.

Thanks aurora,
I'll be very careful not to use the ingredients in an alchemy experiment - thanks for the heads up. Hard enough to grow those little creatures !!! LOL
Right now I don't have enough points to go to level 2 on either. I have one village doing magic and one doing plants, so it should be interesting to see who beats who. I had to actually shut down one city as they were down to 92 food and I could not see how I'd keep them going long enough to get there.
One more question is there only the three trees of fruit allowed in the orchard? A few more would take care of the problem. And the honey takes ages to replenish itself - and then only enough for about 4-5 uses.

I am also playing 2 villages at one time, a nature and a magic. The Nature is the older village and has secure food, lots of allowable population with a population of 49. The Magic is my newer one and has secure food, and I am working towards my third population hut, but this one is much more limited population wise with only 21 people.

The secret to managing the food, as I play it, is to gather every mushroom you can find, don't over pick your trees (only 100 to 150 points per replenish) and use your chief's ability to create magic food. Be sure to space these things out, because during the "food crisis" no matter how much food you get, the game will bring it down to low levels as if it is trying to scare you into using too much of your food too fast.

My challenge this game is that I don't have many females. I have a total of 7 out of 21 people. 2 of them are beyond their baby years. 2 of them are just very young children.

Oh, I forgot to answer your question. You can only get 3 trees. The trick is in the patience to manage your food and to scan for mushrooms constantly

Hi Aurora,
Many thanks for your helpful information. I did know about the mushrooms, I'm always looking for them, sometimes so much it make me dizzy - LOL. I wonder why it sometimes takes so long for the fruit to replenish....kind of odd. Thought at one point that it had to do with lack of rainfall, but that doesn't seem to do anything....but I take advantage of it by getting someone on the lift - at least I get a fruit out of it.
Both my villages now have the shark problem taken care of - thanks to you !! So I'm all set on food for the forseeable future. I just have 17 & 18 populations at this point.
I have one hint for you, even though you prob. already have it, it's for "fertility" - lotus, lotus & rose.
Hope I'm not being a pest, but I have a question about the fallen statue. When I put the chief at the "spot" he says "he needs plans". I have tried many times to get 1, 2 &/or 3 master builders to put the plans on the "chalkboard", but they won't do it. Have tried 2 M Bldrs and 1 M Scientist as well, nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

WHERE IS A LOTUS I NEED TO KNOW !!! I HAVE BENN SEARCHING FOR HOURS!! PLZ HELP

Hi kid, The lotus is near the broken bath - it's pinkish. Think it's the only flower in that area. You can pick up a scientist and just move them around and it should say "they see a lotus".

Question: What is the milestone with the lightning bolt, and how do I achieve it? I've gotten everything else, and then had to restart my game cause all the villagers died, so I'm working on building it up again

The milestone with the lightning bolt is the weather dance, drag your tribal chief and other villagers to the fire and they should start to dance. Maybe you can help me with the milestone with the bowl of flame. It is the only one I cant get.

thanks

got it!!! thanks!!!

as for the flaming bowl, after you have level 3 healing, drag a master doctor to the bath... Voila, aroma therapy!

oh, and then, drag your doctor to the fire to 'light' the bowls on fire

Thanks, I got it.

Hi kelly57 & usdesertrat,
You two seem to have a lot of great answers, so maybe you can help me out with my "non" Tribal Chief problem. I have two games going and on one, I have had two chiefs, but now and for the last two weeks can NOT get anyone to "fit" in the cloak. I have tried everyone including kids and elders; even waited until babies grew up and no success. Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated.
I wonder if it's a glitch in the game or what, my other game is progressing just fine.

Since last post the village has had 12 more kids and still not one can wear the cloak....getting wicked frustrated with this and simply don't understand what the problem is. ----- H E L P -----

Thanks for your help !!!! By the way my Tribal Chief got pregnant . I didn't think that was possible . I have to wait for her to deliver before she will do the weather dance . I have 2 games going . My other game did the dance !!! YEH !!! Sandee