Foraging Expeditions

Foraging expeditions in Wanderfolk are automated NPC parties of 2-3 members dispatched by villages when resource stockpiles fall critically low. The system scores 8 candidate directions by biome suitability and danger level, then sends the party to gather ore, food, herbs, or wood through a 4-phase lifecycle.

When Expeditions Launch

Every morning at 7:00 AM game time, the village economy checks its stockpiles. If any category falls below threshold, an expedition is dispatched to gather that resource. Only one expedition per village can be active at a time.

The expedition need is determined by which stockpile is most depleted relative to consumption.

Biome-Aware Targeting

Expeditions don’t wander randomly — they choose their direction based on what they’re looking for. The system samples eight candidate directions (every 45 degrees around the village) and scores each destination biome:

A danger penalty also factors in — volcanic wastelands and dark hollows score lower because high-danger biomes risk the expedition party. The expedition heads toward whichever direction scores highest.

Expedition Lifecycle

Each expedition follows a four-phase lifecycle:

1. Departing

A group of 2–3 NPCs leaves the village and walks toward the target location. They travel at normal NPC speed and take several game hours to reach their destination.

2. Gathering

Once the party arrives, they spend time harvesting resources. NPCs perform their gathering actions — chopping trees, mining ore, picking herbs — and each successful harvest adds to the village stockpile in real time.

3. Returning

After gathering, the party turns around and walks back to the village. The return trip takes roughly the same time as the outbound journey.

4. Complete

When the party reaches the village, you receive a notification listing what they brought back:

“Thornhaven expedition returned with 12x Iron Ore, 4x Coal, 2x Copper Ore”

The gathered resources are already added to the village economy as they’re collected — the notification is a summary of total haul, not a delayed delivery.

Following an Expedition

When you’re near a village that has an active expedition, you’ll see a notification:

“Press T to follow the expedition”

Following an expedition lets you travel with the NPC party and protect them from monsters or bandits along the way. Expedition NPCs are vulnerable while traveling — if they’re killed, the village loses those workers until replacements spawn.

This notification only appears once per expedition. If you leave the village and come back, it won’t re-trigger for the same expedition.

Economy Impact

NPCs on expedition are absent from the village during their journey. This means they don’t contribute to the village’s daily production tick while they’re away. A village that sends its only farmer on a food expedition won’t produce any farm output that day.

This creates a trade-off: expeditions fix critical shortages, but temporarily weaken production in other areas. Villages with larger populations absorb this cost more easily than small hamlets.

Tips

• Check the village economy panel to see what a village is short on — this predicts what kind of expedition they’ll send next
• Escort expeditions through dangerous biomes — a party heading toward mountains for ore may encounter bandits or monsters
• Well-positioned villages thrive — a village near mountains and meadows can send short expeditions for both ore and food, keeping stockpiles balanced
• Large villages recover faster — more NPCs means the production hit from absent workers is less noticeable

Related Articles

• Village Economy — the stockpile system that triggers expedition dispatch
• Population & Growth — how failed expeditions contribute to death spirals
• Military System — military NPCs protect foraging teams from threats
• Biomes — biome resource density determines expedition targeting