Virtual villagers 3: The secret city.

The third installment of the Virtual villagers series is finally here Virtual Villagers: The Secret City

The people of Isola have prospered now for many years, but they're now outgrowing their villages. A small group of men women and children set sail to find a new part of the island to inhabit. A huge storm hits and blows them off course, shipwrecking them on a previousley undiscovered part of the island. Explore the new corner of Isola rebuilding and repopulating while unraveling its numerous mysteries.

Much of the two previous Virtual Villagers games remains intact in the third installment. Your goal is still to help the village thrive by keeping its occupants fed, healthy, happy, and busy. Click on a villager and their name, skill and action are displayed. Additional stats, on the Details screen, tell you age, gender, health, likes, dislikes, time remaining if nursing a child, and progress in the skills of Farming, Building, Research, Healing and Parenting.

Influencing the villagers behavior hasn't changed much either.Train villagers to perform tasks by dragging and dropping them onto different areas on the map, such as dropping a villager in the sea will encourage them to fish, placing them at the table will encourage them to start researching. As each villager performs these tasks there skill level will increase . Nonetheless, villagers aren't always successful on the first try, you may need to make Several attempts before your villager gets what you want them to do, but eventually they will grasp it and if one of the villagers seems unable to grasp the task after many attempts then try them with a different task.

Again Virtual Villagers: The Secret City takes place in real time, which means that when you leave your computer, the game is still running although there is a facility to pause the game which I suggest you use if you are going to be away from your computer for some time, other wise you may return to find an unpleasent surprise.

The technologies have been changed slightly, with farming engineering and exploration being replaced by alchemy restoration and leadership,also new Nature and Magic factions have been added altering the game flow, which allow you to increase food production and increase the life span of your villagers or scientific research and the size of your population. One of the great new features in Virtual Villagers 3 is the real-time weather effects such as sudden downpours, clouds, fog, thunder and sunshine. These play a big role in uncovering the game's secrets and can cause your villagers to change their behavior, such as running for cover when it begins to rain. You also now have a chief to rule your tribe and contribute to the growth of your village. The children also have four new collections to collect, Turtle Shells, Coral, Tablet pieces and Feathers.

Virtual Villagers: The Secret City is not for those gamers seeking a quick fix, it is more of a casual strategy game offering long term, relaxed game play. In short Virtual viilagers:the secret city is extremely addictive and you will find it hard not to become attached to your tribe. The replay value of this game is very high, due to the variables like factions and events. You can even try running several games at the same time (although, one of your tribes is bound to suffer from neglect).

You can download Virtual villagers:the secret city here.

There are many potions that are helpful to your villagers, or necessary in order to solve puzzles during the game. The link below is a full recipe list along with effects caused by the potion. If you want to experiment and find the important potions yourself, I recommend using an Excel spreadsheet to track your work, as there are many possible combinations of herbs.

Potion's list

The following is a list explaining how to complete all 16 puzzles for Virtual villagers:the secret city. If you would rather complete the puzzles by yourself then do not read this section.

Puzzle 1 - The First Chief.
Drop all your villagers one by one on to the robes in the
amphitheater: any villager except nursing moms can become chief, even children. If you
can't find your chief right away, wait until the moms no longer have
babies and drop them on the robe. (You will need to repeat this process
each time the chief dies.)
Puzzle requirements: none

Puzzle 2 - The Bee Hive.
First, light the fire (collect wood and dry
grass in the firepit, then light the fire). Then drop an adult villager
on the burned out torches near the hive. He/she will return the torch
to the hive and calm the bees so you can collect honey.
Puzzle requirements: none

Puzzle 3 - The Alchemy Lab.
Scattered around the village are 2
colored pots (red or yellow with white stripes), a brown pot, a gray
bowl with spoons, and a short spear (orange-brown handle with gray
blade). Drop your scientist(s) on each item and they will return it to
the lab - if they drop the item before reaching the lab, it will warp back to where you found it originally. Returning all five items solves the puzzle.
Puzzle requirements: An adept scientist.

Puzzle 4 - The Roster of the Dead.
At the far right of the map is a grassy area - at the upper right of this area is a big leafy bush. Have your villagers remove
these leaves, which uncovers the roster of the dead
Puzzle requirements: none

Puzzle 5 - Weather Dancing.
First, drop the chief on your lit fire.
He/she will begin weather dancing. Then drop the farmers on the fire,
and they will join in. You will know they are successful when sparkles
appear over their heads and under their feet.
Puzzle requirements: Level 2 leadership, a tribal chief, 3 adept farmers.

Puzzle 6 - The Lift.
Once you have purchased the tech, drop your 3 builders on the "strange
machine" in the orchard. Make sure that the action line reads "repairing
the lift". If you have done this correctly, the lift will be repaired.
Puzzle requirements: 3 adept builders, level 2 restoration.

Puzzle 7 - The Rubble.
Drop a villager (preferably a builder) on the pile of rocks at the bottom of the map.
He/she will clear away the rocks, gaining building skill (builders will
complete this task faster).
Puzzle requirements: level 2 restoration.

Puzzle 8 - The Ancient Bath.
Drop your builder on the "chalkboard" in the
alchemy lab (he/she will "see" it if you fly them over the lab) - he/she
will create the the plans for the bath. Drop your builders on the bath
to complete the project.
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzle 3, Master builder.

Puzzle 9 - The Statue.
Drop the Master Builder on the chalkboard (which will be blank after the bath is completed), and he/she will draw up plans for the statue. Drag an adult villager (not a nursing mom) up the path to the door until he/she "Sees a good place to anchor the statue" -- this villager is more likely to be successful if he/she has some building skill. That villager will then build scaffolding to help anchor the statue. Your chief must direct work on the statue, so drop him/her on the statue to begin this process - if the chief stops directing work, then progress will halt until you return the chief to his/her duties. Once the chief is directing, you can then drop builders on the statue to help "pushing the statue". The villagers must push the statue up the path towards the door - this will take several hours (you can click on the statue to bring up a timer in the status bar that will help you determine how long is left - but this time depends on how many builders you have working on the project and may increase if builders leave the project). Your builders may occasionally complain that "there is no more room to help out" - only a limited number of builders can work on the statue at any given time.
Puzzle requirements: Level 3 restoration,level 3 leadership, a tribal chief,a master builder, completed puzzle 8.

Puzzle 10 - The Orchard.
You should plant the first seed as soon as the game starts: this first seed is next to the ruined lift: drop one of your adult villagers on this seed and they will plant it. To get the next two seeds, you will need to have completed Puzzle 6. As soon as a rain storm starts, place an adult villager on the lift (the action line should read "Standing on the Lift") Leave the villager there until the lift reaches its highest point, a seed will then fall from the tree. Drop the villager on the seed to plant it. You will need to plant 3 seeds to complete the orchard - the puzzle will be completed once all three trees have become mature (and start producing fruit - it takes about 8 hours on 'normal' speed for the tree to mature). Additional seeds will not be planted, instead they will be placed in the food bin.
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzle 6.

Puzzle 11 - Banishing the Sharks.
For NATURE: collect the following herbs for a potion: 2 X Black Orchid, 1 x Pitcher Plant.
For MAGIC: collect the following herbs for a potion: 2 X Rose, 1 x Berry.
Have an adult villager drink the potion. They will take a vial to the ocean. How the sharks are actually dealt with depends on the faction chosen (the nature potion is a shark repellant, the magic potion "charms" the sharks so they won't bother the villagers).
Puzzle requirements: complete puzzle 3,have level 2 in your chosen faction (nature/magic)

Puzzle 12 - Aromatherapy.
Drop your Master Doctor in the completed bath. He/she will fill the bowls around the bath with Lotus plants ("doing aromatherapy"). Then drop a Master Doctor on the fire to light the burners and finish the puzzle.
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzle 8, level 3 medicine, a master doctor.

Puzzle 13 - The Ash Key.
Later in the game (after at least one fire cycle, you will notice sparkles around the fire. Let your fire go out - a diamond will appear in the ashes. The diamond will be too hot to pick up initially. To cool the key, drop adult villagers on the rightmost of the two waterfalls (where they go to drink and do laundry). They will gather water and drop it on the key. They will need to do this several times to make the diamond cool enough to touch - your villagers won't repeat this task on their own, so you will have to make. When the villagers no longer bring water to the fire), drop a villager on the key - they will take it to the door and solve the puzzle.
Puzzle requirements: none

Puzzle 14 - The Hanging Key.
Collect the following herbs for a potion: Cactus, Rose, Lotus. Make the potion and have a villager drink it. That villager should feel "light and springy!". Drop them near the pink diamond just above the Rose plant - their status line should read "trying to reach the key". They will jump up, collect the key, and place it in the door.
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzle 3

Puzzle 15 - The Clam Key.
Once the statue is completed, a pearl will appear. Have a Master Builder pick up the pearl they will take it to the waterfall to be "finished", then a master scientist needs to pick it
up and polish it, then have the tribal chief pick up the finished blue pearl: the chief will use the pearl to get the key from the giant clam and will then put the key in the door.
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzle 9, a master builder, a master scientist, a tribal chief

Puzzle 16 - The Sun Dial.
Once all three keys are in the door, the sun dial room will be revealed. Drop a villager on the sun dial until it reaches the position at the furthest left. When a beam of sunlight hits the sun dial, ghostly figures will appear in the room. Drop a villager on those ghosts and the mystery of the secret city will be revealed!
Puzzle requirements: Complete puzzles 13,14 and 15