Salem

does anyone have any tips on drying boards? how far away from other timber piles do my timber piles have to be? does the ground they're on and around them have to be paved?

I think this was just hearsay before and not sure if it was confirmed, denied, CIA'd, or changed while i was gone. But it was 5 empty tiles inbetween piles, pavement is good as supposedly critters around it might mould it. I personally gave them a bit more space before, placed them centered on the end tiles of a 9 tile segment.

Critters / animals / players do not cause the mould

The mold is pretty random as long as no structures are around 7/8 tiles (8 tiles to be safe). You might get some mold but you'll get the best ratio of dry boards.

in my mind, it's all nonsense (as far as protecting the piles from critters/players/forageables goes).
What has been confirmed is that mould can spread from one pile to another when they stand too close to eachother (5-6 tiles by my experience is enough, might be even less). I've had my piles built in between my fields for ages, and I got results that were well enough for my taste, and generally not that much worse than other people were getting with specifically fenced-off areas.

do i have to pave the ground?

No

You only have to worry about structures, including other board piles. There is ALWAYS a chance you'll get mold, and if you're unlucky and fail the roll early, most of the pile will become moldy. Which is why there are so many false positives on what affects it.

Procne wrote:No

still wonder why everyone paves under there boards, i never do that and rarely get any moldy.

I pave just to remind me where I need to put the boards each time ^.^