Tips and Tricks

The purpose of this page is to provide ideas and perspectives on how to play the game. It is a counterpart to Help, which is for working on the wiki itself.

Just starting out

 * On the day that you arrive in Portia, (after you get off the boat but before you reach the house, listed as Jan 1 Yr 1, where time is perpetually frozen) be sure to spend all 100 stamina kicking the two trees en route. On top of the free xp to get you to Lvl 2, it also provides you with 12 rubber fruits you can sell for a decent cash later on.


 * Know that some missions have a time limit, and some do not. main missions typically don't. So besides commissions, take your time! This is a game to be enjoyed at your pace.
 * When in doubt, check the mission screen - it will either give you a countdown timer, or won't
 * Finishing a commission faster earns you better reputation and happier customers
 * Keep a decent supply of any crafting-related materials, especially things like Copper Bar and Iron Bar. Keeping a small supply of gatherables and animal loot can also be helpful.
 * Participate in festivals. They're fun, and you can use rewards (also relationship points from gifts)
 * Upgrade your tools as quickly as possible. Each upgrade decreases how many hits it takes to chop down or quarry something. Also, for Abandoned Ruins, each upgrade of the Pickaxe increases how many resources you get per swing
 * Make friends, and gift them their favorite items.
 * Complete the Tree Farm missions quickly, then upgrade/invest in it. This will give you daily supply of wood and other stuff useful for crafting, powering your machines, and feeding your livestock when fully grown.

Useful Friends

 * Remington gives Defense and Health Points
 * Arlo gives Attack and Critical Chance
 * Sam gives Resilience
 * Phyllis gives Stamina Points and discount for Acupuncture
 * Gale gives discount on Land Expansions of the workshop. Especially useful for the last expansion.
 * Antoine gives extra gols when you complete commissions
 * Presley gives extra reputation points when you complete commissions
 * Store owners give discounts
 * Xu gives discount for health items at his store
 * Gust makes homestead upgrades cheaper and gives discount in store
 * Albert also makes homestead upgrades cheaper. This means it is useful to befriend both members of A&G
 * Sophie gives discount on ingredients. She is useful for when you want to make Buff Consumables, need fertilizer or worms
 * Mars, Carol, Paulie, Martha, Alice, Sonia, Nora, Yeye, and Django also all give discounts at their stores
 * Ack becomes a Helper for your Workshop. You will meet him during the main story line
 * Without being friends, he also will cook known recipes for you, which makes cooking easier.
 * Mint - gives Mini Drill. You will meet him during the main story line

Useful Consumables
Each list considers what you are potentially able to make or get by this point in the main story and assumes 1000 and high stamina. They are in order of helpfulness.

Additionally, the player is able to dine at The Round Table to restore  or gain buffs.


 * Health Consumables. Bring enough to replenish 2000-3000 Health Points.
 * Sweet Caviar 30% of Max Health Points, 10% of Max Stamina.
 * First Aid Kit. Better than Sweet Caviar if the player has less than 1000 Health Points.
 * Creamy Salmon Stew
 * Salty Grilled Catfish
 * Simple Ointment
 * Buff Consumables. Bring 5-10 minutes worth.
 * Critical Chance
 * Bubblefish Stew (35%)
 * Bubblefish Soup
 * Fruit Tart
 * Seafood Stew Mix
 * Spicy Tea. Gives +30%, but costs of -3 Health Points/s, and only lasts 10s. Not as helpful, but good in a pinch.
 * Attack
 * Supremely Spicy Spaghetti (+45). Able to cook after South Block Trade Center is opened.
 * Spicy Stew Mix (+10)
 * Spaghetti with Hot Sauce
 * Cheap Soda. Purchasable at Food Store
 * Defense
 * Bacon Fish Roll (+45). Obtainable first as a reward from certain quests, then crafted after access to Eufaula Desert
 * Smoked Fish Roll (+35)
 * Rainbow Lemonade. Purchasable at Food Store
 * Stamina Consumables: Bring enough to replenish your Stamina 2-3 times.
 * Golden Radish Soup (20%)
 * Fruit Salad (+1%/s for 15 s)
 * Dried Apple Slice (+10%). Most cost-effective, since you can grow apple trees.
 * Sweet Caviar will also fulfill this role, but that's not its primary purpose.

Furniture and Relics
There are several useful Relics made from Relic Pieces and pieces and furniture either bought or made you can place around the house. Although their individual bonuses are small, the bonuses stack and you are only limited by the size of your home. This is the best way to boost Health Points, Attack, Stamina, and Defense beyond leveling, equipping, and using buffing items as mentioned above. Thus, comfortably furnishing your home while keeping an eye on bonuses is a good way to boost various attributes.

Making Money

 * Fulfill and complete missions. This will be your main source of income, especially in the beginning.
 * Some missions show up as itemized commissions. You can do multiple of these a day.
 * Commissions an be turned in a day after claiming them without penalty (Please confirm)
 * Beat Higgins to the best commissions. The Commission Office by 8:00 AM, which is also when Higgins starts running for the building. If you get inside before he does (around 8:15 AM), you can take the commission with the highest reward before he does
 * Only take orders you can fulfill. If you take an order for something you aren't able to complete (such as an Iron Sword before you have Iron Ore) you will miss out on reputation and gols
 * Early on, Wooden Storage tends to pop up a lot. It typically pays well as a commission. It's therefore a good idea to carry a few around so you can immediately give them to whoever set the order.
 * This is why you want a small supply of both processed and non-processed materials (10-100 each). Such a supply means you can make whatever they order that same by the next day.
 * Sell when the market is high. The market can range between 70-140%. This means you can increase your profit by 40% or lose out on 30% depending on the day. Watch it!
 * Upgrade/invest in the Tree Farm. You will come across a couple missions where you can help the Tree farm. Completing those will give you an adjustable, daily supply of a variety woods and several other useful items.
 * Wood with Hardwood can be directly crafted into Bookshelf, which sells for 27 each
 * Wood by itself can be used as a free fuel, especially with the Fire Powered Generator fueling anything connected via Conductive Wooden Flooring
 * Wild Cocoon, together with Crystal (mentioned later), can be used to make Crystal Necklace
 * Plant Fiber is a good food for mature livestock
 * Others materials are good for other processing-required crafts, or selling.
 * Craft with, sell, or process excess materials. You will end up collecting several stacks of some items (Stone, Sand, Soil, Wood, etc). Although you'll want to keep a small supply of each, you don't need multiple stacks. You can sell what you don't need or make them into other items.
 * Stone can be crafted into Stone Stools.
 * The Soil and Sand can be sold in a clump.
 * If you're willing to process: Sand becomes Glass, Ore becomes Bars
 * Although no-processing-required items provide small profit margins (making a Crystal necklace only gains 3 more than what the individual materials cost, for example), any extra value is money in your pocket. Especially since the entire sale is pure profit (assuming you didn't pay for anything) and crafting at the Worktable takes no in-game hours.
 * For higher profit margins, see Craft high-return items below
 * Grow Crystal and Apple Trees. Crystal Trees produce Crystal and occasionally Ruby and Sapphire. The Crystal can then be made into Crystal Necklace. Apple can be processed on Drying Racks directly into Dried Apple Slice.
 * Raise animals. Once matured, they will produce items daily, which can either be processed into other things or sold for profit.
 * Once matured, you can just feed them plant fiber from the Tree farm, which would make what they produce essentially endless and free.
 * A Feather Duster can be used to "Pet" multiple livestock in front of you with one action. Saves a LOT of time.
 * Get a helper. Ack and certain spouses will collect processed materials, fertilize and harvest plants, and feed and harvest animals. This will save a lot of time
 * Go fishing. This can directly get you 5-10k per full day if you fish at the right spot and sell them at the right time. At the Fishing spot by the waterfall, you can collect Goliath Fish (350 ea) and Golden Salmon (18 ea). Each bite and successful catch takes up time. But over the course of say 7 hours, assuming you catch most of your fish (especially Goliaths).
 * Get the Classic Fishing Rod when you can - makes this task significantly easier, especially with the Goliath Fish.
 * Donate fish to the museum. First all the non-emperor versions (for rep), then the emperor versions. Donating all the emperor versions will get the Master Fishing Rod for your effort, which makes fishing even easier
 * Other fishing spots may work too. The Goliath is simply the most lucrative fish
 * Maximize your slow days. Some days you will either not have a mission to complete or are waiting on something (Petra's research, processing, etc).
 * Go fishing. See above
 * Ruin dive. Each level in the Hazardous Ruins takes several in-game hours. So when you have time, you can go here. There are certain items either exclusive to or are easier to get in the ruins. You can craft these into high-return items. It will also add to your exp.
 * Bring weapons, plenty of Health and Stamina and stat-boosting consumables. Leave your tools and other items behind.
 * Go Mining. Bring stamina-replenishing items and nothing else. This will get you non-craftable materials, ores, stone, etc to use for craftables.
 * Craft high-return items. These are the most profitable, but take time and planning. But, if the above is not enough, and you're willing to process the requirements, there are some items that take some processing time that are worth the wait. The rule of thumb is this: the more processing the materials need, or the harder the items are to find (to a point), the more profit you can make off it. Underlined options are among the most profitable and with the highest increase in profit
 * Worktable: Copper Coils, Iron Swords, Desk Lamp, Safety Box , Precision Parts, Red Hawk
 * Trap Device is also profitable, but it's mission-related
 * Assembly: Water Tank (early), Water Storage,
 * Engine-Specific:
 * Simple Engine
 * Dee Dee Transport (116 above materials)
 * Water Engine (172 above materials)
 * Advanced Engine
 * Long-Haul Bus
 * Charging Station

Boss-specific

 * Tips and Tricks: Rat King