#starhearth episode 5
Text
starhearth: episode five
Second Month of Spring, Day 5-6
Early in the morning, while the last of the rain from the day before is still petering out, the explorer who promised to trade us some cricket golems returns.
[ID: A screenshot of a notification box titled ‘The explorer returns!’ The text inside the box reads, “The explorer returns!--I’m back! It looks like you’ve made me the 5 Wooden Window Frame I asked for. Are you still interested in 2 Autonomous Cricket Golem in exchange? I assure you, they are more useful than any normal person at carrying things!”]
Once activated, the two little golems quickly go to work picking up items and moving them to the stockpiles. These guys will be very helpful to us. As more and more of the villagers become crafters or warriors and spend most of their time focused on that, there are fewer and fewer people to do the necessary work of just hauling stuff from one place to another. The cricket golems will help pick up the slack.
[ID: A screenshot of the item stockpile, containing animal pelts, bones, strips of rawhide and blocks of wood, as the two golems pick up items from the stockpile. The golems are dark gray and rectangular in shape, with four stubby legs, small square gray heads, two glowing yellow eyes, and two glowing rectangular antennae.]
More good news: we’ve got enough food and networth to pick up another villager.
Now, I realize that you may have increasingly been thinking, as this game continues to progress, “uh, where the hell is SPOCK? you’ve literally included LESLIE in your roster before SPOCK? what are you even doing here” or something along those lines. Well, you can rest assured I did not forget about Spock. The reason I haven’t made him a villager yet comes down to one simple thing: I had no absolutely no idea what to do with him. There is no position available to the Hearthlings that even remotely corresponds to ‘science officer’. Herbalist, maybe, at a stretch—but there are multiple characters who fit that job better by virtue of being actual medical professionals. I thought about making him a warrior of some kind, since Spock takes out a fair amount of foes throughout the series, but that didn’t seem to fit him very well. Spock’s not a warrior at heart. He’s just a guy who’s willing to nerve pinch a bad guy or two if the situation calls for it.
But of course, we’ve gotta have Spock in here somewhere. So in the end, after much deliberation, I decided...to make him a Weaver. Weavers are a crafting class that refine fibers and animal pelts into thread, leather and cloth, which can then be used either by the Weaver to make clothes that provide various benefits to Hearthlings, or by other crafters to make things like bows and armor.
My reasoning for this? Spock’s fabulous sense of fashion. That’s it. That’s literally it.
[ID: A screenshot of Spock’s Character Info window, which shows that his mood is content, his stats are 6 Mind, 5 Body and 4 Spirit, his class is Worker, he has the trait ‘Night Owl’--represented by a crescent moon icon—and his mood is being improved by the ‘Pioneering Spirit’ buff. Below, Spock’s portrait is seen in the information box at the bottom of the screen, showing him to be a white Hearthling with brown eyes, short square black hair, and thick black eyebrows.]
Spock has an impressive stat spread—6 Mind, 5 Body and 4 Spirit—and the trait Night Owl. You might remember that Kirk also has this trait; it makes the Hearthling stay up later at night and wake up later in the day. So Kirk and Spock can keep each other company. As it should be.
The character appearance options aren’t exactly equipped to make Vulcans, so the best I can do is give Spock some really big eyebrows. Unfortunately, a strange graphical glitch results in those eyebrows floating in the air next to his head instead of remaining on his face as eyebrows usually do.
[ID: A screenshot of Spock the Hearthling running over the grass with his eyebrows floating at the right height, but to the right of his head instead of on it.]
my god, those NBC execs were right all along! his eyebrows are demonic!
Well...it’ll probably sort itself out.
Meanwhile, McCoy needs to build himself a cauldron so he can craft potions. This requires a bit of stone. Once we start mining for ore, we’ll have more stone than we know what to do with, but for the moment we’re fresh out. Luckily there are some boulders standing out in the fields around the village, so McCoy goes out to break those down for stone. Apparently he doesn’t much feel like picking it up afterward, though, because he just kind of stands there while a cricket golem comes to collect the stone instead.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy standing in the grass staring at the stockpile and doing nothing, while behind him a cricket golem picks up a block of stone.]
what? did you not get your coffee today?
Once the stone is in the stockpile, though, McCoy—begrudgingly, I assume—goes to craft a cauldron out of it, and begins brewing some potions. A few energy potions made from the ad hoc little herb garden will make everyone move a bit faster for a while, which hopefully will speed up production of the tavern.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy bending over a bubbling cauldron next to his workstation in the grass. The information box below describes him as ‘crafting energy tonic.’]
Uhura has befriended another rabbit, this one named March. I really hope March and Thumpy don’t breed, because if we get into a Trouble With Tribbles situation I don’t think my CPU will be able to handle it.
[ID: A screenshot of the camp with a small rabbit sitting next to the empty hearth, while Kirk patrols nearby and McCoy gets something from the stockpile in the background.]
Night Owl Spock stays up to finish putting the roof on the tavern after everyone else has gone to bed. He’s not completely alone, though; he’s got his eyebrows to accompany him.
[ID: Spock walking across the roof of the tavern in the dark, eyebrows still hovering next to his head.]
The next morning is warm but a bit rainy. With the tavern itself completed, all that’s left is to place all the windows and doors. Everyone chips in to help.
[ID: A screenshot of several villagers walking across the grass towards the tavern, each carrying a door or window. Rand is selected in the information box below, which says she is ‘placing Wooden Door.’]
Some more Entlings attack...or rather, they try to, but they’re up on the cliffs surrounding the town to the north, and can’t get down. So they just kind of stand there angrily for a while before wandering off again.
[ID: A shot from the front of the tavern, showing four Entlings standing on the cliff some distance in the background.]
The tavern is finally finished, and everyone takes a moment to celebrate.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy, Rand, Chapel, Leslie, Spock, Chekov, and Scotty all standing in front of the tavern with their hands in the air as confetti and clouds of dust fly up from the completed building.]
There’s not much time to stand around, though—now that the building is complete, it’s time to start moving things into it. Eventually we’ll make individual houses for people and use the tavern as, well, a tavern, but for the moment it’s more pressing to just get everyone under a roof, so the beds are moved into what’s theoretically the tavern pantry. Well, almost all the beds. One of them can’t be moved for a while, because Kirk is sleeping in it.
[ID: A screenshot of Kirk passed out in the one remaining bed next to the berry bushes.]
The berry bushes and herb garden are also moved over to be closer to the tavern, and the outside storepiles decommissioned in favor of moving all our supplies into some more neatly organized boxes inside. Scotty queues up some more storage boxes as well as a few more beds to support the growing population, but he needs wood to make them, and building the tavern has used up our whole supply of it. So a few people are sent to cut down some trees. Just cutting down the trees growing nearby has given us enough wood so far, but that’s not going to be a sustainable solution forever. We’re going to need an orchard for wood, so a few acorns are also planted out back to get that started.
One of the felled trees drops a bee’s nest. This is actually a good thing—a Herbalist can collect the bees and put them in a hive which will supply honey. McCoy is sent to go pick up the bees, but he decides he’d rather get a drink instead.
[ID: A screenshot of the field behind the tavern, mostly cleared but with a couple of tree stumps in the corner. One of the stumps has a swarming bee’s nest on the ground next to it. McCoy is running away from the stump, and the information box below says that he is ‘getting a drink.’]
Yeah I can’t really say I blame him.
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
Starhearth Episode 8
Third Month of Spring, Days 5-7
The next day passes without much incident. Sarek takes a break from his crafting to work on the house, while Scotty is hard at work making all the doors and windows for it. There’s a couple more attempted goblin thefts; a second camp has now spawned on the other side of the field, which means even more goblins are going to be coming after our stuff until the camps are destroyed.
I’ve been putting off attacking the first camp because the squad was pretty low level, but this is getting ridiculous. Anyway, the repeated skirmishes have given everyone enough experience to make it to level two, so they should be alright.
In fact, both camps go down very easily.
[ID: 1. A screenshot showing the field across the tavern, with Chekov, Kirk, Leslie, and McCoy spread out and running across it towards a couple of goblins standing around a campfire ring made from skulls. 2. The three warriors running across the field towards another ring of skulls, while McCoy trails behind them with his head down. 3. Chekov, Kirk and Leslie running after a goblin named Figi the Thirsty, which is down to a quarter of his health and fleeing with his hands in the air. McCoy stands a little way away, still with his head down.]
You can tell McCoy is just SUPER enthusiastic about this whole thing.
With that out of the way, work back at the camp can proceed without interruptions for a while. Sarek has crafted enough stone lanterns to get himself to level two, meaning he can finally make Rand’s promotional item.
[ID: The Mason crafting screen, showing the potential crafting recipes on the left as rows of icons grouped into sections like Workbenches, Tools, Storage, and Refinement. On the right are shown the details of the currently selected recipe, a Cook’s Spoon. Its required ingredients are 2 Stone, and its description reads, “Required to promote a hearthling into a Cook...COOKED FOOOOOOOOOD!!!!--Alton the Bard.”]
Now we finally have a Chef! Rand immediately starts making her crafting stations so she can get to work on cooking up some real food.
[ID: Rand, now wearing a blue shirt with a white apron and a square white hat with a blue ribbon, running out of the tavern past the berry bushes. The message box on the right reads, “Janice Rand has been Promoted!--Janice Rand is now a Level 1 Cook!--Camp Cooking: The Cook can make basic, nutritious recipes.”]
Over in the fields, Sulu is harvesting the first batch of silkweed. Work is also progressing well on the house. Most of the villagers at this point are unable to build because they’re occupied crafting or patrolling, but now that Scotty has finished making all the doors and windows he’s able to help out, and he and Sarek are making good time.
[ID: The in-progress house, floor now completed and walls partly up, surrounded by scaffolding. Scotty is standing on some of the scaffolding, building a ladder.]
By the next day, Rand is all set up to start cooking, and sets about making several portions of stew from all the root vegetables and jerky we’ve accumulated.
[ID: Rand standing over a cauldron in the main room of the tavern, crafting Tasty Vegetable Stew.]
Having prepared food to eat quickly improves the general morale. For the first time in a while, everyone is content. Even McCoy!
[ID: The Citizen information box, listing the current eleven villagers and what task each of them is currently performing. The icon for ‘Morale’ is at ‘Content’ for all of the villagers.]
Later that evening, we have an encounter with...a fearsome goblin?
[ID: 1. A notification box reading, “A fearsome goblin approaches!” 2. A dialogue box titled, “Maybe not so fearsome...” with a blue-skinned goblin wearing a skull helmet above the top right corner. The inside of the box reads, “The goblin approaches, revealing itself a bit shorter than expected. “BONES! BONES!” They shout in a playful, almost childish voice. “BOOOONEEES!” They continue. It seems to be harmless.” Below that, much smaller text reads, “Is that a child? Are there goblin children?” and two available dialogue options read, “Bones!” and “Huh?”]
Turns out the goblin is just a child, and a very enthusiastic one at that. She also has a chaperon.
[ID: 1. Another dialogue box featuring the goblin child, titled, “They continue...” The box reads, “They’re clearly happy about it, hopping around in circles. “BONES! BONES! MANY BONES!” Suddenly, a stern and yet compassionate hearthling voice rumbles nearby, “There you are, Rattley!” The single dialogue option below reads, “Who?” 2. Another dialogue box, this one titled, “Now a man approaches!” with the goblin being joined by a hearthling in a blue tunic with a large brown mustache and a small patch of brown hair. The text reads, “He wears the colors of the Northern Alliance. Strong and grizzled, he rests his hand on the head of the little goblin. “So there you are! Going out and making friends, eh?” He notices the people around. “I apologize. Name’s Thorulf, traveler and former Scout of the Library.” With a gentle pat the goblin goes back to jumping around.” Below that, the available dialogue options read, “Greetings!” and “You have a pet...goblin?”]
Thorulf proceeds to explain the situation a little more:
“Rattley is like a daughter to me,” he says with a bittersweet smile. “I am the reason she is alone in the world and she is the reason I left the Library. One watches over the other now!” he laughs, shoving away the past back where it belongs. “I know you are busy so we’ll go find a place to camp for some days!” He waves his hand, calling Rattley closer.
So I guess Thorulf probably killed her family? Um. Okay. Well, we can’t really claim much moral high ground at this point when it comes to killing goblins, I guess.
[ID: Another dialogue box, this one titled, “They turn around...” The text reads, “ “Oh, I was almost forgetting...” He scratches the back of his head and smirks. “I’ll be busy setting up camp and won’t have time to hunt so soon...Would you mind gifting little Rattley a couple of bones?” The little goblin reacts to it. “BONES! GIVE BONES!” Thorulf stares back at her. “Rattley, what have I told you?” She looks down. “Please?” Thorulf smiles. “We would appreciate it, she loves carving them!” Below this is the dialogue option, “Of course!”]
You can’t have Bones, we need him!--Oh, no, I see, okay.
It’s no problem to gift Rattley a few bones—they’ve been piling up from all the animals Uhura traps for some time now, since we don’t currently have any use for them. She seems quite happy with her gift.
[ID: Another dialogue box, this one featuring only Rattley, titled, “The little goblin rejoices.” The text reads, “She quickly grab [sic] the materials. “BONES! BONES!” Behind her, Thorulf is finishing setting up the camp. “Rattley, thank them for the gift!” She looks back before continuing. “BONES! You make Rattley happy!” Below that, the single dialogue option reads, “Have fun!”]
Rattley and Thorulf leave to go make camp elsewhere, and the sun sets on the last day of spring. It’s been hard going for this first season of our settlement, but we’ve gone from everyone sleeping on the ground and living on wild berries to having shelter to sleep and work under, a band of warriors to keep everyone safe, several crafters working on providing goods for the community, fields to grow crops in, and hot stew to eat. I’d say we’re not doing too badly! Hey, no one’s died.
Time now to see what summer will bring.
[ID: An information box showing the day’s weather. It reads, “Today: Hot and Sunny. A nice and warm sunny day! Maybe too sunny, the heat is not good...Normal sunlight levels. Fairly reduced humidity. Unsheltered hearthlings are too hot to work as effectively. Unsheltered pasture animals are affected by the heat.”]
heat stroke, apparently
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
starhearth: episode four
Second Month of Spring, Days 3-4
The snow stops falling in the night, and the next day dawns clear, but still cold. A few people sit together by the berry bushes as they eat what’s currently passing for breakfast. Thanks to the berries and the jerky from Uhura’s trapping the crew is in no danger of starvation, but no one’s exactly real happy about the quality of food they’re getting either.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy, Chapel and Rand sitting among the berry bushes, eating from plates of square purple berries.]
As everyone sets to their morning work, a new villager arrives. This one has 5 Mind, 5 Body and 5 Spirit, and the Courageous trait (they get a happiness boost after defending the town from enemies). That naturally makes them best suited to being a combat unit. This does raise the minor problem of what to name them; we’ve got most of the main crew here by now, and while there are any number of characters in Star Trek whose job it is to fight things, most of them don’t tend to stick around long enough to leave much of an impression. In the end, he gets named after one of the show’s more frequently recurring redshirts, Leslie. Leslie doesn’t ever have a first name mentioned onscreen, so I named him after his actor, Eddie Paskey.
[ID: A screenshot of Leslie, a villager with short light brown hair, fair skin and blue eyes. His character page is open, showing that his mood is Content, he has the Pioneering Spirit happiness buff, and he has a trait called Courageous, as shown with the icon of a little cartoon sword and the caption, “Courageous: Ed Leslie loves to save others, and puts the safety of the town as paramount.”]
In other news, Uhura has made it to Level 2, which means she’ll no doubt soon be bringing a lot of pets home.
[ID: A screenshot of a notification box titled Nyota Uhura has Leveled Up! The text in the box reads, “Nyota Uhura has achieved Trapper Level 2!” Below are three icons: a pink square with a cartoon rabbit with hearts for eyes, with a caption reading, “Charm Pet: The trapper will occasionally choose to turn a particularly fine animal into a pet!” a blue square with a red and white bullseye above a cartoon animal trap with the caption, “Job Opportunities: The trapper now qualifies for advanced jobs. Click the promote command for details,” and a red cartoon heart with the caption, “Max Health +10.”]
By the next day it’s warmed up again, but now it’s raining, which isn’t improving anyone’s mood much. McCoy sets out to go gather some more berry bushes and move them into the camp, but winds up falling asleep on the ground before he makes it all the way back.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy sleeping on the shore of the lake with a berry plant in a pot at his feet. The info box at the bottom of the screen reads “Leonard McCoy—sleeping on the ground.”]
mood
We don’t have enough food and net worth to attract a new villager today, but never mind that right now, we’ve got another problem: water. We’ve run out of all the drinks that came with our starting rations, and with no other source of drinks, everyone’s getting pretty thirsty. (In my defense, this wasn’t even an existing gameplay mechanic the last time I played, so I completely forgot about it until the negative mood modifiers started piling up.) At the moment we don’t have the ability to brew up anything fancy, but we can at least dig a well for water.
The well is set to be placed next to the tavern, near the kitchen door. Only problem is, digging the well counts as a building project, and since the tavern was placed first, everyone’s prioritizing that. It takes pausing the construction of the tavern entirely before anyone—Leslie, specifically—will address the well.
[ID: A screenshot of Leslie digging a well outside the partially completed tavern walls. The unfinished well, a simple post with a bucket attached to a rope, hanging above a hole in the ground, is visible but transparent to show that it has been placed but is not yet built.]
Once (finally) started, the well doesn’t take long to complete. Soon, everyone’s stopping by for a nice cool drink of water.
[ID: 1. A screenshot of Chekov sitting on the ground next to the well and drinking from a simple cup. 2. A similar screenshot of Kirk sitting on the ground and drinking from a simple cup.]
But Kirk’s break is rudely interrupted by another attack. This time it’s a group of Entlings, who are much like the Stonelings except they’re little tree dudes instead of little rock dudes.
[ID: A screenshot of Kirk holding his sword ready as he fends off four Entlings, which resemble blocks of wood with arms and legs, about half Kirk’s height.]
For some reason, Chapel decides this would be a great time to strike up a conversation.
[ID: A screenshot of Kirk fighting the last Entling, with a red heart over his head that is three-quarters full, showing his depleted health. Chapel is standing behind him, while the info box at the bottom of the screen reads, “Christine Chapel—talking to James Kirk, Log-Splinter.”]
No, go on, I’m not busy or anything.
Apparently this distraction isn’t enough to deter Kirk from handily wiping out the Entlings. The achievement even earns a title for both him and his sword. Not sure who hands out these titles, but hey.
[ID: A screenshot of two message boxes overlaid together, titled James Kirk has achieved a new Title! And Practice Sword has achieved a new Title! The first box reads, “James Kirk...is now James Kirk, Log-Splinter! They killed 5 minions of the Wilds! Doesn’t that title have a nice ring to it? You can select which title one of your citizens is using by right-clicking their name in their character sheet or the selected unit window. The second box reads, “Practice Sword...is now Practice Sword of the Forester! It killed 5 minions of the Wilds! Doesn’t that title have a nice ring to it? You can select which title this item is using by right-clicking its name in the selected unit window. You might also consider giving Practice Sword a fancier name to go along with their new title by left-clicking its name in the selected unit window.”]
But the newly acquired accolades aren’t enough to make up for the rest of Kirk’s morning. He told a joke that didn’t go over well, his drink was interrupted so he’s still thirsty, and now he’s all scratched up too. What a lousy day! Now he’s glum too. So are McCoy and Chekov, but that’s probably just them being themselves.
[ID: A screenshot of Kirk’s character information window pulled up over the villager information window. Kirk’s mood is shown as Glum, with one positive mood modifier (“It’s raining...+3”) and five negative mood modifiers: “Very thirsty -8”, “Pain (Scratched) -6” “Tough crowd -5” “My meal was raw -5” and “Slept in a shared bed -2.”]
Apparently, the joke was told to Sulu.
[ID: A screenshot of Sulu’s character information page, showing that his mood is glum and he has several negative mood modifiers. One of them, “Had an unpleasant talk -3” is highlighted, showing the caption, “I can’t believe James Kirk said that!”]
The bad moods don’t last too long, though. Once everyone’s gotten a drink, they start to feel better. By evening, they’re all back up to content. Meanwhile, work on the tavern is progressing nicely; by now the walls are up and work has started on the roof.
Also, as predicted, Uhura has already brought home a pet: a rabbit, named Thumpy.
[ID: A screenshot of a small brown and white cartoon voxel rabbit sitting on the ground, with the crafting stations and stockpile behind it. The information box at the bottom of the screen reads, “Thumpy—befriended by Nyota Uhura.”]
Not really the choice of name I would’ve gone for, personally, but you do you.
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
starhearth: episode three
Second Month of Spring, Days 1-2
Early in the morning, a trader approaches town, offering to trade us some garden lanterns in exchange for wooden window frames. This isn’t a very useful offer since Scotty can make garden lanterns just fine on his own, so they’re declined.
The Daily Update has gifted us with another new villager. This one has 4 Mind, 6 Body and 5 Spirit, which is such a good spread that it’s difficult to know where to put them. The high Body stat would make them a great combat unit, but 4 Mind and 5 Spirit would make them a great crafter. In the end, I figure we need crafters more at the moment. Specifically, we’re really going to need a chef soon. So, our new villager becomes Rand. (She served coffee once? That’s...that’s about all I got. Look, no one else fit the job any better.)
[ID: A screenshot showing a villager with fair skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair worn in a braid around her head, walking next to a small fox. The description box below reads ‘Janice Rand—Worker.’]
Rand can’t be a chef right away, though, because we can’t yet make the item that’s needed to promote her. So for the moment, she goes to help work on the tavern.
Not long after Rand joins the group, a spot of excitement occurs: we’re under attack! Three Stonelings, little mobile rock dudes with some unspecified grudge against us, come charging towards the outpost. Kirk’s able to dispatch them pretty easily, though he takes a couple of scratches in the process.
[ID: A screenshot showing Kirk fighting with a sword against a small creature resembling a gray boulder with hands and large white eyes.]
After a tiring day of building, most of the group are conked out, but McCoy stays up crafting, harvesting the seeds from brightbell flowers to expand the herb garden.
[ID: A screenshot showing McCoy standing at his crafting table at night, using a mortar and pestle.]
The next day dawns with a late spring snowfall.
[ID: A screenshot of the camp in the early morning as McCoy takes something from the stockpile. The cursor is hovering over one of the three weather icons in the top right corner of the screen, with a description box reading, “Today: Late Snow. There’s still snow to fall this year...Fairly reduced sunlight levels. Regular humidity levels. Unsheltered hearthlings are too cold to work as effectively. Unsheltered pasture animals are hurt by the cold.”]
Kirk and Uhura are enjoying it. Everyone else...not so much.
[ID: A screenshot of McCoy’s character info screen, showing a list of negative mood modifiers on the left and positive mood modifiers on the right. The top negative mood modifier is a -8 for “It’s snowing again!” The description reads, “Winter should be over already, can’t believe we’re getting such late snowfall...”]
In fact, the cold weather has tipped McCoy’s dour mood all the way into Glum. (This is the second lowest mood a Hearthling can have, the absolute lowest being Forlorn.)
[ID: A screenshot of the hearthling information box, listing all eight citizens of the town. Each has a little face indicating their mood; most have a neutral expression, but McCoy’s looks sad and is highlighted, reading, “Glum—Stuff hasn’t been turning out as well as I would like.”]
It is absolutely no surprise to me that McCoy is the unhappiest person in the whole village.
Another new villager today: this one has 2 Mind, 6 Body and 4 Spirit, with the traits Heliophile (enjoys sunny days) and Tea Lover (favors tea over other drinks). This one becomes Chapel, who most likely will be taking over as Herbalist once McCoy promotes to Cleric.
[ID: A screenshot of Chapel’s character info screen. The description box below shows a fair-skinned, blue-eyed villager with medium-length blonde hair.]
A bit later that day, Harold the messenger bird returns.
[ID: A screenshot showing a message box with a red and brown bird perched on top, titled ‘Another Letter!’ The box reads, “The messenger bird returns, with a reply from Mer Burlyhands. The letter has bite marks, and is slightly drooled on. Harold is doing his best.]
The reply reads as follows:
Congratulations on your founding!
Your outpost has been entered into the registry—consider yourselves official! “Her Majesty’s Outpost of Enterprise”--it has a nice ring to it, I think. An inspirational banner design, as well.
All of us here are eager to hear of your success.
As your Outpost grows towards Settlement status, you will start to attract new immigrants.
Your Hearth now is only a spark of what it will one day become—I have faith that it will be a beacon seen all across the Ascendancy.
Take the time to consider what you consider most important, what you wish that beacon to stand for. Prosperity? Happiness? Strength? Each is a noble pursuit.
Wishing you the best of luck!
Yours in the capital,
Mer Burlyhands
P.S. A small gift to you from my personal garden.
This decision he wants us to make will become a gameplay choice later on, but we don’t have to worry about it just now. His gift is some frostsnap seeds. Frostsnap is another herb, functionally no different from the Brightbells we’ve already got, but it’s planted in the garden anyway.
A survivalist happens by the village with some wares to trade. We buy one bolt of leather from them. This takes 20 gold, which is all we have, but we’ll need that bolt to craft the item that promotes a Herbalist into a Cleric, and we can’t otherwise get it just yet because crafting leather requires a Weaver.
Meanwhile, Chapel’s gotten stuck in a window.
[ID: A screenshot of Chapel standing in a window in the partially completed tavern, with glowing blue rings around her as she’s teleported away.]
This happens pretty to Hearthlings pretty often while building; sometimes they get up somewhere and then, for some reason, can’t get back down. Thankfully the game includes a Rescue command that lets you teleport idle Hearthlings a short distance away, so you can retrieve them from the mess they’ve gotten themselves into before they starve to death.
I wonder if this is how McCoy feels sometimes.
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
starhearth: episode two
First Month of Spring, Days 5-7
With a new morning dawning it’s time to really start getting this colony underway. Our motley little crew are still flush with the spirit of pioneering (very Star Trek of them) and have supplies to last a while, but they won’t be satisfied with sleeping on the ground and eating plates of berries around a campfire forever. They’ll be needing beds, and a roof over their heads, and more food, preferably before all those plates of berries run out.
[ID: A screenshot showing a small patch of trees by a lake with a square boundary marked, within which are a few cages.]
First off, Uhura is assigned a little patch of territory near the stockpile to do her trapping in. This will at least supply us with a considerable amount of dried jerky, which will keep the crew from starving if all else fails. Then it’s time to consider our first building.
Stonehearth comes with a few pre-made building templates, but by and large you’re expected to design your own; once designed and placed in the world, your hearthlings will construct them from your stockpiled materials. I’m not exactly what you might call good at designing buildings, but fortunately hearthlings aren’t too picky about architecture and even I can manage to stick a few walls and a roof together. This first building is basically just one big room with a couple of smaller rooms attached, which is meant to eventually serve as a kind of tavern/dining hall, but more immediately will give everyone a place to sleep and eat inside until we can build some individual houses.
The finished schematic (such as it is) calls for a bit more wood than we currently have, but there are some trees in the way of where I want to put it anyway so that works out alright. A few people are sent to cut down those trees; in the meantime, Kirk studiously patrols around the camp, while McCoy crafts himself a Herbalist’s Workbench, which he’ll need to craft other things.
Once the trees are down, the building is placed in a spot close to the lake, next to a young chestnut tree. The chestnut tree isn’t strictly necessary. It just seemed nice.
Time to start building! It’s going to take rather a while, though, because Trappers, Herbalists and Footmen can’t build, so it’s just Scotty and Sulu working on it for now. And with Scotty initially busy making the doors and windows, it’s left to Sulu alone to begin laying the flooring. Unfortunately, he’s chosen to do this while drunk.
[ID: A screenshot showing a close-up on Sulu’s character bar, with a small icon on the side showing a mug of beer, with an accompanying description window which reads: “Light-headed: Having a merry time! Maybe a bit too much...Oh, well. Courage is increased. Diligence, Willpower, Speed and Stamina are slightly decreased. Crafting takes longer and has less chances of producing high quality items. This hearthling is less menacing to enemies. This hearthling will want to engage in conversations and sleep a lot more than usual.”]
Kids! Don’t try this at home. Combining carpentry and alcohol rarely ends well.
Then he falls asleep on the spot. Oh well, that might be for the best. At least now he won’t wind up nailing his own hand to the floor.
[ID: A screenshot showing Sulu, laying fast asleep on a partly finished floor with a couple of Z’s coming from him.]
Having finished his workbench, McCoy goes to gather some herbs and edible mushrooms, starting a makeshift garden next to the stockpile. Meanwhile, Scotty has finished building all the furniture for the tavern, which has raised him up to Level 2. With that done he can start helping Sulu build the actual structure.
The next day brings us a couple pieces of welcome news. The first is that a passing explorer has happened by and they’ve got an offer for us.
[ID: A screenshot of a message box titled ‘An Explorer Approaches Your Town.’ Below that, the text reads, “Hello Enterprise! I am an explorer from far to the east who deals in various amounts of trade and collection. Recently I found 2 Autonomous Cricket Golem just sitting next to the road. I’m not sure who left them there, but they’re quite helpful at cleaning up! I don’t have much use for them myself, but a nearby village said they are in need of 5 Wooden Window Frame. I will be relaxing nearby for 5 days...would you be interested in a trade at that time?”]
This is a stroke of luck, especially so early on. Cricket golems will haul items, meaning hearthlings have to spend less time doing it, which is especially helpful given that hearthlings kind of suck at cleaning up after themselves and tend to drop things all over the place. Also, they’re super cute. We definitely want these, and Scotty can easily crank out those window frames in time, so the offer is quickly accepted.
The other good news is our Daily Update. The Daily Update checks your town’s total net worth and your total amount of provisions, and if both are high enough, a new villager will come to stay. And today, we’ve got enough!
[ID: A screenshot showing a message box titled ‘Daily Update.’ The box reads “Immigration Report: Day 7 of Bittermun, 1000. Enterprise population: 5. Next hearthling requirements...” Below this are two icons, both with a green checkmark on them, one a basket containing a pumpkin and one a chest containing some gold. The icon is labeled ‘Food 117/50’ and the second is labeled ‘Net Worth 545/275’. Below that the text reads, “A new settler would like to join your town!”]
New villagers will have randomly generated names, appearances, stats and traits, and while you can freely change their names at any time, the only way to get new stats and traits is to save immediately beforehand and then reload until you get one you want. Which I...may have done. A few times.
In the end (I’m gonna decline to comment on exactly how long this took) we’ve got a newcomer with 4 mind, 6 body, and 3 spirit, with two traits: Animal Companion (this time, the animal is a fox) and Storm Chaser (which...I’m not actually sure what that one does, but my best guess is that it gives them a happiness boost in stormy weather).
By default in Stonehearth you’re not able to change the appearance of any hearthlings aside from your starting five. In the interests of having everyone look somewhat remotely recognizable as themselves, I employed a mod that lets you change the appearance of new villagers. The downside to this is that the town quickly wound up becoming remarkably homogeneous, but, well, that’s TOS for you.
At any rate, our new villager has the stats to be a good combat unit, and we’ll need an archer eventually, so I decided to make this one Chekov. Because...firing phasers is kind of like firing arrows...look, just go with me on this.
[ID: A screenshot showing a hearthling with brown hair and brown eyes standing next to a fox. Below him the description box reads “Pavel Chekov—Worker.”]
For the moment, however, we need more hands to build the tavern more than we need an archer, so Chekov won’t be taking up his job for a while yet. While he gets to work helping Scotty and Sulu, McCoy harvests some nearby berry bushes and makes some healing potions—more because he needs the experience than because we need healing potions, but hey, they might come in handy.
With the additional help the floor of the tavern is soon finished, and work begins on putting the walls up. But it’ll still be a while before it’s done and in the meantime, sleeping on the ground is making everyone grumpy, so Scotty’s made some extremely basic beds, which are put out near the fire. Before all the beds are even placed, Sulu and McCoy have passed out in a couple of them.
[ID: A screenshot near the campfire, showing two beds placed in a row, with the outlines of three beds still to be placed. McCoy and Sulu are each sleeping in a bed while Scotty sits nearby eating some berries.]
Apparently it’s been a tiring day.
4 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
violettaedition-blog
welcome
kaylakloud
.ೃ࿔⋆kayla⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
the-end-is-heree
cool stuff
bbds-bnha
=bbds_ocs=
mreatwell
Mr Eatwell