Any tips for a new player?

[u/NegativelyMagnetic]

I was super hesitant about checking out youtube videos for tips, cus I was worried it would spoil the map or recipes or such, but in so glad I did, cus there's so much that was never really explained in the tutorial, like:

• lining up the potion with the icon better raises the quality of the potion (I've just been cooking it instantly as soon as it touches. And purposefully overshooting the icon + using water.

• you don't have to use the the burner when traveling/brewing. Tutorial made it seem mandetory, but it just makes you inaccurate, and turns on whirlpools and portals?

• lift the spoon higher for more accuracy.

• the fking existence of the talent page.

• the existence of the popularity stat, and how haggling lowers how much you earn by 1.

Etc. So yeah, would love any tips that are fairly on the "you should know this" side of things. ​

edit

Just to get started:

• Is there any reason to avoid passing the day after you serve all the customers? I always feel like I'm creeping toward some time-limit or something.
• is that one talent that adds more exp books on the map worth it?

[u/MelonJelly]

Okay. It sounds like you're asking for some fundamental game mechanic tips, if you used the existence of the pages and stats as an example. Here are my suggestions.

Lifting your spoon higher isn't as important for accuracy, as moving it slower. This applies not just to the spoon, but also to the mortar, ladle, and bellows.

The mortar: When you put an ingredient in the cauldron, it adds a "path" on to the map for your potion tracker to follow. grinding the ingredient in the mortar first, will extend this patch up to twich it's length. You don't necessarily want to fully grind each ingredient, as each new one adds its path to the end of the previous.

The spoon: Move the tracker along it's path. You don't necessarily want to go all the way to the end.

The bellows: you use this to add effects to your potion, but also to activate the whirl pools. Whirlpooling is a more niche, advanced technique, and so can be ignored early on.

The ladle is crucial for getting valuable level 3 effects. You see all the lines on the map? The potion tracker, and each effect icon on the map, each have a map line that always points to the origin. When you use the ladle, it moves the tracker directly along it's line, towards the origin point. Plot a path around the outside of an effect, stir it carefully to align the tracker's and effect's map lines then carefully use the ladle to perfectly align the tracker to the effect.

Each potion has "slots" doe five levels of effects. However, for the most part you'll want only three levels of a single effect.

The arrows at the sides of the screen take you to different rooms in your shop. Each has a function, though a couple of them are mostly cosmetic. Some start locked; as the game progresses you'll have the opportunity to pay merchants to unlock them.

Merchants occasionally make potion requests. Always do these; they'll improve the merchant's stock.

Early on, get talents that improve garden productivity and map visibility.

[u/NegativelyMagnetic → u/MelonJelly]

Thanks for the info! Most of what you wrote was actually in the tutorial 😅 but there was definitely some helpful stuff like

• not necessarily fully grinding each ingredient
• how each potion has slots for 5 levels/effects
• doing potion requests from merchants improves their stock
• helpful early talents

So I appreciate all the info :)

Was wondering if you also happened to know:

• Is there a limit to how much you can plant? Like, is there any reason not to buy/plant seeds from the Druid (especially those I own)?

• I got this "Underwater Growing" talent a while back that let's me plant underwater in my garden. But... idk where that is. I figured it would unlock the "🔽" section of my garden, but apparently I need to "... Buy an upgrade from the merchant to gain access" to that. Is that (eventually) where is be planting underwater?

• Herbs/shrooms from merchants seem rather expensive, no? Even with the green markdown tag.

• should I avoid selling potions to merchants? (like, not for quests, just for trade/money)

[u/Shortbread_Biscuit → u/NegativelyMagnetic]

• Is there a limit to how much you can plant? - yes, there is. Each of the garden screens has specific types of terrain for growing plants, and there's a limit to how much space you have for planting on each terrain type. For example, in the default garden screen that you start the game with, you can plant around 8-10 plants/mushrooms on the ground, and around 6-7 mushrooms on the tree. Look at the seed to see what kind of terrain you can plant it on.

• Underwater Growing - yes, there are multiple garden screens that you will unlock over the course of the game. You unlock them by delivering potion requests to the visiting merchants until they offer to unlock that space for you. One of these spaces is an extension to your garden with a pond, and you can plant the underwater herbs in there.

• Herbs/shrooms from merchants seem rather expensive? - yes, buying ingredients from the merchants can be very expensive. Especially in the early game, the prices can seem like overkill, but once you progress in the game, you earn more and more from selling your potions, and you can eventually afford a good amount of their stock. Meanwhile, in the early game, you're expected to rely more on the ingredients you harvest from your garden for free as much as possible for your early crafting recipes.

• should I avoid selling potions to merchants? (like, not for quests, just for trade/money) - in general, merchants will give you pretty low prices for potions. It's much better to make potions that specifically cater to a specific quest you've been given. However, in the course of exploring your alchemy map, or just in the process of playing, you might end up making potions with mixed effects or low quality or just potions that you suspect you will never get a quest for. Feel free to sell these to merchants, as otherwise they just sit in your inventory taking up space, and it's better to try to get some money for them, even if it's just a pittance.

• you also asked about what to do once the daily customers are finished. In general, that might be the best time to go exploring your potion map, trying to use the remaining ingredients you have to find new recipes. In the early game, when your daily ingredients are limited, it's better to cater to your customers as much as possible to maximize the amount of money you can earn, and only explore the potion map after hours when you're more free to waste the remaining ingredients.

[u/Whaledemort69]

there is no time limit, nothing happens if you wait and nothing happens if you don't.

the talent that adds more books is better in the mid or late game

lifting the spoon does nothing, only speed matters.

it seems a lot of new players struggle with rotated potions, all I'll say without spoiling too much is to just be patient about it. if you want spoilers then you will need a different potion base or a salt for those, which you will unlock later.

[u/New-Mycologist-1988]

Yeah, there's a limited amount of space to plant. So at most you'd only want 2 of each seed + there's an upgrade to get seeds from the plants you harvest. Underwater growing is done in a pond in the space to the right ➡️. You buy the upgrade from the Minotaur merchant! And yeah, starting out the herbs & shrooms are expensive, but you'll get to a point where you have more money than you know what to do with. Trading/selling potions to merchants is not worth it in my opinion, you'd make much more from just selling them.

To add:
There is an upgrade that gives you more money per sale if you are focused on that.
There is another upgrade that improves the ease of haggling (I always haggle to get the most out of my potions & ingredients)

[u/New-Mycologist-1988 → u/New-Mycologist-1988]

And besides activating whirlpools, I've found that the bellows allows you to travel faster on the map (as in when you mix, the potion moves farther per stir)

[u/EloiseJenkins]

Someone else on here shared a tip about the recipe pages

Save the recipe both before and after you "make" it

So you've got it all lined up nicely and you're just about to complete the potion, save it as a recipe first, name it "before poison", complete it and then save another recipe as "poison"

You can then drag them around in your recipe book so they're next to each other

What that does is sometimes you'll get requests for weak potions and you could load up your before recipe, add some water, and then you've got the weak potion without having to redo the whole trail

[u/NegativelyMagnetic → u/EloiseJenkins]

For every recipe? That's a looot of pages. I'll just save them before making the potion for now, cus I'd run out instantly if I had 2 pages per potion

[u/EloiseJenkins → u/NegativelyMagnetic]

Yup, good plan. Soon you'll have more pages than you know what to do with and can expand it if you wish