Forestry and Farming
Forestry and Farming is a crafting specialty that involves planting and harvesting crops, chopping wood, and catching fish. This crafting profession is more of a gathering profession than a crafting profession, as it is more about collecting than refining or producing finished products. This profession can be very lucrative, especially when paired with Cooking and Herbalism.
Fishing provides experience in the Forestry and Farming skill.
Forestry
Forestry is very straightforward. Simply equip a woodcutting axe and chop fallen trees. These are mainly found at lumbermills, but can be found all over Stoneholm. It is important not to use regular weapons on fallen trees, because they will take extra durability damage and gather wood more slowly.
Woodcutting axes include:
- Tier 1: Woodcutter's Axe
- Tier 2: Novice's Axe
- Tier 3: Journeyman's Axe
- Tier 4: Craftsman's Axe
- Tier 5: Master's Axe
Each increase in tier and quality level improves the speed of the axe. Increasing yield depends on your Forestry and Farming level and any resource gathering buffs you or your nation may have.
As durability is lost on the axe, gathering speed decreases.
Processing logs
Billets: made at stumps or lumbermills with the Forestry and Farming skill. Learning the Mass Production recipe for wood billets at the Glory Vendor is highly recommended.
Planks: made at lumbermills with the Engineering skill. Planks are used for building and upgrading structures and making shields.
Handles and Poles: Made at weaponsmith's workshop with the Weapon Forging skill.
Bark is a byproduct of logs and planks used to make tannin, which is required to tan leather.
Farms and Crops
Farms have flat land to grow crops, and beehives that produce honey and beeswax. The soil quality ranges from 50% to 100% which represents yield amounts. Soil quality near the capital is poorer and improves the more links you move from the capital. Soil quality at Guild Provinces and Holy Temples is 100%. It is not possible to change a location's soil quality by upgrading the location. Upgraded farms have more beehives.
Be sure to check the Bastion as well as the upgrade level of the farm before using any crafting workshops in the location.
Planting Crops
Seeds can be bought from the Food and Herb Merchant NPC, some herb seeds can be gathered in the wild, and all plants yield seeds when harvested harvested at a farm. There is a Food and Herb Merchant in the capital city near the The Market. Harvesting wild herbs all over the map or wheat, flax, and barley near the capital will also yield seeds. Harvesting planted crops always yields seeds.
To plant seeds, it is easiest to place the seeds and some water buckets on your hotbar.
Each character can have a maximum of 20 crops in the ground at once.
Crops will automatically snap together if placed near each other.
Plant a group of 4 seeds, then immediately water them. Plants will sprout weeds and dry out after planting. Taking care of these problems gives Forestry and Farming experience and speeds up the growth very slightly. This additional watering and weeding are NOT necessary, and do not affect yield. Weeding plants provides worms and grubs and are used as fishing bait. Plants can be fertilized which speeds up their growth more significantly. Fertilizer is obtained naturally from the decay of perishable items.
Once planted, growing crops are immune to all theft or harm for 2 hours after maturation unless that location's main flag is captured. After 2 hours anyone can take them.
Crops are harvested with a scythe, a tool made with Engineering. All crops are perishable after harvesting, so processing them quickly is a good idea. Combining fresher items with items about to expire in inventory averages their expiration rates.
Most crops grow in less than a half hour.
Planting crops in the rain means you don't need to water them!
List of growable crops:
- Arnica
- Barley
- Carrot
- Flax
- Flowering Plant (produces Infloresence fruit)
- Garlic
- Hemp
- Herbs
- Herb Fruit
- Herb Leaf
- Hops
- Lemon Balm
- Onion
- Parsnip
- Root Plant
- Rue
- Wheat
There are two plants that cannot be grown:
- Mistletoe - Looks like a green bundle of leaves hanging low on trees.
- Saffron - Purchased from Food and Herb merchant for 5 silver, or gained from farm storehouses at guild provinces.
