Design: tools
Tools of the trade Perkakas
Planned · Tools I–III
A hatchet for wood, a net for fish, and the right gear for every other kind of catch. Better tools are faster, hard wood wants a strong hatchet, and the first tools are free so nobody gets stuck.
Three parts
Tools ITools of the tradeEvery way of gathering needs its tool. A hatchet for trees, a net for mackerel, a jig for squid, a trap for prawns, a hand-line for tuna. The first hatchet and net are free from the teachers, the rest come from Mak Long Esah and Kak Yah. Tools ride on a belt of four slots, so they cost no room in your pack.
Tools IIHardwood and the forgeBetter hatchets, and trees that need them: meranti and cengal. A blacksmith, Pak Leh, opens a forge in Kuala Besut. The parang arrives with two new things to cut: bamboo and rattan. Bamboo makes prawn traps and bows.
Tools IIITraps and linesPrawn traps work on their own: set them in the river and come back. Tuna need a mackerel for bait. Nets tear and lines snap now and then, and a length of rope or a hook puts them right. Knot your own nets at the net rack.
Principles
- Every way of gathering has its tool. Trees take a hatchet. Each kind of fishing spot takes its own gear: a net for mackerel, a jig for squid, a trap for prawns, a hand-line for tuna. Palms are the one exception: you climb them.
- You know what you need before you walk over. The hover label, the examine text and the right-click menu name the tool, and the message when you lack one says where to get it.
- Nobody gets stuck. The first hatchet and the first net are free from the teachers, who replace them if they ever go missing. Palms need nothing, palm fibre makes rope, and once there are net racks rope makes nets: there is always a way back.
- Better tools are faster. A better tool adds to the chance of every attempt, and the very best take a tick off. Only hard wood refuses a weak hatchet.
- Make it or buy it. Wood and fibre tools you can make. Metal comes from the forge, and the best metal needs your timber.
- Wear is small and honest. Hatchets never wear out. Nets tear and lines snap, because they really do, and one rope or one hook puts them right.
- You can see the tool. Whatever you work with is in your hand while you work.
Which tool you use
You never pick a tool. When you start on a tree or a spot, the game looks for the right kind on your belt, in your hand and in your pack, sets aside any you are not high enough level for, and uses the best one left.
tool = the highest-tier tool of the right kind you carry and can use
needs = tool tier ≥ the wood's hardness (hatchets only)
chance = min( 92%, 35% + 3% × (level − its level) + tool power )
ticks = its ticks − 1 with the teacher's lesson − tool speed never fewer than 2
The chance rule and its 92% cap are the live game's own; tools add one term. At the cap a better tool stops helping, which is fine: by then you should be on a harder tree.
The belt
There is no bank yet, and a pack of 20 can't carry five tools for ever. So tools get a belt: 4 slots above the pack in the Pack tab. A tool you are given or buy goes on the belt if there is room, otherwise in the pack. Click a tool to move it between belt and pack. A tool works from either, and a parang works from your hand too.
Belt
Pack 12 of 20
Four slots for six kinds of tool is a small, deliberate squeeze: the hatchet, the net and the jig fit with room to spare until you are fishing tuna and trapping prawns on the mainland.
Every tool
| Tool | Kind | Use from | Gives | How to get it | Part |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old hatchet Kapak lama | Hatchet | Woodwork 1 | the starter | Pak Mat gives you one the first time you talk to him, and replaces it if you ever lose it. | Tools I |
| Iron hatchet Kapak besi | Hatchet | Woodwork 5 | +8% chance | Kak Yah sells it for RM 45. Once the forge opens, Pak Leh sells it for RM 40. | Tools I |
| Steel hatchet Kapak keluli | Hatchet | Woodwork 12 | +16% chance | Pak Leh forges one if you bring him a meranti handle and RM 90. | Tools II |
| Boatwright's axe Beliung | Hatchet | Woodwork 25 | +24% chance, 1 tick faster | Pak Mat's own. He hands it on once you build a cengal boat with him (a later quest). | Later |
| Machete Parang | Machete | Woodwork 3 | also a weapon | Pak Leh sells it for RM 25. Wield it and it still works as a tool. | Tools II |
| Old cast net Jala lama | Cast net | Fishing 1 | can tear | Mak Long Esah gives you one the first time you talk to her, and replaces it if you ever lose it. | Tools I |
| Cast net Jala | Cast net | Fishing 6 | +8% chance, 10% two at once, can tear | Knot it yourself at a net rack: 4 rope, Fishing 6. | Tools III |
| Big cast net Jala besar | Cast net | Fishing 15 | +16% chance, 20% two at once, can tear | Knot it at a net rack: 6 rope and a string of sinkers, Fishing 15. | Tools III |
| Squid jig Candat | Squid jig | Fishing 5 | one kind only | Mak Long Esah's reward when you finish her lesson. Kak Yah sells them for RM 8. | Tools I |
| Prawn trap Bubu | Prawn trap | Fishing 8 | one kind only | Kak Yah sells them for RM 15. Once there is bamboo to cut, weave your own at the boatyard: 4 bamboo and a rope. | Tools I |
| Hand-line Tali pancing | Hand-line | Fishing 12 | can snap | Kak Yah sells them for RM 20. Once the net racks are up, tie your own: 2 rope and a hook. | Tools I |
Nobody gets stuck
- Free starters. Pak Mat gives an old hatchet and Mak Long Esah an old cast net the first time you talk to them. Guru's training sends you to both.
- Replacements. If you ever have no tool of a kind, the teacher who gave it hands you another next time you talk. Kak Yah won't buy the starters (“That's Pak Mat's old hatchet. He'd know.”), so they can't be sold by accident.
- Old saves. Everyone with a save from before tools finds both starters on their belt, with a line in the chat saying so.
- The way back. Palms need no tool. Fibre makes rope, rope makes a net at a net rack (part 3). Selling a catch pays for anything else.
What you see
The hover label adds what is missing in red, under the action: Chop down Tree, then needs a hatchet. Examine text names the tool. The action text says what you are using (“Cutting timber, iron hatchet”). The chop animation already puts a blade in your right hand; it becomes your actual hatchet, its head coloured by tier.
| When | The game says | From |
|---|---|---|
| A tree, no hatchet, on Perhentian | “You need a hatchet to cut this. Pak Mat at the boatyard will lend you one.” | Tools I |
| A tree, no hatchet, in Kuala Besut | “You need a hatchet to cut this. Kak Yah sells them.” | Tools I |
| Hard wood, hatchet too weak | “Meranti is too hard for your old hatchet. You need an iron hatchet or better.” | Tools II |
| A better tool, level too low | “Your steel hatchet needs Woodwork 12. Until then you cut with your iron one.” | Tools I |
| Mackerel, no net | “You need a cast net (jala). Mak Long Esah, on the beach by the reef, will lend you one.” | Tools I |
| Squid, no jig | “Squid want a jig (candat), not a net. Mak Long Esah gives one to anyone who finishes her lesson.” | Tools I |
| Prawns, no trap | “Prawns hide in the bank. You need a prawn trap (bubu); Kak Yah sells them.” | Tools I |
| Tuna, no line | “Tuna need a hand-line (tali pancing). Kak Yah sells them.” | Tools I |
| Tuna, no bait | “Tuna won't look at a bare hook. Bait it with a raw mackerel.” | Tools III |
| A net tears | “Your net snags on the coral and tears. It still works, but slowly. Mend it with a length of rope.” | Tools III |
Decisions to make
Five choices shape this design. The first answer to each is the one this book is written around.
| Question | Recommended, and the alternative |
|---|---|
| Where do tools live? | A belt of four tool slots, outside the pack (recommended). Or the old way: tools take pack slots. With no bank yet, the old way costs up to five of twenty slots for good. |
| Do hatchets wear out? | No (recommended). Only nets tear and lines snap, because they really do, and both cost one cheap thing to fix. A hatchet head flying off is a famous old annoyance, and it can stay old. |
| Prawn traps: set and wait, or stand and work? | Set and wait (recommended, in part 3). It gives Kuala Besut a rhythm of its own: lay your traps, go and do something else, come back. |
| Bait for tuna? | Yes (recommended). One raw mackerel a tuna. It keeps the first fish useful at every level. |
| A Smithing skill? | Not yet (recommended). The forge is a shop with a service: you bring the wood, Pak Leh brings the iron. |
Ideas for later
| Idea | |
|---|---|
| Squid by lamplight | Squid rise to light. Once there is night in the game, a lit jig (candat bercahaya) bites faster after dark, and the squid boats light up the bay. |
| A rattan creel | A creel (bakul rotan) woven from rattan holds ten raw fish in one pack slot. It would turn rattan into the most wanted thing in the forest. |
| A cengal boat | A perahu besar of cengal and rope, built with Pak Mat over several visits. The reward is his beliung, and a boat that can go further down the coast. |
| Agarwood | Now and then a cut meranti or cengal shows dark, scented heartwood: gaharu, worth more than everything else in your pack. |
| Smithing | If the forge grows into a skill of its own, hatchet heads, hooks and sinkers can be made rather than bought. Not before there is ore to dig. |
| Thieving macaques | A macaque near a full prawn trap may get to it first. Fair warning, given that Kak Yah already says they eye your pack. |
| Tools you can see | The hatchet and the net hang at your waist in the 3D model, so other players, one day, can tell what you came out to do. |