Forager – Skills Guide

Guide contains the following:
What skills to take.
What skills are important.
What skills to ignore.
Skill path to take.

Other Forager Guides:

• Archaeology Museum Guide.
• Binary Frozen Galaxy Seal / Answer.
• Waterproof Achievement Guide.
• Map of Skull Maze.

Introduction

All credit goes to Draco!

I’ve played the game vigorously on release, also played it when it was showcased on humble bundle. The game is very simple, very easy and relaxing. In 15 hours of play I’ve unlocked every achievement and pretty much completed the game. So here is my experience on what skills to unlock to get things done fast and quickly.

Foraging Skill Tree

Foraging

• Allows beet and wheat to spawn.
• Cotton spawns more often.
• Second to unlock after economy due to Woodcutting and Mining skills.

Gathering

• Gain 4 inventory slots.
• Gain 25% more exp from plants and crops.
• A good unlock at the start but its better to go for resource skills.
• Exp is not important yet since leveling up is easy at the start.
• You can easily craft medium backpack for 8 more inventory slots.

Farming

• Unlocks windmill.
• Unlocks shovel.
• Unlocks bread.
• Shovel is only the real important part of this skill.
• Your not gonna need bread for hp, remember this game is very easy.

Agriculture

• Unlocks sprinklers.
• Crops and animals yield 25% more resources.
• Your not gonna farm a lot in this game, most of the time your mining or cutting down trees.
• Can be ignored.

Woodcutting

• Trees drop 50% more wood.
• Very important skill to unlock after unlocking foraging skill.

Fishing

• Unlocks cooked fish.
• Fish traps catch things 50% faster.
• Also an important skill due to sand being scarce at the start.
• Your choice if you want to unlock early or not.

Cooking

• Unlocks Cookpots.
• Unlocks sugar, mayonnaise and cheese.
• You get so much food that your not gonna cook anything for a long time.
• Can be ignored.

Voracity

• Gain 20% more energy when eating food.
• You get so much food that your not gonna need this for a long time.
• Can be ignored.

Mining

• Rocks drop 40% more minerals.
• Very important skill unlock after unlocking woodcutting.
• All rocks including gold and iron rocks are affected by this skill.

Hunting

• Unlocks short bow and arrow.
• Unlocks cooked meat.
• Not needed for a long time, your pickaxe can do most of the work.
• Can be ignored.

Looting

• Slain enemies drop coin.
• Coins is not as important since selling or crafting coins yields a lot more.
• Can be ignored.

Gluttony

• Gain XP when eating things.
• Good since you eat a lot but requires a lot of investment in foraging skill tree.
• Can be ignored.

Prospecting

• Rocks drop gems 10% more often.
• Increase chance to find rare items when digging by 30%
• Really good later in the game since gems are required for crafting harder items.
• Gems are also a good source of money.

Geology

• All rocks drop coal.
• Can be unlocked early as coal is used for crafting gold and iron which you’ll need a lot of.

Deposit

• Unlocks Quarry.
• Quarry is a building that spawns a lot of ore on an island.
• Really depends if you want to unlock this or not since coal, stone, gold and iron are used for most crafting recipes.

Calciverous

• Can eat rock to restore energy.
• Not needed since you get so much food.
• Can be ignored.

Economy Skill Tree

Economy

• Gain 40 coins.
• First unlock to expand land and get more resources.

Coinage

• Forges produce 4 extra coins every time.
• Money is not as important at the start.
• Can be ignored.

Trade

• Unlocks market
• Good unlock after some other skills are unlocked.
• Check the skill guide path for when to unlock.

Commerce

• Throwing items away sells them instead
• Waste of skill point.
• Can be ignored.

Storage

• Unlocks Vault.
• Good later in the game as your inventory will be full most of the time.
• Collecting items that are inside a vault will transfer the item to the vault.
• Your choice if you want to unlock early on.

Banking

• Unlocks bank.
• Money wise you’ll get enough from selling gems or items.
• Can be ignored.

Artistry

• Crafted items are worth 25% more coins.
• I don’t think you’ll be selling crafted items, as crafted items later in the game will be used 100% of the time.
• Can be ignored.

Supply

• Markets more items.
• You’ll be selling items most of the time.
• Can be ignored.

Optics

• Unlocks lighthouse.
• Doubles light radius.
• Waste of skill points you can unlock a lantern that has a huge light radius at the start.
• Can be ignored.

Treasury

• Banks generate coins 50% faster when near other backs.
• Selling gems and items will yield more coins.
• Can be ignored.

Bargain

• Reduces all coin costs by 15%.
• Good for when you start buying lands in mass.
• Can be ignored.

Gambling

• Unlocks slot machine.
• Good way of getting gems but requires too much investment in economy skill tree.
• Can be ignored.

Architecture

• Structures get double hp and cost fewer materials to build.
• Really good late game as buildings require items that are harder to craft and requires rarer materials.

Logistics

• Double the area of effect for lighthouses, mining rods, power plants, and ballistas.
• Really good late game escpecially for minning rods as the increase is huge and can cover 2 islands.

Colonization

• Lands are 30% cheaper to purchase.
• Really good later in the game since lands are very expensive.

Capitalism

• Gain XP when selling things.
• Exp gain later in the game is really hard, any passive exp gain is a good thing.
• Can be ignored.

Industry Skill Tree

Industry

• Unlocks steel.
• Unlocks glass.
• Gain XP when building structures.
• Unlock after getting mining and woodcutting skills.
• Very important as steel is an item that is used for a lot of buildings.

Sewing

• Unlocks leather.
• Sewing station works 25% faster.
• Next unlock after industry. Why? we need the skill called automation requires a lot of investment in industry skill tree but its worth it.

Textiles

• Unlocks basic boots.
• Unlocks basic gloves.
• Good unlock since gloves increase attack speed.

Jewelry

• Unlocks basic amulet.
• Gems sell for 20% more coins.
• Extremely good investment, amulet gives resource drop boost and it affects all drops.
• unlock after textiles.

Carpentry

• Unlock torches.
• Structures cost 25% less wood.
• An ok investment but with woodcutting skill you’ll have a lot of wood to use.
• Torches aren’t that important, used for aesthetic.
• Can be ignored.

Smelting

• Furnaces and forges operate 25% faster.
• A good investment, faster crafting means less time waiting.
• It is also another route towards automation skill.

Craftmanship

• Unlocks royal steel.
• Unlocks royal clothing.
• This materials are used later in the game but needs to be unlocked later on.

Physics

• Unlocks power plants.
• Power plants speed up production of all buildings around it, so furnaces, forges, sewing stations, etc. can craft items a lot faster.
• Can be ignored.

Masonry

• Unlocks braziers.
• Structures cost 25% less stone and brick.
• Good unlock since stone and brick are used a lot in buildings, but you’ll have so much stone and coal by the time you need this.
• Braizers is a light source.
• Can be ignored.

Machinery

• Unlocks flower press.
• Flower press lets you craft raw materials for use, like gold ores and iron ores.
• Resource spawn a lot in this game, materials required to craft resources use a lot of material.
• Can be ignored.

Automation

• Unlocks mining rods.
• Crafted items collect themselves.
• A great investment, mining rods do a lot they also auto collect materials that they destroy.
• Unlock as fast as possible very useful through out the game.

Engineering

• Unlocks EMP grenade.
• Unlocks droids.
• Structures work 25% faster.
• Good unlock but emp grenades and droids requires lots of hard materials to craft.
• The passive it gives is only the real good thing in this skill.
• Can be ignored.

Ballistics

• Unlocks Ballistas.
• Bows shoot triple arrows.
• Enemies aren’t that hard but enemies do spawn and they don’t have a limit on how many spawns in an island.
• Can be ignored.

Drilling

• Unlocks Offshore Drills.
• 25% chance to find coal when digging.
• Offshore drills give oil, oil is required to make plastic which are nneeded to craft other materials.
• You will have enough coal to craft almost anything due to geology.
• Can be ignored.

Manufacturing

• Unlocks factory.
• Structures have 20% chance to craft double items.
• Very good investment craft double items work for all craftable items including drones and potions.

Lasers

• Mining rods and droids deal double damage.
• Another good investment more damage for mining rods means a lot faster resource gain.

Magic Skill Tree

Magic

• Allows you to find faeries.
• A lot of skills in this tree will be unlocked after getting the essentials as most skill in this tree are not as important.
• Faeries give hp, energy and exp when you press E near them.
• Depends if you want to unlock early on, this is a good way to replenish health.

Inscription

• Unlocks incription table.
• Allows you to craft books, books give exp boosts.
• Can be ignored.

Novice Scrolls

• Unlocks basic level scrolls.
• Scrolls are not that good and requires materials that are hard to find/craft.
• Can be ignored.

Expert Scrolls

• Unlocks advanced level scrolls.
• Scrolls are not that good and requires materials that are hard to find/craft.
• Can be ignored.

Brilliance

• Earn 20% more XP.
• Any passive exp gain is good.
• Your choice if you want to unlock early on.

Alchemy

• Unlocks Cauldron.
• Potions are a bit more powerful than scrolls, but potions requires a lot of hard to get materials.
• Can be ignored.

Novice Potions

• Unlocks basic level potions.
• Potions are a bit more powerful than scrolls, but potions requires a lot of hard to get materials.
• Can be ignored.

Expert Potions

• Unlocks advanced level potions.
• Potions are a bit more powerful than scrolls, but potions requires a lot of hard to get materials.
• Can be ignored.

Combat

• Unlocks basic sword.
• Increases dodge chance by 15%
• The sword is a really good replacement for pickaxe but requires the sword to be level 4.
• The sword also gain pickaxe benefits like burn resource on hit.

Faith

• Unlocks shrine.
• Shrines gives boosts to different elements of the game.
• An ok investment as well as good way to get a lot of sand real fast.

Spellbind

• Buffs last 50% longer.
• Gain XP when using potions and scrolls.
• Not the best way to gain exp and materials used is just too much when crafting potions and scrolls.
• Can be Ignored.

Reagency

• Couldrons and Inscription tables work 50% faster.
• Potions and scrolls just use hard to get materials boost in speed is good but material use is too big.
• Can be Ignored.

Froststrike

• Attacks have 50% chance to freeze enemies.
• Unlocks spirit crystal.
• Spirit crystal lets you craft new equipment and ways to boost your hp and energy.
• Enemies are so easy freezing them just makes it more easy.
• Can be ignored.

Renewal

• Restore energy when killing enemies.
• This skill is really good, when you have a lot of islands unlocked you won’t need to eat at all due to mobs spawning a lot.

Summoning

• Shrines recharge twice as fast.
• Buffs last 50% longer.
• This skill gives 50% reduce cooldown on shrines which is really good, lets you use shrines for buffs a lot.

Transmutation

• Can use couldrons to transmute steel into gems.
• An ok investment but gems can easily be farmed on the other hand steel requires gold and iron to craft.
• Can be ignored.

Skill Path

Here is a skill path that you could follow to get things done quickly:

We unlock economy to quickly expand land and get resources, foraging is unlocked to get woodcutting and mining for more resources, industry is unlocked for steel, sewing is unlocked to unlock either smelting or textile, textile is unlock for either trade or craftsmanship then craftsmanship for automation.

Why do we want automation? Two words mining rods. Mining rods mine resources like trees and rocks, Resources mined by mining rods also give exp and all resources mined are automatically placed in your inventory/vault. Not sure if this is true but mining rods scales with your damage/pickaxe, so if you level up your damage/pickaxe your mining rods will deal more damage.

Why unlock optics? Simple to get to logistics as fast as possible this upgrade increases the radius of mining rods and can mine 4 islands if placed right.

Why unlock textiles instead of smelting? To unlock Trade skill to build markets. Sell items for money, money unlocks more lands, more lands for mining rods, more mining rods for resources.

Remember this is only an example skill path to take you can do different things and still get things done.

Conclusion

I love the game played it for 14 hours straight had my ups and downs, when I realize some skills were more important than others. At one point because I didn’t know mining rods were that useful, all the islands that I unlocked was overrun with resources, had to use bombs to clear it out then after a few minutes, it was chuck full of resources again. At that point I unlocked mining rods and my God it made my life 100 times easier. In conclusion mining rods are OP.