When you import a save file from Tavern Master-Prologue into Tavern Master, you get a head start on game-play & research. Here’s how I play through Tavern Master-Prologue to get the most out of playing Tavern Master.
Contents
Getting the Most Out
Сrеdit gоеs to TarotPanacea!
Intro
Tavern Master (the full game) is a ton of fun for this simulation-loving min-maxxer — and I found it’s even better playing from a Tavern Master-Prologue save file! Doing so made TM much more enjoyable for me, so I hope it’ll be the same for you. What follows are my notes on playing through TM-P towards that goal.
In-Game Tutorial
The beginning tutorial on movement, basic items & staff is unavoidable and pretty clear-cut. Finish that fourth wall, put in the door & window and add the basic furniture & lights. Place another simple table & two benches. Move everything closer to the bar. Hire a Bartender and your first Waitress.
Research
The first thing you can research is the Kitchen. This is why importing a TM-P save into TM is so awesome; in TM, acquiring all the kitchen gear is a lot more stretched out, making it rougher to level up your menu, which is how you attract customers better than scrubby peasants, and you need better customers in TM to serve in order to research new stuff but can’t other than via the menu until you host special events.
You get +800 coin after finishing Kitchen research; buy the kitchen crate, counter & plate shelf, then spend the rest on more tables & benches.
After the kitchen, I like researching the extra Waitress so there’s help serving the food. The four research tasks in TM-P don’t take very long, though, so it’s not hugely important which you do next.
Prestige
This mechanic has the biggest impact on increasing the number of guests per day. The more expensive furniture & decorations there are in your tavern, the higher the prestige bonus, the more customers visit, the more coin you make to buy more.
Shop Items
- The more expensive furniture gives bigger prestige bonuses.
- The prices of the higher quality tables/seats are changed in TM, so I feel it’s most efficient in TM-P to start replacing the Simple Tables with Lux Tables once you’ve built your tavern to full size. But leaving the seating at Simple Benches is best, since the Lux Benches are cheaper in TM. Better to amass coin in TM-P to start swapping those out once you play TM.
- To have the kitchen items available for the chef to make food, it takes 350 coin to serve desserts, +650 for main courses, +1350 for soup gear. I don’t bother getting soup fixin’s ’til the main courses are almost finished leveling.
- Lighting gets better options in TM. For TM-P, two Candle Stands plus the starting two sconces cover almost the entire room.
- Eventually, you’ll need a Bookshelf in TM, so might as well buy one now.
Staff
You get 4 random staffer options each for Bartenders, Waitresses and Chefs, per day.
Staff ‘happiness’ only matters when they’re about to quit; it doesn’t make them slower or otherwise impact their performance.
Cleaning up empty drinks & food trays after customers leave makes Waitresses sad; unless you have a Waitress with the trait “Mood decreases 20% slower every day” or “Mood is not affected by cleaning,” de-select cleaning. If one does, then that’ll help level her up and maybe make room for another customer, but I don’t feel that needing to frequently increase pay is worth it, especially since the tables are auto-cleared at the beginning of the Next Day.
Staff Traits in TM-P – TM
- Gains experience two times faster – Unchanged
- Walking speed doesn’t decrease when carrying something – Obsolete
- Attracts +7 more customers every day – Changed to +3.5 customers
- Mood decreases 20% slower every day – Unchanged
- Can carry 4 drinks at the same time – Changed to 6 drinks
- Mood is not affected by cleaning – Unchanged
- Can carry 8 drinks at the same time – Unchanged
- Gets 1 tip for every drink served – Unchanged
- Gets 5 tip for every food served – Unchanged
- Prepare two soups at the same time – Changed to “Receive 5 bonus for every soup served”
- Receive 5 bonus for every dessert served – Unchanged
- Receive 5 bonus for every main course served – Unchanged
- Receive 5 bonus for every soup served – Unchanged
When staff reach level 10, they get a random extra trait. It’s a pain when it gives double xp to one who’s level 10…that staffer needs to get fired & replaced.
Since the goal of this is to import the Prologue save file into the full version of Tavern Master, one of the key things is to make sure your staffers don’t have superfluous traits. The Chef trait “Prepare 2 soups at the same time” is converted to “Receive 5 coin for every soup” in TM, and it does help with leveling up soups in TM-P. “Walking speed,” though, is made obsolete in TM, so avoid it or replace a staffer who has it before saving to import. I like to hire an ‘upbeat’ Bartender (mood decreases slower), pack-mule Waitress (carries 8 drinks), foodie Waitress (+5 tip for food) and a dessert Chef (+5 coin for desserts) if I can. If I have to settle for staff with what I consider non-optimal traits, at the end of the day after hiring them I’ll pause time, fire them, look for a staffer with the trait I want, start the Next Day, fire them if their trait wasn’t a good one at the beginning of that Next Day and hope for staff with the trait I really want.
Drinks & Menu
The most important aspect is to get all menu items to 5 stars. Menu items increment their level when they’re prepared, when the Chef places them on the counter, not when they’re actually served, as in delivered to the customer. Sometimes the Chef will start making something that won’t get served before closing, but to increment the dish’s menu rating, don’t start the Next Day until they’ve finished putting it on the counter.
Once some of the menu items hit 5 stars, you can de-select them from the menu so that the ones still needing work will be ordered & leveled up without the maxxed ones taking time out of the Chef’s schedule.
The drink barrels will deplete as their contents are poured by the Bartender, even if those drinks aren’t served to customers. Eventually, you’ll need to refill the barrels. Water is free, beer & lemonade cost coin to refill. The food crate is a magic cornucopia in TM-P and doesn’t need refilling. (Changed in TM.)
Conclusion
Gear is king. Have better gear > make better stuff > make more coin > get better gear. Number go UP!
When you feel like you’ve situated your Tavern & accrued enough coin to go play Tavern Master, save & exit.
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