Item Stars
Certain items exist in one-, two- and three-star versions, and each star level is effectively a separate item. A 1-star and a 2-star Cabbage stack separately, fetch different prices and may behave differently.
| Family | Items |
|---|---|
| Crops and their seeds | Cabbage, Onion, Pumpkin, Grapes |
| Dishes (just two) | Bowl of sauerkraut, Vegetable salad |
| Drinks | Grape Juice, Wine |
| Writing | Stories, Newspapers, and sermons, whose stars are their grade (Sermons) |
| Embalming fluids | All four, e.g. the Solution for Zombies |
| Organs | Quality 1 to 3, set by the corpse they came out of (Corpses) |
The data also has starred versions of the Written Hardcover Book, Cognac, the Wood Kit and the Wooden Detail, none of which you can make or find. Burial certificates are graded I to III as well, but you only ever receive them; nobody crafts them.
How the grade is decided
In a star craft the output earns stars. The job is divided into steps, each tool swing advances it, and every step is logged as a success or a failure. On completion, the success count is compared with three lines:
| Successful steps | Result |
|---|---|
| Below the first line | No stars: the craft fails. Materials are consumed and nothing is produced, though tech points are still paid |
| First line or more | 1 star |
| Second line or more | 2 stars |
| Third line or more | 3 stars |
Success depends on your mastery in the recipe’s branch:
- Meeting the requirement makes every step succeed. Since each star craft’s third line fits within its length, 3 stars are guaranteed.
- Under the requirement, each swing succeeds with odds of about mastery ÷ requirement. Failed swings still advance the job, so it ends on schedule with fewer stars.
- With 0 mastery in the branch, the job won’t start.
| Output | Mastery needed | Length (steps) | Successes for 1 / 2 / 3 stars | Workbench |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl of sauerkraut, Vegetable salad | Farming 4 | 7 | 1 / 4 / 7 | Kitchen Table |
| Story | Book writing 6 | 10 | 1 / 6 / 10 | Writing Desk |
| Basic Prayer | Book writing 5 | 12 | 1 / 6 / 10 | Writing Desk |
| Faith Prayer, Money Prayer | Book writing 8 | 14 | 2 / 8 / 12 | Writing Desk |
| Remaining sermons: Combo, Combat, Harvest, Repose, Excellence, Likes, Hypno | Book writing 8 to 16 | 16 | 4 / 10 / 14 | Writing Desk |
| Newspaper | Book writing 8 | 10 | 1 / 6 / 10 | Newspaper Press |
| Solution for Corpses, Solution for Zombies | Anatomy 6 | 8 | 1 / 4 / 8 | Formulation Bench |
| Injection for Corpses, Injection for Zombies | Anatomy 8 | 12 | 1 / 6 / 12 | Formulation Bench |
A further nine sermons, the Hardcover Book and a second Newspaper recipe are also star crafts, but no workbench offers them. Planting a garden bed counts as a star craft too, under separate rules (see below).
Starting ahead
Some jobs begin with steps already completed. These head-start steps count as successes, compensating for misses when you’re under the requirement. There are two sources:
- Higher-star materials. A material slot filled with a 2-star item is worth 1 step, a 3-star item 2 steps. It’s per slot, not per item, so three 3-star cabbages in a Bowl of sauerkraut still give just 2. When a slot accepts any grade, the crafting window defaults to the lowest you own; switch it manually to get the bonus.
- Perks. Sermon writer adds 2 steps to every sermon, Telling tales 2 to Stories, and Like a King 2 to Stories and Newspapers.
Other perks tied to these recipes raise mastery rather than granting steps: Voice of Faith and Scribe give +4 on sermons (Scribe on Stories as well), Good press on Newspapers, and Formula one on embalming fluids.
Zombies and crops
Zombie workers always produce 3 stars. They never fail a step and only need mastery of at least 1 in the branch, which the tool in their hand supplies (Zombies). This is read from the code and not yet confirmed in play.
Crops earn stars as they grow. Cabbage, onion, pumpkin and grapes planted from 1- or 2-star seeds yield crops and seeds one star better from the 11th successful growth step onward, while 3-star seeds yield 3-star crops. Farming has the details.
Upgrading stars
| Start with | End with | Technology | Add | Workbench and mastery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A 1-star Bowl of sauerkraut, Vegetable salad, Grape Juice or Wine | The 2-star version | Transmutation I | 1 Spices | Kitchen Table, Farming 4 |
| A 2-star one of those four | The 3-star version | Alchemy, Advanced | 1 Umami | Kitchen Table, Farming 6 |
| Two 1-star Stories | One 2-star Story | Books II | Rewrite them together | Writing Desk, Book writing 7 |
| Two 2-star Stories | One 3-star Story | Storytelling I | Rewrite them together | Writing Desk, Book writing 8 |
| Twenty 1-star Newspapers | Twenty 2-star ones, or thirty with Paper maker | Books II | One 2-star Story | Newspaper Press, Book writing 9 |
| Twenty 2-star Newspapers | Twenty 3-star ones, or thirty with Paper maker | Storytelling I | One 3-star Story | Newspaper Press, Book writing 10 |
| An organ of any quality | The quality-3 version of it, red- or white-skulled depending on the improver | Practical Potions | 1 Organ Improver | Formulation Bench |
The Transmutation Potions (I, II) sound as if they’d do this job, but nothing crafts them and nothing uses them.
Why stars matter
- Value. Base price rises with each star, slightly for crops (Cabbage 7, 10, 13) and enormously for writing (Story 50, 500, 5000) and embalming fluids (Solution for Zombies 200, 1200, 6000).
- Strength. Vegetable salad grants Anatomy +1, +2 or +3; Bowl of sauerkraut grants Book writing +1 to +3; Solution for Zombies adds 1, 2 or 3 red skulls. A sermon’s grade determines the parishioners it needs and its payout.
- Quantity. Better crops cook into more portions: two cabbages make 4 Cabbage soups at 1 star, 7 at 2 stars and 10 at 3 stars. On the conveyor, a crate of cabbages takes 10, 8 or 6 by star.
- Exact-star ingredients. Certain recipes demand a specific grade. Books need a Story of a fixed star: 1-star for the Primer; 2-star for the Dictionary and the Red Techbook; 3-star for the Glossary, the Techbooks II, Printed Poetry and the Trilogy. The biggest PR Machine run eats a hundred 3-star Newspapers. Town upgrades call for 2-star Cabbage, 3-star Onion, or 1- and 3-star Grape Juice. Soup from a 2-star cabbage is a separate recipe, so a 2-star cabbage won’t go into the 1-star soup.
- Grapes pass their stars on. 2-star grapes give 2-star juice, which gives 2-star wine.