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In Ryzom, harvesting or foraging is how homins extract materials from the ground. It's the Atys equivalent of what in other MMOs is often designated 'mining', 'farming', 'gathering', 'scavenging', and so on. But harvesting in Ryzom is very different from the simple "find source and click on it" that it is in most other games. As with crafting, harvesting is a fascinatingly complex system with many little quirks and oddities.
This means for many new players harvesting entails a steep learning curve. If you're a new player trying to start with harvesting, it is recommended you start by doing the tutorial missions from Miles Dodoine on Silan, using this guide to those missions if you get stuck. Those mission provide an excellent hands-on crash course regarding the basics of harvesting. And once you've got the hang of that, the rest is just experience and experimenting.
For extra reference, this harvesting guide below from Pegasus Foundation might be helpful. It's somewhat inbetween a starter guide to harvesting and an advanced guide to all aspects of harvesting. It doesn't include all quirks of harvesting, but it has most. Again, it is not recommended you start learning harvesting by reading this entire guide first, it's recommended you start by just picking up the tutorial missions, using this guide as an extra aide.
Some of the more exotic sources you might end up harvesting.
Intro
So you want to start digging and playing in the dirt, or the sand, as the case may be.
I want to say right away, that harvesting is one of the few places in Ryzom that you can really screw up and actually NOT be able to level anymore (at any reasonable speed), if you happen to buy/train the wrong stanzas. So asking questions and making sure that you're training correctly is very important.
First off, you need a tool. For harvesting, this is a pick. If you do not have one, you can purchase one at the Tool Merchant in any town. Those who are starting on Ruins of Silan will automatically have at least the basic harmful extraction 10 and a pick.
Second thing to remember: Only Harvest in Light Armor or Naked. This is very important. If you harvest in anything else, it will degrade your materials that you are digging, use a lot more of your focus, and make the source more unstable. Even the Ranger armor that you are given on Ruins of Silan is not meant for digging. It is Medium Armor, and therefore is damaging to your harvesting and to your xp for harvesting. So if you do not have light armor, strip down to dig.
The beginner harvesting stanza that you are given is Harmful Extraction 10 and unless you chose harvesting as your specialization when you started the character, this is all you will have. The first thing you will want to do is go outside the main town's gates, or around the stables and look for glowing green spots on the ground that say "Raw Material Source" overhead of them. Target one of them and then double click on your Harmful Extraction (Basic Extraction). This will begin the harvest/extraction process.
Focus Use
A little note in regards to how your focus is used. If you harvest the "pre-popped" nodes around town, you will not get any of your focus back after you have finished the extraction. BUT, If you prospect your own spots (nodes), and then extract the mats, you will get all of your focus back that you used during the extraction, but not the focus used to prospect the spot in the first place. This is an added bonus for prospecting your own nodes. This allows you to harvest for a much longer period of time before having to sit down. (Remember you also get more xp for prospecting your own nodes.) If you like, you can also create a self heal focus that just barely covers the amount of focus used for your prospection. For many, many levels this will be your lowest, a 100pt self heal focus. The timer on the 100pt self heal focus is low enough that every couple of harvests, it will come back. Again, just another trick to help you stay harvesting and sitting around waiting to regen.
Extraction
When you first start extracting from a source, a message will appear in your System Info screen. This will tell you "The Optimal Quality" available from the source and the source mode. The optimal quality available is the maximum quality you can harvest from that source. This number is normally region dependent, but there are exceptions. (Example.. Majestic Garden is a q50 area. Therefore, you can harvest up to q50 mats there. Where as Grove of Confusion is a q250 area, so you can harvest up to q250 mats there.)
The source mode tells you what kind of stability the source will have. Will the heart run out fast, will the stability/risk be high, or will it be a bit more stable?
For the most part, it will not matter a whole lot. This is because if you have careplans, you will care the spot. If you do not have careplans then there is nothing you can do anyway. Though, knowing these in passing can help you be prepared or even know when to not dig that source. Also note that the source mode will change during your extraction. So be alert.
Also, when you target (click on) a source, you will see this information screen. (See Image on the right)
From top to bottom, these are: (More detailed info to follow)
White: Time remaining
Blue: Source Content
Red: Source Health (the heart)
Yellow: Source Stability (Explosion Risk)
Orange: Kami Tolerance
All of these will decrease as you harvest the spot. If any one of these bars completely disappears, you are done harvesting from that spot. Your goal is that the Time Remaining bar finishes first. (At higher levels this may change.)
Further Explanation:
Time Remaining:
Very simple: How much time you have left to harvest from that source. How much time you have originally depends on the prospecting stanzas used to find the source and later on your level will affect it too.
Source Content:
Source content is how many mats are available from that spot. This number is a rounded number of what is actually in the spot. For the most part, you can actually only get up to a maximum of 1 less that what the source content says. So if Source Content is 12, you will only be able to pull 11, because there was actually only 11.7 in that source. On occasion you'll be able to pull the full amount.
Source Health:
This is the life or heart of the source. As you harvest, this bar will steadily decrease. The rate of decrease will depend upon the source mode and your extraction stanzas (gentle vs harmful). You can increase this bar (heal the source) by using Resource Preservation. This is one of the careplanning stanzas available. If this bar goes out, the source will be prematurely destroyed and possibly exhaust the whole area. This means that you will have to wait a long time for the source to reappear.
Explosion Rate/Risk:
This bar tells you how stable the source is. Again, this will decrease as you extract from the source. The rate of decrease will also depend upon the source mode and your extraction stanzas. If this bar runs out, there are two main possibilities. First: an explosion. These explosions will cause you to take damage. The damage will range from 50 hp to over 2000 hp. The higher quality of mats you harvest, the higher the damage can be. Second: a Gas cloud. These gas clouds will cause a certain amount of damage every second that you are in the gas cloud. You can move yourself out of the cloud, but you will be too far from the source to harvest. Either way, the important thing to remember is that you can die. DWB (Dying While Babbling) is very common on Atys, as lots of us chat and forget to look at our source info. You can avoid explosions and gas clouds by caring for the source with Ground Stability.
Kami Tolerance:
KT is not really effected by one single person; it takes multiple people to do it any harm, and then over a pretty long period. Usually the common q250 digging spots above ground are the most affected, where 4+ people are digging constantly. It is also zoned, meaning one 'area' in that region may be close to 0 but another area is full. When KT gets to 0, you will get a message in the sys window saying something like "You have stolen from the land, the Kami will punish you". You still have a little time if you're digging alone, but not long...maybe 2 minutes before a lightning bolt of 6k damage pounds you into the ground.
Extraction Stanzas:
Once you start getting upgrades to your extraction process,you'll want to start tweaking your harvesting to best suit your needs. There are three essential stanzas for extraction and a couple of extras. You will also have to decide between Harmful and Gentle for each of these. Definitions of these will follow.
Harmful vs Gentle:
Harmful costs less focus than Gentle does, but is more harmful to the spot. This means that the Explosion Risk and Health bars of your source will fall much more rapidly. There are lots of debates as to which is better. Ask around or test it out for yourself as to what is more comfortable for you.
Rate:
Rate is how much you can pull with each extraction action. Keep this one as high as possible.
Speed:
Speed defines how much time each action takes. Higher speed means less time per extraction action. This is the one that can cause you to run out of focus very quickly at medium levels. This is why it is recommended that if you have to choose between rate and speed, keep rate higher.
Quality of Mat (the q number):
Here you will determine what q of mat you want to pull. If you are doing this for xp, keep this as high as possible, while keeping it no more than 10 above your level. (See explanation below.)
Terrain Specialization:
This is just what it says it is. This means you are taking extra care because you know this terrain. The terrain specialization will help stabilize your source. You will be able to get more mats and not have to care quite as much. It is not a cure all. The differences are not huge, but they are there. This stanza is considered an essential for all parts of harvesting. There is a terrain specialization for each land: Forest, Lake, Desert, Jungle, and Prime Root. So make sure you are using the correct one. The Prime Root terrain specialization is not available to you until you reach level 150 in one of the other lands.
Material Specialization:
Like terrain specialization, but in this case you are taking extra care because you know this material. The effects are very similar, but somewhat smaller than those of terrain specialization. This stanza is often skipped because you need to change it every time you dig a different material. There is a material specialization for each material, so you will have to spend a lot of skill points before you have one for every material you need. Thus it's not recommended getting this stanza until you're quite high level.
XP (experience)
What determines XP and why does it change sometimes? How do you maximize your harvesting XP?
The simple version is this (from most important to less important): Q of mat (the q #) --> Higher Quality (Better) Mats --> Number of Mats
Q of the Mat
The first and foremost important thing for XP in harvesting is the quality of your mat. By this I mean, the quality number, as in q10, q140, etc. Keep this as high as possible at all times. As soon as you are able to train and get a higher q, do it. You will be able to obtain the Harmful Extraction upgrades at 15 levels below the quality number. So you can get Harmful Extraction q50 at level 35. You can obtain the Gentle Extraction upgrades at 10 levels below the quality number, i.e. Gentle Extraction q50 at level 40. The general rule, though, is: Only harvest at 10 levels above your current level. Trying to harvest at anything higher will result in degrades, less xp, a messy looking bag and lots of frustration. So even though you can get Harmful Extraction 50 at lvl 35, you still only want to harvest q40 mats until you reach level 40 and then switch to q50.
Higher Quality Mats
The second most important is getting Higher Quality or Better mats. The order of these is:
Basic --> Fine --> Choice --> Excellent -->Supreme
You will see your rate of xp go up as you start harvesting better mats.
Most of us have noticed that Choice seems to be just as common as Basic or Fine mats, so you might as well focus on harvesting Choice mats as soon as you can get them. The exception to this is when you are digging in a different land and you cannot use the mats from that land to craft with. Remember that for crafting, if you want to use Choice or above to craft an item with, the mats must match the item in regards to what land they are from. Example: You are a Tryker and you have been focusing on your Lake Foraging. On top of this, you craft only Lake items (because that is what you started with), so you have to have Lake Choice mats if you want to use Choice to craft with. You want to start foraging in other regions for more skill points. So you come over to the Forest (Matis area) to gain some XP. You will most likely want to harvest Basic or Fine here so that you can actually use the mats to level your crafting. If you plan on just selling the items, then Choice will work. Prime Root mats are the exception, as PR mats of any quality can be used to craft any race's items.
Number of Mats
Next on the important list is the number of mats that you are able to pull from the source. You will start out only being able to obtain 1 item from each source, but have no fear; this will go up as your levels go up.
Careplanning
In regards to XP, you need to remember that if the heart runs out or if the explosion risk bars runs out, you will lose xp for that extraction. This can actually cause you to lose around 100- 200 points per pull. (Those careplans really do pay for themselves.) For more advanced harvesting (when you're pulling from multiple sources), sometimes it will pay off to let the heart run out shortly before the time does, so that you can get to the next source before it disappears. This can increase your XP per min. But this is for expert foragers to try out themselves.
Other Harvesting XP
Lastly, remember that you will also get xp for prospecting your own sources, instead of using the ones that pop around town. Plus you get xp for careplanning for someone you are teamed with. XP is determined by the highest level person. You will also get xp when someone harvests a spot that you have prospected. Once again, this is dependent on the level of the person who extracts from it.
Prospection
Now that you've gotten a few levels from digging around town, you'll want to start prospecting your own sources. Prospecting for your own sources is an essential skill for your overall harvesting experience and capability. In fact, you will not be able to get over q50 mats without it.
To start prospecting (or finding) your own sources, you will need to purchase the Basic Prospection stanza from your local Harvest Trainer. You can train this skill as soon as you have enough points.
When you first learn this skill, you have the ability to prospect or find Basic materials that are directly in front of you. You almost have to be standing on top of the source to be able to find it. The good news is that many upgrades come quickly.
To use your Basic Prospecting skill, just stand in the place that you think there might be a source and click the skill. Your character will go thru the motions and then you will either find a source popped up on the ground or you will get a message as to why not in your system info screen. Your sys info screen will also tell you how many sources you have found, if you find them.
Once you start leveling, you'll want to increase your prospection ability as soon as possible, while keeping your extraction plans where they need to be in order to maximize your xp. Here are the explanations of the prospecting stanzas that you can incorporate into your prospecting action and their importance.
Range:
Range is how far out you can find a source. You start off only being able to find what is directly under you, so upgrading this is essential at first. Though, the higher level range stanzas will only be important when you are searching for something. Most of the high level harvesters still only use Range 2 for most of their digging.
Angle:
Angle determines how far around your body that you can locate a source. If you have 90 degree angle on your prospection, you will be able to find a source that is within a 90 degree angle whose point is at your body. Basically spread your arms so that they are 90 degrees apart and that is the area where you can find a source. This goes up to 360 degrees at level 250. It is recommended that you keep this as high as possible. Also, angle is normally recommended before range.
Better Quality Mats:
This is the ability to find mats that are of better quality. You start off with only Basic. Very quickly you can increase this to Fine, Choice, etc. These stanzas will come in two types. First is the "Find Up To" and second is the "Find Only". This means you can look for "Up to Choice" sources or you can look for "Choice Only" sources. In the beginning you will most likely use the "Find Up To" versions, as you just need to get a feel for where things are, etc. Not too long into your harvesting career, though, you will most likely switch to a "Find Only" stanza, because you will know where your sources are and what you want. This is especially important since Choice gives more xp than Fine or Basic and Choice really is just as common as the Fine and Basic. You will always want this in some fashion in your action.
Terrain Specialization:
This is the same as for the extraction terrain specialization. This gives more time for your source, keeps it healthier and is a must for whichever land you are trying to forage in.
Multiple Spots:
This is the most misunderstood stanza for prospection. Many do not learn this because they feel that they do not have enough time for one, why would they want to pop more! It is actually just the opposite. Finding multiple spots has several uses. First, it allows you to see what all is around you. A lot of times there are multiple types of mats in one area. Secondly, it gives you more sources to harvest. The most important, though, is that using this stanza in your prospection actually increases the amount of time your sources will stay available. The general rule of thumb is that you will be able to get around half of the sources that you prospect for. So if you prospect for 2, you'll be able to get 1 of them. When you prospect for 4, you'll be able to get 2 of them. At 6, it starts changing a little, but we'll cover that in a more advanced section. This stanza is rated as very important to your action.
Knowledge:
Prospection with Knowledge is an awesome tool, but not essential at first. This stanza allows you to know what is in the source. When you first start prospecting, you will only see that it is a Raw Material Source. With Knowledge, you will know what type of mat it is. At Knowledge 1, it tells you the general type, such as bark, fiber, etc. At Knowledge 2, it tells you the specific type, such as Shu Fiber or Beckers Bark. It eventually goes up to tell you exactly what it is with details, such as Choice Prime Root Shu Fiber. This stanza, though, will cost a lot of focus in your action, so use it wisely. Know when you don't care what you're digging, and when you need something specific. Also, once you know your locations for particular mats, it becomes less important, but if you are searching for something specific, this is essential.
Accelerated Prospection:
This is probably the least needed of all of the prospection stanzas, but it sure is handy. This does exactly what it says; it decreases the amount of time it takes to prospect. Be careful as this can use a lot of focus as well.
Extraction Time Bonus:
The stanza adds time to the amount of time you have to extract from a source. This is very important at first because it can mean the difference between 1 mat and 2. Up to around level 100, you will want to keep this maxed. After level 100, you will want to play with this to get the most xp for your min, so ask around for suggestions. (At level 150, I am using only Time 3, yet I could use Time 5. This allows me to get 3 sources from one prospection and more xp per min.)
Material Specialization:
This allows you to look specifically for one particular item. It can be a general type of mat, such as bark, shell, etc or can be specific such as Mitexi Bark or Big Shell. This is a nice feature once you are at higher levels, but can use a lot of focus at lower levels. Also, at the lower levels, the sources are not very mixed in. For the most part, the different types of mats are separated out enough that if you know where the mat is, you should be able to pop just that. At higher level areas, this changes. You will find things grouped together in such a manner, where this is almost essential if you are looking for something specific.
Careplans
Careplans help you heal the source while you are extracting from it. A careplan is done in the middle of extracting. Basically as your bars start to decrease, you will click your careplan button to heal it. (Somewhere around half way down.) When it has gone up enough for your needs, you will then click back to your extraction action. There are three types of careplans. You will want to keep Resource Preservation and Ground Stability maxed out for when you are soloing. You can combine these careplans into one Care Action. You can also add Terrain Specialization to your care actions. If you are solo harvesting, you'll want to have separate actions for each of these with the corresponding terrain specialization and one that has both in it with terrain specialization. If you are careplanning for someone else, ask them which level is best and use a combined one at the level they recommend.
Resource Preservation:
This type heals the Heart of your source as you extract from it.
Ground Stability:
This type heals the Explosion Risk bar of your source.
Reduce Explosion:
This is almost, due to the needed timing of using it, impossible to use. After speaking to a GM about it and asking what I was doing wrong on it, he said it has to be used at an exact time before it might explode. Read as: Don't waste your points on it right now.
Deposit Tracking
As was explained to me by a guide, this will only get you in the general area, within about 20-30 meters. You will need the Deposit Tracking Stanza and a Material Specialization (the mat you are looking for). Put together your stanza for what you are looking for, click and follow instructions on the bottom of your screen.
Three problems with this are 1) The fact that when looking for higher grade, weather restricted mats, it won't tell you if any is left or not, just if it would be up or not. 2) Still seems a little buggy in some areas, because it will show that you are standing on it, but nothing is there. 3) If you get in the area, you still have to find it.
Notes
Just a few other notes regarding foraging: Sources do not move. There are big fields of them and sometimes you will pop a spot that looks like it is somewhere else, when it reality it is the same field just a few meters away.
Sources can be season and weather dependent. Though, this is normally only true with the excellent and supreme spots and spots in the Prime Roots.
On a final note, it's normally recommended that around every 20 or so levels, you play around with your stanzas to see what is going to work best. If you have questions, by all means ask in region or universe chat. Ryzom has the best community out there and the people are willing to help.
Other links
See too, on this wiki :
- Silan Guide/Harvest objectives and tips on Silan's mission.
- Some occupations concerns forage.
- User_Manual#Forage_Window, User_Manual#Foraging, and, two macros User_Manual#Extract
Source
This entire guide copied from: Pegasus Foundation.
The french version explain what are the modes (0, 1, ...5) : http://fr.wiki.ryzom.com/wiki/Forage#Mode_des_sources
