Chapter 3.6 Harvesting Basics

Harvesting Using Tools
Tools will lose durability over time, resulting in weaker item stats on gathered resources, but won't break if used on resources that match its strength or is weaker. Tools will break and lose durability quicker on resources that are stronger than it, and will always result in bad stats on the gathered resources. Character traits and skills can lessen or negate these.

Harvesting Using Hands
You can also use your bare hands, and use tools or context unlocks to strengthen your resource pulls. If you lack the strength to gather a resource, you will only pull off scraps, or fail and possibly hurt yourself.

Visual History of Tool or Hand Choice
Barehand harvesting will result in more primitive and rough crafts. Tools will gather cleaner cut items that will craft with refined aesthetics. This allows more primal aesthetics to some characters, and more polished aesthetics in others.

Item Aesthetics for Crafting
Items made from raw resources will reflect the resource, creature, or monster they come from, such as tools, furniture, armor, and weapons. Crafting with more refined resources like iron, may hide these features a bit. But retaining some visual history of the resource's origin will always be a visual goal. Some specially tools will result in other finds, like a butcher hunting knife will allow the player to take off large chunks of meat for larger cooking recipes.

Harvesting Creature Resources
When harvesting from a creature (animals and monsters), NPC or player character, you will see the items you can harvest. You can filter these quickly using hotkeys or clicking the filter tabs, or searching. Equipping different tools can result in different items to loot. Use "cut open" to see stomach loot. Looting one type of item, will keep you from being able to collect an overlapping item. For example, you can't collect a skull, then fangs, since they overlap. But you could collect ribs then hind quarters.

If not interested in specific resources, players can click and hold to automatically collect random resources, or can preset this to specific types onto specific tools. Place icons like stars and other symbols for quick reads on which tools you want to use.

Putting a Creature Harvest Away
Your character will hold the item upon completion of a carve. If there is space in your inventory and if it will fit, it will automatically go into your inventory. If not, you will hold it, and your inventory will open to ask if you want to trade it for something else. You can interact and hold, to remain holding an item, even if there is space. This may be useful if you intend to place the items on a wagon, or to give to drop for someone else immediately.

Immediate Storage Putaway
If you are next to a storage item within its interactivity radius, like a crate, barrel, or basket, you can choose to place it in there from a hold. It will immediately place there, it will glow from the character's hand's magic circle. The storage you chose will glow for a moment to show its placement. Players will see these interactions.

Large Resource Collections
Large resources can be collected, but can fall and cause damage if the base is destroyed. Players can interact with the section of the resource within their immediate radius. They will need to move around if the resource is large enough to need to. Some rare resources will only grow on top of large ones, and only keep max stats if gathered in specific ways. Players may need to craft buildings, or vehicles, some with more complex recipes to take it down.

Large Creature and Monster Collections
Creatures and monsters will be divided into sections upon death. Players can interact with the section(s) of the resource within their immediate radius. They will need to move around to gather specific resources, if the resource is large enough to need to. (Looting mechanics are discussed in a future chapter.)