How to Play — Gathering Resources

This guide covers gathering — harvesting the raw materials that feed crafting. For each resource type it lists the tool, the action, the yield, where to do it, and the skill gate. The exact skill numbers and the colored/tiered resource tables live on the resources reference — link there rather than restating numbers, which vary by tier and shard config.

Definitions used on this page:

Harvest action — using a gathering tool on a valid target tile (a mountain wall, a tree, water) to pull resources.
Yield — what you get per successful harvest (raw ore, logs, fish, etc.).
Refining — converting a raw yield into a usable crafting material (ore → ingots, logs → boards, raw fiber → cloth).
Skill gate — the minimum skill that lets you harvest a resource at all; higher tiers need more skill.

Mining (ore → ingots)

Mining harvests metal ore from the ground and turns it into the ingots smiths need.

Tool: a pickaxe or shovel (from a blacksmith/tinker or the tools catalog).
Action: double-click the tool and target a mountainside, cave wall, or rock (or, with a shovel, certain ground tiles). Your character digs and, on success, ore drops into your pack.
Refine: carry the ore to a forge and use it there to smelt it into ingots (the smelt step is part of the smithing/craft system — see [Resmelt.cs] in source and the Blacksmithy page). Ingots are the actual crafting material.
Where: mountains, caves, and dungeons. Deeper/dungeon spots and certain tiles yield the higher tiers.
Skill gate: plain iron ore needs minimal skill; colored ore tiers (the more valuable metals) each require progressively higher Mining and let smiths craft stronger, colored gear. The full ore tier list and skill numbers are on the resources reference.

Mining is also the entry to stone for Masonry and sand for Glassblowing where those are enabled.

Lumberjacking (logs → boards)

Lumberjacking harvests wood for carpenters and fletchers.

Tool: a hatchet or axe (any axe-type weapon works; from a smith or the tools catalog).
Action: double-click the tool and target a tree. On success you get logs.
Refine: use the tool (or a saw) to turn logs into boards, the material Carpentry and Bowcraft/Fletching consume.
Where: forests and wooded areas everywhere. Different regions hold the higher wood tiers.
Skill gate: ordinary wood needs little skill; colored/special wood tiers each need more Lumberjacking and produce better crafted items. See the resources reference for the wood tier list and numbers.

Note: an axe in hand also serves as a weapon, so a lumberjack can fight off wildlife while harvesting (see Combat Basics).

Fishing (pole → fish and more)

Fishing harvests from water.

Tool: a fishing pole (from provisioners or the tools catalog).
Action: double-click the pole and target a water tile (or fish from a boat). On success you reel in fish, which Cooking turns into food.
Beyond fish: higher fishing skill and the right spots can land big fish, pull up message-in-a-bottle SOS quests (leading to sunken treasure), and treasure/booty from deep water. These are the fishing endgame.
Where: any water — rivers, lakes, coastlines, and the open sea from a boat (deep-sea content needs a boat; see Movement & travel).
Skill gate: basic fishing needs almost no skill; big fish, SOS recovery and deep-sea hauls gate behind higher Fishing. See the resources reference for specifics.

Skinning corpses (hides → leather)

Slain animals and monsters can be carved for crafting materials — the leather supply for Tailoring.

Tool: any bladed weapon or a skinning knife/dagger.
Action: double-click the blade and target a fresh corpse. Depending on the creature you get hides, meat, wool/fur, feathers, or scales (per the carve yields in BaseCreature.cs). Summoned, bonded-pet, or already-carved corpses give nothing.
Refine: tan hides into leather (use the hides, or visit a tanner/leather-working station). Leather is the material tailors use for armor; raw meat is cooking fodder.
Where: anywhere you hunt — the bestiary pages note which creatures drop hides, wool, fur, scales, or feathers.
Skill gate: carving a corpse needs no skill, but the colored/exotic leather tiers come from specific (often dangerous) creatures and require higher Tailoring to work. See the resources reference.

The cloth chain (fiber → cloth)

Cloth for tailoring comes from a multi-step cloth chain rather than a single harvest:

Gather raw fiber:
- Cotton — picked from cotton plants on farms.
- Flax — harvested from flax plants.
- Wool — shear a sheep (use scissors/shears on a live sheep) or carve wool/fur from certain creatures.
Spin into thread/yarn: use a spinning wheel on the raw cotton/flax (→ thread) or wool (→ yarn).
Weave into cloth: use a loom on the thread/yarn to produce a bolt of cloth.
Cut into cloth: use scissors on the bolt to get usable cloth, the tailoring material.

Spinning wheels and looms are found in tailor shops and player houses. The full chain and any skill notes are on the resources reference.

Cartography and treasure gathering (brief)

A few other “gathering” loops feed off skills rather than tiles:

Cartography (/crafting/cartography/) — craft and decode treasure maps. A decoded map leads to a buried treasure chest you dig up (often needing Mining to dig and combat to clear the guardians). The chest yields gold, gems, reagents and rare crafting materials.
Fishing SOS / sunken treasure (above) — the seafaring equivalent.
Looting and gem/reagent gathering — monster corpses and dungeon spawns drop gems, reagents and special materials used in crafting; gather them as you hunt.

Putting it together

The gathering-to-crafting pipeline, end to end:

Harvest the raw yield (ore, logs, fish, hides, fiber).
Refine it into a crafting material (ingots, boards, leather, cloth).
Craft finished goods from that material — see Crafting.

Higher gathering skill unlocks the colored/tiered resources that, in turn, let crafters make better and colored items. Train the gathering skill on common resources first, then chase the higher tiers as your skill climbs (see Skill gain).