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Attributes

From A Wiki in the Desert

Attributes

There are seven character attributes:

  • Strength (abbreviated Str)
  • Dexterity (abbreviated Dex)
  • Endurance (abbreviated End)
  • Speed (abbreviated Spd)
  • Constitution (abbreviated Con)
  • Focus (abbreviated Foc)
  • Perception (abbreviated Per)

Each attribute starts at zero.

Increasing attributes

Each attribute can be changed permanently and temporarily.

Permanent

Permanent increases to all attributes except Perception are possible by spending Talent Points on Specializations

You gain two points to all attributes except Perception after passing Test of the Megalopolis

For Perception specifically:

  • You gain one point after gaining 7 masterpiece meals. Further points are granted with a gastronomy of 49, 343 and 2401.
  • You gain one point after gaining 7 Beer Tasting. Further points are granted with Beer Tasting of 49, 343 and 2401.
  • You gain one point after gaining 49 Fumeology. Further points are granted with a Fumeology of 243 and 2401.
  • You gain one point for the first of each completed Wine Notebook (additional notebooks of the same type do not add to perception)

Temporary

Temporary changes to attributes are possible by:

  • Grilled Foods - these give you small (+1 or +2) boost for 10 min. They cancel raw herb or cooked food effects. You grill food on a Firepit.
  • Cooked food - lasts for a variable length of time (several hours for the best recipes) and can give a bonus that can get quite high depending upon cooking skill and ingredients used. They cancel raw herb or grilled food effects.
  • Cheese - lasts for variable length of time with variable effects depending on the potency of the cheese
  • Raw Herbs - eaten directly from the plant affect the same attributes as the herbs can do when cooked, and last 3 minutes. They do not cancel grilled or cooked foods, but stack less than additively.
  • Aqueducts - increase a single attribute by +3 for 24 hours, and stack with any other effects.
  • Incense - increases one attribute and decreases another by up to +/- 7 and lasting up to about 2 hours (both depending upon quality of incense). They stack with all other effects.
  • Stone phoenixes - gives a small bonus to a single attribute that lasts 1 hour, if you polish their wings between 6am and 7am game time.
  • Test of the Banquet - gives a +7 bonus to all attributes for its 21 participants, lasting 8 hours.


By attribute, specific changes are possible by:

Strength

Dexterity

Endurance

Speed

Constitution

Focus

Perception

Uses

Stats are useful for the following:

Strength

  • Controls how much weight you may carry. If you have positive Strength, you can carry 500 * (1 + STR) weight. If you have negative or 0 Strength, you can carry 500 / (1 - STR) weight.
  • Governs the timer used when separating Coconut Meat in a kitchen.
  • Strength score is added to the amount a Deep Well is wound from one pull.
  • Strength score is added to the amount a Barrel Grinder is grinding from one pull.
  • Controls timer for stirring cement in Clinker Vat along with Endurance.
  • Increases the distance you push a Pyramid Block
  • Controls timer for small turns in a Master Schooner or Small Sailboat

Dexterity

  • Controls how much bulk you may carry. If you have positive Dexterity, you can hold 500 * (1 + DEX) bulk. If you have negative or 0 Dexterity, you can hold 500 / (1 - DEX) bulk.
  • Increases your off-road running speed by 3%(?) per Dexterity point (cap unknown). The bonus is NOT affected by how much you are carrying.
  • Increases your chance of getting a Rabbit Pelt when slaughtering a rabbit.
  • Increases your chance of getting Animal Bones when slaughtering various animals.

Endurance

Speed

  • Increases your on-road running speed. Tests seem to imply the increase is about 3% per point (Grilled Cabbage reduced a 22-second run to 21-second, and 3% would be in line with Dex).
  • Increases the chance of catching fish, especially some types of rare fish. A speed of 22 guarantees no lost fish due to a lack of speed.
  • Increases the chance of not losing bees when harvesting from Beehives. A speed of 22 guarantees no loss of bees.

Constitution

Focus

  • Governs the timer used when dowsing.
  • Governs the timer used when carving.
  • Governs the timer used when Prospecting.
  • Governs the timer used when tapping pyramid blocks.
  • Governs the timer used when inspecting installed blades in a Carpentry Shop.
  • Helps removing pearls from your necklace (See Test of the Oyster Catcher).
  • Governs the timer used when assembling a Clay Lamp.
  • Higher Focus decreases chance that a slateblade from woodplanes break
  • Governs the timer used when inspecting Spore Paper for Spores

Perception

  • Used when Dowsing for metal veins (higher Perception allows detection of more metal types).
  • Required for finding marble deposits - see Rocks of the Ages
  • Allows gaining an extra wood from trees.

Timers

Various activities require a period of recovery before they can be performed again. For example, you must rest between uses of a loom. The length of time you must wait is controlled by a timer based on one of the seven statistics.

Buffer

However, In T4 there was introduced an "overdraft" buffer that allows you to borrow limited amounts of action time.

Ordinarily, the buffer is empty. When you first perform an action that uses a stat, the buffer is filled with the cost of that action, and is sized to also give 38 unused seconds. You can continue to perform actions while the buffer has any unused time remaining in it. The buffer empties over time, at a rate determined by your stats.

When the buffer is completely full, the stat name goes bright red in your stats window. If you try to perform the action, you will get a popup telling you how long you will have to wait before you will be allowed to use it (based on your current stats).

The stat name changes to a darker red when the buffer once more has some credit in it, and you are able to perform that sort of action again. When the buffer has at least 18 seconds left, the stat name goes back to black. However, the buffer may take substantially longer to empty completely.

Recovery

The recovery rate is (1 + stat/7) seconds of action buffer per second. So Endurance 7 recovers twice as fast as Endurance 0.

Table of timers

Activity Stat Time
Capturing a bullfrog (Safari) Endurance 300s
Carving (barrel tap) Focus 120s
Carving (crudely carved handle) Focus 30s
Carving (large crude handle) Focus 60s
Carving (rawhide strips) Focus 20s
Carving (sharpened stick) Focus 30s
Carving (tinder) Focus 30s
Carving (wooden peg) Focus 20s
Carving (wooden pestle) Focus 10s
Collecting dirt (shovel) Endurance 20s
Collecting limestone (Heavy Mallet & Lead Chisel) Endurance 30s
Digging for stones (hole & shovel) Endurance (+28 to solo with a 9k shovel, ) 40s
Dowsing Focus 120s
Inspect a blade (Carpentry Shop) Focus 120s
Make Gunpowder Constitution 12s
Make Ink Constitution 4s
Quarrying marble Endurance 30s
Raking flax for straw and tow Endurance 40s
Raking flax for lint Endurance 60s
Search for falcon roosts (Safari) Endurance 120s
Separating a coconut Strength 6s
Smoking a Hookah Pipe Constitution 45s
Stirring cement Strength & Endurance (+21 on both to solo) 45s
Weaving Endurance 80s (male), 60s (female), 50s (hand loom?)
Winding barrel grinder Endurance (+36 to solo) 120s
Winding deep well Endurance 180s

Timers that still need to be measured: tapping bore rods (lead hammer) and other pyramid block operations

Changes in time for modified stats

Stat Bonus 40s 45s 60s 80s 90s 120s 180s 10m 30m
7 20s 23s 30s 40s 45s 60s 90s 5.0m 15.0m
14 13s 15s 20s 27s 30s 40s 60s 3m20 10.0m
21 10s 11s 15s 20s 23s 30s 45s 2m30 7.5m
28 8s 9s 12s 16s 18s 24s 36s 2.0m 6.0m
35 7s 8s 10s 13s 15s 20s 30s 1m40 5.0m
42 6s 7s 9s 12s 13s 17s 26s 1m26 4.3m
49 5s 6s 8s 10s 12s 15s 23s 1m20 3.8m

Additional Timers

Some activities have their own timers, which are not tied into the stat timers:

  • Attempting to repair a building with the Structure Repair skill - 60 secs if you fail
  • Upgrading a guild hall with camp decoration - 1 week