Rune Factory Frontier
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Runeys[]

Running through the areas you will see something akin to fireflies that are pink, green, blue and yellow. They are known as Runeys which are magical accumulations of rune energy. The Runeys can influence your fields quite significantly as their presence in abundance can shorten the growing season, or absence lengthen it. There are four different types of Runeys Water (Blue), Rock (Pink), Tree (Yellow), and Grass (Green). The Runeys act like creatures in a food chain where the Water eat the Rock, the Rock eat the Trees, and the Trees eat the Grass. A population out of balance (more predators than food) can result in the population slowly dying off, which will happen if they are left unattended. The first week of each season, one Runey of each living type in that area and the food chain rules do not apply. Weather also affects the food chain as Water Runeys will grow more on Rainy and Snowy days.

Food Chain

Waterrune

water eats >rock

Rockrune

rock eats > tree

Treerune

tree eats >grass

Grassrune

Runey Management[]

On the 9th of Spring Candy can arrive in Trampoli after Kanno announces that he needs someone to bring him food. Candy will teach you about Runeys, how they grow, and what they can do for you. Additionally Candy will supply you with the Harvester. With the Harvester you are able to collect Runeys so you can manage their populations and keep them in check. Runeys do not migrate and will stay in the area they are in. Their population will increase or decrease depending on the proportions of the population in that area. You can find out how many of each type of Runey can be found in each area by either asking Candy, or looking at the domed machine on the second level of the clock tower. There are 4 different states an area can be in, each relating to the number and distribution of Runeys.

Maplrune

Also note that when you look at the Runey map, each area will have a Primary Runey attribute.(the picture of the Grass, Tree, Rock or Water to the left of the box that shows your Runey population) This tells you which Runey grows best in that area. EXAMPLE: Water Runeys grow best in the Lake District.

Area States[]

Death (Black): Lacking any Runeys. For each area that is dead, crop growth gets lengthened by 1 day. If enough areas are dead, the crops will begin to wither each day no matter if they are in dungeon, or your homestead.

Danger (Red): Having fewer than 5 Runeys.

Normal (Green): Having more than 5 of one Runey type. A total of 5 will cause it to remain in Danger state. In this state it will not affect your crops positively or negatively.

Prosperity (Gold): Having at least 35 of each type of Runey. When at least one area is in prosperity, all crops (on the Homestead field and even in dungeons) grow fast. When 1 area is in prosperity, the number of days required for a crop to reach the next stage of its growth are reduced by 1. For every 2 additional areas that are in prosperity, yet another additional day of growth will occur. Note that the minimum time in each stage is 1 day: Seed, Sprout, Growing, Flowering, Harvest. So, regardless of prosperity, no crop can grow in less than 4 days. With 1 day of additional growth, Spinach (normally an 8-day crop, with a 2.2.2.2 growth pattern) can now be grown in 4 days. See additional details here.

Prosperity and Death[]

As previously stated areas in prosperity or death influence the growth of the plants. All crops have 5 growth stages: Seed, Seedling, Growing, Flowering and finally fruiting. The number of days it takes for a crop to go from one stage to the next can vary between 1 and 30, with a minimum of 1. Some crops do not benefit from having areas in prosperity as a result of the minimum number of days that a crop can be in each stage, i.e. Turnips. Others like the Emery flower which takes 120 days benefit quite significantly from even having 2 areas in prosperity. When an area is in prosperity Water, Rock and Tree Runeys increase every day, while green Runeys will decrease at a rate of 2 or more every day. To keep the loss of green runeys to a minimum, make sure that there are always MORE of the other types of runeys, not fewer. As a result an area once in prosperity will slowly go out of prosperity once the green Runeys go below 35.

However, you do not want all areas in prosperity. If this happens, the effect is like you didn't have any areas in prosperity and all plants will go back to growing their normal rate. This is probably a glitch in the programming, but then again, it allows you to have a Grass Factory(See Below).

Careful, you can easily mess up runeys, and quickly fall into either no prosperity or death...

Maintaining Prosperity[]

The Homestead never loses Runeys on its own, making it easy to hold on to at least 1 prosperous area with no maintenance.

Elsewhere, during prosperity, Rock, Water, and Tree runey counts will always increase, and only grass decreases. Unattended, the grass level will eventually fall below 35. Therefore, the player must provide supplemental grass runeys to maintain prosperity.

The amount of grass runeys required can be 5 or more per day when 'barely' above the prosperity requirement of 35/35/35/35. Fortunately, it is less when 60/60/60/60; only 1-2 runeys is lost per day which is much more maintainable in the long run. Because it is punishing to maintain an area that is "barely" prosperous, consider maintaining fewer areas at a full 60/60/60/60 before expanding. For most crops, only 1-5 prosperity zones is needed for optimal crop growth, and having all 9 zones in prosperity primarily only helps with growing flowers.

To maintain prosperity, the player should rely on getting additional grass runeys from these sources:

  • Have a Grass Factory (see below)
  • Unharvested 3x3 zones on the homestead plot (see below)
  • On the 20th of the month, +20 runeys of two random types will appear in two random areas. By reloading the night before, the result can be changed (scummed) until grass runeys appear.
  • For the first 7 days of every season, the ordinary runey processing is paused and for each day, 1 random runey is added to each zone each day. This creates a reprieve from runey management routine, helps with recovery from bad runey management, and provides an average of about 16 grass runeys per season.

When non-grass runeys are needed, it is recommended to take 6-7 of each from a full 60/60/60/60 and they will regenerate.

Rain halves the speed of the decay of prosperity and produces more water runeys. However, it is slower to harvest runeys, so try to avoid too much runey management on these days.

Grass Factory[]

A grass factory is a term applied to an area which has the sole purpose of generating more Green Runeys. Every day these areas can generate 20 Grass Runeys. A typical Grass factory setup requires 60 Water and 10 Grass, which results in ~45 Water and ~30 Green Runeys the next day. A few rock runeys can be tossed in (often 5 rock runeys, or whatever can be spared), which reduces the loss of water runeys. A typical result is ~55 Water and ~30 Green Runeys the next day.

Any area (besides the Homestead) can be a Grass Factory, but the Beach Road is recommended.

With Fodder to Runey Prosperity[]

The homestead can be used to generate additional runeys. If you struggle to manage them, leave some crops or feed unharvested; any 3x3 grid that is left unharvested generates an additional random runey per day [ Note: crops in dungeons do not generate runeys, only at the homestead ]. An inexpensive method is to buy and plant extra fodder and cover the field with it.

It is important that each zone be an undisturbed 3x3 plot or it won't generate a runey, so the field needs to be cleaned of obstacles and arranged normally. This method can produce 45 Runeys per day, but at the expense of never being able harvest anything; so once runeys are no longer a problem, the player will typically want to return much of the field to normal use.

Use of Runeys[]

When talking with Candy she will inform you of the variety of uses there are for Runeys. There are 2 basic forms, Rune Stones and Day/Week events. If you cannot find Candy, you can also write her a note by the Map Machine in the Clock Tower and she will complete your request for you the next day. However, you can only write her one note at a time. This means that if your note is for a Rune Stone, that's all you can get, no Rune Wonders can be asked for in a note. However, this limit does not exist when you talk to Candy in person. You can ask for Rune Wonders and Rune Stones until you run out of the needed Runeys to produce anything.

Using the Map Machine in the Clock Tower you can request day/week events BEFORE a Rune Stone and you are able to do multiple requests but still only 1 stone.

Rune Stones[]

Rune Stones can be made with 10 Runeys of the corresponding type. i.e/ One Water Rune Stone costs 10 Water Runeys.

One type of Rune Stone can be made for each Runey type. The Rune Stone type typically doesn't make a difference when used, for example, the door at the end of the first Whale Island dungeon can be opened with any Rune Stone type.

Rune Wonders[]

Wonders can be performed for various amounts and types of Runeys, and have a range of effects. Some Wonders control the weather, while others can effect your Monsters.

Rune Wonder Runes Required Wonder Description
Create Rune Stone 10 of any type of Runey Creates a Rune Stone of the same element of the Runeys used.
Bamboo Day 3 Grass, 4 Rock More Bamboo Shoots will grow than normal in all crop areas for 1 day. (Can only be used in Spring)
Fish Day 6 Water Fish bite quicker and are easier to catch for 1 day.
Friendship Day 2 of each type All tamed monsters will have their affection increased.
Fruit Day 3 Tree All fruit trees will bear more fruit than usual.
Grass Day 6 Grass Grass will grow faster than normal the next day. If just cut, it will normally be ready to cut again the next day.
Mushroom Day 3 Grass, 4 Rock More Mushrooms will grow than normal in all crop areas for 1 day. (Can only be used in Autumn)
Rainy / Snowy Week 12 Water Likely to rain or snow for the entire week. Increased chances of major storms in Winter or Summer.
Sunny Week 1 Grass, 1 Rock, 1 Tree Very little chance of any precipitation for the next week.
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