Foraging Skill

Foraging

Class	Skills
Type	Skill
Skill Group	Survival
Max Level	10
Total XP	32,775
Skill Books	Foraging Skill Books
Best Occupation	Fishing Guide (+1) Park Ranger (+1)

The Foraging Skill governs searching the land for food and resources. It raises the quality of items found in Search Mode, opens more search categories and widens the search radius. It belongs to the Survival group.

Foraging feeds a survivor far from the towns. Berries, mushrooms, wild plants, herbs, insects, fish bait, firewood, stones and even ammunition can all turn up. A good forager finds more and rarer items from further away. The skill also lowers the chance that a found berry or mushroom is poisonous. The Fishing Guide and Park Ranger each start with a level in it. The Herbalist, Hiker, Former Scout and Bushcrafter traits each add one level.

How to Level Foraging

Foraging experience comes from finding items. Each time an item's icon appears in Search Mode, some experience is granted.

Search Mode starts from the Investigate Area overlay. A spyglass icon opens it, and the overlay shows the terrain type and the sun's position. While Search Mode is on, the screen blurs outside a target radius around the character.

Walking near an item reveals an eye icon over the character. Staying close for a moment makes the item appear, and that gives the experience. Double-clicking the icon picks the item up.

Items appear on matching features. Trash shows on trash piles, and stones show on cracked parts of the road. Forests are rich ground for wild food and branches.

The Exposure Survival show on Life and Living TV gives Foraging experience. The tape Exposure Survival Episode 7: Foraging gives a good boost too. Watching only pays off in the first three levels, unless experience spills over from a level-up.

The Fast Learner trait raises the experience rate to 130 percent. The Slow Learner trait lowers it to 70 percent.

The best training is simply foraging often. Every find counts, so a long walk through rich ground pays well. Rural areas hold far more variety than towns. Forest edges give berries and herbs, while fields and old farms give other wild food.

Items spawn and vanish over time, whatever the skill level or the hour. Returning to a good patch of ground after a while can turn up fresh finds.

The season changes what turns up. Spring and summer bring berries and greens. Snow on the ground makes wild and medicinal plants scarce. Winter foraging therefore yields far less, so stockpile food before the cold sets in.

The XP each Foraging level asks for, with the running total from level 0.

Level	XP Needed	Total XP
1	75	75
2	150	225
3	300	525
4	750	1,275
5	1,500	2,775
6	3,000	5,775
7	4,500	10,275
8	6,000	16,275
9	7,500	23,775
10	9,000	32,775

Foraging Level Effects

Each level widens the search radius a little. A higher level lets the character spot items from further away. More item categories also open for the Search Focus.

Rarer items become possible at higher levels. Each level also lowers the chance that berries and mushrooms are poisonous.

Other factors shape the radius too. Occupations, traits, movement, weather, darkness, moodles and body temperature all play a part. Mushrooms, fish bait and wild plants show up more during and after rain and at night. Insects are more common at night. Deep darkness stops new items from being spotted.

The search radius has firm limits. It never drops below a few tiles and tops out at ten tiles from skill alone. Bonuses from traits and occupations can stretch it further. A high-level forager in good light covers a wide circle with every step.

Poison risk matters most at low levels. Berries and mushrooms found by a beginner are often poisonous. The Bushcrafter and Herbalist traits and the Wilderness Survival magazine let a character recognise poisonous finds. They also allow poultices from medicinal plants. Eating unknown wild food without that knowledge is a common and deadly mistake.

Foraging Skill Books

The Foraging Skill Books come in five volumes. Each volume speeds up experience for two levels. Foraging I: "A Feast in the Forest" covers the first two levels. Foraging V: "US Park Service Complete Nature Census - Kentucky" covers the last two. Reading each volume just before its levels gives the most benefit.

The five volumes, the levels each one speeds up, the XP bonus while those levels are trained, and how long each takes to read. Reading times are game time at the default two minutes a page. Sitting down and wearing Reading Glasses each cut the time by a tenth, the Fast Reader trait cuts it by about a third, and Slow Reader adds a third.

Volume	Levels	XP Bonus	Pages	Read Time	Spawn ID
Foraging I: "A Feast in the Forest"	1 to 2	x3	220	7 h 20 min	`/additem Base.BookForaging1`
Foraging II: "Dean's Guide to Sticks & Stones"	3 to 4	x5	260	8 h 40 min	`/additem Base.BookForaging2`
Foraging III: "Finding The Treasure in the Trash"	5 to 6	x8	300	10 h	`/additem Base.BookForaging3`
Foraging IV: "Survival Foraging: How Nature Can Save Your Life"	7 to 8	x12	340	11 h 20 min	`/additem Base.BookForaging4`
Foraging V: "US Park Service Complete Nature Census - Kentucky"	9 to 10	x16	380	12 h 40 min	`/additem Base.BookForaging5`

Set of Foraging Books bundles all five volumes in one item and unpacks into them.

Item	Image	Spawn ID
Set of Foraging Books		`/additem Base.BookForagingSet`

Foraging Starting Levels

The Fishing Guide and Park Ranger each begin with one level of Foraging. The Herbalist, Hiker, Former Scout and Bushcrafter traits each add one level.

Several of these stack, so a nature-themed character can start with a wide search radius. Some occupations also spot certain item types from further away, even without extra levels.

These spotting bonuses are specific. A Fitness Instructor sees junk food from further away. A DIY Expert spots trash and junk from a greater distance. The bonus widens the spotting range for those items, while the number of items stays the same.

These occupations and traits start a character with levels in Foraging.

Name	Type	Levels	Points
Bushcrafter	Trait	+1	-8
Fishing Guide	Occupation	+1	-2
Former Scout	Trait	+1	-6
Herbalist	Trait	+1	-4
Hiker	Trait	+1	-5
Park Ranger	Occupation	+1	-4

Notes

Search in the rain or at night for more mushrooms and wild plants.
Higher levels lower the poison risk of berries and mushrooms.
Stand still near the eye icon to reveal the item.
Cracked roads hide stones, and trash piles hide junk.
The Bushcrafter and Herbalist traits help spot poisonous berries and mushrooms.

All Character Categories

All Skills

Skill	Type	Total XP	Spawn ID
Axe	Skill	32,775	`/additem Base.Axe_Old`
Long Blunt	Skill	32,775	-
Short Blunt	Skill	32,775	-
Long Blade	Skill	32,775	-
Short Blade	Skill	32,775	-
Spear	Skill	32,775	-
Maintenance	Skill	32,775	-

Skill	Image	Type	Total XP
Aiming		Skill	32,775
Reloading		Skill	32,775

Skill	Type	Total XP
Carpentry	Skill	32,775
Carving	Skill	32,775
Cooking	Skill	32,775
Electrical	Skill	32,775
Glassmaking	Skill	32,775
Knapping	Skill	32,775
Masonry	Skill	32,775
Blacksmithing	Skill	32,775
Mechanics	Skill	32,775
Pottery	Skill	32,775
Tailoring	Skill	32,775
Welding	Skill	32,775