Remixed Bundles
| Remixed Bundles | |
|---|---|
| Type | Mechanic |
Remixed bundles are an option taken once, at character creation, and they shuffle what the Community Center asks for without touching what it gives back. The same six rooms are there, the rewards are the same bridge, greenhouse, boulder, minecarts, letter and bus, but the shopping list behind each one changes. Some bundles are fixed and simply ask for slightly different items. Others are drawn at random from a pool, so a save might never see the Blacksmith's Bundle at all and instead be asked for batteries and iridium. A handful of bundles exist only in the remixed set, including one that wants nothing but five hundred Sap and another built around mushrooms, ferns and algae. For anyone who has restored the Center from memory more than once, it is the single setting that makes the job interesting again.
Overview
Each room holds a mix of permanent and random slots. A permanent bundle always turns up but its contents may have been altered, and a random one may not turn up at all. Several bundles also display more items than there are slots to fill, and in that case any combination that fills the slots is accepted, so nobody has to hand over everything shown.
The Crafts Room keeps its four seasonal foraging bundles, but the spring and winter ones pick four items from a longer list, which is how a Spring Onion ends up required in place of something more familiar. The fifth slot is the interesting one: it is either the usual Construction Bundle of wood, stone and hardwood, a Sticky Bundle that asks only for five hundred Sap, or a Forest Bundle built from Moss, Fibre, Acorns and Maple Seeds. The sixth is either Exotic Foraging or the Wild Medicine Bundle, which wants Purple Mushrooms, Fiddlehead Ferns, White Algae and Hops. All of it still ends with the bridge east of the Mines and access to the Quarry.
The Pantry works the same way. Its three crop bundles each pick four items from a wider list that includes the newer vegetables, so Carrots, Summer Squash and Broccoli can all appear where they never did before. The quality crops slot may instead become the Rare Crops Bundle, which asks only for one Ancient Fruit and one Sweet Gem Berry, which is far less work in total but needs an Ancient Seed or a Rare Seed from the Traveling Cart. The animal slot may become the Fish Farmer's Bundle, wanting Roe, Aged Roe and Squid Ink, or the Garden Bundle, wanting the five flowers. The artisan slot may become the Brewer's Bundle, which asks for Mead, Pale Ale, Wine, Juice and Green Tea, every one of them out of a Keg. The reward is still the Greenhouse.
The Fish Tank is the least disturbed room, since the river, lake, ocean, night fishing and Crab Pot bundles all stay more or less as they were. The last slot carries the variation, and it is either the Specialty Fish Bundle, the Quality Fish Bundle, which takes gold or iridium versions of four common fish, or the Master Fisher's Bundle, which asks for a Lava Eel, a Scorpion Carp, an Octopus and a Blobfish. Completing the room still clears the glittering boulder beside the Mines and gets a Copper Pan from Willy.
The Boiler Room draws three bundles at random from five. Blacksmith's, Geologist's and Adventurer's are the familiar ones, joined by the Treasure Hunter's Bundle, built from gems, and the Engineer's Bundle, built from industrial materials. The minecarts between the Bus Stop, the Mines, the Quarry and Town are the reward either way.
The Bulletin Board is where the remix bites hardest, because it draws five bundles from a pool of eleven. Chef's, Dye, Field Research, Fodder, Enchanter's and Children's are the standard entries. The additions are the Forager's Bundle, the Home Cook's Bundle, the Helper's Bundle, which pays out Stardrop Tea, the Spirit's Eve Bundle, which wants a Jack-O-Lantern, Corn and Bat Wings, and the Winter Star Bundle, which wants Holly, Plum Pudding, Stuffing and Powdermelon. Finishing the room still brings Mayor Lewis's letter about mysterious packages appearing in villagers' homes, all addressed from the farm.
The Vault is untouched. It still takes gold in four instalments, still totals the same sum, and still repairs the Bus Stop and opens the desert.
Notes
Difficulty swings both ways, and players who have run remixed saves generally find them a little easier overall. The Sticky Bundle is the clearest example of a swap that saves work, since five hundred Sap accumulates from ordinary tree chopping while the Construction Bundle wants nearly two hundred wood, a stack of stone and hardwood from an upgraded axe. The Rare Crops Bundle is similar, trading a long list of gold-quality produce for two single fruits.
The hard swaps are the ones tied to a place or a date. The Master Fisher's Bundle needs a Blobfish, which only comes up on the submarine at the Night Market, so that slot cannot be finished outside the three days of the market in Winter. The Specialty Fish Bundle has a similar problem with the Sandfish, which lives in the desert pond and therefore waits on the bus being repaired, unless the Traveling Cart happens to stock one.
Two other settings sit beside this one at character creation and are worth considering together. Mine rewards can be remixed as well, which changes what the chests on the way down hold, and players report fewer boots and a wider spread of weapons as a result. There is also a tickbox that guarantees the Center can be finished within the first year, which is the sensible companion to a remixed set, since it stops a random draw from asking for something the calendar cannot deliver in time.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
