Television
| Television | |
|---|---|
| Type | Mechanic |
The television sits in the farmhouse from the first morning, and flicking it on is the closest thing the game has to a daily briefing. One channel gives tomorrow's weather, another reads out the day's luck, a third hands over farming advice twice a week, and a fourth teaches a cooking recipe every Sunday. A fifth joins the list once Pam's special order is done and lists the fish worth chasing this season. None of it is required and all of it is cheap, which is why most farms develop the habit of two clicks before stepping outside. The set itself is furniture rather than equipment, so the choice between a battered Budget TV and a wide Plasma TV changes only how the living room looks.
Overview
A farm on the standard map starts with a Budget TV, and the other farm layouts start with a Floor TV instead. The Carpenter's Shop stocks more sets, and the larger Plasma TV appears there once the farmhouse has had its first upgrade. Two sets come from further afield: the Island Trader swaps a Tropical TV for thirty Taro Roots, and George's stall at the Desert Festival sells a Retro TV for two hundred Calico Eggs. Everything except those two eventually turns up in the Furniture Catalogue at no cost, so a farm that owns the catalogue can redecorate freely. Every set carries every channel, so none of them is a better television than the others.
The Weather Report is the channel that changes how a day is planned. It names tomorrow's weather, and rain is the headline, because a wet morning waters the whole farm for free. That single piece of information decides whether the watering can can be handed to the Blacksmith for an upgrade without losing a crop, whether tomorrow is a mining day or a watering day, and whether the Lightning Rods are worth checking. Weather also decides which fish are biting, so the forecast is half of any fishing plan. Using a Rain Totem rewrites the forecast on the spot, which is a neat way to confirm it took effect. Once the boat to Ginger Island is running, the broadcast adds the island's own forecast straight after the valley's, and the two are often different.
The Fortune Teller is the other daily channel. Welwick reads out the day's standing with the spirits in one of a handful of set phrases, from a day of showered good fortune down to spirits who are plainly displeased. The reading covers today rather than tomorrow, and the number it describes was fixed when the farmer woke up, so watching cannot change it. It can change what the day is spent on, since mining and fishing both pay more on a lucky day.
Livin' Off The Land runs on Mondays and Thursdays and talks about farming, fishing, foraging or town life. The Queen of Sauce teaches a cooking recipe on Sundays and repeats an older one on Wednesdays. Both of those shows reward being watched in their first two years, since both stop producing new material after that and start looping.
The Fishing Information Broadcasting Service is the one channel that has to be earned. Pam's special order, The Strong Stuff, leads to a letter from her the day after the Potato Juice scene, asking whether anyone has tried channel seven three six. From then on the channel lists what is catchable in the current season, together with the time of day, the weather and the water each fish wants, which saves a great deal of guesswork for anyone filling in the fish collection.
Notes
Green Rain knocks the whole set out for the day. Every channel shows green static instead of a programme, which means no forecast, no fortune and no recipe until the following morning. A television placed on Ginger Island carries on working normally, which is a genuine reason to put a cheap set in the Island Farmhouse.
One channel is a reward for something unsettling. A farmer who has taken their children to the Witch's Hut and had them turned into doves finds a channel marked only with question marks on the twenty-sixth of Fall. Switching it on brings an Ancient Doll onto the screen with an eerie message, after which it climbs out of the set, and from then on a cursed doll attacks on every visit to the hut.
The television is also one of the few pieces of furniture with a use, which makes it worth keeping in a convenient spot rather than against the far wall. The habit that pays best is checking the forecast last thing in the evening and the fortune first thing in the morning, since the forecast is about tomorrow and the fortune is about today.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
