Dry and Drier

It seems it's not all fun and games during Summertime on the Frontier!

As things have heated up they've also dried up, and we're in serious trouble as the locusts invade and our crops go dry and lifeless.

So now, there's no fun and games, we have to get together and do our best to save the homestead from becoming an infertile desert along with the newly named Storm Crow to give us a hand!

As usual, a popup starts the crisis...

This kicks off a 5 step mission thread, along with a wrapper for Monday (all details HERE) and a four step build, although this one is a simple small placeable for the homestead (the Water Storage Tank) and the right hand sideboard where the Swimming Hole takes on a vastly different look... I think water skiing is out... (All build details HERE)

Although don't worry, come the end the swimming hole will be back to it's former glory.

There will be a couple things that need "healing" although they're not random, one is clouds of locusts that have been attracted by the drought and need scaring away with Bug Spray... It'll take 6 hits on foot but only one hit as usual on a Grizzly.

..the other is a new free gift tree, the Baobab tree, which takes two drops of water.

We're also going to see some brand new boosts along with our mission on Monday when Doc goes experimenting again!

This time Doc's working on how to help our Fruit trees, which will lead to three new boosts, the Orange, Lemon and Peach Surges.

Those boosts will be used like the Allures, instantly readying all the trees of a certain type that are stored (fulfilling part of our desire for fruit readies inside storage!)

They'll also be in the market along with the new COIN crop and a number of other mission based goodies...

The Yucca Crop will take one Wet Rag each to grow, which is a wall post.

That will include the new dry earth to dry out our homesteads...

...AND most excitingly of all, an old crop from far away, now growable on our own steads. The Flytrap (previously only in Ghost Town) is a one hour crop and will be used in the new missions. But the most exciting part is the Flytrap Collection, when traded in gives an Accelerate Crops boost! This takes an hour off all growing crops so... new favourite crop to plant?

Oh, and talking collections, we get a new one!

So, lets try and get that water flowing again!

Firefighter Hamster Animated...

A few folks are going cuteness loopy over the reward from the recent timed missions so...

Let me present the Firefighter Hamster...

Slam Donk

I think it's fair to say the Homesteaders are needing to go to greater and greater lengths to find ways to spend their vast amounts of free time (brought on in no small part by the fact we do all the work).

Well, this time around it's the invention of... the Frontier Donkey Basketball League. Apparently Basketball in Frontier Times is played on the back of specially trained donkeys (probably to circumvent travelling rules) and it's up to us to train them...

As usual, we'll see a popup to start...

That will kick off a 4 mission, 2 wrapper thread (all details HERE) and a three step build, the Donkey Ball Court (all details HERE).

All this is leading up to a fairly standard Partnering Mission, as we get our Donkey athletes ready to play ball.

As usual there's a selection of different Donkey types to pick from, three coin and one premium.

They're each fed with 34 Packmule Praise which is crafted with 2 Healthy Hay (Wheat/Golden Pastures) and 3 Burro Blessing (Wall Post)

Once done they'll become one of four versions....

We have one new free gift crop (the one mentioned above) Golden Pastures...

...and they'll be in the market along with some other new mission items and rewards.

Finally, we'll see a Collection...

So, Tip-off time!

The Great Ted Robbery

Nothing ever goes smoothly on the Homestead, we know that for a fact... We've had to clear up most of the messes after all!

Well, it seems even a wedding isn't above the drama...

So here we go again, as we have to do what we do best and track down the real history behind one of our Homestead residents and whether he's been hiding something criminal... all to end with a reward we've all been asking for!

First up things will start off with a popup that shows first Bess' decision (to marry Ted) and then the shocking moment when the ceremony is interrupted by everyone's "favourite" detective, Finkerton!

So now the intrigue starts and we have to do what we can to find the real criminals behind the Train Robbery Ted is being accused of while he's hidden away in abandoned warehouse outside of town... something we'll be using ourselves later... That means a 5 mission thread with two wrappers (all details HERE) and a 4 step build (all details HERE)

To do this, we're going to have to find evidence inside Ted's chests and Lockboxes, Each is unlocked with just three Wall Post items, Inspection Gloves and Lockbox Keys respectively.

Those, in turn, drop Fingerprinted Gloves, Suspicious Photos and Handwritten Docs.

THOSE, in turn, are used with Fingerprint, Photo or Handwriting Analysers (3 at a time) which give out Guilty and Not Guilty verdicts...

Finally those are used as mission items, Not Guilty are used directly, Guilty ones are shredded using a Free Gift Shredder.

If that's all confusing, which it is, here it is in simple image form...

So, let's get past the mission info and onto the really exciting thing, the reward!

If we're going to find ourselves a disused warehouse then we're sure as heck gonna use it, and what better way than to store buildings? Yep, it's time to get more than a few single use buildings off our stead and into a new building storage building!

The list in full *deep breath*... Leatherworks, Craft Workshop, Dressform, Horseshoe Pit, Harvester, Mystical Charm Totem, Bountiful Harvest, Military Parcel Wagon, Military Mailbox, White Buffalo Shrine, Apple Festival Garden, Glassworks, Candy Shop, Frontier BBQ, Botanical Garden, Lil Crow's Hideout, Snowfight Fort, Pigskin Park, Fire Station, Build-O-Matic, Shaman Lodge, Animal Companion HQ, Survey Office, Rental Shack, Golden Waterfall, Candy Heart Press, Mystery Wagon, Weddin' Gazebo, Pigeon Loft, Memory Cabinet, Storm Shelter, Butterfly Sanctuary, Smokehouse and FARM Building.

For now we can store 10 of those, there will be expansions later on (not in this thread) increasing the amount we can store.

Phew...

All will be fully useable from inside just like all other stored buildings!

Along with the warehouse we'll see three new items under free gifts, the Poison Ivy Crop, Handwriting Analyser and Shredder.

They are all in the market as well, along with all manner of other mission items and rewards.

Finally, we'll see a new Collection, the Train Robber Collection!

So, let's get proving Ted's innocence so come the wrapper on Monday... SPOILER ALERT...

He and Bess can elope with your help of course!

So, busy times...

Fishing For Prizes

The sun is still shining so it's time to keep up the Summer Activities!

We've spent the last week putting ourselves into the water and now it's time to start taking things out as we take on the Frontier staple of the Fishing Derby!

Will we be able to beat off all the competitors and finish off the Derby with the heaviest pack of fish? Let's hope so!

As usual, things appear alongside a popup...

This gives you a buildless placeable of the Bait 'n' Tackle Shop...

...which, in turn, gives access to the menu for the 8 repeatable missions (all details HERE).

The missions will arrive twice a day as usual, and can be bought to open early and all of them, when completed, will give you pounds of fish to add to your total, which will be a collectible AND will be "tickets" to enter the sweepstakes contest with a hefty amount of Horseshoes as a prize...

New goodies wise we'll see three new crops...

...which will also be in the market along with some other mission rewards and related items.

That includes two new healables, the Filthy Water (healed with 10 Tuggin' Lines) and the Holey Boat (healed with 10 Stopper Plugs).

So, time to get fishing and get weighing to find a winner!