Love on a Plate

It's that time of year again, a time for doves, roses, chocolates and, of course, anti-nausea medicine.

Yes, we're into the home straight for commercial love exploitation day *cough* sorry, must behave, Valentines Day and that means love is blooming between all the couples on the Homestead.

This year nothing says I love you like a good night out and some beautifully cooked food at twice the normal price.

So, join us as we give everyone a night out to remember at the Restaurant de L'Amour...

As usual we'll be seeing a popup to start...

That will kick off an 8 mission thread with a wrapper and a Monday mission (all details HERE) and no build, just a placeable decoration, the aforementioned Restaurant de L'Amour.

Now, I know you're all intelligent people and you know what an 8 mission thread with no build means, and you're right! We're looking at daily release missions (2 per day) which are repeatable and a "collectible" that we'll need for the wrapper, in this case Enchanted Feelings.

Of course that does mean a nice chunk of excitement with a Sweepstakes! Yes, the usual rules apply, all enchanted feelings will count as an entry to the sweepstakes and the prizes will be as follows:

Grand prize: 2,000 HS + 5 Fine Dining crates
Silver prize: 1,000 HS + 3 Fine Dining crates

Bronze prize: 500 HS + 1 Fine Dining crates
The mission activation will all be run from inside the Restaurant via a standard menu...

And, once the fifth mission is active, there's also going to be a fishing mechanic from the Restaurant that will drop crops, boosts and those all important Enchanted Feelings meaning no optional repeats are needed.

We'll see one new Free Gift crop, Fennel...

..some new Romance based healables and mission rewards...

 
...including something new, a costume based boost! Floaty love hearts to place around our avatars that will give us double XP, double speed and 5 actions per click.

...and finally two romantic food boosts, the Fois Gras boost and the Chocolate Truffle! The first is a 4 hour crop accelerator and the second works like a Beef Jerky, refilling your energy bar and adding +1 to the Max.

Oh, and a new collection that will drop a helpful crate full of crop and boost goodness...

So, what are you waiting for, play matchmaker!

Did the Earth Move For You?

Granny's Hot Spring Bath has suddenly started scalding her unmentionables, the grounds been shaking and some purdy rock looking items have been appearing in the most unlikely places...

Something is definitely going on with Mount Avalanche (surely that name is just tempting fate) and the fact it's smoking more than Jack mighty well be a bit of a giveaway...

Seems it's time for us to prepare for a big, red hot and ready to shoot natural disaster!

As usual, a popup will welcome us...

This will kick off a 5 mission thread, along with a wrapper to arrive on Monday (all details HERE) and a four step Story/Build (all details HERE).

The build is split over a small placeable, the Gem Mine...

...and a new Sideboard, the erupting Mount Avalanche itself!

There will be two new items during this thread, the first will be used in the main thread, the Geode. This is a healable that drops from Forges, the mission crops and the Gem Mine Daily Bonus and the mission windows.

This will be healed with 6 Silvery Picks that are a crafted item.

When it's finished with it'll spit out a bundle of goodies and turn into either a Rock, or a Cracked Geode.

The other thing arrives on Monday and is a standard Injured Animal which is healed with 8 Ash Brushes, a Wall Post item.

Finally for new goodies we'll have two brand new BOOSTS!

The first is Debris and Me, a 5 minute variation of a Squeezing the Stone, the Debris doubler.

The second is something quite different, it's the Fertile Ash Boost. This boost will make 5 random crops on the homestead ready to harvest!

Of course, we will be seeing a new Free Gift crop, this time the Lichen, but we'll also see a new COIN Crop too, Silversword.

Oh, and a collection that gives the new Boost!

Finally, for those that want to decorate their stead we'll be seeing two new things, a cinder covered ground and a brand new "falling ash" mechanic like the falling snow that comes from one of the new mission reward decorations... and this one IS a dramatic one!

So, lets get rescuing!

Forging Off The Rails

So, there's a new businessman on the frontier and he's a pushy one, apparently it's time we had another railroad track taking us out to the east coast, and Eddy's not taking no for an answer...

Thing is... is he who he says he is, and can we trust him?

Well, it's time to find out as we try and stall his plans while we do some background checks, and in return find ourselves something new to ride around in and... a new face to a very popular old feature!

As usual, there's going to be a popup to start...

That'll open up a 5 mission thread with a wrapper and a Monday mission (all details HERE) and one build with a special trick, the Ridge Rail Station (all build details HERE).

So, what's this trick? Well, it's a take on the Raised Beds, one of the most popular features of 2013, and it's called... the Forgery.

Basically, it does what it says on the tin, it's an exclusive Raised Beds area where we can set aside Forges (one of the longest crops in game) to be used as and when needed.

I know many people use up some of their Raised Beds at all times by planting forges, so this is a way of getting a whole bundle of new beds opened up.

We'll start with one slot of 10, mission 5 will open up a second slot and up the storage to 20, finally the Monday mission will add the final two slots.

Oh, and that's not enough fun... how about our own Train set...? ;) Yes, a rideable train with moveable rails we can set down and design a all by ourselves!

With the missions itself we are going to see a new chain of heals, think Ted's Chest and the Analysers.

We'll start with Unwanted Rails...

Those will be healed just three times with a wall post item and drop feed for one of the three new healables in the market (which again only take 3 feeds).

Those will then drop mission items.

There's also a new injured animal of sorts on Monday, this one needs little explanation, just graphics to be enjoyed :D

As usual there's new free gifts, in this case a new crop (the Iron Forge) and a new fruit tree (the Iron Vein).

Finally, a new collection!

So, do we steam on... or find out Eddy isn't who he says he is... play and see!

Frozen Fish

Oh Jack, how did you appear so knowledgeable in those lazy hazy early days of the game when we had to plant 5 tomatoes to complete a mission?

Yes, it's time to help our favourite Frontiersman out from another one of his little mess ups, this time causing trouble for the piscine population of the homestead!

The old geezer has decided the best way to fish is with... dynamite. Yes, I'll just let that sink in for a moment...

Well, even Jack's realised that's probably not the cleverest thing he could have done so he went out and got some fish to restock the lake. Tropical Fish. *sigh* Here we go then...

The traditional popup starts a five mission thread with no wrapper but a Monday mission (all details HERE) and a four step build, the Aquarium (all details HERE).

We'll also see a new sideboard on the left hand side, the Ice Lake, replacing the Harvest Festival.

As you can tell, the majority of this thread will surround a new way of fishing, as we rescue all those tropical fish from the Ice Lake, thaw them out and then place them warm and healthy in the aquarium!

The first step will be the fishing itself and for that we'll use Icy Lures which are crafted from 2 Barbless Hooks (Recycle Bins) and 3 Frozen Bugs (Wall Post).

There are also three specific feeds that can be bought for Horseshoes but those are OPTIONAL. While the Icy Lure can give any of the variations of fish, the premium ones give a specific type.

As mentioned there are three possible types of fish that can drop, the Tropical, Vibrant or Deadly, and they are injured animals.

Each takes 10 Fish Warmers which are crafted from 2 Wool Kindling (Standard White Llamas) and 3 Metal Plates (Wall Post). They have a three day timer so it's worth building up feed to make sure you'll have enough!

Once healed each fish can become one of three variations but are LIMITED so once you have two of a type they'll no longer drop until you have all three.

From there one of each type combine into stacks...

...which are then, finally, added to the Huge Fishtank which will be another fishing location with some great possible rewards :)


Phew, I know it seems complicated, but trust me, it won't be when you get into it!

We will have one new free gift crop, the Lakeweed...

...and a new Collection!

So, lets go fishing!