Hearths

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A Hearth Fully Upgraded

Overview

Hearths are the heart of the settlement. Every settlement starts with an Ancient Hearth and can construct other Small Hearths from the City Buildings menu. Hearths are buildings with  Warmth Specialization that employ a single Firekeeper to keep the Hearth lit by burning Fuel. Every villager takes their breaks at the nearest Hearth to warm themselves, eat, and fulfill their needs. By upgrading the Hearth with decorations, housing, and Service buildings, you can unlock up to 3 tiers of stackable benefits. The Ancient Hearth can get corrupted at Veteran Difficulty and higher.

Corruption

Corruption bar in the Ancient Hearth

See also: Blightrot

Blightrot infects Hearths. The more Blightrot Cysts a Viceroy generates from Rain Engine use or Glade Events, the faster their Hearths get corrupted during Storm Season, when Blightrot Cysts open up. Once the Ancient Hearth reaches the Corruption limit, it triggers Voice of the Sealed Ones. Voice of the Sealed Ones sends out 3 ghosts from the Ancient Hearth that seek out and kill 3 random villagers. As soon as the Hearth discharges, Corruption is reset to 0 and starts rising again.

Lowering Corruption

The only way to lower Corruption during Storm is to employ the help of Blightfighers in a Blight Post. Blightfighters search for Cysts and burn them with Purging Fire. Every Cyst burned lowers Corruption by 50. Once all Cysts have been burned, any new ones will not open up till next Storm Season. Any Cysts left close and Corruption resets to 0 as soon as the year ticks over and Drizzle Season starts.

Corruption Resistance and Corruption rate

Corruption Resistance is a measure of how high the Corruption limit is. The higher the Corruption Resistance, the more time it will take for Voice of the Sealed Ones to activate. An Ancient Hearth that hasn't been upgraded has 1000 Corruption Resistance. Every Ancient and Small Hearth level raises Corruption Resistance by 150. It can also be raised with different Effects.

The Corruption rate per Cyst is 60 Corruption/minute up to Prestige 10, and 90 Corruption/minute from Prestige 11 onwards.

Assuming a Hearth upgraded to level 2, you will reach the Corruption limit of 1300 at least once without burning any Cysts:

• At 60 Corruption/minute in a 2-minute Storm with 11 Cysts.
• At 60 Corruption/minute in a 4-minute Storm with 6 Cysts.
• At 90 Corruption/minute in a 4-minute Storm with 4 Cysts.

Fuel

There are 4 fuels that can be burned in Hearths: Coal, Sea Marrow, Oil, and Wood.

You can decide which type of fuel will be burned in each Hearth by selecting it and using the checkboxes next to the fuel types in the Allowed Fuel menu. If you have multiple fuels selected, the leftmost one will always burn first. There are also options in the settings that allow you to customize which fuels are automatically enabled when starting a new settlement.

Fuel	Base burn time	With Beaver Firekeeper	With all Upgrades	With Beaver Firekeeper and all Upgrades
Coal	40 seconds	50 seconds	52 seconds	71 seconds
Sea Marrow	40 seconds	50 seconds	52 seconds	71 seconds
Oil	25 seconds	31 seconds	32 seconds	44 seconds
Wood	12 seconds	15 seconds	15 seconds	21 seconds

Villager Breaks

Main article: Breaks

Every few minutes villagers have to return to a nearby Hearth for a break, to eat, rest, and satisfy needs. All consumption happens during breaks. Villagers of different species take breaks at different Intervals.

Species	Beavers	Foxes	Harpies	Humans	Lizards
Break Interval	02:00	02:00	01:40	02:00	01:40

Hearth Upgrades

Decorations Needed

Level 1 Hearth upgrade is available from the start. Upgrading to level 2 and 3 requires you to unlock levels 2 and 4 of the Brass Forge respectively.

Click on the Hearth to see what is required to upgrade. As seen on the image on the right in the Upgrade Requirements section, we still need 4 Comfort Decorations and 4 Aesthetics Decorations before the Hearth upgrades to level 2.

• Housing, Decorations, and Service buildings need to be placed fully within the Hearth Radius for them to count towards upgrades.
• The Hearth upgrades itself automatically once all the requirements are fulfilled.
• Both Ancient and Small Hearths can be upgraded.

Upgrades	Name	Requirements	Bonus	Description
Base Level	-	-	-30 Hostility	-
Level I	Encampment	8 Housed villagers	+2 Global Resolve	Gathered around the blazing fire, folks keep each other's spirits high.
		4 Comfort Decorations	+150 Corruption Resistance
Level II	Neighborhood	14 Housed villagers	+10% global production speed	Some viceroys say aesthetics don't matter out in the wilds, but you know better than that.
		8 Comfort Decorations	+150 Corruption Resistance
		4 Aesthetics Decorations
Level III	District	20 Housed villagers	+10% global double production chance	The town is booming with activity and industry thrives.
		1 Service building	+150 Corruption Resistance
		16 Comfort Decorations
		8 Aesthetics Decorations
		4 Harmony Decorations

Firekeeper Bonus

Species	Bonus	Effect	Description
Beavers	File:Firekeeper Bonus Beaver.png Pragmatic Frugality	Fuel burns 20% longer	Beaver firekeepers know a lot about burning techniques.
Foxes	Forest Affinity	-2/3/4/6 Hostility from opened Glades. Scales with Difficulty.	Fox firekeepers have an unusual ability to calm the forest.
Harpies	Light as a Feather	+5 to global carrying capacity	Harpy firekeepers can teach villagers how to be more nimble and agile.
Humans	Beacon	Queen's Impatience grows 25% slower	Human firekeepers create a special link with the Citadel.
Lizards	Sacred Pyre	+1 to global Resolve	Lizard firekeepers are very adept at ancient rites.

Sacrificing

During especially hard times, you can sacrifice additional goods in the Ancient Hearth to temporarily gain positive effects.

Each Fuel type grants different boons:

• Wood → 53 units per minute can be sacrificed to give -50 Hostility
• Coal → 27 units per minute can be sacrificed to give -80 Hostility
• Sea Marrow → 27 units Sea Marrow per minute can be sacrificed to give +25% Glade Event working speed
• Oil → 20 units per minute can be sacrificed to give +25% global production speed

You can have up to 3 stacks of each Fuel being sacrificed at a time.

Hearth Types

Ancient Hearths

The heart of the colony is protected by the Holy Flame. Villagers gather here to rest, eat, and receive clothing. If the fire goes out, people will lose hope.

Small Hearths

Small Hearths cannot be built too close to the Ancient Hearth or to each other - the ranges of your Hearths (approx. radius of 9 squares) may never overlap.

Small Hearths are identical to Ancient Hearths, except you do not receive a Firekeeper bonus and you cannot sacrifice Fuel. It is OK if Small Hearths go out, but Villagers will be unable to rest or fulfill their needs at an unlit Hearth and will instead travel to the nearest available lit Hearth.

Hearth Tips

• Use Beavers as Hearthkeepers when you are running low on Fuel and Wood, especially on Marshlands and the Sealed Forest.
• Harpies are nifty as Hearthkeepers before and after Glade Events to carry goods to and from these Events.
• Foxes are excellent during the Storm Season as Hearthkeepers to keep Hostility down and stop Forest Mysteries from triggering.
• Humans are invaluable when playing World Modifiers like "Land of Greed" to slow down the Queen's Impatience.
• Lizards as Hearthkeepers will help you in achieving Resolve - based Orders.

Since Firekeepers in Small Hearths don't offer a species-specific bonus like they do in the Ancient Hearth, you can take advantage of its Warmth specialization synergy with Lizards.