Everything runs over. That is the mechanic.
Nine buildings across six levels, from a grain store at two and a half thousand Coins to a pub at a hundred and eighty-six thousand. Every one of them goes through Alan, every one of them comes in between nought and thirty-five per cent over the quote, and the range is on the quote screen before you commit.
The nine buildings.
| Building | Unlocks at | Quote | Build time | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain store | Level 3 | 2,400 Coins | 2 in-game weeks | Storage, which turns Trading from a decision into three |
| Machinery shed | Level 5 | 6,800 Coins | 3 weeks | Halves the breakdown rate at harvest and lets you own rather than hire |
| Farm shop | Level 8 | 14,500 Coins | 5 weeks | Unlocks Lisa, and the three-to-eight-times value-add multiplier |
| Polytunnel and market garden | Level 10 | 9,200 Coins | 3 weeks | Short-cycle produce that feeds the shop between harvests |
| Grain drier | Level 12 | 22,000 Coins | 4 weeks | Removes the wet-harvest decision, which some players will regret |
| Small brewery | Level 16 | 48,000 Coins | 8 weeks | Barley to beer, at the top of the multiplier and the bottom of the age gate |
| Bunkhouse and campsite | Level 18 | 31,000 Coins | 6 weeks | Diversification income that does not depend on the weather |
| Restored barn | Level 22 | 94,000 Coins | 10 weeks | Events, and the planning system that comes with them |
| The pub | Level 28 | 186,000 Coins | 14 weeks | The end of the progression, and the only building with staff to manage |
The over-budget mechanic, precisely.
How it works
- The overrun
- Drawn at commitment, revealed at completionBetween 0 and 35 per cent, distributed so that small overruns are common and large ones are not.
- The average
- ≈14%Which is roughly what a builder’s overrun looks like in reality, and roughly what everybody complains about.
- Disclosure
- The range, on the quote screenBefore commitment, every time. An undisclosed overrun is a dark pattern; a disclosed one is a budgeting lesson.
- Cancellation
- Any time before the pourFull refund of Coins committed. After the pour, no refund, which is also how building works.
What it can never do
- Exceed 35 per cent
- Hard capThere is no tail, no jackpot overrun and no story about the one that cost double.
- Abandon a build
- NeverThere is no half-built barn and no lost Coins. Realistic, and miserable, and overruled here.
- Be avoided by paying
- NeverNo premium contractor, no fixed-price token, no insurance. Alan is the only builder and he is like this.
- Be reduced by playing more
- NeverThe distribution is identical at every level and for every player.
Why it is in the design at all
- It teaches contingency
- Keep a reserveThe player who commits every last Coin to a build learns something the first time and remembers it.
- It is true to the source
- Alan is famously like thisSlightly over budget and slightly late is the correct behaviour for a builder, on screen and off.
- It creates a decision
- Build now, or wait for a bigger bufferWhich is the only thing that makes the Trading stage matter.
Why the build queue is one at a time.
Because a build queue with three parallel slots is a build queue with three slots to sell, and the second and third of those slots are the most reliable premium purchase in the entire category. Almost every game in this space sells them.
One slot at a time makes the building decision real: this barn or that drier, now or in three weeks, and the choice has a cost. Three slots makes it a shopping list, and a shopping list is what you sell a queue-skip against.
Kaleb can shorten a build, at the usual rate, up to his daily cap. He cannot open a second one. There is exactly one building going up on this farm at a time, which is also true of the real one.
One build, start to finish.
Alan quotes
A figure, a build time, and the disclosed overrun range of nought to thirty-five per cent.
You commit the Coins
All of them, at the quote. The overrun is charged at the end, out of whatever is there.
Groundwork
The point of no return. Cancel before it and you get everything back; cancel after it and you do not.
It goes up
Two to fourteen in-game weeks, shortenable through Kaleb up to his daily cap and not otherwise.
The final invoice
Between the quote and the quote plus a third. And then the next season is a different game.
What building things actually earns you.
Marks rather than points. None of them is worth anything, none can be bought, and one of them is for having got it wrong.
Badges confer no advantage, no discount and no currency. The third one is earned by roughly nine players in ten and is meant kindly.
Building, questioned.
No. There is no fixed-price contractor, no insurance and no premium builder. Alan is the only builder in the game and this is what he is like.
No. One slot, always, at every level and every tier. A second slot is the most reliable premium purchase in this category and it is deliberately absent.
A hundred and eighty-six thousand Coins is roughly two years of steady play, or considerably less if you are good at Trading. It is meant to be the end of the progression rather than a mid-game purchase.
Meet the people who do the work.
Six of them, and each one is a system rather than a portrait.
