Introduction
From Toadwater Guide
Contents |
What Is Toadwater?
Click Toadwater for more info.
Getting Started
1: Register on the main web site. You will be sent a link by email -- click the link then you can sign into the website to access resources like your profile (that allows you to change your password -- just click the "Profile" button once you are logged in), the forums, and the personal message system.
2: To play Toadwater you need to download the “Toadwater Client” program. There is a "Download TWC" button to download it at the top of the Toadwater homepage. This is a windows program which requires a simple installation (game files typically are stored in c:\Program Files\Toadwater). Once installed, just run the client and you will then be prompted to log in with the username and password you registered. If you have any issues with installing or running the client, you can post in the Game Support forum.
What You Can See
When you first log in you will be able to see a 7x7 area around your dwarf in the middle of the screen. The squares around you are sand. Immediately beyond your field of vision (in the grey area) there is a fence which encloses your own personal world in the clouds called "Cloud World." You are completely safe here. No other player can enter your area.
Note: The ingame clock shows the date and time in metric format -- 2.4 normal hours equals 1 metric hour (the number before the first colon). Click Metric time for more info.
Introductory Gameplay Guide
When you begin to play Toadwater, the only tree available to you is called a “Balsam Fir”. Balsam Firs are the easiest tree to learn and level up with.
You will find 50 "Balsam Fir" Seeds in your inventory (sometimes called your Hoard). Select the seeds and plant them in the squares surrounding you by clicking on the squares. You can only plant in a square you are standing directly next to, so for the moment you can only plant 8 trees at a time.
Tip: To select something in your inventory, just click on it. The name of the item will turn green. If you click it again, you will deselect it. This means you have nothing selected and can use your bare hands.
Warning: You start out with 1 health. Each Balsam Fir seed you plant will cost 0.1 health.
Your chances for each Balsam Fir tree to fully grow will be about 10% at first. Do not be afraid if all your trees die before they fully grow (once fully grown to 100% a tree will not die). When you run out of seeds, you can dig to find more seeds. To dig first deselect what you have selected in your inventory then click on an empty square of sand next to you. Each time you dig with your bare hands, a hole gets 1 millimeter deeper -- holes will fill in on their own over time. Nothing can be planted in sand with a hole in it.
Warning: If you happen to dig up a Compost Worm, using it (or eating it) will cost 1 health.
Even if the trees die, you get forestry experience (XP) for planting the seeds. So your odds will always get better. Eventually one will fully grow. Make sure you do not die when replanting seeds (watch your health). While standing on sand, you will regain 1 health per minute.
Note: It takes about 15 minutes for a Balsam Tree to grow.
If one fully grows, you are lucky! Select your Crude Axe (in your inventory) and chop the tree down. Be careful! Each chop will cost 0.1 health, and it takes 10 chops! OUCH! When the tree is fully chopped, the wood will appear in your inventory, and if you are lucky, you will get a seed from the tree as well.
Tip: If you leave one of your trees fully grown instead of chopping it down, when you can move you will be able to use it to heal yourself by standing on it. You will need a healing tree later on, so it's a good idea to leave an early tree to grow older. The older a tree is, the better it is for healing.
You gain 0.1 health for every 10 days old the tree is (mouseover a tree to see its age) for each minute you stand on it. To ensure this "tree-healing" is applied to your health bar, it is highly recommended that you deselect your staff then reselect it.
Warning: Do not step off of a tree until you see that you have been healed on your health bar.
Is there a way to regain health a quicker than standing on a grown tree? Absolutely! While on a tree, you can press 'e' to eat fruit from the tree. Each time you eat from the tree counts as standing on it for a minute. So a tree that is a year old will heal you 3.65 health every time you eat (and 3.65 health for each minute you stand on it as long as you deselect/reselect your staff).
Note: Each time you eat from a tree (or eat a radish etc) your poo bar gets filled up. Once your poo bar is full, you cannot eat again until you visit an outhouse. If your poo bar is full, the only way to heal is to wait, preferably on an old tree!
You can now whittle your new piece of Balsam Fir Wood into something. You could whittle a "Tree Tap" to start collecting sap, a "Shovel" to dig a hole for an outhouse, a "Mallet" which is used for pounding in fencing, a "Post" to sell for extra gold pieces, or a "Plank" which can be used to make a road, or to construct fences, gates and outhouses.
Select the wood and click on your chosen whittling task from the whittling toolbar. Your odds of success on any of the above mentioned items start at 44%, but similar to forestry, your whittling XP, and therefore your odds, increase. The other items you can whittle are "Birdhouse", "Scutching Sword", "Idol", "Oar" and "Clogs". These items are much harder to whittle, so you should not attempt them until your whittling skill increases!
If you are lucky enough to whittle something on your first try, great job! You can use or sell the item you have created. But don't worry if you fail to whittle an item, you get XP even when you fail.
Continue planting seeds around you, chopping the trees, and whittling. You will find that your forestry and whittling skills improve quickly at first.
Tip: Planks are very useful items to whittle, as they can be constructed into other items. This increases your construction skill as well as your whittling skill, so you can make more total XP out of making planks.
You will soon want to move around, to allow you to plant more trees, explore, etc. Moving requires a “Staff”. You are given a Toadwater Staff when you begin -- this is a level 100 staff. You will find movement is very painful: it costs 1 health point to move on sand, and more if you step onto a tree! For this reason, you cannot move until you reach level 10 (your level and health are the same) for your own protection! Your staff will wear out a little with each step you take, but do not worry, your staff will never wear out below 1 point.
Tip: Higher level staffs have added advantages. They are more durable and allow you to walk much faster. If you find movement slow, you can donate US$5 using the PayPal Donate link at the bottom of the main web site. When you donate, you will be given a brand new level 100 Personal Staff as a thank you gift (other gifts can be chosen for your donation, but a Personal Staff is normally the first choice for first time donors). A Personal Staff wears out much slower than the initial Toadwater staff.
Now might be a good time to whittle a Tree Tap and attach it to a tree. Sap will gradually accumulate on the tap, and when you walk onto the tree you will collect the sap. This can be used to improve items such as shovels, mallets, and planks.
Tip: To attach a Tree Tap to a tree, select it in your inventory while you are standing next to the tree, then then click on the tree.
Once you feel ready to try growing a harder tree, you will need to whittle an "Idol" and attach it to a Balsam Fir tree (in the same way you attach a Tree Tap). Idols are very hard to whittle though, so it may take a lot of tries for you to get one. Once you have the Idol, you need to sacrifice Balsam Fir seeds to it by selecting them in your inventory and clicking on the Idol when you are standing next to it. You must sacrifice 2 seeds at once, sacrificing 1 seed will not do anything. For every 2 seeds you sacrifice, you will get one Ponderosa Pine seed. Take care though, because working with Ponderosa Pine trees costs more health than working with Balsam Firs!
This introduction only guides you through the basics of beginning the game. There are many more challenges awaiting you, especially when you leave your private cloud world and start interacting with other players! Once you are comfortable with everything here, head to this wiki's Main Page and its Glossary for reference.
