Aging your Ale!

[Gullinbursti]

Saw quite a few players inquire about Aging. Asked Brother Maltus about it, he was quite happy to explain:

Originally posted by Brother Maltus:

You can only age strong ales (6+ Strenght). You store the ale in a barrel and you keep it there for 1 month per point of Strength above 5 (i.e. an ale with a Strength of 6, requires 1 month of aging). You will see a new progress bar appear on the barrel and an extra icon on the upper right corner of the screen. It might take some time to hit the market, but the huge bonus at the end is worth it!

As for us, we will check if this is being communicated adequately in-game to make sure this was not the reason of misunderstanding the mechanic! Thank you all!

[vikpr]

Could you ask Brother Maltus what's the benefit of brewing an ale that requires aging if you can avoid it? That is, if there is no quest to make a 6+ ale, and the recipe allows green strength of 5 then why brew 6+ and waste one month (or more) until you can sell it for roughly the same price? Assuming we're talking a complex recipe by the time 6+ ages you can make and sell another 5-strength, so double income per month, moreso for quick recipes.
My point, either the 6+ ales should come with high benefit that compensates for the wait or the recipes have to be tweaked to force them to remain 6+ and not lower if we want all green.

[Gullinbursti]

Originally posted by vikpr:

Could you ask Brother Maltus what's the benefit of brewing an ale that requires aging if you can avoid it? That is, if there is no quest to make a 6+ ale, and the recipe allows green strength of 5 then why brew 6+ and waste one month (or more) until you can sell it for roughly the same price? Assuming we're talking a complex recipe by the time 6+ ages you can make and sell another 5-strength, so double income per month, moreso for quick recipes.
My point, either the 6+ ales should come with high benefit that compensates for the wait or the recipes have to be tweaked to force them to remain 6+ and not lower if we want all green.

Hmmmm... We definitely want the mechanic there, so if the overall feeling is that they don't get enough value to justify it, then this will definitely be addressed. I don't see a complete rework, but making the benefits more relevant should do it!

[vikpr]

Originally posted by Gullinbursti:

Hmmmm... We definitely want the mechanic there, so if the overall feeling is that they don't get enough value to justify it, then this will definitely be addressed. I don't see a complete rework, but making the benefits more relevant should do it!

You (I mean the developers) know better the price difference between 5-strength ale and aged 6-strength ale, but my impression was that it's within a few coins which in my personal opinion does not justify a month delay. Especially since the prices may change in that month.
Perhaps, if you want to enforce the aging mechanics - and I like the general idea of aging by the way - make the aging being requried based on the recipe and not on strength? Like, ale X always requires aging no matter what?

[ilovefunvideogames]

Is this a thing that you can only do later in the game...? I don't see any icons and it says something about upper 2 floors...? Not sure why that would matter

[Nog]

Originally posted by ilovefunvideogames:

Is this a thing that you can only do later in the game...? I don't see any icons and it says something about upper 2 floors...? Not sure why that would matter

Some ale recipes can be aged which increases their value somewhat. They will have an ageing meter on them when in the barrel, so it will be obvious. I am not sure why it specifies the first 2 levels of the cellar, because I believe you can only have 2 levels of cellar.

[Gullinbursti]

Originally posted by Nog:

Originally posted by ilovefunvideogames:

Is this a thing that you can only do later in the game...? I don't see any icons and it says something about upper 2 floors...? Not sure why that would matter

Some ale recipes can be aged which increases their value somewhat. They will have an ageing meter on them when in the barrel, so it will be obvious. I am not sure why it specifies the first 2 levels of the cellar, because I believe you can only have 2 levels of cellar.

There will be another 2 levels deeper underground for a special type of Cold Cellars that will be used differently :) In the future tho!

[VollKaracho]

This needs to be better explained in the game. I thought I wasn't able to, because I haven't unlocked something like an aging barrel. I was looking for it everywhere xD

After looking at the quest again, the confusion could've been easily avoided by telling us first "to brew a beer with strenght 6+" and then "let a beer fully age". I probably would have taken THAT beer and let it age.

[Gullinbursti]

Originally posted by VollKaracho:

This needs to be better explained in the game. I thought I wasn't able to, because I haven't unlocked something like an aging barrel. I was looking for it everywhere xD

After looking at the quest again, the confusion could've been easily avoided by telling us first "to brew a beer with strenght 6+" and then "let a beer fully age". I probably would have taken THAT beer and let it age.

Noted! We do plan to make sure most a lot of stuff is better explained in-game :)

[Trifler]

Is a Strength of 6 always optimal, or are there additional bonuses for aging for 2 months (Strength 7), etc.?