Different kinds of aids

[XchadicusX]

Hey Guys, I was just wondering if anyone knew the difference between the gather's aid and forger's aid? I've played Thea 2 for a while now and just never cared, but now I'm jumping back into it more and wondered if the percentage is better or worse than the straight up gathering points.

Thanks if anyone knows!

[Lorska]

Percent is in general always better.
However I'd use the flat bonus on characters without access to worker skills.
As a general rule of thumb, if they have 10 or more use the percent bonus.

[ethorin101]

Originally posted by Lorska:

Percent is in general always better.
However I'd use the flat bonus on characters without access to worker skills.
As a general rule of thumb, if they have 10 or more use the percent bonus.

...I actually had a situation where a character had 11 base, I could make a tool that gave flat or percent... made one of each, same effect.

[Manxome]

There's a choice of 3 different abilities for gathering tools (and a similar set of 3 for crafting tools).

The only difference between the first two options is that the first one gives a flat bonus and the second gives a percentage bonus. Essentially, if a character's gathering skill before multipliers is 10 points or less, then the flat version is better; if it's over 10, then the multiplier is better. (Though if it's close to 10, you won't see much difference either way. Note that you can get a 1.2x multiplier just from high morale, so your "before-multipliers" gathering will usually be less than the total displayed value.)

Your dedicated gathering characters should be able to get over 10 pretty early in the game, and it's likely that most or all your characters can get over 10 while they're in a city and being boosted by your idol. However, if you have some warriors or children or something who want to help out with gathering outside your city, the flat version can be significantly better. (Especially early in the game.)

Equipping random characters with flat-bonus crafting tools can easily allow a pair of them to complete a cooking recipe or material compounding in a single turn, allowing you to get those small tasks out of the way "for free" while still moving around the map at top speed.

The third gathering tool also gives a percentage bonus to gathering, but additionally gives a bonus to rituals and group carrying capacity.

If you only care about the gathering effect, then this is worse than the other percentage bonus until you get to tier 4 materials, at which point the other ability hits its cap but this one keeps going up.

Until then, this third ability is only good if you want the other effects (rituals or group carrying capacity). Equipping some on characters who don't otherwise need a tool can be an easy way to allow your group to carry a bit more stuff before becoming encumbered.

Crafting tools follow the same pattern, except instead of the third version boosting rituals and group carry, it boosts research and sanity regeneration. It can be a big help in getting your research skill high enough that you can do "a bit of research" in a single turn, which will allow your group to get a free research point every turn while still moving around.