A Reus Cookbook

A selection of recipes for getting your villages jumpstarted in the early game.

Forest Recipes

• Birds and Berries
  
  Produces: Food, awe
  
  You will need:
  

  CHICKEN -- BLUEBERRY -- STRAWBERRY (-- STRAWBERRY -- STRAWBERRY -- ...)
                                     
                                                

  
  This can be done without any ambassadors.
  Chickens produce a great amount of food if they're near blueberries, which produce almost as much food when they're near strawberries.
  The chain of strawberries adds more food, but also awe, so you can stack more food into the forest without as much risk of greed.
  
  
  
• Nasty leaves
  
  Produces: Tech
  
  You will need:
  
  

  FOXGLOVE -- NIGHTSHADE -- STONE 
                 
          
  

  
  Foxglove produces more tech near natura, and nightshade produces the most natura in the early forest, once it's next to a mineral. Stone produces more tech when next to a plant.
  
  Variation with
  
  Produces: Food, tech, awe
  
  

  DEER -- FOXGLOVE -- NIGHTSHADE -- STONE 
                    
             
  

  
  Deer produce more food and awe near the early tech plants.
  
  
  Variation with -- or --
  
  Produces: Wealth, tech
  
  

  FOXGLOVE -- NIGHTSHADE --   ONYX   -- NIGHTSHADE
               or    
                     
  

  
  Onyx produced more wealth with natura, so surrounding it with nightshade only makes sense.
  
  
• Boars
  
  Produces: Food, wealth, danger
  
  You will need:
  
  

  BOAR
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Boars are the only source in the game that do not care about their surroundings, making them perfect for isolated patches.
  
  Boars produce an amazing about of food, and more wealth for every danger they produce. You can raise this with more hunt (or predator) aspects. (Remember: lesser aspects don't add danger!)
  
  You can make the above with just a desert ambassador on the forest giant: fertilize the patch, place domestic animals, add a couple hunt aspects, and transmute chicken --> beaver --> boar.
  
  The danger keeps the village in check, but don't add too much at once!
  
  
  
• Pairs of Pears
  
  Produces: Food, awe
  
  You will need:
  
  

  PEAR -- PEAR -- PEAR -- PEAR
         
         
  

  
  Pears make a great amount of food when they're surrounded by other plants, including other pears.
  The awe bonus is great too.

Desert Recipes

• Basic rocks
  
  Produces: Wealth (and tech)
  
  You will need:
  
  

  QUARTZ -- QUARTZ -- STONE
           
  

  
  This one is a no-brainer: quartz should go in pairs or triplets for an early windfall. Add stone to the end for a tech bonus.
  
  
• Pokey and pokey
  
  Produces: Wealth, tech
  
  You will need: , -- or -- , -- or --
  
  

  TORTOISE -- BARREL CACTUS -- TORTOISE
        or     
             or
  

  
  Variation with
  Produces: Wealth, tech, danger
  
  

  TORTOISE -- BARREL CACTUS -- TORTOISE -- RATTLESNAKE
        or               
             or                    

  
  Rattlesnakes like eating small critters like tortoises. Use the danger of the rattlesnake to keep the village in line.
  
  
• Goat food
  
  Produces: Food, tech, awe
  
  You will need: , -- or -- ,
  
  

   GOAT --    ALOE    -- GOAT --    ALOE
    or    or
                   
  

  
  Goats give food bonuses to every plant in range, and aloe produces more tech and awe for every animal near it. Mix them together in whatever proportion you want.
  
  
• Javelinas
  
  Produces: Food, wealth, danger
  
  You will need: , -- or --
  
  

    JAVELINA   --   JAVELINA    --   JAVELINA
                           
  or   or   or
  

  
  Javlinas produce a staggering amount of food for the early-mid game when placed in a herd of ~3. They produce a lot of danger too. Use this to keep the greed from growing, but don't make too many javelinas for a small village to handle!
  
  
  Variation with
  
  Produces: Food, wealth, tech, danger
  
  

    JAVELINA   --   JAVELINA    --   JAVELINA   -- IRON
                                  
  or   or   or    
  

Iron gets a huge tech bonus if it's near a lot of danger.

Swamp Recipes

• Mint and marble
  
  Produces: Tech (and wealth)
  
  You will need:
  
  

  MARBLE -- MARBLE -- PEPPERMINT -- MARBLE -- MARBLE
                         
  

  
  Marble produces more wealth and tech when next to other minerals, such as more marble. Peppermint produced more tech when next to minerals. Insert more peppermint for more tech and more marble for more wealth.
  
  
• Feed the otters
  
  Produces: Food (and tech)
  
  You will need: -- or -- , -- or -- , -- or --
  
  
  

     OTTER    --    TOMATO    --    OTTER
  or  or  or
  or      or
  

  
  Otters produce more food near plants, and tomatoes produce more tech for all the food that nearby animals put on the patch.
  
  Variation with
  
  Produces: Food, tech
  
  

     OTTER    -- MARSHMELLOW --    OTTER
  or            or
  or            or
  

  
  Substitute marshmellow for tomato to get more tech in place of food.
  
  
• Papayas
  
  You will need:
  
  Produces: Food, awe
  
  

  PAPAYA -- PAPAYA -- PAPAYA
            
            
  

  
  Papayas produce more food and awe with enough natura. Helpfully, they also produce a lot of natura. At least two papayas in range of each other should be enough to unlock the symbiosis.
  
  Variation with -- or -- ,
  
  Produces: Food, awe (and wealth)
  
  

  PAPAYA --   TAPIR   -- PAPAYA
     or   
               
  

  
  Tapirs like patches with a lot of natura, and two or more papayas should be enough.
  
  
• Willows
  
  You will need:
  
  Produces: Tech
  
  

  WILLOW -- WILLOW -- WILLOW
            
            
  

  
  Willows produce more tech when around other plants. This is particularly useful, as many of the swamp projects give bonuses to willows, and require a lot of tech.

Mountain Recipes

• Natura boom
  
  You will need: , , -- or --
  
  Produces: Everything (except danger).
  
  

  DRAGONFRUIT -- GINGER -- MONAL
  or       
  or   
  

  
  Dragonfruit produces food, tech, and awe, with more food for each natura. Ginger produces natura in great abundance, was well as tech, if it's next to an animal. Monals produce wealth, and awe if next to a plant.
  
  Variation with
  
  Produces: Everything (except danger).
  
  

  DRAGONFRUIT -- PANGOLIN -- GINGER -- MONAL
  or             
  or    
  

  
  Pangolins produce more food and awe if near natura and/or most other mountain animals, making them a good fit here.
  
  
• Natura bust
  
  You will need:
  
  Produces: Food, tech
  
  

  KUMQUAT -- KUMQUAT -- KIWI -- KUMQUAT -- KUMQUAT
                      
                        
  

  
  Kiwi boosts the food and tech of nearby plants, but saps their natura (don't use dragonfruit here).

Ocean Recipes

• Mackerel
  
  You will need:
  
  Produces: Food
  
  

  MACKEREL -- MACKEREL -- MACKEREL 
                 
  

  
  Mackerel get a range bonus each other mackerel in range (up to two times). When just starting out, make a lot of these.
  
  
• Diversity
  
  You will need: , , --or-- , --or--
  
  Produces: Food, wealth, tech
  
  

     SEABASS    -- PARROTFISH -- CLOWNFISH -- MACKEREL
  or   or            
  or   or
  

  
  Parrotfish produce more wealth and tech near a variety of fish, so a configuration like the above is ideal. Put the clownfish next to the parrotfish, and the seabass in range of either the clownfish or the mackerel.

[Noéxplosion_BOUMBOUM]

op

[hanmac]

might notice that the willow thing can be done without ambassador

hm does it make a difference if you go from the elderberries or from the peppermints?
i often go the peppermint -> tomato -> willow route, the extra aspect from the ocean giant is good for a bit Food on the plants

[WZY]

niu B

[ZeroFarad]

Cool guide!

I don't think your Onyx recipe and Papaya recipes work exactly as described: you can't stack Natura from two different plants. Each patch just takes the highest single Natura in range.

Instead of two Nightshades or Papayas, try loading one up with Growth Aspects or Leaf Aspects - these boost the plant's Natura, making sure to get that highest Natura up.