Item Stars

Some items come in one, two or three stars. The stars are part of the item: a 1-star and a 2-star Cabbage are two different items. They sit in separate stacks, sell for different prices and can do different things.

Items with stars:

A few more families with stars exist in the game’s data but cannot be made or found: the Written Hardcover Book, Cognac, the Wood Kit and the Wooden Detail. Burial certificates come in grades I to III too, but they are handed to you, never made.

How a star craft decides the stars

A star craft is a job whose result gets stars. The job is split into steps, and each swing of your tool moves it along. Each step counts as a success or a failure. When the job finishes, the number of successful steps decides the stars:

  • up to the first line: no stars, which means the job failed: the materials are gone and nothing comes out, though you still get the tech points;
  • from the first line: 1 star; from the second: 2 stars; from the third: 3 stars.

Whether a step succeeds depends on your mastery in the recipe’s branch:

  • At or above the requirement, every step succeeds. Every star craft’s third line is within its length, so you always get 3 stars.
  • Below the requirement, each swing only has a chance of about mastery ÷ requirement to succeed. A failed swing still moves the job along, so it finishes on time, just with fewer stars.
  • At mastery 0 in the branch, you cannot start the job at all.
What you make Where Steps Lines for 1 / 2 / 3 stars Requirement
Bowl of sauerkraut, Vegetable salad Kitchen Table 7 1 / 4 / 7 Farming 4
Story Writing Desk 10 1 / 6 / 10 Book writing 6
Basic Prayer Writing Desk 12 1 / 6 / 10 Book writing 5
Faith Prayer, Money Prayer Writing Desk 14 2 / 8 / 12 Book writing 8
Other sermons: Combo, Combat, Harvest, Repose, Excellence, Likes, Hypno Writing Desk 16 4 / 10 / 14 Book writing 8 to 16
Newspaper Newspaper Press 10 1 / 6 / 10 Book writing 8
Solution for Corpses, Solution for Zombies Formulation Bench 8 1 / 4 / 8 Anatomy 6
Injection for Corpses, Injection for Zombies Formulation Bench 12 1 / 6 / 12 Anatomy 8

Nine more sermons, the Hardcover Book and a second Newspaper recipe are star crafts too, but no workbench offers them. Planting a garden bed is also a star craft, with rules of its own (below).

A head start

A job can begin with some steps already done. These head-start steps count as successes, so they make up for failed swings below the requirement. You get them from two things:

  • Better materials. Each material slot filled with a 2-star item gives 1 step, and a 3-star item gives 2. It counts once per slot, not per item: three 3-star cabbages in a Bowl of sauerkraut still give only 2. Where a slot accepts any star, the crafting window picks the lowest star you have, so switch it if you want the head start.
  • Perks. Sermon writer gives 2 steps on every sermon. Telling tales gives 2 on Stories. Like a King gives 2 on Stories and Newspapers.

Other perks linked to these recipes add mastery instead: Voice of Faith and Scribe +4 on sermons, Scribe also on Stories, Good press on Newspapers and Formula one on the embalming fluids.

Zombies and crops

A zombie at the workbench always makes 3 stars. Zombies never fail a step. They only need at least 1 mastery in the branch, which a tool in their hand gives them (see Zombies). This comes from reading the game’s code and has not been checked in play.

Crops get their stars while they grow. Cabbage, onion, pumpkin and grapes grown from 1- or 2-star seeds give crops and seeds one star higher from the 11th successful growing step. 3-star seeds give 3-star crops. See Farming.

Raising stars afterwards

From To How Where Unlocked by
1-star Bowl of sauerkraut, Vegetable salad, Grape Juice or Wine 2 stars 1 Spices Kitchen Table, Farming 4 Transmutation I
2-star, the same four 3 stars 1 Umami Kitchen Table, Farming 6 Alchemy, Advanced
2 Stories of 1 star 1 of 2 stars Rewrite Writing Desk, Book writing 7 Books II
2 Stories of 2 stars 1 of 3 stars Rewrite Writing Desk, Book writing 8 Storytelling I
20 Newspapers of 1 star 20 of 2 stars (30 with Paper maker) + a 2-star Story Newspaper Press, Book writing 9 Books II
20 Newspapers of 2 stars 20 of 3 stars (30 with Paper maker) + a 3-star Story Newspaper Press, Book writing 10 Storytelling I
Any organ of one kind a quality-3 organ of that kind, with red or white skulls to match the improver 1 Organ Improver Formulation Bench Practical Potions

The two Transmutation Potions (I, II) sound like they would do this, but no workbench makes them and nothing uses them.

What stars change

  • Price. A higher star has a higher base price. The difference is small for crops (Cabbage 7, 10, 13) and huge for writing (Story 50, 500, 5000) and embalming fluids (Solution for Zombies 200, 1200, 6000).
  • Effect. A Vegetable salad gives Anatomy +1, +2 or +3 and a Bowl of sauerkraut gives Book writing +1 to +3. A Solution for Zombies adds 1, 2 or 3 red skulls. A sermon’s grade sets how many parishioners it needs and how much it pays.
  • Yield. Cooking with better crops gives more portions: two 1-star cabbages make 4 Cabbage soups, 2-star make 7 and 3-star make 10. A better crop also fills a crate on the conveyor with fewer items (10, 8 or 6 cabbages).
  • Specific stars as materials. Some recipes ask for one exact star. Books are written from a Story of a set star: the Primer from a 1-star, the Dictionary and the Red Techbook from a 2-star, the Glossary, the Techbooks II, Printed Poetry and the Trilogy from a 3-star. The top PR Machine run takes a hundred 3-star Newspapers. Town upgrades want 2-star Cabbage, 3-star Onion or 1- and 3-star Grape Juice. A soup made from a 2-star cabbage is its own recipe, so a 2-star cabbage cannot go into the 1-star soup.
  • Wine keeps the grapes’ stars. 2-star grapes make 2-star juice, which makes 2-star wine.