Hearths

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Ancient Hearth

Hearth
(City Buildings)

The heart of the colony is protected by the Holy Flame. Villagers gather here to rest, eat, and receive clothing. If the fire goes out, people will lose hope.

Specialization bonus:
 Warmth (Comfort) 

1 Workers

Recipes

No recipes in the Ancient Hearth.

Construction

None

0	City score
0	Build time
4 × 4	Building size

Not movable

ID = 'Small Hearth'

Overview

Hearths are the heart of the settlement. Every settlement starts with an Ancient Hearth and can construct other Small Hearths from the City Buildings menu. Hearths are buildings with  Warmth Specialization that employ a single Firekeeper to keep the Hearth lit by burning fuel. Fuel can also be Sacrificed in the Ancient Hearth. Every villager takes their breaks at the nearest Hearth to warm themselves, eat, and fulfill their needs. By upgrading the Hearth with decorations, housing, and Service buildings, you can unlock up to 3 tiers of stackable benefits. The Ancient Hearth can get corrupted at Veteran Difficulty and higher.

Hearth Types

Ancient Hearths

The heart of the colony is protected by the Holy Flame. Villagers gather here to rest, eat, and receive clothing. If the fire goes out, people will lose hope. No Hope Resolve effect: -20 Resolve.

Small Hearth construction cost

Base	At Prestige 6+
5  Planks 5  Bricks 2  Wildfire Essence	8  Planks 8  Bricks 3  Wildfire Essence

Small Hearths

Small Hearths cannot be built too close to the Ancient Hearth or to each other - the ranges of your Hearths (approx. radius of 9 squares) may never overlap.

Small Hearths are identical to Ancient Hearths, except you do not receive a Firekeeper bonus and you cannot Sacrifice fuel. It is OK if Small Hearths go out, but villagers will be unable to rest or fulfill their needs at an unlit Hearth and will instead travel to the nearest available lit Hearth.

Fuel

There are 4 fuels that can be burned in Hearths:  Coal,  Sea Marrow,  Oil, and  Wood. Each Hearth you have in the settlement consumes fuel.

You can decide which type of fuel will be burned in each Hearth using the checkboxes next to the fuel types in the Allowed Fuel menu. All Hearths share this setting. If you have multiple fuels selected, the leftmost one will always burn first. There are also options in the settings that allow you to customize which fuels are automatically enabled when starting a new settlement.

Fuel burn time

Fuel	Base burn time	With Beaver Firekeeper	With all Upgrades	With Beaver Firekeeper and all Upgrades
Coal	40 seconds	50 seconds	52 seconds	71 seconds
Sea Marrow	40 seconds	50 seconds	52 seconds	71 seconds
Oil	25 seconds	31 seconds	32 seconds	44 seconds
Wood	12 seconds	15 seconds	15 seconds	21 seconds

Firekeeper bonus

Every settlement starts with an Ancient Hearth which must always remain lit. If the fire goes out, all villagers will lose 20 Resolve. To keep the flame burning, a Firekeeper and a steady supply of fuel is needed. The job of a Firekeeper is to bring fuel to the Hearth they are assigned to. They spend most of their time idle otherwise. Your choice of Firekeeper in the Ancient Hearth will grant your settlement a species-specific bonus. Small Hearth Firekeepers don't provide any bonuses.

Species	Bonus	Effect	Description
Bats	Steel Gut	Villagers have a 15% chance of not consuming food during a break	Focused minds forget hunger.
Beavers	Pragmatic Frugality	Fuel burns 20% longer	Beaver firekeepers know a lot about burning techniques.
Foxes	Forest Affinity	-2/3/4/6 Hostility from opened Glades. Scales with Difficulty	Fox firekeepers have an unusual ability to calm the forest.
Frogs	Amphibian Leadership	Newcomers will arrive 50% quicker	Frog firekeepers may not be the most skilled at fire rituals, but they are great leaders.
Harpies	Light as a Feather	+5 to global carrying capacity	Harpy firekeepers can teach villagers how to be more nimble and agile.
Humans	Beacon	Queen's Impatience grows 25% slower	Human firekeepers create a special link with the Citadel.
Lizards	Sacred Pyre	+1 to global Resolve	Lizard firekeepers are very adept at ancient rites.

Hearth upgrades

Decorations Needed

Level 1 Hearth upgrade is available from the start. Upgrading to level 2 and 3 requires you to unlock levels 2 and 4 of the Brass Forge respectively.

Click on the Hearth to see what is required to upgrade. As seen on the image on the right in the Upgrade Requirements section, we still need 4 Comfort Decorations and 4 Aesthetics Decorations before the Hearth upgrades to level 2.

• Housing, Decorations, and Service buildings need to be placed fully within the Hearth Radius for them to count towards upgrades.
• The Hearth upgrades itself automatically once all the requirements are fulfilled.
• Both Ancient and Small Hearths can be upgraded.

Upgrades	Name	Requirements	Bonus	Description
Base Level	-	-	-30 Hostility	-
Level I	Encampment	8 Housed villagers	+1 Global Resolve	Gathered around the blazing fire, folks keep each other's spirits high.
		4 Comfort Decorations	+150 Corruption Resistance
Level II	Neighborhood	14 Housed villagers	+1 Global Resolve	Some viceroys say aesthetics don't matter out in the wilds, but you know better than that.
		8 Comfort Decorations	+150 Corruption Resistance
		4 Aesthetics Decorations	+10% global production speed
Level III	District	20 Housed villagers	+1 Global Resolve	The town is booming with activity and industry thrives.
		1 Service building	+150 Corruption Resistance
		16 Comfort Decorations	+10% global double production chance
		8 Aesthetics Decorations
		4 Harmony Decorations

Villager breaks

Main article: Breaks

Every few minutes villagers have to return to a nearby Hearth for a break, to eat, rest, and satisfy needs. All consumption happens during breaks. Villagers of different species take breaks at different Intervals.

Bats	Beavers	Foxes	Frogs	Harpies	Humans	Lizards
01:40	02:00	02:00	02:30	01:40	02:00	01:40

Sacrificing

Main article: Sacrificing

Fuel can be sacrificed in Ancient Hearths to temporarily gain powerful positive effects. Sacrificing is extremely resource intensive and requires significant labor investment, or even restructuring of the whole settlement, should you wish you keep it up for an extended period.

Corruption

Corruption bar in the Ancient Hearth

Main article: Blightrot#Corruption

Blightrot infects Hearths. The more Blightrot Cysts a Viceroy generates from Rain Engine use or Glade Events, the faster their Hearths get corrupted during Storm Season, when Blightrot Cysts open up. Once the Ancient Hearth reaches the Corruption limit, it triggers Voice of the Sealed Ones. Voice of the Sealed Ones sends out 3 ghosts from the Ancient Hearth that seek out and kill 3 random villagers. As soon as the Hearth discharges, Corruption is reset to 0 and starts rising again.

Perks and Cornerstones influencing Hearths

Hearth Perks and Cornerstones

Name	Rarity	Description	Sources										Price
			Alt	Cor	Ord	Rel	Tra	Dec	Por	Fir	Ser	Bio
Alarm Bells	Legendary	The Brass Order's newest invention. All workers have a +5% higher chance of producing double yields for every 110 points of expected corruption per minute in the Ancient Hearth.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Alarm Bells (Stormforged)	Mythic	The Brass Order's newest invention. All workers have a +10% higher chance of producing double yields for every 100 points of expected corruption per minute in the Ancient Hearth.	Alt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Ancient Stabilizer	Uncommon	The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 100.	x	x	Ord	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Baptism of Fire	Legendary	Every 3 burnt Blightrot Cysts lowers Hostility by 10. While the Hearth is corrupted, you’re unable to sacrifice resources.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Fiery Wrath	Epic	Resources you sacrifice in the Ancient Hearth burn 5% longer for every Impatience Point you have.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Firekeeper Letters	Rare	The exchange of knowledge between firekeepers can be very beneficial. The maximum number of sacrifice stacks in the Ancient Hearth is increased by +1 for every 2 ongoing trade routes.	x	x	x	x	Tra	x	Por	x	x	x	22
Firekeeper's Prayer	Legendary	Glade event work speed increased by 30%. Resources you sacrifice in the Ancient Hearth burn 25% quicker.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Firekeeper's Prayer (Stormforged)	Mythic	Glade event work speed increased by 30%. Resources you sacrifice in the Ancient Hearth burn for 30% longer.	Alt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Generous Gifts	Epic	Wealthy settlements attract wealthy settlers. Newcomers bring 40% more goods with them for every Hearth level gained.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Generous Gifts (Stormforged)	Mythic	Wealthy settlements attract wealthy settlers. Newcomers bring 75% more goods with them for every Hearth level gained.	Alt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Gift of the Depths	None	After using bait 150 times in your fishing huts, you will unlock the ability to sacrifice algae in the Ancient Hearth to reduce Hostility.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	Bio	0
Mark of the Sealed Ones	Legendary	An ancient jewel shimmers, revealing a glimmer of a faint underwater landscape. At the start of each Storm, if you have at least 500 points of expected corruption per minute, gain a permanent 33% bonus to the burning time of resources sacrificed in the Ancient Hearth.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Obelisk	Rare	Making the right offering at the Obelisk reduces Hostility by ‑10 and increases the Ancient Hearth's resistance by +100.	x	x	x	x	x	Dec	x	x	x	x	0
Obsidian Runestone	Epic	A complicated runic structure, designed to shield the hearth from corruption. The Ancient Hearth's resistance to corruption is increased by 400.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Pragmatic Frugality	None	Beaver firekeepers know a lot about different burning techniques. Fuel consumption in Hearths is decreased by 20%.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	Fir	x	x	0
Prayer Book	Epic	Scouts work 10% faster on Glade Events for every firekeeper assigned to a Hearth.	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	Por	x	x	x	0
Prayer Book (Stormforged)	Mythic	Scouts work 20% faster on Glade Events for every firekeeper assigned to a Hearth.	Alt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Sacrament of the Flame	None	There can be nothing more sacred than a flame in a world soaked with rain. For every 200 seconds spent sacrificing goods in the Ancient Hearth, Hostility is reduced by 25 (the bonus is added retroactively). Sacrificing multiple resources at the same time will progress this effect's timer faster. Same building effects do not stack.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	Ser	x	0
Safe Haven	Legendary	Hostility is reduced by 40 for every Hearth upgraded to: Neighborhood (Level 2) (or higher).	x	Cor	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0
Secret Firekeeper Techniques	Rare	An old manuscript detailing long-forgotten burning rites. Fuel consumption in Hearths is decreased by 25%.	x	x	Ord	Rel	Tra	x	Por	x	x	x	21
Secret Firekeeper Techniques (Stormforged)	Mythic	An old manuscript detailing long-forgotten burning rites. Fuel consumption in Hearths is decreased by 33%. Resources you sacrifice in the Ancient Hearth burn for 25% longer.	Alt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0

Strategies

• Bats as Firekeepers will reduce food consumption while still providing full resolve and production benefits from eating, so they can be used to stretch food supplies, especially if an effect like Parasites is increasing food consumption.
• Beavers as Firekeepers will help prevent fuel shortages, especially on Marshlands and the Sealed Forest.
• Foxes are excellent during the Storm Season as Firekeepers to keep Hostility down and stop Forest Mysteries from triggering.
• Frogs are one of the strongest Firekeepers early in a settlement, as labor shortages are common in the first few years, so increased villager count is one of the strongest early-game bonuses.
• Harpies Firekeepers are valuable at times where large-scale hauling is occurring continuously, such as hauling in the harvest from a fishing pond or before and after Glade Events to carry goods to and from these Events.
• Humans Firekeepers are invaluable when playing World Map modifiers like Land of Greed to slow down the Queen's Impatience or preventing a failed settlement after a disastrous loss of villagers increases Impatience to dangerous levels.
• Lizards as Hearthkeepers will help you in achieving Resolve - based Orders or increasing the rate of Reputation gain from high resolve.
• Since Firekeepers in Small Hearths don't offer a species-specific bonus like they do in the Ancient Hearth, you can take advantage of its  Warmth specialization synergy with Lizards.