Newbie Guide Part Three

The Newbie Guide consists of five parts:


 * Part One: The Newbie Guide Main Page
 * Part Two: Items & Money
 * Part Three: Pet Activities & Training your Pets
 * Part Four: Caring for pets
 * Part Five: Newbie FAQ

Pet Activities
Every hour, your pets choose whether or not to engage in an action, and what that action will be. The decision is based on the pet's hidden stats, as well as the mood the gods are currently in.

There are six actions that a pet can do - gathering, hunting, adventuring, crafting, inventing, and construction. Pets tend to specialize in one, and occasionally more than one of these actions, and will generally do their specialty more consistently than the others. Another factor that affects what your pets will choose to do is how you have leveled them up, as their stat gains will bolster their performance in different areas, enabling them to achieve higher level accomplishments.

Gathering
Gathering is the act of collecting different foods and resources. All pets will engage in gathering when hungry enough, but some truly excel at it, enabling them to bring home valuable materials, such as rubber or logs. Gatherers must know how to find things in the wild, and rely on survival knowledge, alertness, stamina, and strength to succeed. See here for a list of some of the items that your pet may bring home.

Hunting
Hunting is the act of stalking and capturing one's prey. Successful hunters tend to bring home food articles that are animal-related, such as eggs or steak, or material resources, such as fluff or leather. Hunters must be able to chase down animals, and rely on perception, speed, survival knowledge, and strength. See here for a list of some of the items your pet may receive through hunting.

Adventuring
Adventuring, also known as defeating, is the act of engaging something or someone in battle. Defeaters can bring home any number of things, from food to resources to valuable profile items, depending on the opponent they have defeated. Defeaters need to know how to fight and be able to take hits, and as such rely on strength, stamina, speed, and extrovertedness to be successful. See here for a list of opponents your pet can defeat.

Crafting
Crafting is the act of creatively making something. Crafters require materials to craft, such as fluff for pillows, logs for furniture, dyes to colour different items, and plastic for figurines, among other things. Crafters need to be nimble enough to manipulate their crafts, and therefore rely on dexterity, creativity, and introvertedness to succeed. See here for a list of some of the items that your pet may craft.

Inventing
Inventing is the act of strategically creating something. Inventors require materials to invent the things their minds come up with, such as plastics, rubber, and copper. Inventors are also able to genetically modify certain foods. Inventing pets need to be able to nimbly manipulate their materials, and hence rely on dexterity, intelligence, and introvertedness. See for a list of some of the things things your pets could invent.

Construction
Construction is the act of building add-ons to your estate, hence increasing your house size. Builders require materials such as logs, clay, iron, and glass to build add-ons, and more skilled builders will be able to get increased size out of each piece of material, as opposed to just a size 1 add-on. Construction requires the ability to do simple construction tasks and understand what you're doing, and as such, builders tend to rely on strength, stamina, intelligence, and dexterity. 

Training your pet
How do I make my pet do ____?

This is a common question with one simple answer: you can't make a pet do anything, but you can train it by answering questions when your pet levels up and give it further encouragement to do what you want by giving it the right tools for the job.

Here are a few common "pet jobs" and the stats you should focus on to make your pet do them.

Hunter
This is a very useful job for your first pet to have as it means your pet will not only level up quicker, it will bring home lots of food, making life easier on you!

Hunters need (in order of importance)....


 * Strength
 * Hunting Skill
 * Dexterity & Nimbleness

Question answers that tend to help hunters usually have something to do with physical activity, such as fighting, running, or making traps.

Equipment that suits hunters is usually strength and dexterity based. Bows are common.

Gatherer
This is also a very good job for your first pet! Gatherers bring home lots of food and sometimes crafting materials like log or Small Rock that can be worth money. Gatherer is usually a good occupation for a social (extroverted) pet as most of the perception skills can also make a pet more friendly.

Gatherers need (in order of importance)....


 * Perception
 * Dexterity & Nimbleness

Gatherer equipment is Perception based or otherwise help your pet spot things easier.

Adventurer/Defeater
These pets are similar to hunters, only instead of going after beasties for food, they are looking for treasure! These pets bring home things to sell, mostly, (not all of which are worth a lot of money), and not much food.

Adventurers need (in order of importance)....


 * Strength
 * Hardiness
 * Perception

Adventurers commonly use Strength-based weapons and armor like swords and shields.

Builder
These pets aren't really useful unless your house is getting too small or you want to build an Add-on such as an Attic or Basement. These pets generally make good Adventurers as a side-hobby, so try to mix in some Adventurer training with the builder training!

Builders need (in order of importance)....


 * Strength
 * Hardiness
 * Intelligence
 * Perception

Builders use... well, building tools. Things like a Hammer or a Nail Gun.

Crafter
Crafters aren't very useful early on as they will take your expensive building materials and treasures that your Gatherers and Adventurers find and turn them into fairly worthless crafts. Only after you have a few Gatherers and Adventurers (I'd say at least 3 of each!) in your house should you make a crafter.

Crafters need (in order of importance)....


 * crafting skill
 * Perception
 * Dexterity & Nimbleness

Crafters use crafter tools such as Cheap Sculpting Knife and Artist's Palette.

Inventor
Inventors are another kind of pet that aren't really useful until later on. These pets, if they're smart enough, spend their time creating rare machines like Cognitive Meliorator at higher levels, but when they're young, expect mostly inexpensive Simple Circuits and Plastic for cluttering up your home.

Inventors need (in order of importance)....


 * Inventing skill
 * Intelligence (lots of it. Seriously)
 * Dexterity & Nimbleness
 * Perception

Inventors don't use a lot of tools, but what they do use always increases Intelligence or Perception. 

Motivator (friendly pet)
These pets are not really useful except in houses with lots of pets. Even then, a house with only 1 "friendly pet" to 5-7 working pets is more than enough to assure a happy family. Motivator pets should be trained as gatherers when a a question does not have any answer that increases friendliness/ extrovertedness.

Motivators need (in order of importance)....


 * Friendliness/extrovertedness
 * Perception
 * Dexterity & Nimbleness

Motivators don't use tools, so just give them Gatherer tools instead. 

Picking your pet's job
The easiest way to pick a pet's job is to see what equipment it can use. Try looking at these equipment. If your pet can use one of them (it will be at the bottom of the page saying if they can or not), then the job it's attached to is a good job for them and you should focus on training your pet to do their job.

Trying to train a pet to be what it is not is difficult and often results in pets not being what you expected. 

Hunter
Main skills: Strength, Dexterity/speed and Skill


 * Hunter's Bow
 * Recurve Bow
 * Leafy Slingshot
 * Bear Trap

Gatherer
Main skills: Perception, Dexterity/speed


 * Compass
 * Binoculars
 * Spyglass
 * 10cm Katamari
 * 50cm Katamari

Adventurer/Defeater
Main skills: Strength, Perception


 * Gold-Buckle Belt
 * Leather Armor
 * Leather Cap
 * Club
 * Feathered Helmet
 * Bokken

Builder
NOT recommended as your first pet's job! Main skills: Strength, Hardiness


 * Nail Gun
 * Hammer
 * Basic Toolset

Crafter
NOT recommended as your first pet's job! Main skills: Skill, Perception


 * Artist's Palette
 * Sewing Machine
 * Sculpting Knife

Inventor
NOT recommended as your first pet's job! Main skills: Intelligence, Perception


 * Basic Toolset
 * Abacus
 * Towel
 * h4x Axe
 * 4-Function Calculator

Motivator (friendly pet)
NOT recommended as your first pet's job! Main skills: Friendliness/extrovertedness, Perception

OK, these guys don't use tools... so the best way to find this out is to either...


 * Adopt a pet from the pound marked as "extroverted", "outgoing" or "VERY friendly"
 * Use Lesser Divination Scrolls until it tells you how Extroverted the pet in question is.
 * If the pet is not marked as "more agreeable than most pets of similar level" or "more outgoing than most pets of similar level", then do NOT make them your Motivator pet!