Spirit Wagers

Setting a wager

1. Hold a Fishing Pole by the water, with nothing on the line, and press right-click or R. The FISHING window opens on its WAGER page.
2. Pick an element (Fire, Water, Earth or Wind). Each one's well shows how many of its spirits you have.
3. Set the amount with the - and + buttons or the step buttons (10, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200). Your rod limits the most you can put down.
4. Press SET WAGER. Every cast after that carries the same wager until you change it. While you stand by the water, a small chip over your hood shows the wager.

The spirits leave you as the float flies, and the float glows in their colour. If you have fewer spirits than the wager, you put down what you have. With none, the cast is a plain one. To fish without a wager, set it to 0.

Winning and losing

• You land the catch: the wager is spent, and the catch is yours.
• You reel in before anything bites: all the spirits come back to you.
• The line snaps, the catch gets away, or you reel in or are hit after something has bitten: the spirits are lost.
• A spirit bites: it pays your wager back, plus 50% more (a wager of 20 Fire gives 30 Fire spirits on top of the spirit's own).

The tide

At some times and places, an element is favoured. Its tide counts as extra spirits wagered, but never past what your rod can carry. A favoured element shows bubbles of its colour in the water, and the window's THE WATER page lists the tide right now and why.

The bonuses add up. For example, 100 Fire spirits at noon in the desert count as 135 (with a steel or endurium rod; an iron rod stops at 100). See Day and Night and Weather.

What a wager buys

The amount, with the tide counted, falls into one of these steps. An amount between two steps uses the lower one.

• Its own things: the chance that the catch comes from the element's own list (below). Part of that chance is gear (the "Of which gear" column). The rest is one of its fish (65%) or its materials. Only fish your rod can reach count; if none can, it's materials.
• Otherwise you get an ordinary catch (see Fishing), but with the wager's luck added. From 50 up, fishbones are also 60% rarer.
• Luck makes rarer fish and finer things bite more often.

Gear from a wager

• 60% of the time it is a weapon or tool, 25% a raincoat and 15% a charm from the element's list.
• Its metal follows the Jewels you hold: stone with none, bronze with one, and so on. It has a chance to be one metal finer: 30% at the lowest step, then 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% at 200. With four or more Jewels it is always endurium.
• A weapon or raincoat comes up with that many tiers of the wager's element awake, as far as the item can hold.
• The trait chance gives it one more trait if it has a free slot. Higher steps make a better trait more likely. See Traits.
• Gear from a big wager fights a little harder on the line.

Each element's own things

• Ore follows your rod: Copper Ore with a stone rod; Copper Ore (30% chance of Iron Ore) with bronze; Iron Ore with iron; Iron Ore (30% chance of Endurium) with steel; Endurium with endurium.
• Ingots follow your Jewels: Bronze Ingots with 0 or 1, Iron Ingots with 2, Steel Ingots with 3, Endurium Ingots with 4 or more.
• Arrows are of your rod's metal or your Jewels' metal, whichever is finer.

The safety net

Wagers that count as 50 or more keep a tally. If seven of them in a row bring up nothing rare, the eighth is sure to: either a rare or finer fish from the element's list, or gear at least as good as a 100-spirit wager's. "Rare" means a rare, very rare or legendary-rarity fish, a legendary fish, iron or finer gear, or any gear from a wager. The tally starts again after each rare catch.

Legendary fish

With a steel or endurium rod, a wager that counts as 100 or more in the land's own element, cast into deep water in that land, can bring up its legendary fish. The window's LEGEND row shows your chance on this cast. See Legendary Fish.

Tips

• Reel in quickly if you change your mind before a bite: an unbitten wager always comes back.
• Use the tide. A wager of 87 Earth at night in the highlands counts as 117 (with a steel rod or finer).
• Small wagers are cheap and already raise your luck. Big wagers are worth it when you want that element's gear.
• Rod abilities that make lines stronger or catches calmer protect a big wager.

In online play: fishing together

• Starting: by the water with a rod, with another player within 6 tiles, press START A LINE. Players with a rod within 6 tiles of you can press JOIN (your name)'S LINE.
• Choosing: each player picks their own wager, and each must pick a different element. A taken element shows who has it. Press READY when you're done. When everyone is ready, the starter presses CAST TOGETHER. It takes at least two players. Leaving before the cast costs nothing.
• Staying: the starter must stay at the spot, and the others within about 7 tiles of the starter, or they leave the line.
• The fight: there is one float and one fight. Everyone's right move helps: reeling a wiggle pulls it in, yanking a run hauls it back. Anyone's wrong move strains the line. If the line snaps, every wager is lost.
• What bites: it leans to each element on the line by its share of the spirits. All wagers together count toward the step (up to 200, with the tide). The catch is 10% luckier for each player after the first.
• Chests: now and then a chest comes up (2%, plus 1% for every 100 spirits on the line). It is the same for everyone, and each player opens their own.
• Who keeps it: each player sees their own version of the catch, made for their own rod and Jewels. Then you vote: who keeps it, or DESTROY. The majority wins; a tie spins a wheel between the tied choices. If no vote comes in 20 seconds, it counts as DESTROY. Spirits, fishbones and chests are not voted on: everyone gets their own. A spirit pays each player their own wager back, plus 50%.