Herbalist's Hut

Description: The Herbalist's Hut is a building that is both a residence and a business. It is also the means of production for Balm, which is used to cure mild illnesses, and Herbal Tea, which is used to cure violent illnesses. This makes the Herbalist's Hut an important part of any society. Strategy: The Herbalist's Hut is a useful business to own because of the medicines that it produces. These are usually in high demand for any large settlement, especially during the winter. This provides an added benefit to owners of the Herbalist's Hut, who can produce enough of these to mostly ignore the effects of any illness but the plague.

There are additional benefits to owning the Herbalist's Hut, as well. First of all, the Herbalist's Hut is frequently one of several Abandoned Buildings on a map, since it is often set apart from the town, meaning that it may be claimed for free. However, as abandoned buildings are often damaged initially and need to be repaired before using their production or storage, obtaining enough money to repair this building may be time-consuming for the player. It may still be used as a place to sleep out of the elements during this time.

Another benefit to owning the Herbalist's Hut is that, because it is both a business and a residence, players at lower social classes have room for an additional business. The production of the Herbalist's Hut is complemented best by the Farmhouse, which produces the eggs and honey needed for the medicines produced by this business. The fruit can easily be obtained then by foraging in nature. However, as the only material that cannot be freely obtained is honey, the Herbalist's Hut is not expensive to supply and can easily make a good side business for any other business that the player wants to own. The herbs themselves can also be profitable for sale and may be used in the Alehouse to make Fish Stew or in the Bakehouse to make Fish Cakes.

When producing goods in the Herbalist's Hut, the garden is conveniently located right next to the house itself. The garden must be selected separately, and Herbs must be planted using the "populate" button before any herbs may be gathered. If there is a coop and a fruit tree located near the house, then the player has access to everything that they need--with the exception of honey--in unlimited quantities for free. Ideally, gather reserves of all of these ingredients before the winter and delay production until the cold weather because the stove required to brew Herbal Tea provides warmth as the tea is produced. * Base profit is calculated as the base price for all produced materials, minus the base price of all required materials. This does not take into account the markup when purchasing or the supply in the market. The most profitable good to produce is usually the one whose materials are most cheaply and readily available.