Rune Factory Frontier Runeys Mini-Guide

Helpful topics for older versions of Rune Factory.
Kupo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. What are Runeys?
3. The Runey Distribution Map
4. How are Runeys produced?
5. Candy and the Harvester
6. Prosperity
7. How do I balance my Runeys properly?
8. Grass Factories
9. What to do if your Areas are Extinct
10. Things you should Know
11. Extra Help!
12. Credits
--PLEASE NOTE--
This guide was not meant to be read from beginning to end (though you can do so if you want to).
You need to look at the sections and see which one would be most beneficial to your situation. If you need a bit of help balancing but you're already familiar with the system go ahead and skip ahead to section 7. If you're not familiar with anything and your runeys are extinct but you're too lazy to read the other stuff that's also fine; just go straight to section 9.
The additional information on Candy, etc. is just for people who want to extend their knowledge as much as they can about Runeys.


1. Introduction

Well, a lot of people seem to have questions about Runeys. In fact people don't really seem to understand the system much! So I decided I'd just make a little topic telling as much as I know about Runeys. I did research around here and around GameFAQs (full credit for the Grass Factory idea goes to GameFAQs, I don't know who exactly thought of it... but thank you^^) If anyone knows anything I haven't put (which of course shall happen since I'm not too far into the game) or has any questions at all please don't hesitate to post or PM me.


2. What are Runeys?

Runeys are those little glowing things you see all around Trampoli. In past Rune Factory games, crops would produce "runes" when ready to harvest which you could collect to restore your RP. In Trampoli, crops above ground produce Runeys (crops in dungeons still produce runes). The effective balancing of Runeys can lead to much shorter crop-growing times, but if you don't balance your runeys in all maps your crops can take forever to grow and can just randomly die. As you can see, runeys are a vital part of Rune Factory and cannot just be ignored!


3. The Runey Distribution Map

If you talk to Candy, she can show you where runeys are, or you can look at the strange blue sphere on the second floor in the clock tower. If you open up this map, you'll see that it shows every map in Trampoli, along with its status, runey population and dominant runey. The status is shown by the colour of the map:

YELLOW = Prosperity (35+ Runeys of each type) - Crops in Field and Dungeons grow faster for every area at this stage
GREEN = Neutral - Crop growth time is normal
RED = Danger (1-5 Runeys total)
GREY = Extinct (0 Runeys total) - Crops in Field and Dungeons grow much slower for every area at this stage

The Runey population you can see at the bottom right. And the dominant runey is shown beside the runey population - every map in Trampoli has a dominant runey (one that will do better there than the other ones) except Homestead which is neutral.


4. How are Runeys produced?

Well, there are a few ways that runeys are produced. Runeys actually follow a food chain:
Water eats Stone
Stone eats Tree
Tree eats Grass

So, if left alone, Runeys will gradually decrease until they all become extinct.

Your Homestead is the one place that doesn't seem to be affected by the runey food chain - instead it depends on your crops to produce runeys. Every crop you grow above ground (not in dungeons) will produce runeys that will add to the homestead's population once it has matured. If you leave your already mature crops and don't harvest them they will produce runeys again the next day, with no need for watering or anything like that. No runeys can die in Homestead, so it will just keep producing runeys like a Runey Factory (har har).


5. Candy and the Harvester

To meet Candy, you'll need to talk to Kanno. Kanno will arrive shortly after you inspect the clock tower and Stella tells you it isn't working. Once he has arrived, talk to him while he's on the first floor of the tower and he'll eventually mention how he called his granddaughters over to cook for him. Exit the clock tower and Candy and Cinnamon will fall from the sky~

Talk to Candy a bit and she'll explain runeys to you (as will Kanno), but not in very much detail. Continue speaking with Candy (choose all the options) and you'll obtain the Harvester! It'll allow you to collect runeys (just equip it and press A). To release runeys, Hold them and press A. Pressing 1 (to look up) makes Runeys gather above you, but it's still faster to just run around using the Harvester. The Harvester doesn't use any RP either.

You can also ask Candy to perform a "Rune Wonder". Basically a Rune Wonder uses runeys to grant you some kind of temporary in-game advantage, like having a higher chance of a rainy day for one week, or a day where your animal's friendship will increase more per brush. As far as I can tell these aren't that useful, but can be nice if you need to unload some runeys. You can wish for a rainy week the night before a typhoon and it usually prevents it, so that's good.

Candy can also create Rune Stones for each type of runey (Grass, Tree, Stone and Water runey stones). These are usually used to open doors, like the one at the end of Whale Island - Cave Depths, so they are actually fairly useful. You'll also need a tree runey stone to gain entrance to the Lava Ruins anyway.


6. Prosperity

So, what exactly is this "Prosperity" thing I keep mentioning? I'll break the effects and details of Prosperity into point form:
  • You need 35+ of each type of runey for a map to be in Prosperity.
  • Once an area is in Prosperity, the Water, Stone and Tree Runey populations in that area will only increase. Grass Runeys however will decrease by two every day, so you'll need a Grass Factory (see section 8 please) to sustain the grass runey population. If Grass Runeys drop below 40, Tree Runeys will also start to decrease, so keep the all areas above 40 at all times!
  • When any one area is in Prosperity, it will shorten the growth time of your crops above ground and in dungeons. Grass will regrow in one day instead of two, Pumpkins in 8 days instead of 12, etc. The more areas you have in prosperity, the faster your crops will grow (to a limit - turnips will never grow in 2 days).
  • Having all 8 areas in Prosperity actually won't benefit you at all (crop growth returns to normal, as if you had 0 areas at Prosperity).

7. How do I balance my Runeys properly?

The KEY to balancing your runey population is your Homestead. Here's a step-by-step method that works very well:
  1. Grow some crops on your field (no; dungeon doesn't count)! Not only that, but let them sit there for a day - the longer matured crops sit in your homestead the more runeys will be produced. Grass is an easy crop to do this with because it regrows every two days (one day once you have at least one area in Prosperity) and is cheap.
  2. As you wait for your Homestead population to increase, try to balance the other areas as best you can. Just trade runeys around so nothing goes extinct, and so that there are no huge imbalances. Nothing has to be perfect!
  3. Once your Homestead population is starts growing, steal runeys from it and feed them into another map. Focus on getting one map at a time to prosperity (that's 35+ of each type of runey). Continue doing this until the map you've been feeding runeys into is in prosperity.
  4. Once you've got your first area (other than Homestead) to prosperity, it gets a bit quicker. Remember, Prosperity not only benefits your crops, but Water, Stone and Tree runey populations will only go up in that area (unfortunately Grass runey population will decrease a bit each day - please see 8. Grass Factories on how to obtain more grass runeys). Start stealing runeys from these areas too (keeping the population above at least 40 of each type) and feeding them to other maps to obtain prosperity there too. Focus on one map at a time and remember to keep the other maps fairly equal.
  5. The hard part is now over! Hopefully you've got most of your maps at prosperity! The great thing is that now that you've done all this work, runey population is stable. The only thing you need to worry about are your Grass Runeys - all other types will just go up until they hit 60, and then stay there.

8. Grass Factories

Once again, I didn't think of this idea, someone on GameFAQs did and I am in debt to them @_@ Not sure who exactly since it seems to be a widespread idea around there, but thank you!
The concept of Grass Factories is fairly simple. Take a map with a grass dominance (Road to Beach works best). Empty it of all Runeys. Fill it up with 60 Water Runeys and 10 Grass Runeys. The next day, BAM! You've got around 44 Water Runeys and about 29 Grass. Take away enough Grass to leave it at 10, and put in enough Water to raise it up to 60 (take some water from your prosperous areas for this), and your grass factory will be replenished again. This is immensely helpful in two ways:
  • It helps to keep your prosperity areas supplied with much-needed grass runeys.
  • It puts your # of prosperous areas at a max of 7. If you have 8 prosperous areas it's as if you had 0, so it's good to have one neutral area.
**REMEMBER!
Grass Factories will not work for the first 7 days and 20th day of every season because food chain is ignored on these days (see section 10).


9. What to do if your Areas are Extinct

First of all, you should wait until a new season. For the first week of each season the food chain is ignored and every type of runey in each area will just go up by one - this is very helpful. After that, sweep all areas clean of all runeys, including your homestead. Distribute it as evenly as you can, trying to keep runey population in each area at 10 total, at least. Keep producing runeys on your Homestead by growing crops - even though they might take a long time since some of your areas are still extinct, you must keep producing runeys on your homestead. Just gradually work all your areas back up, keeping them all relatively equal. Once you have a good amount of runeys you can start working on Prosperity (section 7).


10. Things You Should Know
  • For the first week of the month, the food chain and all other factors affecting runeys are totally ignored and all runey populations in each area will go up by one for each species. (so, +1 of each species for each area). So, even prosperity maps only go up by one in all types, including Grass, and you won't gain bonuses from crops on your Homestead.
  • On the 20th day of each season, there will be a 20-runey increase in some maps in one species of runey. For example on Spring 20, Lake Poli might gain an extra 20 water runeys, or Business District might jump 20 grass runeys. The food chain, and all other factors that affect runeys are also ignored on this day (so from the 19 > 20 of each month your grass factory will not work).
  • Remember that not only Homestead runeys affect your crops. Every single area has just as much effect on crops as Homestead does!
  • I think that other factors like weather also have an effect on runeys. When it rained I notice a slightly higher increase in water runeys than usual. During a typhoon though, there were no noticeable/major differences that I could see.

11. Extra Help!

Unfortunately the method I have outlined in 7. won't work for everyone; and there is of course more than one way to balance your Runeys! Luckily we have lots of knowledgeable people here at UNoT. This method was developped by Saccha who allowed me the privilege of posting it here =) Here's her method!

Alright, basically, the only thing you need for this game is at least one area in prosperity, one place producing grass runeys, and no dead spots.

With no further ado I present to you.... The Saccha Method

So, pick a spot to get to prosperity (at least 35 of each), and get it there. I recommend the Homestead, because runeys don't eat each other there, so you can use it as a source of grass runeys as well as other runeys. Once you get a large number of each kind of runey, (50 or more) start skimming off the top and keeping these runeys in your rucksack. If any of your areas gets into trouble you can use these to get it out of trouble.

Now that you have a decent amount of water/rock runeys make a grass factory. Pick a spot (I recommend Road to Beach) and suck up all tree runeys in that area. Put in as many water runeys that will fit (60) and a handful of rock runeys (optional), for the water runeys to eat. Now, make sure you leave at least ten grass runeys there at all times. If you start running low on water runeys you have two choices, use rock runeys for a while, or let the factory rest for a few days while you build up your water population. NOTE: Building a grass factory may take an entire day or so, so plan accordingly.

After that, get as many areas to prosperity as you want. You can almost completely ignore a few areas if you want, just if they get into the danger zone (turning red) then run over, throw 10-20 runeys of each kind in there, and then go back to ignoring it.

Either DAILY or EVERY OTHER DAY, run up the clocktower and keep your eyes on the following things
Areas in prosperity: do they need more grass? if the population of the w/r/t is at max, go skim some off
Grass factory: Are there at least 30 grass? if so go vacuum some up, don't forget to restock the water runeys
Danger zones: go throw runeys at them if they exist. if not, ignore ignore ignore

12. Credits

Well, instead of putting people's names directly in the guide I'll just people here. I'll leave the GameFAQs one in though since it's a key part.
  • GameFAQs (grass factory idea)
  • Saccha (alternate method)
  • Wertville
  • bdsoccer
  • Sigura
  • Jack Tsuchiyama
  • monster-friend
Well, that's it! Enjoy and feel free to contribute.
Last edited by Kupo on Sep 18, 2010 2:23 pm, edited 18 times in total.
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bdsoccer
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Wow, that's really helpful!
I guess I have to put more care into my runeys xD
Also, about your question, I read something on here that says on the 20th, 20 Runeys of the 'Native' or 'Original' -best way to describe- go into the area, a sure way to mess up a good cycle you got, eh? :P
hanks again for the info!!!!!
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Mizuru007
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Kupo, once again, you make my life 20 times easier. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

STICKY THIS SUCKER.
cequia
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I'd expect no less from one of your help threads Kupo. :washu:
You get the Legendary Washu Award, for just being that bright. :P

Quite impressive as well since you say you aren't that far into it yet. So as per your wish, I shall try my absolute hardest to peer for anything you might have missed. :wink:
Sigura
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Kupo, you never cease to amaze me.
Replica
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I had no idea about like, any of this.
I just figured all of my Runeys were « Snuggly Bunny » with my mind and suiciding themselves off so my crops implode.

This will be quite helpful when I actually get to play tomorrow.
Yes yes yes. <3
Sigura
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For the 20th of each month, I think that's the day whatever runey is designated to the area, is raised. ie) Lake= Water Runey= Jump.
Sigura
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Why do I keep double posting?
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sickly farmer
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oh thanks for this. very helpful :D
Playing: RF:ToD .Soon:Persona 2.super cute set by soapy!<3
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cequia
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Edit: Ahem, nothing to say here, thought I had something to say, but I didn't. :shifty:
But in case you were curious, I thought that Grass Runeys ate Water Runeys. :sleep:
Last edited by cequia on Apr 05, 2009 6:47 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Sigura
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No. They are at the bottom.
Kupo
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bdsoccer wrote: Also, about your question, I read something on here that says on the 20th, 20 Runeys of the 'Native' or 'Original' -best way to describe- go into the area, a sure way to mess up a good cycle you got, eh? :P
Sigura wrote:For the 20th of each month, I think that's the day whatever runey is designated to the area, is raised. ie) Lake= Water Runey= Jump.
Oh, that makes sense then! I had wondered why there was a huge jump in Runeys on the 20th. That makes sense since I remember it was water runeys which jumped on the Beach. I'll add that in, thank you!
Mizuru007 wrote:Kupo, once again, you make my life 20 times easier. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

STICKY THIS SUCKER.
^^ Glad I could help. But this needs a lot more fleshing out before it might ever become a sticky anyway. I just sort of wrote it up. I'll make it nicer tomorrow, and add some more specific stuff about meeting Candy and about rune wonders/stones.
Sigura wrote:Kupo, you never cease to amaze me.
cequia wrote:I'd expect no less from one of your help threads Kupo. :washu:
You get the Legendary Washu Award, for just being that bright. :P

Quite impressive as well since you say you aren't that far into it yet. So as per your wish, I shall try my absolute hardest to peer for anything you might have missed. :wink:
Thanks... but what's a Washu o_O
Mizuru007
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Washu is a character from the Tenchi Muyo anime series that looks a LOT like the tool shop owner from the first HM for the GB. ...a.k.a. this sprite here: :washu:
cequia
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Mizuru007 wrote:Washu is a character from the Tenchi Muyo anime series that looks a LOT like the tool shop owner from the first HM for the GB. ...a.k.a. this sprite here: :washu:
Hmm, never played the first HM for the GB, so I always just thought Cheru-dear was a Tenchi Muyo fan.

But yes, Washu was the brain of the series. Yet not too brainy as not to have a sense of humor. :wink:

Edit: Oh, and I recommend this to become a sticky as well.
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Wasuredani
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This is the guide that I followed when I didn't understand Runey Distribution. Now I have all areas in prosperity, except for the grass factory, of course. It's definitely made the game more fun for me since I don't have to worry about Runies anymore, except for adding a few Grass Runies to each district every other day or so.