Ore stones. Everybody needs them. Everybody has had their own difficulties getting them, and getting what they want OUT of them. In this thread, I will detail literally EVERYTHING you need to know about ToTT related to ore stones - including a method I discovered for how to GUARANTEE the star-level of the gems and ores you get out of them - for your ENTIRE game! NO CHEATS required!
Contents:
1) Basic - What are Ore Stones?
2) Basic - What do I need them for?
3) Basic - Where can I get them?
4) Advanced - How can I GUARANTEE the star-level of the items I get out of ore stones?
Credit where credit is due - Thanks to Cher for her awesome ToTT guide which I will reference at several points. Thanks also to maxandsam whose comment about keeping ore stones separate in this thread gave me the idea for the star-level guarantee method.
First, the Basics:
1) What are Ore Stones?
Spoiler:
For those new to the game - whenever anybody (in the game or on the forum) is talking about or asking for an "Ore Stone", they mean a black rock with lighter blue/green specks in it. You can smash them open with a hammer to get anything from scrap metal to pink diamonds to mythic ore. They're randomly found in several places in the game, and can even be rewards for board requests.
A specific list of all the items you might find in an Ore Stone when you smash it includes: Scrap Metal, Copper, Silver, Gold, Adamantite, Orichalcum, Mythril, Mythic Ore, Stone Tablet, Amethyst, Emerald, Sandrose, Topaz, Diamond, Pink Diamond, Peridot, Fluorite, Agate, Ruby, Moonstone, and Jade.
(Thanks to RiitzC for providing most of the list.)
But all you really need to know is - Mythic Ore, Stone Tablet, and Ruby are always useful (for Oracle's special fertilizers), and you'll need Adamantite, Mythril, and one each of Amethyst, Diamond, and Moonstone if you upgrade all the tools fully. Everything else you get can just be sold.
A specific list of all the items you might find in an Ore Stone when you smash it includes: Scrap Metal, Copper, Silver, Gold, Adamantite, Orichalcum, Mythril, Mythic Ore, Stone Tablet, Amethyst, Emerald, Sandrose, Topaz, Diamond, Pink Diamond, Peridot, Fluorite, Agate, Ruby, Moonstone, and Jade.
(Thanks to RiitzC for providing most of the list.)
But all you really need to know is - Mythic Ore, Stone Tablet, and Ruby are always useful (for Oracle's special fertilizers), and you'll need Adamantite, Mythril, and one each of Amethyst, Diamond, and Moonstone if you upgrade all the tools fully. Everything else you get can just be sold.
Spoiler:
There are several very important requests in the game that require UNSMASHED ore stones. There are several other requests that require the items that you can get OUT of Ore Stones when you smash them. If you plan ahead, you can complete these requests quickly and easily.
Here's a list of important requests that require ore stones or their products:
So in short, if you plan to do all the requests that involve ore stones, never smash any ore stones you find until you have stored up at least 22 of them for the major requests - more if you want to save unsmashed stones for the gems needed for tools or the carts or the fancy fertilizers. Just store the ore stones in your cart or rucksack. They will never go bad or anything.
A full list of all items you might want to stock up on for future large requests can be found HERE.
Here's a list of important requests that require ore stones or their products:
- Big Bed Request - from Eileen, Bluebell board. You will need 2 unsmashed ore stones for this request. This request usually appears on Spring 1 Year 2 unless you have been completely ignoring Eileen or have kept your request board level below 3, since the requirements are 7750fp with Eileen (not even 2 flowers) and request board level 3, and being in Year 2 or later. This request will take the place of any tunnel or farm expansion request for that season and it won't go away until you complete it, so it's important to fulfill this request quickly.
- Triple Bed Request - from Eileen, Bluebell board. You will need 5 unsmashed ore stones for this request. This request appears the first day of the season after you get married, and again, it takes the place of any tunnel or farm expansion requests for that season, and won't go away until you complete it. So don't get married until you have those 5 ore stones stored up!
- Tool Upgrade requests - there are three tools you can upgrade in this game: the watering can, hoe, and sickle. These requests come from Sheng at the first of each season (once you've raised him to about 2 flowers - don't ignore him!) on the Konohana board. For each tool, at some point you will need 5 unsmashed ore stones, 20 scrap metal, a gem (different gem for each tool), an adamantite, and a mythril to upgrade it fully. The star-level they request for the scrap metal, adamantite, mythril, and the gem depend on the year you are in when you get the request. For example, if you get the request in Year 2, then the items will need to be 2-stars. In Year 3, they will need to be 2.5-stars, and so on. So save up your unsmashed ore stones for the tools you intend to upgrade fully. You may also want to store up enough scrap metal (easily found in the tunnel and the crack behind the waterfall) ahead of time. I recommend waiting to get the gem until you get the request - save an extra unsmashed ore stone for that. You can find more detail on the tool requests on Cher's tool request page.
- Oracle's cart requests - Once you make it to 2 flowers with Oracle (you can meet her once you get to Year 2) she may post these requests on the Bluebell board on the first day of the season. They will not appear until after you've completed the skate/snowboard and clothing requests from her (assuming you qualify for those). You will need a stone tablet for the UFO cart, and a mythic ore for the Cardboard Cart. Again, required star-level will vary depending on your Year. For more details about the various horse carts in the game, see Cher's horse cart page.
So in short, if you plan to do all the requests that involve ore stones, never smash any ore stones you find until you have stored up at least 22 of them for the major requests - more if you want to save unsmashed stones for the gems needed for tools or the carts or the fancy fertilizers. Just store the ore stones in your cart or rucksack. They will never go bad or anything.
A full list of all items you might want to stock up on for future large requests can be found HERE.
Spoiler:
There're lots of places to find ore stones in any season (though Winter has the most). The problem is that in all of those places, ore stones are pretty rare, but more likely to be found on all-rainy or stormy/blizzard days. So you should make sure to check all of them (within reason) every day. Here's where you can get ore stones:
- Your best bet year-round is the foraging crack behind the waterfall in the Konohana Mid-Mountain screen. Hop down the ledges on the left side of the bridge, then go around and up under the bridge and along the water up to the waterfall. You certainly might find ore stones in other foraging cracks and stumps, but you'll have the best luck here.
- In the tunnel. Even if you have not completed the tunnel yet, you will occasionally find an ore stone on the ground inside the tunnel.
- Just lying around on the mountain. It's very rare even on stormy days, but occasionally you might find an ore stone just sitting around on the ground in various spots on the mountain, so check everywhere. Don't forget to check inside that huge hollow log in Bluebell Low-Mountain! I just found one there on a snowy day in Winter during my last play session.
- River-diving. Anywhere there is "deep" water, including all dock-fishing spots on the mountain, the river by your rice paddies (if you've built at least one) and the river that runs through Konohana, you can jump in the water and if you are lucky you might get an ore stone (or an amethyst, though only 1/2-star). This method uses up stamina very very quickly though so don't do it unless you've got nothing else to do for the rest of the day and you've got stamina to waste.
- Inside snowballs. Only available in Winter, of course, but if you toss those snowballs you find on the mountain in Winter, there will sometimes be an ore stone inside. If you plan to get the Snowboard from Oracle, you'll want to save up 10 snowballs first, but after that, smash away!
- Hidden forage spots. There are two forage spots on the mountain that are "hidden" from you at the beginning of the game, but when they're open, you're more likely to find ore stones on the ground here.
- One is opened up by the second bear event. After you have completed two tunnel requests, walk (don't ride your horse) into the Konohana Mid-Mountain screen repeatedly until you trigger the bear event where it clears away the boulders up the jumping ledges from the left side of the waterfall. This opens up the entrance to a small dead-end area where you will find the occasional bug, scrap metal, copper, or ore stone. Keep in mind you can't trigger bear events in Winter since they're hibernating, so if you do your second tunnel expansion in Winter, wait until Spring to try and trigger the bear event.
- The second hidden forage spot is only accessible in Winter. Go to Konohana High-Mountain (not the waterfall screen - the screen above it). In the lower area there is a stream where you can fish (if you break the ice). Follow the frozen river down to the bottom of the screen and at the very bottom there is a little dead-end area off to the left where you will often find scrap metal, copper, and ore stones.
- Sheng's requests. Once you raise your board request level up to 4, and you make better friends with Sheng (just 2.5 flowers or so), you will start to get requests from him on the Konohana board asking you to water or harvest his crops. ALWAYS take these requests if you see them. You can see Cher's site for the dates the requests can show up. You need to complete the watering request in order to trigger the harvesting request later that season. If you complete the harvesting job quickly (which is easy to do) you will get not only the advertised reward, but also you will get an ore stone as a bonus!
- Raul's requests. Raul has a special "Item Needed" request that will be triggered once you are board request level 4 and have at least 2.5 flowers with him. This request appears on the Konohana board on the 2nd of Winter once you qualify for it. Raul will ask you for 2 each of Fall's flowers - Gerbera, Nadeshiko, and White Rose. (Cher's site says Gentian instead of Gerbera - this is a TYPO, Gerbera is the correct flower.) The star-level depends on the year. In Year 2 he asks for 1-star flowers, in Year 3 he asked me for 2-star flowers. The flowers are a gift for his love, Marian (a character from the GrB game, if you played it) for her birthday, and if you can manage to plan ahead and grow and save the flowers from Fall for this request, Raul will give you 10 Ore Stones!!
- From the HG. It's been reported that after you have had five visitors to your wifi field (5 visits, they don't have to be from five different people) then the next time you visit, the HG will congratulate you on five visits and reward you with an ore stone.
4) How can I GUARANTEE the star-level of the items I get out of Ore Stones?
Spoiler:
Now, this is the cool thing I found that caused me to post this thread. There is a way, without any cheats necessary, to guarantee the star-level of every single thing you get out of the ore stones when you smash them. You can lock in your star-level at 4 stars fairly early in the game (around Summer Year 2 possibly), but even before that, you can use this method to lock in the star-level at whatever is the highest star-level available to you at your point in the game.
What makes this possible is the fact that Ore Stones each have a "hidden" star-level. But, because it is "hidden" until you smash the stone, you can stack ore stones, and by doing so, that forces the entire stack to have the same star-level. So all you need is one high-level ore stone, and some clever stacking techniques, and voila! Instantly you have an entire stack of high star-level ore stones. Of course, this also means that if you stack things incorrectly you can accidently mess them up and set your entire stack of ore stones to a very LOW level instead. So be careful when following my steps.
It helps to understand the stacking process. It's pretty straightforward. The star-level of a stack is set to the value of the first stone in the stack, and any stone you later add to that stack takes on the same value. So let's say that the first ore stone you put in your rucksack had a hidden star-level of 2-stars. Then a few days later you found another ore stone. As soon as you put that second stone into your rucksack, it stacks on top of the first stone, and takes on the 2-star value, regardless of what the original star-level of the second stone was. By manipulating the first ore stone in the stack, you can change the star-level of the whole stack.
With that in mind, here are the steps to follow.
First you need the highest star-level ore stone you can get. Ore stones that you find on the mountain in forage spots or lying on the ground or in snowballs will have the star-level of any other forageable item, which rises over the years. In Year 1 the highest level is 1.5-stars. In Year 2 that goes up to 2-stars, and in Year 3 it goes up to 3-stars. These are the best you can get until you have a board request level high enough to get ore stones from Sheng's and Raul's requests. Don't ever use an ore stone gotten from jumping in the river as your "first stone" - those are always only worth a half-star and will kill your stack. Ore stones from Sheng's requests are always 4-stars. Ore stones from Raul's requests depend on the star-level of the flowers you give him for the request. So if you can manage to raise very high-star flowers for him, he may give you 10 5-star ore stones! Your best bet is probably Sheng, though, once you can get his requests.
The best way to "check" the star-level for a new stone you found is to keep all your "old" ore stones in your horse cart, so there are none in your rucksack. Then put your new stone in your rucksack all by itself. Wait until the next day is a day when you don't plan to buy anything from a shop, since the test involves reloading, and reloading messes with shop inventory. Good days to save are the nights before festival days, full-rainy days, and stormy days. When you go to sleep that night, save the game. When you first wake up the next morning, smash the ore stone. It doesn't matter what you get out of it - even if it's just scrap, check the star-level. That is the star-level of that stone - remember it, or note it down if you have to. Reload.
Now, if you've been following my process from the beginning, you already know the star-level of your stack of ore stones in your horse cart. If that star-level is HIGHER than the star-level of your new stone, then just add your new stone to the horse cart stack and it will take on the higher value. If your new stone is higher-level than the stack, then you want to make the new stone your "first stone". To do this, just put the new stone on the ground. Then get your stack out of the horse cart, and put the stack on the ground (using the drop function so you don't have to toss them down one at a time). Then pick up the single ore stone and put it in your pack. Finally, pick up the stack and put it in your pack. Voila! The new single stone became your "first stone" and now the whole stack is that star-value, even if you separate the stack into separate piles again.
I bet you're thinking - wow, that's a lot of work. Actually, no it's not, because you only need to do this if you know that the star-level of your new stone might be higher than the star-level of your stack. So, once you've got the stack to the highest star-level available to you for that year, you don't need to check the star-level of new stones for the rest of the year. Just keep adding the new ore stones to the top of the stack. And once you get a 4-star stone from Sheng's request and make it your "first stone", you'll never need to check the star-level of a stone again until you get one that might be more than 4-stars.
So to break it down:
1) Know the star-level of your stack.
2) When you get a new ore stone - think - is it possible for it to be a higher star-level than your stack?
--- If no, then just add the new ore stone to the stack so it gets the stack's star level.
--- If yes, but you don't know for sure, then keep the stone separate from the stack until you can test it as outlined above.
--- If yes, and you KNOW it's better, then continue through the next steps to make it your new "first stone".
3) Drop the new "first stone" on the ground.
4) Get out your stack from storage and drop the stack on the ground a little ways away.
5) Pick up your new first stone and store it.
6) Pick up your stack and store it on top of the new first stone. Now your stack has the new first stone's value.
A specific example:
1) I'm in Winter Year 2. I know my stack's star level is 2-stars (the max foraging level for that year).
2) I forage a new ore stone from the crack behind the waterfall! I know it can't be more than 2 stars so I just add it to the stack.
3) I found a new ore stone in a snowball! Again, it can't be more than 2 stars so I just add it to my stack.
4) I got my first harvesting request from Sheng! I go to him, complete the request quickly, and get the bonus ore stone.
5) I know that this new ore stone is 4-stars. This is higher than my stack.
6) I put the 4-star ore stone on the ground. Then I walk a few steps to the side and drop my stack to the ground.
7) I pick up the 4-star ore stone and put it in my storage.
8 ) Then I walk over to my stack, pick it up, and put it in storage with the new stone.
9) I now have a full stack of 4-star ore stones.
As long as I keep at least one 4-star ore stone in my storage at all times to be the "first stone" for my stack, I can smash all the rest of the stones whenever I need to, to get a gem or ore for a request, or to sell, etc.
If you're needing a particular gem/ore, just pick a good day for reloading, save the night before, and smash away in the morning - remember to keep at least one stone for your stack, so never smash everything you have. If you don't get the gem/ore that you need, reload and try again. Repeat until you've got what you want. ^_^
What makes this possible is the fact that Ore Stones each have a "hidden" star-level. But, because it is "hidden" until you smash the stone, you can stack ore stones, and by doing so, that forces the entire stack to have the same star-level. So all you need is one high-level ore stone, and some clever stacking techniques, and voila! Instantly you have an entire stack of high star-level ore stones. Of course, this also means that if you stack things incorrectly you can accidently mess them up and set your entire stack of ore stones to a very LOW level instead. So be careful when following my steps.
It helps to understand the stacking process. It's pretty straightforward. The star-level of a stack is set to the value of the first stone in the stack, and any stone you later add to that stack takes on the same value. So let's say that the first ore stone you put in your rucksack had a hidden star-level of 2-stars. Then a few days later you found another ore stone. As soon as you put that second stone into your rucksack, it stacks on top of the first stone, and takes on the 2-star value, regardless of what the original star-level of the second stone was. By manipulating the first ore stone in the stack, you can change the star-level of the whole stack.
With that in mind, here are the steps to follow.
First you need the highest star-level ore stone you can get. Ore stones that you find on the mountain in forage spots or lying on the ground or in snowballs will have the star-level of any other forageable item, which rises over the years. In Year 1 the highest level is 1.5-stars. In Year 2 that goes up to 2-stars, and in Year 3 it goes up to 3-stars. These are the best you can get until you have a board request level high enough to get ore stones from Sheng's and Raul's requests. Don't ever use an ore stone gotten from jumping in the river as your "first stone" - those are always only worth a half-star and will kill your stack. Ore stones from Sheng's requests are always 4-stars. Ore stones from Raul's requests depend on the star-level of the flowers you give him for the request. So if you can manage to raise very high-star flowers for him, he may give you 10 5-star ore stones! Your best bet is probably Sheng, though, once you can get his requests.
The best way to "check" the star-level for a new stone you found is to keep all your "old" ore stones in your horse cart, so there are none in your rucksack. Then put your new stone in your rucksack all by itself. Wait until the next day is a day when you don't plan to buy anything from a shop, since the test involves reloading, and reloading messes with shop inventory. Good days to save are the nights before festival days, full-rainy days, and stormy days. When you go to sleep that night, save the game. When you first wake up the next morning, smash the ore stone. It doesn't matter what you get out of it - even if it's just scrap, check the star-level. That is the star-level of that stone - remember it, or note it down if you have to. Reload.
Now, if you've been following my process from the beginning, you already know the star-level of your stack of ore stones in your horse cart. If that star-level is HIGHER than the star-level of your new stone, then just add your new stone to the horse cart stack and it will take on the higher value. If your new stone is higher-level than the stack, then you want to make the new stone your "first stone". To do this, just put the new stone on the ground. Then get your stack out of the horse cart, and put the stack on the ground (using the drop function so you don't have to toss them down one at a time). Then pick up the single ore stone and put it in your pack. Finally, pick up the stack and put it in your pack. Voila! The new single stone became your "first stone" and now the whole stack is that star-value, even if you separate the stack into separate piles again.
I bet you're thinking - wow, that's a lot of work. Actually, no it's not, because you only need to do this if you know that the star-level of your new stone might be higher than the star-level of your stack. So, once you've got the stack to the highest star-level available to you for that year, you don't need to check the star-level of new stones for the rest of the year. Just keep adding the new ore stones to the top of the stack. And once you get a 4-star stone from Sheng's request and make it your "first stone", you'll never need to check the star-level of a stone again until you get one that might be more than 4-stars.
So to break it down:
1) Know the star-level of your stack.
2) When you get a new ore stone - think - is it possible for it to be a higher star-level than your stack?
--- If no, then just add the new ore stone to the stack so it gets the stack's star level.
--- If yes, but you don't know for sure, then keep the stone separate from the stack until you can test it as outlined above.
--- If yes, and you KNOW it's better, then continue through the next steps to make it your new "first stone".
3) Drop the new "first stone" on the ground.
4) Get out your stack from storage and drop the stack on the ground a little ways away.
5) Pick up your new first stone and store it.
6) Pick up your stack and store it on top of the new first stone. Now your stack has the new first stone's value.
A specific example:
1) I'm in Winter Year 2. I know my stack's star level is 2-stars (the max foraging level for that year).
2) I forage a new ore stone from the crack behind the waterfall! I know it can't be more than 2 stars so I just add it to the stack.
3) I found a new ore stone in a snowball! Again, it can't be more than 2 stars so I just add it to my stack.
4) I got my first harvesting request from Sheng! I go to him, complete the request quickly, and get the bonus ore stone.
5) I know that this new ore stone is 4-stars. This is higher than my stack.
6) I put the 4-star ore stone on the ground. Then I walk a few steps to the side and drop my stack to the ground.
7) I pick up the 4-star ore stone and put it in my storage.
8 ) Then I walk over to my stack, pick it up, and put it in storage with the new stone.
9) I now have a full stack of 4-star ore stones.
As long as I keep at least one 4-star ore stone in my storage at all times to be the "first stone" for my stack, I can smash all the rest of the stones whenever I need to, to get a gem or ore for a request, or to sell, etc.
If you're needing a particular gem/ore, just pick a good day for reloading, save the night before, and smash away in the morning - remember to keep at least one stone for your stack, so never smash everything you have. If you don't get the gem/ore that you need, reload and try again. Repeat until you've got what you want. ^_^
Of course let me know if you have any additions/corrections, and I'll edit the post.
-BlueTrillium
Edited Dec 1 2011 to add Ore Stone products list to the "What Are Ore Stones" section.
Edited Jan 3 2012 to update Raul's request in "Where To Find Ore Stones" section.
Edited Mar 7 2012 to include some new data from Cher's site regarding Sheng's and Raul's requests in the "Where To Find Ore Stones" section.