As always, two of the focal points of the goals were the pair of new appliances. The Riverboat Oven and Fish Stand are integral to the goals, and so justify some discussion. The Riverboat Oven was the first to be unlocked - and here comes the first TeamLava error in this update - it didn't need parts for construction. This is unusual, although not unheard of. But shortly after the goals went live the Riverboat Oven did require construction. So a drop of the ball by the game's developers there.
Meanwhile the Fish Stand is a 2x1 sized appliance. It is nice to get a bit of variety in the appearance of the cookers in the game, but the larger appliances are a real problem to me as I can't really fit them into my restricted kitchen section. The end result is that I've not got much space for anything other than the Fish Stands, and so with fewer appliances bubbling away my counters empty quickly.
Of course between them the two new appliances provide six additional recipes for cooking, and thus 12 free gems for mastery. Time for the second TeamLava blunder - the statistics of several of the new dishes were altered the day after release. Let's take the example of the Fried Shrimps on the Riverboat Oven:
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| Changes to Fried Shrimp |
On the left is the original recipe while on the right is the revised one.
Most significantly the duration of the recipe was changed to bring it into line with the others on the appliance (so that there is an equal difference of two hours between neighbouring dishes). But the other numbers have evolved too, and in a good way. Notice that despite the dish now being 20% shorter in length all of the other figures have dropped by less than this.
The Catfish and Rainbow Trout aboard the Fish Stand also had their stats altered, and the others may have too.
While we're looking at the new foods, we might as well hit the recipe ratings, starting with the Riverboat Oven's offerings:
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| Recipes on Riverboat Oven |
When I first saw the Fried Shrimp my mind (and heart) immediately jumped to a scene in the film Forrest Gump where Bubba tells Forrest about scores of ways of preparing shrimp. I had for a moment hoped there was going to be a small tribute to one of my favourite films with a number of variations of shrimp, but it wasn't to be. Having said that I do like the sound of the Tuna Croquette.
But what of the recipe ratings? Here we go...
| Fried Shrimp | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 5.4 |
| Tuna Croquette | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Crab Dip | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 6.3 |
The Tuna Croquette may not rate too well, but it's still well up on most goal efforts, which just shows how abject most of the goal releases are.
The Crab Dip is the one noteworthy dish here. The 130 XP is the fourth greatest of all 8 hour recipes, although one of those which ranks higher is just around the corner...
It's interesting that the first goal appliance's dishes are of a longer duration than normal. Indeed two of the recipes are directly comparable with the Fish Stand's foods, and that's where we're headed next:
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| Recipes on Fish Stand |
I'd never really considered it before, but fish is a food which has always been under-represented in Restaurant Story, so it's good to have this pretty major category added to.
As for the ratings...
| Catfish | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 4.1 |
| Rainbow Trout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 4 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 6.3 |
| Haddock | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | XP gain | Portions | Profit per plate | Availability | Rating |
| 2 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4.9 |
There's too many warm colours there! The Catfish pips the Tuna Croquette but gets the same verdict of being excellent among goal recipes but average in the grand scheme of things.
The Rainbow Trout stands out for it's XP gain. Yielding just more than the aforementioned Crab Dip, the Escargots with Lamb (Basic Grill) is the solitary 8 hour dish which gives more XP. Unfortunately medicore numbers for profit and portions prevent the dip from having a shout of best all-rounder, but it's certainly a nice alternative prior to unlocking the Escargots with Lamb at level 56.
Lastly, the Haddock may not rate particularly impressively overall, but again there's a cracking XP gain to be had. The Stuffed Lamb (Basic Oven) is usurped, with the Haddock offering more XP than any other 10 hour recipe. Again though, it is let down on the other factors, coming in third worst in the duration for profit and portions. Plus there's an unusual case of a non-ten for profit per plate.
Turning back to the decorations at stake in the goals, the Riverboat table is a relatively early unlock. As I said last week, I'm not enamoured by the table - it lacks any originality, but could work in a wooden interior.
On the other hand, I love Captain Phoebe.
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| Foyer section of The Garlic Tree including Captain Phoebe |
She's always going to have a place in The Garlic Tree - for now she stands tall as the host in the Foyer area. All we're missing now is Gran-Gran. Go on TeamLava, include her next month!
The final goal prize is the Riverboat Ride. At the time of writing I've still not gained access to the boat, but from the TeamLava Blog image of this floor decoration, it looks to be a very rare case (maybe even unique) of a 5x4 item. I'm definitely thinking of storing my beach in favour of a tranquil river scene...
All in all, I'm quite happy with this set of goals. The recipes aren't all complete write-offs as they so often are and there are some cool pieces, both unlocked in the goals themselves and from the latest update. My concern is that this theme isn't going to be given another airing tomorrow - the goal theme rarely gets another week these days which is a real shame as I prefer to have a wider range of items to choose from when redecorating in a certain theme.
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