Autumn 2015 goals content report

It's now six days since this year's Autumn goals were released, and many players have now completed all the steps, thus unlocking a number of items exclusively available via the quest.

The speed at which everyone was able to pass through the goals was varied by some noticeable differences in the difficulty of certain steps. Perhaps the most tricky section of the quest has been the neighbour requests. The fourth step required you to ask 10 neighbours for Golden Apples, which in itself doesn't seem unreasonable. But this was then followed up in the fifth step with a request for 10 Silver Apples. And of course there was then construction of the second appliance to think about too.

 Autumn 2015

 11/11/15 Goals
 11/11/15 Goals update
 04/11/15 Leafy update
 16/09/15 Fall Harvest box update

From reading thoughts posted on the Storm8 Forum, it seems apparent that the repeated item requests are not too popular. Yet I quite like the additional challenge. Goals in Restaurant Story have never been particularly tricky, so it's nice to have to put some work in for a change! This is the third successive goal set which has included more than one request based goal, so it does look like a new staple of quests.

On the other hand, things were made slightly easier by the lower number of batches needed in the cooking steps. In total only 44 batches of food needed to be served to get through the goals, which is probably a record low. Compare that with the 113 batches called for throughout the back to school goals in August and you see that the process was much less lengthy. It was similarly shortened for the previous two goal sets too, so we'll have to keep an eye on that pattern.

Another trend which may be settling in is with regards to the cost of the range of stuff needed to complete the goals. In last month's goals content report I commented that with four of each appliance as well as the new wallpaper, the total cost comes to nearly half a million coins. Well, it's the same again here, with the first of the new appliances being particular expensive at 32,000 coins each. That makes it one of the most expensive goal cookers we've ever had.

And it is with the first appliance that we kick off the content analysis. The Granny's Stove is unlocked when the opening goal is completed, and requires a new part in the building process.

Apple Pie Knob and McIntosh Knob

It is the McIntosh Knob that is utilised here, with the Apple Pie Knob coming into play with the second goal appliance. You might be surprised to hear that I had never heard of a McIntosh apple until this update! It's not a kind of apple we really get here in the UK, so this was an education for me. Of course, in hindsight it's obvious since this is where the Macintosh computer (developed by Apple) gets its name from.

Anyway, the Granny's Stove is a bit lurid in appearance with its bright green exterior. I feel it's a little too loud, and could do with being toned down somewhat. Ultimately it's the recipes we're most interested in though:

Granny's Stove recipes

Applesauce is something I've never quite understood. Despite it being a sauce (by definition) people seem to treat it as a meal! I couldn't see myself tucking into a bowl of it, but fortunately I don't have to as there are plenty of hungry bots around! Meanwhile my Restaurant Story education continues with the Apple Crisp. This is a dessert I had never heard of, and on further investigation it turns out that this is the US name for apple crumble. Now that's something I do enjoy!

All three dishes look fine enough, although don't really stand out as anything special. Maybe that will change when we consult the recipe ratings:

Applesauce
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	5	2	8	5	3.7

Apple Crisp
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	9	1	7	5	4.2

Apple Pork Loin
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	8	1	10	5	4.5

There are both positives and negatives to be drawn from these numbers. First of all, each of the three dishes is dreadful when it comes to profit and portions. The Applesauce is the fourth worst 1 hour offering in both categories (and that's from 67 contenders) while the Apple Crisp is joint worst in the 2 hour bracket with the Beach Burger (Basic Grill). The Apple Pork Loin also features towards the bottom of its duration's chart.

Yet there is a silver lining to be gleaned. And it comes in the form of the XP gain reaped by the crisp and pork. Both rate really well, with the Apple Crisp particularly impressive. It yields the second highest XP of any 2 hour recipe, behind the Disco Fries (Basic Stove). It's not often we get a dish which performs at the elite level, but the crisp does here. It's just a shame the profit and portion stats let it down.

Before we get to the second appliance and its goodies, there's the Juicy Apple table and Rustic Apple chair to discuss. The table is essentially a more realistic and detailed version of the Apple Table from the back to school goals. I like it, but am not sure how I would utilise it. I'm not usually a fan of tables and chairs which are unorthodox - I prefer realistic designs, simply because they are easier to implement.

The chair is more realistic, but I'm not too keen on the frilly cushioning. It's a bit tacky looking for me, and makes it a no-no for my place.

A while after you've made your table and chair purchases the Granny's Oven loses its padlock. This oven shares the sickly green colour with its twin, with the only difference being that there isn't a grey hob on top to cut down on the amount of green.

Let's check out the recipes:

Granny's Oven recipes

My bakery klaxon is sounding! I can just about deal with the bread and donuts, but the Apple Cookies are by my count the 14th cookie based recipe in the game. Be creative Storm8!

Maybe there will be a scent of imagination emanating from the ratings?!

Apple Cookies
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	9	1	10	5	4.5

Apple Pumpkin Bread
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
1	8	1	10	5	4.2

Cinn Apple Donuts
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	4	1	10	5	3.4

There's a very similar story here to the tale of the Granny's Stove dishes. The profit and portion figures are atrocious, with all three recipes ranking among the poorest in their respective durations. But XP again comes to the fore, with the Apple Cookies in a tie for fifth best among 4 hour foods, while the Apple Pumpkin Bread charts in fourth position. Indeed the bread also scores really well on the profit per plate front - it actually pips the Almond Berries (Romantic Stove) as the best in this variable.

The Cinn Apple Donuts has a significantly lower XP rating than the others, but this is not really its own fault, but rather the fault of the Technicolor Cake (Basic Oven) which is just so good. That cake is so far ahead of every other 6 hour recipe in terms of XP that despite being the sixth best, the donuts still only manage a four when rated.

So although the profit and portion numbers are especially bad this month, the impressive XP gains do offset that. It really depends on where your priorities lie when it comes to judging how good these dishes are.

And one last note is that five of the six new recipes have unique profit and portion stats. This is really pleasing after my Suggestions Box rant about the repetitive numbers last month. Whether it's a reaction to that or just a coincidence, it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed, so thank you Storm8!

The only goal prize left to look at is the final prize, the Apple Festival. A 4x4 sized decoration, this item has certainly not garnered universal approval among the playing population.

Apple Festival

The main problem everyone seems to have with it is the pastel tones of the surrounding canopy. And I have to agree. The light pink and white stripes are just not suitable for an item which is supposed to be the culmination of the Autumn goals. If the gamemakers really felt the fabric needed to be included they should have opted for orange or brown stripes instead. As it is this item just doesn't fit in with the rich colours of so much of the other Autumn and Thanksgiving content added to the game over the years. I reckon I'd be more likely to use this item in Spring.

Looking at the rest of it, I'm not sure exactly what's going on. There are several tinted bubbles bloating around, and each seems to have a butterfly inside. What?! Unless there's a queer Thanksgiving tradition in the US I'm missing, I can't fathom what the concept at play is here. But at least the bots pictured seem to be enjoying their apple pies!

And so we reach the end of the Autumn-fest. Overall I do think the decision to centre the November goals on apples was very shrewd. Being a global game, not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving (even if they may decorate for it in the game!) And we've had Thanksgiving based quests before, so it was refreshing to get something still Autumn related but slightly different.

Of course with two more updates prior to Thanksgiving, there's still time for a Thanksgiving-centric update. If we go by the form book that may well come tomorrow in the shape of a box. Or perhaps we'll get some re-releases of old content - although who knows, that might mean Halloween stuff!