Journal: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:34, 3 July 2026

The journal is your museum. Every artifact you've ever brought out of the ground lives in it - the Perfect ones you brushed free grain by grain, the Weathered and Chipped ones you saved from your own pickaxe at the last second, and yes, the Destroyed ones too. The journal doesn't judge. It just remembers.

It remembers kindly, though: find a better copy of something you once butchered, and the page quietly upgrades. Your worst day at the dig site can always be redeemed by a better one.

Turning the pages

Entries are kept by era - a Roman wing, an Egyptian wing, a Prehistoric wing - and each era's pages run from its everyday pottery up to its once-in-a-lifetime Mythical finds. Every artifact you've recovered shows its story: what it is, the real-world find it's based on, and the best condition you've ever gotten it out in. The ones you haven't found yet are still there too - silhouettes, waiting.

Why archaeologists keep journals

A full page is its own reward, but the journal is also how the world opens up. Prove you can bring an era's artifacts out whole and new dig sites open their gates - even the bulldozer starts trusting you at the controls. Collectors chasing Achievements live in these pages - the Collection achievements are, in the end, just journal pages you haven't finished yet.

A note on tools

The condition an artifact enters the journal in is the story of how you dug it out. The brush writes gentle entries slowly; the pickaxe writes fast, ugly ones; the shovel sits somewhere in between. Choose accordingly - the journal remembers everything.

Storm warning - why every find had to be paid for in digging time.
Achievements - collection milestones read straight from these pages.
Eras - the wings of your museum.

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 <!-- ae-wiki-sync v1 type=manual id=journal -->
-The '''journal''' is your permanent record across every Expedition. Every artifact you uncover is added to it, alongside the condition you uncovered it in &mdash; '''Perfect''', '''Weathered''', '''Chipped''', or '''Destroyed'''. Once an artifact is added, it stays added; if you find a better-condition copy on a later run, the entry upgrades.
+The '''journal''' is your museum. Every artifact you've ever brought out of the ground lives in it - the '''Perfect''' ones you brushed free grain by grain, the '''Weathered''' and '''Chipped''' ones you saved from your own pickaxe at the last second, and yes, the '''Destroyed''' ones too. The journal doesn't judge. It just remembers.
-== Layout ==
+It remembers kindly, though: find a better copy of something you once butchered, and the page quietly upgrades. Your worst day at the dig site can always be redeemed by a better one.
-The journal groups entries by [[Eras|era]], and within each era by rarity tier (Mythical &middot; Rare &middot; Uncommon &middot; Common). Each entry shows:
+== Turning the pages ==
-* The artifact's '''name''', a '''description''' grounded in the real-world find it's based on, and an '''icon'''.
+Entries are kept by [[Eras|era]] - a Roman wing, an Egyptian wing, a Prehistoric wing - and each era's pages run from its everyday pottery up to its once-in-a-lifetime '''Mythical''' finds. Every artifact you've recovered shows its story: what it is, the real-world find it's based on, and the best condition you've ever gotten it out in. The ones you haven't found yet are still there too - silhouettes, waiting.
-* Your best '''condition''' to date.
-* For artifacts you haven't yet discovered, a placeholder silhouette with the rarity colour but no detail.
-== Why it matters ==
+== Why archaeologists keep journals ==
-* The journal is the spine of long-term progression. [[Achievements]] in the '''Collection''' category check journal state &mdash; "First Roman Find" unlocks the moment your Roman section gains its first entry, and the per-era '''Perfectionist''' achievements require every artifact in the era at Perfect condition.
+A full page is its own reward, but the journal is also how the world opens up. Prove you can bring an era's artifacts out whole and new dig sites open their gates - even the bulldozer starts trusting you at the controls. Collectors chasing [[Achievements]] live in these pages - the '''Collection''' achievements are, in the end, just journal pages you haven't finished yet.
-* The condition record is permanent in the sense that it never goes down. A Chipped find logged early in a run can be replaced by a Perfect find weeks later; the journal will display the Perfect.
-* The cross-era condition matrix (visible inside the journal popup) is one of the read-outs the game uses to gate later content unlocks.
-== Tools and the journal ==
+== A note on tools ==
-The [[Tools|tool]] you use determines the condition the artifact lands at:
+The condition an artifact enters the journal in is the story of how you dug it out. The [[Tools|brush]] writes gentle entries slowly; the pickaxe writes fast, ugly ones; the shovel sits somewhere in between. Choose accordingly - the journal remembers ''everything''.
-* '''Brush''' &mdash; always Perfect on artifact tiles, but painfully slow on rock and bone.
-* '''Pickaxe''' &mdash; Destroyed on artifacts; reserve it for clearing rock around a known fragile.
-* '''Shovel''' &mdash; balanced; trades a bit of preservation for speed.
-* '''Bulldozer Key''' &mdash; reserved for the full release; not in the demo.
 == Related ==
-* [[Storm warning]] &mdash; what cuts off your time to fill the journal each run.
+* [[Storm warning]] - why every find had to be paid for in digging time.
-* [[Achievements]] &mdash; Collection achievements that read journal state.
+* [[Achievements]] - collection milestones read straight from these pages.
-* [[Eras]] &mdash; how the journal is partitioned.
+* [[Eras]] - the wings of your museum.