Goals, badges and research: what to do next.

The three goals

The goals on the screen are chosen from what you have and have done. They are never a script: a step counts as done when you really hold the thing, have built it or have made it.

• Short goals take minutes. First the guided first hour, then small things to build and make.
• Medium goals take about an hour: finding a village, taking a job, growing a crop, cooking a dish, digging down to 40 metres and then 150 metres, taming an animal, and finding twelve recipes.
• Long goals take weeks: the story, reaching the next age of the world, the core of the world, and finishing your Collection.

The guided first hour

The first hour is a chain of short steps, in the order the game teaches them:

1. Get some wood.
2. Find plant fibre.
3. Find a flint shard.
4. Make your first tool.
5. Build a Workbench.
6. Find malachite.
7. Build a Furnace.
8. Smelt your first copper.
9. Make a copper tool.
10. Build a Forge Bench.
11. Forge an iron tool.

Each step gives a few materials when it is done. You can switch the guide off in the settings.

Daily and weekly goals

Every world has the same goals on the same day, so a party shares a board. Each day has three goals and each week has two. You claim a goal's reward yourself, in the Goals tab of the inventory.

Goal	Daily target	Weekly target
Mine blocks of ground	30 to 80	300 to 700
Finish crafts	3 to 8	20 to 40
Pick crops	8 to 24	60 to 140
Place blocks	30 to 90	250 to 600
Fell creatures	3 to 8	15 to 30
Find new things for the Collection	1 to 3	6 to 12
Earn skill xp	150 to 400	1,500 to 3,500
Open crates or buried chests	1	3 to 6

A daily goal gives 1 research point, 30 skill xp and a few common materials. A weekly goal gives 3 research points, 160 skill xp and several kinds of material. The xp goes to the skill that matches the goal, or to the skill you have the least xp in if none does. A day you miss breaks a claim streak: claim a daily goal on three days running, or seven, for a badge. Goals reset at the new day or week.

Badges

A badge is earned the moment you meet its condition, and it stays. Each gives research points.

Badge	How to earn it	Research
Apprentice	Reach level 5 in any skill.	1
Journeyman	Reach level 10 in any skill.	2
Master of One	Reach the top of any skill (level 15).	4
All-Rounder	Reach level 5 in every skill.	3
Digger	Mine 1,000 blocks of ground.	2
Maker	Finish 100 crafts.	2
Farmhand	Pick 200 crops.	2
Builder	Place 1,000 blocks.	2
Fighter	Fell 100 creatures.	2
Treasure Hunter	Open a buried chest.	1
Dug Deep	Open 10 crates or chests.	2
Scribe	Learn a recipe from a scroll.	1
Vein Finder	Break into a rare ore vein.	1
Scholar	Buy five research nodes.	2
Savant	Buy every research node.	5
Collector	Fill 25 entries of the Collection.	2
Curator	Fill 100 entries of the Collection.	4
Dutiful	Claim 10 daily or weekly goals.	2
On a Roll	Claim a daily goal three days running.	1
Creature of Habit	Claim a daily goal seven days running.	3
Week Done	Claim a weekly goal.	2
Masterwork	Make a masterwork.	2
Deep Delver	Dig down to 100 metres.	2

Research points

Research points are the currency of the Lab Bench. You earn them from:

• Your first find of each entry in the Collection (2 for the rarer groups, such as ores and ships; 1 for the rest).
• Reaching level 2 in a skill, and every fifth level after that.
• Finishing a daily or weekly goal, and most badges.
• Half and all of a Collection group, and each quarter of the whole Collection (2, 4, 6 and 10 points).
• Reading a scroll: it teaches a recipe you have not learned yet, or gives 3 points if there is nothing left to teach.
• Lucky moments: a small surprise every two to four minutes of play (skill xp, materials, or now and then a point).

Lucky moments come more often with the Wanderer's Luck node.

The research tree

Buy nodes at a Lab Bench (the research tab of the inventory). Some need another node first.

Branch	Node	Cost	What it does
Making	Steady Hands	1	Crafts take 6% less time.
Making	Fine Tolerances	3	Everything you make is a little better made. Needs Steady Hands.
Making	Efficient Tools	3	10% of swings cost the tool no wear. Needs Steady Hands.
Making	Masterwork Methods	6	Better quality, and more masterworks. Needs Fine Tolerances.
Field and Ground	Seed Lore	1	4% more chance of an extra harvest.
Field and Ground	Rich Soil	3	6% more chance of an extra harvest. Needs Seed Lore.
Field and Ground	Keen Eyes	2	Buried things are felt from further off, and you are told which way.
Field and Ground	Prospector	4	3% more ore from every vein. Needs Keen Eyes.
Works	Wind and Sun	3	Blueprints: Solar Panel and Wind Turbine.
Works	Storage Cells	3	Blueprint: Battery. Needs Wind and Sun.
Works	Belts and Gears	4	Blueprints: Conveyor, Sorting Chest and Refinery. Needs Wind and Sun.
Works	Electric Foundry	5	Blueprint: Electric Smelter. Needs Belts and Gears.
Works	Fire Control Optics	5	Blueprints: Fire Control Director and Grav Lift. Needs Electric Foundry.
Works	Weatherproofing	3	Storms no longer tear the thatch and wooden roofs of your base. Needs Wind and Sun.
Works	Mason's Eye	3	5% more chance a block you place comes back. Needs Wind and Sun.
Wandering	Whetted Edges	2	Blows hit 4% harder.
Wandering	Field Notes	4	10% more skill xp from everything you do.
Wandering	Ancient Lore	5	Every find gives an extra research point. Needs Field Notes.
Wandering	Wanderer's Luck	4	Small surprises come a fifth sooner. Needs Whetted Edges.

The Works nodes open blueprints for machines and power, which are the mid-game extras. A recipe scroll found in the world teaches the same blueprint without points.

Tips

• Finish the first hour in order: each step pays a few materials to build the next one.
• Claim goals as soon as they are done. Unclaimed rewards are shown first in the short-goal slot.
• Spend early research on Steady Hands and Efficient Tools: you will feel them every session.
• Claim on consecutive days to earn the streak badges.

For the skills that the goals feed, see Skills and levelling.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.