Mountain Shadow warnings and night visitors explained
Mountain Shadow warns you one season ahead about frost, a wet summer, lemmings or reindeer at the haystack. When the season comes, you pick a fix, often for a few logs or wood, or you Wait and see. On cold nights, a bear, wolves, a lynx or a wolverine may come close. Every answer sends them away, nothing is lost and everyone is safe.
How do warnings work?
- The report warns you. At the end of a season, the report says what is coming, like "Next season: Frost is coming tonight!".
- The season starts. A yellow banner shows the warning. Tap it, press H or press A to get ready early.
- A quarter into the season, the work waits for you. A card says Watch out! and asks "What do you do?".
- Pick a fix. Each button shows what it costs, or Free. If you don't have enough, it says "You need 2 wood", for example. Or press Wait and see.
- At the end of the season, the event happens: less, or not at all, if you fixed it.
All four warnings
| Warning | When | If you wait and see | Fixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frost is coming! | Late summer | Half the potatoes still in the field freeze | Light smoke fires: 2 wood, saves them all. Cover the rows: 1 log, saves 90 % |
| A wet summer! | Summer | Making Hay goes at half speed this season | Hang the hay on poles: 2 logs, hay at full speed |
| Lemmings everywhere! | Spring | The lemmings run over the berries | Keep the dog at home: free |
| Reindeer at the haystack! | The dark | Hungry reindeer eat a quarter of your hay pile | Make a rule with the Sámi family: free, and your friendship grows. Or build a Fence first: it keeps them away by itself |
Pay the fix early in the season, right when the card comes. The cost comes off your piles and logs straight away.
How often do warnings come?
Each year draws its own weather. A frost night, a wet summer, a lemming year and a reindeer year each have their own chance. Frost and a wet summer are the hard ones, and the game is gentle with them:
- No hard weather in your first year.
- At most one hard event in a chapter.
- Never hard weather two years in a row.
No warning ever takes a person, an animal or a building, or more than half of one pile.
Night visitors
In a cold season, an animal may come close at night, about halfway through the work. The work waits, and a card says Someone is outside!:
| Visitor | What the card says |
|---|---|
| A bear at the barn! | "Sniff, sniff. A big bear is outside in the dark." |
| Wolves on the ice! | "Aoooo! Wolves howl down by the lake." |
| A lynx in the snow! | "Two yellow eyes look at the goat shed." |
| A wolverine by the food! | "Scratch, scratch! A wolverine sniffs at the food store." |
Pick Light the fire, Bang a pot or Call the dog. Every choice works. The card says It went away!, for example "The bear grumbles and walks back into the forest. Everyone is safe!". Press Phew! Back to work. Nothing is lost, and no animal is hurt.
What about the big storm?
The storm is not a warning card. It comes once every winter from the first dark winter on, with its own checklist and fire button. See cold days and the big storm.
Tips
- Keep a few logs and some wood spare in summer and late summer, so you can pay for a fix.
- Keep 2 wood or 1 log for Late summer. The frost comes before you can dig the potatoes, so the fix is the only way to save them.
- Build a fence before your second winter. Then reindeer can never get to the hay.
- Visit the Sámi family often. Friends make a rule together. See the fell.
See also
- The eight seasons: when each warning can come.
- The winter piles: what the events take.
- The Story Book: some warnings have their own stories.
- Animals of the north in other games: the Timber Haul guide and the Lofoten Catch guide.
- Face the weather: play Mountain Shadow.
