Nodes Guide - BDFoundry (2024)

Introduction

Nodes are locations on the map that will unlock once you discover that area for the first time. Nodes can be connected to each other, using Contribution Points. Connecting nodes together is required to make a decent profit from trading, and can unlock the ability to have workers gather resources for you from a node. A node connection is often referred to as a “worker empire”.

You can also invest energy into a node and level it up to give additional bonuses such as an increased item drop rate when killing monsters at that particular node. or higher chances of success when having conversations with the NPCs in that town.

Types of Nodes

There are currently two categories of Nodes. These are Adventure Nodes and Resource Nodes.

• Adventure nodes have a “Node Manager” NPC which is used to connect nodes together and provide information about the node. You can click the icon of an Adventure node to reveal the housing options there and also view any Resource nodes that may be there.
• Resource nodes are nodes you can then invest in separately to send your workers to and they will gather the resources at the node.
  

Adventure Nodes

Icon	Adventure Node	Information
	City Node	City Nodes are locations on the map where there is a city. Cities always have a storage keeper and a marketplace director NPC, which allows you to access the Central Market Warehouse. Cities also cost 0 contribution points and are automatically invested into when you discover them. Cities always have properties you can invest in for things like Player housing, Storage Space, Worker Lodging, and Workshops.
	Town Node	There are two different types of Town Nodes. You have the ones with a blue icon and the ones with a grey icon. Blue Town Nodes cost 0 contribution points and are automatically invested into when you discover them. They also have a storage keeper. The only exception to this rule is Northern Wheat Plantation, which costs 2 contribution points and does not have a storage keeper. Some examples of Blue Town Nodes are Port Epheria, Northern Wheat Plantation, Olvia, Trent, Old Wisdom Tree, Keplan, Glish, Tarif, Sand Grain Bazaar, Muiquinn, Arehaza Town, Shakatu, Illiya Island, Port Ratt, etc. Towns usually have properties you can invest in for things like Player housing, Storage Space, Worker Lodging, and Workshops.
	Town Node	There are two different types of Town Nodes. You have the ones with a blue icon and the ones with a grey icon. Unlike Blue Town Nodes, the Grey Town Nodes do cost contribution points to invest in. Some examples of Grey Town Nodes are Florin, Western Guard Camp, Behr, Tooth Fairy Cabin, Kusha, Abun, Ancado Inner Harbor, and Lema Island Towns usually have properties you can invest in for things like Player housing, Storage Space, Worker Lodging, and Workshops.
	Gateway Node	These nodes usually cost 3 contribution points to invest in. They have no special use to them other than to help you connect to other nodes further away.
	Trade Node	Trade nodes usually have a Trade Manager in the area. Trade nodes occasionally have properties you can invest in for things like Player housing, Storage Space, Worker Lodging, and Workshops. Investing in storage space or worker lodging from one of these nodes will increase your storage/workers for the city or town in that region. Trade nodes can also have Resource nodes (subnodes). Click the Trade Node icon to view any subnodes that it might have.
	Connection Node	Connection nodes are the same as Trade Nodes but do not have a Trade Manager NPC and do not have properties you can invest in. They are simply used to connect to other nodes in the area. Connection nodes can have Resource nodes (subnodes) though. Click the Connection Node icon to view any subnodes that it might have.
	Danger Node	Danger Nodes are the same as Connection nodes but are usually in an area where you can find monsters in the world. Danger nodes can have Resource nodes (subnodes). Click the Danger Node icon to view any subnodes that it might have. You can also invest energy into a Danger node to give you an item drop rate increase from the monsters in that area (more info further in the guide).

Resource Nodes

Icon	Resource Node	Information
	Gathering/Farming	Gathering and Farming nodes have the same icon. Gathering nodes can have materials such as Mushrooms, Silk Honey Grass, Fig, Teff, Sunrise Herbs, etc. Farming nodes can have materials such as Olive, Aloe, Grape, Pumpkin, Wheat, Barley, Potato, Corn, Strawberry, etc.
	Production	There are not many production nodes in the game. There is the Cooking Honey Production node at Alejandro Farm, and then the Chicken Meat and Egg Production nodes at FInto Farm and Bartalli Farm,
	Lumbering	Lumbering Nodes can have timber and sap for different types of trees. For example, there is a Lumbering Node at Goblin Cave which gives you Ash Timber. Sometimes you can even obtain planks from them, which is a processed version of timber. There are also other materials that can be obtained from Lumber Nodes, such as Spirit’s Leaf, Monk’s Branch, Bloody Tree Knot, Red Tree Lump, and Cactus materials.
	Mining	Mining Nodes can have ores for different metals. There are also other materials that can be obtained from Mining Nodes, such as Rough Opal, Rough Crystals, Powder of Flame, Powder of Earth, Mythril, Coal, Powder of Crevice, Powder of Darkness, etc.
	Excavation	Excavation Nodes usually cost higher contribution points and can give you different kinds of Traces (Trace of Battle, Trace of Memory, Trace of Earth, etc.). Traces are usually highly desired and are worth a good amount of silver, making many Excavation Nodes a must-have when you are building your worker empire. The Excavation node at Star’s End is also heavily desired because it is the only way to get Mass of Pure Magic, which is an item required for the Black Star Weapons. You should send Human workers to Excavation nodes because there is only a chance of obtaining Traces, and Humans have the highest luck, meaning more chance of obtaining Traces. However, Excavation nodes require you to speak to the Node Manager of the Adventure node they are connected to, and usually cost a certain amount of energy to unlock.
	Fish Drying Yard	Fish Drying Yard Nodes are only located in the sea. They can be used to obtain different types of dried fish, which is useful for players who do the Cooking life skill.
	Specialties	Specialties Nodes are located on certain Adventure Nodes and require a Rank #1 house in the area to use, meaning it is not available to most players. Specialties Nodes can give you Trade items that you can sell to a Trade Manager for extra profit.
	Investment Bank	Investment Bank Nodes are located on Cities and Town Adventure Nodes. They usually do not cost any contribution points, but require a Rank #1 house in the area to use, meaning it is not available to most players. Investment Bank Nodes require you to invest a certain amount of gold bars, then after 24 hours, you can either receive the same amount of silver back or a higher amount of silver. There are a couple of Investment Banks that aren’t locked behind Rank #1 houses, but these have a lower chance of you obtaining any profit and are not worth investing into.

How to connect Nodes

When connecting nodes you must start from certain Towns or a City you have discovered, then work your way out. Cities and some Towns are automatically invested in already and don’t cost any contribution points. Adventure Nodes that can be connected will have a white line from one to the other. Nodes that are currently connected will have a yellow line joining them together.

To connect nodesyou must first go to the Node Manager NPC. To find the node manager you can right-click the node icon to set a pathfinder. Once you are at the node manager, speak to him/her and press “Node Management”.

This will open the map and show any Resource nodes that the adventure node also has. If there are nodes you haven’t discovered that can also be connected to the node you are at, the locations will be shown on the map.

In the top left corner, a window will appear showing all the node information such as the territory and node manager’s name. It will also show the number of contribution points it will cost to invest in the node.

To connect the nodes, click “Invest Contribution”.

If you have a value pack running, you do not need to go to the Node Manager and can simply open the map and left-click a node to open this window and invest in it directly, but this will cost 10 energy per node.

To cancel the connection between nodes you can open the map at any time, click on the node icon, then click “Withdraw”. If you withdraw Contribution points from a node, the node will no longer be connected but will keep its node level, allowing you to invest and level up multiple nodes as needed for grinding.

Sometimes you can also get an error when trying to withdraw contribution points from a node. “You Cannot retrieve Contributions Points from the Node while the Worker is working” will show if you have a worker currently at the Resource node. It can also appear though if you have a worker from another town/city that must pass through the connected node. So for example, if you are sending a worker from Velia to Heidel, you must have Velia and Heidel connected in your worker empire and cannot disconnect a node that is linking the two until that worker has stopped working. If you receive the error, you will need to follow your node connections from the node you want to withdraw from and see if there are any workers who must pass through the node.

Leveling Up Nodes

Once you have invested in a node, you can click the node again to further invest in it using energy. Each time you invest energy it will cost you 10 energy and will increase the exp of the node. The highest level you can get to is level 20 which requires a total of 20700 energy to get there!

If the node is a town or city, then leveling up the node will give you an advantage when making conversations (Amity) with NPCs in that particular town.

All other nodes will have their item drop chance increased for the monsters you kill at that particular node. For example, at a level 20 node, you have a 10% item drop increase for all monsters in that area. Unlike most other drop rate buffs, the node investment level can bypass the 300% item drop rate cap.

All of this information can be found by hovering over the question mark (?) next to the level of your node.

You can also invest energy into nodes without changing characters. Click on the energy investment button, and you will see a list of all your characters and their energy. You can then select a character from the list and invest their energy into the node.

• You can level the following nodes to increase the item drop rate for these grind spots:
  
  • Ancado Coast – Aakman Temple
  • Pilgrim’s Sanctum: Obedience – Hystria Ruins

You can also check the node investment status and benefits in the Monster Zone UI.

[Click to Show/Hide] Monsters effected by Node Level

Nodes Map

Check out our BDFoundry Interactive Map to plan your worker empire and share it with others!.