Specialisations

A specialisation is not your skill level, and it does not spend the same XP. Mining Copper raises the Mining skill and the Copper specialisation together. The skill unlocks Mining actions and speeds all of them. The specialisation only affects Copper.

• On a skill page, the card beside the skill shows the specialisation for the action you have selected.
• The XP chip on an action splits Skill XP and Specialisation XP. Bonuses such as Hearthfire, the Scholar's Chalice, and the Hearthkeeper's Grail apply to Skill XP only.
• When you collect the action, a toast shows the Specialisation XP next to the Skill XP.
• Progress, then Specialisations, lists every track. Tinkering is split into Tools and Jewellery, and each group can be collapsed.

Most specialisations make that track faster. Each level shortens the cycle by 0.25% after your skill level and tool have already been applied, up to 25% at level 100. This does not count towards the 95% speed cap from skill and tool speed. The one-second minimum cycle still applies.

Farming is the exception. A crop's specialisation adds harvest yield. It does not shorten the 15 minute, 1 hour, 4 hour, or 8 hour grow time. Farming level, your shovel, and compost add to that same yield. See Farming Boosters for the current compost amounts.

Specialisation XP is the base length of the cycle in seconds, once for each cycle you complete. It is not the Skill XP shown for that action. A node with high Skill XP can therefore fill its specialisation more slowly than the skill, and an early node can do the opposite.

• Stopping a continuous action still counts the unfinished cycle. The specialisation card updates when you collect, which is when the toast appears.
• A failed Fishing or Cooking attempt still grants that cycle's Specialisation XP.
• Account XP bonuses do not increase Specialisation XP.
• Homestead stations do not grant Specialisation XP. Smelting, Carpentry, and Cooking done as your active skill do.
• Combat and Agility have no specialisation.

• Mining, Woodcutting, and Fishing each have one track per node. Bonus gems and mushrooms do not have a track of their own.
• Smelting has one track per bar, and Carpentry has one track per plank.
• Smithing has one track per metal. Every piece of that metal shares it.
• Tinkering Tools and Tinkering Jewellery each have one track per metal. A Copper tool does not train an Adamant tool, and tools do not train jewellery.
• Cooking has four shared families: Ingredients, Fish, Pies, and Stews. Ingredients covers flour and bread only. A higher-tier recipe in the same family grants more Specialisation XP per cycle. Oil from the Mill is not Ingredients.
• Farming has one track per crop. A harvest pays from how long that planting grew, so a 15 minute crop and an 8 hour crop pay in proportion to time. Extra beds of the same crop fill the same track.

The level curve matches skills, stretched so one ordinary track is a long project rather than a side effect of reaching skill level 100. Skill speed, tool speed, and the specialisation's own speed make the real time shorter than the base cycle time. Cooking families are faster at higher tiers because those recipes grant more Specialisation XP per cycle. A single Farming crop, even with several beds, still takes weeks. The Specialisation formula lists the current level cap, bonus, and base time to max one track.