Revision - foothills - Windrose Wiki

The Foothills are the second major launch biome in Windrose and the point where the game stops being purely starter-island survival. This is the biome that turns copper progression into iron progression, opens sulfur and gunpowder production, and pushes the story toward Israel Hands.

Why the Foothills Matter

Progression Layer	What Opens Here
Mining	Foothills Iron Ore, then sulfur once your iron-tool line is ready
Farming	Fertile Soil and the route into more serious crop production
Harder combat	Wolves, tougher pirate groups, and more punishing ranged pressure
Story escalation	The hunt for Israel Hands through Needle in a Haystack

Key Resources

Resource	Role
Foothills Iron Ore	The raw metal step that replaces copper as your next major crafting gate
Foothills Iron Ingot	The refined mid-game metal used across upgrades and better infrastructure
Sulfur	The route into live gunpowder crafting once the tool chain is ready
Fertile Soil	The material tied to proper farming expansion
Flax and hardwood	The broader material step-up that makes the biome feel meaningfully different from the Coastal Jungle

Threat Profile

Wolf packs make spacing and crowd control more important than they were on the starter islands.
Mountain Goat is passive wildlife, but hunting it becomes part of the wider material loop.
Grenadier and stronger pirate camp lineups add ranged splash pressure that the Coastal Jungle barely hints at.
Israel Hands is the biome's story centerpiece and the biggest reason many players think of the Foothills as the real start of the mid-game.

Typical Points of Interest

POI Family	Why It Matters
Ancient farms and farmland remnants	Tie directly into fertile-soil gathering and farming progression
Pirate camps	Stronger camp layouts, better loot pressure, and part of the Israel Hands quest route
Temples and sealed interiors	The biome's story arc culminates in a major temple confrontation
Rocky passes and elevated ruins	Create longer pull distances and more dangerous ranged sightlines

What You Should Arrive With

A stable copper line and enough tools to stop treating every repair as a crisis
Food buffs and healing that can survive longer fights than the starter biome usually demands
A clear plan for Gunpowder because sulfur only matters once you can turn it into ammunition or ship supplies
Enough confidence in melee spacing that wolves and camp groups do not collapse your stamina bar immediately

Foothills Story Role

If the Coastal Jungle is the survival tutorial, the Foothills are where Chapter 1 starts feeling like a larger pirate adventure. You are no longer just building shelter and patching together stations. You are pushing into a harder biome, dealing with Blackbeard's stronger lieutenants, and preparing for the longer-range travel and higher crafting demands that define the rest of the launch build.

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