Fruits of the Zee Festival (Guide)/Item Comparison

Early MYN Content and Onwards

This content is only available during Fruits of the Zee Festival! For the history of this holiday see Fruits of the Zee Festival (historical)

The Fruits of the Zee Festival has undergone a major redesign as of the year 2023. This guide is intended to help players figure out which items they may want to acquire.

Special Note: Items Available Outside Fruits of the Zee

For whatever reason, several items originally introduced during FRUITS OF THE ZEE have become available through other means. For the purposes of this guide, these items will still be listed in the tables below, but are also included in this section for reference.

Item	FATE Cost at FotZ	Non-FotZ Source
	15	Available during the Railway. Note that this option involves , as well as an opportunity cost between the Prehistoricist and Emancipationist gifts.
	10	Many RNG sources, though the most dependable is probably Ambush a Novice Smuggler in the Clay Highwayman's camp.
	10	See The Sacroboscan Calendar (Guide).
	10	See The Sacroboscan Calendar (Guide).
	15	Rare failure when Disambiguating Eoliths in your lab. You may require some musteline support.
	N/A	Technically not the same item as , presumably because someone at Failbetter has it out for me, specifically.

Items Sorted by Stats

Note that these tables follow the following format: strict BIS is bold, shared BIS is italic, and stats which are neither but are nonetheless notable will be in regular case. Stats which are none of the above have been omitted for ease of perusal.

Best In Slot

These items are Strict Best-in-Slot for one or more stats.

Item	Slot	Obtaining	Stats	Notes
	Hat	Week 1: Dive for and trade in on week 2. Or 30 FATE	Persuasive +5 Reduces Troubled Waters build up.?	No mechanical differences.
	Adornment	See above	Dangerous +3 Glasswork +1	None.
	Gloves	Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Dreaded +2 Zeefaring +1	None.
	Gloves	Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Respectable +2 A Player of Chess +1	None.
	Boots	Week 1: Dive for and trade in on week 2. Or 15 FATE	Watchful +5 Mithridacy +1	No mechanical differences.
	Transport	Week 2: Or 30 FATE	Shadowy +3 Bizarre +1 Monstrous Anatomy +1	None.
	Transport	Week 1: Dive to 5 and meet the Pentamerous Bride. On week 2, talk with the King-in-Coral about her.	Watchful +3 Dreaded +1 Bizarre +1 Zeefaring +1	Only is better for .
	Ship	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Dangerous +5 Dreaded +2 Zailing Speed +55 Greatly reduces Troubled Waters build up.?	Only ship that reduces , but offers no zailing benefit.
	Ship	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Dangerous +5 Dreaded +2 Zailing Speed +75	As fast as the Clipper, but adds and .
	Ship	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Shadowy +5 Zailing Speed +55 Zubmersibility +1 Dreaded +2	A and .
	Ship	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Persuasive +5 Respectable +2 Zailing Speed +55 Luxurious +1	Adds on top of the Yacht.

Situational Best in Slot

For a subset of players, these items are the best available options for their slot. This may be because the alternatives are only available at other festivals, are only obtainable with certain Ambitions, cost FATE, etc.

Item	Slot	Obtaining	Stats	Notes
	Hat	Week 2: Or 30 FATE	Watchful +4 Dreaded +1 Artisan of the Red Science +1	Peer item is available for FATE at HALLOWMAS (), or for Heart's Desire players, .
	Adornment	See above	Persuasive +3 Mithridacy +1	Shared BiS for with and the Campaign Buttons, available in SUMMER, as well as , purchasable from Mr Chimes' Lost & Found.
	Weapon	Week 1: Diving Depths 2-4 Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Shadowy +6 Respectable +2	Shared BiS for with and from SUMMER and WHITSUN, respectively. For peer BDR, the is the easiest free option. Outclassed for BDR by only three items: , FATE-locked at FEAST OF THE ROSE, , only available to Bag a Legend players, and , which is not worth the trouble it takes to get.
	Transport	Week 1: Diving Depths 4-5 Week 2: Or 30 FATE	Dangerous +4 Bizarre +3	Peer BDR item is from FEAST OF THE ROSE. Outclassed by the FATE-locked and the technically free . Shared non-FATE non-Hellworm BIS for with from SUMMER.

Perennial Peer Items

These items have peer items freely available at all times of year, though they may be difficult to acquire or require completion of a lengthy storyline.

Item	Slot	FATE	Stats	Notes
	Gloves	Week 1: Dive for and Trade in on week 2. Or 30 FATE	Shadowy +10 Bizarre +1	No mechanical differences. Equivalent to .

Early-Game Utility

These items are strictly outclassed for endgame players, but may be useful options for those who do not yet have access to lategame alternatives.

Item	Slot	Obtaining	Stats	Notes
	Weapon	Week 1: Diving Depths 3-5 Week 2: Or 5 FATE	Shadowy +5 Watchful +3 Dangerous -1	Outclassed by .
	Boots	Week 1: Diving Depths 2-3 Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Dangerous +4 Shadowy +6 Persuasive -1	Peer item in the available at the Bazaar. Surpassed by , among others.
	Clothing	Week 1: Diving Depths 1-2 Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Dangerous +6 Watchful +4 Persuasive -1	Outclassed by , among others.
	Companion	Week 2: Or 15 FATE	Persuasive +7 Watchful +6	Better than most companions that can be bought at the Bazaar, but will eventually be surpassed by . Surpassed in by the trivially-acquired .
	Companion	Week 2: Or 15 FATE	Shadowy +6 Dreaded +1	Outclassed by , among others. While fairly unremarkable by itself, its Hallowmas upgrade is shared BIS for both and , so it may be worth holding on to in case its upgrade becomes available this year.
	Weapon	Week 2: 20 FATE	Dangerous +7 Watchful +6	Outclassed by and , among others.
	Weapon	Week 2: 15 FATE	Watchful +6 Shadowy +4 Dangerous -1	Outclassed by , among others.

No Stats

These items are difficult to recommend based on stats, even for earlygame players.

Item	Slot	FATE	Stats	Notes
	Weapon	Week 1: Diving Depths 5 Week 2: Or 5 FATE	Watchful +3 Persuasive +2 Dangerous -1	that you can get from Making Your Name is superior, as is the cheap .
	Weapon	See above	Shadowy +2 Dangerous +3 Watchful -1	Many better options, including the various scars you can get when Making Your Name.
	Weapon	See above	Dangerous +5 Persuasive +3 Shadowy -1	Many better options, including the .
	Hat	See above	Persuasive +2 Watchful +1	Well, it's free. That counts for something.

Items Sorted by Use

Efficient Repeatable

These items unlock repeatable options that are much better than their evergreen alternatives.

Item	Obtaining	Unlocks	Notes
	Week 1: Diving Depths 3-5 Week 2: Or 5 FATE	Cure the ignorance of your zailors while Zailing; can also be used to advance the story of the Watchmaker's Daughter	The Zailing option is a great way to reduce while also making progress, albeit it may require very high depending on the zee-region. The Watchmaker's Daughter use, however, is fairly unremarkable, as it can be bypassed with a simple check, and you're likely to only play through that story a few times for lore and novelties.
	Week 1: Diving Depths 5 Week 2: Or 5 FATE	Carve away some evidence of age when assembling a skeleton	Experienced skeleton-builders may not use this option often, as it can be avoided with proper planning. Can be helpful to recover from mistakes when making skeletons or to offload Antique parts onto buyers who otherwise aren't interested in them.
	See above	Create and get s at Virginia's spa, both in Ealing Gardens	The Sausage cannot be obtained any other way and has several uses, including lowering and cooking. The grind is decent but arguably outclassed by the overall more profitable grind eventually available in Moulin.
	See above	Research the Recipe for Scintillack Snuff in your Lab, allowing you to manufacture it yourself and use it for smuggling, more smuiggling, and alchemical reagents.	Don't spend FATE to buy this here. Get it from Balmoral instead. And before you do anything else, be sure to research it in your Lab to manufacture it yourself!
	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Several Zailing actions	See Zailing (Guide) for details.
	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Several Zailing actions	See Zailing (Guide) for details.
	Week 2: Or 20 FATE	Several Zailing actions	See Zailing (Guide) for details.

Efficient Single-Use

These items unlock a one-time option that saves the player significant resources compared to the free alternatives.

Currently, no items fit these criteria.

Niche Repeatable

These items unlock repeatable options that are either equivalent to or outclassed by their evergreen alternatives.

Item	FATE	Unlocks	Notes
	Week 1: Diving Depths 2-4 Week 2: Or 10 FATE	Time the appearances of Hillchanger Tower on a card in Ealing Gardens, and Persuade Hillchanger Tower during a certain point in the Railway story, if you made a certain choice.	The card in Ealing is not that great, and eventually you will likely want to avoid Ealing's cluttered deck anyway. As for the story option, it's only slightly better than the free options of paying or succeeding on the check. Even failure on that check gives progress, though it comes with .
	Week 2: Or 15 FATE	An option on a card in the Upper River, an option when diving in the Evenlode, and one of several options for Parish Clerk in Burrow-infra-Mump.	The option on A Jurisdictional Dispute can be nice for the Scrip, if you regularly get (Crooked-Crosses in particular might be interested in it). The Evenlode option is nice for the menace reduction, but Evenlode diving is fairly niche. Note that the two other options available for Burrow clerk are HALLOWMAS companions, and may not be available for free any given year.

Niche Single-Use

These items unlock a one-time option that is either equivalent to or outclassed by the evergreen alternatives.

Item	FATE	Unlocks	Notes
	Week 1: Diving Depths 1-2 Week 2: Or 10 FATE	One of several options to join the Clay Tailor Club	One of several options, including some you may get from your Ambition and the freely-available
	Week 2: Or 15 FATE	Introduce your Inquisitive Lamp-Cat for A Cub's Education.	A Cub's Education is fairly niche vanity content. Note it can be upgraded at HALLOWMAS as well, and that upgrade is quite good.

No Uses

These items do not unlock any additional actions.

Item	Obtaining
	Week 1: Diving Depths 2-3 Week 2: Or 10 FATE
	Week 2: Or 10 FATE
	Week 2: Or 10 FATE
	Week 1: Diving Depths 4-5 Week 2: Or 30 FATE
	Week 2: Or 30 FATE
	Week 2: Or 30 FATE
	Week 2: 30 FATE
	Week 2: 15 FATE
	See above
	See above
	See above
	See above!
	Week 1: Dive for and Trade in on week 2. Or 30 FATE
	Week 1: Dive for and Trade in on week 2. Or 30 FATE
	Week 1: Dive for and Trade in on week 2. Or 15 FATE
	Week 2: Or 20 FATE