Town Gratitude in Graveyard Keeper 2: when to use it
Each Town Gratitude adds 5 happiness, but anything above your town quality is thrown away. When to use it, and how to raise the ceiling.
The short answer
Town Gratitude is an item that adds 5 happiness when you use it. Happiness is capped at your town quality, and any excess is simply lost, so use Gratitude right after a sermon, when the sermon has just spent your happiness down. Town quality starts at 10, rises by 10 when you reach the port, and grows by 1 for each green scroll you give Linda.
VIEW IMAGE ↗What to check, in order
- 01
Check current happiness against town quality before using anything.
- 02
Hold Gratitude in your inventory while happiness is at the cap.
- 03
Preach on Wrath; the sermon spends happiness equal to the number of parishioners.
- 04
Use Gratitude straight after the sermon to refill without waste.
- 05
Repair town houses and take the green scrolls to Linda on Lust to raise the cap.
- 06
Keep happiness topped up from certificates, trades and orders during the week.
Spend happiness below the ceiling
- 01
Town quality
Sets the happiness ceiling
- 02
Current happiness
Check room below the cap
- 03
Town Gratitude
Use when it can help
- 04
Sermon attendance
Church quality also matters
Field Guide schematic · read alongside the checklist. Not an in-game screen.
What happiness actually does
Happiness, the smiley-face resource, has exactly one job: it decides how many people come to your sermon. Attendance is the smaller of happiness and church quality. If you have 10 happiness and a church worth 14, ten people show up. If you have 20 happiness and a church worth 14, fourteen show up.
Happiness does not drain over time. It only goes down when a sermon begins, and then it drops by the number of parishioners who came. You start the game with 9.
| Happiness | Church quality | Parishioners | Happiness after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| 20 | 14 | 14 | 6 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
The cap: town quality
Happiness can never exceed town quality. Town quality is 0 at the very start, becomes 10 after Certificate, Please, and gains another 10 when you reach the port by winning the battle that opens it. So for a long stretch of the early game your ceiling is 10, then 20.
Any happiness that would push you past the cap disappears, and the game plays a small failure sound to tell you. Using a Town Gratitude at 8 of 10 gives you 2, not 5. The other 3 are gone for good.
Church quality above town quality is wasted for the same reason. Building a church worth 30 while town quality is 20 gets you twenty parishioners at most.
Field note: Town Gratitude can sit in your inventory indefinitely. An unused item is always worth more than happiness you cannot hold.
Raising the cap past 20
After the port, town quality grows through the rebuild. Repairing houses in town drops green scrolls, and each green scroll you hand to Linda under the New people option adds 1 town quality. There are 180 green scrolls across all the houses, so the ceiling keeps climbing for most of the game.
Linda only takes scrolls on Lust, apart from the first time when her quest completes. Construction itself does not raise town quality; it is the scrolls that do it. Keep them in your bag until Lust comes round.
| Milestone | Town quality |
|---|---|
| Game start | 0 |
| Certificate, Please completed | 10 |
| Port reached | 20 |
| Each green scroll given to Linda | +1 |
| All 180 green scrolls | Up to 200 |
Where Town Gratitude comes from
Quests are the main source early on. Across the story they hand out thirteen Town Gratitude, which is 65 happiness if you use them well. Battles pay more: most fights reward three to eight, and the later Sewerena bouts and floodgate battles are particularly generous.
Januarius at the tavern also sells Town Gratitude, a few per week depending on his tier. At about 5 silver a piece it is an expensive top-up, useful in a pinch when Wrath is tomorrow and you are five short.
Other ways to raise happiness
Gratitude is not the only lever. Several traders pay happiness for specific goods, up to a weekly limit that resets at 00:14 on Pride. Fractions add up quietly and pay out at whole numbers. Later, town orders become the biggest source of all.
Combining these with a well-timed Gratitude keeps attendance high every single week.
| Trader | Goods | Happiness each | Weekly limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Januarius | Burial Certificates | 1 | 5 certificates |
| Herm (tier I) | River fish fillets | 0.4 | Capped at 2 per week |
| Herm (tier II) | Vegetables | Up to 0.4 | Capped at 15 per week |
| Town shops | Town orders on Pride | Varies by order | Two orders per shop tier |
An early-game example
Your first weeks run on a cap of 10. Basic Prayer needs at least 4 parishioners to start and is guaranteed to succeed at 8. With a church that has reached quality 10 for Holy Moly!, the plan is simple: arrive at Wrath with 10 happiness, preach, and ten people come.
That sermon empties your happiness to 0. Now is the moment for Gratitude: two uses bring you back to 10 with nothing wasted. Use a third and you lose all 5 points, so stop at two and keep the rest for next week.
The quest Fighting Spirit Required wants 3 Faith, which a Basic Prayer with nine or ten parishioners covers comfortably. After that, your Gratitude stock becomes a weekly buffer rather than an emergency fund, and the port’s +10 to the cap turns each sermon into a bigger payday.
Field note: Sell up to five Burial Certificates to Januarius during the week. They pay a silver each and a point of happiness each, which often fills the gap without touching your Gratitude at all.
A weekly rhythm that wastes nothing
On Wrath, preach first. The sermon drains happiness by the number of people who came. Straight afterwards, use enough Gratitude to get back near the cap without going over. Through Gluttony to Pride, sell certificates and goods to fill the rest, and take scrolls to Linda on Lust. By the next Wrath you are full again.
If you are already at the cap on Gluttony, sit on your Gratitude. It will be worth all 5 points the moment the next sermon ends.
Common questions
Is Town Gratitude the same as happiness?+
No. Town Gratitude is an item you can hold. Happiness is the capped resource it adds 5 of when used.
Why did I only get part of the happiness?+
Anything above town quality is discarded. Use Gratitude when there is at least 5 points of room under the cap.
How do I raise the happiness cap?+
Reach the port for +10, then repair town houses and give the green scrolls to Linda on Lust, +1 town quality each.
Does raising church quality raise the cap?+
No. Church quality only limits attendance. The happiness cap is town quality.
Does happiness go down by itself?+
No. It only drops when a sermon starts, by the number of parishioners.
Can I buy Town Gratitude?+
Yes, from Januarius at the tavern, a few per week. It is pricey, so treat it as an emergency top-up.
Do battles give Town Gratitude?+
Yes. Most battles reward between three and eight Town Gratitude along with Zombie Goo, which makes Sloth fights a reliable source once you can win them.
When do trader happiness limits reset?+
At 00:14 on Pride. Anything you did not use from the weekly allowance is lost at the reset, so sell certificates and goods before then.
Is there a reason to keep a big stock of Gratitude?+
Yes, later quests ask for very high town quality and happiness, such as Jack’s I Love You, Man at 100 happiness. A stockpile lets you hit those targets the week you need them.
Sources & further reading
Recipes, costs and timings were cross-checked against the references below and the official patch notes. Numbers can shift with updates, so the in-game recipe window always has the final word.
- Community databaseGK2DB: happiness and town quality
- Community databaseGK2DB: sermons (attendance)
- Community databaseGK2DB: the town and Linda
- Community databaseGK2DB: battles and rewards
- Guidegames.gg: how to increase maximum Town Gratitude
