Reckoning

This is another level 900 skills that was recently introduced.

Description :
+0.2% per point chance of doubling a random skill level for the battle if you initiate the combat (Note that this skill does not work with Doubler, Summon Shield Imp or Counter Attack.).

So at level 175, that translate to 35% chance of doubling a random skill.
Now, the description is thrown up for interpretation. If you have 10 skills activated on you, do you have a 35% chance of doubling the skill level for EACH skill (which means each combat has 3-4 skills with doubled levels), or do you have a 35% chance of doubling the skill for one of those 10 skills?
My guess (and I will update this blog if I got it wrong) is the latter, and the algorithm goes like this :
#1 Roll a dice to determine if the 35% is activated.
#2 If activated, roll a dice again to determine which of the activated skill has its level doubled.

Given the above, that means the usefulness of the skill really depends on what skill was doubled.
For levelling, the most useful skills to have its level doubled are :

Adept Learner
I usually hunt with either a level 175 buff or a level 200 activated with guild RP.
At level 175, it gives 35% more xp, so if the skill level is doubled, you get 70% more xp!

Librarian
I usually use a level 225 potion, Potion of the Bookworm. That gives 22.5% more xp.
If the skill level is doubled, that means 45% more xp.

Conserve
With a level 175 buff, you have a 8.75% chance that the attack uses no stamina.
With Power leveller pack B, you can get a level 200 buff, increasing that chance to 10%.
Doubling those odds are great.

Now, if my guess on the algorithm is right, we really don't want the skill doubled to be anything else. In fact, if we can choose the skill, it'll always be Adept Learner. But we probably cannot choose. So here's now what I think will positively impact the way players play. Because the odds of activating one of those 3 skills above diminishes as we have more buffs, we now really want to hunt with minimal buffs. Each additional buff will compete for the doubling of levelling, and therefore reducing the odds of those 3 skills being doubled.

Distraction

No, this blog is not about me being distracted from FallenSword.
Which I am. I am playing another game (Empire Craft).
Since I did mention it, might as well give my referral link :)
http://in.ec.hithere.com/r.html?tg=759997

This blog is about a new skill, introduced today.
Distraction is a level 900 skill.
Description :
+0.2% per point chance to obtain no gold from a successful combat. +0.05% per point chance to inflict double damage in each round of combat. Note this skill has no effect in PvP.

So, the skill is an exchange of gold for a chance of double damage.
If you are 1-hitting, this is clearly not something you want.
However, if you are 2-hitting, is it better to simply save the gold and use that to buy stamina?

At level 175, you will be losing 35% of the gold for a 8.75% chance to double the damage.
If you are 2-hitting, I'll assume that you will be using Wither potion and Shield Strike.
Those 2 will give you a 75.25% chance to 1-hit in a 2-hitting setup.
With Distraction, that chance will only go up to 77.4%.

So you gain 2.16% in stam, losing 35% in gold.
At level 800 and up, each creature gives about 320 gold.
So the trade off is 112 gold for 0.0216 stam.
That means, to get 25 stam, you need to kill about 25/0.0216 = 1157 creatures.
At that rate, you would have lost about 129k in gold to gain 25 stam/1 fsp.

At first glance, it may seem like for 2-hitting, this is a buff to get.
But wait, the buff itself cost 25 stam and 1 fsp.
So assuming you kill 1157 creatures, you're trading 129k + 1 fsp for 1 fsp.
Clearly this is NOT the buff to get, not even if you're 2-hitting.

Hunting Setups for level 800 and above

It's been some time since I write on hunting setups.
Partly, because there's so many new items that I cannot catch up.
Also, it is no longer as straight forward as getting maximum damage.
In many cases, you can get enough damage AND enough defense.
Shield Imps now also do not kick in if the damage is not enough to kill you.
This means that armor setup is also feasible.

This post is on using defensive setups, not armor.

Level 792 : Armor of Jutindou
(I missed this one, and was not using this)
Volkers Set + Ormarrs set + Armor of Jutindou + Shield of Nouiban + Ring of Gasrel + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of Teuio
For some levels where you need more attack, trade Ormarrs set for Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire and Helmet of Comizhar.

Level 796 : Shield of Caldoura
This is an upgrade to the Shield of Nouiban. This will be the shield for 54 levels.

Level 801/811/830/831/836 : Amulets
These are nice amulets. However, since the hunting setup calls for Volkers set which include a gloves, these ugprades are useless.

Level 802/810 : Pailfe Gauntlets and Gloves of Rocuia
These are upgrades to the Gloves of Gialle, and like the amulets above, shadowed by the Volkers set.

Level 804 : Helmet of Houral
Since Ormarrs is still the preferred setup, this helmet only replaces Helmet of Comizhar in the alternate setup.

Level 806 : Rune of Yuahe
This replaces the Rune of Frokjas

Level 810 : Dimcriee Roc Rune
An alternative to Rune of Yuahe. This rune has damage/attack stats instead of damage/attack/defense. Can be useful when you need the extra attack.

Level 812 : Boots of Grovalke
Thanks to AndyPearce for spotting this one.
It's after 173 levels that we get an upgrade to the Boots of Aeroni.

Level 816 : Ring of Heppitor
The Ring of Gasrel gets an upgrade after 209 levels

Level 823 : Armor of Feldishja
Thanks to Tangtop for pointing out this one and the Rune of Chalbm.
This is an upgrade to the armor and has damage/defense stats.

Level 825 : Ring of Zarelk
This one's not as good as Heppitor.

Level 828 : Rune of Chalbm
This rune can increase the damage, but its stats is attack/armor/damage.
Compare with Rune of Yuahe, you are tradining 188 defense for 57 attack + 129 armor + 42 damage. Even if you don't care about the armor, that trade-off is probably still a good one, unless you need the defense.

Level 831 : Amulet of Ferhoal
This amulet upgrades the maximum damage, but we're still using the Volkers set.
However, this is the final amulet before level 850.

Level 837 : Ring of Gedaile
This ring can be crafted. A perfect ring will have 1394 damage after forging.

Level 850 : Archerons set / Chronos set
These 2 sets changes the setup quite significantly.
I can see 3 major setups :
1) Archerons set + Gloves of Rocuia + Amulet of Ferhoal + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja + Ring of Gedaile + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of of Chalbm
2) Archerons set + Volkers set + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja + Ring of Gedaile + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of of Chalbm
3) Archerons set + Volkers set + Chronos set + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja

Setup #1 avoids any crystals. But setup #2 has the best damage among the 3 setups. Setup #3 has less damage, but a lot more defense. If the damage in setup #3 is sufficient, it is probably the best choice. If more attack is needed (but I doubt so), The Dimcriee Roc Rune can substitute the Rune of Yuahe.

Level 852 : Amulet of Dariila
This upgrade is only for setup #1, since the other setups use Volkers set.

Level 859 : Boots of Baliora
An upgrade to the Boots of Grovalke

Chests and Keys

On the home page today, Hunted Cows had this post ::

Posted: 15:49 26 Apr 2010

Chests have been hidden all over the lands, waiting to be found by you!

If you find a chest you will know as an icon will appear on the actions for location bar - so look for the chest icon.

The Chests contain various items and potions to help you on your adventures.

To open chests you find, you will need the correct key. These keys can be obtained on the Loyalty page for either Allegiance Tokens or gold.

Also, we have added 4 new medals which can be obtained by opening the chests.


~ The Fallen Sword Team

The above description is so vague, and I was annoyed when everyone who saw it just assumed that it is 'understood' and go no further in describing it. Thanks to Tru3K1ng, for his patience and clear explanation, I can put this in clear for everyone else with the same curiosity.

When you enter a room that contains a chest, it will appear in the same panel where you see creatures, relics, shops, doors to other realms. It will indicate what type of chests it is.
It does NOT say bronze, silver, gold or crystal chest.
Instead, it says (?, ?, steel or ?) chests. (Still trying to figure out the description of the other chests).
You do NOT and CANNOT pick up a chest.
Instead, you have to buy the corresponding keys (bronze, silver, gold or crystal).

Steel chest requires a gold key.
(Still trying to figure out the correspondence between chests and keys)

The keys do take up a backpack space and are bounded.
Once you have the key, you can click on the chest icon to open it, you get the items within it. Upon which the chest should disappear.

You will get a message such as this :

You opened the chest and received 1 x Armor of Astraio. This item can now be found in your mailbox!

(Thanks Darmass)

The


So I mentioned those keys. Those keys can be found on "Upgrades->Loyalty" page. Not exactly the page you expect to find keys. I have talked about the other 3 items on that page in my previous posts. With this new announcments, you should see 4 new items :
Bronze Key : 50 Allegiance Tokens or 250k gold.
Silver Key : 200 Allegiance Tokens or 1 mil gold.
Gold Key : 500 Allegiance Tokens or 5 mil gold.
Crystal Key : 1000 Allegiance Tokens or 10 mil gold.

For the Bronze and Silver Keys, the value of the Tokens are at 5k gold.
For the Gold and Crystal Keys, the value of the Tokens are at 10k gold.
So if you are going to use tokens for keys, start with the Gold and Crystal Keys.
If you are going to buy it with gold, start with the Bronze and Silver Keys.
But if you start comparing, 1 token = 10k gold.
150 tokens for the Potion of Intensity (25x doubler) = 1.5 mil = 11 fsps (approx).
Depending on your stam, that potion may be much more valuable.
Of course, if you have many tokens to spend, that's a different discussion. :)

Alliegence Tokens

About a month ago, Hunted Cows introduced Alliegence Tokens. Everyday that you log on earns you 5 token. Every dollar you spend also earns you 20 tokens, and this dollar spent token reward was backdated. In a way, this event lets you know how much you have donated to this game.

The tokens can be exchanged for one of these 3 items :
1. Potion of Intensity (150 tokens)
2. Everlasting Potion (500 tokens)
3. Fleeting Potion (750 tokens)

Potion of Intensity
This is a 25x doubler potion. This potion has the buff level as the Enlister Potion and Santorks Stocking. Its duration is the same as the Enlister Potion, 120 mins. Santorks Stocking, which was a gift from the Cows for Christmas 2009 has a duration of only 60 mins. The value of the doubler has been discussed on my previous post. Its value depends on the amount of stam you are burning and can range from 8 to 44 fsps.

Everlasting Potion
This is a potion for the Unbreakable buff. At level 200, it makes items indestructible. This is the same effect as the Potion of Indestructibility, which was found by scavenging. However, cave creatures no longer drop those potions, and instead drop only the Potion of Resilience, which is only a level 190 buff, and items can still get damage a little. The Potion of Indestructibility is still being traded in AH at about 7 fsps. The value for this Everlasting Potion however has to be higher, since its duration is 300 mins (compared to 60 mins for Potion of Indestructibility). Depending on how long you need to hunt, its value will be from 7 to 35 fsps.

Fleeting Potion
Unlike the other 2 potions, this potion is unmatched by any other. It produces a level 1250 Lightfoot buff. This result in a 62.5% reduction in stam used on walking. For me, it is 140 steps to relic and back, 120 steps on average to get to starting realm. 60 steps per realm. I can get through 4 realms in a hunt. That means I would use about 500 steps, and will save 312.5 steps with this potion. The value of this potion to me will be 12.5 fsps. Someone burning 3 times my stam will value this more. Assuming the same 'overhead' as I, 60*12 + 140 + 120 = 980 steps, and potion will save 612.5 stam, value of 24.5 fsps. So this potion value ranges from 12 to 25 fsps.

Putting a value on these potions isn't exactly meaningful, since all these potions are bounded and cannot be traded. If you have enough tokens, you should consider getting all 3 of them for your hunts. But if you have limited tokens like I do, then the best value for the tokens will be to use it on the Potion of Intensity, since it requires fewer tokens.

Above only considers the use of potions in levelling hunts. I'll quote my guildmate's comment on the use of Fleeting Potion for titan hunting.

013L1V10N says: I just wanted to comment on your blog. The LF potion is more valuable when used tot titan hunt, or completing old quests. Best example i can give is a titan. Assume it takes 10 stam per titan kill i.e. 9 steps and 1 hit. It also takes around 150 steps to get to the realm and then you back as well as walking through one map +60. On a normal Ogalith hunt i get 250 kills, Skal 400, Fuvayua, 600. So for an Ogalith hunt 2460steps, skal 3810, Fuv 5610. Therefor LF1250 saves 61.5FSP, 95FSP, 140FSP. Of course this all depends on how much running you do as a titan hunter.

The value of Doubler

Recap the blog I wrote exactly 2 years ago, of the same title.
http://sisland83.blogspot.com/2008/03/doubler.html

Things have changed quite a lot since then.
We now have :
1. Potion of Supreme Doubling (10x doubler)
2. Potion of Greater Doubler (16x doubler)
3. Christmas Present 2008 (21x doubler)
4. Enlister Potion or Santorks Stocking (25x doubler)

So let's add to the table a few new columns. The math remains the same.

	2	3	4	5	16	25
0.2	71%	125%	167%	200%	357%	400%
0.4	56%	91%	115%	133%	203%	218%
0.6	45%	71%	88%	100%	142%	150%
0.8	38%	59%	71%	80%	109%	114%
1.0	33%	50%	60%	67%	88%	92%
1.2	29%	43%	52%	57%	74%	77%
1.4	26%	38%	45%	50%	64%	67%
1.6	24%	34%	41%	44%	56%	59%
1.8	22%	31%	37%	40%	50%	52%
2.0	20%	29%	33%	36%	45%	47%
2.2	19%	26%	31%	33%	41%	43%
2.4	17%	24%	28%	31%	38%	39%
2.6	16%	23%	26%	29%	35%	36%
2.8	15%	21%	25%	27%	33%	34%
3.0	14%	20%	23%	25%	31%	32%

So for most levels, the observed average number of creatures is between 2 and 3.
Other benefits not included in that computation are :
1. Lower chance of getting killed/losing an imp.
2. Lesser chance of losing durability on crystal items.

So, this question was actually asked by my friend UveBinHad.
And I missed having him in PANIC.
What's the value of the Enlister Potion?

From hunting stam perspective, it's only about 1%, and it's actually less since we now have Lightfoot. But 1% is 1%. If you have 13.5k stam, that is 135 stam, and 5.4 fsps in value. Now, if you consider that you will use fewer imps (16/25). If you usually use 3 imp buffs in the hunt, you will now use (16/25)*3, about 2 imp buffs. That's 50 stam, or 2 fsps.
If you're using UB 200, you lose no durability anyway, so I'll discount that.
All in all, that Enlister potion should not be worth more than 8 fsps for a regular hunt.

But hold on to that. If you are burning say 3 times that amount of stam, that value to you will be 24 fsps. And wait, if you needed to re-buff, you can probably burn the stam faster, and maybe you won't have to rebuff. And if that's the case, then you need to add the rebuff stam cost to its value. And a full buff itself can be about 20 fsps. So its value may then be 44 fsps.

Shield Strike vs Potion of Fatality

Shield Strike gives a 17.5% chance of 1-hitting a 2-hit scenario.
Wither buff at level 175 gives a 35% chance, much better than Shield Strike.
Potion of Fatality gives a Wither buff at level 350, and therefore a 70% chance.

Shield Strike = 17.5%
Wither 175 = 35%
Wither 175 + Shield Strike = 46.375%
Wither 350 = 70%
Wither 350 + Shield Strike = 75.25%

If you shop for wither potions, you can usually get them below 300k (2 fsps).
For that value, using the Wither potion alone is probably greater value than Wither 175 + Shield Strike (when you consider their stam cost).

But why am I even comparing them when you can really have both?
I am seeing many players, asking for Shield Strike buffs to go with their Wither buffs, and that to me, does not make sense.