Atlas of Discovery - math, strategy and logic

[Veny]

Soo, i am trying to play updated Cartography and Archaelogy and i still cannot figure out why should i do them :D
Anyway, i am doubting some logic behind certain features, namely Map refinement. To sum it up - i need to craft paper (which takes time and resources), refine map (which takes time and paper), then uprgade map (which takes lot of gold which is an issue for everyone who is not in late game) and then i get... slightly increased artifact drop chances... what?
I did not do any deep math but it seems to me that using unrefined map is actually better, considering how much time i spend refining.
Or? Is it some high level stuff? Does it get better with uprgades or am i completely wrong?

[Ann☆ﾟ.*･｡]

reason to level up cartography is to unlock sites to excavate artifact, as well as skill bonuses when you travel to 'point of interest'. reason to level up archaeology is to get artefact that provide bonuses, get dlc gems used to upgrade materials as well for new gem slot, and unlock new combat areas. these combat areas require you to have summoning to break down enemy barrier quickly (you can do this without summoning, but you will suffer).

you'll need a lot of gold to do cartography because you need to travel, and refine map. refining map reduces artefact value. the lower the artefact value, the easier it is to get artefact at that map. 6th map refinement allows you to get min. +1 artefact, very valuable upgrade. the upgrade is important if you want to upgrade tools for example, which is another stuff that improves chance to get artefact. (you can use unrefined map, but getting artefact will be slow). you can check wiki what kind of stuff you can get in archaeology.

if you're new to this, skip making maps and just auto-survey areas (don't stop surveying. if you cancel survey you have to travel to nearby unexplored hex to continue auto survey). surveying 100 hex grants 5% global xp

[Veny]

Yea, you described how things work. But what i wonder is, whether these things are actually worth doing.
Cartography is simple, you get passive stuff and rewards from exploring.
Archaeology is also simple, you find stuff you can keep and use.

But what about f.e. map refining. It takes time, resources, for what? To later save time? Is it worth doing in the end? My calculations say it is not.
Or other stuff - there are thing that save time, like that candle that makes non-combat stuff quicker. Farming it takes more time, than i actually save using this candle.

Same with trading junk - i can farm junk, than trade it to:
1) Buy stuff i can buy for gold while saving time
2) Buy stuff i can farm someplace else... faster
3) Buy stuff that makes my Archaeology go faster... by a very little

To give you an example from vanilla game - mosts stuff takes time to provide some bonus - Astrology, Agility, Herbalism, Summoning. All takes time, resources to eventually help you in a long run.

Some stuff in Cartography and Archaeology takes time and resources but it does not really seems like it is providing anything in return.

For example Map refinement. Or actually doing archaeology after getting all unique rewards and donating everything. Donating junk is a good change, but in the end not rewarding.

Unless i will be getting like dozen of junk per archaelogy tick in late game, which would actually make farming it at least a bit acceptable.

[Pandorian]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Veny:

But what about f.e. map refining. It takes time, resources, for what? To later save time? Is it worth doing in the end? My calculations say it is not.

???

Default map with max tool upgrades is 69 artefact value which equates to 33.75% chance on one tool.

Upgrading map takes .25s per action, 5760 actions to fully upgrade. 1440 seconds or 24 minutes.

Fully upgraded map you can get over 100% chance to get artefact and +1 minimum. So using bad statistics it's 6 actions using the unupgraded map to get 1 action of an upgraded map. 3.25s * 6 = 19.5 seconds.

Fully upgraded map action is 2.85 seconds. So you lose 16.65 seconds just on that alone. Let's say you just want to survey 100 times.

Upgraded 2.85*100 = 285 seconds
Unupgraded is 3.25*6*100 to match ratio and output of upgraded = 1950 seconds.
1950 > 285+1440 it'd take to upgrade the map. It just gets worse the more actions you do.

Paper is a non issue as township will give you your starting amount and archaeology will give you paper so you should never have to craft it.
---
Sure upgrading maps looks bad when you have no investment in Archaeology/Cartography but is essential when hunting Legendary artefacts. Just the +1 to minimum alone on refined maps will save you so much frustration of finally hitting the Legendary but having to donate it to get your museum turn in.

[Veny]

I would really love to know how did you manage to reduce upgrade time to 0,25s per action since i am not really seeing anything like that on Wiki, but if it is possible eventually, well, it makes whole this proccess much less frustrating and more rewarding.

[Pandorian]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Veny:

I would really love to know how did you manage to reduce upgrade time to 0,25s per action since i am not really seeing anything like that on Wiki, but if it is possible eventually, well, it makes whole this proccess much less frustrating and more rewarding.

-50% from cape
-19% Cartography(Ship) Upgrades
-10% Cartography Active POI
-10% Enchanced Spyglass/Old Spyglass
-5% Agility Obstacle 9 Ocean Drifting
-3% Elite Pillar of Expertise
-3% Map Hex Mastery
-2% Harold Pet
Then there is also the Candleabra but it's not generally worth it to use for skills that are that short of time by then.

.25 is the lowest it can go so not all of those are required but I believe it's all the sources?

[Veny]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Pandorian:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Veny:

I would really love to know how did you manage to reduce upgrade time to 0,25s per action since i am not really seeing anything like that on Wiki, but if it is possible eventually, well, it makes whole this proccess much less frustrating and more rewarding.

-50% from cape
-19% Cartography(Ship) Upgrades
-10% Cartography Active POI
-10% Enchanced Spyglass/Old Spyglass
-5% Agility Obstacle 9 Ocean Drifting
-3% Elite Pillar of Expertise
-3% Map Hex Mastery
-2% Harold Pet
Then there is also the Candleabra but it's not generally worth it to use for skills that are that short of time by then.

.25 is the lowest it can go so not all of those are required but I believe it's all the sources?

Uhhh... OK, i did not really notice some stuff like that Spyglass are actually improving refining times as well... that changes everything :D