how to reach adamantine seal?

[Prisent]

i think the title explain a lot already. so far i tried constant p16 run but it did not provide enough seal fragment. do i must run p20 all the time?? also i think i did not finish fast enough, i finish around year 8-10 per run depend on biome and order bluprint and stuff... any advice is welcome :)

[[NCE] McDerp]

spam a bunch of year 5-6 wins in P2 while collecting more shards from world events, then beeline it to the seal

[arjensmit79]

Start out playing a difficulty that you can win most games in 3 years. That should be doable on veteran. If not, read this post: Its a reply to another topic, but it should give you some very strong hints as to how to win fast in general. If you google some on here or reddit, or just google on how to win fast, i wrote plenty posts explaining this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Against_the_Storm/comments/1h7xx0a/comment/m0ou8b6/

Note that that post is not so much focussed on low difficulty level games. On Veteran you can use the advantage of low hostility to open more glades, thus find more caches to open. This ensures you do not need to produce any food yourself. Everything can come from the caches. You probably also wont need to produce any build materials. And you can trade for tools to send a bunch of caches to the queen too. But its good to do the strategy i wrote in that link as it prepares you for a playstyle you need to win fast on high prestige.

With the rewards you get after the game, your first priority is to choose caravan range so that you can ensure your next game is either on double modifiers or on an ! event. Keep spamming range to circle around the citadel with 3 year games while gathering as many of those event rewards as possible.

After about 10 of these games you should have a good bunch of event rewards. These should make it possible to move up in difficulty a bit (P2) while maintaining 3-4 year wins. Just stay within range of the citadel where you can play these difficulty levels.

After about 20 games, you will have an enourmous crapload of event rewards and its time to start moving towards the seal. With all these rewards you have now, you can even win high prestige games in 3-4 years.

[Ysthrall]

...I would not have thought of any sort of strategy using the world events to any extent. They've always seemed either too difficult, or pointless, or short-term.

I read the article, and it seems... clinical. Exploitative. If that's the way to win, I'm not sure if I want to.

I'm not sure I've completed any game in 3 years....

How many of these very fast towns would you anticipate doing in the course of an adamantium seal run?

Still, thank you for the reply and the article. Lot of work into that, I suspect.

[arjensmit79]

Originally posted by Ysthrall:

.How many of these very fast towns would you anticipate doing in the course of an adamantium seal run?

I have done about a handful QHT runs by now. The first one i did every game at the highest level i felt comfortable. After that i figured it would probably be better if i'd stay on P6 a bit more so i get a few more games in. Then i figured actually P2 would be better so i get even more games in.

As i reduced the difficulty level, i ended the run with more shards and more bonusses. hat last P2 run started with 6-5-5-4-4 years and then quickly degraded in consistent year 3 games because of the amount of bonuses i have. Thats where i realized, to make the game as easy and "succesful" as possible, yes i should have started at however low a difficulty it is where i can win in 3 years. After all, if that first game had costed my 3 years instead of 6, i would have enough extra time for an entire extra game. At this point i could probably do them at P20 in 3 years, so many of those event bonusses i have. So even if that first game had been on settler, costing me 4 shards, i could now earn 9 in the 3 years that would have saved me.

I have not done it lower than P2 yet, but i now know that is optimal. You can fit 31 games into a run if they all are 3 years. That means you need an AVERAGE of 3,5 shards per game. Which is between Veteran and Viceroy. You can start on settler, slowly work your way to P6 and you'll be totally fine. And thats without even taking any shards from the reward boxes. With this many games in a cycle, it wont surprise you that i also end up with an unspendable amount of reserve embarkation points even though i take caravan range very often. So in fact, if you take shard rewards instead of all the reserve points, you could play almost the entire run on pioneer and still beat it.

Admittedly, the game got more boring as i reduce the difficulty level. I haven't finished that last run because i got bored by it. It feels like the game is broken now. (which is why i suggested the world map meta to be rebalanced)

Originally posted by Ysthrall:

.
I read the article, and it seems... clinical. Exploitative. If that's the way to win, I'm not sure if I want to.

It is of course not the only way to win. But i as i played this game more and more, i got more efficient and this is what i ended up with. My playstyle evolution basically went from:

"Focus on build materials because my RTS mind tells my thats the basis of everything. Then produce advanced food for everyone, fuel, add more foods/clothing and finally get services. Get hostility reducing cornerstones"

to

"Try to buy all your build materials and not produce any. Produce 1 advanced food. Produce fuel. Then work on the victory condition."

to

"Produce build materials fast to get those service buildings up ASAP so that you have the city score to get the traders to utilize them. Produce some food if you have to,"

As i just indicated, the world map meta feels broken now that i optimized it all the way. The games themselves (played at P20) don't really feel bad to me yet, but indeed, it is getting a bit straightforward. As i progressed, i basically dropped everything and ended up with only the focus on services. Winning faster means you don't need to worry about hostility, you don't need to worry about fuel, indeed, you may often get away without any raw food production. This too feels a bit broken yes. Its like whats the name for it, a positive feedback loop or something. This is not something that i think needs to be fixed though. It took a lot of time before i got here. Maybe i should stop explaining it before it becomes mainstream meta and makes the game boring for people who have not had the chance to spend 1000 hours finding out themselves (although i don't want to pretend i am the only one who plays like this and has gotten to consistent year 3-4 wins)

[Skallagrim]

Echo what most been said, play the majority of your game between P2 and P5, and aim to win in 5 years or less. P3 can be a bonus since it makes cyst-related quest easier. P4 or P5 can get you extra resources with no real change in difficulty.

Map modifier is the key. Finishing a moderate difficulty modifier on P2 in 6 years will give you 10 shards, which is a lot more profitable than finishing P11 game in 7 years.

[Prisent]

hmmm i didn't realize you could circle around the capital to finish modified map and then beeline the seal. ok let's say i finished those modified map now which reward should i take? based on what i read i should take the seal but u also said to take the range expander soo??
winning in 3 years.. dem thats probably around 20 villager maks. in conclusion its easier to gain resolver from few villager right but that's mean you need the right services building and trader to trade the advanced food yes?

[arjensmit79]

Originally posted by Prisent:

hmmm i didn't realize you could circle around the capital to finish modified map and then beeline the seal. ok let's say i finished those modified map now which reward should i take? based on what i read i should take the seal but u also said to take the range expander soo??
winning in 3 years.. dem thats probably around 20 villager maks. in conclusion its easier to gain resolver from few villager right but that's mean you need the right services building and trader to trade the advanced food yes?

Take range reward if needed to find a good spot with double modifier or an event (the exclamation marks). Getting as many of those exclamation marks as possible is the main goal. If you have found a good spot and have more rewards, then take reserve points, or shards if its late in the run and you need them.

The amount of villagers is important for reputation generation. More villagers = more reputation per minute. So take every villager you can get. Embark with villagers, get villagers from order rewards, and if you find a camp in a glade, take those villagers right away. Hopefully you can get 28 villagers in year 3. That would add 4 global resolve from your settlements (20+8 or 14+14 hearths). Also note that harpies really are the gods of reputation making. So your embark caravan should have the maximum amount of villagers, but not at all cost. A caravan with 10 harpies and foxes, vs another with 11 humans and beavers, go with the harpies and foxes. During the game also try to increase the number of harpies more than any other race.

You need the as many of the services as you can get since those give a lot of resolve. You also want the hearth upgraded and if you find any other source of global resolve (cornerstones, or some glade events give you buildings that give either +3 or +2 per service building), you want that too. Buy advanced food if you are rich enough, but priority is the service goods as they cost half as much and give double the resolve. Boots are also great resolve per coin value.

[Nordil(Hun)]

P16 is good enough to be able to do it. On an average however you need to finish each village in 8 years. If you can do it faster all the better, however even once you pass 10 years than you lose too much time and it makes a lot harder to finish the seal.
There are some modifications for which it is actually better to lower the difficulty to P6 or P9 or P11. So you can complete them faster and only lose a few shards. Because the bonus they offer is just so good. Or if you very very rarely you have a chance with place having a tile with three modifiers it is worth to do it even with reduced difficulties because the double shards you can select(or tripple) make it much more worth it.

[Prisent]

Originally posted by arjensmit79:

Originally posted by Prisent:

hmmm i didn't realize you could circle around the capital to finish modified map and then beeline the seal. ok let's say i finished those modified map now which reward should i take? based on what i read i should take the seal but u also said to take the range expander soo??
winning in 3 years.. dem thats probably around 20 villager maks. in conclusion its easier to gain resolver from few villager right but that's mean you need the right services building and trader to trade the advanced food yes?

Take range reward if needed to find a good spot with double modifier or an event (the exclamation marks). Getting as many of those exclamation marks as possible is the main goal. If you have found a good spot and have more rewards, then take reserve points, or shards if its late in the run and you need them.

The amount of villagers is important for reputation generation. More villagers = more reputation per minute. So take every villager you can get. Embark with villagers, get villagers from order rewards, and if you find a camp in a glade, take those villagers right away. Hopefully you can get 28 villagers in year 3. That would add 4 global resolve from your settlements (20+8 or 14+14 hearths). Also note that harpies really are the gods of reputation making. So your embark caravan should have the maximum amount of villagers, but not at all cost. A caravan with 10 harpies and foxes, vs another with 11 humans and beavers, go with the harpies and foxes. During the game also try to increase the number of harpies more than any other race.

You need the as many of the services as you can get since those give a lot of resolve. You also want the hearth upgraded and if you find any other source of global resolve (cornerstones, or some glade events give you buildings that give either +3 or +2 per service building), you want that too. Buy advanced food if you are rich enough, but priority is the service goods as they cost half as much and give double the resolve. Boots are also great resolve per coin value.

i tried your style p2 and finish in 6year with modified map. So far i'm not sure with several things in which i'l just point it out.
1. should i raid trader? In this run i raid 4 times, 3 trading post 1 rogue trade, i call immediately cant wait 12 min haha.
2. 10 points embark. what things should i brought with me? in this run i brought villager,amber,stone, and food. which iirc 3 3 2 1 1 = 10.
3. should i trade with other base? In this run i immediately set up post camp and tradehub to trade with other settlement and get amber.
4. is villager leaving acceptable? In this run several of my villager run during storm cuz i cant sacrifice more fuel than usual and higher hostility because low queen impatience. usually even in p20 my villager dont run away haha
5. how many woodcutter camp should i open with? usually i start with 3 and then after mine/ coal production active i lower it to 2.
6. should i buy reforged cornerstone? in this run i buy crowded house, the extra minus break time pretty nice if u ask me.

overall your ways is fresh to me and its kind a fun rather than gunning the usual RTS play which overflow the resource and be like rich settlement. This way of playing makes me feels like walking thin rope hahaha cuz you softcap the winning condition to year 4 5 6.

[arjensmit79]

1: Raid? You mean Attack ? I have only once in my life attacked the trader. Not saying it is bad to do it, but it doesn't fit my strategy. I start calling traders as soon as i have 66 city score. (which generally means i have service buildings) Sometimes i do call one earlier (right after the natural one at start year 2 leaves) if i'm sorta desperate for something that he is likely to have, but i try not to.

2: Thats exactly what i mostly embark with. Only if amber is 5, i may swap it for other stuff that is priced really nicely. (bricks/fabric for 2, coal for 3)

3: Absolutely. Using trade routes is super important.

4: Its very rare that i have any leaving. Year 1 storm you can normally be on level 0. year 2 you can be at level 1 and but you'll have extra reputation from hearths, maybe some advanced housing if thats what does it. Year 3, i normally have enough stuff going that the storm is no issue either way, even if i'd be in level 2. Normally you can still be in level 1 though.
How many glades did you open ? Just 1-2 dangerous ones should be enough.

5: Yep, thats what i do. I start with 2 if i have <11 citizens or 3 if i have >10. After year 1, i destroy all but 1 of the woodcutter camps and if i have enough fuels to not burn wood, i probably rarely use that 1 remaining camp.

6: We talking QHT ? I use it only in the second half of the run. In the past you could destroy it for a refund and i'd always just take a look at whats offered, but since you cant refund it anymore i stopped doing that.

Note that on P2 first game QHT, year 6 is not so bad. On a normal seal run with a (near) full unlucked tree it could use some improvement.

[rkkn]

there are a huge number of ways to win individual settlements. I definitely don't adhere to the above. For example, my P10 games frequently end with a mad rush doing a billion glade events at once on year 4, having never built any service buildings.

but for long term strat, picking up as many permanent bonuses from world events as you can is definitely good

Originally posted by arjensmit79:

I start calling traders as soon as i have 66 city score.

what the heck is city score?

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by arjensmit79:

6: We talking QHT ? I use it only in the second half of the run. In the past you could destroy it for a refund and i'd always just take a look at whats offered, but since you cant refund it anymore i stopped doing that.

Note that on P2 first game QHT, year 6 is not so bad. On a normal seal run with a (near) full unlucked tree it could use some improvement.

Reforged->Stormforged.
Not sure but i think some used to have reforged in their name in the past.

@Prisent, yes Stormforged cornerstones are always better versions then their original ones.

And yes i noticed that with the extra 1. Having 25% chance of...cant recall if it is not taking breaking time or reduced breaking time or not consuming food is quite OP whichever it is.
Though I have to test it out as i still feel it is on the weaker side.

[endoric]

thinking of having to blitz every settlement in 3 years makes me not want to play. besides i must suck i don't mess with prestige levels.

[endoric]

yeah i def dont know what i am doing.

P2 and year 4 and maybe half way there.

[TowerWizard]

Originally posted by rkkn:

what the heck is city score?

It is a hidden number that represents your settlement, which is used to determine which traders can show up.

There is a table of how to calculate it in the official wiki.