Titanium seal kinda impossible without attacking a trader

[Geronimo]

I'm so frustrated. Getting there is not the problem. But if you have a negative forest mystery like Eerie song, which kills villagers every 15 seconds on hostility level 4, and you can't meet the requirements like providing services, you're done. I was about to provide brawling the next year, which covered two pops, just didn't have the planks yet. Couldn't get anything for the humans.

I was just about to get my fuel in order with a kiln and I had this cornerstone which enables you to see the contents of the glades so I could go straight into the ones which had bone marrow. I also had the impression that getting to level 3 hostility didn't stop the Eerie song and my villagers still died.

And then those building rolls to pick from only 2 buildings... I can live with a 2 choice cornerstone roll, but 2 buildings? Monkey Jesus! You're burning through those amber fast and you kinda need them for buying planks, so you don't have to chop wood for those.

That beacon tower doesn't do much as well. At first I thought their bonuses would count for all consecutive seasons, but no. It's only for THAT season.

So there is only one thing I can try: attacking a trader. 500 hours of play and I always saw this as cheating, but now I'm gonna have to. What are the 'dire consequences' they talk of doing that?

[kory]

You can certainly do it without attacking a trader, but really attacking traders is fine, give it a try. You have a few villagers die, gain some impatience, and wont get any traders for a while. Long run you will keep getting traders 50% slower (but you can still call them for impatence) and the really strong traders will not visit you.

[el Darkness]

Avoid attacking the Ancient Trader. I do not remember his name, but attacking that particular Trader will screw your trading for that run completely. I think he has purple avatar.

[kory]

Originally posted by el Darkness:

Avoid attacking the Ancient Trader. I do not remember his name, but attacking that particular Trader will screw your trading for that run completely. I think he has purple avatar.

Oh yes Sothur the ancient. he used to be purple, looks like an eagle now, he will give you a debuff to -90% value of good to traders. Also avoid attacking any of the traders you meet in forest glade events, they will give a debuff that increases hostility, its usually not worth it.

[el Darkness]

Originally posted by kory:

Oh yes Sothur the ancient. he used to be purple, looks like an eagle now, he will give you a debuff to -90% value of good to traders. Also avoid attacking any of the traders you meet in forest glade events, they will give a debuff that increases hostility, its usually not worth it.

Yup, they are not to be attacked. :)

[Piko ツ]

pokaaaa

[Soho]

Sort of a dumb question maybe but... are you using the Altar of Forsaken ?

I never used it for the longest time but I too hit a wall trying to complete the Titanium... I had failed it probably at least 4 times. But then I started using the Forsaken Altar and those buffs you get from it are really stronk. You don't have to sacrifice villagers to it either, you can just burn campaign resources (which I had a ton of them from playing potato mode for a long time)

Or... you can sacrifice villager types you choose, which can also be a benefit (say you know you are going to lose your harpies or foxes because you don't have the stuff to keep them happy... sacrifice them instead. You get the same penalty as if they left or died, but you save some campaign resources for a Forsaken buff)

With this I was able to complete the Titanium without attacking trader (I still haven't attacked a trader... almost 700 hours played). I am on the last seal though, maybe I will have to attack one ><

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by kory:

Originally posted by el Darkness:

Avoid attacking the Ancient Trader. I do not remember his name, but attacking that particular Trader will screw your trading for that run completely. I think he has purple avatar.

Oh yes Sothur the ancient. he used to be purple, looks like an eagle now, he will give you a debuff to -90% value of good to traders. Also avoid attacking any of the traders you meet in forest glade events, they will give a debuff that increases hostility, its usually not worth it.

Thanks for the heads up. No Sothur, no glade traders. I guess that means you'll get only 1 trader every 2 years.

Does attacking a trader also means you'll acquire its blueprints? Probably not, still wanna make sure.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Soho:

Sort of a dumb question maybe but... are you using the Altar of Forsaken ?

I never used it for the longest time but I too hit a wall trying to complete the Titanium... I had failed it probably at least 4 times. But then I started using the Forsaken Altar and those buffs you get from it are really stronk. You don't have to sacrifice villagers to it either, you can just burn campaign resources (which I had a ton of them from playing potato mode for a long time)

Or... you can sacrifice villager types you choose, which can also be a benefit (say you know you are going to lose your harpies or foxes because you don't have the stuff to keep them happy... sacrifice them instead. You get the same penalty as if they left or died, but you save some campaign resources for a Forsaken buff)

With this I was able to complete the Titanium without attacking trader (I still haven't attacked a trader... almost 700 hours played). I am on the last seal though, maybe I will have to attack one ><

That too, I never used the Forsaken Altar so I can try that as well. I thought they're kinda high in plank use and that's why I never thought of using it.

I'm probably gonna try both before I'm jumping to the seal to measure their effects.

[ACS36]

I assure you it's possible to one shot all the seals in the game without ever attacking a trader.

If you're struggling to do so you probably misunderstand what cornerstones are good/bad and what buildings you should be prioritizing. Lot's of people pick cornerstones that don't really help them win the game. They pick value cornerstones that hinder their progress. Your goal isn't to live as long as possible. It's to win as quickly as possible.

1. There is no reason to reach hostility 4 on any of the seals unless you're doing a glade event that increases hostility. I rarely ever go above hostility 3 in any of my games during the seals.

2. Only cut down enough trees to build what you need and open glades. Buy planks from the trader.

3. hostility reduction cornerstones are some of the best in the game. they have even more value on seal maps as win conditions are different than normal.

[kory]

Originally posted by Geronimo:

Does attacking a trader also means you'll acquire its blueprints? Probably not, still wanna make sure.

It can, you basically get half their stuff, but for each stack of goods they have it is all or none, and you get a random selection of the cornerstones they offered. I cant recall the exact probabilities.

[Samseng Yik]

You will get random 2 BP/Cornerstone from the trader pool.
Then assorted random amount of stuff from his general stock.
This can lead to 100+ fuel, or nearly 150 complex food etc, build material etc

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by ACS36:

1. There is no reason to reach hostility 4 on any of the seals unless you're doing a glade event that increases hostility. I rarely ever go above hostility 3 in any of my games during the seals.

How can you stay under hostility 3. With each year you'll get 40, then you need to open some glades to reach the seal AND you need to find some bone marrow because you have to get rid of wood as fuel as soon as possible. Coal production is very limited and with a kiln you still need to chop wood.

I get the part about cornerstones, but with only 2 to pick from with each roll the chances are slim you'll get bonuses such as -40 for each level 2 heart.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Samseng Yik:

You will get random 2 BP/Cornerstone from the trader pool.
Then assorted random amount of stuff from his general stock.
This can lead to 100+ fuel, or nearly 150 complex food etc, build material etc

Let's say you'll get 60 coal + 60 bone marrow as optimal reward, yes? Because they never have more than 60 for each type of goods.

And what about building blueprints, let's say the small farm? Would you get that?

[Soho]

I think an important way to keep hostility down *on seals only* is to limit your tree-chopping... try only to get wood from the 'big' trees, and chop only the minimal 'little' trees to make room for buildings (if 100% necessary) and open glades

Something about the seal biome itself makes it so hostility goes up for every tree chopped- you can see it in the hostility summary when you hover over it

As for the Forsaken Altar... it requires a boat-load of wood and bricks (its like 80 wood, 12 bricks... no planks) - I've been taking the wood for 1 embark point just so I would have a cushion to build this right away (get it out of the way, because when I need it I end up not having the wood for it ><) . The other thing it takes is a ton of room, which on the seal biome again real-estate is at a premium (have to fit everything in to a cramped space)

I honestly love that it is a difficult challenge, I don't mind at all that it may take multiple tries since RNG and just one bad mistake can ruin the run. That all makes victory that much more sweet. Every little bit of advice helps too. It feels like a quest of epic proportion, which it should

[Samseng Yik]

As the cult leader of the trader robbery.
Yes, you will mostly always get 2 random "blue print or cornerstone" from that trader list.
I had even got +0.5 reputation and -50 hostility from that.
You can search my screenshot in ATS why I promote so much trader robbery.
In fact, the very 1st trader is the most useless trader just setup for you to rob free resource.
If you worry about peasant death as "man power loss".
I suggest you spend 2 embark point take the starting bonus peasant, then sacrifice them to robbery, now count again how much total resource/bp/cornerstone you yield from robbery vs embarkpoint

The earlier you having extra impatience , the easier your game get.
Do you played the special land mark "giant dew crystal : you start with 6 impatience" before ?
Notice the settlement in here is actually much more related and you win faster