Oddball Tips for Methodical Solo Journeyman

[Gilmoy]

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0. Queensguard Elite and Just-in-Time Inventory
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You are a traitor to the Crown!
First click on the Inventory icon in the lower right corner!
Edit your party's gear as you see fit, anticipating a fight that will gain 0 gold and 0 XP!
Then lay down your arms, or die by my blade!

Me: OK, doing that
- Unequip: all +10% XP items
- Unequip: all +x% Gold items (since +32% of 0 gold is 0)
- Unequip: entire HP Regen Set from the last hero's End Turn
- Unequip: entire Movement Bonus Set from current hero
+ Equip: moar arms, armor, and rings for combat

'k, done, let's go. <close Inventory> <click Defend>
Y'all really could drop some loot, too --

Not my rules, I just work here. Now you die!

[Gilmoy]

1-Intelligence Rush: Crooked Wand
Target friendly swaps to the front of the timeline.
If target friendly already acted this turn, it is created at front of the timeline.

3-Intelligence Rush Group: Imp Wand, Spellbook
Target friendly, with T-splash, thereafter same as above.

+ Randomly chooses 2 or 3 friendlies within the T-splash. (I've never gotten all 4)
[_] Occasionally deletes -1 friendly from the timeline, instead of swapping to front.

Overall, it's a win on action economy, even if 1 hero might go 2+ rounds with 0 actions.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

1-Intelligence Rush: Crooked Wand
Target friendly swaps to the front of the timeline.
If target friendly already acted this turn, it is created at front of the timeline.

3-Intelligence Rush Group: Imp Wand, Spellbook
Target friendly, with T-splash, thereafter same as above.

+ Randomly chooses 2 or 3 friendlies within the T-splash. (I've never gotten all 4)
[_] Occasionally deletes -1 friendly from the timeline, instead of swapping to front.

Overall, it's a win on action economy, even if 1 hero might go 2+ rounds with 0 actions.

Hmm, got it. It looks over-powered indeed. But I guess that still means I need to find Crooked Wand, and I've never seen one. The same thing with all the supposedly "OP" weapons I've never seen - for instance, the dark tome or whatever that summons undead creatures I've seen in online videos.

[Gilmoy]

In my Chapter II Master run, I found:

1 Crooked Wand -- L0 fortified site, 3 Witch + 1 Hag, in the treasure chest
1 Imp Wand -- L3 fortified site, Goblin Sniper/Scrapper/Trickster + Hobgoblin Butcher
1 Imp Wand -- after Dead Adventurer event, click Loot, fumble, fight HEROOFFAHRUL

In general, attack fortified sites, and you can win their weapons.
So fight Hag-types to get Hag-type weapons, and so on.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

In my Chapter II Master run, I found:

1 Crooked Wand -- L0 fortified site, 3 Witch + 1 Hag, in the treasure chest
1 Imp Wand -- L3 fortified site, Goblin Sniper/Scrapper/Trickster + Hobgoblin Butcher
1 Imp Wand -- after Dead Adventurer event, click Loot, fumble, fight HEROOFFAHRUL

In general, attack fortified sites, and you can win their weapons.
So fight Hag-types to get Hag-type weapons, and so on.

Funny thing I just found a Crooked Wand now. I must've seen it in the past as well but didn't pick it up due to the low damage! ;)

[Gilmoy]

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10.2) Itinerary: Went There, Did That
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FtK II, at least on Master with improper early-Chapter play, feels like a relentless chore.
There's zero spare time to wander, explore, or have any sense of freedom or discovery.
That remorseless Game Over Clock in the sky forces me to plan out every 1 MP of action,
from 5-20 turns in advance.

Fortunately, I find it fun, thus I become good at it.

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[x] 23 tiles east to Fraybee = 5 hero-turns = 1.25 Rounds = R42 hero #2 attacks her
[no] Focus = 5, 4, 6, 5 = +20 MPs if we convert it all, which saves 1.25 Rounds

R42 hero #1. Ambushed by 4 L2 Goblins
Warden Fraybee's gimmick is Drain Focus, instead of damage.
That cost us -13 Focus for no gain.
It's the 1st time I've ever seen her, hence surprise is inevitable. Now I know.

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[x] 42 tiles west to L7 Crypt = 2.5 Rounds = R44 hero #4

R44 hero #3. Ambushed by 1 L6 Goblin Elite.
The 3 Crypt fights cost us -1 Crude Goblin Bomb and -3 Godsbeard (1 each).
It earns 5 herbs, 5 weapons, 1 armor, 3 gear, and the usual 6 Lore = 83 Lore unspent.

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[x] 20 tiles north to Oak = 1.25 Rounds = R46 hero #1

R46 hero #3. En route, we fight through 4 L7 Imps in a fort for +2 candies.
The Treasure Chest Mimic eats my +10 Luck Ring, and coughs up 4 armor.
3 of 4 are better than our best, and move into our starting line-up. I'll take that trade.

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[x] slack = 1.75 Rounds = R47 hero #4

After Fraybee and the Crypt fights, we're oddly healthy, but with 12/24 Focus.
I regret that I never had 1 spare Round to use a Tinder Pouch = 4 turns of not-moving.

But hey, that's exactly what we have right now! I don't actually lose until R48! It fits!
R46 hero #3: Tinder Pouch, Rest for +33 HP, +2 = 7/7 Focus, and Find an Identify Scroll
R46 hero #4: Mediate +1 = 5/5 Focus (and wear +1 Focus solely for the 1st fight)
R47 hero #1: Meditate +6 = 7/7 Focus (and HP Regen +5 = 71/85 HP)
R47 hero #2: Meditate +1 = 5/5 Focus (and wear +1 Focus ibid.)

We are L7.96, L7.97, L8.11, L7.80, +1 L7 merc (Gunther).
7 Godsbeard, 3 Sanctums, 1/2 Life Pool from Dark Carnival. (I lost -1 in the L7 Crypt.)
The 1st fight should level up 2-3 of us to L8 for a free heal +2 Focus.
8 Bomb + 8 Dancing Nettle. Yes, that is a combo, which I call Gatling

I correctly didn't spend 1 MP to repair the landboat, and it ends its tour with 3 HP left.
I think we're ready to Go Win the Game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3091170514

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[_] enter the Primordial Oak (dungeon) on R47 hero #4's last 1 MP

R47 hero #3. We're ahead of schedule by about 7 MP
This, the value of planning, shows. When game is relentless, be relentless.

[Gilmoy]

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11) Primordial Oak: Undercard Fights
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Fight 1-1 vs. 5 L6 does level up Herbalist and Farmer to L8, washing away all damage.
Fight 1-4 vs. 5 L6 levels up Pathfinder to L8. Also, we take 0 damage.

Fight 1-5 vs. 4 L6 inflicts 1 alpha-hit for -15, and a T-splash + Burn for -39-40.
I can't avoid alpha-hits from monster Speed scripting, so it's just the cost of gaming.

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11.1 Mercenary Math
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I learn of Gunther, and Mercenaries in general:

• A Mercenary with Stun for 0 damage prefers to use it.
  He could have killed the Fire Elemental for -47 and saved me 1 Burn tick, but he Stuns.
  
• In combat, you can Cure a mercenary normally, by targeting it with a wand.
  
• After combat, Party Heal applies the same partial-heal to all mercenaries and heroes.
  
• Using a Tinder Pouch's camp also (partially) heals your Mercenary Follower.
  
• [_] animal Follower?

I use an original Tinder Pouch, 2nd of the 4 from start of game.
We don't need the healing, but it's the very last chance in this run to use one.

Fight 2-1 vs. 4 L7. 1 alpha-crit for -32, -5 Focus to bag the rest.
Imp Wizard uses Imp Wand (of course), so its Fiery Zap has Ignore Resistance*
(currently misspelled on its card as "Ignore A r m o r").

Fight 2-3 vs. 5 L7. One alpha-Thrust for -13 -8 (Column), 1 real hit for -9, -3 Focus.

I never got the key (from Moog's spider quest?), so I can't unlock 2-4's secret door.
If I had taken an optimal path from start of game, I could have saved -4 Rounds,
but then I'd likely have missed the Woodcutter. First run ever always has noob errors.
(Subsequent reruns can skip Woodcutter's detour so it gets easier.)

Fight 2-5 vs. 4 L7. One alpha-Bleed for -31 (and -1 Panax to not switch wands to Cure).
-1 Focus for Rush Group, 1 real hit for -8. Also, that's why there's not more hits.

2-6 is a real Treasure Chest, with ... +1 Panax

Only 2 fights remain. Herbalist at 30/92 HP is at tiny risk of getting alpha-killed.
I brought 6 Godsbeard and haven't used one yet.
It would be shameful beyond words to take -1/1 Life Pool with 6 Godsbeard unspent.

Party Heal leaves our HP/Focus at 76/4, 131*/3, 87*/4, 92*/2, and 116/0 Gunther.

Fight 2-7 vs. 4 L7. One hit for -12, -1 Focus for Rush Group
We hoard our herbs + bombs for a worthier fight, next.

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11.2) Chapter Boss Fight
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Fight 2-9 is 8 L7!
2 Goblin Sniper get 1 alpha-Pierce for -29.

Bogdrinker, Swamp Shaman casts Attack Up Group with T-splash for +16 on 3!
4 Bogoblin with maces!
1 Goblin Trickster!

However shall we dismantle them all in the top of the 1st inning? e-he-he --

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11.1 Mercenary Math
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I learn of Gunther, and Mercenaries in general:

• A Mercenary with Stun for 0 damage prefers to use it.
  He could have killed the Fire Elemental for -47 and saved me 1 Burn tick, but he Stuns.
  

Worse yet, Gunther will try to stun those who are stun immune. This is some atrocious programming.

[Gilmoy]

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11.3) Round 1
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• 1.a,b) 2 Snipers already acted, as above.

1.c) Pathfinder ponders, deep in thought, like a chess combo. FtK II is not a twitch game.
She has (Basic) Knowledge Pipe for minor XP per herb used.

• -1 Dancing Nettle #1, for 1+2 = 3 Secondary Actions, and +89 XP
  Yes, you keep your original 1 Secondary Action, and end up with 3 total.
  
• -1 Goblin Bomb on Bogoblin #c + Bogdrinker (corrupts their tiles with Confusion)
  -1/2 Focus to guarantee a hit.
  
• -1 Great Bomb (Daze) on Sniper, Bogoblin #c + Bogdrinker, Trickster
  Daze removes Secondary Actions, which does stop a Trickster from throwing bombs.
  -1/1 Focus. She has 0 Focus for the rest of the fight, come what may.
  
• -1 Dancing Nettle #2, for 1+2 = 3 Secondary Actions, and +89 XP
  
• -1 Improved Poison Bomb on Sniper, Sniper, Bogoblin #b, Bogdrinker -- whiff
  
• -1 Acid Bomb on Sniper, Sniper, Bogoblin #b, Bogdrinker
  
• -1 Dancing Nettle #3, for 1+2 = 3 Secondary Actions, and +89 XP
  
• -1 Hermit Grass for +40 Evasion for 2 actions (but I wasted it myself; see below)
  
• -1 Midnight Nettle for +1 = 2 Primary Action and +89 XP
  
• -1 = 1 Primary for Shock Arrow on Bogdrinker to give him Shocked
  
• -1 = 0 Secondary to Equip Weapon, to Legendary Firebow
  
• -1 = 0 Primary for Sky Fire -- whiff, partial damage, no Burn

1.d) Herbalist Imp Wand Fire Storm (corrupts 6 tiles with Burn)

• 1.e) Bogdrinker pays -1 Focus past Shocked for Attack Up Group on self + 3.
  It gives +16 Damage (both kinds) for 2 rounds.
  
• He has no open square to move to, gets Confuse + Burn + Acid, and still has Shock.

1.f) Scholar also has Imp Wand I must try this combo!

• -1 Dancing Nettle for 1+2 = (1,3) Primary, Secondary Actions
  
• -(0,1) = (1, 2 Secondary) on -1 Hermit Grass for Evade Up
  
• -(0,1) = (1, 1 Secondary) on -1 Midnight Nettle for +(1,0) = (2 Primary Actions, 1)
  
• -(1,0) = (1 Primary, 1) on Rush Group, gets 3/3 { Pathfinder, Herbalist, Gunther }
  
• -(0,1) = (1,0) on Equip Weapon to Book of Warding
  
• -(1,0) = (0,0) on Cleansing Storm to de-Buff all enemy Buffs in a 2x3 area.
  This dispels all of Bogdrinker's Attack Up buffs, and kills a Sniper.
  I carried this Book since Round 13 for this one usage case

Yes, you can use the 1st of 2 Primary Actions on a Rush Group, without weirdness.
You remain at the front of the timeline, since you still have 1 Primary Action left.

1.c2) Pathfinder ponders, feels déjà vu. She has 0 bombs left, might as well shoot.

• -1 Midnight Nettle for +1 = 2 Primary Action and +89 XP
  
• Sky Fire x2, probably Bogoblins #b and #c die around now
  
• Her Evade Up expires, utterly wasted, 0 monsters acted during its duration

1.d2) Herbalist Fiery Zap kills the other Sniper.
1.i0) Gunther kills Bogoblin #a for -47. Only #d still lives.

• 1.g) Trickster is Dazed, cannot throw, must Skip Turn.
  
• 1.h) Bogoblin #d, with 11/65 HP, Cleaves for -13, Dodged, Dodged, gets Burn.
  This is the sole hit we take in the run of play, all fight long.

1.i) Gunther already yanked forward
1.j) Farmer hits Bogdrinker, we begin eroding his 432 HP (not a typo)

We take 2 hits and kill 5 of 8.
Only Bogdrinker, Trickster nearly dead, and Bogoblin #d with 11/65 + Burn remain.

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11.3) Round 2
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2.c) Pathfinder Fire Arrow on Bogdrinker
2.d) Herbalist kills Trickster, there is no 2(g)

• 2.e) Bogdrinker is Confused, Skips Turn

2.f) Scholar switches to Pearl Staff, Heavy Water Bolt (-20%, but 0-80 damage!) rolls 4/5 for (64 - 9 Resistance) = 55 Magic Damage per shot, here and hereafter

• 2.h) Bogoblin #d whiffs and is Blocked, Burns for -9 = 2 HP, will die on next Burn

2.i) Gunther Stuns at Bogdrinker, who has Stun Immunity
2.j) Farmer hits

At 174 HP, Bogdrinker cutscene-retaliates (not during his turn, and not using an Action) with Chaos Storm (? -- it can't be anything else) for -8 and -5 Magic Damage,
and corrupts 2x3 tiles with random bad effects.

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11.3) Round 3
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Everybody hits Bogdrinker, and he dies. His entire output was:

Round 1: Attack Up Group, we dispel all of it
Round 2: Confused, skipped
Round 3: maybe perhaps a little bit dead too much already
Silverware (We Take The Town)

For the entire fight, we take 1 Sniper's alpha-Pierce, 1 Bogoblin Cleave,
and Bogdrinker's scripted retaliation. 2 of 3 you can't avoid, so we really took only 1.

We spend all of our bombs, offensive herbs, and Focus to guarantee our own alpha-hits.
Yanking half the party forward in time essentially lets us create our own ambush indoors.
It brings back good memories of running a card-pulling combo in an eCCG.

[Gilmoy]

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12. Chapter II Master: Summary
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I finish with [x] 87/25 Goblins killed, [x] Round 47/50, and [x] found the Woodcutter,
for the 3-dot Challenge sweep under "The Primordial Oak" on the Campaign map.
Every Master run is also a sub-50 Round run, perforce.

We end with 5 Scholars' Wort uneaten, for +450 +39% XP each.
Any 2 heroes could have eaten 2 each for L9 at any time, but nobody needed a heal.

I log each hero's total movement points earned.
This differs from the game's total steps taken:

MPs steps
203 482 Herbalist
187 481 Farmer
222 512 Scholar
245 527 Pathfinder (Sanctum of Haste)

The game must count every step on a Ship or Landboat as +1 step for all 4 heroes.
In my log's next major version, I'll flag landboat turns separately somehow.

I peak at 83 + 16 = 99 Lore, and spend -96 Lore on Friar, Woodcutter, traits, and stuff.
[_] I skip Shepherd for now. I won't risk 3 all-new classes in Chapter III blind.

My favorite loadout item is now Lockpicks, at only 1 Loadout point each.
Not having 1 means you miss out on the 1st locked Treasure Chest.
Master runs have only 3 Loadout points per hero, so 4 and 5 cost items are useless.

0.6% of players have Drunken Master: Complete The Primordial Oak on Master Difficulty.
Given that there were ~15k players in game during the 1st week,
I guess there's ~30k total players. That means ... ~180 of us. I salute you hardcore nuts!

What new gimmick shall we encounter in Chapter III?

[Lampros]

I had a real struggle with chapter and failed at the last fight. The issue was that I had trouble moving around quickly and was under-powered when I hit the final dungeon (everyone was level 6 only - except the Stablehand at level 7). Are you supposed to move around landship the whole time? If so, then you can't get refocus or other periodic abilities activated. But if you walk, then you don't seem to have enough time to move around?

[Gilmoy]

Yes, I think you must spend about 1/2 the total turns driving the landboat.
Ship and landboat have the colossal advantage that 4 heroes combine their MPs.

• 4 heroes walking separately: party travels 4-6 total tiles per Round
  
• 4 heroes on landboat: party travels 17-22 total tiles per Round

In particular, from Sanctuary Moon to Moog is about 30 tiles, which takes less than 2 full Rounds.

You can game your ship movement by using N-1 MPs to drive, and the last 1 MP to hop off.
Then each hero Ends Turn off the boat to proc passives.
Next turn's hero promptly clicks Pick Up Party for free.

Then over ~30 Rounds of landboat usage, you lose -30 tiles of travel, which is ~1.75 Rounds.
That means you win on Round 55 instead of Round 53.
I think that'll fit, in any reasonably efficient playthrough.

The drawback is even more micro, to click Disembark once per hero-turn

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

Yes, I think you must spend about 1/2 the total turns driving the landboat.
Ship and landboat have the colossal advantage that 4 heroes combine their MPs.

• 4 heroes walking separately: party travels 4-6 total tiles per Round
  
• 4 heroes on landboat: party travels 17-22 total tiles per Round

In particular, from Sanctuary Moon to Moog is about 30 tiles, which takes less than 2 full Rounds.

You can game your ship movement by using N-1 MPs to drive, and the last 1 MP to hop off.
Then each hero Ends Turn off the boat to proc passives.
Next turn's hero promptly clicks Pick Up Party for free.

Then over ~30 Rounds of landboat usage, you lose -30 tiles of travel, which is ~1.75 Rounds.
That means you win on Round 55 instead of Round 53.
I think that'll fit, in any reasonably efficient playthrough.

The drawback is even more micro, to click Disembark once per hero-turn

OMG. the micro is getting ridiculous! ;) I hope later chapters won't be this bad...

[Gilmoy]

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13.1 Find Distance is Also Inspect Distance
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Chapter III. The Royal Mines, Master, just getting started, still only Round 4.

My Herbalist rolls 5 MP, and is exactly 5 hexes from two Merchants:
1. Jharas Glen (can Inspect, I've been there before)
2. General Merchant (cannot Inspect)

I see that I can move 2, and fork them both at distance 3. Aha!

+ She equips the +2 Find Distance Set { Crude Torch +1, Cracked Spyglass +1 }.
Then she has Find Distance 3.
+ She walks 2 hexes to distance 3. Now she can Inspect the General Merchant.

I carefully plan to spend exactly -57 in Jharas Glen, and -53 at the General Merchant.
Then I know how much Gold to transfer to Hunter.

It works. She carries 59 Gold to Jharas Glen and buys for -57.
Hunter, acting next, walks directly to General Merchant, and buys other stuff.

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13.2 Support Rang for Range Extension
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A Support Rang is any Rang that you give to a Woodcutter or other melee guy.
All Rangs have the Support Range skill, which gives +1 range to join combats.

- Normally, Woodcutter can join from 2 hexes away.
- Sometimes, he's at range 3 of a target, and I want him to join.
+ He equips Hunting Rang solely to obtain Support Range skill for this 1 fight.
+ He joins the fight at range 3!

- He usually starts in the rear row, and cannot Equip Weapon and Move in 1 round.
So in his Round 1, he Moves to the front, and might as well Throw the rang (or Skip).

+ In Round 2, he can Equip his Wood Axe, and fight normally thereafter.

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13.3 Late-Game Trick: Everybody Starts Combat With a Big Fing Shield
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Endgame fights, especially quest fights and Scourges, can have huge alpha-damage.
Most of them are Speed-scripted to beat your party's Speed.

One way to mitigate that is to keep 4 spare Shields + 4 1H weapons.

+ All 4 heroes have a 1H + Shield combo that doesn't suck.

+ Before entering combat, everybody switch to their Shield combo.

+ If the enemy goes first and hits your guys before you can react,
you all have a few extra points of shielding.

+ Also, if any 2 of you randomly start in the same column, you get a free Guard.
That's 1 fewer target the enemy can choose to hit.

+ In each hero's Round 1, you can always Equip your usual weapon.

Over 20+ hard fights, this 1 trick surely saved me a couple of Godsbeard worth of healing
for damage I didn't take in the first place.

[binxmuldoon123]

You forgot the most important tip. Alt F4 and reload autosave when you fail important rolls. If you are gonna go through all that item passing you might as well be save scumming too.

[Gilmoy]

You write yours, I write mine