Card Drop Rates + Notes

Spreadsheet with card drop rates, plus notes on how card drops work

Update: New Mod

I made a mod that can affect box drop rates. Check it out here:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyforceanniversary/mods/1

Card Drops

I've looked into the code related to card drops. They only drop from boxes (i.e. crates), and your stars/medals/current level performance don't matter.

When you destroy a box, there's either a 3% or 4% chance that it could drop a card. The 3% or 4% chance is tied to individual boxes. Earlier stages mostly have 3%; later stages have mostly 4%.

However, whether a card will actually spawn depends on which cards are eligible to spawn, with each card having its own chance to be eligible, depending on the stage and the difficulty. From those eligible cards, one is chosen randomly to spawn.

Here's a breakdown of how these things all work:

The Stage

Most cards can't spawn until stage 3 or 4. Every card can spawn from stage 5 and above.

See the spreadsheet (linked below) for info on which stages a card can spawn on.

The Box

All boxes have either a 3% or 4% chance to drop an eligible card. That's 1 in 20, or 1 in 33, respectively.

Boxes in later stages tend to stay at 4%. Stage 6 is a good mid-level stage as it has 18 boxes, and all but one have a 4% drop rate.

The Difficulty

Card spawn chances are different for each difficulty. Most cards can't spawn on the default difficulty.

Every card can spawn on Hard or above, except card #11 which can only spawn on Insane.

The Card

All cards have their own chance of being eligible to spawn. This ranges from 90% down to 10%, depending on the difficulty and the card.

When a box is destroyed, and decides to drop a card, the game basically flips a coin for each eligible card, with the chance of the coin landing in the cards favour being dictated by its spawn chance. If the card wins the coin flip, it becomes eligible, and from these eligible cards, one is randomly chosen to spawn.

The spreadsheet (linked below) shows how eligible each card is to spawn.

About half the cards only have a 10/30% chance on Hard/Insane to spawn when a box decides to drop a card, so even if you're lucky enough for the box to try and drop a card, there's a high chance that no cards will spawn anyway.

Spreadsheet

I've made a spreadsheet with card spawn rates here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10rVboKH40rLGjnMqGBxwErqi4l4surhFFeFi2MN23t4/edit?usp=sharing

Keep in mind that the box still needs to decide to drop a card first (which only happens 3/4% of the time). When it does, the spreadsheet numbers show how likely each card is to spawn.

Note: I've read that Sky Force Anniversary doesn't have a nightmare mode (I've not beaten it yet so I didn't know). I've included the data anyway as it's still in the game.

Farming

A good approach to farming is:

• Get the first 9 cards by playing stage 4 or above on Hard.
  
  • You can play on Insane for these first 9 cards if you want to, but the spawn rates for those first 9 cards are the same, at 90% for both Hard and Insane.
• Get the rest of the cards (except #11) in stage 6 or above, on at least Insane. You can get them on Hard, but most of their spawn rates are tripled on Insane, from 10% to 30%.
  
• Play any level on Insane to get card #11. As above, 6 is a good one as it's not too hard and has lots of boxes.

The earliest good farming stages are:

• Stage 4 (Hard): It has 7 boxes, and all but one have a 4% drop rate. All but 3 cards can spawn.
  
• Stage 6 (Hard): It has 18 boxes, and they all have a 4% chance to drop an card.

If you're after specific cards:

• Card #1 - Increased chance to find cards - Play on stage 3 or above. Its spawn chance is always 60%, regardless of the difficulty. Probably one of the first cards you'll get.
  
• Cards #2/3 - Support Drones - Play stage 4+ on Hard
  
• Card #10 - Star Doubler - It's only available from stage 5+. Its spawn chance for Default, Hard, and Insane difficulties is 20%, 30%, and 50%, respectively.

Appendix i: Card Effects

Here's all the card effects:

1. Increased chance of finding cards
   
2. Support drone
   
3. Support drone
   
4. Missile's reload time -10%
   
5. Human rescure time -5%
   
6. Lucky shield
   
7. Your ghost collects stars (2P only)
   
8. Initial fire rate +1
   
9. Initial fire rate +1
   
10. Star Doubler
    
11. Missile damage +10%
    
12. Laser beam energy +10%
    
13. Megabomb's power +10%
    
14. Energy shield durability +10%
    
15. Rescue rope length +5%
    
16. Upgrade prices -10%
    
17. Health regeneration
    
18. Energy shield to begin with
    
19. Laser to being with
    
20. Bomb to begin with
    
21. Plane's speed +5%
    
22. Night camouflage

And here's an image showing most of the card numbers, so you know where they go.


Check out Seognil Bot LC's guide for a screenshot showing the full collection.

Appendix ii: Related Guides

Check out Seognil Bot LC's guide's guide for more info on cards, including previous research:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=707218189

BONUS - Card Artwork

I also extracted the card artwork. There's some gorgeous stuff in there. Here's a folder with all the images:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-mCamfml1p8g-WPP-d78gxCAZonku92Y?usp=sharing

[PavP78]

Well done! thanks!

[Shai, the Gummy Sandworm]

Legendary guide. Bless you!

[FireGate_13]

Can you make the same mod for sky force reloaded?

[Luke_SkyWagon]

I did the math, and on Stage 6 Insane, there is a 52.04% chance of getting a Card. So it's essentially a coin flip, but you get every Card from it.

[n0_sk1ll_just_luck]

Very nice and helpful instruction I appreciate it man

[darkly77]

@ahdung There's no guide or mod for Reloaded because the drop rates in that game are much fairer, so it's nowhere near as hard to collect cards

[ahdung]

Thank you very much, you saved me, is there one for SF:Reloaded?

[TOGUROLINS]

Obrigado me ajudou muito ... Não estava conseguindo a última carta!!!

[ahdung]

Thank you very much, it worked.

[tipi]