Treasure searcher destroyed the fun

[IntelCoreDuo]

Hello, I just started playing my first game as a Warrior and invested in treasure searching level 4. As a result, I have loads of cash, most of which I never dare to use.

More importantly, the game is no longer fun. Getting no losses is hard enough already. Making sure to get all three chests, makes it a lot worse, especially against a slightly stronger armies, and weaker ones that suicide themselves on my units before round 3, by which time the dragon wakes up to unearth the third chest. It also means that for three turns my dragon is otherwise useless.

How do you solve this? I'm considering getting only level 1 (or 2) of this ability, and hoping it gives me enough extra cash. Is it possible/easy for my warrior to wake my dragon up somehow, so I can use the ability twice in the same turn?

BTW, how do you spend most of your cash? 20% on Units, 40% items, 40% scrolls?

[1darklord]

Well if you have to much cash and you don't enjoy using Treasure Searcher then don't use it. Also I wouldn't worry about playing no losses for you first game,try to minimise losses by all means but don't go overboard.

Personally I don't see how you could possibly have to much cash as you can turn cash into crystals and runes on Montero. With the Neatness ability you can also turn items you don't need into even more crystals/runes. (which means I buy every item I find) I spend my money on everything I want but go easy on extra runes, you can skint yourself quite quickly!

And yeah there is a relatively cheap spell called Awaken Dragon, I'm playing a warrior to and I start many battles with what would be a 3 turn rest Lava Call, then immediately wake him up and get him to search for treasure. If most of the enemies die easily I then use him twice more on turn 2, which means I now have all 3 chests. By always casting this spell after using a multi turn rest power, I never have to wait for him, and can use him up to twice a turn.

Daniel.

[IntelCoreDuo]

Thank you very much! I didn't know that you could transform cash into crystals and runes. aprox. how many runes do you get for, say, 10.000 cash? Closely related, how expensive does an item have to be before it no longer pays off to buy it and use neatness on it?

Also, can you (as a warrior) get enough runes to unlock level 2-3 on all three spell classes, and still afford neatness, both before endgame?

I always go overboard on my first game. If after 8 hours of play, if I discover that I spent a few limited resources on a rather useless property early on, I pretty much have to restart the game. This is true for all RPGs, and was very painful when playing pokemon, where I manically maxed out f. eg spec. att. as soon as possible.

I probably won't go for no losses against heroes. I only do it for the extra leadership. Do you know how many battles there are in an average game? In other words, how many battles I can suffer losses and still have 100 battles lossless by endgame?

[1darklord]

10,000 gives you one crystal if I remember correctly. Runes start at 100,000 and go up 50,000 for every one you buy. Not sure about value for money with neatness I just buy everything, but keep the sets.

I don't know about the number of battles but there must be 200+ easy. There can be a lot more if you upgrade/suppress all the magic items though. (and suppression may need to be done several times)

At level 56 I have maxed all three spell types, and several other magic skills. I have spent 2-3 million gold on magic runes though, I've also gained a few from chests on the battle field, so Treasure seeker is quite worthwhile for that.

Daniel.

[IntelCoreDuo]

Originally Posted by 1darklord

10,000 gives you one crystal if I remember correctly. Runes start at 100,000 and go up 50,000 for every one you buy. Not sure about value for money with neatness I just buy everything, but keep the sets.

I don't know about the number of battles but there must be 200+ easy. There can be a lot more if you upgrade/suppress all the magic items though. (and suppression may need to be done several times)

At level 56 I have maxed all three spell types, and several other magic skills. I have spent 2-3 million gold on magic runes though, I've also gained a few from chests on the battle field, so Treasure seeker is quite worthwhile for that.

Daniel.

Thanks, awesome! I hope the amount of cash in chests increases at higher levels, I am nowhere near affording a single rune. Or that crystals/runes starts showing up.
So if you see say a sword for 50000 gold, you autimatically buy it and if it is less good than what you already have, destroy it into crystals/runes?

Also, to what level do you usually develop the treasure chest search ability?

[1darklord]

Well I'm only on my first play through, but I've only got a couple of islands left. I took Treasure seeker up to full level 5 to allow me to find all 3 chests, I don't bother uprooting the red hazards though.

I have about 2 million spare at the moment after buying a few runes, yeah I buy every item as it's much cheaper than buying runes for me now. I don't destroy everything though I keep most of the sets just in case I want to use it later, cause once you've destroyed it, the item is gone for good.

Daniel.

[ShuiMienLung]

The downside to using Awaken Dragon (as a non-Mage) is that that eats up your (one, single) spellcast for that round. So it depends on what you want to get done in a round:
place more traps?
Slow or Blind or Hypnotize one of the enemy?
Haste or Stone Skin or Magic Spring one of your own?
get one or two Balls of Lightning on the board from the dragon?
dig up more treasure?

That's going to be your decision to make each battle, though.



The REASON people keep saying to max out the Treasure Searcher isn't for the *treasure* (gold) you can find per se... it's so that you have a chance at Wanderer scrolls (especially Ancient Knowledge) and skill runes.

If you go through the first two rounds (dig & waken & dig on turn 1, dig again on turn 2) without hitting any of the big three, F8 to reload (you ARE doing an F5/quicksave before every fight, aren't you?) and place your armies in different spots to trigger a different set of treasures.
(And if you're a Mage, you can do this in the first round because of maxxed Higher Magic: dig & wake & dig & wake & dig, reload if necessary.)

[1darklord]

I never load again if I don't get awesome loot, but then I'm not playing on impossible or trying to get no loss either, it doesn't feel necessary to me.

Being a Warrior I find myself mostly using Awaken Dragon, with the odd Sheep/Haste thrown in. Occasionally I do use Sacrifice when I want to gain a few extra men in a stack. (usually as I've just leveled up)

Daniel.

[dainbramage]

Reloading isn't at all necessary for an impossible no-loss run either. I just finished one with no scan and no reload abuse. Ended up level 60 with a warrior (with no save+load abuse for AK scrolls), though I did get an early hand of necropolis.

[1darklord]

Nice I may go for a challenge like that after I complete the game for the first time. I went warrior to, so my next play through may be as a mage.

Daniel.