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    Your Elvenar Team

Best Uses for Pet Food

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
I am curious what other determined. I have completed chapter 20 so I am a bit further along. The starting point is which building that can use Pet food, did I build. From most useful to least, my list is

Critical Building
1. Fire Phoenix
2. Brown Bear
3. Polar Bear

Recommended buildings
4. Twilight Phoenix

Useful in the FA & Events
5. Ashen Phoenix
6. Aureate Phoenix
7. Storm Phoenix

Useful (but I never feed)
8. Witty Racoon

This is how I use Pet food

Tourney Needs (in a 2 week cycle)
Fire Phoenix (2) - 1 for each tourney
Twilight Phoenix (2) - 1 for each tourney
Brown Bear (as needed, but at least 2)
Polar Bear (1 - spanning the close of one tourney in week one to when the tourney opens in week 2)

Event Needs
Ashen Phoenix (1 per event) (Corrected from Red Panda)

Fellowship Adventure Uses
Arcane Revenue Badge enhancements
Red Panda (covering the length of the event) (Corrected from Ashen Phoenix)
Golden Bracelet Badge enhancement
Aureate Phoenix (1-2 per day) One spanning overnight production + the first 3 hr cycle + perhaps the beginning of the next 3 hr production to get 2 more cycles
Storm Phoenix (1-2 per day) used in tandum with the Aureate

Everyday use
Brown Bear (so long as I have 10 pet food, I feed the brown bear continuously - ideally beginning in the morning to capture overnight production)

The subtext is that my strategy keeps Ensorcelled Endowment (on 70 buildings) & Power of Provision (on 8 workshops) active 24/7 and only uses Magical Manufacturing only during the Fellowship Adventure (when I have 15 standard basic Manufacturies at their ultimate levels). I also have more Combining Catalyst than I can use almost all of the time. I use some 20 hr time instants to produce extra Power of Provision each week. My Magic Academy spell production is almost always Power of Provision. My spell strategy is to maximize Wholesaler production.
 
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Lelanya

Scroll-Keeper, Keys to the Gems
Hmm well in my cities it's the Red Panda that plums up Vision Vapor and therefore Arcane Residue. What exactly does Ashy do for you? I feed him to get +1 event currency per quest in an event. I mean yes it's nice, the mana generated passively, and it's a mistake to teleport it (holds a lot of population) without a good replacement, ie Everblossom Sleigh preferably, tier1 and gold or Mermaid Paradise for the tier 1.
 

Alram

Flippers just flip
The Astral Phoenix is absolutely critical in the spire for caterers. I feed that first if I'm going to cater the spire.
It really isn't critical at all for a catering city.
I still havent even put mine out. The limited 12 hour feeding effect means burning up a pet food, a lot of time boosters, coin rains, and supply rains to finish in time. I'm better off waiting out the timers so my goods, coins, supplies, and decaying goods refill naturally.
Perhaps it is absolutely critical to a hybrid city?
 
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MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
It really isn't critical at all for a catering city.
I still havent even put mine out. The limited 12 hour feeding effect means burning up a pet food, a lot of time boosters, coin rains, and supply rains to finish in time. I'm better off waiting out the timers so my goods, coins, supplies, and decaying goods refill naturally.
Perhaps it is absolutely critical to a hybrid city?
I wouldn’t call it critical, but I have noticed a definite positive jump in my goods inventory since I started using it. I am, however, using it how it suits me. I prefer not to rush the Spire, so I am only feeding it on the last day of my Spire run, which means it covers the last three sections of the final floor. I do have to use an extra timer to fit it into the 12-hr window, but only one (I usually used a 5-hr timer to get that last section in without having to wait overnight again anyway, and now I just add a 2-hr timer to put the total wait time for the 2 gates at 11 hours). Since this is the most expensive floor, having even 3/4s of it covered by the Astral has made a noticeable impact, and I haven’t used anything extra beyond a 2-hr timer and one Pet Food each week. It’s been an excellent trade-off.
 

Iyapo

Personal Conductor
@MichaelMichael
I do not know what you are doing with speedup timers but if you use them mostly to make troops wouldn't it be better to just let the speedup timers build up some and then feed and use the brown bear once or twice a month?(I am not a fighter so this is an academic question ;))

@Alram , I agree. I have a pure catering city and the Astral has never been out of inventory.
 

Darielle

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, and Buddy Fan Club Member
The astral is basically the only evolving building that helps caterers in the spire, so it is really useful. If you're in the lower chapters, it's possible that a few hundred goods may not seem like a lot of savings. But when your diplomacy costs are many thousands, even just 10 percent is a real savings.

I was lucky enough to earn a second base; I'm just waiting for artifacts to evolve it to put it out. Then I'll have a 20 percent discount. :)
 

Ariel Greensleeves

Active Member
I also feed the Astral Phoenix during the lab levels of Spire. And I have more than enough time boosters (from running to top of spire every week) to get as many levels as I need in the time period. Especially when Tourney has been hard on my troops. Troops require supplies as well as time, so I don't use my time boosters there very often. Depending on your chapter, sentient goods can be needed for things besides bribing, so its nice to get a discount.
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
@MichaelMichael
I do not know what you are doing with speedup timers but if you use them mostly to make troops wouldn't it be better to just let the speedup timers build up some and then feed and use the brown bear once or twice a month?(I am not a fighter so this is an academic question ;))
I both Cater and fight, but mostly cater. The spire is generally catered for everything up to six goods. Meaning that the first level is only catering and the 2nd and 3rd are mostly catering. I generally keep most of my timers for the Magic Academy - On the crafting side, I use them together with periodic sips of clarity to gain many items - targeting Pet Food, Coin Instants, Supply Instants, Time Instants Vitality Surges and Combat buildings. I basically take what I can use and end with a KP Instant or KP from the 4th slot which I allow to time out. If I cannot end with that item, I use a sip of clarity and take the next set of items until I get an item to time out. On the spell side I only produce Ensorcelled Endowment, which uses 20 hr time instants on occasion - 0-4 per week. I have 12 building providing a CC each day + more CCs from my Dragon Arc with each Mystical Object. I never run out of CCs so I get a lot of good stuff by Crafting.

My strategy is unique. I have completed every chapter and every building (outside of AW) is at its top level with 7 AW are at their highest level and another 10-15 at 30+.. Mine is primarily a goods strategy - mostly from wholesaling but I do have 12/7/5 top level manufacturies (this becomes 15/0/0 with Magical Manufacturing during the FA for Bracelet Badges). My use of the Magic Academy keeps me rich in combat buildings and instants to buy troops and fight and use Vitality Surges on the tougher few spire fights. I fight most of the first 30-45 provinces tourney provinces each week. I cater most provinces above that level (sometime as high as 65 or 70 provinces are opened and most go to level 4). I use the tourney to gain the most number of spells I can - particularly Ensorcelled Endowment (4th level). My strategy has Ensorcelled Endowment permanently applied to 70 culture buildings and Power of Provision permanently applied to 8 workshops to maximize goods production (good for about 2.4M/1.6M/1.1M of my unboosted goods via wholesaling each day - driven by a permanent culture bonus of 700-950%). I then trade goods to lower level players to support superior fellowship performance. Ultimately I both cater and fight. If I have excess Time instants, they produce troops, but I usually find fighting mostly ineffective after 50 provinces outside of a small minority of fights, so more troops can win more fights but most fight will lose (at that level) too many troops to have much sustainability requiring 10-20 hours of time instants to cover the losses in an average fight. In an average week, I will use 200-500 hrs of time instants on troops, but that is only about 20-50% of the time instants generated.

Normally, I don't accumulate more than about 50-100 5hr timers and I never know what troops any one tourney will need. I can also use 14hr and 8hr timers for troops but these are much less common. Most tourneys, I use all my troops, most of my timers and all of my goods so it is hard to know what I will need beforehand. It is far better to add the troops (and goods) you actually need during the tourney. One pet food a week is a minor cost for having exactly the troops you need each week. I run flat out each week, so perhaps I am less interested in efficiency and prefer production.
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
Hmm well in my cities it's the Red Panda that plums up Vision Vapor and therefore Arcane Residue. What exactly does Ashy do for you? I feed him to get +1 event currency per quest in an event. I mean yes it's nice, the mana generated passively, and it's a mistake to teleport it (holds a lot of population) without a good replacement, ie Everblossom Sleigh preferably, tier1 and gold or Mermaid Paradise for the tier 1.
The ashen Phoenix adds 2% of event currency during each event so I get 51 SeaHorse food instead of 50 when completing a quest. It lasts for 40 days so the cost in pet food is one for the event and generates 50-100 or so extra seafood. Not a big impact but also not a big cost. I agree that it is hardly worth it but every little bit helps.
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
If you level up the Scouts' Tavern, then the Moon Bear will become a better KP source per feeding than the witty Racoon.
I use the Witty Racoon for Seeds, who cares about KPs. I have 1,300 KP or KP instants in storage waiting to trade within my fellowship or with you if interested.
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
I wouldn’t call it critical, but I have noticed a definite positive jump in my goods inventory since I started using it. I am, however, using it how it suits me. I prefer not to rush the Spire, so I am only feeding it on the last day of my Spire run, which means it covers the last three sections of the final floor. I do have to use an extra timer to fit it into the 12-hr window, but only one (I usually used a 5-hr timer to get that last section in without having to wait overnight again anyway, and now I just add a 2-hr timer to put the total wait time for the 2 gates at 11 hours). Since this is the most expensive floor, having even 3/4s of it covered by the Astral has made a noticeable impact, and I haven’t used anything extra beyond a 2-hr timer and one Pet Food each week. It’s been an excellent trade-off.
90% of my goods go to the tourney and I cater most of the spire. The top level is fought half the time for me because I have a ton of combat building activated every other week. I find using pet food on the fire phoenix is far more effective for tough fights even without combat buildings. For me the drain of goods in the spire is just too small relative to the tourney to be meaningful.
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
The Storm phoenix (when paired with oodles of speedups) is way better for catering than the Astral, imo.
A strategy I used for a while was to open the morning by feeding the Aurate Pheonix, and applying Magical Manufacturing to all my manufacturies. Then collect my 9hr production and 3 hours later collect the 2nd production. Then wait 3 hours and do the same with the now cooked 2nd 3 hr production and the next. After which the Ensorcelled endowment times used to run out. Now I have extended it to 27 hours so how much pet food you want to burn is a question. I suppose you could do this for one 27 hr period a week using 3 pet food cycles on both the Aureate and Storm Phoenixes to supercharge goods production periodically. Overall, I don't think the goods are worth the pet food.

The biggest problem I find with speeding up goods production is the most optimal time is 3 hrs and the most common time instant is 5 hrs, which lends itself to a gross waste or time instant or running 9 hr cycles and burning 2 5 Hr instants. I see that waste as painfully costly to do in volume.
 

MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
90% of my goods go to the tourney and I cater most of the spire. The top level is fought half the time for me because I have a ton of combat building activated every other week. I find using pet food on the fire phoenix is far more effective for tough fights even without combat buildings. For me the drain of goods in the spire is just too small relative to the tourney to be meaningful.
I’m a pure caterer*, so I don’t have or use a Fire Phoenix, or combat boosters. I can see how the Fire Phoenix would be a better use of food for a hybrid city, since I definitely agree that tourney is much more expensive than Spire; I do much less tournament than you do (23 tents to 6 stars), but still at my last estimate, about 70% of my weekly expenditure was on tourney and only 30% to top the Spire. However, since there is no building that (directly) helps me cater tournament, I’m happy to use the Astral. A reduction in some of my goods expenditures is better than no reduction at all.

As a caterer, I didn’t regularly use Pet Food on anything until the Astral came along. I try not to be dependent on luck in this game whenever possible, to reduce frustration, and the availability of pet food is never sure. My favorite when I feel like boosting something is the Watchful Winter Owl (can get 2 uses out of one feeding if you time it correctly). I do that probably twice a week or so, on average. The Witty Raccoon’s effect is amazing and I’m sure I’ll use it at some point, but I haven’t needed it so far. When I remember and have room, about once a month I like to pull my old Storm Phoenix out of mothballs, feed the Panda Bear first, then 3 pet food to the Storm and Aureate each (so they last all day), sparkle all my manufactories, and rake in the goods for one glorious day. Lol. I haven’t done this very often though, because I hoard my teleports and rarely have enough room to put the Storm out. I also feed the Ashen Phoenix for events but that’s once a month or less, depending on the timing of FAs and length of events. A long time ago, I kept the Red Panda fed continuously, but stopped doing that when I acquired more pets and wanted to make sure I had pet food always available for other uses as necessary. I usually only feed it during FAs now.

*I do autofight map encounters and the first five tents of tourney (1-star enemies) when I have troops that I won in events or are produced in set buildings that I need for links to goods producers, AND it’s a good matchup for whatever random troops I happen to have. The squad sizes are starting to outpace the free-troop-winning, so the auto fighting is taking place a little less frequently as I continue to advance, and has always been simply a way to use free troops that otherwise were a literal waste of a prize for me.
 

Ravmin

Member
Feeding Stormy and giving her a workout with time instants is all that my mini catering city has had need of so far. Currently in Woodelves, all available tents ( 23ish ) to 6 stars every week. Only having 36 expansions helps as well as gold spire rewards (big thanks to The Anthill™ for that.) I'm curious to see how this will all play out as I move through the chapters and need more space for settlements.

One thing I don't like about Astral is that its effectiveness is dependent on how well you negotiate and the RNG gods mood that week. The better you do in spire the less effective Astral is. Feeding Stormy and using the time instants you would have used to climb the spire should net you more goods than Astral.

The biggest problem I find with speeding up goods production is the most optimal time is 3 hrs and the most common time instant is 5 hrs, which lends itself to a gross waste or time instant or running 9 hr cycles and burning 2 5 Hr instants. I see that waste as painfully costly to do in volume.
It definitely feels like a waste but I have not found a better use for them yet.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
If I didn't have Timewarp/Polar Bear combo, I prob wouldn't feed Twilight, but I definitely will since I do. Maybe there should be a Spire cooldown reduction bear building so you can sprint Spire with 0 cooldown too.
 

Pheryll

Set Designer
It appears that another good pet to feed is coming after the FA. It's use is based upon tournament encounters completed while it is fed.

The feed effect is currently slated to produce 1 CC every 5 encounters at stage 10
 

MichaelMichael

Day and Night Trader
It appears that another good pet to feed is coming after the FA. It's use is based upon tournament encounters completed while it is fed.

The feed effect is currently slated to produce 1 CC every 5 encounters at stage 10
I am looking forward to that. Since I do anything from 210-340 tournament encounters, anything that is based on tourney encounters is something I an in for. So far the only item tied to tourney success is the Spire of Champions. As a tourney caterer, you can never have enough orcs.
 
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