Someone please explain ascended goods and hiring merchants.

[Darielle]

Hi Darielle: I just entered chapter 18 not to long ago. If you go in to your Superior Trader, then click on "Accept Offers" you now have a 4th category (the new little square box on the right) called "Ascended Goods." This is were you can trade for ascended goods at a decent volume. Trying to trade using your merchants is pretty lame, but I still use 3 or 4 of them from time to time just for kicks. I'm boosted in "Scholarly Sprouts" and it didn't take me that long to get up to speed using two level 32 Planks Mfg's and a lot of Magical Mfg spells. You need Unurium to make them so you will need to leave the Trader Selection on Unurium for a pretty good while. May hurt your seeds production but there are other ways around that. All the best XLW

Thanks, XLW; the trouble is, everyone has my boost in the trader and is seeking the other two acsended goods. But I am finding the merchants fairly useful, so I think this will work out in the end. I went ahead and got the third merchant last night, so at least I can get 6K goods at a time now.

 

[Darielle]

I wanted to get through the chapter really quick so here's my layout. You don't have to use that much space, I just thought you might find it useful in case you're that inclined. And yes, I like to grow huge settlements.

Thank you, SB, that's great. I can see now from your link that I am on quest 26. Useful info; I'm bookmarking that link.

 

[defiantoneks]

what i learned very quickly with the Merchant was:
a) always be trading for goods. anytime you're in the game, check for offers and place some if a slot is available.
b) this means trading for each non-boost equally. Basically, take whatever is there. Because at some point you may have extra minerals and someone will offer sprouts for those. Keep equal amounts of all so you can take whatever offers are open.

for reference, I hired the first two merchants through that chapter. I'm now at keeping three open. yeah they get costly, but I have no other use for so much coin and it replenishes fairly quickly.

btw, i always feel like my boosts are the worst. seems like no one wants minerals, aerosol or spread. (let alone going backward with bizmuth, dust, scrolls)

 

[Darielle]

what i learned very quickly with the Merchant was:
a) always be trading for goods. anytime you're in the game, check for offers and place some if a slot is available.
b) this means trading for each non-boost equally. Basically, take whatever is there. Because at some point you may have extra minerals and someone will offer sprouts for those. Keep equal amounts of all so you can take whatever offers are open.

for reference, I hired the first two merchants through that chapter. I'm now at keeping three open. yeah they get costly, but I have no other use for so much coin and it replenishes fairly quickly.

btw, i always feel like my boosts are the worst. seems like no one wants minerals, aerosol or spread. (let alone going backward with bizmuth, dust, scrolls)

I've got 3 merchants so I'm getting there. I'm amazed that people are actually buying the goods and not making me wait for the trader to get back. The only goods offered on the trader is my boost ... nothing else ... so it's surprising to me that anyone would want them. But it's going better than I'd thought it would.

I never used as much coin before as I'm using now. I never thought I'd need that much. I'm using the coin rains that I always save for the FAs. But a lot of that is because I've got many event buildings for pop/culture rather than residences. I may have to take a few of my residences out of storage just to be able to keep up with coin demands. Still, I don't hate this chapter as much as 17, so that's progress.

 

[defiantoneks]

I may have to take a few of my residences out of storage just to be able to keep up with coin demands.

those residences will help generate unurium when you get the AW up and running.

 

[Darielle]

those residences will help generate unurium when you get the AW up and running.

Awesome ... maybe I'll take more than one out of storage then. They're magic residences so that should help more. I also just leveled up my Boblin Express and Steam Golum, so that I could get unurium too. I didn't even realize I'd had the Boblin sitting there in the last chapter, and I could have had unurium for the past couple months. Dang. Glad it finally dawned on me.

 

[Yogi Dave]

I've got 3 merchants so I'm getting there. I'm amazed that people are actually buying the goods and not making me wait for the trader to get back.

Maybe those people are only really needing the A2 and A3 goods, but wish to help people who are using A1 goods. Every time I go to the trader, I look for goods being asked for by people whose trades are for less than 3300 and have a hat.
---------------
@Glandeh said in an earlier post there is a way to only use Earth, Wind, and Fire hubs. Here is the details from my FS's discord page. (And you don't need to sing.)

You make medals and babies in the hubs and use them in the gate to make badges which are needed to complete techs. While there are 5 possible 'trials' available in the gate, they all make a badge.

If you only do the Fire Tornado Trial, you only need the Earth, Wind and Fire hubs. That trial requires equal numbers of Conductor, Camper, and Pilot medals. Each of these three hubs can make two of the medals.

To make the badges also requires a complementary elemental baby. Each hub can make its own type elemental baby.
The three medals only require elemental babies from those three hubs.

Hub​	Medal​	Elemantal​
Earth	Conductors	Wind
Earth	Campers	Fire
Wind	Pilots	Fire
Wind	Conductors	Earth
Fire	Pilots	Wind
Fire	Campers	Earth​

Making 4 of each of the 3 type hubs is a good idea. That lets you make 2 of each medal type in the hubs which will keep the number of medals balanced without having to think about it. It will overproduce medals, but 2h time instants take care of that.
---------------
Considerations for the story quest line:
There is a quest for having 12 hubs.
The only need for the water hub is quests 27 and 50. 27 requires you to build one. After that quest is done, teleport it and bring it back for quest 50 which requires you to make 100 water babies and 400 medals using water babies. Making the 100 water babies are enough for 400 medals. This quest will take maybe 2 days, but you can still be making the other medals at the same time, and you will be able to use some of those medals to make a different type of badge using excess medals from the other hubs.
---------------
I made medals during the day and babies at night. It seemed to keep the balance between them close.

 

[Darielle]

Maybe those people are only really needing the A2 and A3 goods, but wish to help people who are using A1 goods. Every time I go to the trader, I look for goods being asked for by people whose trades are for less than 3300 and have a hat.
---------------
@Glandeh said in an earlier post there is a way to only use Earth, Wind, and Fire hubs. Here is the details from my FS's discord page. (And you don't need to sing.)

You make medals and babies in the hubs and use them in the gate to make badges which are needed to complete techs. While there are 5 possible 'trials' available in the gate, they all make a badge.

If you only do the Fire Tornado Trial, you only need the Earth, Wind and Fire hubs. That trial requires equal numbers of Conductor, Camper, and Pilot medals. Each of these three hubs can make two of the medals.

To make the badges also requires a complementary elemental baby. Each hub can make its own type elemental baby.
The three medals only require elemental babies from those three hubs.

Hub​	Medal​	Elemantal​
Earth	Conductors	Wind
Earth	Campers	Fire
Wind	Pilots	Fire
Wind	Conductors	Earth
Fire	Pilots	Wind
Fire	Campers	​ Earth​

Making 4 of each of the 3 type hubs is a good idea. That lets you make 2 of each medal type in the hubs which will keep the number of medals balanced without having to think about it. It will overproduce medals, but 2h time instants take care of that.
---------------
Considerations for the story quest line:
There is a quest for having 12 hubs.
The only need for the water hub is quests 27 and 50. 27 requires you to build one. After that quest is done, teleport it and bring it back for quest 50 which requires you to make 100 water babies and 400 medals using water babies. Making the 100 water babies are enough for 400 medals. This quest will take maybe 2 days, but you can still be making the other medals at the same time, and you will be able to use some of those medals to make a different type of badge using excess medals from the other hubs.
---------------
I made medals during the day and babies at night. It seemed to keep the balance between them close.

Dang, and here I built more water hubs thinking that so many of the badges want the water stuff. Sigh ... should have come here first.

I did make my first badge yesterday ... so yay for me, LOL. I don't think I'll hate this chapter as much as 17. Thanks for the tips, Yogi.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Using all the hubs works. In fact, I didn't learn about the 3 hub method until I was well into the chapter. That's one of the problems of being ready to start a chapter as soon as it's opened. So, I didn't use it, but others in the FS did. Using only the 3 hubs makes it easier mainly because you don't have to balance having the right medals and enough of the right babies to make a badge. Keeping the guest race goods balanced was the greatest pain.

BTW, I only built the welcome squares for the quest and used PPs for the rest. Well, I did have a little space, so kept 3 of them. I liked how the heads bobbed.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Here is the link to iDavis Team Spirit Quest List. It shows quest 26 requiring a water hub and quest 44 requires you to make 100 water babies and 400 medals which require water. The Platinum Leaf Team Spirit Quest List shows them at higher numbers, but not the 27 and 50 I mentioned above. As they say (whoever they be), let the buyer beware.

 

[defiantoneks]

i used all my hubs. as long as you have materials to keep making badges, as far as i am concerned it doesnt matter which ones you use. doing the 3 hub method just makes the production "simple" but also, maybe increases the monotony.

 

[Alram]

@Yogi Dave

lol It's the thing...

 

[Darielle]

One quick question ... are the welcome squares useful for anything if you've got oodles of portal profits?

 

[Henroo]

I honestly don't know. I need to figure out this chapter and the merchant system. But the merchants don't seem to help with future chapters. I may be wrong though. Hopefully someone in 19 or 20 will be able to tell me.

Tier 2 ascended goods will be introduced in chapter 19 and tier 3 ascended goods will be introduced in chapter 20. Merchants trade these as well. The trade amounts for all 3 tiers will be the same and are determined by your main hall level. When you do the 2nd MH upgrade in chapter 18 the amount will go up to 2200. The chapter 19 amounts are going to be 4600 and 5000 once those upgrades are done. The chapter 20 amounts will be 8000 and 9000.

edit: In chapters 19 and 20 merchants can also post cross-tier trades. The game requires these to be 2 star and it assigns the same values to tier 2 and tier 3 ascended goods as it does to sentient and standard goods. IE, a 50% increase per tier. The trade amount is determined by how much you can offer. So if you are posting 2200 tier 2 ascended goods, you would be asking for 3300 tier 1 goods. But on the other hand, if you post a trade offering 2200 tier 1 goods you will only be asking for 1466 tier 2 goods.

 

[Henroo]

One quick question ... are the welcome squares useful for anything if you've got oodles of portal profits?

No. I built the amount I needed to do the quest and then got rid of all but 1 or 2. And the only reason I kept them was because the space they were in was too small for a Hub. You are much better off building as many Hubs as possible. The Gate of Dimensions is a bit annoying because the queue for it is so short that it is hard to keep it constantly running. However: if you have a good supply of 1 and 2 hour time boosts, you can quickly crank out the badges this way. This is what I did.

 

[Darielle]

No. I built the amount I needed to do the quest and then got rid of all but 1 or 2. And the only reason I kept them was because the space they were in was too small for a Hub. You are much better off building as many Hubs as possible. The Gate of Dimensions is a bit annoying because the queue for it is so short that it is hard to keep it constantly running. However: if you have a good supply of 1 and 2 hour time boosts, you can quickly crank out the badges this way. This is what I did.

Thanks, Henroo; that's very useful (both posts). I am not going to worry about the quests, just the research. I looked at the quest list and there is no prize that is really a must have for me, compared to the work involved in doing the quests. So I think I'll just sell some of the welcome buildings. Besides, the fun for me is in getting to the next chapter and then getting through so many quests at once, getting tons of prizes when I start the new chapter. I like that more than eking out small prizes for a lot of work as I go. I know I miss a lot that way, and if there were 200 diamonds involved or something like that, I'd worry about that plan. But there isn't, so I'm fine with losing a few things.

Maybe those people are only really needing the A2 and A3 goods, but wish to help people who are using A1 goods. Every time I go to the trader, I look for goods being asked for by people whose trades are for less than 3300 and have a hat.

Just want to say that I am always heartened by the fact that there are so many good people in the world, who take the time to do things for others. Thanks for being one of them.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Still, I don't hate this chapter as much as 17, so that's progress.

The ch 18 guest's buildings are very whimsical as are the avatars. They brought me smiles. Now, as for ch 17, I liked the story, especially from Capt'n Bonkers. Also, I like how the large shrimper ships look like a chicken and the little ones, like hatchet fish. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy but not like a fox.

[Edited to add this info as opposed to making another post.]
Also, since you never need the A goods you produce, you may as well trade them down to the nub. Everything decays at the same rate, so which goods you get doesn't much matter. It does leave you with the possibility of trading your boost and another good for the one you need now. You just need to look ahead a bit to know which good you will want to be increasing for the next tech.

 

[Darielle]

The ch 18 guest's buildings are very whimsical as are the avatars. They brought me smiles. Now, as for ch 17, I liked the story, especially from Capt'n Bonkers. Also, I like how the large shrimper ships look like a chicken and the little ones, like hatchet fish. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy but not like a fox.

[Edited to add this info as opposed to making another post.]
Also, since you never need the A goods you produce, you may as well trade them down to the nub. Everything decays at the same rate, so which goods you get doesn't much matter. It does leave you with the possibility of trading your boost and another good for the one you need now. You just need to look ahead a bit to know which good you will want to be increasing for the next tech.

Sounds like a good idea. I'm trading as much as I can and so far have 2 of each hub and building 2 more. I'll probably stop at 3 or 4 of each. I just don't have room for more than that. But that still will be a lot more room than I had for the last chapter, which was probably part of the problem I had with 17. Before the last FA, I teleported so much stuff but wound up not putting them back in the city once the FA ended. I lowered my ranking quite a bit, since I now have only 3 silk factories where I had 4 before, 2 dust instead of 3, etc. But that's ok. I don't need a huge ranking and I can always get it back later.

 

[defiantoneks]

One quick question ... are the welcome squares useful for anything if you've got oodles of portal profits?

define "oodles"

 

[Glandeh]

define "oodles"

Too many to count properly, would be my guess. In that case,you can get rid of them after the quest that ask for 6 squares (number 43).