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Xerol
Jan 13, 2007




Amaranthine is a text-based sort-of-idle multiplayer web game where you gather resources to craft things and generally just make numbers go up. We have 40+ active goons in the game and one of the top 10 guilds, both of which piss off the pubbies so that's reason enough to play. The game is pretty slow paced but there are lots of ways to speed it up, to a point. You can spend all day chopping logs and only get half of what you need to finish making the batch of bowls you need to finish cooking the foods that will make your woodcutting go faster. But it's fun to make numbers get bigger and to minmax with the power of spreadsheets.

Sign up for the game and then post your username here to get a guild invite. Officers are on most of the time (not so much NA overnight) so invites should be processed fairly quickly. You need to check the Guild tab in-game to accept your invite. We also change guild name/tag monthly so if you're confused check the Highscores > Guild Highscores list in the manual, we're the one with about 200 members.

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Here's the discord link in a section by itself so it's easy to find https://discord.gg/ZYKw3hk

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Getting Started Updated 8/29/17

Note: We're working on a longer guide in google docs format, this is just a "what do you do in the first couple hours" guide. After that you should probably just ask in guild chat anyway, since what's useful to us from low level actions varies pretty often.

Step 0: Make sure someone gives you storage access. If you don't have it, ask in guild chat. You may need to refresh the game after getting permissions, sometimes it acts weird. (Note: If you have trouble figuring out anything in the game, asking in guild chat is usually the best way to solve it.) Set guild chat to default (click the purple "Guild" text under the chat bar). If you need to talk in World for whatever reason, prefix your message with /w. Or just do what most goons do and turn world chat off entirely in settings (it will still show up in Chat History in the manual).

Step 1: Go to Aeon Bay and open the guild storage panel. From the "Gear / Consumables" storage, grab a set of blue clothes (superior if we have them) (2 of each), a set of dazzling festives (1 each), 2 copal and jasper bracelets, and an easter pendant. Put on the blue clothes, easter pendant, copal bracelet, and fill up the rest of the body slots with festives.

Step 2: First thing you actually want to do is train Magic to level 5. This will allow you to equip the basic spellbook, which gives +1 mana regen. Mana is pretty much the only way to level magic, and natural regen will make up 90%+ of the mana you'll ever get. Your natural regen is 1 every 5 minutes, and the spellbook doubles that, so you can see why this is important to do early. In Aeon Bay (AB) find the "hooded figure" quest and accept it. If you turn him away you'll lose the quest forever (and a followup quest later on) and that is bad so don't do that.

Grab 40 bottles of lightning out of the consumables storage (if we don't have enough, ask in guild chat, there's more scattered around other guild storages around the world that you can't get to yet). In AB, you'll want to find the action for "Summon White Runes". A bottle of lightning will give you +1 regen per action for 6 actions, and white runes cost 1 mana to summon. You can probably see where this is going. What you're going to want to do is not drink all 40 bottles at once, but just enough that you'll run out a little bit of your natural regen at the end. Start summoning runes, watch your available mana and when it gets down to 5, drink 20 bottles of mana. That should last you about 40 minutes, which is how long it will take to regenerate 8 mana (you should start with 13 max). Set a timer or keep an eye on it, when it gets down to 5 again drink the other 20 bottles. Keep summoning runes until you've gathered the 250 required by the quest, and turn in the quest. Between the XP from summoning the runes and the XP from turning in the quest, you should now be level 5 in magic, and can then equip the basic spellbook. Grab like 50 of them from the storage and always keep one equipped.

Step 3: Take the Getting Started quest in Disenchanted Forest. At this point it doesn't matter which skill you go after, pick whatever looks interesting and ask in guild chat if you need help deciding. Woodcutting or mining both work well since at level 5 magic you'll have access to the spells for both woodcutting (level 2) and mining (level 4) timer reduction. Finish that up, don't forget to complete the bonus objectives, and then from there you can go around the rest of the areas, take all the quests, complete them and their bonuses (always complete the bonus).

Step 4: By this point the guide breaks down since no one can agree on what's best to do next but just ask in guild chat. I recommend 15 speed because it gives a lot of materials that are useful and helps with travel timers and character level (which gives more carrying capacity). Also check the in-game guild forums for current and ongoing projects ("Monthly Projects" and "Projects" respectively). Use consumables. Ask for buffs. We have too much stuff. You can be at 20 timer / 100% success almost all the time. Also if you're not sure about how effects stack ask in guild chat with your specific situation because the mechanics can be weird.

One more tip: Don't even think about trying to bot / script / cheat anything. Free Ox16. Grumpy (the lone developer) keeps detailed logs and has some sort of bat-signal that alerts him when anyone's trying anything involving breaking the game. For all the shenanigans goons have brought into this game it's the only thing anyone's been outright banned for.

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Events

There are a couple events that run semi-regularly in the game. Grumpy has managed to get a few of them running on a schedule but some of them he still has to manually turn on and off so those might not happen in a given year.

Christmas
This is probably the most important one. The way it's worked most recently is that stockings will have a chance to randomly drop (affected by your Random Drops stat) after every action. At the end of the event you can open these and you get nice consumables and festive coins, which can be traded for festive gear. Festive gear is best in slot for several slots for most actions (head, neck, feet) and a "better than nothing" option for most others.

Easter
This has varied and hasn't always happened every year. Most recently the event just increased the chance of dropping golden eggs (and had them drop without needing an easter pendant) which could then just be traded in for the normal golden egg trades. With an easter pendant equipped you'll always have a chance of golden eggs year-round so you should always have one on (and carry a spare, and replace it as soon as it breaks).

Amar Birthday
This is in January and happens irregularly. Works similarly to the christmas event in that a container will drop and at the end you open it and get stuff. Rewards were mostly consumables and some collectible (e.g. worthless) coins.

Valentine's Day
Another "get random drops and open for rewards" that only happens when Grumpy feels like it. Most recently gave valentine cards and candles.

Snail Day
Happens in June, and has happened almost every year (except 2017, when a one-time Wedding event happened instead). Gives snail gear and chocolate snails. The lack of a 2017 snail day means our snail gear stocks are getting dangerously low, so hopefully this will be back in 2018.

Harvest
Happens in September and October. Part 1 (September) adds random apple and pumpkin harvesting events to the world (all on the first island) and opens the apple cidery for operation. This lets you turn apples into cider, which gives +20 spell duration for 1 spell. Part 2 (October) continues the random harvesting events, the cidery, and also opens the pumpkin stills. You can then turn pumpkins into pumpkin ale which gives a -2 timer for 20 minutes buff. We stockpile apples and pumpkins all summer to make a fuckload of these.

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TODO: Updated UI screenshot / guide.

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poo poo pubbies say:




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Knowledge Base

Beginner’s Tips

  • Don’t start with combat, it’s a quick way to lose all your stuff. Ask in guild chat before you click on anything combat-related.
  • Read the manual. If you click on (or hover over, in the beta) an item in your inventory there’s a link to the manual page for that item. You can also click on the name of a skill in the skills tab (in the upper left) to see what you can do with that skill, at what level, and what equipment and consumables are available for that skill. There’s another longer section on useful things about the manual below.
  • Equipment breaks. Constantly. Carrying 10+ of whatever tool you’re currently using is recommended. Broken equipment is automatically replaced from your inventory if you’re carrying spares.
  • Botchecks happen every 30 minutes by default, this can be extended to an hour by paying snail bucks (premium currency). :10bux: gets you enough snail bucks to extend botchecks for 4 months, with 10 left over. Snail bucks can be bought and sold between players, usually for around 5,000 copper each. There is no in-game way of telling when your next botcheck will be, most people use a cellphone or desk timer to keep track.
  • You start with a pittance of 50 copper. The starter woodcutting quest should give you enough hatchets to complete the starter quest and get a chunk of the way towards building your first house. However, the guild is well-supplied, and we have loads of most iron tools plus some other starter equipment in the guild storage in Aeon Bay (AB). The main point here is that you don’t need to “make money” to get started, and the cash economy in the game is largely a joke anyway - most trades are item for item. If you need something and we don’t have it, just ask, and we can either build it or buy it from guild funds.
  • Train Magic early and often. It is pretty much the slowest and hardest skill to level, and it depends on your mana regen, which by default is 1 every 5 minutes. When your mana is full, you don’t get regen, so that’s magic XP out the window. Magic starts to get very useful and powerful around level 10 since you will have both more mana to cast with and longer duration spells, so you want to start getting this up as soon as possible.
  • There’s no stupid questions when you’re starting out. (Well okay maybe there are.) Once you hit character level 2 (which should be pretty quick) (even Grumpy thought this was stupid and removed it) you can start chatting in the guild chat where most people will be able to answer any questions. For your sanity you may want to go into Settings (in the map window) early on and turn off World chat.
  • Character level doesn’t matter all that much. Your character XP is ¼ of the total XP earned in all skills combined, and follows the same level curve. Character Level 2 gives you the ability to chat. Other than that, character levels are only useful for increasing your total carrying capacity (1000 stones + 100 per character level).

There's lots more useful tips in the Knowledge Base document and also in the in-game forums and guild chat.

[edit 4/22/16]: To answer all the "how the gently caress do I get around" questions, I made a map.



[edit 8/20/16]: here's a thing

bmoon posted:

Amar goons XP v0.6.1

Save your own copy and play around with the numbers

    0.6.1 - 2016-08-20
  • Added a few timers
  • Added level chart and updated cell W6 in the skill tabs (no more entering exp!)
  • Highlighted a few actions to denote skill progression for optimal exp

[edit 12/17/16]: Magres made a detailed writeup on levelling magic and how you can help resupply mana foods so you don't feel bad about taking them

Xerol fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Mar 7, 2018

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Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Woohoo a thread! gently caress pine cones!

MotU
Mar 6, 2007

It was like she was evicting walking garbage.
Pillbug
This game is basically "Production Chains in a Browser" and it is great

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



MotU posted:

This game is basically "Production Chains in a Browser" and it is great

Oh man I never thought of it that way but it is true.

CoffeeQaddaffi
Mar 20, 2009

Virigoth posted:

Woohoo a thread! gently caress pine cones!

Pine cones are love. Pine cones are life.

Blazing Zero
Sep 7, 2012

*sigh* sure. it's a weed joke
i didnt think there could be a game more niche than dwarf fortress yet here it is

Edly
Jun 1, 2007
I'm in as Edly.

Chakan
Mar 30, 2011

Blazing Zero posted:

i didnt think there could be a game more niche than dwarf fortress yet here it is

MUDs used to be comparatively common, and they're not that different from this.

Kylra
Dec 1, 2006

Not a cute boy, just a boring girl.

Blazing Zero posted:

i didnt think there could be a game more niche than dwarf fortress yet here it is
It's just like playing an mmo, but without having to actually put time into the timesink.

Blazing Zero
Sep 7, 2012

*sigh* sure. it's a weed joke
im in as blazing (cant believe this wasnt taken already!!!)

Dr. Video Games 0155
Aug 24, 2004

If in doubt, throw more men at it!

Blazing Zero posted:

i didnt think there could be a game more niche than dwarf fortress yet here it is

Who would of guessed..

In as BPH, I have no idea whats going on but it seems like a good idea.

Xerol
Jan 13, 2007


Invites all caught up.

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



The goonrush is real. I think we're like 20% of the online playerbase most of the time.

Deformed Church
May 12, 2012

5'5", IQ 81


So does the game offer any other goals other than levelling up? I'll probably stick with it because I like pointless things, and I like pointless things that don't seem to take up all my processing power, but I'm curious. The manual lists 8 quests, three of which are finished, three of which I've found and accepted and two of which are in areas in different bits of the map. Is that an exhaustive list, or am I going to be presented with more that are hidden until I've gotten more levels or taken a boat from the bay?

nelson
Apr 12, 2009
College Slice
I think it's just to watch numbers get bigger. There is a leaderboard though and you can try to compete for ranking if you are feeling competitive for a pointless pursuit.

Sacro
Jul 21, 2008

I was somewhere around the middle of page 86 in the Cognitive Dissonance thread when the drugs began to take hold.

only only only only only only
In as Sacro

klapman
Aug 27, 2012

this char is good
in as Klapman

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Invites out!

emormu
Jan 16, 2012
In as emormu

Scorps
Feb 24, 2008

Oh, lighten up Mr. Dooms-and-Gloom, "embezzle" is metal.
Just registered, same name as SA -> Scorps

Quaint Quail Quilt
Jun 19, 2006


Ask me about that time I told people mixing bleach and vinegar is okay
invite scratchula

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Once we finish gathering for Operation Cooking do we have any plans on how we are going to cook this? We probably need to figure out who is where on lvls and the best way to spread XP so we get a good level distribution out of it. I'd like to hit Lvl 27 for Citrus Coolers if we can make it and then kind of take ownership of the citrus cooler supply for our main Gatherers so they don't run out. It fits well with me moving over to primary Snakes for combat and having the Gather Citrus action + I'll make some orchards on Torrid Isle.

Chunjee
Oct 27, 2004

Hmm I've been searching for something like this. Please invite Chunjee.

Drakonis
Dec 18, 2011

"That will go down among my worst boners."
Registered as Drakonis!

RabbitWizard
Oct 21, 2008

Muldoon

Virigoth posted:

Once we finish gathering for Operation Cooking do we have any plans on how we are going to cook this? We probably need to figure out who is where on lvls and the best way to spread XP so we get a good level distribution out of it. I'd like to hit Lvl 27 for Citrus Coolers if we can make it and then kind of take ownership of the citrus cooler supply for our main Gatherers so they don't run out. It fits well with me moving over to primary Snakes for combat and having the Gather Citrus action + I'll make some orchards on Torrid Isle.

http://amar.bornofsnails.net/man/my_guild/highscores/cooking/total

The manual is the best manual ever.

Chakan
Mar 30, 2011
This game's fun in the same way that stardew valley is fun. I spent some time planting and harvesting various herbs this weekend and I gained something like 9k+ gathering exp each day. I started out acquiring everything myself, which was fun, but not really good towards any goal that took longer than a couple days. I would recommend if you're unsure about what to do or dunno if you wanna play to do that.

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......




yeah I get that we can see levels but I meant actually dividing up who cooks what to get people to a level to cook certain things by doing this cooking. Do we want to push one person super high cooking or a few people to around lvl 30?

Fajita Queen
Jun 21, 2012

In as Tspoon.

This seems like a mindlessly fun way to pass time between various game lobby queues so I'm sure I'll enjoy it just like I did cybernations for like 5 years.

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Invites should be caught up now.

RabbitWizard
Oct 21, 2008

Muldoon

Virigoth posted:

yeah I get that we can see levels but I meant actually dividing up who cooks what to get people to a level to cook certain things by doing this cooking. Do we want to push one person super high cooking or a few people to around lvl 30?

Oh, right. Yes, that won't be easy. Can we math out if one person is even able to cook all of it? Otherwise the goal would be to push 1-2 persons up with the things that give most xp and have Xerol do the remains :p

Xerol
Jan 13, 2007


I will spreadsheet it out tonight. First order of business is to cook up the Trout Potato Salads so the rest of the cooking can go at min timer, followed by the Steak Stews so the rest of the logs can get chopped in a timely fashion. So anyone who can get to 18 cooking on their own in the next 2-3 weeks is encouraged to do so.

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Roflex posted:

I will spreadsheet it out tonight. First order of business is to cook up the Trout Potato Salads so the rest of the cooking can go at min timer, followed by the Steak Stews so the rest of the logs can get chopped in a timely fashion. So anyone who can get to 18 cooking on their own in the next 2-3 weeks is encouraged to do so.

Guess I'll do more flour and pine cones next weekend! I might also try to get some mats to do some apple crisps on my own to speed it up some.

Quaint Quail Quilt
Jun 19, 2006


Ask me about that time I told people mixing bleach and vinegar is okay
Count scratchula out, I'd rather get back into a mud or reinstall a phone auto playing game if that's all this is.

Plus I just found Wakfu to "harvestmoon" tactically until I get a ps4 solely for disgaea.

I can deal with no graphics just not minute long cooldowns on every action.

Blazing Zero
Sep 7, 2012

*sigh* sure. it's a weed joke

yeah this has a similar ramping up vibe. now all it needs is some good war poo poo :getin:

galahan posted:

Count scratchula out, I'd rather get back into a mud or reinstall a phone auto playing game if that's all this is.

Plus I just found Wakfu to "harvestmoon" tactically until I get a ps4 solely for disgaea.

I can deal with no graphics just not minute long cooldowns on every action.

disgaea 5 is really good and i hope you enjoy it, friend!

Flunky
Jan 2, 2014

In as Flunky.

IsBlue
Jul 12, 2006
Look! Title text!
In as Terrablue

Kylra
Dec 1, 2006

Not a cute boy, just a boring girl.
I built a house! And an herb garden to gather flax! But apparently I need more gathering to do so!

Kylra
Dec 1, 2006

Not a cute boy, just a boring girl.
I think I'm going to hold off on anything other than carpentry or smithing until my magic is higher though.

Virigoth
Apr 28, 2009

Corona rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M. get the virus
In the ICU y'all......



Yeah, if you need to gather leveling you can get mushrooms in disenchanted forest for some easy low level xp. Carpentry and Smithing are both good professions that help the guild so you can definitely focus there!

Make sure if you are a new player to read the Amar forums themselves as they have tons of information on them and we have a guild forum that has some internal guides and stuff on it.

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synthetik
Feb 28, 2007

I forgive you, Will. Will you forgive me?
In as synthetik

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