Tip: Max Path to Search By

[vfb]

In some terrain types it is unnecessary to do a level 4 search. Here are the max paths that can exist per terrain type. Thanks to Edi for his DB, where this data came from.

If there are multiple terrain types in a single province, then any site for any of those terrain types is possible. Please note that on random maps at least, Deep Sea is always Sea too, so you should max search Deep Sea as Sea too.

plains
A3:2 A4:1
S4:1
F4:0

mount
A4:0

This means there are 2 unique A3 sites possible in plains and one unique A4 site possible in plains. Everything else is A0 to A2. There is possibly one unique S4 site in plains. There are no F4 sites at all in plains. There are unlimited possible A3 sites in mountains, but no A4 sites at all.

There are two ways to use this info:
1) Don't bother searching anywhere except waste for F4, and plains for A4, unless you're using rituals for speed. Don't search water for N3/N4/D3/D4/S4/F2/F3/F4/A4/W4/E4, unless you're using rituals for speed or efficiency (Tiamat).

2) In addition to (1), pay attention to the unique sites. If you find a unique level 4 site, there's a chance you don't need to bother searching a particular set of terrain types at level 4 for that path any more.

If you see any errors, please post corrections, thanks!


plains
A3:2 A4:1
S4:1
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:0
N4:1
W4:1

forest
A3:2 A4:0
S4:1
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:0
N4:2
W4:1

mount
A4:0
S4:2
B4:1
D4:2
E4:1
F4:0
N4:1
W4:1

waste
A4:0
S4:3
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:2
N4:2
W4:1

farm
A3:2 A4:0
S4:1
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:0
N4:1
W4:1

coast
A3:2 A4:0
S4:1
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:0
N4:1
W4:1

swamp
A3:2 A4:0
S4:1
B4:1
D4:1
E4:1
F4:0
N4:1
W4:1

sea
deepsea
A4:0
S4:0
Blood: 0
D2:1 D3:0 D4:0
E4:0
F2:0 F3:0 F4:0
N3:0 N4:0
W4:0
H2:0 H3:0 H4:0


NOTE: Deepsea provinces also have the 'sea' attribute. So any site that can be found in 'seas' can also be found in 'deepseas'. Since there are no higher additional paths to be found in 'deepsea', use 'seas', above.
deepsea
A3:0 A4:0
S4:0
Blood: 0
D2:0 D3:0 D4:0
E4:0
F2:0 F3:0 F4:0
N2:0 N3:0 N4:0
W3:0 W4:0
H2:0 H3:0 H4:0

cave
A4:0
S4:0
B2:1 B3:0 B4:0
D4:1
E4:0
F4:1
N2:1 N3:0 N4:0
W4:1
H3:2 H4:0

The unique sites are below. You know not to search if you've found all of these for the terrain type. For example, if you've found The Rainbow Shroud and The Inverted Tower, you only need to search forest for Air up to A2. If you've found Hall of Flayed Skins, then there's no need to search B4 anymore anywhere.


A3: The Rainbow Shroud, The Inverted Tower
A4: Palace of Dreams

S4: Library of Time
S4 (mount only): Throne of Enlightenment
S4 (waste only): The Mountain of the Past, The Endless Field of Cubes

B4: Hall of Flayed Skins

D2 (sea only): Dying Ground of the Whales
D4: The Shadow Furnace
D4 (mount only): Crown of Darkness

E4: The Factory

F4: The Sun Below
F4 (waste only): Prison of the Desert Sun

N4 (waste only): The Previous Forest
N4 (forest only): The Vale of Unicorns
N4: Soul of the Wild

W4: The Sea Underneath

[Tifone]

Helpful, but I think I will let my mages do automatic research wherever they want, this game is already micromanage intensive as it is

good job nonetheless

[Renojustin]

Dude... that is some severe correlating you did there. I will look this up often I think when min/maxing searches early on.

[NTJedi]

I was surprised to see no level_4 earth sites in the caves! And I was surprised to see no level_4 water sites in the different seas!

You'd think this would be where the most powerful and secretive sites of these types would exist.

[chrispedersen]

Doesn't the manual/tips specifically say that more air sites are found in mts?

[MaxWilson]

As I understand vfb's post, "Mount E4:0" means there are no UNIQUE E4 sites in mountains, not that there are no E4 sites in mountains at all. A similar comment applies to Chris's question. vfb's numbers aren't about the absolute frequency of air sites in mountains, it's about when to bother searching if you're only interested in high-path uniques (as opposed to, say, gem income).

-Max

[vfb]

Before things get too confusing, let's talk about "mount A4:0", because there actually is a possible E4 site in the mountains (The Factory).

Sorry Max, "mount A4:0" means not only are there no unique A4 sites in the mountains, there are no non-unique A4 sites either. So you can searched manually with an Eagle King to A3 in the mountains, and not bother looking for A4. (unless the province is both 'mountains' and 'plains').

"mount E4:1" means there is exactly one unique site that's possible in the mountains. And no non-unique E4 sites either. So if you found "The Factory" in a different province already, then you don't need to bother searching the mountains (or any province actually) to E4.

Of course, it may be more efficient to spell site search to find the E3's, depending on what stage the game's in etc.

My numbers are about optimizing searching because it's likely that in the early game at least, you've run around with a mage manually searching some sites, but probably not to level 4 in many paths.

This is especially true in the water. It's a waste to go casting Dark Knowledge everywhere if you've already peeked around with a D2, because there's nothing higher.

[MaxWilson]

Sorry, vfb, I guess I'm still not getting it. Does "mount E4:1" mean 1 unique site can occur in the mountains? What would it look like if 1 site can occur but it's not unique? What about 2 unique sites and 1 non-unique?

Thanks for putting together the table. It's the sort of thing I've wondered about while perusing Edi's database, but have never done any analysis on.

-Max

[vfb]

MaxWilson said:
Sorry, vfb, I guess I'm still not getting it. Does "mount E4:1" mean 1 unique site can occur in the mountains?

Yes, there is at most one unique E4 site that can occur in the mountains. If it's already in any other province then it can't appear in the mountains. There are no non-unique E4 sites in mountains. There is at least one non-unique E3 in mountains.

Except for one H4 site, all level 4 sites are unique.

What would it look like if 1 site can occur but it's not unique?

I wouldn't list it. That's why A3 appear but not E3, because a non-unique E3 site can appear everywhere. That's why H is not listed for most provinces -- there's a non-unique H4 site that can be found everywhere except sea/cave/deepsea.

What about 2 unique sites and 1 non-unique?

I wouldn't list it.

Thanks for putting together the table. It's the sort of thing I've wondered about while perusing Edi's database, but have never done any analysis on.

-Max

No prob! It's the sort of thing I like to micro in the game, so I can afford to kit out a thug. Then I send him on some ridiculously impossible mission completely unsuited to his capabilities and get him killed.