JayZ's NML strategy compendium

Raffo

I've never used 3 of the same type

magic

Raffo said:

Hi! I tried today for the first time to craft looking at the badges cycles. After a couple I've understood I started from 13 second cycle and all worked like was written until 17 that was a health % badge with hero bonus. Then I have some results I can't find anywhere: flat damage with defensive stance, cc with iron skin and % damage with no bonus. Any ideas?

I guess you didn't use one of each or two of each, like MeEdChCl or MeMeChCh, etc. on the Flat damage and CC, since the main effect does not match, but the bonus condition still match. If you note down all your craftings and results it is easier to see.

SillyboyWTA said:

@JayZ Hey hey hey!
Thought it might be easier on the cycle chart to use E for even and O for odd. I myself for some reason have very few badges for slot 6, so knowing the next badge is odd would change my decision on quality.
Just a thought to clarify just a bit.

Your work is appreciated throughout the NML community!

Great work!

A lot of people have said the same thing, and I agree, W and E are too easily misunderstood. I have updated my google spreadsheet with Odd and Even: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eRvMvHO7PhVMGSBt1NJzWHJUsknLwHtBBSfVxQ0BP6s/edit#gid=535933920

JayZ

A late response to some of the messages:

@Billbam thanks for clarifying where the transition occurs! I'll update my original post.

@Danski yeah, diagonal movement is really tricky. I've definitely misjudged the distance before and got 1* on an easy 3* mission will update my post with more on this

@magic just wanted to say thank you for all of the advice and research you've done. I linked to your Discord server and spreadsheet. Do I have permission to take a screenshot and share?

magic

JayZ said:

A late response to some of the messages:

@magic just wanted to say thank you for all of the advice and research you've done. I linked to your Discord server and spreadsheet. Do I have permission to take a screenshot and share?

You are welcome! Thanks for linking to my discord server, finding out the mysteries of crafting has been a cooperation between several people and there are still a lot to learn. What I have done is simply to log all my crafting results, collect crafting results from others, and make it available for everyone. Then others have pitched in with knowledge about patterns, transitions and pairs. I hope more people will log their crafting results and contribute with data and that we are able to build a community that are willing to share their findings about craftings.

Feel free to share screenshots.

Billbam

magic said:

JayZ said:

A late response to some of the messages:

I hope more people will log their crafting results and contribute with data and that we are able to build a community that are willing to share their findings about crafting.

Feel free to share screenshots.

Here here magic...I have greatly reduced my social media time lately due to all the disagreements and conflicts, an this is in game chats and general social media. Would love to see more sharing and community spirit regarding the game. I am not against general chit chat, but for what ever reason it always seems to go off the rails, in the US anyway people cant seem to have differences without it causing conflict.

marroba2000

Hello JayZ.
I have a doubt with the badges cycle.
If you are in the cycle 1, when you finish it, you always jump to the second cycle or exists the chance that you restart the first cycle?

Billbam

Deleted

marroba2000

> @Billbam said:
>
> You will never leave your current cycle provided you do not use a special recipe at line 1 or 20

Thanks Billbam. Happy New Year!!!

Papst

Hi, I'm new in that forum, but playing the game from the (nearly) beginnings. The last Badge i crafted was an 21% DR with 5% Iron Skin Bonus. Feeling great on this i tried to figure out how to reproduce. But following these instructions, that badge shall now exist. On which position in these cycles i'm actually placed?

Billbam

Papst said:

Hi, I'm new in that forum, but playing the game from the (nearly) beginnings. The last Badge i crafted was an 21% DR with 5% Iron Skin Bonus. Feeling great on this i tried to figure out how to reproduce. But following these instructions, that badge shall now exist. On which position in these cycles i'm actually placed?

Unless you use one of the basic recipes and craft a couple of badges no way to know what pattern you are on or what will be next. Need to craft two badges with metal edible chemical cloth (all the same rarity.) Post your results and we can help clarify where you stand.

Marcus6253

@Billbam said standard formula, one of each type, needs to be at same rarity. I started getting badges not matching any cycle after I used a different rarity for metal than other because I ran out of common metal. Is this why I went off the cycle? It took a few badges but I finally got back to a recognizable cycle 1 pattern then I ran out of supplies since I had just upgraded training ground and only had less than a million when I started crafting.

magic

Papst said:

Hi, I'm new in that forum, but playing the game from the (nearly) beginnings. The last Badge i crafted was an 21% DR with 5% Iron Skin Bonus. Feeling great on this i tried to figure out how to reproduce. But following these instructions, that badge shall now exist. On which position in these cycles i'm actually placed?

You have 1/3 chance of getting Iron Skin as a trait bonus once every 19 craftings on both patterns. Using a recipe not from group 9 can give you any effect so most likely that is how you got it. Besides you can use a special recipe and alter the bonus condition.

It is only possible to determine where in the cycle you are if you log recipes and results for a certain amount of craftings.

Marcus6253 said:

@Billbam said standard formula, one of each type, needs to be at same rarity. I started getting badges not matching any cycle after I used a different rarity for metal than other because I ran out of common metal. Is this why I went off the cycle? It took a few badges but I finally got back to a recognizable cycle 1 pattern then I ran out of supplies since I had just upgraded training ground and only had less than a million when I started crafting.

Not sure why your pattern changes, I would have to look at the full log of recipes and results to find out if mixing rarities are the reason.

Johnbert

Thanks a lot, finally I'm able to control my badges and getting the desired outcome. No more tantrums about getting critical chance badges when putting in all legendary stuff Was in cycle 1 before and eventually I was able to switch to 2nd cycle.

Burmeliinis

Thanks for the nice summary. It's interesting to see that even using the 6 DR cycle it's not possible to get a unicorn DR badge, i.e. a DR badge with a bruiser-friendly trait condition (Retaliate, Punish, Lucky, Dodge, Iron Skin). So you can either craft a guaranteed DR badge but with a bad bonus condition, or take your chances at the #9 and #28 position, which has Retaliate, Dodge, BulletDodge but gives a CC or flat Health badge with the regular recipe.

The best bet otherwise is probably the position #30 DR badge, which has Scout, Shooter & Bruiser, and quite often will you be with another bruiser and/or a scout.

Also the same goes for Health %, at position #5 you have 1/3 chance of getting Lucky as the bonus (others are Sure Shot & Marksman) and at pos #19 you have the Scout, Shooter & Bruiser class bonus.

Grady

Burmeliinis said:

Thanks for the nice summary. It's interesting to see that even using the 6 DR cycle it's not possible to get a unicorn DR badge, i.e. a DR badge with a bruiser-friendly trait condition (Retaliate, Punish, Lucky, Dodge, Iron Skin).

- The DR cap is quite low (80) so if you allocate 3 badge slots, then you don't need to use unicorn badges to reach the cap.
- Punish is not in the list of possible bonus conditions.
- There are also multiple locations that give you the perfect combo you are looking for. To name a few:

a) Special recipe at 1DR-Row1 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row5 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.
b) Special recipe at 1DR-Row20 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row23 gives DR%/(Lucky/Marksman/SureShot)/Even.
c) Special recipe at 1DR-Row21 or 22 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row22 or Row23 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row24 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Even.
d) Special recipe at 1DR-Row25 or 26 or 27 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row27 or Row28 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row32 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.

Marcus6253

@JayZ A correction on your badge crafting post on page 1. When you are on cycle 1 with 1 DR badge and use special formula at 20 to switch cycles and then craft 10 badges, the 11th badge is on cycle 2, 6 DR cycle, at 30 and not 31 as stated. @Billbam post where he said this also stated 30. I only mention this because 31 and 32 are DR badges. When I crafted my 11th badge, I expected DR according to post but got Health flat trait instead which is 30. I used best components for next badge badge assuming a typo in post and got a DR. Took a chance on next and another DR. So happy to finally know what I am crafting before I allocate components. The badge crafting alone is awesome, but the other stuff makes this an awesome post.

JayZ

Thanks @Marcus6253. I was just going by the information I was given. Sorry to hear that you wasted components on a flat health badge.

Can anyone else confirm what he said? @magic mapped out every single transition badge that you can craft (third set of columns in the link below), and it does seem like there are 10 badges in between the special transition recipe at 20 and the DR badge at 31. Are you sure you didn't miscount?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eRvMvHO7PhVMGSBt1NJzWHJUsknLwHtBBSfVxQ0BP6s/edit#gid=535933920

Drunken

@JayZ i can’t confirms I’ve tried to jump to 6DR so many times I Gave up and crafted what I had now I’m on 6DR. But I tried spot 20, 1, 40, 17, at least 2x each I don’t think there has been a confirmed cross over point yet just some spots and patterns that work better

Burmeliinis

Grady said:

Burmeliinis said:

Thanks for the nice summary. It's interesting to see that even using the 6 DR cycle it's not possible to get a unicorn DR badge, i.e. a DR badge with a bruiser-friendly trait condition (Retaliate, Punish, Lucky, Dodge, Iron Skin).

- The DR cap is quite low (80) so if you allocate 3 badge slots, then you don't need to use unicorn badges to reach the cap.
- Punish is not in the list of possible bonus conditions.
- There are also multiple locations that give you the perfect combo you are looking for. To name a few:

a) Special recipe at 1DR-Row1 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row5 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.
b) Special recipe at 1DR-Row20 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row23 gives DR%/(Lucky/Marksman/SureShot)/Even.
c) Special recipe at 1DR-Row21 or 22 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row22 or Row23 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row24 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Even.
d) Special recipe at 1DR-Row25 or 26 or 27 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row27 or Row28 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row32 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.

Sorry, but I did not understand this at all. Are you talking about something on the 1 DR cycle? What do you mean by "success if have bonus".

Burmeliinis

Grady said:

- The DR cap is quite low (80) so if you allocate 3 badge slots, then you don't need to use unicorn badges to reach the cap.

It's easy enough to reach 80% together with Iron Skin trait either on your survivor or on armor. But at this point I'm trying to be able to discard IS altogether, which means I need to get 80% through badges only. And that changes the setup, as you need an average of 26,6% DR from each badge, which you can't reach without either the trait bonus activated (together with set bonus) or hope for a max effect when crafting a badge without bonus condition (about 25% chance).

Firekid

@Drunken Im surprised it hasn’t worked for you. I managed to switch first time and so far 3 for 3 on helping guild members do so too. I don’t suppose you logged your fails did you? I know magic would be interested in seeing them to try and work out why it doesn’t work for everyone?

Drunken

@Firekid tbh I would have to go back, I had it in LINE, I’ve also been known to have horrid luck

magic

@Marcus6253 #30 on the 6-DR pattern is a Health flat badge. #20 is the place you use a special recipe. The thought about crafting 10 times, is that the last crafting is the Health flat badge, which will show that you are on the 6-DR-pattern. If you log your results you can be sure where in the pattern you are and what the next badge is.

Superhero

Grady said:

a) Special recipe at 1DR-Row1 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row5 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.
b) Special recipe at 1DR-Row20 (success if have bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row23 gives DR%/(Lucky/Marksman/SureShot)/Even.
c) Special recipe at 1DR-Row21 or 22 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row22 or Row23 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row24 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Even.
d) Special recipe at 1DR-Row25 or 26 or 27 (success if have no bonus), Special recipe at Row27 or Row28 (success if have no bonus), Group 9 recipe at Row32 gives DR%/(Dodge/Retaliate/BulletDodge)/Odd.

Thx for sharing your investigations @all!

Two question on this: These notes are for the 1 DR-list, right?

And what does group 9 recipe mean?

Grady

Burmeliinis said:

Sorry, but I did not understand this at all. Are you talking about something on the 1 DR cycle? What do you mean by "success if have bonus".

Yes these Rows occur on the 1DR cycle. I do not have transition pattern data for the 6DR cycle yet. Magic noted some correlation on the 6DR transition patterns with the 1DR ones (at least some patterns appear to be the same), but I have not tested it out myself.

- A transition using a special recipe is only successful if the resulting badge has a bonus condition and the expected result using a Group 9 pattern does not; or vice versa.
- A successful transition takes you to the transition pattern.
- An unsuccessful transition continues on the existing pattern. (e.g. if you were on 1DR, next badge will also be 1DR)
- It is much easier to transit if the pattern has no bonus condition since there is a much higher probability of getting some bonus than no bonus.
- Group 9 recipes (and Groups 1~8) are listed in the pinned post in Magic's discard badge channel, you can find it in old posts on the forum too.
- The most commonly used Group 9 recipe is MeEdChCl. All recipes within the same group are interchangeable (equivalent).

JediMasterYoda

@JayZ Could you please post a screenshot of how you badged your Sasha?
Thanks in advance.

Nommae

Thanks a ton for this guide. Watching your youtube videos was a great help to me and to see how to use scouts and bruisers effectively so I could ditch my old ranged team.

There are a few minor tips (which probably are obvious to most people here but might not be obvious to a new player) I don't see mentioned that might be worth adding though.

The first is the split move to get you past a walker without triggering an attack where you do your move in two parts, one moves you as far as possible without triggering an attack, the other runs you to safety.

The second is that overwatch shooting doesn't generate any additional threat. It isn't always very useful but for new players who probably have some geared ranged players it can help them get a bit further.

P.S. While it is great to see how to control badge generation it is kind of annoying to finally realise that the reason I have barely enough DR badges for two bruisers after all this time is because I was just randomly on the crappy track all along.

imnfiction

Thanks @JayZ , your guide is a true gem.

A few suggestions

- in your videos, when you show the party, could you also show their badges?

- re hero guide, guess Hunter Daryl is not totally useless in the early -mid game. Since he is the default hero and is upgraded through campaign, he gets level fast and is quite decent in the begining.

Keep it going!

magic

Nommae said:

P.S. While it is great to see how to control badge generation it is kind of annoying to finally realise that the reason I have barely enough DR badges for two bruisers after all this time is because I was just randomly on the crappy track all along.

I don't think it is randomly. I think everyone starts on the 1-DR-track, and you can switch by luck or you can switch by finding the pattern.

JayZ

(sorry for the late responses)

@JediMasterYoda we chatted on Line, but my Sasha is all damage and critical damage

@imnfiction it takes a bit too much time to also show badges at the beginning of every video, but I might make a video of my commonly used survivors and their traits/badges/gear once so that I don't have to do it every time. Thank you for the suggestion about Daryl!

@Nommae appreciate the helpful tips! I'll incorporate them into my guide!