The 2024 Spading Project!

[penguinpyro]

Wow, it's been a while. A lot has happened in-game and out, since the last time this forum was active.

So, I figured I'd brought something to talk about!

New discoveries! Stuff that I've found out in-game recently through experimentation or sheer blind luck. I've already put some of it on the wiki, but there's so much, I can't post all of it in one go!
* How the Unfair Activities encounter mechanically works, and three new items from it!
* How the Somerset Mine (from Crystal of Clarify, among other talismans) works and several items from it!
* A new drop from Mr. Titanic! (if you don't step foot in the Titanico Warehouse)
* Welding recipes from the Ye Olde Toffee, Markov Chain and Eskrima book! (Also ZOM Orb, ZOM Crown and chocolate chip are now weldable and heirloom tomato is now assembleable, but I haven't figured out the recipes)
* A new sidekick coming from the latter above!
* Turns out you can assemble "ye olde" equipment with hammers to make 2x ye olde toffee!
* Discovered two merit badges! Also figured out how to get the Eternal Grit Merit Badge!
* A shortcut in the level 11 quest! (hint: wear the cobra hood or used Classifieds when going up against the frontiersmen)
* A new sponsor option for the cape of sponsorship!
* New messages for damage reduction results in several Hero Dash events!
* Two new drops from the League Training Room!

And also added wiki stuff that was known for a while but never put on the wiki properly:
* The Dark and Gritty villain drops
* The Cape of Sponsorship's enchantment options and how they are obtained

But there's still a lot of discoveries waiting to be made and I'm only able to do so much on my own:
Missing items- these are inferred from "Items by Number" on the wiki as well as items that don't have a crafting recipe yet and include the following:
* Two more welding recipes with the ye olde toffee (2 gaps at item #2712)
* At least one welding recipe with the chocolate chip Discovered
* At least one welding recipe with the ZOM crown
* At least one welding recipe with the ZOM orb
* At least one welding recipe with the Haptic headgear, haptic hose, and haptic halter
* Possible additional welding recipes with the Markov chain and Eskrima book (I can't test them as extensively as I would be able to)
* At least one assembly recipe with the heirloom tomato
* At least one assembly recipe with the worn mining pick (from somerset mine)
* One hidden drop or craftable item from the NCI LIve building or Vincile Building (gap at #2397)
* One hidden drop from Unfair Activities (gap at #2888 not accounted for by the three new items)
* Several hidden drops or craftable items from the Abandoned Shoe factory (gap at #2766)
* Several hidden drops or craftable items from Lepidoptera (gap at #2652)
* Several hidden drops or craftable items from the Pyramid Casino (gap at #2869)
* Several hidden drops or craftable items from the Level 13 quest (gap at #2480)

Hero Dash Helpers- it seems there are special ways to get an additional reduction, but not all have been found. (For example, equipping a megaphone for Radio Supernova will further reduce sonic damage by 1 decibels, or defeating the league foe for Burning down the house will reduce physical damage by 1 hole)
* Blood in the Acid- Both options
* Burning Down the House- hose it down
* Electron Gates- both options
* Simulated Feline- both options
* Mob Rule- change their minds
* WIth their Freeze Rays- both options

* Burning Ice- douse the fire (heirlooming the novelty ice tray will enhance hauling the ice)
* Falling Glaciers- Lift the blocks
* Platform Hell- both options
* Nasty Nebula- Ride the LIghtning
* Hero's Last Theorem- (solved already)
* Radio Supernova- Argue back

Hidden Talismans- Kinak has said for each set of yearly wok of stars talisman that unlocks hidden content, there's a non-wok version obtainable somewhere in the game that does the same.
We've already discovered the secret talismans for Dark and Gritty (Knight's Badge), Too Hard (Cartridge of Fury), Somersite (Crystal of Clarity) and Titanico (Galaxy Gal's Nebula). But what about the hidden talismans for other sets?
* Abandoned Chemistry Lab Discovered.
* Peer into Sidekick's dreams
* The way of Sparkles
* Walk a mile in your shoes (current set)

Other things to explore
* Even more sponsors- could there be more hidden out there in Hero Dash or buried deep in other encounters, or who knows what else is out there that could give a sponsorship?

There's no shortage of good stuff to spade. You could be the one to make these shiny new discoveries! Go forth and discover!

[xKiv]

Huh. Wha'ts a "villain level", how do you get it, how do you unget it?

[penguinpyro]

It's my term for the way that Dark and Gritty villains get stronger every time you beat them (and decreased when you lose to them) and that you get their equipment drops at certain milestones of their strength.

[xKiv]

Thanks. I had a hunch that that's what it might be, but a confirmation is nice. It's taking a while for me (most of the last two long days, and still on gummy serpents ... I would think that I fought him more than 10 times - unless it resets when I change talisman?)

ETA: the very next snakemonger after posting this dropped cobra hood.

[penguinpyro]

Oh yeah, the counter resets when you change talismans. I learned that the hard way as well. You get the Eternal Grit badge at villain level 100, by the way. If you want to speed it up, the minimum time between encounters is a lot less than 2 hours like normal villains, so just stack villain encounter rate and see how soon you can get fights.

[penguinpyro]

Still hard at work spading.

Current things I am up to:
* Trying to reproduce obtaining a particular merit badge that I got by accident. (I suspect it requires defeating something like 500+ killer printers, so it will be a while )
* Seeing what happens when I get 100x somersite upgrades to the crystal of clarity
* Grinding levels to try to eke new things out of the Training Room (suspect some drops are indirectly level based)
* I was DMed of a discovery of an exciting new sidekick, so will verify/reproduce that as well.
* Assembling and welding random things to the ye olde toffee, zom crown, heirloom tomato, worn mining pick, chocolate chip, eskrima book

Slowly moving my discoveries over to the wiki. I am not very familiar with it, so maybe someone who knows more wiki magic can help.

[xKiv]

> (suspect some drops are indirectly level based)

Anything that being level (checks) 396 can help with?

[penguinpyro]

> (suspect some drops are indirectly level based)

Anything that being level (checks) 396 can help with?

Fight in the League Training room with the Haptic Halter, Haptic Headgear, and Haptic Hose, and have active the effect "A Case of the Feels" from the Feels item. Might help to bump up Foe Toughness as high as you can too, since I suspect the "Holograms feel up to 20% more real!" bonus increases Foe Toughness.

If I recall correctly, you should at least get a drop called "liquid hologram". And since there's a gas and a liquid item, it's also possible there is a solid hologram item as well.

[xKiv]

I just got gaseous hologram drop with none of that (I still don't even have enough feels to make those).

Also: holomache, nanogram, simulated coffee sludge, holographic ice cube, virtual moleroot, holograffy taffy.

Put on the things + forgot to use feels + cast sundowner breeze
started getting liquid hologram
used feels, got "right in the feels" (maybe it renamed? it's just another "holograms feel 20% more real")

Spent a few hours there without getting anything new. We might need a 5th source of "20% more real".

[penguinpyro]

Err, I misremembered the name of the Feels effect, probably misconstrued it with A Case of the Jazz (blue pill). Yes, it's called Right in the Feels.

I received gaseous but not liquid at level 30 with 4 sources of "20% more real" and putting on those equips noticeably made each fight more difficult. That's my rationale for increasing Foe Toughness on top of the "realness"- I suspect "20% more real" increases FT for holographic enemies as a function of character level. Then reaching FT thresholds would unlock more drops- so possibly a third drop is hidden behind an unreached threshold.

That was my theory, anyways. Maybe a fifth source of "realness" is required. Or just four sources and an extreme amount of FT.

For a fifth source, I've tried welding Feels (and also the halter/hose/headgear) with every cybertronium-related item available from plain assembly or from the Space Station, with no results. There's two missing item IDs after the halter/hose/headgear, but I was unable to find either.

[xKiv]

Added more FT, seeing nothing new. My only remaining idea now is consuming the holo/virtual sugar/coffeine with 80% "feels more real", but I am already full tonight.

[penguinpyro]

There's also trying to welding feels with everything until we get a fourth or fifth haptic item.

[penguinpyro]

Found the talisman for the Abandoned Chemistry Lab. We can cross that one off at least.

[penguinpyro]

For a fifth source, I've tried welding Feels (and also the halter/hose/headgear) with every cybertronium-related item available from plain assembly or from the Space Station, with no results. There's two missing item IDs after the halter/hose/headgear, but I was unable to find either.

Okay, it is actually two items that make holograms 10% more real. Going to see what a total of 100% real gets me tomorrow.

[penguinpyro]

Yep, I got a solid hologram. As I expected, it also welds with all the haptic items to get sweet level 50 equipment. Pretty cool stuff.

The level 50 requirement likely means that's the level cutoff for liquid and solid hologram drops though.