Ideal playthrough to max XP [SPOILERS]

[fallen]

dagger - there are story branch differences in what follows. Some of them are dependent on family, but more of them are dependent on other story choices you made leading up to the choice of banner.

[contributor]

Dang it! Just lost my Ironman group following this pattern. They finished the Underforge at level 27 and then were in for a rude awakening when they came out and did Talia and Long Trail. The enemies jumped up 6 levels and on a pretty ordinary Orcin group everyone connected on Vraes and took him down. I should have been more cautious but had developed some now bad habits in the UF. I hate losing Ironman groups after investing this much time into them.

[wascalwywabbit]

Mar 21, 2017 13:46:58 GMT -5 contributor said:

Dang it! Just lost my Ironman group following this pattern. They finished the Underforge at level 27 and then were in for a rude awakening when they came out and did Talia and Long Trail. The enemies jumped up 6 levels and on a pretty ordinary Orcin group everyone connected on Vraes and took him down. I should have been more cautious but had developed some now bad habits in the UF. I hate losing Ironman groups after investing this much time into them.

Ouch, 6 levels! that's rough, sorry to hear it... Was that with or without crafted armor/shield?

[phaze]

Sorry to hear! Always painful. That stretch of the game I lose nearly all my parties.

One issue with maxing levels like this is a question of safety since it can push some maps and mobs to obscene difficulty 😳

While good for score, iron man takes just one death.

On my current run, I still may intentionally adjust not maxing xp to increase the odds of survival in key areas.

[Nathan]

contributor
HUGE thanks for putting the original post together and to everyone who has contributed so far!

In my latest play-through I decided to follow this (mostly), and I noted things as I went. I've included everything below hoping that some of what I found is useful enough to be included in your original post. I tried to keep to the original format of your post for comparative simplicity, and highlighted my one question and the differences/additions.

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Episode 1:
There are no respawns in E1
To max xp clear all levels and get static rewards as early as possible
Areas west of Oskahold level cap at 11
Static Reward: 80 xp for completing the Nordhall Troll quest
Static Reward: 40 xp for visiting Captain Lukai's tomb in Vermin Warren
Static Reward: 200 xp for returning to warm caves after killing the shaman
Static Reward: 40 xp for exploring the back of the Temple of the Thirteen
Static Reward: 40 xp for revisiting the bridge in Redhill Dungeons on the return trip

Episode 2:
Clear Red Hill Storerooms [17]
Clear Lowland Crossroad [17]
Clear Brellim Pass [17] DO NOT enter Vrenhaulm
Clear Darkmoss Ironwood [29+] and Wetlands [29+]
Clear Prospector's Path [22]
Fight 1 necessary fight in Crag Peak [29+] - Why not clear? Does it not respawn later like Sea Road?
Clear Sea Road [29+]
Clear Bone Pass Koda side [29+]
Return and Clear Trade Outpost
Clear all Brellim Pass [17] and Brellim Peaks [19 - (21 when I did it)]
Proceed to boss fight in Orcin Stonghold [24] in as few battles as possible (4)
Do not clear remaining Orcin Caves [22-23]
Clear all Braey's Territory [17-22] including Ironwood Ridge [22] and Bone Pass [29+] except Gholla
Minimum clear Long Trail [28] and Snow Canyon [28]
Clear Hunting Lodge [28]
Accept to go to the City of the Dead with Braeys
Clear Ironwood Ridge [22] and get E3 gear Braeyshalum (this didn't happen for me)

• I went to Ember Lake forward outpost

Braey's levels [17-22] respawn clear them and Lowland Crossroad [17]
Clear all Orcin Caves [22-23] except Orcin Stronghold [24] unless you are level 24
Do Krete quest from Trade Outpost and clear River's Edge [23 when I did it]
Clear Orcin Stronghold [24] when you reach level 24
Minimum clear Darkmoss Ironwood [29+] and Wetlands [29+] on way to Brunehorn
Clear all Underforge [22-24] levels
Reclear Prospector's Path [25 when I did it]
Clear Talia River Village [28]
Take the boat to Riven Field (or minimum clear path created above), then clear Long Trail [28] and Snow Canyon [28]
Clear Gholla levels [29+]
Finish clearing Darkmoss Ironwood [29+] and Wetlands [29+]
Clear Torrent Swamps [29+] and Darkmoss Heart [29+]
Clear Crag Peak [29+]
Reclear Sea Road [29+] and Bone Pass [29+] both sides

Static Reward: 100 xp for visiting the Baron's Library
Static Reward: 80 xp for clearing the Hidden Room in the Storerooms (finding Ratkin enterance)
Static Reward: 120 xp for completing Storerooms quest.
Static Reward: 120 xp for each traveller's shrine visited in Darkmoss
Static Reward: ? xp for killing Vlotgar / ? xp is granted in E4 for the Pale Walker quest if Vlotgar is spared
Static Reward: 100 xp for visiting the Overlook in Gholla on NW side of Gholla Outlook
Static Reward: 500 xp following the first Gholla Outlook battle
Static Reward: 1000 xp following the second Gholla Outlook battle
Static Reward: 500 xp for killing Hagathrun / additional xp may be available in E4 if Hagathrun is spared
Static Reward: 200 xp for talking to Elias Braeys following Gholla
Static Reward: 500 xp for receiving the Druid’s blessing + the staff


Episode 3:
To max xp clear all levels and claim static rewards as early as possible
The following are the only respawns and level caps:

• Gloomer’s Path after rescuing Wyatt
• Bone Pass after clearing Wolf Den Caverns
• Darkmoss Ironwood [29] and Wetlands [29] after receiving the Darkmoon Blossom quest
• Bone Ridge after entering Storm Bastian
• CoD (Braeys) - Southeast Road after descending into the Haunted Crypt from the Southwest Road

Static Reward: 100 xp for revisiting the Overlook in Gholla (not sure this is true as I'm not 100% positive I did it on my first visit)
Static Reward: 500 xp for burning through the ice at Bone Pass.
Static Reward: 800 xp for defeating the werewolf in Granthorn Mines.
Static Reward: 500 xp for returning to Granthorn and telling the Reeve.
Static Reward: 2000 xp for returning returning the Heartbeat of summer and breaking the curses and 3 extra battles are given in E4 if you go to OWH with Tevensa.
Static Reward: ? xp for killing Tevensa
Static Reward: 500 xp for visiting Vladin's Hand after completing the Storm Bastion quest that triggers the Ep3 sub-quest.
Static Reward: (4800 xp) 300 xp for each Darkmoon Blossom (16) collected for the Storm Brothers
Static Reward: 100 xp for visiting the heroes tomb in CoD (I think this is what the xp was from)
Static Reward: 250 xp for “breaking their necromantic hold over this shrine” in CoD

Teams containing Vincent gain more xp because they can access the Platinum Peaks level where they have access to the level battles & the Static Reward: 1000 xp for giving the sorcerers “temporary respite”+Staff or Short blade (Vincent only).

[matrim]

Nathan To answer a few of the blue statements and the purple question.
Crag's Peak does not respawn the original battles like Sea Road. If you start the Fang quest before clearing Crag's Peak (1 time only) and Sea Road (2 times total) then the respawned chests and exp are lost irretrievably. The Sea Road respawn occurs after accepting the offer to go to CoD under one of the faction leader's banner.
Not sure if you mean Ironwood Ridge respawning or the E3 equipment? In either case, the Ironwood Ridge definitely respawns on accepting Elias' offer to go to CoD under the Braeys. The E3 equipment is sold in the forward camp.
I clear all of Darkwood because of the Ratkin, Orcin, and Krete there. Ironman games can be lost very easily on those fights and we are talking about 200ish exp. Although, strictly speaking, you are right, minimum clear is required for max exp.
Bone Pass (both sides) will have 2 respawns I think. First is after accepting the Ember Log from one of the faction leaders and the second is after clearing the Wolf Den Caverns. The fights here are murderously difficult if level 33+.

[Nathan]

matrim - thanks for the feedback especially the answer to the Craig's Peak question!

I was referring th the E3 equipment - the way it was worded, I was looking for a gear update in Braeyshalum

Darkmoss - good to know

I think we are saying the same thing for Bone Pass... What you said matches my notes and memory.

[richard]

E3
if you do
a) Haunted Crypt
b) SE Road
c) East wheel road
d) West wheel road
e) SW road
f) Haunted Crypt
then for your surprise, SE Road respawns

[phaze]

To add info on the Tevensa decision, this quest I chose to kill her and keep Heartbeats.

In the battle, there is tevensa, Wyatt, a shaman, and Volpa lord for bonus experience.

I did the battle at lvl 30/enemy lvl 34

Kincaid, killing the volpa lord and no other bonus exp gained a total of 6611 xp. Tamilin killed the shaman and had a total of 6666 xp gain. Kyera killed the wolf and had a total of 7253. Kjartan killed tevensa and gained a total of 11655 xp.

I might have had a typo with kyera and the wolf but her xp is close.

Tevensa gave 5112 xp and a bonus 5112 xp to Kjartan.

The wolf gave 710 xp and a bonus of 755 to kyera. ( might be error in her numbers).

Compared to three fights in the OwH and 2000 xp in Ep 4. killing Tevensa wins out. Unless she reappears in Ep 4 given her blinded departure in OwH.

Edit-
Gloomer's path does not respawn. I think this is 5-6 battles, maybe 30 enemies total at about 30 xp each. So, figure missing 1000 xp on the high end.

[Nathan]

phaze - that is awesome
I got some of those numbers on one of my current games, but was nowhere near that thorough or detailed.  Great work! 

On another note, I've been maintaining 2 versions of the "Ideal playthrough to max XP" one for Braeys (as is already in this thread) and one for Koda, since the prerequisites are quite different for joining the other side.  The first portion is exactly the same, but then it branches quite a bit before coming back around CoD.  I'd like to post it for people that would like to max their XP flying the other banner, and open it up to constructive criticism and corrections from other members.

Would it be best to add it to this thread, or create a new one? 
contributor matrim phaze - this question is geared more towards you 3 as you are the ones who made this thread happen

[fallen]

phaze - impressive analysis, really dig it. Plus you get the Heartbeat.

SPOILER: Click to show

There are some trade offs and later XP opportunities that you are missing, but I am not sure how they all stack up. Killing Tevensa cuts her out of all possible future storylines (OWH, end game). There is an altar to Tevensa you can find in E4 travel that grants some XP (2000?) if you worked with her instead of killing her. If you take Tevensa to the OWH, it is probably the highest XP choice, because the end of it results in some hard battles with XP to gain vs. Kea or others.

Not refuting, just tossing in a few other ideas That is an impressive XP haul!

[phaze]

fallen

All good points. My question is for the last part of Ep 4 and whether Tevensa returns or not to give more xp

I'm fairly sure the 2000 xp shrine, gloomers respawn, and extra OwH battles are still less than killing her. Especially factoring in the bonus xp for the character that kills her. killing her basically was like an extra level that will increase xp yields much earlier than getting extra xp in Ep 4. In a purely score maxing sense, this makes sense.

However, story wise, I always spare her. I felt bad for Wyatt and Miranna in this playthrough.

[contributor]

My life has taken some wild turns lately, so I'm unlikely to be able to give this thread the attention it deserves. If someone wants to take it over I wouldn't mind a bit. Don't know if an admin can transfer ownership or if somebody just wants to copy the original post.

[Nathan]

contributor ,  matrim ,  phaze

If there are no objections, I could pick up the torch on this.  I'm already maintaining 2 versions of this in google docs - 1 for Braeys and 1 for Koda.
I would start 2 new threads, one for each version, and do my best to maintain both.  I would try to have both up before the end of this weekend, beginning with a likely copied disclaimer/intro from this post, and give full credit to the 3 of you. 

...?

[Nathan]

I created the 2 threads:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/16233/ideal-playthrough-max-braeys-spoilers
startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/16234/ideal-playthrough-max-koda-spoilers

Hopefully you guys can take a quick look at them. If you don't like them I'd like to take them down before anyone else starts commenting or questioning.

I took out my experiment notes, but left in some additional details (choices, reminders, minimum clear paths, etc). I could pull a bunch of that out if you think it's superfluous.