I think it’s 1000 vigor required to start the process. But the problem isn’t so much the vigor use at the start of the process, it’s the stability use that will hurt you by trying to get all 3 boons at the start as it is such an expensive process to regain that lost stability.
Don’t get me wrong, what you suggest is an excellent idea that I hadn’t really even considered. But perhaps the fact that you are having to convert so much vigor back to stability is why you are unable to max yours on the simulator?? Maybe. I have had like a 99% success rate with this method in terms of maxing all boons and finishing with no defects as long as I don’t make any mistakes throughout the process. I think the 1% was 4 energy cost defect on one grapple I made.
EDIT: I might try this out with a slingbow however, as the one thing that put’s me off trying many slingbow variations is the risk of getting the wrong boons so far into the process, it would be worth the trade off if I could set them right at the start.
Here’s my process so far, maybe you could try to replicate it and see if it’s viable or if it can be improved:
RNG long range with CBC 2
Vigour catalyst (you could save the catalyst and just go for the gums here, but I don’t like adding the defect points
2 effect gum
2 lightness gum
CBC 2 for reel and projectile speed (usually 2 or 3, could also catalyst in between each gum, but if you want to save rounds and catalyst this works too)
Vigour catalyst
Vigour stack until stability gets around 400 (about 5 stacks)
Stability stack
Add compound as your guide states (1 PP, 3 SP, 3 PP, then compound) until vigour gets to the low point of being able to stack again
Vigour stack again until no more IP
Stability stack
Add compound same as previous until boons are maxed
Use Defect Solvent until no more vigour
As the process goes, I’ll sprinkle in some solvent if I get the durability defect on the bottom. Stability so far hasn’t been an issue, I just can’t get to removal steps with enough vigour to wipe them all. So my process might not be viable, at least not for grapples. For hammers it easily works, I just replace lightness with longevity, RNG the AoE boon first, effect gum for damage, decon if don’t get it, catalyst then longevity for dura boon, then finish out the same way as I described above. With the tools though there are a few defects that don’t hurt them, so with good luck I can get away without having to use any solvent at all.
Thanks for brainstorming with me man. I stopped playing Boundless about a year ago (RIP my shop and stockpile of resources lol) and just started playing again, and I’ve always found forging to be the most enjoyable thing to do in the game. Was pretty good at it back then, and I’m trying to find all the pro tips to get started into it again.
It certainly looks viable enough to me just doing some terribad match in my head as long as it doesn’t take too many compounds to get the 3 boons essentially. My quick estimate is that as long as you used no more than 7 compounds to get all 3 boons then this should be viable with a solid chance of removing all defects.
The problem is that the method runs on a knife edge (very little vigor is left at the end if any) in order to finish with 10/10/10 and no defects so I am still a bit weary as added stability cost is going to be the tipping point. As I say though I might try it with some bows, especially those with cheaper boons to max such as multi shot, light/heavy projectile, etc.
I like your point about the tools and most defects being unnecessary to wipe, I hadn’t thought about this so perhaps even a defect transmute might be worth taking for tool forges? One thing I will say though is… in my opinion forging lucent tools is a complete waste of time as you can make gem tools that will do the same job just as well if not better than, and I can forge them 9 at a time for a fraction of the cost.
Too true. So far after updating my production cost spreadsheet, it seems that the current value of a forged lucent grapple versus what it costs to forge it, there just isn’t much profit in it. It seems to cost about 23k in resources to forge one, and I’ve seen them for sale for just a little more than that. Lucent tools however can be pretty profitable if you can avoid using defect solvent, about a 15k cost to about the same sale price. But as you said, gem tools can be forged much easier and more efficiently, and for about a 200% profit margin.
And seriously the gem tools do the job just as well as a lucent tool. Rift/umbris tools require a starberry pie to keep up with a speedy gem or sapphire tool and the blink tools aren’t fast enough to allow you to skip forging busy bee on to them in order to keep up with the action speed of the speedy ruby/sapphire tools.
So basically in my opinion if people are paying 30k for lucent tools then they are paying the majority of that coin to have a tool that looks cool, lol
Also, what’s your opinion of draining boon compound 2 instead of corrupted boon compound 2? Quirk transmute solvent is a lot cheaper, and when used smartly, you can only end up with the negligible quirks like bouncy feet or odd noises, and maybe to a lesser extent on grapples, sinking feeling and aggravated attacks. I think the quirks have been reworked since I stopped though, because the hunger and health ones used to practically be buffs since they increased action speed and decreased stamina use, but now they seem to only function in those conditions instead of adding small buffs, which sucks.
I assure you bouncy feet is not negligible, that is the biggest killer quirk there is, lol. As for the health and energy ones they do still give the buffs, they are by far the best quirks available in game for a tool and make a great took godlike.
The problem though with draining boon is the “draining” part, draining 50 vigor per round is going to end up hurting a lot by the end of the forge.
Yeah the more I play with it the more I see that. But if you can get RNGsus on your side… lol. So they do still give the buffs? Nice. When I read the tooltip it read different than I remembered and seemed to imply that they only worked in high/low health/hunger. You ever try really flirting with RNG and going full random for your first 2 buffs so you only have to bring 1 gum, and you can swap in a fate paste? Just some more ideas to bounce off you lol.
oh if RNG goes in your favour then absolutely quirks would be nice and as you say, also cheaper to deal with. On a tool forge I would probably say go for it as you will have vigor to spare, but definitely not on a grapple.
The quirks are incorrectly displayed in the “forge effect” section and are displayed in reverse, so if you look at one while you are on low health it will show it as an action speed increase. It’s a known bug that will hopefully be fixed in a not too distant update.
Flirting with RNG, yes I know of people that do, my goal when I came up with this method though was to make the boon acquisition stage as reliable as possible. Another ingredient would be nice to bring along, perhaps a boon transmute? Fate paste is basically a waste of time unless you are using it to avoid hitting defects and quirks and again in my case, I was planning on stacking a load of defects, haha. It’s hard to explain in words but it will give you very little benefit when it comes to applying boon points to your boons and it will again just cost more vigor and stability.
Man, thanks for your input. Here at work I have tons of spare time so I’ve just been playing with the simulator trying crack the code again and find the sweet forge meta lol.
