"Splinterlands" Power Strategy Tips #71

As I have now been playing "Splinterlands" for over a year, I've wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and FUTURE players) - but NOT just fill my #Hive feed with daily images of quest reward - or battle - SPAM (no offense to those doing so). Ultimately, Hive is about ADDING VALUE to the social experience - that is the magic of blockchain social media technology. So, after some serious pondering, I decided that a weekly "Splinterlands" player strategy diary"" type series, with CONCISE and ACTIONABLE tips, would be of most value to my audience. Please let me know your thoughts (good and/or bad), and I hope that readers (now and into the future) will benefit from this series. If you gain a better understanding of blockchain, gaming, "blockchain gaming", marketing, psychology, addiction science, geopolitics, forensics, law, ethics, philosophy, accounting, ergonomics, investing, anger management, and/or any other area(s) of knowledge I end up exploring (voluntarily or involuntarily) as this series naturally progresses, then I will have done my "good deed" (of providing value) for the week - and have a little extra Hive to buy/upgrade some more Splinterlands cards and/or buy some more swap.btc ( #Bitcoin ). Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield.

@transcript-junky

1 ) I "fell off the wagon" - or perhaps just got a bit ahead of myself - on my partial Splinterlands boycott, this past week, when on Friday, December 18th, 2020 I had a look at the new KOGS promo :

Splinterlands KOGs Promotion
@splinterlands/splinterlands-kogs-promotion

and, due to the seemingly polished presentation of the KOGS site ( https://www.kogs.gg ) became interested in the POSSIBILITY of going in for another 100 (+ 10 free) Untamed pack batch, which would get me two KOGS packs ( claimed to be worth $30 USD each, at the time of the promotion ), AND would use up 200,000 DEC of the roughly 280,000 DEC in my in-game wallet (as I have been limiting my DEC spending to ONLY the amount of DEC I earn via daily battling, and quest and season reward dumps (so 200,000+ DEC has been just sitting there), AND would bump up the number of packs I have eligible for the remaining six Untamed airdrops (to 1,103 packs).

The main obstacle for me making the decision to make the purchase was that I was NOT AT ALL familiar with KOGS. The web site looks good, but as I have said in the past (related specifically to #Splinterlands ), a MAJOR part of the value of any NFTs is their ACTUALLY USABILITY, and whereas promos which offer airdrops of SPLINTERLANDS cards can be used more effectively (since I am already very familiar with this game), obtaining packs for games which I have ZERO familiarity with simply doesn't have the same immediate and/or long term ROI. So, what I decided to do was consult with the Homos (sapiens) over in Splinterlands #Discord, and one of my contacts there mentioned that player @kaisergunzz had posted that he was interested in getting his hands on some KOGS packs. This turned out to be a GREAT lead, and evidence of the value of the "Homo collective" over there in Discord. I private messaged @kaisergunzz and made a general proposal that I was considering buying another 100 ( + 10 free ) Untamed pack batch, but before making that purchase was looking for someone to buy the two free KOGS packs ( valued at $30 USD each, according to the promo post ), and would be willing to negotiate on the cost I would want to sell the two KOGS packs for. After some polite negotiation, I was able to get @kaisergunzz up to 50,000 DEC for the two KOGS packs ( a bit up from his initial offer, but still a significant value -- I worked it out so that HE would be saving 33% on the packs, and the 50k he would send me would be ~ 25% DEC value to offset the cost of the 100 ( + 10 free ) Untamed packs, which cost 200,000 DEC. We agreed to the deal, and agreed that we would use a mutual trusted contact, my cyber-buddy @davemccoy, to act as an "escrow" - whereby @kaisergunzz would send Dave the 50k, and once the two KOGS packs hit my WAX wallet upon completion of the promo I would then send @kaisergunzz the packs and Dave would send me the 50k.

One concern I had was that since I never used Wax Cloud wallet to transfer NFT assets I didn't want to mess it up. I also held onto 50k DEC in my in-game wallet JUST IN CASE something went wrong, I had every intention to reimburse @kaisergunzz the 50k, simply for the sake of diplomacy. Well, the KOGS packs DID end up being deposited to my Wax Cloud wallet, and I even saw that they were ALREADY quoted to be worth $50 USD each ( as unopened packs ), so at least in terms of me providing @kaisergunzz with a deal which was ultimately to his significant advantage (which I am happy happened for him) it was good that we made the deal. The only remaining issue was getting the packs to him. I originally wanted to use the usual Wax Cloud wallet, but he wanted me to use AtomicWallets. But for some reason when I tried to send the two packs via AtomicWallets the authorization wouldn't go through. After several tries (and remember, this was my main concern about possibly "messing things up") I was getting more concerned that things would get messed up. That's when I suggested, "Man, I don't know if this sounds rude, but why don't you just keep the 50k DEC and I'll sell the packs".) He got a bit unnerved by that, but it was TOTALLY NOT my intention to be "up to something". I was simply staring at the "transfer rejected" screen after numerous attempts and growing increasingly worried that it wouldn't go through. If the packs would have transferred properly the first time I wouldn't have even made that suggestion. Once that happened I immediately said, "Hey man, I think the best thing to do is try my original suggestion of sending the two KOGS packs via Wax Cloud wallet." Lo and behold, with a few clicks the process went fine and @kaisergunzz got his two KOGS packs, and Dave sent me the 50k the next day. For @kaisergunzz, he got a good deal, as the packs were quoting at ~ $60 USD each at the time I was finally able to get them over to him. So it cost him 50k DEC ( ~ $43.00 USD at the time of negotiating the deal), and he ended up getting around 150,000 DEC value ( $60 USD x 2 = $120,000 DEC --> ~ 1,060 HIve x $0.118 USD/Hive = ~ $120.00 USD.

Then a few days later, to my great pleasant surprise, @kaisergunzz sent me a gift of $25 USD worth of WAX! He said he would send "some more money" when we transferred the two KOGS packs from my Wax wallet to his, but I said, "I don't expect that, so don't feel pressured." Well, it surely was a nice little Christmas present, and it also provided me an opportunity to make my FIRST attempt to transfer WAX tokens out of my Wax Cloud wallet and into Splinterlands. It took me a good hour ( first searching for ways to convert WAX to Hive via Changelly, or Shapeshift, etc.), but then I found a detailed post about the Wax/Splinterlands integration which showed that you can simply buy Splinterlands "credits" with Wax! Within a few clicks I was able to make my very first purchase of Splinterlands credits ( 25,500 credits - using the $25.00 USD of WAX that @kaisergunzz sent me, plus some Wax I had earned earlier in the year playing #Prospectors (which I wrote about in several of the posts in this series). Then I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can use credits to actually BUY CARDS, and so I decided to max out two cards I have been working daily towards maxing out, but which would have taken me probably another month at the current "one card per day" pace.

So with those 25,500 credits I was able to max out my "Sand Worm" gold card, and my "Parasitic Growth" gold card, BOTH of which I use NUMEROUS times per day in battles. In addition, since those are GOLD cards they earn the additional 10% "gold" bonus DEC per won battle, and so @kaisergunzz's gift of $25 USD of WAX will end up paying dividends, and be worth progressively more, into the future. In addition, I now have 1,103 Untamed packs which will be applied to the remaining six Untamed airdrops, and so if I hit any gold cards in those drops that will likely be partially due to this additional 100 ( + 10 free ) Untamed pack batch purchase, as part of the KOGS deal, and all of that value can be calculated to offset of the 200,000 DEC cost of the packs.

Oh, I also had to buy one more "Parasitic Growth" with the burned DEC of some of the unneeded cards in the 110 Untamed packs, to max it out:

Won battle using newly maxed-out "Sand Worm" gold card:

https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=1866ba8c4c55cd9eb46b28c5be28793831c0eacd&ref=transcript-junky

And the screenshot showing the 20% "gold bonus" ( 10% for the "Sand Worm" (gold) for the won battle:

Ultimately, in the end, the value I got from the deal (partially as a gift ( $25 USD)) is $68 USD. Each KOGS pack was quoted at a value of $30 USD (so 2 x $30 USD = $60 USD) at the time of the promo, and so with @kaisergunzz's additional gift I was able to recoup the originally quoted cost of the two KOGS packs ( 2 x $30 USD = $60 USD), PLUS an extra $8.00 USD. This ultimately works out to ~ 81,500 DEC total return on the trade ( as opposed to the originally agreed 50,000 DEC, and so the 100 ( + 10 free ) Untamed packs ultimately ended up costing me 200,000 - 81,500 DEC = 118,500 DEC ( 1,077 DEC per pack ). Plus, just calculating the gold and legendary cards I got in the 100 ( + 10 ) Untamed packs (which I kept meticulous track of) the value of the cards has turned out to be worth AT LEAST $101.00 USD. So, the ultimate calculation is 200,000 DEC (1,429.32 Hive) - ~ 120,000 DEC ($101.00 USD) - 81,500 DEC = 1,500 DEC ( PLUS a few several thousand extra DEC once I sold the unneeded cards from the 110 Untamed packs - over 5,000 DEC to be more precise). So I ended up AT LEAST breaking even, and even MAKING SOME PROFIT off of the whole deal! It was a total win-win for both @kaisergunzz and myself. Perhaps I should write a new book titled "The Art of the NFT deal", and then become POTUS... Nah, who the HELL would want THAT job these days?

But the point here is that it is POSSIBLE, with some networking and some negotiating skills, to make mutually-beneficial deals with other players, EVEN IF a specific promo doesn't offer perks that YOU will actually benefit from. It's always helpful to at least pop into Discord and ask around.

2 ) Due to the massive censoring push by Google, CIA'sbook, Twitter, ect. I am ACTIVELY in the process of migrating all possible social media activity ( aside from Hive activity, of course) to alt-tech platforms. This means that all of the posts I formerly "Tweeted" for my two secondary weekly series posts : " blockchain social media news " and " blockchain gaming news " will now be published and linked to their respective Gab posts, which can be found on my Gab profile : https://gab.com/TranscriptJunky , although I will also tweet some of them from my remaining non-banned accounts ( the gaming ones, but NOT the social media ones (as those tend to invite censorship/banning ). I STRONGLY urge anyone reading this to consider making similar moves to progressively WEAN off of the "global corporate centralized mafia"-controlled main social media platforms. That's just some friendly advice ;->

You can see my new integration of GAB into the most recent " blockchain social media news " post:

Trending Blockchain Social Media News #55: December 19th, 2020
@transcript-junky/trending-blockchain-social-media-news-55-december-19th-2020

3 ) One especially good thing which came out of opening the 110 Untamed packs (which equals 550 cards --> 110 x 5 cards = 550 cards) is that this fully cleared out the GLUT of accumulated potions which were laying stagnant in my account. In addition, this reset of the potions to ZERO gold and ZERO legendary potions allowed me to begin to ASSESS the rate at which my potions are accumulating as the natural result of completing daily quests and the potions in the season rewards. Only three days after opening all of those packs I ALREADY had accumulated 19 alchemy/gold potions and 11 legendary potions. Since I will only be opening a maximum of 4-5 milestone packs per season ( 4 x 5 = 20 packs or 5 x 5 = 25 packs ) then this week I will start to monitor how many potions OVER 20 - 25 potions I am earning per season. If that number is significantly higher than 20 - 25 then I may consider finding some possible ways to buy some additional packs (for instance, if I hit some high-value airdrop Untamed or Dice cards, or if the land eventually ends up producing some additional DEC income which can cover the packs). Right now the main task is to ASSESS the rough quantity of potions I am earning per month. As I have learned over time, buying packs really DOES NOT produce a feasible ROI compared to just buying individuals cards manually - UNLESS there is some sort of "promotion" incentive for the purchase of packs. I believe there will continue to be promos made available into the future, and so I am open to buying more packs to apply those extra potions to if/when that becomes feasible, but prefer to use funds earned through passive income in the game, if possible.

4 ) Unfortunately, for two days this week I was COMPLETELY "down for the count" with my back/spine problem - which has resulted primarily from a TERRIBLE ergonomic situation which has been putting continuous pressure on my spine on a daily basis for MONTHS. The worst part is that I have little control over the situation, but am working on some solutions (starting with seeking a new living situation). In the meantime, since I was down for two days this week, without the ability to play battles, and complete the daily quest AT ALL, I did discover that that is a perfect time/situation to focus on catching up with listening to the official Splinterlands AMAs (since I can do that while laying down). So those two "sick days" ended up being productive AFTER ALL, as Splinterlands admin is now SERIOUSLY in the process of rolling out the Guild Brawl, and related, features. So, my volunteer role (as co-leader of my guild) of consuming the AMAs and reporting any relevant info to our guild leader is bearing fruit, and provides a way for me to participate in the game EVEN IF I can't battle (at all, or as much as I would like) on any given day.

I'm currently working on this especially dense recent AMA YouTube video, where they go into significant detail about the upcoming Guild Brawl features. I suggest ANYONE reading this post have a watch of this video:

5 ) Okay. As I did in the last post in this series, the highly-detailed "diary" of my daily #splinterlands activity is laid out in the last part of this post, for those of you who are inclined to follow, more closely, what I am doing. It occurred to me that this "diary" section is JUST THAT - a highly detailed record of my daily activity in the game, with some JUICY "play-by-play" analysis notes, and commentary, on what works, what doesn't, and some suggestions for further tweaking and experimentation. So, with this in mind, I hope some/any of you will enjoy this information. If not, you are under no pressure to read it fully, and are free to SKIM, or even IGNORE, any parts, or ALL parts, completely - at your discretion. I lay this out because it also HELPS ME to document my progress in the game over time, and may help some people NOW, and into the perpetual future...

December 26th, 2020

Starting DEC : 132,053 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 134,717 DEC
Ending Capture rate : 100.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 2,664 DEC = -> 17.768 HIVE x ~ $00.119 USD/Hive = ~ $2.11 USD

Notes: With some medicine (basically muscle-relaxers) was able to be "functional enough"" to get in a respectable amount of play, and finish the previous quest and today's quest. I'm now working more actively on solutions to this back issues (primarily resulting from ergonomics, and some other factors), but the fact that I was "down for the count" for TWO FULL DAYS this week is the ""final straw" which is now forcing me to take this issue more seriously. Hopefully, the daily steps I am now taking to solve this will AT LEAST result in maintaining daily play, as the gains make in Splinterlands ARE, for me, a second income right now, and the swap.btc I have been buying very well (COULD be liquidated in an emergency situation in the future).

Spent:

1 x "Parasitic Growth" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.84 USD - 1,075 DEC -- bumped up to Level 9 (to increase "health" from "4" to "+5")

2 x "Horny Toad" (Gold - Level 3 - $1.18 USD - 1,510 DEC -- eight (8) crads remaining to Level 10 (max))

earned 1538.810 DEC from sale of "Battering Ram" (Gold) card which I got in my previous "milestone pack" opening a few days ago

Daily Quest (yesterday's "neutral" quest)
keepers -
(+) 30 DEC
nonkeepers -
(+) 40 DEC
potions - 2 legendary potions, 2 alchemy/gold potions
Untamed - 0 packs
DEC - 800 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "earth" quest)
keepers -
(+) 40 DEC
nonkeepers -
(+) 70 DEC
potions - 2 legendary potions, 4 alchemy/gold potions
Untamed - 0 packs
DEC - 72 DEC

December 27th, 2020

Starting DEC : 132,132 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 95.88%
Ending DEC - 132,815 DEC
Ending Capture rate : 81.36%
Balance = DEC Earning = 812 DEC = -> 5.587 HIVE x ~ $00.115 USD/Hive = ~ $0.64 USD

Spent :

1 x "Horny Toad" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.59 USD - 736 DEC -- seven (7) cards remaining to Level 10 (max))

converted 0.896 HIve (from previous " blockchain social media news " payout) to 129.8 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "fire" quest)
Notes: completed 1 of 5 quest battles today. Will finish the quest tomorrow.

December 28th, 2020

Starting DEC : 132,209 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 94.48%
Ending DEC - 140,260 DEC
Ending Capture rate : 72.54%
Balance = DEC Earning = 8,051 DEC = -> 56.846 HIVE x ~ $00.117 USD/Hive = ~ $6.65 USD

Spent :

7 x "Horny Toad" (Gold - Level 3 - $4.13 USD - 5,122 DEC -- bumped up to Level 10 (max) (to increase "melee" from "+2" to "+3"))

12 x "Captain's Ghost" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.53 USD - 655 DEC --- bumped up to Level 5 (to add "oppress" ability))

1 x "Parasitic Growth" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.91 USD - 1,129 DEC -- ten (10) cards remaining to Level 10)

12 x "Grim Reaper" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.49 USD - 609 DEC -- bumped up to Level 5 (to add "oppress" ability))

9 x "Kelp Initiate" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.43 USD - 537 DEC --

earned 2749.195 DEC for sale of 4 x "Mother Khala" (non-gold) cards gotten in recent KOGS promo Untamed packs

earned 820.480 DEC for sale of 2 x "Light Elemental" (non-gold) cards gotten in recent KOGS promo Untamed packs

earned 1,432.161 DEC for sale of 4 x "Bortus" (non-gold) cards gotten in recent KOGS promo Untamed packs

earned 1917.500 DEC for sale of 4 x "Mother Khala" (non-gold) cards gotten in recent KOGS promo Untamed packs

Daily Quest (yesterday's "fire" quest)
keepers -
(+) 290 DEC
nonkeepers -
(+) 80 DEC
potions - 5 legendary potions, 0 alchemy/gold potions
Untamed - 0 packs
DEC - 136 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "neutral" quest)
keepers -
(+) 50 DEC
nonkeepers -
(+) 60 DEC
potions - 6 legendary potions, 4 alchemy/gold potions
Untamed - 0 packs
DEC - 67 DEC

Dice (milestone pack for reaching "Champion III" season level )
keepers -
(+) 10 DEC
non-keepers -
(+) 70 DEC

December 29th, 2020

Starting DEC : 132,208 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 76.69%
Ending DEC - 134,269 DEC
Ending Capture rate : 66.10%
Balance = DEC Earning = 2,061 DEC = -> 14.789 HIVE x ~ $00.113 USD/Hive = ~ $1.67 USD

Spent :

1 x "Parasitic Growth" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.97 USD - 1,200 DEC -- bumped up to Level 10 (max) to increase "Melee" from "+2" to "+3")

5 x "Child Of The Forest" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.43 USD - 545 DEC -- bumped up to Level 6 (to increase "health" from "+4" to "+5")

4 x "Naga Brute" (non-gold - Level 1 - $0.24 USD - 309 DEC -- eighty-four (84) cards remaining to Level 10 (max))

earned 1,283.36 DEC for sale of 2 x "Light Elemental" (non-gold) cards

earned 25,500 credits from $25 USD WAX token gift from @kaisergunnz (since he made a good profit off of the two KOGS packs I sold him for 50k ( ~ $43 USD value, originally). So in the end the value I got from him (partially as a gift) is $68 USD. Each KOGS pack was quoted at a value of $30 USD (so 2 x $30 USD = $60 USD), and so with his gift I was able to recoup the originally quted cost of the two kOGS packs, plus an extra $8.00 USD. This ultimately works out to 81,500 DEC total return on the trade ( as opposed to the originally agreed 50,000 DEC, and so the 100 ( + 10 free ) Untamed packs ultimated ended up costing me 200,000 - 81,500 DEC = 118,500 DEC ( 1,077 DEC per pack ). Plus, just calculating the gold and legendary cards I got in the 100 ( + 10 ) Untamed packs the value of the cards has turned out to be worth AT LEAST $101.00 USD. So, the ultimate calculation is 200,000 DEC (1,429.32 Hive) - ~ 120,000 DEC ($101.00 USD) - 81,500 DEC = 1,500 DEC ( + a few several thousand extra DEC). So I ended up AT LEAST breaking even!

11 x "Sand Worm" (Gold - Level 3 - $17.89 USD - 17,895 credits -- bumped up to Level 10 (max) to add "piercing" ability)

9 x "Parasitic Grown" (Gold - Level 3 - $7.20 USD - 7,200 credits -- one (1) cards remaining to Level 10 (max))

Whew! These posts are growing dense - but that's okay. Take what resonates with you,and leave the rest. I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the Splinterlands and/or any other game(s) - and the " blockchain gaming " industry as whole - which I end up exploring as this series evolves. More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I dig deeper into this whole REVOLUTIONARY PHENOMENON, and become more experienced and successful in the game(s).

See you on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky