For The King II – Oddball Tips for Methodical Solo Journeyman

0) Queensguard Elite and Just-in-Time Inventory

You are a traitor to the Crown!

First click on the Inventory icon in the lower right corner! Edit your party’s gear as you see fit, anticipating a fight that will gain 0 gold and 0 XP! Then lay down your arms, or die by my blade!

Me: OK, doing that:

• Unequip: all +10% XP items
• Unequip: all +x% Gold items (since +32% of 0 gold is 0)
• Unequip: entire HP Regen Set from the last hero’s End Turn
• Unequip: entire Movement Bonus Set from current hero
• Equip: moar arms, armor, and rings for combat

Ok, done, let’s go. <close Inventory> <click Defend>. Y’all really could drop some loot, too

I’m a new-ish player, with only about 2 weeks of service in I and II combined. I binged FtK I in late October, and killed the Frost Dragon the night before FtK II went live.

Many (but not all) of my FtK I tricks port seamlessly to II. Some ideas work the same in both games. Some things are new, esp. the 2×4 tactical battle board and Secondary Actions.

1) Solo Journeyman

I skip Apprentice in FtK I, and go straight to Journeyman. It is tough, I get tougher. Now it feels normal.

Currently L06 in Campaign Chapter I, just finished the Cellar, starting Brigand King’s tasks. L05 Queen’s Troll is tough, costing 2 Godsbeard. Next time I’ll have even better tactics.

I play alone, and micro my entire team’s movement. I suspect no 3 other humans can play the way I do, nor would want to. I watched the devs livestreaming their own game, and they don’t use any of my tricks.

I methodically squeeze out every drop of efficiency, every turn. This mentality wins other 4Xs and RPGs, so I must keep doing it.

2) Multiple Sets of Spare Equipment for End Turn/Start of Turn Bonuses

I freely exploit FtK’s zero-cost Inventory transfer rules. In both games, I swiftly assemble spare sets of gear for specific End Turn bonuses. Every turn, before I click End Turn, I transfer 2-12 pieces of gear around.

I soon amass the following sets of stuff. Some I buy (with priority #0), some are loot drops. Every run is guaranteed to find a similar mix of stuff.

On the hero currently Ending Turn

• 2.a) HP Regen Set = Queen’s * Helm/Gear/Gloves/Boots, Poison Ring, etc.
• 2.b) Skills Set = Focusing Hat (Refocus)

Still seeking:

• [_] any weapon with 1-2 HP Regen
• [_] any items with Entertain, Find Herbs, Find Scroll(?)

On Round 01, at start of game, my very 1st purchase was a +1 HP Regen, IIRC a Boots.

In FtK 1, it was a Knotted Staff for +1.

By Round 34, my HP Regen Set is up +7 HP/turn, or { +5 HP/turn, +1 Focus per ~3 turns }.

Every hero benefits from this, every turn.

That’s the point of transferring the entire set around.

On the next hero(‘s Start of Turn)

• 2.c) Movement Bonus(/Speed) Set = Merchant Hat +1, Goblin Wraps +1

I transfer this set to the hero after the current one, every turn. Then my entire party effectively gets +2 MPs every turn. The party averages about 5.8 MP. 5 MP is a bad roll, 4 MP sucks. Hunter with Sanctum of Haste has rolled perfect 9 MP a couple of times.

In almost every hex game, map speed is OP, because you get more done. It’s true in Endless Legends and Thea 2. It’s especially true in FtK II, with Queensguard hunting you as you search clouds.

You can pad this set with +Speed items, to mildly improve the next hero’s Speed rolls. I did that in FtK I, but I omit that level of OCD in FtK II. On FtK I ships, I add +Talent items instead, since Ships roll Talent for MP.

In both games, every time I click End Turn:

• This-> hero gets +5 HP and maybe +1 Focus
• Next-> hero gets +2 MP

This is a click-hell-ish playstyle, but it works in FtK I and II. I must be the slowest player, in any game. I play EL and Thea 2 the same way with equally good results.

• 2.b) No Game UI Makes This Click-Hell Convenient

Thea 2 has a similar dynamic. Every follower has a Jewellery slot, Tool slot, and Pet slot, unless they’re blocked. Eventually, every follower wants a Walking Set for fighting, and a Camping Set for work. Then every turn, you click through all followers x all gear slots, twice per turn, and swap.

RPGs with paperdolls sometimes admit similar gear-swapping tricks.

No game provides UI support to automate repetitive clicking. Hence the player solves it manually, by click-hell. Most players simply don’t.

A mythical ideal UI could promote Gear Sets to be a 1st-class idiom. The simplest idea, which would also be intuitive and visually nifty, is something like:

+ Clotheshorse: a paperdoll not belonging to any hero

It’s a smart container of stuff, shaped like a hero.

You use it to group your stuff into sets.

Then with 1 click, you superimpose 1 clotheshorse over a hero’s paperdoll.

Until then, I shall click a lot, over and over again. Somebody must, to explore the idea.

3) Chapter I: The Queensguard 0-XP Gambit

I realized this gambit too late, after I gained too much XP and leveled up beyond it. The underlying trick is: There Is No Clock, “only” Queensguard. It’s a very different dynamic from an FtK I Chaos timer.

I deduce the following unwritten rules in this game of chase.

• 3.1) Every 4 turns, Queensguard attack you after start of turn.
• 3.2) The Queensguard automatically scale to the level of your lowest-level hero.

Corollary: When your lowest hero reaches L5, all future Queensguard are L5, etc.

• 3.3) Queensguard fights earn 0 gold, 0 loot, and 0 XP.

Corollary: Fighting Queensguard will never level you up, by itself.

There are 2 parts to the gambit, both of which seem feasible.

• 3-A) Wipe Queensguard with low damage intake

Attain sufficient combat advantage that you win “easily”. Looking back on it, I think L2 was a sweet spot. When I had 3 L3 + 1 L2, with decent gear, we wrecked L2 Queensguard easily.

My HP Regen set was weaker then, but still good for at least +4 HP/turn. Over a 4-turn Queensguard cycle, that’s +16 HP of free healing per hero. If you skip 1 turn of movement out of 4 and add those MPs to healing, it’s another +6. That, by itself, surely outpaces your total damage intake.

• 3-B) Explore for skill tests while gaining 0 XP

Walk anywhere! Visit the mountains! Uncover every hex! Use Scholar’s Cracked Spyglass, or any other +1 Find Distance item.

Deliberately avoid gaining XP. You want to completely stop your XP clock. Your thematic goal for this gambit to never* level up your lowest L2 guy. (You could, in a pinch, let the other 3 heros gain XP and levels.)

• Avoid all combats (or: make sure your lowest guy is out of range)
• Use Spyglass or any Ambush Immunity item on the walking hero

(Drawback: he takes the item with him, and then you can’t transfer it to next)

• Don’t tribute Heroes (or: let a high-level hero do it)
• Visit every skill test
• Visit every town (if you can get past the monster roadblocks without fighting)
• Visit every question mark (beware, they might be fights, and inflict XP upon you)

In principle, you could wander the continent for 100 turns. Then you’d:

• Fight L2 Queensguard 25 times, and win them all
• Heal all of the damage just by walking around (N.B. you must have a HP Regen Set)
• Visit 20-40 skill tests and question marks
• Earn 0 XP, until finally ambush XP forces your lowest guy to level up

Attrition is the main drawback. I wonder if the math really works out.

• You take 25 fights’ worth of damage
• You’re not earning gold and gear from loot drops, Markets will eventually run you dry
• You can’t enter Caves
• You can’t progress in the Quest

This gambit amounts to a temporary phase within 1 portion of Chapter I. But how long is “temporary”? I now think I turbo-leveled through it, and fought L2 Queensguard maybe only twice. If you fully embrace the 0-XP part of the gambit, maybe you can extend that?

The jackpot is that you’d eventually collect an “extra” 20+ skill test rewards. When your lowest guy finally reaches L3 (or L + 1), resume the quest and fight normally. Thereafter, it would be like any other run, except your party has those 20+ skill rewards. Is that worth it?

Somebody try it, and see.