Java Cultivation Spiral [Release 1j] [CSdev]

[c4145317]

Can anyone give me some kind of strat or method to play this game, I clicked thru 7 cycles and still the stat gain is straight up ass. Am I not supposed to "play" the game, as in just leave it on auto and fuck off? The autoplay is also slow af.
What stats am i supposed to focus on first? Game tells me Charisma is important and stuff but it never carries over, also stamina always runs low, even with rests so most of the time there are no stat gains.

This is my first time with this kind of game, usually I enjoy grind, but here even I think its ass cause there is no meaningful gain

I've honestly forgotten most of what I learned in this game while waiting for R2. Past me did give this advice:

Charisma is new, shiny, and is tempting you with its seductive ways. But you're early game, your focus right now should be investing into stamina and focus upgrades, grinding both, and experimenting with loadouts. With sufficient MoL investment into focus and stamina pumping out 10 levels of charisma before d32 is no biggie.
Try picking a fight on d2 then focusing everything on focus (heh) until focus level 5 or so.

He seemed to know what he was talking about.

 

[TheToadEmperor]

10 levels of Charisma before d32 isn't even remotely feasible for my character that just beat R2. They were at around 10-12k MoL(now 16K because of R2 runs).

I'm starting over now trying to optimize L1-L2.

Broadly it seems to me that the most important thing starting out is achieving achievable feats. These unlock upgrades that can be purchased between runs. Some are amazing, some kinda suck for a while until they become essential.

For the most part feats are listed in the order they can be achieved in. Except for Reliable, which is probably the easiest to get.

 

[TofuCircle]

I have 600k MOL, and I still can't save Tanaka at the kidnapping. With some experimenting, I managed to bump it up from 4k to 6.8k goal progress, but I need 8,010 progress, I think? The main problem is opening up the save menu takes a minute, then switching the save takes another minute. Which is weird because launching the game only takes around 5 seconds. Used to only take 1 second 3 updates ago, but still fast. Yet loading saves from inside the game takes forever.

 

[sealeddaemon]

The save file bloat is an issue and the dev is aware of the problem. The save file stores every action taken in every loop. Which is convenient for high score runs, but most of that info is wasted for the average player. And more problematic for people with high number of loops.

 

[Zarrockx107]

I have 600k MOL, and I still can't save Tanaka at the kidnapping. With some experimenting, I managed to bump it up from 4k to 6.8k goal progress, but I need 8,010 progress, I think? The main problem is opening up the save menu takes a minute, then switching the save takes another minute. Which is weird because launching the game only takes around 5 seconds. Used to only take 1 second 3 updates ago, but still fast. Yet loading saves from inside the game takes forever.

The only guy I remember who managed to do it had like 500k MoL. You are not actually intended to save Tanaka here and most of the game's more revealing content comes when you save her properly later.


Edit: It was Lifestrider, found his save and checked it. Christ. Should note that mad lad did it when MoL gain was barely half of what you could do with the current patch so he needed 570 loops.

 

[CSdev]

Wait, is that's what the different icons on the safe file mean?

Indeed it does! Each character (other than Hashimoto and Yumeno) will eventually have two associated feats (each with its own upgrade unlock), and completing those feats causes their icon to turn black and then green in the save menu to show you which ones you have.

I wonder... Are there any alternate texts for a scenario in which you have your first encounter with Jackal in the bar after training with Yumeno for a decent bit, like say 5 wetworks or so? Feel like it would be interesting to surprise Jackal and see him acknowledge that the MC is surprisingly skilled for what might basically be a civilian.

There are several more variants to Jackal's introduction on the way fairly soon. I'm looking forward to writing the one where you pass the test (and I'm especially looking forward to the one where you unlock the Tower right away).

I had 227 for that run from the previous two loops.

I felt self-conscious for spamming the chat with this stuff, but I actually managed to leverage these strategies and a new record for loop 1 120 MOL, and managed to get an L2 D99 record. The dev didn't think it was possible, so it doesn't even have the "you beat my score!" comment

Spoiler: L2D99

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It's been really fun to watch the high scores getting faster and faster. I'm looking forward to seeing my R2 high score get destroyed as well!

Don't know if this is on the bug list already, but if I load a save where I have completed the first endurance training goal but not the second, it jumps to saying that all goals have been completed.

Thanks for the bug report. I believe this one is fixed in R1j.

Anyone encountering an issue where progress isn't being made? The scenario is (auto skip one day) and when I press the next button, progress isn't being made. In the below scenario, all I did is press the next button twice and the result is no progress was made. I'm not sure if this is tied to the auto skip being buggy or the implementation of the next day skip being faulty.

View attachment 5049690
View attachment 5049692

If this happens again to you or anybody else, I'd appreciate having the save file uploaded here so I can take a look.

Using the .jar file on Mac and I feel like things are supposed to be more visible in the upgrades screen. Finally getting around to bringing it up.

Spoiler: Graphics issue?

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This definitely isn't how it's supposed to look, but I'm not able to test it on Mac myself.

I just noticed this, and it's so very funny to me how living in a hotel for a day costs more money than a whole ass plane ticket for a 2 day long journey.

Maybe the protagonist made a deal to ride in someone's carry-on or something. It'd explain the Stamina cost.

Mandatory question from me - is pregnancy planned?

It's not planned, but I suppose it's not impossible for it to find its way into the game.

Played a few hours with R2 which released today on Patreon.

Some of the new scenes are absolutely badass. And even an extremely casual, intentionally non-optimized run produced more than 1500 MOL. Woo. And one of the new unlockable MOL items is really fun!

Edit: The new repeatable achievement is probably bugged, and is meant to give in the 100-200 range tops, I think, as it's meant to be gated by flying back and forth. But if you have enough focus to finish the event multiple times in a single shot, you can trigger the thing 11-12 times for a 550-600 total.

Yeah, skipping steps like that isn't really viable in the MoL range of an early completion of the Nemesis achievement, so I didn't consider a high priority to block that off, but I should definitely do so soon.

Now that the new version is released and there are new things to optimize, could you perhaps help new players get close to a run like this in preparation for chapter 2?

The game is interesting, but the optimization challenge is quite time-consuming. I've already spent 2 days doing my best, reading through the thread and Patreon chat a couple of times, and even looking through the save files to get a sense of the progression order.

I still can't get a satisfying run through that feels optimized, or complete the chapter on low MOL invested.

Unfortunately, I can't quite invest dozens of hours of optimizing, nor do I want to go through 20 loops to get through things casually. And, judging from all the replies asking for early game strats it seems others are struggling even more.

It would be nice to have a list of unlocks with some benchmarks to know if progression is on pace. This would also help optimize further if more people could contribute and find ways to shave off a day or two here and there.

So for example, it would be nice to know something like:

Spoiler: Unlock Order

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Figuring out how to do that would be much nicer than wrestling with all the different paths. And with autosaves coming in 10 day increments, having something to reference and know you've messed up is much nicer than realizing on day 92 that you're 2 days off of making it and having no clue what to try to improve first.

If they would also have some pointers on the next direction, such as "now level up X for 4 days" that would help even more. But it doesn't have to be a full-on walkthrough. That would kinda defeat the purpose of the game.

It would also help new players avoid false leads and timesinks if they'd rather have a head start.

I'd be happy to put this together myself once I could actually get a L3 finish, but I thought I'd ask for your insights first since you seem to have invested way more into this than I probably ever will

I'm currently experimenting with some code to add something like that to the instructions.txt produced when testing a save. Here's what it currently spits out for Loop 1 of lifestrider's 2-Loop Savior run.

Completed Strengthen a connection with Tanaka on Day 1
Completed Make a friend with Yumeno on Day 1
Completed Meet a rival with Hashimoto on Day 1
Completed Get to know each other with Yumeno on Day 6
Completed Tough it out with Hashimoto on Day 7
Completed Learn some skills with Yumeno on Day 9
Completed Stand out from the crowd with Tanaka on Day 11
Completed Pick up some tips with Tanaka on Day 13
Completed Build trust with Yumeno on Day 13
Completed Prove you aren't a pushover with Hashimoto on Day 14
Completed Receive a gift with Yumeno on Day 16
Completed See past the mask with Tanaka on Day 21
Completed Learn how to keep up with Hashimoto on Day 22
Completed Build intimacy with Yumeno on Day 28
Completed Seize hold of a clue with Tanaka on Day 32
Completed Attract a benefactor with DuMont on Day 33
Completed Receive an invitation with DuMont on Day 37
Completed Learn the ropes on Day 40
Completed Receive direction with Yumeno on Day 41
Completed Reach an understanding with Hashimoto on Day 42
Completed Learn how to serve yourself on Day 48
Completed Consider a different goal with Yumeno on Day 49
Completed Learn some tricks with Hashimoto on Day 49
Completed Prove your competence on Day 57
Completed Get to know the regulars on Day 59
Completed Release a game with Yumeno on Day 73
Completed Release a game 2 with Yumeno on Day 90
Completed Get to know the regulars 2 on Day 92
Completed Get to know the regulars 3 on Day 93
Completed Receive a more prestigious invitation with DuMont on Day 93
Completed Get to know the regulars 4 on Day 94
Completed Get to know the regulars 5 on Day 96

Does this level of detail look like it'd be helpful?

 

[Speed112]

I'm currently experimenting with some code to add something like that to the instructions.txt produced when testing a save. Here's what it currently spits out for Loop 1 of lifestrider's 2-Loop Savior run.

Completed Strengthen a connection with Tanaka on Day 1
Completed Make a friend with Yumeno on Day 1
Completed Meet a rival with Hashimoto on Day 1
Completed Get to know each other with Yumeno on Day 6
Completed Tough it out with Hashimoto on Day 7
Completed Learn some skills with Yumeno on Day 9
Completed Stand out from the crowd with Tanaka on Day 11
Completed Pick up some tips with Tanaka on Day 13
Completed Build trust with Yumeno on Day 13
Completed Prove you aren't a pushover with Hashimoto on Day 14
Completed Receive a gift with Yumeno on Day 16
Completed See past the mask with Tanaka on Day 21
Completed Learn how to keep up with Hashimoto on Day 22
Completed Build intimacy with Yumeno on Day 28
Completed Seize hold of a clue with Tanaka on Day 32
Completed Attract a benefactor with DuMont on Day 33
Completed Receive an invitation with DuMont on Day 37
Completed Learn the ropes on Day 40
Completed Receive direction with Yumeno on Day 41
Completed Reach an understanding with Hashimoto on Day 42
Completed Learn how to serve yourself on Day 48
Completed Consider a different goal with Yumeno on Day 49
Completed Learn some tricks with Hashimoto on Day 49
Completed Prove your competence on Day 57
Completed Get to know the regulars on Day 59
Completed Release a game with Yumeno on Day 73
Completed Release a game 2 with Yumeno on Day 90
Completed Get to know the regulars 2 on Day 92
Completed Get to know the regulars 3 on Day 93
Completed Receive a more prestigious invitation with DuMont on Day 93
Completed Get to know the regulars 4 on Day 94
Completed Get to know the regulars 5 on Day 96

Does this level of detail look like it'd be helpful?

Yes this is great and very helpful. You can reverse engineer the run with this adequately enough and it still requires some actual gameplay instead of trivializing it by following instructions. If this could be paired with an improvement of the schedule log I can see it being used quite a bit.

 

[TheToadEmperor]

Completed Strengthen a connection with Tanaka on Day 1
Completed Make a friend with Yumeno on Day 1
Completed Meet a rival with Hashimoto on Day 1
Completed Get to know each other with Yumeno on Day 6
Completed Tough it out with Hashimoto on Day 7
Completed Learn some skills with Yumeno on Day 9
Completed Stand out from the crowd with Tanaka on Day 11
Completed Pick up some tips with Tanaka on Day 13                            13
Completed Build trust with Yumeno on Day 13                                  12
Completed Prove you aren't a pushover with Hashimoto on Day 14               13
Completed Receive a gift with Yumeno on Day 16                               15
Completed See past the mask with Tanaka on Day 21                            22
Completed Learn how to keep up with Hashimoto on Day 22                      22
Completed Build intimacy with Yumeno on Day 28                               22

Wow, this is both very helpful for optimizing and also holy hell there is still so much room to optimize. Unless my vitality is lower than in this run, I feel like I'm probably ahead. Maybe not though, I like how this is vague enough I can't be sure.

Edit: Got L1 to 121. WHEW that took some doing. I'm willing to bet it can be boosted 2 more MoL or so with better optimization in the middle of the game.

 

[lifestrider]

Completed Strengthen a connection with Tanaka on Day 1
Completed Make a friend with Yumeno on Day 1
Completed Meet a rival with Hashimoto on Day 1
Completed Get to know each other with Yumeno on Day 6
Completed Tough it out with Hashimoto on Day 7
Completed Learn some skills with Yumeno on Day 9
Completed Stand out from the crowd with Tanaka on Day 11
Completed Pick up some tips with Tanaka on Day 13                            13
Completed Build trust with Yumeno on Day 13                                  12
Completed Prove you aren't a pushover with Hashimoto on Day 14               13
Completed Receive a gift with Yumeno on Day 16                               15
Completed See past the mask with Tanaka on Day 21                            22
Completed Learn how to keep up with Hashimoto on Day 22                      22
Completed Build intimacy with Yumeno on Day 28                               22

Wow, this is both very helpful for optimizing and also holy hell there is still so much room to optimize. Unless my vitality is lower than in this run, I feel like I'm probably ahead. Maybe not though, I like how this is vague enough I can't be sure.

Edit: Got L1 to 121. WHEW that took some doing. I'm willing to bet it can be boosted 2 more MoL or so with better optimization in the middle of the game.

Eyy, you beat me! The 2 loop savior run I'm really proud of only had 120 MOL on loop 1. I'm thinking having metropolis access in loop 2 is really going to help with the R2 hall of fame. I'll give that a crack next month when everybody has access to it.

 

[TofuCircle]

The only guy I remember who managed to do it had like 500k MoL. You are not actually intended to save Tanaka here and most of the game's more revealing content comes when you save her properly later.


Edit: It was Lifestrider, found his save and checked it. Christ. Should note that mad lad did it when MoL gain was barely half of what you could do with the current patch so he needed 570 loops.

Yeah, but there's nothing else for me to do other than auto loops. And I've been doing that for the last month. So now I'm trying to save her from the kidnapping. Which actually might help if the court her downtown action stays unlocked, since that'll give me way more charisma, also ostentatious clothes will raise Tanaka relation too, which means much more MOL per loop. Maybe

 

[gtz-god]

I'm currently on loop 49 with 27 points into drive. Learning the language takes literally 2-3 days if I spend the entire day training. Focus stacking is one hell of a drug

you-mean lvl 27 cause I on loop-27-drive-lvl-16-idk-if-it-help-at-all

 

[lifestrider]

Yeah, but there's nothing else for me to do other than auto loops. And I've been doing that for the last month. So now I'm trying to save her from the kidnapping. Which actually might help if the court her downtown action stays unlocked, since that'll give me way more charisma, also ostentatious clothes will raise Tanaka relation too, which means much more MOL per loop. Maybe

You can download the save I posted, run out the loop, and then start over on looply to see the loadout and strategy I used! I'll repost it here for convenience. The D32 setup is generous/larceny, and show up to class->attend class->conserve your strength->walk Tanaka home.

Credit to c4145317, he did this first.

 

[TheToadEmperor]

I was absolutely gutted to find out that you can't choose default Looply on L2.

I have no idea how I got to my 121 L1. The plan was to go the same route but better for L2 early game. It took my like an hour to figure out the first 15 days last time...

EDIT: Figured out a bug that solves this. If I take another save with Looply unlocked and load my old save I can use the Looply option. I will 100% be abusing this while I can.

 

[gtz-god]

You can download the save I posted, run out the loop, and then start over on looply to see the loadout and strategy I used! I'll repost it here for convenience. The D32 setup is generous/larceny, and show up to class->attend class->conserve your strength->walk Tanaka home.

Credit to c4145317, he did this first.

how-you-got-all-that-unlock

 

[gtz-god]

how-you-got-all-that-unlock

mainly the tower