Harvesting XP: A mathematical analysis.

[reynjl0]

Have you ever wondered why you get the experience that you get for a certain foraging pull? Wonder no longer, the equation that determines experience for harvesting is elucidated below. I was harvesting, got bored, then decided to collect xp data while altering the variables independently, made a table, and used geek magic to figure it out :

Variables/Symbols Employed:
XP: experience gained for a harvesting action.
T: type of mat harvested; if basic T=1, Fine T=2, Choice T=3, Excellent T=4, Supreme T=5.
Q: quality of mat harvested; if you are pulling q100 mats then Q=100.
L: your foraging level; if you are digging in the desert and desert forage is 51, then L=51.
M: the number of mats harvested; if you get twelve mats in a pull then M=12.
E: the number of explosions/gas clouds or source deaths; if you get a poison cloud followed by a premature source exhaustion, then E=2, if you do a pull without any disasters then E=0
X: denotes multiplication

The Equation:

XP = (710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M) x (1 - 0.0982E)

Explanation:
44.5T means 44.5 multiplied by T. Every extra quality point above your level will give you an extra 37 experience, every quality point below your level will subtract 37 xp. Every extra basic mat will give you an extra 67 xp, but every extra supreme mat will give you an extra 79 xp. An explosion will mean that you only get 90% of the usual experience.

Examples:
You are level 150 forage and pull fifteen choice q160 mats without a hitch.
XP = (710 + 44.5 x 3 + 36.75(160 - 150) + (64.5 + 3 x 3) 15) x (1 - 0.0982 x 0) = 2239 xp.

You are level 30 and pull one basic mat of q10 and have the source die on you.
XP = (710 + 44.5 x 1 + 36.75(10 - 30) + (64.5 + 3 x 1)1) x (1 - 0.0982) = 76 xp.

There are no real revelations here about how to get the best harvesting xp. Pulling the highest quality possible above your level without suffering failures is most critical. Pulling the highest quantity of mats you can without the source dying is the second most important. Pulling the best type of mat (supreme to choice) is the 3rd most important factor.

I would appreciate it if some peeps would copy the equation down and check to see that it works for them and give me feedback. I will edit this post if errors are found.

Soon to come: 1) the formula to determine the amount of xp to level up harvesting.

-Berrule, Gladius Jenae, intoxicator of pandas

[tetra]

eeek

nice post anyways though

[bobturke]

"XP = (710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M) x (1 - 0.0982E)"

Wow! Deriving that must have kept you entertained a while.

I'll give it a test. Good post BTW.

[bcharles]

Nice work. One question though...

"Experience includes points for prospecting"

I assume you did your own prospection for this, and those points are included? Did you check to see if different means of prospecting gave different results? For example, choice only might give different prospection xp than choice or lower. Just a thought.

[magick1]

XP = (710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M) x (1 - 0.0982E)

If we ignore (1 - 0.0982E) for a bit, we have:

XP = 710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M

If we set:

B = 710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L)
A = 64.5 + 3T

You get XP(M) = A * M + B

Which of course is a straight line.
Thereby we can see a minimum XP gained for a harvest and the potential maximum.
Combining that with the extract stanzas and time harvested, you can determin the fastest way to gain XP.
(Obviously, even without the mathematics to point it out )

If you add C = (1 - 0.0982E) back to the original equation

XP(M) = ( A * M + B ) * C

We see that if E>0 the base XP (B) is lowered as is the XP gained per mat extracted (A).
And thereby gaining E=0 is the preferred action.

[aylwyne]

A bit off topic here but with all the equations flying about it seemed like a good place...

For a long time, I've been trying to figure out the formulas that control the crafting preview bars (the little X/100 bars at the bottom of the crafting window).

I took the time to gather the preview numbers for 224 different combinations of mats for a Tryker pistol and while I can find some very strong relationships in the data, I've yet to find the magic formula. I used the pistol because it used 4 mats with a quantity of 1 each. I figured that was simpler than starting with a sword or armor.

If anyone here is interested in helping crack the code just let me know and I can send you my spreadsheet with my data and go over what I've learned so far.

If I can ever figure out the formulas, I plan on adding a crafting preview page on our site that lets you mix and match materials and try things out.

[rushin]

XP = (710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M) x (1 - 0.0982E)

If we ignore (1 - 0.0982E) for a bit, we have:

XP = 710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L) + (64.5 + 3T)M

If we set:

B = 710 + 44.5T + 36.75(Q - L)
A = 64.5 + 3T

You get XP(M) = A * M + B

Which of course is a straight line.
Thereby we can see a minimum XP gained for a harvest and the potential maximum.
Combining that with the extract stanzas and time harvested, you can determin the fastest way to gain XP.
(Obviously, even without the mathematics to point it out )

If you add C = (1 - 0.0982E) back to the original equation

XP(M) = ( A * M + B ) * C

We see that if E>0 the base XP (B) is lowered as is the XP gained per mat extracted (A).
And thereby gaining E=0 is the preferred action.

i think lien means use careplans

[vinnyq]

reynjl0, I bow to your geek magic. I worship your geek magic. Your geek magic should be a religion!

But riddle me this.

What happened when a low level digger prospect, and a high level digger dig the low level digger's nodes? At what level difference is it the most efficient?

This is helpful if you want to help a buddy ding up their dig.

[splatula]

Haven't done the math calculations yet, but max-out XP for an assist (either popping sources AND/or careplanning) is as follows.
1403 basic
1457 fine
1511 choice
15?? excellent
1620 supreme

I haven't found the exact level difference necessary to achieve that, but it appears to maximize with as little as a 15 lvl difference between the two players.

After further research, even 5 levels difference provides decent XP - around about 1000 XP for choice assister

WackyAnne
High Officer
Melinoe - Atys Harvesters

[sidusar]

I would appreciate it if some peeps would copy the equation down and check to see that it works for them and give me feedback. I will edit this post if errors are found.

I tested your equation on twenty foraging pulls. For 5 of these pulls the equation gave the exact same number as the actual experience gained. For the other 15 pulls the result of the equation was not equal to the experience gained, but the error was in all cases less than 30. The easiest explanation for these minor errors would be that the constants in your equation aren't precisely correct; either you rounded them down or you didn't determine them with complete accuracy. If your equation is supposed to be 100% correct, I'd say it still needs some tweaking. For me an error margin of less than 3% is more than accurate enough though, so nice job putting this together.