Ascension: Difference between revisions

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* All forged gear is gone — a piece rolled from a [[Blueprints|blueprint]] is run power, the recipe knowledge is not

* In-flight state — battle log, dispatch squads, digs, raids/sieges, fallen-gear debts — clears with the run

== Before you walk: getting the most out of a run ==

This is the part that decides whether an ascension is worth anything. Read it before your second walk especially — the first one is gated by the Census and pays whatever your score happens to be, but every walk after that can be worth thousands of Sparks or '''literally nothing''', depending entirely on timing.

=== The one rule that matters ===

Sparks are paid on your '''high-water mark''', not your score:

Sparks earned = your score now − the highest score you have ever banked

'''If you walk with a score below your previous best, you earn zero Sparks.''' Not a reduced amount — zero. The Door still opens, your run is still wiped, and you get nothing for it. This is the single most common way to waste a cycle.

It also means rebuilding is never itself profitable. Getting your skills back to where they were last cycle returns you to roughly your old score, which pays nothing. Sparks come only from the margin ''above'' that line.

=== Why some progress counts every cycle and some doesn't ===

Score is measured once — at the instant you walk. What happens to each row afterwards is what makes the difference:

* '''13 rows survive the Door.''' Mastery levels and milestones, Museum skeletons and wings, field notes, Chronicles, the completion log, pets, blueprints, achievements, lifetime Amber, lifetime Marks, and Primal casts are all kept permanently. They are '''already banked''' — they will be in your score at every future walk without you touching them, and they only ever grow.

* '''10 rows are wiped.''' Skill levels, skills at 99, patrol clears, Guardians, the Arena ladder, rift clears, Rift Ranks, quest steps, Camp Material Age and rival tribes all reset. Each cycle these have to be re-earned from nothing, and they count '''only at the moment you walk'''.

* '''3 rows ride with your dinos.''' Veteran levels, bloodline depth and niched species travel with whatever you carry through on '''Amber Bond''' — see below.

The practical consequence: the kept rows raise your floor a little more each cycle, but the wiped rows are the ones you actively choose the timing of. Beating your old high-water means arriving at the Door with the wiped rows at least back where they were ''plus'' whatever the kept rows have gained since.

=== What to push before you walk ===

Roughly '''9,900 points''' sit in rows that the Door destroys. Ranked by what they are worth at a full run:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! What !! Points at full !! Notes

|-

| Skill levels || 2,548 || 13 skills × 98 levels × 2. The single biggest block, and the slowest to rebuild

|-

| Skills at 99 || 1,950 || 150 each. The last few levels of a skill are worth far more than the grind suggests — level 98 → 99 is worth 152 points, not 2

|-

| Arena ladder || 1,800 || 60 per pair, 30 pairs. Often the most under-farmed row

|-

| Guardians || 1,200 || 120 each. You have to beat all 10 to open the Door anyway

|-

| Rival tribes || 1,200 || 80 each, 15 tribes. Cheap points if the ladder is already climbable

|-

| Rift Ranks || 640 || 60 per Beta first-clear, 100 per Alpha, 8 total

|-

| Camp Material Age || 600 || 100 per Age, 6 Ages

|}

Everything on that list is gone the moment you walk, so finishing a nearly-complete row first is close to free Sparks. Finishing the Arena ladder, mopping up the remaining rival tribes, and pushing a skill sitting at 97 up to 99 are the three that most often get left on the table.

By contrast, there is '''no urgency at all''' on the kept rows. A skeleton mounted the day before you walk and one mounted the day after are worth exactly the same, because the Museum does not reset.

=== Choosing which dinos to carry ===

Veteran levels, bloodline depth and niche all ride through the Door on the dinos you pick, so Amber Bond slots are worth spending on the animals that carry the most score, not just the most combat power:

* A deep '''[[Breeding|mutation line]]''' is 15 points per mutation on your best bloodline, and rebuilding one takes many generations.

* A '''niched''' species is 25 points, and niches are per-species — carrying five ''different'' niched species banks more than five of the same.

* '''Veteran levels''' are 1 point each, which is small per dino but real on a long-serving animal.

You get '''two slots free''' with no perk at all, so this decision applies to every player from their first walk onward — not only to people who bought Amber Bond.

=== A note on the bar ===

The rising bar is calculated from the score of the walk you just made, not from your high-water mark. A deliberately low-score walk therefore ''lowers'' the next cycle's bar — but it also earns you nothing, since it is below your high water. There is no useful exploit here; the two numbers simply move independently, and the one that pays is the high-water mark.

== Sparks and the score ==

Every point of your '''Ascension score''' that's a new all-time high pays exactly '''1 Spark''' the moment you walk through the Door — rebuilding a stat back to where it used to be pays nothing, only genuinely new progress does. Twenty-~~five~~ separate categories feed the score, each worth points per unit:

Every point of your '''Ascension score''' that's a new all-time high pays exactly '''1 Spark''' the moment you walk through the Door — rebuilding a stat back to where it used to be pays nothing, only genuinely new progress does (see '''[[#Before you walk: getting the most out of a run|Before you walk]]''' above for what that means in practice). Twenty-six separate categories feed the score, each worth points per unit:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

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The last four rows are '''zero until their own systems unlock''' (Rift Ranks at your first Ascension, the Bounty Board and Mutation Lines and Item Quality each at their own later Ascension gates) — nothing scores before the system that produces it actually exists for you yet.

== The 15 perks ==

== The 16 perks ==

Sparks buy permanent perk ranks — purchasable only '''after''' your first ascension, since that's also when you first earn any Sparks to spend. ~~Every~~ perk~~'s total catalog sums to~~ exactly '''40,000 Sparks''' ~~to fully max~~.

Sparks buy permanent perk ranks — purchasable only '''after''' your first ascension, since that's also when you first earn any Sparks to spend. Buying every rank of every perk costs exactly '''41,000 Sparks'''.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

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|-

| {{Icon|ascension-keepers-ledger}} Keeper's Ledger || Shop capacity upgrades (Satchel, Vault) survive the reset || 1 || 900

|-

| {{Icon|ascension-second-cradle}} Second Cradle || A second Nursery crib — two babies grow at once, so a finished clutch stops queueing behind the one already on the clock || 1 || 1,000

|-

| {{Icon|ascension-broodmothers-pace}} Broodmother's Pace || +5% [[Taming]] and Nursery maturation speed || 2 || 800

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|}

'''Amber Bond''' in detail: ~~the number of~~ dinos ~~you can carry~~ through the Door is ''~~min(~~rank + 1 ~~+ priorAscensions~~, rank + 5)'' ~~— at rank 1 you always keep just~~ 1 (your ~~very~~ first walk) ~~up to a max of~~ 5 ~~after four more cycles; at rank~~ 3 ~~(max) you start at~~ 4 ~~and cap at~~ 8. Preserved dinos keep their veteran XP, imprint, and ID, but arrive unequipped (their gear is run power) and land in the [[Stable|Stasis Vault]] of the new run rather than a stable stall directly.

'''Amber Bond''' in detail: '''two dinos come through the Door for free''', with no perk bought at all — the perk only raises that floor. Each rank sets a base of ''rank + 1'', every ascension you have already completed adds one more, and the total is capped at ''rank + 5'' (and never falls below the free 2):

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Ascensions completed !! No perk !! Rank 1 !! Rank 2 !! Rank 3

|-

| 0 (your first walk) || 2 || 2 || 3 || 4

|-

| 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5

|-

| 2 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 6

|-

| 3 || 2 || 5 || 6 || 7

|-

| 4 or more || 2 || 6 || 7 || 8

|}

Preserved dinos keep their veteran XP, imprint, bloodline and ID, but arrive '''unequipped''' (their gear is run power) and land in the [[Stable|Stasis Vault]] of the new run rather than a stable stall directly. Because bloodline depth, niche and veteran levels are all scoring rows that ride along, the choice of which dinos to carry is worth real Sparks — see '''[[#Choosing which dinos to carry|Choosing which dinos to carry]]'''.

'''Trail Wisdom''' at rank 3 seeds Grasslands, Redwood Wilds, Murkwater Swamp, Cavern Depths, Scorched Badlands, and Coral Shallows with full patrol credit — the run's back half (Frozen Wastes onward) still has to be cleared normally, and every Guardian anywhere still has to be fought regardless of rank.

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Beyond the Spark economy, two categories of items are simply immune to the reset:

* The '''Trophy Case''' — every one-of-a-kind effect item in the game (rival-raid relics, the Depths relics, quest-reward trinkets, the Rift Standard and Riftbound Trinket, the Riftheart Relic, the Bounty Exchange's unique ~~gear~~, the Completion Log's Banner of the Vale) ~~survives automatically~~, ~~whether it was sitting in your Bank or equipped when you walked through~~.

* The '''Trophy Case''' — every one-of-a-kind effect item in the game survives automatically, whether it was sitting in your Bank or equipped when you walked through. That is '''57 items''' in total: the rival-raid relics and tribe banners, the Depths relics, quest-reward trinkets, the Rift Standard and Riftbound Trinket, the Riftheart Relic, the Bounty Exchange's four unique pieces, the Completion Log's Banner of the Vale, the '''twelve Tyrant relics''' (v0.59.0 — a first kill can never be earned twice, so the Trophy Wall walks through intact), and the '''three Rift Bazaar keepsakes''' (v0.60.48).

* The '''Primal Catalyst''' is the one ordinary consumable that carries at full stack — its only use (aiming a Mutation Lines clutch) unlocks two Ascensions after you can first collect it, so hoarding one before you can even spend it was always the point.

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 * All forged gear is gone — a piece rolled from a [[Blueprints|blueprint]] is run power, the recipe knowledge is not
 * In-flight state — battle log, dispatch squads, digs, raids/sieges, fallen-gear debts — clears with the run
+== Before you walk: getting the most out of a run ==
+This is the part that decides whether an ascension is worth anything. Read it before your second walk especially — the first one is gated by the Census and pays whatever your score happens to be, but every walk after that can be worth thousands of Sparks or '''literally nothing''', depending entirely on timing.
+=== The one rule that matters ===
+Sparks are paid on your '''high-water mark''', not your score:
+ Sparks earned = your score now − the highest score you have ever banked
+'''If you walk with a score below your previous best, you earn zero Sparks.''' Not a reduced amount — zero. The Door still opens, your run is still wiped, and you get nothing for it. This is the single most common way to waste a cycle.
+It also means rebuilding is never itself profitable. Getting your skills back to where they were last cycle returns you to roughly your old score, which pays nothing. Sparks come only from the margin ''above'' that line.
+=== Why some progress counts every cycle and some doesn't ===
+Score is measured once — at the instant you walk. What happens to each row afterwards is what makes the difference:
+* '''13 rows survive the Door.''' Mastery levels and milestones, Museum skeletons and wings, field notes, Chronicles, the completion log, pets, blueprints, achievements, lifetime Amber, lifetime Marks, and Primal casts are all kept permanently. They are '''already banked''' — they will be in your score at every future walk without you touching them, and they only ever grow.
+* '''10 rows are wiped.''' Skill levels, skills at 99, patrol clears, Guardians, the Arena ladder, rift clears, Rift Ranks, quest steps, Camp Material Age and rival tribes all reset. Each cycle these have to be re-earned from nothing, and they count '''only at the moment you walk'''.
+* '''3 rows ride with your dinos.''' Veteran levels, bloodline depth and niched species travel with whatever you carry through on '''Amber Bond''' — see below.
+The practical consequence: the kept rows raise your floor a little more each cycle, but the wiped rows are the ones you actively choose the timing of. Beating your old high-water means arriving at the Door with the wiped rows at least back where they were ''plus'' whatever the kept rows have gained since.
+=== What to push before you walk ===
+Roughly '''9,900 points''' sit in rows that the Door destroys. Ranked by what they are worth at a full run:
+{| class="wikitable sortable"
+! What !! Points at full !! Notes
+|-
+| Skill levels || 2,548 || 13 skills × 98 levels × 2. The single biggest block, and the slowest to rebuild
+|-
+| Skills at 99 || 1,950 || 150 each. The last few levels of a skill are worth far more than the grind suggests — level 98 → 99 is worth 152 points, not 2
+|-
+| Arena ladder || 1,800 || 60 per pair, 30 pairs. Often the most under-farmed row
+|-
+| Guardians || 1,200 || 120 each. You have to beat all 10 to open the Door anyway
+|-
+| Rival tribes || 1,200 || 80 each, 15 tribes. Cheap points if the ladder is already climbable
+|-
+| Rift Ranks || 640 || 60 per Beta first-clear, 100 per Alpha, 8 total
+|-
+| Camp Material Age || 600 || 100 per Age, 6 Ages
+|}
+Everything on that list is gone the moment you walk, so finishing a nearly-complete row first is close to free Sparks. Finishing the Arena ladder, mopping up the remaining rival tribes, and pushing a skill sitting at 97 up to 99 are the three that most often get left on the table.
+By contrast, there is '''no urgency at all''' on the kept rows. A skeleton mounted the day before you walk and one mounted the day after are worth exactly the same, because the Museum does not reset.
+=== Choosing which dinos to carry ===
+Veteran levels, bloodline depth and niche all ride through the Door on the dinos you pick, so Amber Bond slots are worth spending on the animals that carry the most score, not just the most combat power:
+* A deep '''[[Breeding|mutation line]]''' is 15 points per mutation on your best bloodline, and rebuilding one takes many generations.
+* A '''niched''' species is 25 points, and niches are per-species — carrying five ''different'' niched species banks more than five of the same.
+* '''Veteran levels''' are 1 point each, which is small per dino but real on a long-serving animal.
+You get '''two slots free''' with no perk at all, so this decision applies to every player from their first walk onward — not only to people who bought Amber Bond.
+=== A note on the bar ===
+The rising bar is calculated from the score of the walk you just made, not from your high-water mark. A deliberately low-score walk therefore ''lowers'' the next cycle's bar — but it also earns you nothing, since it is below your high water. There is no useful exploit here; the two numbers simply move independently, and the one that pays is the high-water mark.
 == Sparks and the score ==
-Every point of your '''Ascension score''' that's a new all-time high pays exactly '''1 Spark''' the moment you walk through the Door — rebuilding a stat back to where it used to be pays nothing, only genuinely new progress does. Twenty-five separate categories feed the score, each worth points per unit:
+Every point of your '''Ascension score''' that's a new all-time high pays exactly '''1 Spark''' the moment you walk through the Door — rebuilding a stat back to where it used to be pays nothing, only genuinely new progress does (see '''[[#Before you walk: getting the most out of a run|Before you walk]]''' above for what that means in practice). Twenty-six separate categories feed the score, each worth points per unit:
 {| class="wikitable sortable"
@@ Line 133: / Line 197: @@
 The last four rows are '''zero until their own systems unlock''' (Rift Ranks at your first Ascension, the Bounty Board and Mutation Lines and Item Quality each at their own later Ascension gates) — nothing scores before the system that produces it actually exists for you yet.
-== The 15 perks ==
+== The 16 perks ==
-Sparks buy permanent perk ranks — purchasable only '''after''' your first ascension, since that's also when you first earn any Sparks to spend. Every perk's total catalog sums to exactly '''40,000 Sparks''' to fully max.
+Sparks buy permanent perk ranks — purchasable only '''after''' your first ascension, since that's also when you first earn any Sparks to spend. Buying every rank of every perk costs exactly '''41,000 Sparks'''.
 {| class="wikitable sortable"
@@ Line 165: / Line 229: @@
 |-
 | {{Icon|ascension-keepers-ledger}} Keeper's Ledger || Shop capacity upgrades (Satchel, Vault) survive the reset || 1 || 900
+|-
+| {{Icon|ascension-second-cradle}} Second Cradle || A second Nursery crib — two babies grow at once, so a finished clutch stops queueing behind the one already on the clock || 1 || 1,000
 |-
 | {{Icon|ascension-broodmothers-pace}} Broodmother's Pace || +5% [[Taming]] and Nursery maturation speed || 2 || 800
@@ Line 171: / Line 237: @@
 |}
-'''Amber Bond''' in detail: the number of dinos you can carry through the Door is ''min(rank + 1 + priorAscensions, rank + 5)'' — at rank 1 you always keep just 1 (your very first walk) up to a max of 5 after four more cycles; at rank 3 (max) you start at 4 and cap at 8. Preserved dinos keep their veteran XP, imprint, and ID, but arrive unequipped (their gear is run power) and land in the [[Stable|Stasis Vault]] of the new run rather than a stable stall directly.
+'''Amber Bond''' in detail: '''two dinos come through the Door for free''', with no perk bought at all — the perk only raises that floor. Each rank sets a base of ''rank + 1'', every ascension you have already completed adds one more, and the total is capped at ''rank + 5'' (and never falls below the free 2):
+{| class="wikitable sortable"
+! Ascensions completed !! No perk !! Rank 1 !! Rank 2 !! Rank 3
+|-
+| 0 (your first walk) || 2 || 2 || 3 || 4
+|-
+| 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5
+|-
+| 2 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 6
+|-
+| 3 || 2 || 5 || 6 || 7
+|-
+| 4 or more || 2 || 6 || 7 || 8
+|}
+Preserved dinos keep their veteran XP, imprint, bloodline and ID, but arrive '''unequipped''' (their gear is run power) and land in the [[Stable|Stasis Vault]] of the new run rather than a stable stall directly. Because bloodline depth, niche and veteran levels are all scoring rows that ride along, the choice of which dinos to carry is worth real Sparks — see '''[[#Choosing which dinos to carry|Choosing which dinos to carry]]'''.
 '''Trail Wisdom''' at rank 3 seeds Grasslands, Redwood Wilds, Murkwater Swamp, Cavern Depths, Scorched Badlands, and Coral Shallows with full patrol credit — the run's back half (Frozen Wastes onward) still has to be cleared normally, and every Guardian anywhere still has to be fought regardless of rank.
@@ Line 199: / Line 281: @@
 Beyond the Spark economy, two categories of items are simply immune to the reset:
-* The '''Trophy Case''' — every one-of-a-kind effect item in the game (rival-raid relics, the Depths relics, quest-reward trinkets, the Rift Standard and Riftbound Trinket, the Riftheart Relic, the Bounty Exchange's unique gear, the Completion Log's Banner of the Vale) survives automatically, whether it was sitting in your Bank or equipped when you walked through.
+* The '''Trophy Case''' — every one-of-a-kind effect item in the game survives automatically, whether it was sitting in your Bank or equipped when you walked through. That is '''57 items''' in total: the rival-raid relics and tribe banners, the Depths relics, quest-reward trinkets, the Rift Standard and Riftbound Trinket, the Riftheart Relic, the Bounty Exchange's four unique pieces, the Completion Log's Banner of the Vale, the '''twelve Tyrant relics''' (v0.59.0 — a first kill can never be earned twice, so the Trophy Wall walks through intact), and the '''three Rift Bazaar keepsakes''' (v0.60.48).
 * The '''Primal Catalyst''' is the one ordinary consumable that carries at full stack — its only use (aiming a Mutation Lines clutch) unlocks two Ascensions after you can first collect it, so hoarding one before you can even spend it was always the point.

Ascension: Difference between revisions

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