The Quests

I dunno what I want really, maybe just inspiration, but I am wondering.
I go along the quests, making most what's needed myself (due to laziness), is there a sort of kinda perhaps maybe I-dunno a spreadsheet of some kind where you can type in say "deer" and magic & fireworks - the total amount of deer in all the quests comes up with breakdown to each quest and their requirement ?

That would be a quest search engine of some magic sort. I am seriously debating doing it myself, but not sure if it's useful or just hard work. How awesome it would be if it already existed.

I don't have a spreadsheet with the quests and quest requirements but I do have them in a Word doc and can use the Find feature to do the same.

Then you need to add the amounts every time you want to find out the total requirement of bats etc.. But it's a good work-around solution

It would be a big undertaking and if you decide to do it, I wish you all the best!

Once upon a time, the quest FAQs were posted using a spreadsheet and could be copy/pasted into an Excel file making your task fairly straight forward. Now, FAQs are images and would have to be entered separately. Too much time involved for me but wish you lots of luck!

Too much time involved for me but wish you lots of luck! says puppiesnponies



That's why I never do word or excel spreadsheets. Just come and play and try to do the best for the day and save some for future.

All you math gurus, please help me figure the probability of the tools in Pick a Tool spree. I commented on the forum when I was asked if I thought it was worth it and I said no and I still don't but I did try to figure the probability and just need someone to verify if my thought process is correct or if I am off base.

The XL toolbox offers 100 tools for 10BB. Bp is offering Pick a Tool for 5 BB.

The tool packs offered in Pick a Tool spree contain a mixture of tools greater than and lesser than 1oo tools.

Assuming all tools have an equal chance (but they probably do not) I calculated the following to determine the probability of getting tools in quantities of 100 or greater.
(4/12)(5/8) + (4/12)(2/8) + (4/5)(1/8)= .3916 or 39% chance of getting tools greater than 100. I actually think it might be lower making it a sure bet I won't be purchasing tools.

puppiesnponies wrote:
The XL toolbox offers 100 tools for 10BB. Bp is offering Pick a Tool for 5 BB.

If you compare it to the mini-event it's actually only 5 BB for 100 tools, which is a more fair comparison, since this too is an event.

puppiesnponies wrote:The tool packs offered in Pick a Tool spree contain a mixture of tools greater than and lesser than 1oo tools.

Assuming all tools have an equal chance (but they probably do not) I calculated the following to determine the probability of getting tools in quantities of 100 or greater.
(4/12)(5/8) + (4/12)(2/8) + (4/5)(1/8)= .3916 or 39% chance of getting tools greater than 100. I actually think it might be lower making it a sure bet I won't be purchasing tools.

There's really a lot more going on to this as well, because you're essentially having to select between specific tools versus quantity and value of tools. If you want more quantity, waiting for the next toolbox sale to come around is your best bet, if you want to maximize your chances of getting Wooden Boards, then PaT would be the way to go.

This event comes down to filling two basic farm needs.
1) Construction and upgrade needs.
2) BV for blueprint donations.


Tool Name - Quantity
                  Common - Uncommon - Rare -   BV
Nails                  250         500          1000      1.2
Boards               125         250            500      3
Tile                    100         175            350      3
Brick                  100         175            350      3
Hammer                4           10                      60
Paint                     4           10                      60
Saw                      4           10                      120
Shovel                   4          10                      120
Machine Parts         4                                    120
Scrap Metal            4                                    240
Spray Can              4            10                    240
Oak Seed               4                                    240
Drip Tank                              10                   180
Zen Rake                               10                   240
Scissors                                  5                    600
Basket                                                10      480
Air Conditioner                                      5      900
Queen Bee                                            5      600
Feather Collector                                   2     2700
Wooden Mallet                                      2       3000

I expect for most farmers this event will come down to Wooden Boards. They are required in nearly every upgrade, and with the added Menageries, many barns are quite depleted. Unfortunately for farmers we lack a reasonable way to rebuild (Refinement is on too short a crop and with too low a bonus). I believe the developers understand this, which is why boards have more quantities within each rarity than Tile or Brick even though they share the same BV.

I will be posting my own preference for how I would do this event if I were going to participate. I know that not everyone would be looking for the same things as I would, so I'll explain my personal choices. Feel free to substitute any tool you prefer over a choice that I have selected.

With my 5 Common slots I would select (in order of preference):
1. Boards x125
2-3. Brick x100 (Manufactory)
2-3. Tile x100 (Arboretum)
4. Nails x250
5. Scrap Metal x4, or Spray Can x4, or Oak Seed x4 (BV)

Boards are self explanatory. Brick and Tile are interchangeable, I have nearly an equal amount of both, and they are also used for plenty of upgrades, including the Arboretum and Manufactory. I select nails 4th because they are used in nearly every stable upgrade. The three choices I have selected for the 5th slot are based solely on their BV, as they have a better BV than the remaining choices. I have more than enough of each of these tools to build whatever is needed, if I weren't lacking the boards.

With my 2 Uncommon slots I would select (in order of preference):
1. Boards x250
2. Tile, Brick, Nails, or Scissors (BV)

Again, no reason to explain boards. Tile, Bricks, and Nails come down to expected future use, and the Scissors would be for BV if a farmer already has enough Tile, Bricks, and Nails.

Finally, with my Rare slot I would select:
1. Boards x500

If you're looking for BV than go for the Wooden Mallet, which is also used to upgrade the big three. However, these can be easily farmed using crop refinements, so it really is best to try to get those boards.

So there you have it, my choices if I were to do the event.

Now here's the complicated part. This event ultimately has to be compared to the Mini-Event 3XL Toolbox Sale to find which event holds the better value.

In order to establish any sort of comparison we must first start with a basic value for BB. For this value I have selected the 3300 + 330 BB package which cost $99.99, with the added 32% bonus for buying the large package, and the extra 10% for using a credit card. This package would give players the most BB for their money spent***, and will support the value of all BB's obtained for free as well. Thus 1 BB = $0.028. This number is rounded up to the nearest thousandths.

Using this number as our base value we can now compare the tool box choices to the pick-a-tool prize options.


Name -            Cost BB  - Cost $ - # of Tools
P-A-T                5             0.14         4-1000
XL Toolbox        5             0.14              100
XXL Toolbox     15            0.42              500
XXXL Toolbox   30            0.84            1250

The two distinctions between the two which must be factored are quantity and randomness.

Quantity
It's reasonable to assume that the P-A-T will equal or outperform the XL toolbox.
It will fall short of the XXL and XXXL toolboxes.

Randomness breaks down into two more categories: Usefulness, and BV.
The P-A-T should be able to outperform both the XXL and XXXL toolboxes in usefulness, however it will probably rarely contain more BV than the either toolbox.

Head to head the P-A-T is a very solid choice compared to other options if you're after specific tools. If you are in need of BV from tools, or a larger assortment of tools, you're better off buying the XXXL Toolboxes.

I may add more specific math to this last section, but as I'm fairly certain most farmers are really wanting boards, I think this is a safe place to stop for now.

I hope this helps everyone to evaluate the cost vs. benefit of this new event.



***This package is always available, which is why it was used as the example. A shrewd shopper would wait for this package to go on sale at 15% off its normal price for a cost of $84.99, which would make 1 BB = $0.019.

*Edit* The tables are better viewed at the mother ship. http://www.bigpoint.com/farmerama/board/index.php?threads/strategy-pick-a-tool-spree-event.27218/

Thank you for the time you put into your analysis.

I saw your post on the other forums. I do believe that this event will produce more wood boards than the toolboxes would, and that's really the only reason to do it. You wouldn't want to give up your option of 500 boards though for the 2 wooden mallets. My suggestion would be to refine mallets in Cauliflower or Iris, so you don't have to worry about finding mallets from other sources, and it would allow you to focus on boards for this event.

The simple version is that if you were to spend 60 BB on PaT and selected wood boards 500 you have a reasonable chance of hitting the jackpot at least once out of the twelve attempts. You'd probably also get another 250 from an uncommon score and one or two 125 board common hits. So around 750-875 wood boards + other tools for the same cost as two 3XL toolboxes which would probably give you closer to 200 or 250 boards at most. So even if you don't end up with the jackpot 500 boards, you'll still probably end up with 250-375+ boards.

It really just puts the odds more in your favor for obtaining boards.

Thanks Decree for your incredible and insightful analysis of the PAT event!

I'm definitely trying a few go's at the event. I've been holding off on lot's of upgrades b/c I'm so low on tools....especially wood boards and mallets.

Brookeham wrote:I'm definitely trying a few go's at the event. I've been holding off on lot's of upgrades b/c I'm so low on tools....especially wood boards and mallets.

I hear that. I've upgraded all 5 of my Menageries to the second level and I have no wooden boards left for anything. Been trying to grow Lily of the Valley all day to get more boards and it's just so time consuming for such a small amount of tools. My friends list keeps gifting me Pheromones as well.

I just had enough wood boards to upgrade ONE menagerie! dang!

I'm lost....or at least my Jasmine Bubble tea recipe is. I have finished the Bubble Trouble quest, am at level 5 alchemy.....but cannot locate my recipe?
I actually had to post on the DS for help.
Oh....and YES...I haved cleared cache etc.
Anyone else having this problem???