Things I wish I knew

Hi! so, this is mainly targeted at f2p players, bc I am one. this started as a comment to someone's reply in one of my posts and I thought that maybe I could post it separately so that more people can see and benefit from it. Also, these are all kind of beginner level stuff. Would love your recommendations too!

Hi! I've had the account for almost a year now, but have only played seriously for six months.

first of all, i found that a mindset shift was necessary for me to enjoy the game. i am usually a very competitive person by nature, but if you are an f2p player, then you will have to accept the fact that you will probably never be number 1 in any ranking event.

I'll just say that focus on your partners, aut gives more momentum but bal partners are easier to work with. choose wisely on events, defo go for partner-confidants or bal/aut partners. it's very easy to stock up on ingots (currently, in 10 days i can stock up ~3000 ingots just from kunningong and the limited time sign-in event). i save up massive amts of ingots by not buying the clothes, and just focusing on the partner. also, do invest in your cabinet scholar. I have found mine (bal) to be invaluable. So, stock up on the cabbages!

also, i have found that if you hoard enough items and be willing to spend ~3000-4000 ingots, you could easily rank among the top 100 in cross-server rankings which will give you a fan lihua token. currently, if i hoard for two months, i gain enough materials for ranking in top 100.

DO focus on ministry of works, especially those which increase the character exp from palace dailies and those which reduce exp consumption in leveling up partners.

also, just about partners, identify your top 1, top four, then top eight. my cab scholar - top one - is a chief, my rest in top four are deputy chiefs, and rest in top 8 are curators. the rest are all stewards. i recommend that you invest heavily in your top one, and then your top 4. in each local dom event, rotate which partner you want to invest in. the rest of your partners - below top 8, that is - should all have the same level. in the recent cross-server events, i raised them from servants to stewards. keep doing that and your momentum will increase steadily (also, you will rank better in field).

talking about field, it is kinda useless to waste ingots on it unless you are aiming for the brocades, assault/guild tokens or potential fruit which you only get at certain tiers. but that too, i feel, is not worth the effort as you can get potential fruit from various places for free in the game and guild/assault tokens are also available in limited-time events and stuff. just participate in the field every day and use all your free chances. your tier will increase, and so will your field points with which you can buy knowledge pts giftpack - which i do most often. and it is a wonderful free resource.

also, worldwide fame is VITAL for increasing your comprehension points for your top 8 partners. currently, my top four visit stream academy while the rest of top 8 go to palatial academy. if you didn't know, new academies open up not only by going up a rank (eg: county lade jingliang --> shuyu) but also for hitting certain power goals like 20mil etc. it may not seem like much at first, but it really adds up.

also, i CANNOT stress enough about rare books and cultivation. cultivation, for me, unlocked when my cab scholar reached lvl 300 and i am still relatively new to this, BUT, you need a lot of rare books - 10 of them - just for one cultivation. and you need to do 5 of those cultivations to unlock the star which, currently for me, requires 30 books each. EACH! my advice? you will not be participating in every single event - bc then you will never be able to hoard ingots for necessary things like collecting bal partner-confidant or ranking in cs rankings - so for every event you don't participate, just use all the free options every single day. just by doing that, i was able to gain 7 rare books in the recent netherworld event. and, cultivation really increases partner power.

some passive things that increase partner power are land and mansion decor. on your decor, before buying, you can click and check. i only buy those which increase potential, especially in bal/war partners. those would be the legendary items, so you will need to stock up. i am not really a decorative person, so i don't buy for aesthetics.

in land, i only increase the production rate for the things which pertain to my top 4 only. do note that after increasing 20 lvls of production by silver under "product improvement", you will need 6 blueprints to increase "tech improvement" so that you can increase by 20 lvls by silver again. do note, after lvl 5 of "tech improvement" and lvl 120 of "product improvement", you will need 40 blueprints to increase the lvl of the factory. i imagine it will be same for lvl 10 of tech improvement and so on. while you could buy unlimited blueprints from the shop for 100 ingots each, there, i feel, is a better way.

so, there is an orange meow event that goes on. it is actually several events and they correspond to the games you can play in the orange meow courtyard. in the one where you need to pop bubbles, for 2000 coins, you can get a pack which gives you 8 packs of 100 silver and 8 blueprints for land each. i have found that if you utilise the free chances every day, you can easily get 3-4 of this pack without spending a single ingot. also, i think in the pastry orange meow event - where you need to make a larger pastry - you can also get surplus fish dish for 2500 coins or something which you can also get for free if you play everyday with all free chances used. in general, do keep an eye out for ALL orange meow event - they give fantastic rewards and you generally don't need to spend ingots unless you are not good at the game. another thing for orange meow events, on ranking you will get damask or damask fragments. 10 damask + 998 ingots will get you a confidant clothing (the one from royal clothes bureau under clothing promotion). also, 10 damask fragments will give you one damask.

i have also heard that fur babies are a good source of passive power. but personally, i haven't tried it out. to get a fur baby, you WILL need to spend ingots.

also, specifically for cabinet scholar, after getting the one you desire - preferably one from your top confidant with a bal trait and a high potential - send them on tours all the time. it gives you some books and silver and stuff, and also growth points for the scholar. also, DO use prestige points and prestige tokens (you can access by going to cabinet --> scholar prestige) I recommend focusing on top genius advanced prestige - the one which increases each potential by 1 for every bal/war partner.

also, do hunt in the advanced hunting ground. it will give a lot of materials to increase confidant attributes and also a lot of potential fruits for first time clearance. also, switch to fast hunting as soon as you can. common hunting ground does not give that big a reward as the advanced one. rare beast hunt is also good, especially for increasing your hunting points to buy things needed for confidant promotion.

also, for confidants, their martial art attribute and intimacy determines how much attribute is increased on every instruction for their foster children. intimacy also determines the potential of the foster child.

also, i would recommend unlocking jianghuai in travel as soon as possible as you can get destiny stones from there. ofc, you can also get destiny stones from banquet.

btw, i am 24.8 mil power and county lady shuyu. i am in server 321 in asia.

i hope these things are helpful to you! will continue to add more as i remember them!