ProspectorSam's materializer guide

Use with caution!

# Materializing for Success and Profit -- and Stamps

by ProspectorSam (with help and support from many!)

## Glossary

Sorry to start off with the homework, but you will need to understand these terms:

**"Spin"**: a spin is what I call one interaction with a Materializer, putting something in and getting something(s) out.  (The materializers call them "attempts" and "teleportations".) Additionally, it refers to how many uses a *specific* materializer has received up to a given point in time on a given day.  For example, a materializer which has been used 3 times today can be said to be "on spin 4" because the next spin will be its fourth of the day.  (Note that a materializer tells you which spin it's on, at first.  However, it only keeps track of how many free "attempts" -- spins -- it has remaining for that day.  After that, you have to keep track on your own of how many times each materializer has been used.)

**"Roll"**: similar to rolling dice, to "roll" something means to determine its successful occurrence and/or attributes, based on luck.

**"Input item"**: an item put into a materializer.

**"Drop"**: something which is received from a materializer is said to "drop" from the materializer. ("Drop" can be used here as a verb or as a noun meaning something which is dropped.)

**"Drop result"**: an item or other reward which drops from a materializer.

    There are two types of drop results: core drop results and byproducts.  We are mainly interested in the core drop results; the byproducts are rarely discussed at all, but I explain them below.

    **"Core drop result"**: the input item is replaced by the core drop result, which is one of the following: the stamp value of the input item (discovered when the materializer drops stamps), the coin value of the input item (discoverable in the market), or an item of higher coin value than the input item.

    **"Byproduct"**: in addition to the core drop result, there are several smaller rewards which can occur.  These are each rolled separately from the core drop result and from one another.

**"Drop list"**: for any item put into a materializer, there will be a defined list of items which could be dropped as the core drop result.  If the list is empty, then the core drop result will be simply the coin value of the input item.  If stamps don't drop, exactly one item chosen at random from the drop list -- or coins if the list is empty -- will be dropped.

**"Item value increase formula"**: there are two of these, a primary and a secondary.  What they do is define the coin value range of the core drop result; the core drop result is then selected at random from all items within that price range.  The primary formula governs most spins.  The secondary formula only is invoked when the primary one fails to "catch" any droppable items.

## Main article

OK, let's sort this thing out!  I've listed a handful of FAQs and present my explanation of the materializer as answers thereto.

### How do I get Stamp from my materializer?

The chance of stamps dropping any time you use a materializer is about 10%, and I don't know of anything which alters it.  So, to get stamps from your materializer, put things into it.  Simple as that.  It could produce stamps on the first spin, or it might take dozens of spins before you get any stamps.  It's random.

What isn't random is the drop tables and the item ladder, so that is where we will focus most of our attention. In short, rather than thinking of a materializer as some kind of mystical stamps dispenser, think of it as an item upgrader which occasionally, at random, converts your item into stamps instead of upgrading it.

### How do I unlock tomatoes with my materializer?

Wires (the colorful ones, *not* the metallic Wire) on spin 1 has a drop list consisting of: Tomatoes. That's it. There is no other item which can drop. The only other core drop result you can get is 13 Stamp.

There are dozens of other items which will sometimes drop Tomatoes, so try them if you want, but Wires on spin 1 is the most reliable.

### What sorts of things can I get out of a materializer?

The key things materializers drop which interest people are stamps, coins, and items of higher coin value than the input item.  On any spin, exactly one of those three will be the core drop result.

There are also 3 byproducts which can drop when a materializer is used.  The success of each occurring is determined separately; on any spin, you could get none, any, or all of them.  They are:

(A)  25, 50, or 100 xp

(B)  25, 50, or 75 coin

(C)  an item from the Chemical Instruments collection

If (B) drops, and your core drop result is coins, the two amounts will be automatically combined into one coin, and that is the only coin you will see.  You can tell when this occurs by noticing the exact amount of the coin you receive and comparing it to the coin value of the input item.  If the amount received is a bit larger, then the difference is the byproduct coin amount which occurred and was added.  (Be careful not to get confused here if you're using coin doubling booster!  It will double whatever the amount of the coin is, but only *when the coin is added to your treasury*; the amount shown on the screen when the coin is picked up is *not* doubled.)

There are two tricky aspects of this.  The first is that if (B) drops, and you don't pay attention to the amount, you may mistakenly think you have received the coin value of the input item as your core drop result.  This is especially likely to happen if the other tricky aspect occurs, which is that sometimes when your computer's game session has not loaded a particular icon yet, if that item drops from the materializer, it is effectively invisible!  In this situation, there are two main ways you can detect it anyway: by noticing the wording when it is automatically picked up (the wording will be visible even when the icon isn't), or by deduction (seeing that the coin amount indicates it was only a byproduct coin amount, and therefore the core drop result could *not* have been coins, but must have been an invisible item).

### How does the materializer work?

Basically what happens when you use a materializer is this:

* You put in your input item.
* The game rolls to see if you will receive byproduct xp and, if so, how much.
* The game rolls to see if you will receive byproduct coin and, if so, how many.
* The game rolls to see if you will receive a byproduct Chemical Instruments item and, if so, which one.
* The game rolls to see if you will receive Stamp.  If so, the stamp value of the input item becomes the core drop result, all rewards are dropped, and the spin ends.
* If stamps *don't* drop, the primary item value increase formula is invoked and the game checks to see if any items are in the drop list.  If any are, the game rolls to see which one you get and makes that item your primary drop result, all rewards are dropped, and the spin ends.
* If no items are within range of the *primary* formula, the *secondary* formula is invoked and the list is checked again.  If any items are now within range, the game rolls to see which one you get and makes that item your primary drop result, all rewards are dropped, and the spin ends.
* If no items are within range of the *secondary* formula, then the core drop result becomes simply the coin value of the input item, all rewards are dropped, and the spin ends.

(Note that all the above occur virtually at once; you won't perceive them occurring in sequence, and the order in which I listed them is somewhat arbitrary.  Note also that *some drop lists contain only one item*, making that a great way to obtain that item! Wires on spin 1 has such a list, and *the only item on it is tomatoes*.)

### Is there a difference between free spins and paid spins?

Ah, the original question which got us into our journey of discovery of the real workings of the materializer! In fact, as testing reveals, there is a *5-tier drop table*.  The first 5 spins each have their own list of possible drops for each input item, and every spin after the 5th shares the same lists as the 5th.  So it isn't quite accurate to think of paid spins in one category and free spins in another (obviously they are different in their *cost*; I'm talking here about their *behavior*).  Instead, *each of the first 4 spins increases the item value multiplier* for that materializer for that day, and once it reaches its highest level, it remains there for the rest of the day (daily reset is at 6PM Eastern time).

The item value multiplier range breakdown in the primary formula is:

Spin 1:  Output Item Price = Input Item Price \* [110% - 130%]

Spin 2:  Output Item Price = Input Item Price \* [115% - 140%]

Spin 3:  Output Item Price = Input Item Price \* [125% - 165%]

Spin 4:  Output Item Price = Input Item Price \* [150% - 190%]

Spin 5+:  Output Item Price = Input Item Price \* [175% - 215%]

Those are the numbers in the *primary* item value increase formula.  The *secondary* formula basically just enlarges the ranges.  (You can see the secondary formula in action on, for example, the spin 1 drop list for Steel Beam, where 2 items above Microscope Lens are "pulled into" the drop list, but do not show up on Steel Beam's spin 2 drop list.  That's because Steel Beam spin 2 goes back to the primary formula with its narrower range, since that formula *does* find Microscope Lens at spin 2 with spin 2's higher value multiplier, and thus the secondary formula is not used.)

### What's the best thing to put in my materializer?

There is no one item which is always best to put in.  It depends on what items you have, how many mats you have, which spin each one is on, and what you want to get.

In general, I find that, for maximizing stamps, it's best to put higher items in on lower spins and lower items in on higher spins -- at least for someone like me with many materializers.  That might seem odd, but consider: when your item reaches the top of the ladder, if it hasn't dropped stamps, it drops coins and is gone.  Then you need to obtain another item.  If you instead put your highest items in on low spins, you will move them up and off the ladder slowly, creating more chances for a high stamp value item to drop stamps.  On the other end, putting low-value items in on high spins causes them to be quickly replaced by much higher value items, which minimizes the number of chances for a stamp drop to occur at a low level.

In summary, the essence of that strategy is to quickly move your items up out of the low-value ranks and then slow down while passing through the upper ranks.  That maximizes the chances for high-value stamp drops while minimizing the chances for low-value stamp drops.

However, that is only one strategy and it is not applicable for all situations.  Sometimes I want to get a particular item from the process.  In that case I examine the drop tables and form a strategy to maximize the chances of getting that item while minimizing the cost, both in number of spins and stamp cost of spins.  For this, we need the data showing which items can drop which other items, and on which spins.  Let's look at that data.

http://imgur.com/DNsXiTX <-- the materializer item ladder (top part, Dec 18; outdated but shows the general idea)

http://imgur.com/TGDjYrl <-- drop tallies table, top part (Dec 27)

http://imgur.com/Iqly7v0 <-- drop tallies table, 2nd part (Dec 29)

http://imgur.com/JgdRbVn <-- drop tallies table, 3nd part (Jan 3)

http://imgur.com/EGpbEwt <-- drop tallies table w/ tomato results (Dec 27)

http://imgur.com/EQX27HN <-- drop tallies table w/ cast iron, mainboard results (Dec 23)

http://imgur.com/9NWg7oe <-- drop tallies table for getting tomatoes! (Jan 5)

And here is the whole spreadsheet file (includes all the above and much more):

http://www112.zippyshare.com/v/7pV3ULGf/file.html <-- whole SS OpenOffice (Jan 31)

http://www16.zippyshare.com/v/2nTfslXr/file.html <-- whole SS Excel 2003 (Jan 17)

http://www16.zippyshare.com/v/w3g3nyCt/file.html <-- whole SS Excel 2013 (Jan 17)

The item ladder is mainly useful for quickly locating a specific item in context and seeing its coin and stamp values and the values of other items "near" it.  (The drops shown on that sheet are badly outdated now; they are a carryover from my early days when I didn't yet realize there were different drop lists for different spins.  I haven't updated that sheet very much since making that discovery. The triangular arrows simply indicate text which is truncated by the next cell overlapping it. "Power rating" can be ignored.)

The drop tallies table is the latest data; it should be used for more accurate strategizing.  When you examine it, what you see is:

* the input item name in a large cell (stamp value in parentheses)
* the 5 (or 4, near the top where there are fewer higher items and thus fewer possible results) spin rounds broken out 1 to a row
* (starting with Jan 31 version) predicted net stamps to be gained per piece if all pieces are put in on this spin # and then all resulting items are put in on their optimal spin #
* totals (total number of results tallied for this input item used on this spin #)
* stamps tally (total # of times we've recorded stamps dropping for this input item on this spin #)
* coins tally (total # of times we've recorded coins dropping for this input item on this spin #)
* output item tallies, one column per output item (total number of times that output item has been recorded dropping for this input item on this spin #)

With this data in view, we are able to see which spins using which input items can produce which output items, and make intelligent choices about how to use our materializers. Of special interest will be the newest addition to the drop tally table, the net stamps per piece calculations. These are based on an anticipated 10% stamp drop rate for all spins. They take the price of each spin into account. Note that they assume an unlimited availability of each spin #; in reality, if you have a lot of items to process, that probably won't be your situation. I'd like to create more such data for predicting net stamps/piece when using only free spins and for using only spin 5+, but have not done so yet.

I plan to modify this guide further, but hopefully, you now have a firm understanding of the materializer process and can use the data to find your own "best thing to put in"!

See you on Kongregate!