DeletedUser31440
I tend to negotiate in GE from level 3 to 4, sometimes the last half of level 2 depending on if I have enough time to fight through or just want to get through it quickly. Regardless, at some point almost everybody who pushes into the higher levels of GE will do some negotiating, so why not have a thread that gives general guidelines and tips on how to succesfully negotiate (minimize goods losses, minimize diamond expenditure, and decrease time spent negotiating). I'm going to compile several tips and my thought processes for why I use them, along with pictures to hopefully clarify what I'm talking about.
It should also be known that some encounters will be impossible to guarantee a correct combination in 4 turns, the best that can be hoped for is luck and minimizing the damage in those cases.
There are a few terms I'll be using throughout, I'll try to expain them below:
Choice - goods/supplies/coins/medals - what you pay during the encounters
Known Choice (KC) - A choice that you know will be part of the correct answer in an encounter. These are the choices that gave you a wrong person answer in previous guesses. In the below picture copper, honey and supplies are all KC's.
Unused Unknown Choice (UUC) - These are choices that you have not yet used and are unsure if they will be a part of the correct answer. In the below picture coins and supplies are both UUC's.
Previously Correct Unknown Choice (PCUC): These are choices that only have a correct answer from previous attempts. They could still be used again, but they have been correct in previous attempts. In the picture above honey and glass are both PCUC's.
General Guidelines:
If you know that you will be negotiating more than 4 turns activate the Extra Turn boost from the tavern.
If you are not on your last turn and you have unknown choices remaining it is better to eliminate possible answers than get correct answers.
A UUC is more likely to be a correct choice than a PCUC, if you have 3 open slots, 3 UUC's and 2 PCUC's, try the 3 UUC's before using the PCUC's.
Always try to place an PCUC and/or UUC under a wrong person. PCUC's get priority over UUC's when going under a wrong person.
Work from the highest probability slot to the lowest.
If there are only 4 choices in an encounter use the least expensive choice in all slots for the first attempt, the second least expensive choice in all remaining slots for the second attempt, the third least expensive choice in all remaining slots for the third attempt and then the most expensive choice for any remaining slots on the 4th attempt.
Only use diamonds for an extra turn if you are 100% certain that you know the correct answer.
That is all I have for now, if you see any fallacies in my logic, please let me know. If you have a tip that isn't listed, please let me know. Hopefully this is helpful for some people.
It should also be known that some encounters will be impossible to guarantee a correct combination in 4 turns, the best that can be hoped for is luck and minimizing the damage in those cases.
There are a few terms I'll be using throughout, I'll try to expain them below:
Choice - goods/supplies/coins/medals - what you pay during the encounters
Known Choice (KC) - A choice that you know will be part of the correct answer in an encounter. These are the choices that gave you a wrong person answer in previous guesses. In the below picture copper, honey and supplies are all KC's.
Unused Unknown Choice (UUC) - These are choices that you have not yet used and are unsure if they will be a part of the correct answer. In the below picture coins and supplies are both UUC's.
Previously Correct Unknown Choice (PCUC): These are choices that only have a correct answer from previous attempts. They could still be used again, but they have been correct in previous attempts. In the picture above honey and glass are both PCUC's.
General Guidelines:
If you know that you will be negotiating more than 4 turns activate the Extra Turn boost from the tavern.
I personally use this whenever negotiating, regardless of the level of GE that I'm currently on. I do this to minimize goods losses and to ensure that even if I fat finger something and mess up a round I will generally still be able to complete the encounter without using diamonds.
If you are not on your last turn and you have unknown choices remaining it is better to eliminate possible answers than get correct answers.
While it may be more immediately rewarding to get a correct answer that will oftentimes come back to haunt you later in the negotiation. In the below picture I know that salt has to be in one of the two open spots, but I still have 2 PCUC's honey and supplies. To figure out which of the other 2, if either, is in the final answer I will not use salt as part of my answer. (Yes, I realize this isn't the best illustration of this tip, I have enough turns left to use salt in the first guess and still guarantee a correct answer, but for illustration purposes it works)
A UUC is more likely to be a correct choice than a PCUC, if you have 3 open slots, 3 UUC's and 2 PCUC's, try the 3 UUC's before using the PCUC's.
Full disclosure, I'm not sure that the math always agrees with me on this one, but as I value speed of negotiations I use this as a general rule instead of figuring out percentage chances each time when doing a negotiation.
Always try to place an PCUC and/or UUC under a wrong person. PCUC's get priority over UUC's when going under a wrong person.
You should try to minimize the number of wrong answers in a given column. A PCUC should be more likely to give you an incorrect answer than a UC so they should be placed under the wrong person instead of placing a UC under the wrong person.
Recognize when you have all of the available choices as KC's.
There will be times when your first guess yields you with 5 KC's. If the negotiation has more than 5 choices available it is no longer necessary to eliminate the other choices. You known all 5 KC's so only use those 5 KC's to solve the rest of the negotiation, using a UUC in this case will be wasting turns.
Work from the highest probability slot to the lowest.
Oftentimes you will have multiple slots still open on the 4th turn of a negotiation. When this is the case, or whenever you have all remaining KC's, work from the most likely correct answer to the least likely. In the below picture the far right column has a 100% chance of being gold. That should be the first answer that you give. All the remaining columns have a 1 in 3 chance of being any KC. Bricks and medals have a 50 - 50 shot of going into 2 of the columns, those should be the next two choices that you make, copper has the lowest odds and should be the last KC placed.
If there are only 4 choices in an encounter use the least expensive choice in all slots for the first attempt, the second least expensive choice in all remaining slots for the second attempt, the third least expensive choice in all remaining slots for the third attempt and then the most expensive choice for any remaining slots on the 4th attempt.
This works to minimize losses and also dummy proofs the negotiation. The only possible way to get one of these encounters wrong is if you used all 4 choices in a round and then used a KC in the same column where it was a wrong person. If you only use one choice at a time across the board you will be unable to use a choice in the next attempt as it will either be a solved encounter or that choice will have rendered an incorrect response and won't be eligible for use again.
Only use diamonds for an extra turn if you are 100% certain that you know the correct answer.
This rule is not hard and fast for everybody, some players may value their goods more than their diamonds, if that's the case completely disregard this. For me personally, I value diamonds higher than goods, so if I am not certain that the next answer will be correct I refuse to spend diamonds for another chance.
That is all I have for now, if you see any fallacies in my logic, please let me know. If you have a tip that isn't listed, please let me know. Hopefully this is helpful for some people.
Last edited by a moderator: