Exploration Help

[Nabirius]

So  I just completed the Request a Meeting with you Mentor set of quests, but now I'm stuck at a pretty hard stop where my only 2 choices are to levels exploration, which I want to do, but don't really have an efficient method of leveling, or level scouting which is way easier as a single stat, but seem way less useful. How is there a better way to do this, and how can I efficiently level my explore skill?

[freespace2dotcom]

If you only just completed the tutorial, I think it is a little early to be trying to raise up specific skills to a great extent. (a few skill steps are fine though)

I would recommend getting your study levels up for your classes by studying at the Venalicium. That usually needs to be done at any rate, and while you're busy doing that, you'll get some free skills, and a chance at some random events that will unlock more skills, and locations. There are useful dedicated spells for training. "Cleanse and Remake" is a popular one because it increases attributes which decreases training time. There are others which directly lower skill steps required to train skills but I can't remember them off the top of my head. the wiki is your best friend in this endeavor.

 

http://academagia.wikia.com/wiki/Academagia_Wiki

Such that it is.

[Metis]

There's only one ability that lowers Training Modifier (that I can recall off-hand), and that's Selective Focus. Concentration 9, grind it out in Longshade.

As for getting through the adventure stage, the rolls in question are only v.6, so depending on your attributes (Charm/Luck for Explore/Scouting) you shouldn't need more than four or three ranks to get at least a black check. Unless you intend to focus on Exploring I'd recommend getting a few ranks in Scouting, since it takes a third of the effort to raise, otherwise just spend time studying Explore skills in Longshade. Which you can unlock through studying in the Venalicium, if you haven't done so already. It's not a waste of time to do so either - like Free said, you're going to have to study sooner or later.

[Rhialto]

@MetisI believe that there is a location that lowers training modifiers, but for only one skill (possibly calligraphy-related?).

[Metis]

You're right, there's a few of those locations actually. There's one for Jeweler and the one you're thinking of is for Forgery (IIRC). The problem is that you pretty much need to Train at those locations to get the benefit, and using Train isn't a benefit, so...yeah. They're easy to forget...

[freespace2dotcom]

Yeah, selective focus is great to have. It can save a lot of time if the skills you're training require multiple skill steps to train. With decent base attributes and that ability, Any skill in the game can be raised in a reasonable time frame. I wouldn't have been able to train Mastery and Gates on my own without it.

[Nabirius]

So, a few questions. I take it selective focus is a high-end ability from concentraction, but what is a training modifier? Is it the number of 'steps' needed to level a stat? Is it governed by the associate attribute? What is longshade? Is there no place to gain multiple subskills for explore?

[freespace2dotcom]

Every skill has a difficulty rating to train, which determines how many skill steps are required for a skill to level up.

Easy skills only need 1 skill step and thus are leveled up after a single action, but others might require more, even 5 or 6 actions in order to raise a skill from 2 to 3, for example. This difficulty is mostly affected by the attribute governing the skill, as written in the description of the skill, so if you want to train a difficult skill, you should train that attribute (or raise it with magic) and it will lower the number of times you need to train in order to get effective increases.

The best way to get attributes is by completing adventures, but there are other ways also.

The library of Longshade is a training location (which you can access with an ability) that allows you to train multiple skills in the same action, making it very efficient. You can unlock it over time with studying at the venalicium, and then performing a successful tidy action on it.

as far as Explore goes, pick three of it's subskills that you want to train, you can find them here.

http://academagia.wikia.com/wiki/Explore

A parent skill is only as high as it's 3 highest subskills, so find subskills that are governed by attributes that you have, or else are easily trained, and it will go faster, but don't go overboard because it will get easier to train later in the game if you know what you're doing.

[Nabirius]

Cool, all good to know, currently I've been focusing on skills that I have some way of leveling multiple subskills at once with, like the Religion subskill and the Temple of Iudocia, or Glamor and the teacher's podium. Is there such a place for Explore? Or even a place I can train explore subskills along with others, or is longshade the best place? Also why is study totally unrelated to things like 'theory of incantation'? That seems weird.

[Metis]

There isn't such an efficient training place for Explore to my knowledge, so Longshade is your best bet. Mind you that Longshade is a perfectly fine place to grind out such skills - Concentration 9 is worth it.

Study levels are separate from skill levels because the former covers exam knowledge, test answers, and the like.