All about companion - Part 1 : Levelling

Hi agents,

I'd like to say thanks to everyone who reads and follows this blog. To start my first post in 2011 and satisfy some of your requests, I've come out an idea to write up about companions.

Ever since companion augmentations was introduced to Ghost Trappers, there has been a lot of motivation in raising a companion until level 5. However some of us might find it hard, have no idea nor patience to do it.

The number of hunts needed are given below :

• level 1  level 2 = 500 hunts
• level 2  level 3 = 500 hunts
• level 3  level 4 = 1500 hunts
• level 4  level 5 = 2500 hunts

Thus in total, we need to perform 5000 hunts to complete the task. A lot ? Maybe, but let's take a deeper look to the core.

There are some important points in levelling your companion. First thing is that any of your hunts count, including friend hunts, automatic hunts, and even those end up with 'Failed to Attract' and 'Angel's share'. Taking this into account, I can safely announce that the most important thing in levelling a companion is CD/cooldown time (t/sc). Faster cooldown = more hunts (all hunts counted), makes sense ?

Now that the attribute 'Pet trainer' was known to GT agents, you might think that this will change how you level a companion significantly. The answer is no, not exactly. To illustrate, I'll give a simple example about this issue. (Perhaps you remember my post about how to count your loot multiplier. Now this is just a similar, easier version of that.)

Consider Setup 1 with 2 min cooldown, no pet trainer and Setup 2 with 3 min cooldown, 30% pet trainer. Taking automatic & friend hunts into account,

Setup 1 -> 1 hour = 60/2 (normal) + 3 (1 auto,2 friend) = 33 hunt * 100% exp = 33

Setup 2 -> 1 hour = 60/3 (normal) + 3 (1 auto,2 friend) = 23 hunt * 130% exp = 29.9

And thus the winner is Setup 1 ! 

But it doesn't mean lower cooldown is better all the time. Consider Setup 3 with 5 min cooldown, no pet trainer and Setup 4 with 6 min cooldown, 30% pet trainer. Now perform the same counting method, 

Setup 3 -> 1 hour = 60/5 + 3 = 15 hunt* 100% exp = 15

Setup 4 -> 1hour = 60/6 + 3 = 13 hunt * 130% exp = 16.9

The winner here is Setup 4, which have longer cooldown !

You see that it really depends on both aspects, so calculate yours wisely !

-Some terms that will be used-

Fake-raw setup : using a raw setup whose raw is deliberately set lower than the raw needed to catch some/all ghosts in that area
Very low-mystic setup : as the name suggests, using a setup with very low or even zero mystic

Provided these knowledge, let's see what you can do to optimize your "companion levelling setup" for each type of traps to the max. Note that Mighty Chrono Crystal (-2 t/sc) and Cosmic Agent (-1 t/sc)  is a must to own before thinking of doing these tricks (Keep in mind we have a start CD of 12 min now). Most of the non-donators setup mentioned would be without Pet trainer contracts since most of them have no reduced CD (except The Chairman).

Mechanism : Magic Maze ( -2 t/sc)
Magic Circle : BDB (-1 t/sc)
Bait : Nessy (-5 t/sc)
Contract : CW (-2 t/sc)
It's natural to use Nessy as Arcane's strong point is high mystic. This setup is already a well defined 2 min setup.

Mechanism : Lucky Rabbit ?
Contract : EPH (-2 t/sc)

Using bio is not really a smart move. Bio setup is meant for hunting Monster ghost, so the best option possible is to use Lucky Rabbit + EPH + Nessy + BDB to reach a CD of 4 min (not counting companion). You can use those with high loot multiplier such as Pixie/Lepre as it synchronizes well to rob as much loot as possible from those Monsters.

Mechanism : Addictive PC Game / Slapping Machine (-2 t/sc)
Magic Circle : Lava Lamp / Neon Light (-2 t/sc)
Contract : Nurse Chapham / PAZ (-2 t/sc)

We already have a CD of 6 minutes without counting bait and companions at the moment. This is the easiest way to use a very low-mystic,fake-raw setup since by its nature, high tech mechanism lacks of mystic power. For instance, you might want to use Nightcap + PAZ around R4, in which your raw is greatly insufficient but you'll catch some from your additional mystic only. If you think about it, there's even a naive way of using Nessy + any companion to reach 2 min and make sure you use Nurse to prevent any ghosts from drinking your Nessy; you'll earn no exp and money though in return. And of course you can upgrade your contract to BDH (-3 t/sc) for a faster alternative and extra loot multiplier.

Mechanism : Timewarper / Danse Macabre (-2 t/sc)

Magic Circle : Lava Lamp / Neon Light (-2 t/sc)
Contract : Selena Darkblade (-2 t/sc)

The fastest type of setup we have at the moment. By upgrading your mechanism to Timewarper Platinum Edition (-3 t/sc) and contract to SHQ (-3 t/sc), you reach an awesome CD of 4 minutes without even counting bait and companions. It means you just need to reduce only 2 more min to get the minimal CD ! One notable setup is by using Danse + Neon in Cemetery/Morgue, you will have 100% rate of catching Witch and Stagecoach ghost (while hardly catching other ghosts) to fill up your GP & CCF stock quickly.

ONLY FOR DONATORS
You might have the Ice Crystal (-1 t/sc) at the moment, so you can reach 2 min cooldown even by using some Pet Trainer contract. For instance, you can modify CW -> The Chairman if you're using the arcane setup or Traditional setup with Silverstar Purple + a special incubated companion to farm a lot of GTP while levelling.  And if you have some donated companions, at least you'll have another reduced time of 1 min, so things are getting more flexible for you to modify your contract.  Some of you might even have Peter's Plasma crunchies for additional pet trainer attribute but personally I don't think it's worthy enough to spend $20 just for levelling a companion.

If you can reach 2 min cooldown while training your companions, let's see how long it takes to raise one companion. Assuming you actively hunt about 200 per day + (2-3)*24(auto+friend hunts) means about 250-300 per day. Your beloved companions will grow up from zero to max in about 2-3 weeks. Not to mention if you can hunt more than 400 daily or if you have non-donator Whelps, you can do the same thing as changing your contract to those with Pet trainer attribute, and it will be even faster than that.

You see all the possibilities, and I'm sure you can decide yourself what's best for your current condition given these hints. Of course the next thing to do after your companion reach level 5 is to augment them, but I will pause for a moment now. Will resume this issue in the next part of "All about companion - Part 2 : Augmentations" about 2 weeks from now since I'll be having some business abroad until 20.

A bit teaser. Below is an edited picture of full-augmented Emerald Whelp Dragon, one of the best augmentations I've had so far.

Can you guess what are the 3 augmentations ?  I'll give the choice of 50 Nessy's Golden Reserve or 1 million GTP for anyone answering correctly. Just mention your answer and facebook profile in the comment box below. I'll put the original picture in the next post for proof =)

Thanks for reading and happy trapping !