Papayas
Last run, I went with papayas the first time that got the adventure in the palindrome. I didn’t need the +spell damage at level 11, but the +2 stats was nice. I get 3 papayas, and each papaya makes 3 potions (for 9 total). they also last 15 turns, which is 135 turns of +1.1 mainstat (~148 total). I’d get 111 main stat from giving the men a pep talk, so I need to get 102 combats to make it worthwhile, which is very doable. Going with papayas twice is not, as i would need 203 turns to make it worthwhile.
Stat showers
I get 3 showers per run. My gut is telling me that 50 turns of +5% stat gain is more worthwhile than (up to) 1000 MP, or 3-4 shards of ice. It’s easier to think about if I work backwards
Day 3
I typically save the pyramid for flyering and then run my +item bonuses on tomb rats and filthworms. So at level 12, my only non-combats are from setting up Ed, and starting the war. I’m also running lots of +ML to help with flyering, and have had 3 days worth of time to gather +stat stuff. It’s a really easy choice, I need to start the war, set up Ed, and then get the stat shower before I fight him.
Day 2
Moon leveling is the obvious choice here. I’m going to spend 30 turns on the moon, so I’m not sure if I should I time the shower so it runs out when I finish on the moon or just get it before I start. The value of combats are pretty low before and after, so it probably doesn’t matter.
Day 1
This is actually pretty tough. My highest value combats are nightstands, and I’m in a desperate rush to get to level 6. I have a lot of (statless) non-combats to slog though too. If I use it for the bedroom while running bugbear and aria at level 5, I’m getting 60 ML, ~+7.3 mainstats and fighting monsters worth about 20.3 mainstat – so +5% is worth +1.7 extra mainstat. This will work out to an extra turn’s worth of stats, which isn’t great but not bad considering the alternatives are the cranny (ML~+130) for the ~3ish turns I’m in there, or postponing the shower until the end of the day seem lackluster as don’t need the stats as badly at that point. A stat shower when I get into the billards room, or possibly the library seems like the best option. I’m not hurting for MP too badly and my max MP is rather low (200ish, if I recall) so the MP option is very terrible.
The very best I could do is use a stat shower before using a clover, as this gives 300*.05=15 extra mainstat per turn. The shower is always going to save me about 2 turns of the average stat value for the 50 turns I’m using it in (50*.05=2.5), so it’s clearly better to use it when powerleveling when stat gains are high rather than a typical combats when stat gains are negligible.
Other things
I overshot level 13 last run, but barely made lv 12 without poweleveling, which is weird. Obviously, I need to dedicate some +stat resources for doing level 11, and save less for level 12. This is tricky because I am using a fairy for most of level 11 (ketchup hound, drum machine, dusty bottles, and hoping for mojo filters and guitars), and further complicated by needing various non-combats (making +stat buffs less effective). I may try not looking for the guitar and mojo filter, as these never seem to drop and I have plenty of pulls on day 3 anyway.
