manuscript recipe from letters

Still no manuscript recipe here. Around 10+ tries.

At lv53 I was getting the easily doable "settlers&bandits" and only that. I did quite a few of those. At least 4 I think, before it pushed me to lv54. Then the game got obnoxious. It starts throwing at me almost only the codex construction "the lost compass" and only by some chance also "a threat". Game refuses to give me from lv54 any easy doable "settlers&bandits". So I got smart and started doing both "the lost compass" and "a threat" side by side, so buying 1 ali ls will cover them both. This way I spent doing 6 letter quests... Each time dropping me 2x 50 gems, despite me opening these mystery boxes one right after the other. I am lv55 (doing two letter quests in same time drops 1m+ xp each time) and soon I will be only on those quests alone lv57 and still no manuscript recipe in sight.

What is wrong with RNG in this game? Logging in and playing at various hours of day or night DOES NOT HELP moving this RNG a single bit differently. It feels like glued on for some reason. It reminds me like for 1 year at least I couldn't get return to bandit nest from bandit nest adventure, though I was doing them almost daily and even more during events.

Not to mention the undiscovered bugs with "randomness" like the "small islands sector gem-spender" bug, where "Lucky Find" stops working on iron deposits for unlucky people spending gems in this game on purchasing game-items. Is it maybe a bug? Buying some sectors on island for gems instead of beans disables the manuscript recipe in mysterious box as well? What is going on? Why I cant find neither the extra iron deposit to place industrial iron mine for last 6 months (and I need to find it just once) or find the manuscript recipe (10+ tries already)? I have like little over 1m xp left to lv56. Surely letter quests are huge xp boosts, but this is not why I even bothering with them... I would be happy at my lowly lv53... but with manuscript recipe! :P

This feels sooooo salty... and depressing. :( Oh well, lv57 here I come... :)

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Originally Posted by The_Sarmatian

Still no manuscript recipe here. Around 10+ tries.

At lv53 I was getting the easily doable "settlers&bandits" and only that. I did quite a few of those. At least 4 I think, before it pushed me to lv54. Then the game got obnoxious. It starts throwing at me almost only the codex construction "the lost compass" and only by some chance also "a threat". Game refuses to give me from lv54 any easy doable "settlers&bandits". So I got smart and started doing both "the lost compass" and "a threat" side by side, so buying 1 ali ls will cover them both. This way I spent doing 6 letter quests... Each time dropping me 2x 50 gems, despite me opening these mystery boxes one right after the other. I am lv55 (doing two letter quests in same time drops 1m+ xp each time) and soon I will be only on those quests alone lv57 and still no manuscript recipe in sight.

What is wrong with RNG in this game? Logging in and playing at various hours of day or night DOES NOT HELP moving this RNG a single bit differently. It feels like glued on for some reason. It reminds me like for 1 year at least I couldn't get return to bandit nest from bandit nest adventure, though I was doing them almost daily and even more during events.

Not to mention the undiscovered bugs with "randomness" like the "small islands sector gem-spender" bug, where "Lucky Find" stops working on iron deposits for unlucky people spending gems in this game on purchasing game-items. Is it maybe a bug? Buying some sectors on island for gems instead of beans disables the manuscript recipe in mysterious box as well? What is going on? Why I cant find neither the extra iron deposit to place industrial iron mine for last 6 months (and I need to find it just once) or find the manuscript recipe (10+ tries already)? I have like little over 1m xp left to lv56. Surely letter quests are huge xp boosts, but this is not why I even bothering with them... I would be happy at my lowly lv53... but with manuscript recipe! :P

This feels sooooo salty... and depressing. :( Oh well, lv57 here I come... :)

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1 The time of day has nothing to do with RNG.
2 You can not buy sector deeds with gems, beans are the only way.

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What is wrong with RNG in this game? Logging in and playing at various hours of day or night DOES NOT HELP moving this RNG a single bit differently. It feels like glued on for some reason. It reminds me like for 1 year at least I couldn't get return to bandit nest from bandit nest adventure, though I was doing them almost daily and even more during events.

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The hint is in the name ... RNG ... random number generator. Results will not depend on time of day you log in or anything else for that matter. It's called variance. Sometimes we are on the right side of variance and sometimes we are not. All we can do is suck it up.

Play poker for a year and you'll understand all about variance.

7 tries for me without success, I finally got a Palace from princess adv (4% chance) so maybe things are looking up :)

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Originally Posted by Dorotheus

1 The time of day has nothing to do with RNG.
2 You can not buy sector deeds with gems, beans are the only way.

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2. Yes, You can. 3 entire sectors actually. Exclusively with gems. Trust me, you are wrong. Check yourself: Merchant -> Black Market -> 3495 _gems_ Island Deed. Limit of 3.

1. Yes, It can. Weather conditions over Europe can vary with day time.

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Originally Posted by Xibor

random.org is headed by Dr Mads Haahr, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland - this according to their web page. According to their site they use some factor of atmospheric noise to determine the random number instead of the typical programmed way (again more on that later). I wouldn't understand the science of the picking up of atmospheric noise and turning it into a seed value for a random formula but conceptually it sounds more random than how it's normally done.

I could only find one blog about someone saying that generator is skewed. They generated some numbers between 1 and 10 and kept track of the results. They found some numbers picked more than others.

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Originally Posted by fishybreath

The hint is in the name ... RNG ... random number generator. Results will not depend on time of day you log in or anything else for that matter. It's called variance. Sometimes we are on the right side of variance and sometimes we are not. All we can do is suck it up.

Play poker for a year and you'll understand all about variance.

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Unless... RNG is weather based... Right? Plus nothing else explains why sometimes the RNG gets glued for some players to the same % of chance for longer periods of time.

This with chance for "lost compass"... It feels like 50% if not 60% and it seems to affect other people, who do not find the manuscript recipe in their lucky 1st-3rd try.

BTW after writing my comment I found after months my first "settlers&bandits"... It also happened in the very moment when most of my explorers started returning a mass. Strange. Right?

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Originally Posted by The_Sarmatian

2. Yes, You can. 3 entire sectors actually. Exclusively with gems. Trust me, you are wrong. Check yourself: Merchant -> Black Market -> 3495 _gems_ Island Deed. Limit of 3.

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That's island deeds not sector deeds.

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Originally Posted by The_Sarmatian

1. Yes, It can. Weather conditions over Europe can vary with day time.

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According to certain progressions, if it was random you could not have weather reports. Your confusing variation with random. If it starts cold and ends up hot the tempreture progresses from cold to hot, if it goes from 12 to 18 you will know between those two point you will have 13,14,15,16,17 in strict order, if it was random it might go 12,15,13,13,17,16,18.

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Originally Posted by The_Sarmatian

Unless... RNG is weather based... Right? Plus nothing else explains why sometimes the RNG gets glued for some players to the same % of chance for longer periods of time.

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Read what that quote says again, It says that particular site uses atmospheric noise, it does not say weather. You see atmospheric and think weather, the noise could be the sound or something else which may have nothing to do with the weather at all. Some Servers rely on the tiny temperature variations of the CPU's. If our servers are like that then our collective activities in game are responsible for the results of the random results.

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Originally Posted by Dorotheus

That's island deeds not sector deeds.

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It still buys new sectors on small island. It does. How can I convince you it does? You spend gems on Island Deed and apply exactly like Sector Deed, which you bought for beans, and you get a new sector. Trust me. I got them all 3. I know what I am writing about.

Well, atmospheric noise... What it can be... Wild guess... Weather? Have a looksie at random.org. Do they exclude weather conditions entirely? Are you 100% sure? Plus there exist already a blog claiming this RNG is skewed... without TSO being involved even remotely.

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Originally Posted by Peccatora

21 tries and still no recipe... I have to say it starts getting frustrating, especially when I hear that so many got it after just one or two attempts. Would be nice if that was a bit more evenly distributed. I don't mind having random drops with stuff like buildings, decoration or follow-ups, but when it comes to things that are important for the game (especially with the general skill tree coming...) such a random drop rate is....well I'm not allowed to swear here lol

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Completely agree! I've done dozens of them & still no recipe. I can't move on to the evil queen even though I'm lvl 58 now. Seems like such a major event for gameplay should be more evenly distributed.

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Originally Posted by shasnas

Completely agree! I've done dozens of them & still no recipe. I can't move on to the evil queen even though I'm lvl 58 now. Seems like such a major event for gameplay should be more evenly distributed.

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You could if you wanted too, no one says you have to get the recipe before starting on the evil queen campaign. It's a choice. :)

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Originally Posted by Areop-Enap

You could if you wanted too, no one says you have to get the recipe before starting on the evil queen campaign. It's a choice. :)

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Exactly. I've been putting crystals in both now I'm 58. Use the starcoins to buy gems and sell the recruitment guide buff.

I'm 0 for 12 or so attempts. Diwata however was lucky (as she usually is) and got it 3rd try.

got the manu & tome on 1st try's, lost count now how many times i've tried for the codex from travel guides

Did smth happened to the Paperwork Guide spawn rate? I spent more than 150 crystals and never once i got the Paperwork Guide buff...

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Originally Posted by Nameless_one

Did smth happened to the Paperwork Guide spawn rate? I spent more than 150 crystals and never once i got the Paperwork Guide buff...

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Not that I've noticed - I get them fairly often

20+ boxes and no joy here.. I'm also at he point now where I should be farming 'Book' content so I've had to give up sadly. Oh well!

I'm wondering how many players are as frustrated as I am over the manuscript recipe. Most players seem to get it within 1-3 tries, but there are some accounts that seem to be locked out of it. I've had 40+ tries with no recipe and I see that other players are in the same exasperating situation.
But this issue is different from other "random drop" situations. Bad loot from an adventure doesn't affect game play that much, but excelsior is a major source of game content for upper level players. It was (it appears) a break from the endless grinding of the same adventures to level up. In addition, it takes months, maybe years to book explorers with only the bookbinder. Recipes from long letters and books should solve that issue. But in order to make codexes, you need to burn through a massive number of manuscripts. So without the manu recipe, the tome & codex recipes are ineffective. Bottom line, players need to get the manuscript recipe before progressing on to books. Even if you elect to move on to evil queen for a while you will still have to return to long letters at some point to get the manu recipe.
How can BB not see how frustrating this is for players? Why spend so much time developing game content, only to have a significant portion of the content be inaccessible because of an issue that shouldn't exist. Let the evil queen drop manuscript recipes if you don't have it already, or put an upper limit on how many long letter quests you have to complete before you get it automatically. Either BB doesn't play the game, or they aren't paying attention to the frustration of upper level players in the forums.
Excelsior affects too much upper level game play to be an RNG drop. Every day you complete the quests & get crystals, so you're getting mahogany logs while the players who moved on to books are getting star coins. That's a big difference in loot. And most of the quests you do will be dictated by excelsior content. So if you can't get the manu recipe, it will be a daily frustration. And after 40-50 tries, it will become infuriating. Why lose high level players over sth that shouldn't be random in the first place? Loot should be random, but access to a major portion of game content shouldn't be.
We play video games to relax & have fun. If there's an issue which is a daily source of irritation, even though a minor one, it pushes people to other games. I've found myself playing settlers less & less over the last month or so. I only do an adventure when I have enough letter frags to get another quest, & I'm sure that wasn't the intention of the excelsior content.
I'm urging players to express how frustrating the issue is and BB to fix the issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'll be checking out other city sim games that don't seem to be quite as dedicated to irritating upper level players.

I'm running up to 30+ myself, its getting a bit on my nerves tbh.
Perhaps the chance of getting it should go up a tiny amount with each successive fail.

You barking up the wrong tree if u think BB will budge about this. It is pure intentional by them to get high level players to spend real money on gems to buy crystals.
Yes its a corrupt system, but its not worth quitting over, Ive had 8 attempts without being tempted to buy gems for crystal, I know I will never get it so Ive moved on to books/travel guides.
After gathering much info from players who got it within 3 tries, it seems if u got an island comparable to an Aldi/Lidl budget u will get it quickly. If your island is more Harrod's stature u got no chance, lol.

Certainly not something worth quitting over. I got the recipe on about 12th go but I have only bothered using it twice out of interest.

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If your island is more Harrod's stature u got no chance

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id like to think my map was on a par with harrods and i got it 1st go so it really is luck :)

46-47+ tries here and I'm not quitting the game over that, it's just one small part of the game.

Well 30tries here but is ok...., i try to get Mimiron's Head from 2009 so no hurry with this manuscript.

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Originally Posted by MutantKid

You barking up the wrong tree if u think BB will budge about this. It is pure intentional by them to get high level players to spend real money on gems to buy crystals.
Yes its a corrupt system, but its not worth quitting over, Ive had 8 attempts without being tempted to buy gems for crystal, I know I will never get it so Ive moved on to books/travel guides.
After gathering much info from players who got it within 3 tries, it seems if u got an island comparable to an Aldi/Lidl budget u will get it quickly. If your island is more Harrod's stature u got no chance, lol.

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You might be right-it could be based on sth like that, or how often you've spent gems. Personally, I think they do it to test content. Lock a few accounts out of an important reward & see how many buy gems vs how many quit. If enough accounts spend gems on it, it's a big win for them, though frustrating for the players.

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Originally Posted by LordBosse

46-47+ tries here and I'm not quitting the game over that, it's just one small part of the game.

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Maybe it's not worth quitting over, but it means grinding ali baba/wood cutter over and over, when I'd rather go on to the book content. And the rewards for the long letters are much worse than the book rewards (star coins). So it's sth that comes up every day.

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Originally Posted by lordloocan

Certainly not something worth quitting over. I got the recipe on about 12th go but I have only bothered using it twice out of interest.

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I would use it a lot though- I have 8 savage scouts with no books. Not to mention that the other books recipes are worthless without the manuscript recipe.

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Originally Posted by whitewolf69

id like to think my map was on a par with harrods and i got it 1st go so it really is luck :)

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It could also be a glitch. For some accounts that didn't get it soon, the game thinks your account already has the recipe. Perhaps it's not really ath nefarious on their part, but such a significant reward should have been an achievement, not a random drop.

I agree that the luck element is frustrating.
I got mine pretty quickly and since then I have made loads of manuscripts. The first 250 I left in star menu till I needed some so I would estimate that I have made in excess of 500. Thats a pretty hefty uplift against someone at the same level, with similar island and game style. An unfair advantage? YES! Especially when it comes to maxing explorers and scouts to take advantage of event explorer finds.

Its why i do not like the gambling aspect in these games. It adds nothing to the game, and causes many to become frustrated. If we must have the luck element then I think the manuscript and others should capped, so you get it after say attempt 15 no matter what.

I'm on my 22nd try and getting pretty fed up with it... if BB wont budge about making it more fair, then I will do the same and not spend a cent on buying crystals... I'll do other stuff in the game and from time to time try again.

I know this isn't the propoer place but the new 15 minute rule in trade also stinks... after so many great things they have done recently I guess some bad things were bound to happen in other to balance things out.

I'm on my 22nd try... a bit fed up with it myself... no spending money on crystals because this is rather unfair of them to do this to certain players. There could be limits to the number of unsuccessfull attemps or at the very least increment a better chance of getting them with each new try as somebody stated a bit further back in the thread.

Just an other off topic... the new 15 minute rule in trade isn't one of my favorite new inventions either.

What 15 min trade rule ?

Quitting? Those quests do give you like 500k xp and 500 grout each. So no, I do not think so. I am after doing 12+ letter quests now and still no manuscript recipe. :(

However when you get the pestilential compass letter quest once or twice in a row every single time you try to gamble this stupid rnd system to get another but doable letter quest is excruciatingly irritating. I am stack with 5 useless compass craps in my star menu and tbh many times by now I was so irritated that if they were "x" deletable I would erase them from my star menu in a feat of rage. The compass has 50%-66% chance of being found and I think BB silently rigged it this way.

For 6 months I tried finding extra iron deposit. Sending geo with "lucky find" almost on daily basis after iron deposits. No extra iron deposit found. This is like what... 180+ days?
The rng spits out compass quest letter at 50%-66% rate for me. I have 5 compass items in my star menu right now. Though I did 2-3 by now they are utterly undoable for long long time for me.
For 1 entire year I could not get return from bandit nest in loot and I was doing bandit nests almost daily. Still all people claim loot from adventures is fine, but not to my experience.

So it is just almost normal and regular for me why after 12+ tries I still cant obtain the manuscript recipe. Plus the 500k xp and 500 grout does sweet it out. Just another day with the TSO rng for me. Though if there are no bugs affecting all this rng stuff I wrote about, then rng in TSO has to be rigged, doesn't it. It is hilariously improbable why rng so firmly roles negative odds against me day after day, years after years in this game. Maybe rng works fine for other peoples, but it never worked fine for me on TSO for some reason.

49-50 tries and still no Manuscript recipe, am getting bitter now...

There IS a SECRET to getting the recipe.

( personally I have a feeling that even BB are not aware of it - if they are then that's a good sign that they have stopped dumbing down the game and giving everything away for little effort or thought. )

Remember the achievement that required us to gain {not 100% sure of exact wording} 15 marble mines but there was only 14 possible ? Then BB TOLD us how to do it by upgrading geologist with books to find the extra mine !! For this reason I believe BB don't even know or they would be spilling the magic beans already :)

Happy hunting.

Gee I must have been blessed, I got it on the first go around :)

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Originally Posted by Grimhurst

There IS a SECRET to getting the recipe.

( personally I have a feeling that even BB are not aware of it - if they are then that's a good sign that they have stopped dumbing down the game and giving everything away for little effort or thought. )

Remember the achievement that required us to gain {not 100% sure of exact wording} 15 marble mines but there was only 14 possible ? Then BB TOLD us how to do it by upgrading geologist with books to find the extra mine !! For this reason I believe BB don't even know or they would be spilling the magic beans already :)

Happy hunting.

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So if there 'IS A' secret as you are suggesting, what is it? It's not really making any sense...

Quitting over something that has been running what, a few months? I've been trying for a building from an adventure for years now, sometimes doing the adventure 3 times a day (a lot for a basic island like mine), but still no building. I keep, every now and then, getting a few blue flowers. Perhaps BB have stopped the building . . . who knows, who cares i will keep trying perhaps I should quit . . .

Firstly, just deal with random. It is what it is. Ask any hardcore gambler.
Secondly, it's rather expensive to use so not the fantastic bonus it seems. Much better in Bookbinder.
Thirdly, I don't have it yet either but the wife Diwata got it third try. She doesn't use it though because she doesn't like the cost and the time it ties up the provision house.

So I would suggest not overthinking it and just keep playing. It will happen when it happens. There are many other things worthy of focusing on.

Another player who is frustrated at not getting the manuscript recipe, and to add salt to the wound, getting the quest that requires a Codex to be completed, but 50 gems are nice ;)

And another Lost Compass to add to the list. :(

Taken a month to complete another failed Lost Compass. :(

And another to add to the list :(