Vocational and leadership training quests suggestions?

Hello!

I don't know if this is the right forum, it's not a guide but rather a request for a guide.

There are two main quests: "Vocational training" and "Leadership training" that requires you to, respectively:
"Invest at least 11 Codex(s) into a single geologist" and "Invest at least 6 Codex(s) into a single general"

Are there any good guides or suggestions that fit this for any geo or gen without being wasteful?
My thougts below:
The main drawback is that there is to much "gap" between codex skills so if you need to focus on codex it seems like you have to take things that don't work together and not take tomes that does work.
For geo:
1. Charmed geologist:
He specialise in iron and salpeter so it has some potential. The best I can get is:
___
|100|
|013| Codex
|033|
|030| Tome
|003|
|233|Manuscript
|3X3|

So first two rows, just fill up to get to the next level. Then row 3 you take 3 "Two iron in one" followed by 3 "Tendentious geologist". Then the rest needs to be codex. 3 "Iron mining surplus", 3 "Ore collector" and 1 "Lucky find" are easy. Lucky find could be replaced by any other row 7 but I think it's the best for at least one geo. But that means you waste 4 codex on completely useless traits. I gues that's an ok price, but are there any better geo builds out there?
For gen:
I'm really not great at designing gens, but for a main I prefer to skill up "first aid" and "juggernaut" most times. Maybe sprint is better, but I feel that it doesn't change the outcome, it only saves some time (but I'm patient :)). With codex in general I feel it's very hard. I have never seen much use of "Confident leader", have I misunderstood it? Feels extremely situational. So if you're gonna max codex you kind of only have 4 skills to choose from: "Cleave", "Weekly maintenance", "Garrison annex" and one of the top ones.
For Ghost gen I have considered the following:
_____
|1000| Codex
|3020|
|0320| Tome
|0230|
|0230| Manuscript

I skip out on sprint because if I play single then the time to wait is ok, I can just move other gens or jump back to main while waiting. "First aid" and "Juggernaut" plays to her strength a bit more, esp. first aid. "Overrun" I'm not so sure about, maybe better to make a ranged version with marksman? "Hostile takeover" is always nice to get some extra troops "for free", especially with a main who you expect to win every fight. "Navigation crash course" feels wasteful when she already gets there in 10 mins, 3 books to get down to 5,5 mins? That's like 1 minute per book. Maybe worth it if you play lots of multiplayer. "Battle frenzy" is super nice in general, and for ghost even more so with the extra hp meaning her troops survives more rounds -> more + to damage. "Fast learner" is always nice since one of the main goals of doing adventures is to get xp. "Just a flesh wound" feels very wasteful when she has a free 1-up and naturally 1 hour revive, is it worth it to get it down to half an hour? In this build no since it's goes against the plan to survive most fights. But then comes the codex: "Cleave" I thought could be good cause the extra hp is even stronger when you use elites. But I'm just lvl 54 and just started to get elites so I'm not sure. "Garrison annex" is just a "why not?" but with a built in lvl 3 of that skill already I don't know, the percentage increase is not huge: 215->225.

Does anyone have other/better suggestions for geologist and general builds that lets you pass these main quests with minimal waste?

If you want to minimize the waste dont bother doing the main quests because they dont reward anything worthwile.

Especially when it comes to geos, where the skill tree is really outdated.

Cleave skill is for Elite soldiers only, it gives no bonus to the higher level Elite troops from the Elite Barracks.

Cleave should NOT be used in any skill sets. unless you really wanna fool around


take a look at this one and do as you like

Thank you for the tips, JohnRo79 and Dorotheus, I did not know that cleave was that bad! Well, at least that limits the viable options a bit.
And well, you have point sparkz, but I'm very much the completionist: unfinished quests are an eye-sore and need to be dealt with, no matter the cost! I just prefer the cost to be as low as possible. :)

I hear you on wanting the quests complete. Here is one idea to finish both the Artisanry (10 Tomes) and Vocational Training (11 Codex) quests complete with a single Geo. (If I have to screw up a Geo to finish these quests, I want it to be only one!)

I haven't implemented this plan yet, so am looking forward to hearing any comments.

Need 11 Codex in Geo
Need 10 Tomes

Archeological Geo specializes in: Coal Gold Granite Titanium Salt

I have mine searching for Coal, but we have some opportunities for Gold also, so we strongly prefer Coal and give extras to Gold when possible.

First 10 manuscripts are needed to unlock the Tome level. I slightly prefer Stone/Marble since those run out so fast, anyone can search for them.
3 Hidden stone
2 Natural copper
3 Natural Stone vein
2 Two marble in one

The remaining 21 books must be 10 tomes and 11 Codices.

Nothing on the first tome tier applies to this geo, so let's give
3 Natural marble vein
2 Two iron in one
.. just to unlock the next tier, where things get more interesting.

3 Tendenicious to reduce search time for coal
2 Quality coal mineshafts

That finishes the tomes. We miss one tome in Quality coal mineshafts, but that's this stupid quest for you.

Codices:

3 Hidden coal stash
2 Natural gold vein
3 Two coal in one

Now we have a choice between gold and titanium for the last tomes.

1 more Natural gold vein
1 Quality gold mineshafts
Then either Nature's gift or Natural born digger.

Here's my proposal to screw up one of your Ghost generals to finish the Leadership training quests. You should have two or three of them by now and surely one is expendable.

The quest chain needs, in one general:
5 manuscripts
10 tomes
6 Codex in general

They don't have to be the same general as we know, but let's just go with it. If we regret it later, we only have one general to reset books on.

One of her best abilities is her travel time. So let's think about co-ops and loading her up with Elites.

So if we like that idea, we can split five manuscripts between First Aid (save those Elites, maybe), Juggernaut, and Jog.

3 in First Aid
2 in Jog. Why not Jug? Juggernaut really didn't move the needle that much and we're valuing speed. But usually I prefer to send from landing zone whenever possible and get on to other things, so you could go either way.

5/21 books done, 16 left. Must be 10 tomes and 6 codices.

For tomes:

3 Overrun
Let's skip hostile takeover; we are all swimming in recruits already.
Between Nav and Sniper training, Nav plays to her strengths.
2 in Nav opens up the next tier.

Battle frenzy is an interesting idea for this general since she is last strike. She's not that useful if she dies before the last strike phase. So let's put at least one on battle frenzy.

The wiki guides use 3 unstoppable charge for her skills, so if that is important to you, that's where 3 more tomes should go. I haven't found that many useful places to use a last strike general with first strike units -- but am looking forward to learning about some if there are camps where it makes sense.

So 2 more on battle frenzy leaves us with 2 more to spend.

1 to finish off Nav, then one in either Sniper or Fast learner. Can't see using a lot of bows with this one, so let's go with Fast learner.

Now the codex tier is open and all remaining 6 books need to go there.

She's already got 7s rounds so spending a book to save 1 second per round seems a little silly.

So here's where cleave actually gets a little interesting. A ghost loaded up with elites and cleave can destroy a ww.

3 cleave
2 garrison annex
1 master planner

And now this general can destroy a WW super-fast by chaining camps, losing ~282-ish Elites while allowing you to daydream and get on with other things, since there's no thinking involved. We're not trying to save troops; we're trying to get it done fast.

I really don't enjoy skilling up generals -- so I'm sure there are better ideas out there and I'd love to hear about them and where I may have gone wrong.

I tried a few situations with Jug and Lightning slash but nothing really seemed to make a lot of sense. But that'd be something to look into as well.

And last, you didn't ask this but just to be complete. My idea to screw up one of your explorers to finish Maturation, needing

5 Manuscripts
10 Tome (wiki says 5, is wrong)
6 Codex

Designing for adventure searches rather than treasure, but keeping treasure for events:

|1000| Codex
|0203|
|0203| Tome
|0032|
|3002| Manuscript

Those were some good points Fuseboy! My explorer was very similar, for Intrepid I skilled similarly:
|1000|
|0302|
|0203|
|0030|
|3013|
I haven't found a good use for Ghost yet but she does seem very intersting and there should be some very unique value she could add. For general I went with a grinding Steadfast in the end:
|1000|
|0302|
|0320|
|0103|
|0303|
I use her mostly for low level adventures, like 2-5 in level or so. Due to her high hp she can really just tank many rounds so I have built around that. Give her 1 recruit and send her to the uttermost camp you can click on and let her grind away. The juggernaut works well on her, it increases base damage by 60 %. Add Battle Frenzy to the fact that she can easily survive 10-12 rounds on most low level camps and that 160-260 flanking damage will soon grow to quite the pounding. The lightning slash adds an extra attack, so doubling the output. The good thing about that is also that every round you hit harder and the enemies hit weaker, so they have diminishing returns on the rounds. The best thing is that her strength is the 10 000 (!) hp, and when chained those hp will reset every fight. So 1 recruit can give you like 70 000 hp for the enemies to grind through if you chain 7 camps. I also ended upp adding confident leader, mostly because she's built around fighting many many rounds so then, if ever, it makes a difference. Garrison Annex felt a bit of a waste when she can already stack 220 units, 235 isn't that big of a difference.

Nice, thanks for sharing that and the thought that went behind it. Well done!