After a few more runs, my results. Max gun, no boost: 22 days. Max boost, no gun: 22 days. Max gun and boost, mid-level engine and tranny, 3/4 fuel: 21 days.
Ok, here's my theory: It's a different driver every day, when he runs out of gas the zombies eat him. The guy at the car lot takes a tow truck out to get the car and bring it back, then collects the video from the cameras hidden in the car and sells it on Amazon. The profits are the next driver's budget for upgrades. Once a driver has gotten the semi and maxed it out, all the video sales after that are pure profit.
For those arguing the merits of boost vs. guns, my best game without using boost on any of my vehicles was 22 days. My best without using guns was 28 days, might be able to get that down to 24 with more practice.
Ok, I'm going to say it. I like the changes from Crusade. Sure, it was nice being able to buy crafting skills and resources, but face it, it broke the game. All you had to do was grind the Dungeon of Mystery until you had enough money, then you could craft a weapon that would one-hit every monster in the game.
The defense quests have the most improvement, and I like that weapons have additional tactical abilities. The fact that area affect attacks can hurt your own troops add an extra bit of challenge.
Looks like some of the underlying equations have been tweaked. Tactics is keeping pace with the other skills better than it used to. In Crusade, the only way to get it much above 300 was to change weapon types.
@themastercheif.... Need healing potions? You can get those through the defense quests Protect My Puppy and Orcish Attack. Or make them, even with no skill in Artistry or Alchemy you should have a 60% chance of making a Healing Potion or a 45% chance for a Major Healing Potion. Recipes can be found in various places online. Need money? Defense quests are a good way to get some cash, or you can craft some of the simpler items and sell them. Want to cash in more loot? Take a Sack of Sending into the dungeon. I invest in that even before I get either of the last 2 backpack upgrades. Using a Sack of Sending also boosts your Mysticism skill. There is also a way to use crafting to get infinite money, but it requires a combined Artistry and Tailoring skills of 1400, and Bargaining near or at 1000.
There is a fairly simple way to get Tactics up into the mid-700s. When Tactics hits about 250 (or when you've maxed out the weapon skill), change to a different weapon type. Then at around 500, switch to the third weapon type.
Yep, hellthing, it's just you. In all the time this game has been up here, no one has ever noticed that rug before. And certainly no one has ever commented on it.
@likodoido.... I do that too, but I figured that was a longer grind than zen0 was looking for. You can speed it up some with a high Skill Gain stat, but it still takes a while. In fact, I keep a second set of equipment in my storehouse that has high Learning bonuses but isn't good enough for dungeon crawling that I equip just to bump up my Bargaining and crafting skills. The Vampire Hat, of course, I keep equipped full time.
@zen0... If you have enough money, you can buy the books to get your Alchemy and Artistry skills up to 1000, then google the recipe for Oil of Polishing. Each Oil of Polishing you use adds +1 normal Protection to a random item you have equipped. Just make sure you have something in every equipment slot.
Ok, I did a little experiment. I equipped the gear I had with the best learning bonuses (Skill Gain of 61% total). Then I went to the shop and repeatedly bought and sold the basic spellbook until my Bargaining skill increased enough that my Sell/Buy rates went from 40%/110% to 75%/75%. That cost me around 6000 gold. With the change in Bargaining skill, the cost of enough skill books to raise a crafting skill from 50 to 1000 went from almost 35000 down to just over 24000. So, that 6000 cost saves almost 11000 just to increase one skill. So, if you want to build a great weapon, boost its damage, and raise your hit points, protection rating, and Mana points, that means boosting your Blacksmith, Alchemy, Cooking, and Artistry skills. That means spending that 6000 first (or maybe 10000 if your learning bonus isn't that high) will save well over 40000 later.
 "Earn to Die"){kind=icon}
 "Arkandian Revenant"){kind=icon}
 "Edmus"){kind=icon}
 "Sieger: Level Pack"){kind=icon}
 "Cursed Treasure: Level Pack!"){kind=icon}
 "Critter Forge"){kind=icon}
 "Arkandian Crusade"){kind=icon}