How do you keep track of your Immortalized characters?
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I'm almost at 270 immortals but haven't been keeping track of them very well, probably because I can't figure out an optimal method. For those of you who do keep track, how do you do it?
Ways I've tried before: pocket paper notebook, Google sheets, Excel spreadsheet on my computer. Mainly I just keep forgetting to update any one of them, whoops! Sometimes I'll take a screenshot of an immortalized character on my phone without remembering to check which number immortalized it was. I guess it boils down to personal preference but what do you guys prefer?
(I'm none too fussed about meticulously documenting my immortalized cards retroactively, but it'd satisfy a mild completionist urge I guess. Is the data in the app itself somewhere? Should this be something I bring up in the Engineering Room or something?)
Ways I've tried before: pocket paper notebook, Google sheets, Excel spreadsheet on my computer. Mainly I just keep forgetting to update any one of them, whoops! Sometimes I'll take a screenshot of an immortalized character on my phone without remembering to check which number immortalized it was. I guess it boils down to personal preference but what do you guys prefer?
(I'm none too fussed about meticulously documenting my immortalized cards retroactively, but it'd satisfy a mild completionist urge I guess. Is the data in the app itself somewhere? Should this be something I bring up in the Engineering Room or something?)
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On the first tab is the link to the spreadsheet.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
IMO they require the most maintenance so I have a tab where I have a table of those I have immortalized (I still need to update their details on that tab incidentally) because I have just moved them from another tab.
The other tab tracks my fusion and level of my Super Rares separated by not in portal and in portal with this I still keep all 4/4s I have not fully leveled yet, once immortal I append them to the immortalized tab.
I also have various Ratio checklist type tabs for Legendaries and SR both in portal and not in portal, and an events priorities list tab where I pull out all possible bonus crew from who I have then calculate bonus score stats etc.
Lastly I have a skirmishes "shopping list" tab to help maximize farming useful items, I need to create a galaxy version of that as well just haven't gotten around to it.
Spreadsheets seem to be the simplest answer. If you're adventurous, I've found a VERY nice simple and inexpensive relational database app called Ninox (which sounds more intimidating than it actually is). Think FileMaker Pro but all grown up, easier to use, affordable, and easy to script if you're into programming. It would give you spreadsheet capability plus the ability to go a step or two beyond, depending on how sophisticated you wanted to get. And lets you put in their pretty little mug shots to spice it up a bit
But, I've never been very good at Excel ... so I took the opportunity to learn how to use the programme based on what I wanted to know about STT crew I owned.
However, I first created it way back when, before the time of Gauntlet, Voyages etc. so the information in it is fairly basic and I've not gotten around to "improving" it (e.g. Voyage scores etc.) ...
I've tried using spreadsheets from here (lvl 100, do not airlock etc.) but have not found them to fit the way I've ordered information in my mind/own spreadsheet and so haven't found them to be as useful. I guess they are a good starting place if you've never used anything.
I'm going to check out 5000 Quatloos' suggestions ... because I used FileMaker Pro in the past and am looking for something similar to catalogue by books (easily in the 1000s) and I love organising data.
Uh oh. Ninox would be dangerously addictive then
I'm curious what kind of information is missing that you need between a combination of the lvl100 spreadsheet and do not airlock sheet? I only ask because I am always learning about this game and wonder if I'm missing something.
Lvl 100 sheet tells me what crew are top 10 for shuttles (daily shuttles and faction events), top voyager crew (was my priority until I reached reliable 8 hours for all voyages), and top gauntlet crew (not important to me at all, just merit farm). Easy to determine if new crew are strong and worth chasing in an event, or prioritizing honor citations.
Do Not Airlock informs me of any crew with unique traits to help complete a mission node and who are part of collections as a secondary option for helping decide on beholds/begolds. Also helpful to give ideas of who can be frozen to free up slots when needed.
I have not felt for a while (especially with new partially fused features on the do not airlock sheet), that I need any other crew related information that a spreadsheet could provide. I am especially missing iampicard for searchable inventory and finding useless dabo crew components for crew I don't have or already frozen, though of course a spreadsheet could not do that.
I don't think there's anything essential gained by going beyond a spreadsheet, for me using the relational database was more about convenience, hyper-optimizing, using it to experiment and learn strategies, and, honestly, getting skilled in the app (which I now use at work, so there's some crossover benefit).
Examples:
So - really nothing urgent or that the available tools and/or your own spreadsheets probably couldn't replicate. Just an environment to experiment in. If DB were ever to add a significant new game mechanic, like a new event type, I might have a leg up on having such a "wet lab" to experiment in, but that's a bit of a stretch. Mostly just an outlet for folks who enjoy obsessive record keeping and data mining
I'm not missing any info from those spreadsheets and I do have a Google docs copy ... that I never consult ... but:
1. I made my own spreadsheet just after I started playing ... say Sept/Oct 2016 (started in the summer) ... for all I know this was before those documents existed.
2. I started populating my spreadsheet in a way that fit with how I've organised the crew in my head ... for example, my spreadsheet doesn't have traits, I use the wiki for those.
3. Then ... when I first used those other docs they were organised differently from what I had in my head and then built up myself, so, when I quickly wanted to look up something I always ended up going back to my own (inferior) spreadsheet.
For example, the partially fused stuff was not a feature back then and it was something I was constantly referencing in my own doc.
4. I play slightly differently to many others here ... e.g. I just freeze immortalised crew (4*s and below) and don't really give a second thought to their usefulness. I chase crew because I like them, not necessarily because they are good (I wanted L'Rell before I saw her stats ... I decided to go for Braxton before I read he is a great voyager (he fits well in my CMD/SEC/ENG contingent of 5*s - now 6 crew) ... I chose Mirror Reed in a begold because the card looks cool (and the other options seems really meh to me) etc.). So, I go to the wiki if I get a begold and do a quick check if I don't know any of the crew.
So ... I could go to those sources, but it is kinda like teaching an old dog new tricks. I'd be learning to use a new spreadsheet ... and that doesn't excite me so much.
But if a new player asks on the forums, I always send them to the do not airlock or lvl 100 lists.
As for using a database tool ... that's something I've always enjoyed and would like to learn (for my job too ... I've recently taken on a position where I have to track efficiency of the small team I manage and how to best play into their strengths and avoid their weaknesses based on feedback from those who we deliver to etc. etc. etc.) ... massive overkill (like 5000 Quatloos says) but something I'm keen on delving into, if it isn't with this game I'll use it for my book collection (when did I finish a book, re-read quality, connections to themes authors etc. etc.) or something else.
One area I still think is a glaring gap, is the challenge of identifying optimal shuttle crew seats in a faction event, especially including skill boosts. Sometimes I am surprised by subbing in a different crew that gives me less initial shuttle % success, ends up with a higher total % when skill boosted. So optimally, you'd have different crew in some seats when using time/overnight boosts vs skill boosts. There's one guy on this forum who was working on it and I could see his tool was almost there, but needed a little work to get there. All (very complex) spreadsheet work on his part.
Then in Galaxies, while there's a helpful spreadsheet out there showing which builds are the most chron cost total, you might have an abundance of a few particular components in your inventory that make the cheaper chron cost builds different for your own event. Or at least until those components run out, THEN the optimal build can change partway through the event!
I'm envious of the faction optimizer. I've been able to get part of it hammered into my tool but it's still a combination of the tool giving me a rough first cut (which half of the 24-30 missions are probably non-starters, and who might be the best starting options for the remainder) followed by lots of scribbling in my cray-cray notebooks to fit the rest of the jigsaw puzzle together. But having run it a few times now, I think there are easy rules of thumb like "fit your few strongest event crew (2500+ AND'ed points) into their best possible AND seats first (and not piling them all into the same mission), then use your remaining bonus crew to fill in holes in the seats around them". The database tool just helped me reach that epiphany quicker.
Galaxies I have solved ... by keeping record-type templates of items and 'missions' I can quickly populate the recipes for each phase and figure out which are most expensive for my inventory at this point in time. Of course the hard part (especially without IAP) is figuring out my inventory at this point in time. It's like trying to determine how many pennies are hidden under all the sofa cushions. OTOH, doing that a few times has also taught me rules of thumb like "avoid anything with a neutron microscope and you'll probably be fine to within a few % of maximum efficiency", which is something that can be observed without a tool as well ...
(on that note, here are some of the 'poison pill' indicators I've observed: plasma torch (0), self-stealing stem bolt (1), isolinear rod (1), alcohol (1), variable field damper (0)). Any of those are >75% likely to occur in one of the two most expensive recipe sets in Galaxy events, if starting from scratch...)
I have had crew and currencies disappear multiple times. I have had a crew with 4/5* suddenly at 3/5. Usually this happens tue during the updates. I take screenshots or video my cryovault, my portal for saved free punches on crew and boosts section. The portal is also the only place u can view all currency at once. Then i continue on to my active crew with the lvl. Video works best obviously. I do this every tue aprox 1hour before update comes through. 1200pst? I believe.
In addition i keep a written log daily. I use grey, green, blue, purple, and gold lined paper. I keep track of amt of stars, and lvl for each crew obtained. Using the colored paper and a pencil simplifies it greatly. Once a crew is immortal i use highlighter on them. Then indicate with a “V” if vaulted.
I had gone through 3 methods before realizing colored paper and simple pencil is much easier. If im running a kit or lvl several crew in a day i just scratch paper it out as i go then add to my log at the end of the day.
This may seem extensive for some, but there are certain ppl who get relaxation and self satisfaction from keeping records.
Anyone is welcome to a copy. If there is somewhere I can upload or EMail it to.
I'm currently working on a version that x-refs Missions, but that's a bit more complicated.
Spreadsheets do seem the most handy for searchable/organized tracking, so I'll focus a little more on updating mine, and throw in a mix of the strategies above. Probably I'll keep notes on my phone or whatever I have on hand to track updates on the go, too.
I update my spreadsheet daily or weekly. It has been a valuable wealth of information.
Just the basic number, crew's star, and frozen stats. You can always get the stats from Wiki site.