Akili Li
Joined: Nov 24th, '15, 22:02
Posts: 21901
Hugs: 275350
Mood: contemplative
Location: Buried under the To-Do list
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General information on digging
Summary in titles, details in spoilers.
1) Dig With Elemental Knuffel
Spoiler You dig with knuffel. But not just any knuffel, only elemental knuffel.
Wild knuffel cannot dig
Only "regular" knuffel (ones that list a generation and an element), official holiday knuffel (from site events), Unique knuffel (from Firn's auctions), and Firn's commissioned knuffel.
2) Where to find elemental knuffel
Spoiler You can get the Elemental knuffel from Knufftropolis.
Trial knuffel and the current element generations are available for  from Tifunee on the default pages. This usually means there are 2 versions available for food points of each element.
*Note that the elemental knuffel generations are originally released with a limited quantity and for a limited time. If the quantity runs out before the time is up, there may not be one on offer for a specific element.
((I don't know if Firn will release the next generation early or wait until the time specified; someone let me know if she's given a ruling on that?))
**Note also that there are TWO pages. Water knuffel typically hide out on the second page.
You can get older, retired generations of elemental knuffel from the same place. Below Tifunee you'll see a button labeled "older generation Knuffel".
This includes retired holiday knuffel.
There are MANY pages, and these knuffel are available for  not .
The cost in fairy coins goes up for each additional generation that is released after they've been retired. (So, on first being retired, they cost 1  . After the next generation of the same element is retired, the older one costs 2 and the newly retired one cost 1 . There is currently no known cap to these prices.)
Retired Holiday knuffel cost 4 and this price does not change.
These are organized by time released, except that the holiday knuffel are all grouped together at the end. Other than them, the higher the page number the older the knuffel.
Sometimes there will be an error (the Earth gen 18 was in there twice for a time), or a knuffel will be missing. Just post about it in the support forum, if so. These are usually found and fixed fairly quickly.
3) What does "elemental knuffel" even mean?
Spoiler Each elemental knuffel has an associated element (hence, "elemental knuffel").
This simply means they have a native bonus to their skill in digging within that element.
(Well, also themed or grouped art by element, but this guide is just about digging, not art, so for our purposes, that's the only thing that matters).
There are two other effects:
1) How much energy and happiness it costs to dig once with a knuffel in their own element vs. another element: it will cost less to dig once in a knuffel's associated element than it will any other element. This number is always a range; but it is higher for "foreign" areas and a lower range for the "native" area/element.
2) The xp given when a knuffel finds a material from an area will differ.
Again, the amount of xp is a range of possibilities, but the range changes. In a knuffel's "native" element, the xp return for finding a material is LOWER. They will get more xp by going outside of their comfort zone and uncovering material in other elemental areas.
The xp gain is not a set number, it's a range of possibile xp returned, but the range is higher for areas other than their own element.
For this reason, sometimes people like to level up their knuffel faster by choosing a different element and putting skill points in that area and digging in that area.
This isn't a recommendation or a warning; you always get to choose your own tactics. Your choices are your own and you can put your points wherever you please!
Edit to add: Typical xp on finding material in own element: 4-9 xp
Typical xp on finding material in another element: 15-26 xp
A typical elemental knuffel will tell you which element it's associated with.
There's a convenient big colored dot in the corner of the knuffel's portrait.
Dark purple = darkness
Bright blue = water
Faded blue = air
Yellow = light
Red = fire
Green = earth
Or you can, if you have trouble with colors, hover over the knuffel in Knufftropolis and you should see alt-text listing the element and the generation number, or the element and "trial".
Holiday knuffel you usually can't tell unless you go to the Knuffel's stat page. Or sometimes it's stated in the original announcement, or if you own the knuffel you can have your knuffel list show only a specific element.... or just ask someone who can tell the color.
4) Candy Island 101 (layout)
Spoiler On Candy Island, where you will dig, there are 6 areas on the map, one for each element:
High Plains is associated with Air (faded blue dot) 
Dark Plains is associated with Darkness (dark purple dot) 
Frostland Coast is associated with Water (bright blue dot) 
Knobby Woods is associated with Earth (green dot) 
Tower of Light is associated with Light (yellow dot) 
Fire Mountain is associated with Fire (red dot). 
Above the map to the right, you'll see the area to select a knuffel.
Once you've selected a knuffel, you'll see its portrait and stats displayed on the upper left.
In the lower right there should be a timer until the server rollover for the new day.
Warning!
Try not to be actually digging when that changes!
It can lead to some interesting errors.
If you do get caught by that, and you start getting funny bugs, just clear your cache and cookies, close the browser, reopen it, come back to the site and try again. That usually fixes it.
5) Digging Skills 101 (where to find them, how to advance them)
Spoiler Elemental Knuffel start out with a skill of "1" in each area outside their element, and a "10" in their associated element.
On your knuffel's main stat page, you can see the digging statistics below their room on the right hand side. These are organized next to the color icons with no label.
Three columns, two rows.
Top row left to right:
Red dot, fire. Purple dot, darkness. Green dot, earth.
Bottom row, left to right:
Bright blue dot, water. Yellow dot, light. Faded blue dot, air.
As you level up your knuffel from 1 to 100, each time you level you gain the ability to increase their digging skill in ONE area.
This means that if you evenly distribute all their skill points from leveling, at lvl 100 they will have a skill of "19" in each element.
If you put them all on a single element which is NOT their associated element, then at lvl 100: that favored element will end up with a skill of "100", the other non-associated elements will have a skill of "1", and their originally associated element will have a skill of "10"
If you put them all on a single element which IS their associated element, then at lvl 100: Their main element will have a skill of "109", and each other will have a skill of "1".
How do these numbers work?
Well, wait, I need to explain something else first.
6) Candy Island 102 (Knuffel selection)
Spoiler When you go to Candy Island, there will be a drop-down menu with all your elemental knuffel listed.
If you have a lot of knuffel, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND checking the box that says "Only list ready to dig".
There are a number of ways to select knuffel from that drop-down list.
Wait, I said that wrong.
You select the knuffel the same way, you FIND the knuffel differently, because there are several ways to ORGANIZE the drop-down menu/list of elemental knuffel.
Each version is designed to help you do something.
If you select by element, and you've consistently used elements when levelling up digging skills, it helps you find the knuffel you want for targeted digging.
Let's say you're looking for Lava for a quest.
That's not found everywhere; digging in the Frostland Coast won't help you out.
So you organize the list by element, and start using all your fire knuffel to dig in the Fire Mountain. (You still might not find lava; it's a rare item. But your chances are better with knuffel who've got high fire skills).
Let's say instead that you have limited time to dig, and you want to concentrate on levelling up the knuffel you've had longest. Well, when a knuffel finds an item it gets a nice little boost of xp. So you can select it to organize by age, and start digging with all your oldest knuffel first until you run out of time, which means they all get the bigger boost and level up fastest.
Or if you level your knuffel's digging skills in some pattern known only to you, but you give them names to reflect what you've done, you can have it organized by name, so that you can easily choose the appropriate knuffel for where you want to dig.
If you didn't tell it to only show you knuffel ready to dig.... this is important:
Once you've selected a knuffel, look at its stats in the upper left to make sure it's actually ready to dig!
It will show you, below its name, the energy and happiness bar numbers.
Below that, it will tell you how many digs it has left for the day, and actually tell you flat out if it's "ready to dig" or "not ready to dig".
7) "Ready to Dig"
Spoiler If a knuffel isn't ready to dig, you can't fix it from Candy Island.
You'll have to pull up another tab and go to your Knuffel from there, fix it, and then tell Candy Island to REFRESH KNUFFEL STATUS (to the left of the drop-down selection). Give it a moment. If you have many knuffel, sometimes it takes a while. (I started noticing the delay around 125 knuffel or so). Or, of course, you can just leave the page, go to your knuffel and fix it, and return to Candy Island after.
If you refresh from Candy Island:
Any knuffel you previously had selected will be unselected, but its status will update, and if you'd checked that marvelous box "Only list ready to dig", then if you've fixed the issue it'll show up again.
Refreshing the list is also handy if you're digging around the time of server refresh.
Let's say you're looking for lava again. It's almost server reset, but you quick go through all your fire knuffel, and then desultorily start on your earth knuffel while you wait. You go for a snack, and when you're back the clock has ticked over.
Hit that "refresh" button and all those fire knuffel show back up again!
Of course, you might have to feed them and play with them, but it's a start.
Speaking of that.
To be able to dig:
They must have happiness and energy bars above half (colored blue when looking at a knuffel's profile page or the knuffel list in your my knuffel page)
Each time they dig, it will use up energy and happiness.
If the bars fall below half, the bars will turn red color and the knuffel will be unable to dig, even if it has digs left for the day.
When a Knuffel finds something, it uses up less happiness (or maybe the same amount of happiness and energy are used, but some is returned on a success? I'm not sure of how it works technically.)
When they find nothing, it uses up more.
You can quickly max out these bars with Happiness pills; red and blue ones for the two bars. These can be found throughout the site, randomly, or be made from the Alchemist, or be purchased from the Market or traded from other users. You can also raise the bars by feeding your knuffel and playing with them; they have a wait time of 20 seconds before they can be fed/played with again, and must rest that long after digging before being fed/played with.
8) Digs per Day: where they come from
Spoiler Knuffel each have a set number of times per day they can dig. This resets with date change for the SERVER. (In Candy Island, there is a timer in the lower right which tells you when that will be).
It is linked to their level.
They start out with 5 digs per day at lvl 1.
At every level divisible by 5, they gain another dig per day.
(so at level five they have 6 digs, at level ten they have 7. At level 75 they have 20 per day, and at their maximum level of 100, they have 25 digs per day.)
However many digs they have per day, you can double this, once, by equipping Amely the Cat. This is a functional knuffel room item available for 1 from Scull at the Living Empire shop.
There is a 24 hour lock on this item, so you can't buy one and then just switch it between knuffel to dig with each day.
(Most of us double our digging by buying a second knuffel, instead. It's cheaper and gives more options, and many of us are biased and think the knuffel are cute, so more cute faces to look at.)
9) Digging Skills 102: what the numbers mean
Spoiler Alright! Now that you know all that, we're ready to get into what those digging skill numbers mean.
When you go to Candy Island, and select a knuffel to dig with, who IS ready to dig:
Now you choose *where* they dig.
You will see your selected knuffel to the upper left of the island, with their stats listed out for you, so you can remember where they are skilled.
Click on any of the place names or the colored dot near the name to have the knuffel dig there.
The knuffel's digging skill in that element determines its percentile chance of finding an item.
So let's say you have a knuffel with 102 in air and 4 in earth and 1 in everything else.
If you dig in the High Plains (air), that knuffel has an 102% chance of finding a material from there. Meaning it is guaranteed to find a material every time it digs there.
If you dig in the Knobby Woods, it has a 4% chance of finding something.
Anywhere else, only a 1% chance of finding something.
When a knuffel's skill goes over 100%, not only are you guaranteed to find a material, but you have a higher chance of finding RARE items.
This includes higher rarity materials, but also the seasonal items (typically these change once a year. Firn makes an announcement when it happens. Sometimes these are limited-edition knuffel room items, sometimes it is limited-edition avatar items).
10) Finding food by digging:
Spoiler Sometimes a knuffel can bring back food points for you.
A knuffel ONLY has a chance of finding food (10 most often, sometimes 50 , occasionally 200 and very rarely 1000 ) if it does NOT find a material.
So your chances of bringing back food is better in an elemental area that your knuffel has the minimum skill with.
Take the example knuffel from earlier (it had 102 in air, 4 in earth, 1 everywhere else):
you'd have no chance of finding food in the high plains, because instead it would bring back an air material.
If you dug with that knuffel in the Dark Plains, you'd have only a 1 in 100 chance of bringing back material, but you *might* bring back food.
I don't know what the base percentage chance is on that. It's not actually hugely high; mostly you won't bring back anything from there, with that knuffel. But you MIGHT bring back food.
11) Functional Room Items, and how they affect digging:
Spoiler There are currently 3 functional room items that increase a knuffel's chance of finding while digging. The Sleepover Fireflies  for Tower of Light, the Fortune Teller Dark Orb  for the Dark Plains and the ChipChip Fountain  for Frostland Coast. All of these are available from Scull in the Living Empire shop for 5200
They will NOT help if you put them on a knuffel that has 100 or higher skill in that element (ie if you have a water knuffel with 109 skill in water, and you put the ChipChip Fountain in that knuffel's room, that knuffel will still NEVER bring back for you when digging in water; because it will instead ALWAYS find a material item. If you put it on a knuffel that has 109 skill in air, and only 1 skill in water, it will be of some use to you.)
These items do not stack, and also have a 24 hour lock.
Since I don't know the base chances for a knuffel to find food, I can't actually give numbers on how much it will help.
The other functional room items (all from Scull in Living Empire):
Apples  and cupcakes  : these will automatically, albeit slowly, fill your knuffel's happiness and energy bars. The rate is not high, but a lvl 100 knuffel with 25 digs? If you start at full bars, and then use all the digs, and then go away for 24 hours, then when you return that knuffel will be ready to dig again for you without your having to stop and feed and play with it, first.
They are purchased for from Scull in Living Empire. The apples cost 1400 and the cupcakes cost 1700.
The effect they have on digging:
Makes your knuffel ready to dig in terms of full energy/happiness bars without your clicks
Lava Lamp  : this item will slowly level up your knuffel for you, by giving it 70 xp every hour. This is given in a lump at the end of an hour. You can't leave it be for 15 minutes and expect to get 12 xp. If you take it off after 59 minutes, your knuffel gets 0 xp. If you take it off after 61 minutes, your knuffel will have gotten 70 xp. Costs 1
The effect it has on digging: indirect; use it to level up your knuffel. Knuffel levelling gives you skill points to spend on digging ability, and more digs per day
Amely the Cat  : discussed earlier, under Digs Per Day (spoiler 8). Recap: doubles digs per day.
Occasionally there will be a limited-edition functional room item for a holiday. These are only functional for the duration of that holiday, and are unavailable from the shop thereafter.
No effect on digging. (So far. I suppose some upcoming holiday that might change)
Room Trophy: NOT from Scull. From winning the Knuffel Room contest.
No effect on digging.
12: Digging for XP
Spoiler Digging can help you level up faster. There's a few ways to do this.
Fastest levelling of all is as follows:
Have Candy Island up in one tab, and your knuffel list in another.
In your knuffel list tab, feed and play with the chosen knuffel until it is ALMOST full in its tabs. Use a red pill and a blue pill to finish it off. (they each give 10 xp)
In Candy island, select the knuffel you want to level (the same one you just made ready)
Dig, ONCE, in the area it has highest digging skill in (you want it to find something, it gets more xp that way).
Switch over to the knuffel list tab. Digging that once will have, slightly, lowered the two bars. You can't see that unless you refresh, but you don't need to. Interacting with it from this tab will automatically refresh it, so just take it on faith that happened, and feed it another blue pill and red pill.
Switch back to the Candy Island tab, and rinse/repeat until all the digs for the day are used, or you're out of pills.
If you're out of pills and don't want to make or buy more, you can continue to maximize xp gain by patiently waiting the 20 seconds post-dig and feeding and playing with the knuffel between each dig.
It takes longer, and you only gain 2 extra xp instead of 20, but if that knuffel has 16 digs, that's still an additional 32 xp! Nothing to sneeze at.
If your knuffel levels up somewhere in there, top off its bars and then STOP AND LEVEL IT!
And then give it another pair of pills, or another food/play with.
Because its skill just went up, so did its chance of finding something when you next dig, and you do want that extra xp boost.
Is this guide missing something? Or is something in it wrong?
Post and let me know!
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I want to buy or trade for these knuffels:
Earth Gen 18, Light Gen 19, Fire Gen 21, Air/Light/Water Gen 22, Light Gen 23, Earth/Light Gen 25, Darkness Gen 26.
Please PM me if you can help!
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(rarity unknown, found in any area of Candy Island.)
