"Splinterlands" + "Drug Wars" -- Power Strategy Tips #44

As I have now been playing "Splinterlands" and "Drug Wars" for over a year, I've wanted to contribute something of ACTIONABLE value to my fellow players (and FUTURE players) - but NOT just fill my Steemit feed with daily images of quest reward - or battle - SPAM (no offense to those doing so). Ultimately, Steemit is about ADDING VALUE to the social experience - that is the magic of blockchain social media technology. So, after some serious pondering, I decided that a weekly "Splinterlands + "Drugs Wars" player strategy diary" type series, with CONCISE and ACTIONABLE tips, would be of most value to my audience. Please let me know your thoughts (good and/or bad), and I hope that readers (now and into the future) will benefit from this series. If you gain a better understanding of blockchain, gaming, "blockchain gaming", marketing, psychology, forensics, and/or any other area(s) of knowledge I end up exploring (voluntarily or involuntarily) as this series naturally progresses, then I will have done my "good deed" (of providing value) for the week. Also, feel free to hit me up on the battlefield.

@transcript-junky

[ DISCLAIMER: This week was a rough one for me, as the Steemit-Tron debacle really threw me off, ALONG WITH the related extensive research I have done into the Tron dapps this week, and the announcement of the majro expansion upgrade to Splinterlands. So I needed several extra days to proper SQUEEZE all of the JUICINESS into this post. I am realizing that it was actually a good decision to NOT include the date in the title of the posts in this series, as this allows me to take a little extra time on these posts when the week is especially "active". I believe I have now gotten all of the info I wanted to convey in here, and I hope you will enjoy it [ / DISCLAIMER]

1 ) One of the biggest positive things this week is that the #Splinterlands folks released a new post giving a "heads up" on the MAJOR expanstion upgrades which will be made to the game in the near future (I predict the expansion will take six months to a year for them to pull off properly). These major upgrades are elaborated on, in ENOUGH detail that those of us who have a decent amount of experience with these games can feel quite optimistic, in the following post from the official @splinterlands Steemit account:

A Glimpse Into the Next Splinterlands Expansion
https://steemit.com/splinterlands/@splinterlands/a-glimpse-into-the-next-splinterlands-expansion

Basically, what they are outlining here is ultimately a DEEP integration of many/all of the features of the "Drug Wars" and "Prospectors" genre of games, into the larger Splinterlands game. As regular readers of this series are likely aware, I have been writing about my interest, activity, and frustrations related to the #DrugWars and #Prospectors games for several months now (one game of which is included in the title of this series), and in the past 2-3 weeks (feel free to read the weekly posts from the past month) I found myself at a crossroads, where I lost interest in "Drug Wars" until my gang members helped motivate me back in, and essentially have given up on activity playing "Prospectors", mainly because it's been too difficult (impossible actually) to get crypto into that game, there is no community (as I have in "Drug Wars"), and the game is too "clunky" (in terms of the amount of button pushing, and RAM required to play consistently). The ULTIMATE good news is that I BOUNCED BACK to be "more active than ever" on Drug Wars (thanks to the help of my fellow gang members - good people), and EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is that fact that by sticking with Drug Wars (and dabbling in" Prospectors") I was able to learn about the intricacies, and potential features, of this genre of game, and I believe this will HELP me attain greater (and faster) success (by having a "head start") as Splinterlands rolls out features similar to these games. This is why I always say that the MOST IMPORTANT goal of this weekly series is to EXPLORE, and MAKE MISTAKES, and then get up wiser and stronger.

The new upgrade of Splinterlands will put the attractive features of the "Drug Wars" and "Prospectors" games into ONE PLACE, using ONE in-game token (DEC), with the added bonus of the PROFESSIONAL project management and marketing power of the Splinterlands crew behind it (which is the primary goal the other games haven't been able to achieve fully (yet)). In my experience analyzing Drug Wars and Prospectors, I have found that proper management is key to success in these games. Splinterlands is the ONLY Steem-related blockchain game which I, and others, believe can pull off - and IS pulling this off - right now, in my opinion.

Some of the ways that the proposed major expansive upgrades to Splinterlands relate to these other two games include:

( 1 ) We will be able to buy plots of virtual real estate in Splinterlands (similar to Prospectors), and build on that land, and make PLAYABLE game items (just like in Prospectors). The currency which will fund this will be DEC, as well as a new (additional) token they are introducing specifically for the expansion features. I already reallocated half of the first (of 13) weekly Steemit "power-down" payments (more on that below) - so 96 Steem worth of DEC - to start building my DEC reserve in preparation for the roll-out of the new features. I plan to buy some land and really play the upgraded game HARD.

( 2 ) We'll be able to create and use new tools and spells which will enhance our main decks, and allow EVEN MORE variation and complexity, and as a result, ability to continuously improve our skills levels with our cards, and the game itself, into perpetuity. I am starting to view Splinterlands as equivalent to any other serious strategy game (ex. like chess), but Splinterlands is much more immersive. The game is steadily evolving into an ACTUAL SPORT ( eSport ) - in that you are always learning and expanding your skill level. Compare this with a gambling #dapp - like the majority of "top" daps on that "Freshboy" #JustinSun's Tron blockchain (more on this below) where you just put your money in and watch it slowly disappear. There's no LONG-TERM value, or personal growth, involved in that.

I will elaborate more on my preparations for the new expansion of Splinterlands with each update, and as more information becomes available. For now, the best news is that all of my ongoing experimentation and analysis of the Drug Wars and Prospectors games will now enable me to be well-prepared to hit the ground running when Splinterlands rolls out the expansion.

2 ) Continuing on with my research and analysis of Tron (and Justin Sun), I did receive my first (of 13) weekly Steemit SP "power-down payments of 192.388 Steem on February 27th, 2020, at which time I had decided hold ALL of it as (liquid) Steem in my Steemit wallet while continuing my research and analysis of the Tron ecosystem. The main function(s) of the "power-down" was intended to be to get the SP (Steem Power) out of stake and moveable/liquid out of the Steemit wallet, and into, let's say, #Splinterlands (in which a few clicks will purchase DEC with my Steem and will then be held in my Splinterlands wallet), AND to provide me a more structured timeline by which to proceed with my evaluation of the fundamentals of Tron and its CONTROVERSIAL helmsman, Justin Sun. Upon starting to write this post at the beginning of the week I had stated that, from what I had seen so far, it "DOES NOT look good", and the likelihood is that I would end up moving most/all of my Steem into Splinterlands. But I was trying to remain open-minded and proceed methodically. I figured that 13 weeks would be AMPLE time to allow adequate research on this topic, and for Justin Sun to show whether his presence (and large stakeholdership) in the #Steemit community is worthy of me having my Steem tied up ("staked") there in the form of SP. I also had assumed that something was "not right" with the new Tron-Steemit partnership, and I had even MENTIONED my concern to a few people in the community, but EVEN I was a bit shocked when the "takeover" of the Steem blockchain was launched by Justin Sun and his "buddies" at the various exchanges. Actually, when the ACTUAL TAKEOVER went down I had already fully evaluated three of Tron's top dapps (more on that below), and since my conclusion is that Tron is ultimately a giant "online casino" (and quite "scammy" no less) under the guise of a "blockchain" the "takeover" was actually a sort of RELIEF - or "vindication" - of what I suspected was going on (based both on intuition, and life experience). The good news is that this debacle actually made it EASIER for me to make my final decision to reallocate the FULL amount of the remaining "power-down" from my #Steemit wallet to my #splinterlands wallet. In fact, once the "takeover happened I IMMEDIATELY used half of the first 196 Steem power-down payout (so 92 Steem) to buy DEC, where it is now sitting in my Splinterlands wallet. Then once the second power-down payment came in yesterday I immediately reallocated the FULL 196 Steem into DEC in Splinterlands. I have now decided to process to put ALL of the remaining power-down payouts into Splinterlands. The good thing is that since DEC/Steem is so easy to convert I can always convert some DEC back into Steem (held in my Steemit wallet). But under the current unstable situation with Steemit I think it would be HIGHLY UNWISE to hold ANY Steem there that you can't get out. I'm glad I am not one of the unfortunate folks who have had their funds HIJACKED by the exchanges. It's always best to erron the side of caution, and maintain as much control over your crypto as possible, at all times.

Regardless, of the ongoing Steem-Tron war currently taking place as a result of the WANNABE "takeover attempt" (by "FreshyBoy" #JustinSun and his cadres) I have decided to STILL continue doing my rough analysis of the Tron dApps and blockchain, in addition to some additional research on this controversial Justin Sun dude - just because it's JUICY and eniightening. Regardless of his motives - which TO HIM, I honestly believe, may very well make sense, and be justified - what he actually DID was simply beyond the bounds of MY personal "ethics threshold", and so I will simply "vote with my feet/crypto". In fact, "voting with one's feet"is actually a LOT EASIER with crypto, as crypto is relatively beyong the CLAWS of the state. and so we have more leeway to "pull funding" of those things that we object to (ex. wars, unethical business practices, etc.) This, of course, is one of the MAJOR advantages of crypto.

Just to describe my intended Tron-related analysis process, as I mentioned in last week's post, my goal has been to evaluate 2-3 Tron dApps per week through the 13-week power-down process (although I have dialed that down to 1-2 as a result of the BOTCHED "takeover attempt"). I am now into "Week 3" of the power-down. This past week I started evaluating the https://rocketgame.io dApp . Being more cautious this time, after losing 0.02 Bitcoin with the Tron apps in the past few weeks (by carelessly ASS-uming that the partnership of Steemit with Tron was a sort of "endorsement" (by the Steemit community) of the legitimacy of Tron and/or Justin Sun ---> Jeeze! Talk about "getting THAT ONE wrong") I started focusing MUCH MORE carefully on doing proper "due diligence", and only using a small amount of Tron (from the payouts of these posts) to do some baseline experimentation and analysis.

[UPDATE: Actually, what happened was that the day after I got my first power-down payout of Steem I early in the week I decided to basically do an "A/B" test (of Tron versus DEC), comparing the ROI I would get for buying (and using Tron) versus the ROI I would get buying DEC with the 1st (of 13) power-down payouts. So I went ahead and used 96 Steem to buy Tron (which I ultimately LOST - more on that below), and held the other 96 Steem in my Steemit wallet (until the attempted "takeover" - at which point I immediately used the remaining 96 steem to buy DEC). [/UPDATE]

New Dapp Alert - RocketGames - Tron Passive Income

The first thing I did on the Tron resEarch front was check out the reviews of RocketGame.io on the https://dapp.review/explore/tron site ( https://dapp.review/dapp/11729/RocketGame page ). Well, unfortunately, ONCE AGAIN it appears there are some "significantly negative" reviews of YET ANOTHER one of these "top" Tron dApps (screenshot below). It wouldn't be so bad if RocketGame.io was not listed in the "Top 5" Tron dapps, but the fact that it IS makes the presence of "scamminess" EVEN WORSE in my ongoing analysis of the Tron dapps. I mean, do people REALLY THINK that Tron having a bunch of "scammy" dapps - as the MAIN dapps, no less - is not going to negatively affect the reputation of the Steemit dapp, and thus #Steem, by extension??? I mean, come on, folks? We're talkin' "Marketing 101" here. On a positive note, the RocketGame.io site seems to be more "tight" than some of the more "graphic-heavy" pages on BetFury.io and Wink.io, which on the technical side things is good, as the slot games on BetFury.io basically monopolized the RAM on my system (although they are enjoyable to play), and I think that has probably eaten away at a portion of winnings I have attained so for. But one significantly POSITIVE feature of BetFury.io is that their minimum bet, for most games, is LESS THAN 1.0 Tron. For example, the slots game I play the lowest bet is (0.25 Tron) - which AT LEAST makes it possible to use the slots game to MINE the "BFG" token over the long-term, using some of the payouts from these posts. I mean, the ~ 12 - 13 Steem I earn from these posts COULD feasibly be used to buy between 100 -200 Tron, which is enough to play BetFury slots for several days (at the low wager level of 0.02 Tron per slot pull). This is what I intended to do for the remainder of the "power-down" period -- that is, use the SP payouts of these posts to buy Tron and play the BetFury slots, so that the low (0.25 Tron slot wager) IN COMBINATION with ~ 1.0 - 2.0 daily Tron dividend I am currently earning would make that feasible (although the "takeover attempt" made me full this strategy back to a minimum, out of sheer disgust). A few times I have turned < 100 Tron into several hundred Tron via the BetFury slots, and this has allowed me to earn/mine some additional "BFG" token, AS WELL AS then use some of the extra TRX to play some of the games on the other dapps (like RocketGames.io). I did this one day this week, turning less than 100 Tron into ~ 300 Tron, and then used the extra 200 Tron to play the nice little "Jacks Or Better" video poker game on RocketGames ( https://rocketgame.io/#/jacks/game ). The main issue is that the minimum bet in Rocketgames is 10 Tron, and so that is a MUCH larger percentage of the amount of SP payout I have available to play after the payout of each of my three weekly series posts. Ultimately, though, my conclusion is that basically ALL of the Tron top dapps are nothing but "gambling dapps" - and SCAMMY ones as well. They are full of glitches and tricks, although some can be fun to play, but in the end it's just low-down "pay for play", with the typical heavy house advantage.

As a result of inevitability of losing my Tron through these "gambling dapps", what I am doing is that when I do lose all of the Tron from the payouts I then spend my time doing "non-active play analysis" of the Tron dapp sites. This includes browsing the layout and design of the games, the incentive structures, watching YouTube videos about the dapps, etc. and noting any unique features of each dapp. For Rocketgame.io some of those unique features include: a nice "extended" (or customizable) auto-play feature which allows the player to increase each subsequent bet (upon winning the round) by a percentage amount of their choosing. I have not seen this feature on the other Tron dapps. For players with a larger bankroll I'm sure this would allow them to mine a significantly larger amount of "Rocket" token, as their bets can be set to methodically increase without having to sit at the game and do it manually. So, from a MINING, and innovation, perspective this is a nice feature. The games on Rocketgame.io are also simpler, and so use up much less RAM than the fancy slot games - which is another boon for miners. Ultimately, though, RocketGame is JUST YET ANOTHER gambling dapp on the Tron network, whose main function is to extract Tron out of players (as whatever pace the player is comfortable having their Tron extracted from them), since all gambling has a "house edge" - regardless of the ability to mine the tokens. This is ultimately what I have an issue with as it relates to the partnership of Tron and Steemit. That is, do we really want Steemit to be associated with gambling? At first I was in an ethics bind, in the sense of, "Well, if the gambling dapps funds are used in a "sound" manner to develop features on Steemit then it could KINDA work". But then Justin Sun messed up any chance of me even wasting one additional calorie contemplating/justifying that idea once he essentially manipulated his buddies' exchange admins to essentially HIJACK Steem holders' funds and use them to take over the entire Steem blockchain. That's just completely over the line - and likely in violation of NUMEROUS finance laws - at least in accordance with Western finance law. China is, of course, another story on that front.

One of the main functions of evaluating the Tron dapps was to make an assessment of the "fundamentals" of Tron, its dapps, and its founder. But within a 24-hour period Justin Sun made my decision very easy. So I will now continue powering down my SP and reallocating it ALL into my Splinterlands wallet in the form of DEC. However, I will CONTINUE posting on Steemit, and using the payouts to buy more DEC, and/or experiment a little more with Tron (when I deem that will be helpful). I am thinking that it is STILL worth continuing with the Tron research, and so what I may do is continue converting the SP half of the posts' payouts into Tron to use for playing around with the Tron dapps. I am, after all, now earning ~ 2 Tron per day in dividends in BetFury, and so with the ~ 100 - 200 Tron I can get for the 13 SP payout of these posts, I can at least play some slots, for mining, and see how far I can build that until that site shuts down. Every morning I have been waking up to claim my ~ 2 TRX on BetFury, and give the slots a few pulls. Some days I hit something and am able to mine some additional BFG token. If nothing else, playing the slots provides me some pretty pictures to embellish these posts, and there is some value in that. I think it's worth at least doing that, until/unless Justin Sun pulls an EVEN MORE cringe move like the "attempted takeover". For this coming week, this is my plan.

Finally, the MAIN reason I had started buying Tron last month (with the SP portion of my weekly post payouts) was based on my prediction that if Tron indeed ended up buying Steemit there would be SOME KIND of JUICY airdrop(s) against my ~ 2,600 Steem (which is now down to ~ 2,400 Steem - via the power-down). The video below talks about this "airdrop" concept I have been thinking will happen. This, of course, was before the "attempted takeover", and so I will now continue with the power-down (instead of holding on to the Steem in my Steemit wallet - with only the HOPE of an airdrop), because it is just too risky right now. However, if it ends up to be the case that the Tron and Steem people are able to come to some kind of solution to the current problem, and Tron offers an airdrop of Tron based on current Steem holdings, then I would consider canceling/halting my power-down at that point (maybe just temporarily) in the hope of being able to get in on such airdrop - whose value can be converted to DEC to buy cards in Splinterlands. For now, I have taken the cautious approach. It's not worth risking losing all of the 2,600 Steem I worked hard to accumulate since 2017, just on the HOPE of an airdrop. Plus, if they DID do an airdrop they could calculate it (based on Steem blockchain data) by using the number of Steem we had in our Steem wallets on the day that the sale of Steemit to Tron was finalized - just like what happened with the BTC/BCH and BTC/BSV hard forks a few years ago.

Justin Sun Bought Steemit!!!! STEEM TOKEN SWAP! HUGE NEWS!!

Okay, that's enough of the Tron stuff for this week. It was a difficult week, but in the end I REALLY DID learn some valuable lessons from the experience.

3 ) On the "Drug Wars" front, as I am now preparing for the roll-out of the new Splinterlands expansion upgrade I'm taking the Drug Wars game more seriously, as the skills used in Drug Wars will carry over into the Splinterlands expansion. The good news is that over the past year I have actually built up enough production momentum to generate 3-5 DWD (Drug Wars Dollars) per day, which I then transfer (with one click) into my @steem-engine wallet, and can then use to buy DEC to use in Splinterlands, or - like I did this past week - to buy some Tron to use in the slots games to mine BFG token at BetFury.io. The reason for this is that since Tron is so cheap ( ~ $0.018 USD as of writing this sentence) this means the relative cost ratio of DWD to Tron is good enough that I can get "enough" Tron from selling the weekly DWD to be able to get some momentum on the slot machine at BetFury. It is just one feasible extra use of the DWD income, beyond the other option of converting it to DEC and buying some cheap Splinterlands cards. Once the new expansion rolls out on Splinterlands I will decide whether or not to continue playing Drug Wars, or to at least continue increasing my drug production there as an additional income stream of crypto, which is easily liquid within the Steem blockchain (along with Steem-Engine).

Two days before publishing this post some dude from a rival gang took it upon himself to clean out my entire army (minus the units which were protected by the "defense" and "training" upgrades I have been doing the past month (which was not especially significant - but at least SOMETHING)). It was a rough hit, because I had to start building up my army again. But luckily I have the daily income coming from the gang jobs that some of the other gang members are doing. I have also put the call out for my gang to "take out" this BITCH who raided me, and tell him that NEXT time we're gonna "cut off some fingers". Again, this is a good example of how being part of a community in a game (in this case, the "gang") can have serious benefits which increase your enjoyment of the game, and ultimate ROI. This week I will work on figuring out some additional ways to protect my army units so that I don't get wiped out as hard as I did this week. I believe the key is to continue upgrading the "defense" and "training" buildings, and specific training levels. I will continue to make my daily contribution of 500k drugs, 500k alcohol, and 500k weapons to the gang buildings, but it will probably take me the good part of the week to rebuild my army. Oh well. Shit happens.

4 ) The " blockchain gaming " industry, as a whole, is really beginning to take off. There are now PLENTY of Splinterlands-related posts on Steemit for me to read through (one or two per day) to really stay informed, and up my game on an ongoing basis. In addition, the research I do for my other two weekly series posts ("blockchain gaming news" and "blockchain social media news") is growing increasingly well-integrated into the larger project I am developing here. I think things will REALLY start to come together once Splinterlands rolls out the new expansion features, since then everything will be in the same game (ex. the active battling, PLUS ability to rent real estate and build a manufacturing capacity to increase the power of our cards). This next week should be interesting as the Steemit-Tron war continues playing out, and the global situation (ex. coronavirus) keeps everything topsy-turvy. The best thing about this blockchain gaming stuff is that it's something interesting and productive to do while we ride out the apocalypse.

5 ) Okay. As is now standard for the posts in this series, the highly-detailed "diary" of my daily #splinterlands activity is laid out in the last part of this post, for those of you who are inclined to follow, more closely, what I am doing. It occurred to me that this "diary" section is JUST THAT - a highly detailed record of my daily activity in the game, with some JUICY "play-by-play" analysis notes, and commentary, on what works, what doesn't, and some suggestions for further tweaking and experimentation. So, with this in mind, I hope some/any of you will enjoy this information. If not, you are under no pressure to read it fully, and are free to SKIM, or even IGNORE, any parts, or ALL parts, completely - at your discretion. I lay this out because it also HELPS ME to document my progress in the game over time, and may help some people NOW, and into the perpetual future...

February 25th, 2020

Starting DEC : 5,508 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,254 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 88.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 746 DEC = ~ 2.105 Steem x ~ $0.209 USD/Steem = ~ $0.44 USD

Spent :

4 x "Javelin Thrower (non-gold - 674 DEC --> 14 more cards remaining to max this one out)

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers -
"Lone Boatman" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.56 USD - 500 DEC) + 70 DEC

Daily Quests Rewards (delayed "fire" quest from February 23rd (two days ago) - which I needed extra time to finish))
keepers - 20 DEC
nonkeepers - 15 DEC
potions - +2 legendary potions, +6 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 32 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 270 DEC

Daily Quests Rewards (yesterday's "win three battles without neutral monsters" - which I needed extra time to finish))
keepers - 25 DEC
nonkeepers - 0 DEC
potions - +1 legendary potions, +6 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 350 DEC

February 26th, 2020

Starting DEC : 5,601 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,286 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 91.57%
Balance = DEC Earning = 685 DEC = ~ 1.916 Steem x ~ $0.164 USD/Steem = ~ $0.314 USD

Spent :

4 x "Javelin Thrower" (non-gold - 683 DEC --> 10 more cards remaining to max)

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - "Undead Badger" (Gold - Level 1 - $0.40 USD - 500 DEC) + 70 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : celebration pack for reaching "Diamond II" season level ( + 10 loot chests - +50 season loot chests)
keepers -
"Lone Boatman" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.57 USD - 500 DEC)
"Dark "Ha'On" (non-gold (legendary) - Level 1 - $3.30 USD - 1,000 DEC)

• 60 DEC

Notes: Now THAT'S what I call a "celebration" pack!

Daily Quests Rewards (today's "death" quest))
keepers - 25 DEC
nonkeepers - 0 DEC
potions - +4 legendary potions, +2 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 185 DEC

Untamed (Pack #1 : evening pack)
keepers - 110 DEC

February 27th, 2020

Starting DEC : 5,614 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 97.80%
Ending DEC - 5,923 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 97.11%
Balance = DEC Earning = 309 DEC = ~ 0.988 Steem x ~ $0.178 USD/Steem = ~ $0.175 USD

Spent :

Decided to just add the 309 DEC to tomorrow's DEC earnings.

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers -
"Bortus" (Gold (summoner) - Level 2 - $4.00 USD - 2,000 DEC)

• 100 DEC

Daily Quest Rewards (today's "Dragon" quest -- didn't have to time to complete, so will do it tomorrow)

Untamed (Pack #1 : evening pack)
keepers - 240 DEC

February 28th, 2020

Starting DEC : 5,923 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,566 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 98.15%
Balance = DEC Earning = 643 DEC ( + 309 DEC) = ~ 2.645 Steem x ~ $0.172 USD/Steem = ~ $0.454 USD

Spent :

4 x "Javelin Thrower" (non-gold - 595 DEC -- six (6) cards remaining to max)
2 x "Javelin Thrower" (non-gold - 350 DEC -- four (4) cards remaining to max - used extra 309 DEC from yesterday)

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

Daily Quests Rewards (yesterday's "dragon" quest) - which I didn't have the time/energy to complete)
keepers - 135 DEC
nonkeepers - 30 DEC
potions - +2 legendary potions, +0 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 351 DEC

Notes: Got a nice "300 DEC" drop in the above rewards.

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

February 29th, 2020

Starting DEC : 5,988 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,641 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 92.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 773 DEC = ~ 2.735 Steem x ~ $0.182 USD/Steem = ~ $0.50 USD

Spent :

4 x "Javelin Thrower" (non-gold - 482 DEC --> finally maxed this powerful card out!)
8 x "Mantoid" (non-gold - 273 DEC -- eight (8) cards remaining to reach Level 6, which unlocks the "snare" ability)

Daily Quests Rewards (yesterday's "water" quest) - which I didn't have the time/energy to complete)
keepers - 280 DEC
nonkeepers - 30 DEC
potions - +0 legendary potions, +5 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 127 DEC

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

Placed 23rd in the "League Of Champions" tournament :
https://steemmonsters.com/?p=tournament&id=acb403858446dcbbcac7a680981aa9adf977ae08

and the best part is that the card that ultimately earned me the 23rd place, and 3,750 DEC was my "Lucky Golden Chicken"! This is a battle that will go down in history. The "Golden Chicken" truly is proving to be lucky:

https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=115ae6676ec09e34491358d6e2fae0c2fe45cf06&ref=transcript-junky

It turns out that by YET ANOTHER stroke of luck, the cost of one (1) "Furious Chicken" (Gold) is 3,750 -- just 20 DEC more than the amount I won in the contest. So I went ahead and bought 1 x "Furious Chicken" (Gold - Level 3 - $2.28 USD - 3,770 DEC) to add to my collection. I mean, the "Lucky Golden Chicken" DID, after all, enable me to win the contest, and so I guess we can saw she REPRODUCED -- or "laid a golden egg"... Hahah...

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 240 DEC

Daily Quests Rewards (today's "earth" quest)
keepers - "Boogyman" (Gold - Level 3- $2.19 USD - 3,000 DEC) + 70 DEC
nonkeepers - 30 DEC
potions - +1 legendary potions, +2 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 129 DEC

Season Rewards (Season Level : "Diamond II" (50 loot chests)
keepers -
"Gelatinous Cube" (Gold - Level 4 - $0.65 USD - 750 DEC)
"Shadowy Presence" (non-gold (epic) - 200 DEC) + 240 DEC
nonkeepers - 90 DEC
potions - +5 legendary potions, +7 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 287 DEC

March 1st, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,036 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 99.23%
Ending DEC - 6,251 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 93.51%
Balance = DEC Earning = 214 DEC = ~ 0.755 Steem x ~ $0.178 USD/Steem = ~ $0.xx USD

Spent :

9 x "Mantoid" (non-gold - 275 DEC -- to bump this card to Level 6 and unlock "snare" ability. I usually underspend a little each day, so the extra 61 DEC ( 275 - 214 = 61 DEC ) is covered by previous days where I underspend (sometime by up to 100 DEC))

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 110 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : celebration pack for new season first battle ("Gold II" season level - 26 loot chests)
keepers -
"The Vigilator" (non-gold (legendary) - Level 1 - $2.46 USD - 1,000 DEC --> bumped up to Level 3 to unlock "poison" ability)

• 230 DEC
  Total - 1,230 DEC

Daily Quests Rewards (today's "death" quest)
keepers - 80 DEC
nonkeepers - 0 DEC
potions - +2 legendary potions, +1 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 85 DEC

Untamed (Pack #3 : evening pack)
keepers -
"Serpentine Sky" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.98 USD - 500 DEC )

• 70 DEC

March 2nd, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,019 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,332 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 92.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 313 DEC = ~ 1.107 Steem x ~ $0.181 USD/Steem = ~ $0.20 USD

Spent :

10 x "Horny Toad" (non-gold - 300 DEC -- saw soem super cheap bath cards (for this already cheap car), and am now just eight (8) cards away from bumping the frog up to Level 6, which unlocks the powerul "poison" ability.

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 140 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "fire" quest -- as usual, I needed omre time to finish the challenging "fie" quest, and so will do it tomorrow)

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 140 DEC

March 3rd, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,043 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 6,692 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 93.68%
Balance = DEC Earning = 649 DEC = ~ 2.02 Steem x ~ $0.183 USD/Steem = ~ $0.37 USD

Spent :

1 x "Octopider" (non-gold - 90 DEC - needed one card to bump they guy to Level 5, which upped his "melee" power from "+3" to "+4"). Since this upgrade ALSO lowered his health from "+8" to "+7", BUT since this card is so cheap (only ~ $0.04 USD) I will likely use my daily "DEC loose change" to buy up the 14 cards now needed to bump him up to Level 6, and get his health back up to "+8". This is a powerful, and useful card, and I plan to max his out over time.

9 x "Horny Toad" (non-gold - 580 DEC -- I had to buy one extra card (which was part of "two-card combined card") which is why I went a little over DEC-budget today (670 DEC spent versus 649 DEC earned today = 21 DEC over-budget) . But again, this is why I usually UNDERSPEND each day, because on days like this there are some specific cards where I need that one (or two) extra cards to move up one level (and often boost my DEC earning a bit starting on that day, due to the extra features of the card). So it is always best to take the opportunity ASAP when upgrading cards, because JUST ONE DAY of using a card at the next higher level may result in winning an extra battle (or two, or three...) and/or earning some additional DEC which you would NOT have earned if you had not taken a little risk by overspending a little. Keep in mind that we're talking about just a few DEC (or a few hundred) on rare occasions. But it's something to at least consider. This upgrade of the "Horny Toad" unlocked the "poison" ability, which is VERY powerful. However, it also knocked his health down from "+3" to "+2", and so I will now work, over the next week or two, on buying up the 49 additional cards needed to bump him up to Level 7, which will bump his health back up to "+3", with the ADDITION of the "poison" ability. I usually DO NOT feel confident playing cards with health below "+3", unless the summoner, or other card(s), boost the health in a specific battle. It's educational, though, to try these cards at different health levels to experiment with their advantages and disadvantages.

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 240

Daily Quest (yesterday's "fire" quest -- as usual, I needed a little extra time to finish the "fire" quest, mainly because my fire deck is my third strongest. But actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find that with the some of the specific cards I have been upgrading (by opening the two the daily Untamed packs, PLUS the "once per day" card purchase I do at the end of each day, with daily earned DEC) I am actually getting BETTER at winning with the fire deck. So this is confirmation that my overall strategy is working on multiple fronts).
keepers - 80 DEC
nonkeepers - 0 DEC
potions - +3 legendary potions, +1 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 99 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : celebration pack for reaching "Gold I" season level - +4 loot chests -- + 30 season loot chests)
keepers - 80 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

March 4th, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,051 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 93.86%
Ending DEC - 6,767 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 99.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 716 DEC = ~ 2.157 Steem x ~ $0.190 USD/Steem = ~ $0.41 USD

Spent :

11 x "Horny Toad" (non-gold - 731 DEC -- now working daily to buy enough cards to upgrade this card to Level 7 to get the health back up from "+2" to "+3", as this card lost 1 health with the upgrade to Level 6 (which was the tradeoff for gaining the "poison" ability).

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers -
"Goblin Thief" (Gold - Level 3 - $0.41 USD - 500 DEC)

• 260 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "water" quest).
keepers - 15 60 DEC
nonkeepers - 105 DEC
potions - +2 legendary potions, +0 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 111 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

March 5th, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,036 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 97.57%
Ending DEC - 6,768 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 90.00xx%
Balance = DEC Earning = 732 DEC = ~ 2.09 Steem x ~ $0.199 USD/Steem = ~ $0.415 USD

Spent :

10 X "Horny Toad" (non-gold - 747 DEC -- continuing to upgrade this card up to Level 7 (28 cards remaining) each day, to get health back up from "+2" to "+3". Also, notice the QUANTITY of cards I have been able to purchase,on average, each day. Sticking with the cheaper cards, I am able to buy 10 - 20 cards with my daily DEC earnings. This is either EQUAL to the 10 cards per day I am opening in the Untamed packs (10 per day), or DOUBLE that (20 cards per day). PLus, I can CHOOSE which cards to purchase with the daily DEC earnings. This means that there is likely NO NEED to purchase additional Untamed packs into the future, as I can buy the SAME number of cards, and choose which ones to buy, instead of taking extra risk and cost buying packs.

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "death" quest).
keepers - 60 10 15 DEC
nonkeepers - DEC
potions - +1 legendary potions, +4 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 107 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 240 DEC

March 6th, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,021 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 100.00%
Ending DEC - 9,930 6,930 + (3,000 - conversion of unneeded (already maxed) "Corrupted Pegasys" (non-gold - Level 1 - 3,000 DEC) card into DEC to buy more Untamed cards
Ending Capture rate : ~ 88.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 3,909 DEC = ~ 11.465 Steem x ~ $0.218 USD/Steem = ~ $2.50 USD

Spent :

1 x "SoulStorm" (non-gold - 1,139 DEC -- to bump this card up to Level 3, which raised the health from "+2" to "+3")

2 x "Elven Mystic" (non-gold - 508 DEC -- bumped up to Level 4 to unlock the "silence" power).

1 x "Child Of The Forest" (non-gold - 263 DEC -- bumped up to Level 4 to increase health from "+2" to "+3")

36 x "Horny Toad" (non-gold - 1,632 - bought this cobined card because of discounted price of 0.025/card versus 0.045 for individual cards -- bumped)

6 x "Flame Monkey (non-gold - 357 DEC 0 bumped up to Level 3. Now working to get this cheaply-priced card up to Level 5, to unlock the "repair" ability. These "1" man cards are very useful.

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

Daily Quest (today's "fire" quest).
keepers - 20 60 10 60 60 DEC
nonkeepers - DEC
potions - +0 legendary potions, +3 alchemy/gold potions
DEC - 48 DEC

Untamed (Pack #2 : (evening pack- celebration pack for reaching "Diamond III" season level - + 10 loot chests (total = 40 season loot chests)
keepers - 80 DEC

Notes: I have decided that the STRICT "two Untamed packs per day" pace of opening cards is ideal (both because it makes pacing calculation easier, and because I want to extend the amount of days I will be able to open my remaining Untamed packs as long as possible, until I (hopefully) figure out a way to generate a new income stream to fund a QUARTERLY purchase of Untamed packs so I can just keep going with the"two packs per day" strategy. After opening this pack I now have 325 packs remaining, and so 325 / 2 (daily packs) = ~ 162 days worth of packs = ~~ 23 weeks = 5.7 months. This means that I now have ~ 6 months to try to generate an additional income stream to fund a quarterly batch pack purchase into the future, so I can continue my enjoyable "two pack per day" pack habit.

March 7th, 2020

Starting DEC : 6,030 DEC
Starting Capture Rate : ~ 97.39%
Ending DEC - 6,441 DEC
Ending Capture rate : ~ 100.00%
Balance = DEC Earning = 441 DEC = ~ 1.193 Steem x ~ $0.214 USD/Steem = ~ $0.255 USD

Spent :

8 x "Flame Monkey" (non-gold - 441 DEC - three more cards to go to reach Level 4)

Untamed (Pack #1 : morning pack)
keepers - 80 DEC

Placed 28th in tournament - won 400 DEC - converted to Tron and did a few hours of BFG token-mining (via playing slots) at BetFury.io

Daily Quest (today's "dragon" quest - was preoccupied with getting this post finished and published, so will finish this quest tomorrow).

Untamed (Pack #2 : evening pack)
keepers - 270 DEC

Whew! These posts are growing dense - but that's okay. Take what resonates with you,and leave the rest. I hope you find some/any of these tips useful in increasing your understanding and/or skill level in the SteemMonsters (Splinterlands) and/or Drug Wars, and/or "Prospectors, and/or any other game(s) - and the " blockchain gaming " industry as whole - which I end up exploring as this series evolves. More JUICY tips to come with each weekly update, as I dig deeper into this whole REVOLUTIONARY PHENOMENON, and become more experienced and successful in the game(s).

See you on the battlefield...

@transcript-junky