This document will show you how to win a PC game, Plant Tycoon, and how long you can expect to complete the quest and even pollinate all the possible plants in the game.
First of all, we need to generate a transformation chart of the colors and species in the game. There are 23 colors and 23 species in Plant Tycoon.
23 colors => 22+21+20+...+1=253 combinations
23 species => 22+21+20+...+1=253 combinations
=> complete transformation chart takes 253x2=506 trials.
If every plant takes maxmium 22 trials to discover (provided that you have saved the essential seeds along the color and species series, e.g.: ALL Spotted, ALL Citrus, ALL Ball Cactus and ALL Ball Cactus), 1st~3rd tier plants takes 17x17x22=6358 trials. (This is more than enough to discover all the six magic plants.)
HOWEVER, 4th tier colors and 4th tier species can never been discovered without essential seeds such as Tilia Reptans, Tilia Ball Cactus and Tilia Ridgeball. Plus, you may not be lucky enough to get both Spotted Reptans and Spotted Ball Cactus in the beginning of a game. For example, we have the worse case: without Spotted Ball Cactus. But let's assume we have the luck. And let's discuss those 4th tier plants later but refresh the calculations of 1st~3rd tier plants first:
17 colors => 16+15+14+...+1=136 combinations
17 species => 16+15+14+...+1=136 combinations
=> to complete transformation chart for 1st~3rd tier plants it takes 136x2=272 trials.
If every plant takes the maxmium 16 trials to discover (provided that you have saved the essential seeds along the color and species series, i.e.: ALL Spotted, ALL Citrus, ALL Ball Cactus and ALL Ball Cactus), 1st~3rd tier plants takes 17x17x16=4624 trials. (This is more than enough to discover all the six magic plants. Actually, we just need 1/16 times (that is, 4624/16=289) to do so. We will discuss this point in the conclusion section.)
OK, at this point we have discovered all the 1st~3rd tier plants, including all the six magic plants but not the Spotted ones. (We know we need a Spotted Ball Cactus to complete the Spotted plants but we save this part at last.)
Now, we move on to the 4th tier plants. They can be divided into three sections: (A) 4th tier species with 1st~3rd colors, (B) 4th tier colors with 1st~3rd species, and (C) 4th tier colors with 4th tier species.
Here, before we discuss the 4th tier plants, let's list a sequence of color transmation series which we need to apply again on Section (A) 4th tier plants:
COORDINATE COLOR Spotted ______NONE______ + Citrus => Jalapa Viola + Spotted => Bluestar Nox + Spotted => Rosaceae Mystic + Bluestar => Mystic Bluestar + Jalapa => Viola Rosaceae + Citrus => Fourpetal Blazing + Viola => Fragrant Fabled + Fourpetal => Blazing Fragrant + Viola => Fabled Jalapa + Citrus => Aureus Fourpetal + Citrus => Mela Venomous + Fourpetal => Venomous Aureus Mystic + Spotted => Nox Daisy + Spotted => Daisy Painted + Spotted => Painted Spotted (The above series may be a little complicate but the parent plants are priced higher. We may have a simplier series with cheaper root parents--and fewer seedreservation:
Spotted
+ Citrus => Jalapa
+ Spotted => Bluestar+ Citrus => Fragrant
+ Citrus => Aureus
+ Citrus => Mela
+ Citrus => Fourpetal
+ Citrus => Venomous
+ Bluestar => Fabled
+ Bluestar => Viola
+ Bluestar => Rosaceae
+ Bluestar => Mystic
+ Citrus => BlazingSpotted
+ Bluestar => Daisy
+ Bluestar => noxDaisy
+ Spotted => Painted
)
Next, let's list a sequence of species transmation series which we need to apply again on Section (B) 4th tier plants:
COORDINATE SPECIES
Reptans ________NONE______
+ Ball Cactus => Maranta Ananas
+ Reptans => Astera Orchid
+ Maranta => Fern Gladiatus
+ Astera => Gladiatus Astera
+ Maranta => Ananas Fern
+ Ball Cactus => Maple Bamboo
+ Ananas => Lemonbush Fanleaf
+ Maple => Bamboo Lemonbush
+ Ananas => Fanleaf Maranta
+ Ball Cactus => Rare Oak Maple
+ Ball Cactus => Pear Cactus Pipe Cactus
+ Maple/Rare Oak => Pipe Cactus Rare Oak
Fern
+ Reptans => Orchid Grass
+ Reptans => Grass Scandens
+ Reptans => Scandens Reptans
Then, we need to determine which section of the 4th tier plants to been done first. The best case is all the Tilia Reptans, Tilia Ridgeball, Spotted Ridgeball and Citrus Ridgeball are available to be purchased because applying the following series we can complete all the 529 plants in the game:
Section (A):--
with Spotted Ridgeball and Citrus Ridgeball (Spotted Ball Cactus and Citrus Ball Cactus are reserved since the beginning of the game),
COORDINATE SPECIES
Ridgeball _______NONE_______
Ridgeball + Bamboo => Glaber Ball Cactus
Ridgeball + Pear Cactus => Pitcher Tigerfern
Ridgeball + Rare Oak => Tigerfern Glaber
Ridgeball + Glaber/Tigerfern => Weeper Pitcher
Ridgeball + Pitcher/Weeper => Multiflora Weeper
(again, you can use the following simplier series with cheaper but fewer root parents--and fewer seed reservation:
Ridgeball
+ Ball Cactus => Pitcher
+ Ball Cactus => Glaber
+ Ridgeball => Weeper
+ Ridgeball => Multiflora
Weeper
+ Ball Cactus => Tigerfern
)
Applying the earlier color tranformation series, we will have all these Section (A) 4th tier plants.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Section (B):--
with Tilia Reptans and Tilia Ball Cactus, together with Citrus Reptans and Citrus Ball Cactus which are reserved since the beginning of the game,
COORDINATE COLOR
Tilia _______NONE_____
Tilia + Blazing => Arthurium Citrus
Tilia + Mela => Tahitian Venus
Tilia + Aureus => Venus Arthurium
Tilia + Arthurium/Venus => Lilia Tahitian
Tilia + Tahitian/Lilia => Baccatus Lilia
(a simplier series with cheaper but fewer root parents--and fewer seed reservation--can be:
Tilia
+ Citrus => Tahitian
+ Tilia => Baccatus
+ Tahitian => Lilia
+ Citrus => Venus
+ Citrus => Arthurium
)
Applying the earlier species transformation series, we will get all Section (B) 4th tier plants easily.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Section C:--
with Tilia Ball Cactus, Tilia Ridgeball, Citrus Ball Cactus and Citrus Ridgeball,
Can you imagine how to apply the above 4th tier color and species transformation series to complete this section?
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As we mentioned before, you do not have all the essential seeds which include Spotted Reptans, Citrus Reptans, Tilia Reptans, Spotted Ball Cactus, Citrus Ball Cactus, Tilia Ball Cactus, Spotted Ridgeball, Citrus Ridgeball, and Tilia Ridgeball in the beginning of the game. You may keep waiting day after day and hope the supplies store will finally provide you the above seeds. Hmm, what if the game is not so considerate, especially in the hard level? Not everything is so optimistic in life, right? So we need to do something ourselves -- use mutation fluid. After trying the mutation fluid on several plants, I find mutation results only get coordinate plants. For example: Bluestar's coordinate color is Nox and Bluestar is the coordinate color for Mystic while Astera's coordinate species is Orchid and Astera is the coordinate species for Gladiatus; therefore, to obtain Bluestar Astera by the use of mutation fluid, the fluid must be applied on a plant chosen from Nox Orchid, Mystic Orchid, Nox Gladiatus and Mystic Gladiatus. Remember, mutation is a cycle in this game. That is, if you choose a right seed to start with, you can keep applying the mutation fluid on the same plant until it appears the target plant you want. Now, back to our problem: how to obtain the essential plants:
Spotted Reptans:--
Spotted has no coordinate color but it is the coordinate color for Painted. Reptans also has no coordinate species but it is the coordinate species for Scandens. Therefore the only plant you can start a mutation is Painted Scandens. Usually if you don't have Spotted Reptans in the beginning, you should have a Citrus Reptans at the start and Spotted Scandens seed in supplies store. As Reptans is the coordinate species for Scandens, thru the above color transformation series, you can obtain a Painted Scandens seed easily. Then you can apply the mutation fluid on the seed.
Citrus Reptans:--
Citrus's coordinate color is Mela and it is the coordinate color for Arthurium. As mentioned above, Reptans can be obtained only from Scandens. Therefore, you can start a mutation with either Mela Scandens or Arthurium Scandens.
Tilia Reptans:--
Similarly, the starter seed is Baccatus Scandens.
Spotted Ball Cactus:--
Starter seed is Painted Pear Cactus or Painted Glaber.
Citrus Ball Cactus:--
Starter seed is Mela Pear Cactus, Arthurium Pear Cactus, Mela Glaber or Arthurium Glaber.
Tilia Ball Cactus:--
Starter seed is Baccatus Pear Cactus or Baccatus Glaber.
Spotted Ridgeball:--
Starter seed is Painted Multiflora.
Citrus Ridgeball:--
Starter seed is Mela Multiflora or Arthurium Multiflora.
Tilia Ridgeball:--
Starter seed is Baccatus Multiflora.
Of course, you may not be able to obatin the starter seeds thru pollination. Most of the times, you have to dig down the mutation tree in order to find a path which you have the starter seed thru pollinating your existing plants. In my case, I purchased a Citrus Glaber seed and a Tilia Pitcher seed -- purchase some exfoli seed can shorten your mutation paths a lot. To complete all the 529 plants, I just missed Spotted Ball Cactus, Tilia Reptans, Spotted Ridgeball and Tilia Ridgeball. To obtain Spotted Ball Cactus, my mutation path was Spotted Ball Cactus <= Spotted Pear Cactus <= Painted Pear Cactus <= Spotted Pipe Cactus <= Painted Pipe Cactus. Since I had Spotted Reptans, Citrus Spotted Reptans, Citrus Ball Cactus, Jalapa Ball Cactus and Blurstar Ball Cactus, I obtained a Painted Pipe Cactus seed thru pollination. With Spotted Ball Cactus, keep continuous mutations, Spotted Glaber, Spotted Tigerfern, Spotted Pitcher, Spotted Weeper, Spotted Multiflora, Spotted Ridgeball were obtained in sequence. Tilia Reptans was successfully mutated initially from Citrus Reptans followed by the sequence of Arthurium Reptans, Venus Reptans, Tahitian Reptans, Lilia Reptans and Baccatus Reptans. Spotted Ridgeball was also started from Spotted Ball Cactus but instead of getting species mutation, I obtained the color mutation results. Tilia Ridgeball was started from the Citrus Glaber which I purchased from the supplies store.
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So, this is my archievement story in Plant Tycoon. There is one more reminder I would like to share: be destination oriented rather than trial pollination in this game. The reason is there are over 529 possible plants. If you pollinate one by one, it will take 528+527+526+...+1 turns to pollinate all the plants and it will be very time consuming. But with destination orinted in mind, you can reduce lots of pollination trials as a color or a species can be obatined from several parents -- instead of pollinate all the parents, you just need to pick two parents to pollinate. And this is the secret how to reduce most of unnecessary pollination.
CACULATIONS
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To complete a color series, we have procedures:
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For 4th tier color with 1st~3rd tier plants, you need Tilia Reptans and Tilia Ball Cactus. You may either buy the seeds or apply mutation fluid.
Tilia Reptans
<= Baccatus Reptans
<= Lilia Reptans
<= Tahitian Reptans
<= Venus Reptans
<= Arthurium Reptans
<= Citrus Reptans
Tilia Ball Cactrus
<= Baccatus Ball Cactrus
<= Lilia Ball Cactrus
<= Tahitian Ball Cactrus
<= Venus Ball Cactrus
<= Arthurium Ball Cactrus
<= Citrus Ball Cactrus
For 4th tier color with 4 tier species plants, you need Tilia Ridgeball and
After words
Destination oriented.