Made the top 100 with no puppets today!

[Hustlertwo]

I don’t expect it to last (what does, in this ephemeral world?), but for the moment I am at #99 for total deck value, and getting to the top 100 at least once was my goal. Wasn’t easy without puppets; I never had more than 42 bank at any time, and that was just because I sold a legendary for 29.00 that I unwrapped from a pack. And of course, any time you’re focusing on card values you are building your house on shifting sand. Still, eventually I piled enough of it up to get passably high, and I figured I’d mention it to show people puppets, as easy as they do make things, are not as necessary as they might seem.

[The Otter Archipelago]

Congrats!

[Arpasia]

My sincerest congratulations to you, man!

[Hustlertwo]

Thanks, both of y’all.

[PhilTech]

I don’t expect it to last (what does, in this ephemeral world?), but for the moment I am at #99 for total deck value, and getting to the top 100 at least once was my goal. Wasn’t easy without puppets; I never had more than 42 bank at any time, and that was just because I sold a legendary for 29.00 that I unwrapped from a pack. And of course, any time you’re focusing on card values you are building your house on shifting sand. Still, eventually I piled enough of it up to get passably high, and I figured I’d mention it to show people puppets, as easy as they do make things, are not as necessary as they might seem.

how?

[Tuboo Shippers]

I could hug you right now. you absolute mad lad, you did the impossible!

[New Makasta]

Several people have done this before. Midlands and tobixland being the two most notable.

Anyway congrats

[Hustlertwo]

I could hug you right now. you absolute mad lad, you did the impossible!

Appreciated! It certainly felt impossible at times, especially when I learned the hard way what happens when you buy a card whose bubble is just about to pop.

PhilTech I did it through buying low, selling high, and doing my level best to never spend more than 1/100th of a card's value on it. So no more than 1.50 on a card worth 150, 11 on 1,100, so on and so forth. I also bought a good many cards that were worth 2-5 bank for around .02-.04 apiece; by keeping those around, I could occasionally jump in to someone selling them for way, way more bank than I paid and make a tidy profit. Some of them never worked and were sold or junked at a minor loss, but the ones that did made more than enough to cover the busts. I never had any huge heists, but I did extort a wee bit of protection money from a couple big players who tried to do balance transfers using cards I owned. I'd put it on sale for maybe 10% or so of what they were trying to transfer, and they'd buy it just to get me to go away. It was usually still a good deal more than the card was worth, so it all worked out. As much as puppets are the easy mode for this game, I will say that going solo has one major fringe benefit: I can't really be heisted. Sure, sometimes someone dropped in and I got soaked for the full bid I had on a card, or they got me when I was slow to take a bid away from one I missed. Which, hey, we all do it, no hard feelings. But I have no balance to transfer between accounts, because I only have the one, so I never have to worry about losing it in transit. The only person with the power to make me lose my money is me.

Thanks for the congratulations, Makasta! Not surprised someone else did it before me, though as the top spots keep getting higher and higher in value, I am not sure how many more people will be able to do it after me. The window for non-puppeteers to succeed is likely closing fast.

Also, after some good trades last night and this morning, I'm now up to #88 for the moment. That was a nice surprise.

[Pirombola]

I have gotten a gold badge because of only one common card whose market value is 1000. It is bizarre.

[Hustlertwo]

That was what started me on this too. When I first reactivated my nation after 15 years away, I was just idly doing the cards, didn’t much care. Then all of a sudden I opened up a card (or already owned it and then it started getting traded, I don’t know which) that was worth over 2k. In an instant I was ranked in the top 500 for the whole game based solely on this one card, which remains my most valuable even though it has been traded a couple times since then: https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/ ... 6/season=2

Without that one, I don’t know that I would have cared much. But after that much of a head start, seemed worthwhile to see what else I could do.

[One Small Island]

This is very cool and you should be super proud of that achievement!

[Hustlertwo]

Danke.

[Coffin-Breathe]

Several people have done this before. Midlands and tobixland being the two most notable.

You must be joking, man - or you didn´t notice the clause 'without any puppets' !

[PhilTech]

-snip-

Wow. This is indeed impressive and ingenious.

First time I've realized that this was actually possibly. I also thank you for giving a detailed explanation. It certainly has many tips that me as a puppeteer can use.

[Islands Of Ventro]

Great Job, though I don't recommend continuing it due to the instability of inflation for your stratagy.

[Fauzjhia]

Timao has done it before you.
And I don't think Timao has any puppets.

[Umbratellus]

Congrats! I know I've had a few auction duels with you recently so I know it must be a challenge lol. Keep it up!

[Hustlertwo]

-snip-

Wow. This is indeed impressive and ingenious.

First time I've realized that this was actually possibly. I also thank you for giving a detailed explanation. It certainly has many tips that me as a puppeteer can use.

Glad to help!

Islands of Ventro Eh, I don't have any way to get bank enough to do it without inflateds. Also, those are a lot less volatile than people think. Sure, I have sometimes logged in and discovered I dropped a few hundred in total value overnight. But for the most part, many of the cards I own go weeks or months without anyone touching them. There's a lot of cards out there. And even if cards I own do go back on the market, they have to be fortunate enough to sell when I'm offline, or I'll either buy their copy to add to my own if the price is low, or drop my own in there to sell at a profit if it's high.

Plus, I'll finish my third game and get it to the publisher in a month or two, then I'm lifting my self-inflicted ban on indulging in my Gemp addiction. After that, I may not be anywhere near as hands-on here.

Umbratellus Thanks, and yes, we've battled a time or two, haven't we? I wish you well in all your deals...that don't involve me, at least.

[Apexiala]

Congrats!

[Hustlertwo]

Congrats!

Thanks!

[6th level of hell]

Timao has done it before you.
And I don't think Timao has any puppets.

So you think - really ? It´s relatively easy to finance your buys, if almost everyone sells to you below or way below JV (which usually seldom is done), and then junk the cards; just have a short look at his history, I´d say.
On the other side, Timao is an old nation, playing the card game from the beginning, long before the badge was invented, which often gives such nations a severe headstart.
Btw, what´s so great about being in the 'top hundred' ? in a game that basically allows everyone with enough spare time, computing skill and willing to bend the rules a little bit to climb up this list so easily ? For free, just to add. Where is the fun in this ? Must everything evolve to a competition always ? But obviously collecting cards just for their beauty or creativity or whatever is not enough for many people, there must be competition - which, imo, doesn´t predict a nice future for mankind, if this game reflects the real world somehow...

[Fauzjhia]

Timao has done it before you.
And I don't think Timao has any puppets.

So you think - really ? It´s relatively easy to finance your buys, if almost everyone sells to you below or way below JV (which usually seldom is done), and then junk the cards; just have a short look at his history, I´d say.
On the other side, Timao is an old nation, playing the card game from the beginning, long before the badge was invented, which often gives such nations a severe headstart.
Btw, what´s so great about being in the 'top hundred' ? in a game that basically allows everyone with enough spare time, computing skill and willing to bend the rules a little bit to climb up this list so easily ? For free, just to add. Where is the fun in this ? Must everything evolve to a competition always ? But obviously collecting cards just for their beauty or creativity or whatever is not enough for many people, there must be competition - which, imo, doesn´t predict a nice future for mankind, if this game reflects the real world somehow...

There is no rules about cards. you are free to collect what ever you want, and to do what ever you want with those cards.
Personally I have no interest in inflation or what ever manipulation that might be done to gain bank, I gather and protect my own cards, and that's it now. I don't anything more then that.

this game reflect exactly what capitalism is ; the rich get richer, and you can try any rules at you want at all. nothing change,

[New Makasta]

Several people have done this before. Midlands and tobixland being the two most notable.

You must be joking, man - or you didn´t notice the clause 'without any puppets' !

Tobix has 1 puppet so I guess he is disqualified so they don't count, but they only uses said puppet to get new cards (overstocked on main) and for inflations
But Midlands doesn't have any

Yet again I would like to congratulate the OP because they should feel proud for this achievement its truly a feat to reach top 100 withhout any puppets

[Destructive Government Economic System]

Absolutely based. Well done!

[Hustlertwo]

Made it to 75th. Bonus!