darkSpyro

I got all skylanders: all specials, all alter egos, all regular ones. A lot of airships and balloons, dragon lair house, and 1 cadets HQ and 1 scouts HQ, 14 hall of legends. What I do when placing my skylanders:

- Sanctuaries: 1st giant or special, 2nd and 3rd regular skylanders
- scouts / cadettes HQ: regular sylanders
- Airships: giants / swappers. Especially the swappers that I have double: I have 3 washing bucklers (holiday, dark and regular W, so I use 2 out of three. I noticed that this way I really don't think I miss out on batts that much. Most of the time I have those swappers on the 3h mission Mount Cloud break.
- Balloons: special skylanders, giants and / or swappers
- Molekin Market: regular skylander
- Hall of legends: around the clock filled with legendaries

During the day I use 3h missions most of the time (unless I can check a lot, then 11minutes or 22 minute adventures that have high payouts), during the night 9h missions for the skylanders that have them or 7 hour missions. Of course I use the element of the day skylanders when they are on (although right now this doesn't work as the element of the day is still missing......)

What is your strategy on using your skylanders?

I'm relatively the same as you.

Sanctuaries - First slot 25% payout (Giant/Alt-Ego/Swapper), 2nd and 3rd are what ever is available.
4 Balloons Per Island (32 Balloons) - Focus on leveling to 15, then highest payout then fill the slot
Giant Houses - All 8 filled
Legendary Houses - All 14 filled
Dark Houses - All 5 filled
Alt Ego Houses - All filled (and lined up in order of release because things out of order make me feel icky)
Swap Houses - Working on putting 1 per island (currently at 7)
Dragon/Scout/Cadette/Bird - Two of each and filled with what ever is available
Molekin Market - Regular Skylander

Bonus 5 - These are five balloons I have sitting off that I rarely use unless it's a timed quest or a brand new character. I like to have them grouped together so I don't have to check the whole map.

I run 5 hour missions first thing in the AM and then early afternoon. Provided I can wrap up the 2nd set of missions by 7:00 PM I'll run 12 hours over night. Otherwise it's 7.

I generate energy with 40 radiant fields. I am always running the 5 hour mission. I stopped paying attention to the element of the day when I realized I was generating between 80-120 stones without checking on an hourly basis.

my Skylanders are maxed at level 10 how or when do they change to be able to go up to 15

You need to acquire Ramses as a companion. Not sure what he costs any more, if anything...

I think Ramses is free but not until you are level 25 or 27, its been awhile

My current strategy is to use all of my balloons/airships to raise the level of my skylanders to 15. That does not generate the most efficient gold production, but I value the gems received from leveling ups as a worthy tradeoff. I'm currently sending leveling skylanders on either 3 or 7 hour missions (those are the 4 and 10 hour missions for folks without Flynn). Again, I understand these are not the most efficient missions for this purpose, but I really hate loading balloons/airships and don't want to do it every hour or less.

Once I'm done leveling, I will use my adventure airships and whatever other balloons are needed to send swappers on their special 3-hour missions overnight (and during the day, too, to the extent I'm not using them in sanctuaries as described below).

I have been using my "excess" swappers (i.e. where I have more than one of the same element, like the 3 wash bucklers) in the first and second positions in my elemental sanctuaries. With the 2x Gorm & Tuk bonuses, they are the best skylanders to use in the sanctuaries, generating roughly 56,000 in gold every time collected (roughly 40,000 in profits after energy costs). I always put the best gold generators in the first slots of the sanctuaries because the first slot is guaranteed a gold payout. In the 2nd and 3rd slots, you might get gems or stones instead, wasting the "value" of the high gold generating swappers.

I then stick whatever other bonused skylanders I have in the remaining slots in my sanctuaries. I try not to put "regular" skylanders in the sanctuaries since their non-bonused gold payouts, coupled with the occasional gem or stone payout, means that "regular" skylanders are not generally profitable in the sanctuaries (i.e. it costs more to buy the energy than you receive in average gold payouts). If you're happier with gems or stones and can spare the cash, this is less of a concern.

Of course, I make sure to fully load all Halls of Legends, Giant Houses and Alt Houses first. When I have the choice of putting a Giant or that Giant's mini equivalent (e.g. Tree Rex vs. Barkley) in a Giant house, I always put the mini in the house. This is because the houses do not get the 25% Gigantus bonus or the #1 fan bonuses, so putting such bonused Giants into houses is a waste if you have another perfectly good mini you could use. Having said that, the houses are the very best gold generators for giants (as they are energy cost free) so in the absence of a mini, I'm using the giants for those giant houses.

I have a dragon house, a cadet house, a scout house and a bird house. I'm using them for now to level up skylanders but I have no enthusiasm for them, certainly will not get more of them and may or may not continue to use them once I've got everyone leveled up to 15.

I don't think that the swap force house is the best way to generate gold from swappers. EDIT: I believe you do in fact get the Gorm & Tuk bonus from the swap house, but even so, accounting for the variability in amounts as well as the relatively high possibility of getting either energy, kingdom xp (if you're less than level 40) or gems from them, your average profits per "run" in a swap house are probably less than 40,000 and with a six-hour timer, you're better putting your excess swappers in sanctuaries and non-excess ones overnight in balloons (or just balloons if you have Cali).

While sending swappers on their special 3-hour balloon missions are highly profitable (with Gorm & Tuk, especially), once I get Ermit tomorrow and shorten the sanctuary down to 5 hours, stuffing the excess swappers in sanctuaries (at least the first slot) is the clear winner from a profitability perspective (based on payouts, energy costs and likely number of times collected). It's more profitable to put a swapper on their special 3-hour mission in an adventure airship than to put a swapper in the second slot of a sanctuary, but it's a push if you're using regular balloons and not airships. EDIT: If you have both Cali AND Gorm & Tuk, then balloon missions are clearly superior to Sanctuary missions. I have to think about this more, but for some of my elements where I don't have sufficient bonused skylanders to otherwise fill the Sanctuary, even after I get Cali I may still put a Swapper in the first slot of those Sanctuaries.

That's my 2 cents!

That was at LEAST 5 cents worth =P

Awesome post midas! I have a lot of swappers myself, and I've always wondered if it was better to send them to Mount Cloudbreak or put them in a sanctuary. Looks like you've crunched all the numbers and figured it out. I also have Flynn, and plan to buy Ermit tomorrow, so our variables are in sync.

Thanks! One caveat. I'm assuming that I can collect my sanctuaries 4x a day with Ermit (which may be an aggressive assumption). And I'm assuming I can collect Mt. Cloudbreak 5x. Change either variable the right way and Mt. Cloudbreak becomes the better option.

Load 14 legendary houses
Load 9 alt houses
Load 2 sidekick houses
Load 4 giant houses with sidekicks
Load 4 giant houses with giants
Load 1 swap house
Load 2 dark houses
Load 4 dragon houses
Load bird house and HQs with non-bonused skylanders
Load molekin market with non-bonused skylander
Load sanctuaries with one swapper, and then giants and bonused skylanders
Run airships/balloons with swappers and bonused skylanders for 3- hour mission during day and 7-hour mission at night.

Not overly complex and provides a steady gem income and gold income. Like pico, I had to order my houses, but mine are ordered based on the element and how I load them (aiming for least navigation of the skylander selection dialog).

Additionally, I always hold out one sidekick - terrabite - to clear chompie pods. I do not hold out any swappers - when I send out on mission, I'm done for three hours (and I come here).

Quote: midas73

My current strategy is to use all of my balloons/airships to raise the level of my skylanders to 15. That does not generate the most efficient gold production, but I value the gems received from leveling ups as a worthy tradeoff. I'm currently sending leveling skylanders on either 3 or 7 hour missions (those are the 4 and 10 hour missions for folks without Flynn). Again, I understand these are not the most efficient missions for this purpose, but I really hate loading balloons/airships and don't want to do it every hour or less.

Once I'm done leveling, I will use my adventure airships and whatever other balloons are needed to send swappers on their special 3-hour missions overnight (and during the day, too, to the extent I'm not using them in sanctuaries as described below).

I have been using my "excess" swappers (i.e. where I have more than one of the same element, like the 3 wash bucklers) in the first and second positions in my elemental sanctuaries. With the 2x Gorm & Tuk bonuses, they are the best skylanders to use in the sanctuaries, generating roughly 56,000 in gold every time collected (roughly 40,000 in profits after energy costs). I always put the best gold generators in the first slots of the sanctuaries because the first slot is guaranteed a gold payout. In the 2nd and 3rd slots, you might get gems or stones instead, wasting the "value" of the high gold generating swappers.

I then stick whatever other bonused skylanders I have in the remaining slots in my sanctuaries. I try not to put "regular" skylanders in the sanctuaries since their non-bonused gold payouts, coupled with the occasional gem or stone payout, means that "regular" skylanders are not generally profitable in the sanctuaries (i.e. it costs more to buy the energy than you receive in average gold payouts). If you're happier with gems or stones and can spare the cash, this is less of a concern.

Of course, I make sure to fully load all Halls of Legends, Giant Houses and Alt Houses first. When I have the choice of putting a Giant or that Giant's mini equivalent (e.g. Tree Rex vs. Barkley) in a Giant house, I always put the mini in the house. This is because the houses do not get the 25% Gigantus bonus or the #1 fan bonuses, so putting such bonused Giants into houses is a waste if you have another perfectly good mini you could use. Having said that, the houses are the very best gold generators for giants (as they are energy cost free) so in the absence of a mini, I'm using the giants for those giant houses.

I have a dragon house, a cadet house, a scout house and a bird house. I'm using them for now to level up skylanders but I have no enthusiasm for them, certainly will not get more of them and may or may not continue to use them once I've got everyone leveled up to 15.

I don't think that the swap force house is the best way to generate gold from swappers. Maybe someone can confirm this, but I suspect you don't get a Gorm & Tuk bonus from the swap house. If that's true, and accounting for the variability in amounts as well as the relatively high possibility of getting either energy, kingdom xp (if you're less than level 40) or gems from them, your average profits per "run" in a swap house are probably less than 20,000 and with a six-hour timer, you're better putting your excess swappers in sanctuaries and non-excess ones overnight in balloons.

While sending swappers on their special 3-hour balloon missions are highly profitable (with Gorm & Tuk, especially), once I get Ermit tomorrow and shorten the sanctuary down to 5 hours, stuffing the excess swappers in sanctuaries (at least the first slot) is the clear winner from a profitability perspective (based on payouts, energy costs and likely number of times collected). It's more profitable to put a swapper on their special 3-hour mission in an adventure airship than to put a swapper in the second slot of a sanctuary, but it's a push if you're using regular balloons and not airships.

That's my 2 cents!

Help me out here. If you have Ermit, Cali, Flynn and Gorm & Tuck and a swapper.... It takes 5hours to end the sanctuaries for 5.000 every per slot. It takes 3hours to go to cloud mount break for only 980 energy. When you use a swapper in the first slot, this'll give you a payout (ignoring the elemental effect ) of 18.000 as a basis + extra 25% payout using a swapper 4.500 + gorm & tuck doubling 18.000 = 40.500 gold for 5.000 energy = 8,1 gold for 1 energy.

Using a swapper in an airship for the 3h mission, will give you a payout of 13.125 basis payout, 13.125 cali payout, 3.281 as extra 25% payout using a swapper + 13.125 doubling from & tuck = 42.656 gold for 980 energy = 43,5 gold for 1 energy.

Using a swapper in a balloon for the 3 hour mission, will give you a payout of 10.500 basis payout, 10.500 cali payout, 2.625 extra 25% payout using a swapper + 10.500 from G&T = 34.125 gold for 980 energy = 34,8 gold for 1 energy.

My conclusion: use swappers in airships first, then balloons and not in sanctuaries. I'd say to put in your giants and specials in the first slot of the sanctuaries. Personally I don't use all swappers as I don't want to miss out on bats too much. So I either send a couple them on short adventures or leave them free wondering around.

Or is my thinking not correct?

The only reason I don't do that, and I'm not as smart as Midas, is that all my Swappers are level 15 and I'm trying to level up my other skylanders. Maybe when all my guys and gals are level 15, I'll switch to that strategy.

Quote: iNiekie

Quote: midas73

My current strategy is to use all of my balloons/airships to raise the level of my skylanders to 15. That does not generate the most efficient gold production, but I value the gems received from leveling ups as a worthy tradeoff. I'm currently sending leveling skylanders on either 3 or 7 hour missions (those are the 4 and 10 hour missions for folks without Flynn). Again, I understand these are not the most efficient missions for this purpose, but I really hate loading balloons/airships and don't want to do it every hour or less.

Once I'm done leveling, I will use my adventure airships and whatever other balloons are needed to send swappers on their special 3-hour missions overnight (and during the day, too, to the extent I'm not using them in sanctuaries as described below).

I have been using my "excess" swappers (i.e. where I have more than one of the same element, like the 3 wash bucklers) in the first and second positions in my elemental sanctuaries. With the 2x Gorm & Tuk bonuses, they are the best skylanders to use in the sanctuaries, generating roughly 56,000 in gold every time collected (roughly 40,000 in profits after energy costs). I always put the best gold generators in the first slots of the sanctuaries because the first slot is guaranteed a gold payout. In the 2nd and 3rd slots, you might get gems or stones instead, wasting the "value" of the high gold generating swappers.

I then stick whatever other bonused skylanders I have in the remaining slots in my sanctuaries. I try not to put "regular" skylanders in the sanctuaries since their non-bonused gold payouts, coupled with the occasional gem or stone payout, means that "regular" skylanders are not generally profitable in the sanctuaries (i.e. it costs more to buy the energy than you receive in average gold payouts). If you're happier with gems or stones and can spare the cash, this is less of a concern.

Of course, I make sure to fully load all Halls of Legends, Giant Houses and Alt Houses first. When I have the choice of putting a Giant or that Giant's mini equivalent (e.g. Tree Rex vs. Barkley) in a Giant house, I always put the mini in the house. This is because the houses do not get the 25% Gigantus bonus or the #1 fan bonuses, so putting such bonused Giants into houses is a waste if you have another perfectly good mini you could use. Having said that, the houses are the very best gold generators for giants (as they are energy cost free) so in the absence of a mini, I'm using the giants for those giant houses.

I have a dragon house, a cadet house, a scout house and a bird house. I'm using them for now to level up skylanders but I have no enthusiasm for them, certainly will not get more of them and may or may not continue to use them once I've got everyone leveled up to 15.

I don't think that the swap force house is the best way to generate gold from swappers. Maybe someone can confirm this, but I suspect you don't get a Gorm & Tuk bonus from the swap house. If that's true, and accounting for the variability in amounts as well as the relatively high possibility of getting either energy, kingdom xp (if you're less than level 40) or gems from them, your average profits per "run" in a swap house are probably less than 20,000 and with a six-hour timer, you're better putting your excess swappers in sanctuaries and non-excess ones overnight in balloons.

While sending swappers on their special 3-hour balloon missions are highly profitable (with Gorm & Tuk, especially), once I get Ermit tomorrow and shorten the sanctuary down to 5 hours, stuffing the excess swappers in sanctuaries (at least the first slot) is the clear winner from a profitability perspective (based on payouts, energy costs and likely number of times collected). It's more profitable to put a swapper on their special 3-hour mission in an adventure airship than to put a swapper in the second slot of a sanctuary, but it's a push if you're using regular balloons and not airships.

That's my 2 cents!

Help me out here. If you have Ermit, Cali, Flynn and Gorm & Tuck and a swapper.... It takes 5hours to end the sanctuaries for 5.000 every per slot. It takes 3hours to go to cloud mount break for only 980 energy. When you use a swapper in the first slot, this'll give you a payout (ignoring the elemental effect ) of 18.000 as a basis + extra 25% payout using a swapper 4.500 + gorm & tuck doubling 18.000 = 40.500 gold for 5.000 energy = 8,1 gold for 1 energy.

Using a swapper in an airship for the 3h mission, will give you a payout of 13.125 basis payout, 13.125 cali payout, 3.281 as extra 25% payout using a swapper + 13.125 doubling from & tuck = 42.656 gold for 980 energy = 43,5 gold for 1 energy.

Using a swapper in a balloon for the 3 hour mission, will give you a payout of 10.500 basis payout, 10.500 cali payout, 2.625 extra 25% payout using a swapper + 10.500 from G&T = 34.125 gold for 980 energy = 34,8 gold for 1 energy.

My conclusion: use swappers in airships first, then balloons and not in sanctuaries. I'd say to put in your giants and specials in the first slot of the sanctuaries. Personally I don't use all swappers as I don't want to miss out on bats too much. So I either send a couple them on short adventures or leave them free wondering around.

Or is my thinking not correct?

The simple answer is that I wasn't accounting for Cali since I don't have her. I agree that Cali puts the Mt. Cloudbreak over the top. Even though I was clear about that in my posting, I was intending to amend my post this morning to clarify that. I also discovered that I think you *do* get the Gorm & Tuk bonus from the Swap House, which makes those houses a better option but still not better than either balloon missions or sanctuaries.

I have no idea how people consistently run 3 hour missions. I just can't check that regularly. I'd rather brute force the same results by putting 120 Skylanders to work every 5-6 hours.

I also though Stalin's ideas on troop utilization in Western Russia was spot on.....

Yes, you do get G&T bonus from Swap House. I confirmed that this morning.