To Infinite Farm, or not to Infinite Farm
As more and more people finish clearing their 5 main Capsule Machines, their attention turns to the last one standing - the bad boy in the back - the Infinite Lotto Capsule Machine. They see the cost per pull increase from 20 to 40, they see the enticing array of T3 materials, and they wonder: "Should I be spending my Sanity on this instead of the normal Main stages? If I switch to farming Guard Chip Packs to E2 my waifu Indra, am I going to regret the lost Sugar Packs for all eternity?"
Since I've been seeing this topic questioned more and more, and have seen different maths, opinions, and conclusions, I thought I'd share with you some of the more relevant information and data I've found, to help you decide how to spend the next week in Arknights.
Is It Better Than Farming Main Stages??
TL;DR Answer
- Yes, but not by large amounts (eg, not like the Grani Event).
- It is very Sanity efficient for farming, especially for T3 (heavily weighted in Sugar Packs and Manganese Ore), and a worthy investment of your Sanity.
- It is not so much better than Main Stages that players should feel pressured to go all-in all-the-time. If you choose to farm things outside of the Infinite Lotto box, it will not be a large opportunity-cost of sanity.
Detailed Answer
First let’s define what is meant by “Sanity Value”, since it is a rather confusing and misunderstood term.
Material Sanity Value: A materials Sanity Value is the least amount of Sanity required (on average) to acquire 1 of said material.
Stage Sanity Value: The average “Material Sanity Value” of drops for this stage, calculated by using the possible drops for the stage, their drop rates, and their corresponding Material Sanity Values.
We can then use “Stage Sanity Values” to determine the stages that provide the most TOTAL potential Sanity Value in ALL dropped materials for the stage, as compared to farming the stage that gives these materials them most efficiently ALONE. Thus, this compares the sanity efficiency of stages by ALL possible drops, instead of just individual ones.
Let’s do a theoretical example with fake stages:
Stages
- FS-1: Costs 10 Sanity, gives 1 Sugar pack 100% of the time.
- FS-2: Costs 10 Sanity, gives 1 Manganese Ore 50% of the time.
- FS-3: Costs 20 Sanity, gives 1 Sugar Pack 100% of the time and 1 Manganese Ore 100% of the time.
Material Sanity Values:
- Sugar = 10
- Manganese = 20
Total Stage Sanity Values
- FS-1 = 10
- FS-2 = 10
- FS-3 = 30
Total Stage Value Sanity per Sanity Spent
- FS-1 = 1
- FS-2 = 1
- FS-3 = 1.5
Example:
Let’s say we have 40 Sanity to spend.
Spent all on FS-1 -> 4 Sugar packs
Spent all on FS-2 -> 2 Manganese
Spent all on FS-3 -> 2 Sugar Packs and 2 Manganese
As is pretty obvious to see, spending our sanity on FS-1 would get us Sugar Packs faster, but spending it on FS-3, would give us more overall material value since we get Manganese as well. It will just take longer to get the sugar packs we need.
Example Conclusion
FS-3 is a more Sanity efficient Stage for farming Sugar and Manganese that gives us better Sanity Value per Sanity Spent.
Important Points on Sanity Value
- The current Main Stages have different overall “Stage Value Per Sanity”, many of them being over 1, since it simply means that the stage offers more overall material value than farming for the individual materials directly as fast as possible alone. An example of one way to try to calculate this value can be seen in the spreadsheet here.
- A spreadsheet with “Stage Value Per Sanity” for Material drops can be seen here.
- Note that this spreadsheet DOES include the Grani Event Stages and the Infinite Lotto Box (Box 6).
- Note that it DOES NOT account for LMD, Gold Bars, or Battle Record Drops, all of which contribute to the value of a stage, and constitute a large percentage part of the infinite lotto box 6 (roughly 19%). Therefore, this spreadsheet undervalues stages that drop these items vs stages that do not.
- Note that this also includes Materials added with Episode 6 that are not currently in the global game, so it overvalues stages that get these drops added at a later time.
Back to the Infinite Lotto Box
- Here is a spreadsheet that attempts to estimate the “Stage Value Per Sanity” of the Infinite Lotto Box 6 including LMD, Gold Bars, and Battle Record drops.
- It came up with “Stage Value Per Sanity” of 1.49, which places it very highly in the sanity value efficient stages (according to the earlier spreadsheet, 3rd among main stages not including Ep 6 materials) but not at Grani levels (2.15 and 1.53)
- For T3 Materials specifically, very useful for upgrading Operators through their middle-to-high ranges, “Stage Value Per Sanity” was roughly 1.3, which means it is useful for farming T3 specifically across the range of materials, with more weight toward Sugar Packs and Manganese Ore (this saves time and crafting LMD compared to having more sanity value weighted into the lower Tier materials).
- Some other intangible benefits of farming the lotto:
- It quickly completes Daily Missions
- It is something different to do/farm.
- It is very satisfying to do a 10 pull and see all the T3 materials pop up.
Infinite Lotto Box Conclusions
- It is very Sanity efficient for farming, especially for T3, and worth investing your Sanity in it.
- It is only slightly better/very close efficiency as farming specifically for T3 Sugar Packs or T3 Manganese Ore.
- Value is centered on T3 across all materials, weighted more heavily in sugar and manganese
- It is not so much better than Main Stages that players should feel like they are paying a huge opportunity cost by farming something else during the Event.
