Negotiation Guide for
Guild Expedition, Quests and Merchant
Negotiations
Negotiation first appeared as a way to progress through guild expedition. It has become an even more important skill, now that the Feudal Japan settlement's market also has it.
The Negotiation puzzle
The negotiation mini-game is not all based on random chance. There is a high degree of logic involved and once you grasp it, it is quite enjoyable. This guide will help you get started with negotiations and build speed over time.
The Rules of the Game
The negotiation puzzle involve five chiefs (always five chiefs) whom you have to satisfy with the exact goods they are looking for. You would have 2 to 10 different types of goods to select from, but only 3 or 4 chances to pick goods for a chief.
Notice the different colors in which the goods are highlighted!
Fortunately, the chiefs give you clues to help out as you can see in the above picture.
If the goods given to a chief is not wanted by any of the chiefs, the chief will show it as red. You will not be able to select this good* any longer (like the 4th and 5th goods).
If the good is not wanted by a chief, but wanted by somebody else, he will show it as yellow (1st and 2nd goods in the above picture).
If the good is exactly what he needs, he will show it as green. You would not know whether the good is wanted by someone else or not. He will no longer accept any more presents either (so we cannot use that chief to get further clues). You can see in the above picture that the third good was accepted by the chief, but we do not know if some other chief will also accept it.
If the goods given to a chief is not wanted by any of the chiefs, the chief will show it as red. You will not be able to select this good* any longer (like the 4th and 5th goods).
If the good is not wanted by a chief, but wanted by somebody else, he will show it as yellow (1st and 2nd goods in the above picture).
If the good is exactly what he needs, he will show it as green. You would not know whether the good is wanted by someone else or not. He will no longer accept any more presents either (so we cannot use that chief to get further clues). You can see in the above picture that the third good was accepted by the chief, but we do not know if some other chief will also accept it.
General Tips and Strategies
If the number of goods to choose from is less than the number of turns you have, (for example, just three goods to choose from), then it is quite simple - just present each chief with each goods until all chiefs are satisfied.
But what if you have more goods? Say, 6 goods to choose from and just three turns? Then your priority should be identifying the goods that are not sought after, and thus reducing your options to pick from.
This is the same strategy you should use even if there are 10 goods to choose from. Check out the pattern we follow below -
This might feel like a lot of thinking if you are new to negotiations, but after a while, you will become familiar with the patterns involved. Then you will be able to solve the negotiations without even thinking about it.
There are 10 goods to choose from, but only 4 turns. Select as many different goods as we can in the first attempt.
It shows 4 of the 5 goods we selected are sought after by one or other chiefs. That means we have identified four of the five possible goods accepted by the chiefs. We do not know if there is one more good that they seek, or if one of the first four goods is accepted by two chiefs.
The last goods (highlighted red) is not accepted by anyone.
We proceed to test the next 5 goods in the available options, as one of these could be sought by a chief.
None of the five goods in the second attempt are accepted by the chiefs. It also means that one of the four goods we identified earlier would be accepted by two chiefs.
I repeated the first good two times in the next attempt, to its right, and every other goods in the same order as the first attempt.
Ah! We got lucky. Now only two goods and only two chiefs left. We know that they are holding each other's goods!
Tada! We have solved the puzzle!
This might feel like a lot of thinking if you are new to negotiations, but after a while, you will become familiar with the patterns involved. Then you will be able to solve the negotiations without even thinking about it.
When solving guild expeditions, it is good to make use of the boost in tavern to increase the number of turns you have for negotiation to four. You have 80-90% chance of solving a negotiation successfully when you have four turns.
Boost in friends tavern gives extra 1 turn for negotiations in guild expedition.
A word about the sly merchant!
The merchant in the Japanese cultural settlement
The merchant in the Japanese cultural settlement (unlocked when you build a painter) also offers negotiation. These may 'appear' easier, because there are only 5 or 6 goods to choose from; but they are indeed harder than guild expedition, because you have only 3 turns to solve each!
But the good thing is that these negotiations cost very few goods and offer unlimited attempts. So, if you fail once, just do it again until you succeed!
But the good thing is that these negotiations cost very few goods and offer unlimited attempts. So, if you fail once, just do it again until you succeed!
Afterword
You will find that you are lucky most of the times, because you will usually get enough clues every round to finish successfully in 4 rounds. To solve the last 16 expeditions in difficulty level 4, it usually takes me less than 20 attempts in total.
I'd love to see your comments on what you think about the negotiation mini-game!
I'd love to see your comments on what you think about the negotiation mini-game!
*I have taken the liberty to use "good" as a singular for "goods" here and there, to distinguish between a single type of goods and multiple different goods. Hope you forgive the confusion!
