Praetorian Archaeology 101
Have you dug up any magical items lately? Hopefully the answer is yes, because seriously folks, it's just the best feeling. No doubt, one of the best "jackpot" feelings in #Splinterlands right now.
As the first explorers in Praetoria, we sometimes find magical totem fragments from researching, farming, and mining the land. Where did these magical items come from? What's their backstory? No one knows yet. But they sure are fun to find!
Like I'm not even kidding. Just this morning, I woke up to see the screenshot below in land-baron discord... Double totem fragments, and one of them an epic! That purple epic fragment sure is pretty too 😍
This was just posted on splinterlands land-baron discord channel this morning! For privacy's sake I won't say who posted. If they're reading though, and feel like flexing in the comments... do it up! If I had that harvest, I'd be riding the "jackpot" high all day 😎
Being part of that first wave to explore #Praetoria means that every once-in-a-lucky while, one of us finds a hidden TOTEM FRAGMENT (or more than 1! 👆). After finding enough of these fragments, we mint them into a fully functioning TOTEM. An in-game artifact of immense magical power!
Then what?
Whatever you want my friend. It's yours. You minted it. Put it up for sale on the in-game marketplace. Use it for production boosts on your own land. It's pretty neat. I mean, really, it's way, way more than just neat actually. It's almost like this is just finally dawning on my meager little brain 🧠 but yeah, we're minting our own in-game NFTs over here in Praetoria. Damn right. And also, as you might expect, it is frikin awesome.
Current in-game market price for totems of different rarities.
I mean, these are mysterious, valuable magical items folks. Left behind by... who knows? And who knows why? We don't even know what the backstory is yet. All we know is that they're definitely there. For the pioneers of Praetoria, they turn up during resource harvesting operations. When you find one, it's an awesome feeling.
And also, oh yeah. One last thing. Btw. Did I mention? A few days ago... I had my first ever TOTEM mint!!! 😁 As you can see by my kermit gif below, I'm kinda excited.
A couple of days ago, I minted my first TOTEM ever. I'll be honest. I'm very excited about it 😅
SPL Bucket List ✔️
Like are you serious? This has been an SPL bucket list item for me, for so long 😍 If you've read my recent posts, you'll know I switched my focus in the game to land. I'll admit it too, not even kidding... seeing people post about those magical totem fragments played a role in finally tipping my scale ⚖️
What can I say? I've always wanted to be Indiana Jones, and I was missing out. Now I can be virtual Indy in Praetoria too!
I've always wanted to find hidden treasures. Probably because I watched Indiana Jones too much as a kid 🙂
Totem Fragments
There is zero doubt. When you're harvesting resources in Praetoria, you want to see that 2nd icon pop up. Not just one. If you hit the "Harvest" button every 6 days, you already know exactly what I mean. If not let me explain.
For example, if you're harvesting resources like GRAIN, RESEARCH, or SPS, you're going to see the 1st icon (the one for GRAIN, RESEARCH, or SPS) no matter what. That's a no-brainer right? That's nice and all, but really, it's seeing that 2nd icon. That TOTEM FRAGMENT icon 😲 ...
That's when you get it. The rush. The rush you chase. The rush we all chase. You know exactly what I mean. It's that jackpot kind-of feeling! 🎰
Approach to Finding Totems: Invest! (that's it 🤷♂)
Look okay. Let's be real. Right up front. I mean, do you want to know the secret? The super uber elite hidden, up-up, down-down, left-right secret code to finding a lot of totems? Then like seriously, I'm in such a good mood today, and feeling so generous... I will just tell you right now. No charge. No hidden strings. Nothing but the truth. Ready?
(1) Buy and activate as many plots as you can
(2) Load them with the highest production workers, artifacts and titles you can
(3) Get their DEC stake to 100%
(4) Be patient and only harvest every 6 days.
Plus a little bit of luck never hurts 🍀 of course!
It's another reason I really like the land-based splinterlands game economy, more than any other part of the game right now. Because it feels more realistic. More sustainable. Because the first 3 steps described above could also be fairly characterized as "putting skin in the game." In other words, you have to invest in land if you want to be rewarded in land. The more you invest, the more you get rewarded 🧠 It's not exactly rocket science. It's actually kind of intuitive, simple and fair. But also, it's weirdly not something you could say about any other area of the game economy right now (other than land). Maybe Survival mode will change that, maybe not. We'll see.
Jmo, for the game economy to succeed in the long-term, people need to put some skin in the game. If all they do is withdraw from the game ecosystem, without putting anything in, eventually the digital piggbybank will probably run dry. Folks used to understand this 🤷♂
For now though, in aspects like Ranked Modern Play and Tournaments for example, it seems like some of the biggest money winners these days are the ones who don't put any of their own funds into the game economy 😓 and actually do the exact opposite. Tbh, I think that's a big reason why some people call land "pay to play" or "whales-only" etc. 🐋 Like somehow, that's a bad thing? 🙄 And assumedly it's for this very reason. Because land requires you to invest funds into this project. Sadly, that's something a large chunk of our "player base" has become less inclined to do lately. Probably because for every other aspect of the game's economy these days, there's a way to make a lot more money by not investing...
... except with land 💪
Some call the system of rewards for land "pay to play" while others call it "fair, realistic and sustainable." Tomato tomato 🍅
There's no doubt in my mind. Getting something out of land requires putting something in first, and I absolutely like that a lot. Mostly because that sounds like reality to me. The way things actually work. Understandably though, that's also why it pisses some people off. Because more often than not, reality sucks 🙃
Let me know what you think in the comments. Does land have a fair reward system right now? Should there be ways for people to make money on land without investing any funds first, similar to Ranked Modern Play and Tournaments? Or is it better to require people put a little skin in the game first, before they start getting lots of valuable rewards?
The "6-day" Rule 🙇
What about that last step? The "6-day rule"? Why wait 6 days to harvest? That's because when it comes to finding totem fragments, timing is everything my friends ⏰
You probably already know that the chance of finding a totem for a plot stacks every day it's worked. Up until the maximum of 7 days for a full harvest. You can find this information on the "Manage" page for any active plot, in the second-to-bottom row. It's referred to as the "Estimated Totem Chance" (see the screenshot below 👇)
Image of a SHARD MINE management page. You can see the estimated totem chance in the second-to-bottom row (highlighted in a yellow box). This plot was just harvested. That's why its totem chance is pretty low. After about 6 days, it usually climbs back to somewhere between 2-5% for a well-powered, highly productive plot.
Btw, the so-called "6 day rule" comes from general consensus of the splinterlands land-baron discord channel. I'm not trying to take credit for it. I actually don't even know who, if anyone, has ever proved it's accurate. It might just be based on anecdotal evidence. Or maybe someone actually crunched all the numbers and proved it out. All I know--it's the consensus of the most experienced landowners in the game, the ones who know best--and that's all I need to know. 6 days is the optimal time to harvest if you want to maximize your totem chances over the long-term.
Sometimes it's really hard not to hit that harvest button early. But don't do it! 🖐 Just be patient and remember the 6-day rule. It's worth the wait.
For me, I've just gone with it, and the 6-day rule hasn't let me down yet 🙏 In fact, it seems to be working relatively well, especially lately. Especially as I get more and more plots activated and fully-powered up for resource production. For real. The only time I've ever found a fragment is when I waited 6 days to harvest. Every other time I harvested early, for whatever reason... fail, no fragment.
So basically. I haven't tried to reinvent the wheel here, but also I have no idea who crunched the stats and the numbers. Who determined that 6 days is really the best? Why not 5 days? Or 7 days? For me, I don't care. 6 days is working and I'm not planning to change it anytime soon. If anyone wants to prove that 5 days or 7 days is better though... I'm open to exploring it. Let's talk stats in the comments.
Especially if you see a bunch of SPS sitting there ready, it can be difficult not to just smash that harvest button early. Just don't though. Take a breath. Be patient. Remember the 6-day rule.
Either way you do it, there's no doubt in my mind that if you harvest too early (like on days 1-3, for example), you're not maximizing your chances. That's a math fact, and therefore pretty hard to dispute. Plus, like I said above, I've never found a fragment when harvesting that early, no matter what the % chance says. So that's some additional anecdotal evidence there. Wait the 6 days!
Also keep in mind what we discussed above. The more plots. The more production power. The higher % chance you'll have to find totems. Invest in the project! It's another annoying, yet indisputable, math fact.
First Mint!
Okay, enough talking about finding fragments. Let's merge some together! For that, I'll walk you through my very first totem mint. Right, alright then. Rewind with me back in time, to a few days ago. I'd been sitting on 9 common totem fragments for the past week. It was really hard not to jump the gun and harvest early. Hoping for a lucky roll. From advice and experience though, I held off until the full 6 days. It was grueling 😳 but as you'll see below, it paid off!
In case you're not familiar yet with the math on totems and totem fragments, I'm saying "sitting on 9 common totem fragments" because you need 10 to mint. So basically, that whole week, I only needed 1 more! Also, fyi just general info for you--on the other types, rares totems take 8 fragments, epics take 6, and legendaries take 4 (screenshot below 👇)
Common totem fragments are easier to find, but they take 10 to make a full TOTEM. Their production boost is also the lowest (10% boost). A Rare TOTEM requires you to merge 8 rare totem fragments and gives a 25% production boost. An Epic TOTEM requires 6 fragments and gives a 50% production boost. A Legendary TOTEM requires 4 fragments and gives a 100% production boost.
A few days ago, those words "6 days" popped up on my production screen. Finally! 🙏 Did the whole harvest all thing. And whoa, okay yes! 6-day rule 🙇 Thank you. I was lucky enough to find 1 rare fragment right off the bat. I was so happy, like just over the moon excited 🌙 At that point, finding just one more common or rare would put me over the edge, because now I had 9 common fragments, and 7 rare fragments. Just 1 more please 🙏
First, I found this rare fragment while harvesting GRAIN.
No doubt I was biting fingernails because I still needed that last fragment. I guess there's no way for full suspense because you already know from above that I got it so...🤣 Fast-forward, fast-forward and yes, luckily the 6-day rule did not disappoint! I found a second fragment (common fragment) while harvesting more GRAIN in another region. At that point, I had my first 10 common fragments 😍
Second, I found this common fragment, also while harvesting GRAIN.
After generally calming myself down and stopping freaking out, next I navigated to the "Combine Totem Fragments" page. First, I conversed with this little goblin fellow over on the right. No doubt, part of the Gobson family crime syndicate. But he was pretty cool. I handed over my 10 fragments, and he logged it in his magical ledger 📝
Screenshot from the "Combine Totem Fragments" page. You can see I had 10 common fragments. Enough to mint my very first ever common TOTEM. I also have 7 rare fragments. Only 1 more to go there 🙏!
Btw, just in case you were wondering (like I was) this dude told me his name is not Yoda. Also, he's not even related to Yoda. But, but... he also told me that he does get that question "a lot" and especially "when people are drunk at parties!" Who knew? 😅
Despite the resemblances, Yoda has not be reincarnated to work at the Praetorian Office of Totem Registrations. Nor is it his brother or cousin or any other relative. I confirmed.
One last step... okay then, there we go, and click, and ... BOOM! First ever TOTEM minted by 
Collector's item I know, but sorry (not sorry) you'll probably never see it on the market for sale. At least not anytime soon. Why? Because I have hands of iron and a heart of steel. I've never done anything but build my empire and add to the game's economy. Maybe one day I'll plan my exit, but you can be damn sure it's not any time soon. That totem is going right to work. Staked on another one of my plots to boost production even further.
The little goblin dude was pretty nice. He seemed happy. I was happy too. My first-ever TOTEM recorded in the official Praetorian records!
CONCLUSION
Minting my own NFT for actual use in-game has been an SPL bucket list for me ever since I joined the game. Up there practically at the top of the list. So yeah, I'm riding that high still, even a few days later 😁
I wish all the rest of you good luck in your harvests and archaeological adventures. Btw, how has it been going for you? Have you been finding totem fragments, or have they been frustatingly elusive for you to find? Any special tricks to try? Any weird pitfalls to avoid? Let me know in the comments 👇
Hope to run into you at the Praetorian Office of Totem Registrations very soon!