Cocklefighting

Progression is how a cockle grows: XP and levels, gold, the rested bonus, the daily events and the leaderboard.

Levels and XP#

Going up from level L costs 50 x L^1.35 XP, except the first: level 1 needs 12 XP, which one win pays. Every level grants 5 skill points, spent on any of the 5 stats at My Cockle. Levels soft-cap at 5,000.

A rewarded win pays (10 + 6 x rival level) x (1 + 0.12 x level gap) XP. The multiplier is clamped between 0.3x and 3x, so fighting up pays and farming down doesn’t.

Gold#

You start with 25 gold. A rewarded win takes 11% of the gold the loser is carrying, never their lifetime total. A win over a real player also takes 5% of the XP they have into their current level, never the level itself. You are paid the greater of the win’s base XP and the take, capped at 2x the base.

Each beaten rival pays once every 3 days. Trophies pay fixed gold on claim. Gold leaves through four sinks: gear at the Shop, forging and repairs at the Forge, wakenings at Charms, and buildings and charters in Town, the deepest of them by far. While you are away, other players can take the gold you carry, so spent gold is safe gold.

Bot rivals are built against the same economy. A bot’s gear, forge levels and wakenings are capped by what a real player of its level could have earned, so a same-level rival is a mirror, not a cheat. Matchmaking uses your par level, not your level counter, so out-building your level earns harder, richer rivals (see Combat).

The rested bonus#

Time away banks a rested bonus. While it lasts, every rewarded win pays 50% of its base XP on top (1.5x in all). Each bonus drains the pool by what it paid, so it spreads across your fights. The battle report shows it as a “Rested +N XP” chip.

The pool refills at 1% of your current level’s XP per hour and caps at 100% of a level. Resting in Town fills it 3 times as fast, and the town’s Cockle Rows and Dreaming Beds raise the rate and the cap. The hatched stretch of your XP bar shows how far the bonus carries.

Daily events#

Three events re-roll at UTC midnight, and one runs slower.

The Shuck of the Day. Old Shuckster marks one piece per slot with a discount rolled for you, from 10% to 75% off. The shells stay shut until you open the day’s Shuck at his counter (one free press). Deep cuts are rare: the 75% legend turns up about one day in 100. Opening it also lays the Stall’s blessing: wins pay 25% more gold for your next 60 fights, paid by Old Shuckster and never taken from your rival.

Snapjaw’s bounty. 3 of the 15 cockle kinds are marked for everyone, and the day’s boon rotates with them. A rewarded win over a marked kind pays one of: +50% XP, +50% gold paid by Snapjaw himself, 2x charm-find odds, or 2x steal odds. Take the bounty at his counter first (one free tap). The mark on the board wears the colour of what it pays.

The Dredging Tide and the Quenching Tide. One free press each, at Charms and at the Forge: the first repairs every charm you carry, the second every piece you own, and each blesses your next 60 fights. Take both and the day’s upkeep is nothing. See Repairing charms and the Quenching Tide.

The leaderboard#

The leaderboard ranks every active real player by level, then XP, then wins. Bots never appear. Your rank wears a badge on the leaderboard, your profile and the nav: rank 1 is The Apex, ranks 2 and 3 the Champion’s silver and bronze crowns, then Contender (top 10), Rising Tide (top 50) and Ranked (top 100), named for the Champion trophies. The badge follows your live rank, trophy or no trophy.

A Champion trophy pays a title and nothing else: no gold, no skill points, no turns, no charm. Where you stand depends on who else is playing, so it decides who is admired, never who is stronger.

Each is earned by holding its rung, not by catching it once. Your standing is read once a day, and a rung needs 7 days in the top 10, 5 days in the top 50 and 3 days in the top 100, 10 days in the top 3 and 14 days at rank 1. A reading below a rung resets that rung’s count. A day you don’t play doesn’t count (see Trophies).

A reading only counts on a real leaderboard. In a season, none counts and no badge is worn until the season is a week old, because rank 1 on the first morning only means you were early. In any world, the Main Shore included, a reading counts for nothing until at least 5 players are ranked.