Sprites are underpowered?

[Seravy]

Ok, I'll check the code. The same monster can't be twice but Earth Elementals have a special case "if this monster is alone, reroll the whole thing", probably that one has some bug that results in this.

[Seravy]

Yes, that was the problem, rerolling was done wrong.
Please redownload the file.

Since you mentioned "25%" I thought I might as well check the numbers against that - the sprite treasure counter outputs the number (and value) of found targets.

A map has at most 100 targets, putting a single world at 50 (at Huge size, otherwise it's 2 less per size setting). Only about half the world is actually covered by the tool due to distance, so there are 25 places. If we want 25% of that, we need roughly 6-7 on each map but the tool counts everything, including stuff where sprites are not relevant (by that i mean other units do an equal or better job, but sprites can also do it) which makes up about half. So I'd feel comfortable with about 10 (that sounds high but we are talking about a 30x30 map area - you will only explore half of that in a game at best meaning you find 5 out of which some have weak treasure or get taken by other players - I think 10 targets reported will only mean about 2-3 actually good targets in reality)

On the set of 8 maps that gave the higher output value, it looks like this :


Map 8 : 3 targets. Fails for 7 and 10 both.
Map 7 : 3 targets. Fails for 7 and 10 both.
Map 6 : 5 targets. Fails for both again.
Map 5 : 9 targets. Passes for 7, fails at 10.
Map 4: 3 targets. Fail.
Map 3: 5 targets. Fail.
Map 2 : 10 Passes.
Map 1 : 6 targets. Fail.

...and this includes buggy results that might contain double Earth Elemental or Great Wyrm so the reality is worse.

1 out of 8 maps passes the expectations fully, and 1 does partially. 6 Doesn't.

I think it's safe to say - as is, less than 25% of the targets on maps are doable with sprites.
If I were to translate these to actual games, map 4,7 and 8 is unplayable - summoning sprites will be a net loss on these. Map 1,3,6 is acceptable - on these I might be able to break even or get a profit if I get lucky with the distances and directions. Only map 2 and 5 seems to be where there is enough of an incentive to actually spend two starting spell picks on getting Sprites+Earth Lore (no, without Earth Lore, half of these targets won't be doable - due to their distance you have no spearmen to send in to scout and they might contain secondary monsters that kill your sprites, such as Phantom Warriors+ hidden Air Elemental due to invisibility)

I'm going to generate 8 maps without the elemental/wyrm bug and check again.

[Seravy]

Improved the sprite treasure tool to also count Great Lizards and output the monsters in each found target. I've also made it so that only 6 or fewer counts for Great Lizards, Werewolves and Cockatrices (more is impossible due to regeneration or the cockatrices reaching and killing sprites) while other monsters are valid up to 9.
It also displays the actual distance.

I've also increased the number of maps to 20. Each map is Huge (most possible targets), Max power, Impossible.

The results (with the double elemental/wyrm bug already fixed) :

Code:

Opening file #1
3 Great Lizard + 0 None 950 Node/Tower Distance :13
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 450 Node/Tower Distance :4
2 Unicorns + 2 Guardian Spirit 618  Distance :3
1 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 418  Distance :5

Opening file #2
1 Great Lizard + 5 War Bears 726 Node/Tower Distance :10
2 Phantom Beast + 3 Nagas 520  Distance :14
2 Sprites + 3 War Bears 330  Distance :14

Opening file #3
9 Hell Hounds + 0 None 373 Node/Tower Distance :11
5 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 1017 Node/Tower Distance :12
5 Sprites + 0 None 118  Distance :9
1 Great Lizard + 1 Sprites 531  Distance :10
1 Nagas + 4 Phantom Warriors 288  Distance :6
7 War Bears + 0 None 375  Distance :9
2 Phantom Beast + 3 Phantom Warriors 243  Distance :9

Opening file #4
8 Phantom Beast + 0 None 768 Node/Tower Distance :6
1 Unicorns + 7 Guardian Spirit 68  Distance :14
7 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 468  Distance :5
6 Nagas + 2 Phantom Warriors 435  Distance :14

Opening file #5
6 Great Lizard + 0 None 1682 Node/Tower Distance :8
2 Great Lizard + 4 Sprites 104 Node/Tower Distance :12
8 War Bears + 0 None 412  Distance :8
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 0  Distance :7
2 Zombies + 2 Skeleton 78  Distance :11

Opening file #6
5 Great Lizard + 2 Sprites 1543 Node/Tower Distance :15
3 Unicorns + 1 Guardian Spirit 168  Distance :3
4 Skeleton + 0 None 0  Distance :11
8 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 382  Distance :12

Opening file #7
2 Unicorns + 0 None 518  Distance :12
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 255  Distance :7
4 Zombies + 0 None 258  Distance :8
6 Nagas + 1 Phantom Warriors 307  Distance :15
1 Chaos Spawn + 3 Hell Hounds 553  Distance :9
3 War Bears + 0 None 280  Distance :8
2 Hell Hounds + 1 Fire Elemental 238  Distance :13

Opening file #8
2 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 718 Node/Tower Distance :4
3 Sprites + 0 None 358  Distance :13
2 Nagas + 5 Phantom Warriors 285  Distance :2

Opening file #9
4 Great Wyrm + 4 Sprites 3160 Node/Tower Distance :12
9 Hell Hounds + 0 None 390 Node/Tower Distance :11
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 618 Node/Tower Distance :9
6 Phantom Beast + 0 None 532  Distance :14
7 Skeleton + 0 None 258  Distance :10
3 Unicorns + 0 None 318  Distance :9
5 War Bears + 0 None 393  Distance :5

Opening file #10
8 Chaos Spawn + 1 Fire Elemental 1905 Node/Tower Distance :12
5 Unicorns + 2 Guardian Spirit 920  Distance :8
4 Skeleton + 0 None 160  Distance :10
5 Skeleton + 0 None 68  Distance :4
7 War Bears + 0 None 375  Distance :8

Opening file #11
7 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 1545 Node/Tower Distance :14
7 Unicorns + 0 None 1312  Distance :13
8 War Bears + 0 None 558  Distance :6
1 Hell Hounds + 8 Fire Elemental 403  Distance :11
1 Phantom Beast + 0 None 218  Distance :15
7 Nagas + 0 None 208  Distance :6
8 War Bears + 0 None 558  Distance :13

Opening file #12
7 Chaos Spawn + 2 Hell Hounds 712 Node/Tower Distance :14
6 Great Lizard + 0 None 1282 Node/Tower Distance :10
6 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 268  Distance :10
2 Phantom Beast + 0 None 270  Distance :7
1 Chaos Spawn + 6 Hell Hounds 510  Distance :8
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 343  Distance :14

Opening file #13
5 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 1200 Node/Tower Distance :10
1 Great Lizard + 3 War Bears 616 Node/Tower Distance :14
2 Hell Hounds + 2 Fire Elemental 268  Distance :12
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 300  Distance :7
7 Hell Hounds + 2 Fire Elemental 493  Distance :9
2 War Bears + 0 None 228  Distance :11
7 Sprites + 0 None 532  Distance :14
8 Sprites + 0 None 475  Distance :2
1 Sprites + 6 War Bears 390  Distance :13

Opening file #14
6 Great Lizard + 1 Sprites 1230 Node/Tower Distance :14
5 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 977 Node/Tower Distance :11
3 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 868 Node/Tower Distance :8
3 Hell Hounds + 0 None 253  Distance :14
2 Sprites + 0 None 278  Distance :10
2 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 218  Distance :12
5 Zombies + 0 None 293  Distance :15

Opening file #15

Opening file #16
2 Nagas + 6 Phantom Warriors 408  Distance :14
4 Phantom Beast + 1 Nagas 435  Distance :15

Opening file #17
8 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 1882 Node/Tower Distance :10
2 Unicorns + 5 Guardian Spirit 570  Distance :10
4 Chaos Spawn + 1 Fire Elemental 798  Distance :14
3 Sprites + 0 None 272  Distance :12
9 Zombies + 0 None 433  Distance :7

Opening file #18
3 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 118  Distance :8
1 Sprites + 6 War Bears 378  Distance :11
3 Phantom Warriors + 0 None 0  Distance :6

Opening file #19
7 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 2068 Node/Tower Distance :11
8 Phantom Beast + 0 None 918 Node/Tower Distance :5
7 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 1512 Node/Tower Distance :13
2 Great Lizard + 4 War Bears 870 Node/Tower Distance :10
3 Great Wyrm + 3 Sprites 1875  Distance :15
2 Hell Hounds + 0 None 208  Distance :14
7 Hell Hounds + 0 None 433  Distance :10
7 Zombies + 2 Skeleton 403  Distance :11
2 Nagas + 0 None 258  Distance :14
3 War Bears + 0 None 283  Distance :15

Opening file #20
3 Fire Elemental + 0 None 208  Distance :11
6 Nagas + 3 Phantom Warriors 613  Distance :3
1 Chaos Spawn + 3 Hell Hounds 412  Distance :7

Average total treasure :3579

I'll sort maps into four groups : "Fails" means sprites have no use in the map or produce a net loss. "Acceptable" means they can do at least not hinder you, but other methods of clearing out the targets is not significantly worse. For these maps, the spell is still not worth a starting spell slot (or additional Nature books). "Good" will be where there is enough treasure to be gained to be worth investing into the strategy. "Overpowered" means treasure is so high that I find it worrying for game balance.

I'm intentionally not including Neutral cities as the majority of them are easy to take out even without using Sprites, or aren't even with them. The only exception are large Gnoll and Klackon cities where sprites are amazing, but large neutrals are pretty rare in the current version. (and tbh even those are fairly easy with other tactics such as cloak of fear or spearmen spam with any combat spell)

Heroes, spells, and books are not counted because their value is too random and provides no economic boost. They are also fairly rare.

Map 1 : Acceptable.

Nearby easy Sorcery node that can be done with pretty much anything but a little bit slower, and free 618 gold from the unicorns. This is enough to recover the cost of sprites. Chaos Spawn takes several sprites to kill and reward is too low to be worth it. Lizards are far and a lot of sprites are necessary due to regeneration. Both of these will cause a net loss. Overall if the player stops after the early targets and 2 sprites, they can profit. If they summon more, they'll be losing resources instead.

Map 2 : Fail.

Large distances, and the only node contains a lizard so requires a large number of sprites.

Map 3 : Fail

Looks good at first sight but both nodes will need a large army of sprites and without nodes the maintenance of that prevents summoning the stack effectively. (Hell Hounds can hit fliers and are fairy tough in a node aura. 5 Chaos Spawns in a node aura take forever - 5 turns and probably at least 5 sprites needed.)
Non-node targets are "plentiful" but the amount of reward is horrible - 100 to 400 resources each will pay your costs but won't get a profit and only getting back the mana but wasting your skill and not having monsters that can fight means losing the game - it's equivalent to skipping your first 40 turns.

Map 4 : Acceptable.

Same as map 1, you get the sorcery node and that's about it.

Map 5 : Fail

The two nodes require massive investment that's impossible in the early game (honestly I'm not entirely sure 9 sprites can kill 6 lizards, it might be too much for them) and the remaining 3 targets provide poor treasure.

Map 6 : Fail

Similar to map 5 but worse. The 3 Unicorns might earn an uncommon or rare spell or hero but that's not going to recover the cost of the sprites and there is no money. Lizard node is both too far and hard.

Map 7 : Acceptable

No nodes but there are an acceptable amount of targets that can yield small/medium sums of money. Might be worth summoning 2-3 sprites but not more.

Map 8 : Fail

Only 3 targets out of which 2 are not easy.

Map 9 : Good

The Phantom Beast node can help pay for enough sprites to crack the Hounds (not sure if 9 sprites can beat 9 hounds at a node though) and later get the Wyrm node for major cash. A few other targets can help with the costs to achieve that. It takes a while though so it's risky - you're wide open for attacks and fire storms and without that 3k you don't have enough treasure to help with self defense. Overall there is a fair chance of sprites being worth picking on this map.

Map 10 : Acceptable

Similar to the above but lower rewards all around and no nodes to let you build up your sprite army. 8 Chaos Spawn is so tedious and unfun to fight I might regret trying.

Map 11 : Fail-Acceptable

This one is 50-50% if you find the unicorns at 13 distance and can clear them without an enemy kill-stealing it, you're set to attempt the spawns and/or be happy with your 1k free money. If you don't, you lose - the rest of the targets don't provide enough money considering the difficulty (8 war bears takes 8 full turns if you have 3 sprites and 1 definitely fails to kill any)

Map 12 : Fail

Most targets provide way too low treasure and I doubt the lizard one is going to work.

Map 13 : Acceptable

The sprite lairs are actually not doable (or you lose more than 9 sprites total before you manage. The rest are low yield. The Chaos Spawn node can work but takes a while so not really good for early advantage.

Map 14 : Fail/Acceptable

6 Lizards I still don't think works. Spawns do but are slow and expensive to kill. Might be acceptable if you find and clear both, and 4x 200 from the others can possibly allow that but I see a low chance of it actually happening.

Map 15 : Fail, lol,  0 targets.

Map 16 : lol again.

Map 17 : Fail/Acceptable

Targets are high distance. You might or might not find them and they are not that outstanding.

Map 18 : lol times three

Map 19 : Good

Plenty of targets including several nodes with 1k+ treasure, and a phantom beast node to start you is close. Enough weak targets to keep your mana up to actually go through with it. Still not enough targets to be overpowered though - realistically you'll only find half of these as everything is at 10+ distance.

Map 20 : lol times four but the nearby sorcery target might at least pay your investment back if you don't summon more than 2-3. Still a Fail.


Overall, 2 maps where I'd want to pick Sprites as a starting spell and 18 when I don't. Not looking good and this was the best case scenario - Myrran or smaller map size is worse.

My desired outcome would be something like 75% good, 20% acceptable, and 5% Fail and/or Overpowered maps.

[Nelphine]

I wouldn't want good that high. That would make sprites too desirable. I would rather about 30-40% good, 10-20% fail, 5% op, 45% acceptable.

[Seravy]

I wouldn't want good that high. That would make sprites too desirable. I would rather about 30-40% good, 10-20% fail, 5% op, 45% acceptable.

If you have a 40% chance of it actually working, would you spend a pick on it?
I rather pick Web or something that is guaranteed to help. There aren't enough common spell picks to just get it as an "extra" if you end up not using them, and unlike other spells, these do absolutely nothing for you past the early game, they are a very specialized unit. (also, it's two picks in reality, you need Earth Lore. But I might want to get that anyway, it's really OP now.)
(I admit the measurement doesn't include some possible but rare advantages so a balanced amount is probably closer to 50-60% good, 30-35% acceptable to account for the cases where those things appear)

...either way we are very far from the goal, as is we got 10% good maps in the best case scenario.

(also note a "good" map still doesn't mean the strategy will win you the game. It merely means you're likely to do better than using average strategies if and only if you execute the strategy perfectly and don't get attacked BEFORE it pays off which is still a huge gamble. With other strategies you're safe from that because you summoned troops that can protect your cities in emergencies without costing you too much. Sprites, well, they will protect you but the losses are too heavy and they usually are too far to do so on the map. And you have nothing else for quite a while, even if I'm optimistic, you'll need 30 turns to build up enough sprites to tackle a high end target that can fuel buying troops in cities while the AI can attack from turn 25.)

[Nelphine]

but those 3 picks are on TOP of whatever else you're doing. that means as long as your main strategy is only 9 picks, then you have a good strategy PLUS sprites for a possible great start.

That's why it can't be as high as 50%. If its higher than 50%, then you provide your main strategy a huge boost. And since earth lore is really good for many strategies, that means sprites really are only 1 pick. 1 pick to give a good strategy a great start, can't be reliable. Or everyone will just incorporate it into all strategies. You don't want EVERY human player to choose sprites off the start because it has a good chance of being a great boost to whatever they're actually planning.

[Catwalk]

Could you upload a version of Magic.EXE which isn't anime?

[Seravy]

Could you upload a version of Magic.EXE which isn't anime?

Done, please get CasterEXP6.zip it includes that as well as the new sprite calculator in tools.zip

[Seravy]

but those 3 picks are on TOP of whatever else you're doing.  that means as long as your main strategy is only 9 picks, then you have a good strategy PLUS sprites for a possible great start.

That's why it can't be as high as 50%.  If its higher than 50%, then you provide your main strategy a huge boost.  And since earth lore is really good for many strategies, that means sprites really are only 1 pick.  1 pick to give a good strategy a great start, can't be reliable.  Or everyone will just incorporate it into all strategies.  You don't want EVERY human player to choose sprites off the start because it has a good chance of being a great boost to whatever they're actually planning.

No strategy is 9 picks - you always need more spells and books if you can get them.
I agree it can't be reliable - but having the treasure on the map does not make it so by itself. Going for a Sprites leaves you vulnerable against early attacks, making it inherently riskier than other strategies.

A more important problem I discovered - Earth Elementals were not listed as sprites doable in the tool. Need to fix that ASAP.
Other revisions are also needed : Sprites should be marked considered impossible at a quantity of 5 or high. Chaos Spawn should be as well - they move 2 and have gaze so you can't evade them if there are many surviving units. Hell Hound should be limited at 6 and even that might be too much - in my experience these can kill sprites if they have the same number as them with their breath attacks. Lizard should be limited at 4, I don't think 6 is realistic, I even failed doing 4 in one of my games.

[Seravy]

Using the fixed tool changes things a little :

Code:

Opening file #1
3 Great Lizard + 0 None 950 Node/Tower Distance :13
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 450 Node/Tower Distance :4
2 Unicorns + 2 Guardian Spirit 618  Distance :3
4 Werewolves + 0 None 618  Distance :10
1 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 418  Distance :5

Opening file #2
1 Great Lizard + 5 War Bears 726 Node/Tower Distance :10
7 Earth Elemental + 2 War Bears 872 Node/Tower Distance :14
4 Cockatrices + 4 Sprites 997  Distance :5
1 Earth Elemental + 4 Sprites 0  Distance :11
2 Phantom Beast + 3 Nagas 520  Distance :14
2 Sprites + 3 War Bears 330  Distance :14

Opening file #3
3 Cockatrices + 3 Earth Elemental 718  Distance :12
6 Werewolves + 2 Skeleton 675  Distance :12
1 Great Lizard + 1 Sprites 531  Distance :10
1 Nagas + 4 Phantom Warriors 288  Distance :6
7 War Bears + 0 None 375  Distance :9
2 Phantom Beast + 3 Phantom Warriors 243  Distance :9

Opening file #4
3 Cockatrices + 2 War Bears 675 Node/Tower Distance :10
8 Phantom Beast + 0 None 768 Node/Tower Distance :6
6 Earth Elemental + 3 Sprites 1008  Distance :14
3 Werewolves + 4 Skeleton 173  Distance :7
4 Werewolves + 3 Skeleton 278  Distance :14
1 Unicorns + 7 Guardian Spirit 68  Distance :14
7 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 468  Distance :5
6 Nagas + 2 Phantom Warriors 435  Distance :14

Opening file #5
2 Great Lizard + 4 Sprites 104 Node/Tower Distance :12
8 War Bears + 0 None 412  Distance :8
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 0  Distance :7
2 Zombies + 2 Skeleton 78  Distance :11

Opening file #6
3 Unicorns + 1 Guardian Spirit 168  Distance :3
4 Skeleton + 0 None 0  Distance :11
8 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 382  Distance :12
1 Cockatrices + 2 Sprites 503  Distance :4
1 Cockatrices + 0 None 193  Distance :14

Opening file #7
3 Cockatrices + 1 Sprites 473  Distance :12
2 Unicorns + 0 None 518  Distance :12
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 255  Distance :7
4 Zombies + 0 None 258  Distance :8
6 Nagas + 1 Phantom Warriors 307  Distance :15
1 Chaos Spawn + 3 Hell Hounds 553  Distance :9
3 War Bears + 0 None 280  Distance :8
2 Hell Hounds + 1 Fire Elemental 238  Distance :13
5 Werewolves + 0 None 610  Distance :10

Opening file #8
2 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 718 Node/Tower Distance :4
4 Cockatrices + 0 None 1018 Node/Tower Distance :4
3 Sprites + 0 None 358  Distance :13
2 Nagas + 5 Phantom Warriors 285  Distance :2

Opening file #9
4 Great Wyrm + 4 Sprites 3160 Node/Tower Distance :12
4 Great Lizard + 2 Cockatrices 1582 Node/Tower Distance :6
1 Cockatrices + 7 War Bears 540 Node/Tower Distance :2
5 Phantom Beast + 0 None 618 Node/Tower Distance :9
4 Cockatrices + 0 None 750 Node/Tower Distance :15
1 Cockatrices + 4 Sprites 375  Distance :8
6 Phantom Beast + 0 None 532  Distance :14
2 Werewolves + 3 Zombies 473  Distance :9
7 Skeleton + 0 None 258  Distance :10
3 Werewolves + 6 Skeleton 457  Distance :10
1 Werewolves + 5 Skeleton 255  Distance :9
3 Unicorns + 0 None 318  Distance :9
5 War Bears + 0 None 393  Distance :5

Opening file #10
5 Unicorns + 2 Guardian Spirit 920  Distance :8
4 Skeleton + 0 None 160  Distance :10
3 Werewolves + 5 Skeleton 593  Distance :11
5 Skeleton + 0 None 68  Distance :4
2 Cockatrices + 1 Earth Elemental 570  Distance :9
7 War Bears + 0 None 375  Distance :8

Opening file #11
5 Cockatrices + 1 War Bears 1190 Node/Tower Distance :6
1 Cockatrices + 5 War Bears 618 Node/Tower Distance :11
7 Unicorns + 0 None 1312  Distance :13
8 War Bears + 0 None 558  Distance :6
1 Hell Hounds + 8 Fire Elemental 403  Distance :11
1 Phantom Beast + 0 None 218  Distance :15
7 Nagas + 0 None 208  Distance :6
8 War Bears + 0 None 558  Distance :13

Opening file #12
6 Werewolves + 1 Zombies 903  Distance :9
4 Great Lizard + 4 Earth Elemental 975  Distance :11
1 Great Lizard + 7 Earth Elemental 1851  Distance :14
6 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 268  Distance :10
2 Phantom Beast + 0 None 270  Distance :7
1 Chaos Spawn + 6 Hell Hounds 510  Distance :8
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 343  Distance :14

Opening file #13
2 Cockatrices + 2 Sprites 320 Node/Tower Distance :9
2 Earth Elemental + 2 War Bears 600 Node/Tower Distance :14
1 Great Lizard + 3 War Bears 616 Node/Tower Distance :14
2 Hell Hounds + 2 Fire Elemental 268  Distance :12
5 Hell Hounds + 0 None 300  Distance :7
2 War Bears + 0 None 228  Distance :11
3 Werewolves + 0 None 493  Distance :12
1 Sprites + 6 War Bears 390  Distance :13

Opening file #14
3 Chaos Spawn + 0 None 868 Node/Tower Distance :8
3 Werewolves + 0 None 493  Distance :8
3 Hell Hounds + 0 None 253  Distance :14
2 Sprites + 0 None 278  Distance :10
2 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 218  Distance :12
5 Zombies + 0 None 293  Distance :15
1 Earth Elemental + 1 War Bears 373  Distance :2

Opening file #15
3 Cockatrices + 2 War Bears 903 Node/Tower Distance :2

Opening file #16
2 Nagas + 6 Phantom Warriors 408  Distance :14
4 Phantom Beast + 1 Nagas 435  Distance :15
3 Werewolves + 1 Zombies 378  Distance :10

Opening file #17
4 Cockatrices + 4 Sprites 427 Node/Tower Distance :15
2 Unicorns + 5 Guardian Spirit 570  Distance :10
4 Chaos Spawn + 1 Fire Elemental 798  Distance :14
3 Sprites + 0 None 272  Distance :12
9 Zombies + 0 None 433  Distance :7

Opening file #18
3 Guardian Spirit + 0 None 118  Distance :8
2 Werewolves + 1 Zombies 403  Distance :6
1 Sprites + 6 War Bears 378  Distance :11
3 Phantom Warriors + 0 None 0  Distance :6
1 Great Lizard + 1 Earth Elemental 501  Distance :4

Opening file #19
2 Earth Elemental + 7 War Bears 903 Node/Tower Distance :10
8 Phantom Beast + 0 None 918 Node/Tower Distance :5
2 Great Lizard + 4 War Bears 870 Node/Tower Distance :10
3 Great Wyrm + 3 Sprites 1875  Distance :15
5 Cockatrices + 1 War Bears 1148  Distance :2
2 Hell Hounds + 0 None 208  Distance :14
7 Zombies + 2 Skeleton 403  Distance :11
2 Nagas + 0 None 258  Distance :14
3 War Bears + 0 None 283  Distance :15

Opening file #20
3 Fire Elemental + 0 None 208  Distance :11
2 Earth Elemental + 4 War Bears 100  Distance :5
6 Nagas + 3 Phantom Warriors 613  Distance :3
1 Chaos Spawn + 3 Hell Hounds 412  Distance :7

Average total treasure :3810

Map 1 : still acceptable, there is 1 additional low strength target. Seems the previous run failed to detect werewolves as well.
Map 2 : acceptable now : there is an additional node with earth elementals.
Map 3 : acceptable : there are a few mid value (~700) targets but no node.
Map 4 : looks Good now, two nodes and some decent other targets.
Map 5 : still a Fail
Map 6 : Fail
Map 7 : Acceptable
Map 8 : Acceptable
Map 9 : Good, might be Overpowered even.
Map 10 : Acceptable
Map 11 : Good I think
Map 12 : Acceptable - no node but lots of earth elementals for good money
Map 13 : Acceptable - semi-decent targets but too large distances.
Map 14 : Acceptable
Map 15 : Still a fail - 3 cockatrices node requires too many sprites and there is no other target to fund it.
Map 16 : Fail
Map 17 : Fail
Map 18 : Fail
Map 19 : Good
Map 20 : Fail

So we have 4 Good (20%), 9 Acceptable and 7 Fails. Better but still far below the desired 40-70% good.

I'll try implementing new algorithm "A" and do another test with that.