Tartarus Simulator · Strategy guide
How to vault Rainbows
A rough strategy to learn before your first run. It comes from simulated 20-day drills, played by a rules-based strategy tuned for the season's rules.
Data basis: the default drill, with a pick of 3 random instruments to start, another pick for meeting the run's objective (King of the Caged or Prison Walk), and a Warden's Treasure gift per Rainbow. The headline numbers come from runs, with margins under ±. Generated .
The short version
- Consume every day you can.Waiting to build a bigger chain cost Rainbows: per run with a small threshold and with a large one, against when you always consume (no tools).The one exception: don't break a prey mark. When a Lion marks a prey of its own rarity, both rise a tier every morning for free until the mark runs out. Eating the marked prey ends the mark, and so does letting the marked Lion consume, since it usually turns into another beast. Either way you trade several free tiers for one. A consume almost never loses value otherwise: two inmates of one rarity become one a tier higher, which is worth more than the pair.
- Replace the warden's low-tier inmate when there's no better consume.. A fresh roll is worth more on average.
- Chain reactions are a close call.Opening every door on the next walk floods the block with new inmates, but it also opens doors you might rather have kept. The Trainer's live check compares both each time.
- Accept an Execution only when it gains more than it removes.Count what it would wipe out. Always accepting gave and never accepting , against when you check first.
- Accept the events that only give.Behind Closed Doors makes the inmate behind the door a Supreme of the scarcest beast on the block, one step from Rainbow; skip it only when that inmate already is a Supreme. Ravenous Appetite, High-Risk Convict, Crow Whispers and the "Treasure" Hunt never cost anything.
- Stop at the office when it pays.The warden's office can be a destination. Bestow raises 1 random inmate a tier; Instigate puts a special event on a random cell, behind a locked door or beside an inmate (2 when the board has none). Pick by what the block needs, as the Trainer does: per run, against always taking Bestow and always taking Instigate.
- Keep opening doors, and walk far.New inmates are the raw material for every chain, and a locked door usually beats walking to an inmate with nothing to eat. Walking farther pays: per run against for short walks, with six cells in reach, Prison Walk counting tiles and the office on the way around.
- Know what keeps a chain going.Mammoths and Lions eat two kinds, Wolves and Rats one, so a Wolf or a Rat waiting at the next tier feeds two of the four beasts the eater can re-roll into, and a Lion or a Mammoth one. A tier holding a Mammoth, a Rat and a Lion or a Wolf guarantees the next bite. The Trainer's chain odds do this math for you when you pick the first meal.
- Take or when offered.
- At the Warden's Treasure, take what fits the board.
A day on the block
Every day runs in the same order. Here is what the strategy does at each step.
- Patrol
Pick one of the three destinations. A locked door usually wins: it adds a new inmate, who may consume today from the warden's cell. Go to a known inmate instead when it has a strong consume waiting. A door with an event badge is a bonus. Prefer the farther destination when they're close: it counts toward Prison Walk, and with the Long-Chained Shackles a walk of 4 or more cells can raise an inmate a tier. Don't open a rat nest before it hatches.
- Event
Accept Ravenous Appetite, High-Risk Convict, Crow Whispers, Taste of Freedom, Extra Portion and the Usurpations, and Behind Closed Doors unless its inmate is already a Supreme. The "Treasure" Hunt has only Confirm: afterwards, the locked doors it leaves dark hold Rare or better. Chain reactions are the close call above. For an Execution, count the inmates it would remove against the tiers the executioner gains, and accept only if you come out ahead.
- Consume
If the warden's inmate has a target, consume. Pick the first meal whose chain is worth the most: the Trainer shows each option's chain odds. After that bite, your game asks for each next meal, and its Cancel stops the chain. Going on is almost always right, so stop only when the Trainer says so. When the eater has more than one meal, pick the one whose next tier still has food for the beast it may re-roll into.
- Replace
If the warden's inmate is low-tier and has nothing worth eating, replace it. A day has a Replace or a consume, not both, so a good consume comes first.
- End the day
Once nothing in the warden's cell can gain, end the day. The next morning, prey marks grow, nests hatch, and new destinations are drawn.
Chains: how many beasts you need
After every bite the eater rises a tier and re-rolls into a random beast. The chain continues if that new beast has something to eat at its new tier. A Mammoth eats Lions and Wolves, a Lion Wolves and Rats, a Wolf Rats, and a Rat Mammoths. So a Wolf or a Rat waiting at a tier feeds two of the four possible re-rolls, a Lion or a Mammoth one, and a Mammoth, a Rat and a Lion or a Wolf together feed all four.
Chance the chain finds its next meal at a tier
Chance one chain reaches Rainbow
From the simulated runs, by the eater's tier and how many different beasts wait at each tier above it:
| Eater | Beasts waiting at the tiers above | Runs | Reaches Rainbow |
|---|
Most Rainbows come from high eaters chaining up a well-stocked staircase, and chains from the bottom rarely make it in one go. Extra copies of a beast don't help a single chain, since each chain eats one inmate per tier, but they keep the staircase ready for the next one.
How long chains run
What each habit is worth
Rainbows per run with no tools. Each variant changes one habit of the full strategy and keeps everything else the same.
runs each for the variants (margins about ±), and for the simple player and random moves.
Tools
Rainbows per run when one tool is held from day 1, with no other rewards. With no tool the strategy makes . runs each.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Iron Crown of the Prison King: Berserk Lion | Lions can eat any inmate of their own rarity, and each bite a Lion takes gains 2 extra tiers, 3 in all. |
| Blood-Stained Trap: Berserk Lion | With the warden on a Lion, Hunt joins the day’s choices beside Consume and Replace: the Lion puts a Prey mark on one inmate it can consume, and each morning both rise a tier, for 3 mornings. |
| Filthy Claws: Alpha Wolf | At the start of each day, Scratch Marks go on 1 random unopened cell. A scratched door shows the rarity inside, and a Wolf of that rarity can consume the inmate through it, whatever its beast, for 3 tiers. |
| Elephant-Foot Maul: Mammoth | Mammoths can eat the Lions they counter at a higher rarity too, and a Mammoth that eats rises to 2 tiers above its meal: a Normal Mammoth eating a Legendary Lion reaches Rainbow at once. |
| Severed Iron Maiden | After a Replace, the new inmate gains 3 tiers if as many inmates are above its rarity as below it, which an inmate alone on the block always is. With Hangman's Noose, such a Replace makes a Rainbow. |
| Kin's Coin of Fate | Each morning, when two or more inmates share a beast and rarity, a 60% chance that one of them is removed and another gains 2 tiers. |
| Scapegoat's Guillotine | A Replace with 2 or more others on the block removes 2 random inmates, and the new inmate comes in above the rarity it replaced. |
| Hangman's Noose | The new inmate is never Normal or Magic, so every Replace is an upgrade. |
| Long-Chained Shackles | A walk of 4 or more cells has a 40% chance to raise a random inmate a tier. With six cells in reach, most mornings offer a walk that long. |
| Executioner's Blacklist | Once 5 or fewer cells are still locked, each door a patrol opens raises 2 random inmates a tier. |
| Raging Beast's Agonizing Muzzle | A consume gains 2 extra tiers when 4 or fewer inmates are on the block before it, its meal included. |
| Avenger's Casket | A consume can open a fresh meal at the eater's new rarity, which stretches chains. |
| Ferocious Beast's Ravenous Chains | Each morning the highest-rarity inmate removes both its neighbours on the ring, with a 40% chance of an extra tier for each. |
| Skewered Rat Heads | Rats can eat Rats, and a Rat's consume gains an extra tier. |
| Sorting Hook | Doors never hold a Normal, so every new inmate starts at Magic or better. |
| Maddened Beast's Barbed Collar | Each bite of a chain after the first has an 80% chance of an extra tier, so long chains climb faster. |
| Rusty Saw | A 25% chance of an extra tier on each bite. |
| Burning Stake | Each morning offers one destination fewer, and replacing an inmate below Legendary has a 40% chance to bring in a Legendary. |
| Fanged Guillotine | Wolves can also eat Rats below their own rarity, so a Wolf finds a meal far more often. |
| Barbed Whip | Each morning offers one destination fewer, and each bite has a 35% chance of an extra tier. |
| Felon's Dog Tag | The inmate behind each door a patrol opens has a 25% chance to rise a tier. |
| Iron Tongs of Lust | A Mammoth gets a Tusk mark each morning: replacing it raises other inmates a tier. |
| Crowded Beastcage | After an inmate is consumed, a 40% chance its cell opens again at once with someone new. |
| Lost Ring of Keys | Patrols often open the neighboring doors too: more inmates. |
| Warden's Scales | After a Replace, usually shows the best inmate behind the locked doors. Knowing it changes little. |
| Short-Chained Shackles | A walk of 3 cells or fewer has a 50% chance to open a random locked cell. That door triggers nothing else, so an event behind it is used up. |
| Iron Pestle | A Replace keeps the beast and re-rolls only the rarity, which leaves the block less varied. |
| Searing Branding Iron | A patrol that opens a door has a 35% chance to copy its inmate into another unopened cell, which opens holding the copy. |
| Gaoler's Execution Axe | When a Replace brings in a higher rarity, 2 random sealed cells open: more inmates, but only on the lucky Replaces. |
| Forged Key | Each morning offers one destination fewer. A patrol that opens a door has a 50% chance to open one more random sealed cell. The lost choice costs more than the extra doors give. |
| Squirming Iron Box | Turns a sealed cell into a rat nest every morning, which ties up doors for a Rare Rat at best. |
Instrument pairs
A run starts with a pick of three instruments, and meeting the objective offers three more. What the second is worth depends on the first, so take the one that adds the most to what you hold. For each starting instrument, its three best partners: what the partner adds, then Rainbows per run holding both from day 1, with no other rewards.
| You hold | Best second | Next | Then |
|---|
The Warden's Treasure
Each Rainbow offers one of four gifts. Rainbows per run with tools on, runs each:
Judge the gift by the board. Crimson Vintage shines with many inmates below Legendary. The Three-Headed Thumb Ring helps when there are plenty of sealed doors. The Brass Horn of Strife pays when lots of inmates already have targets. Brand of Original Sin helps when many inmates have nothing to eat.
What to expect
Rainbows vaulted per 20-day run with this strategy, in the default drill:
A typical run opens about doors, replaces times and consumes times.
| Strategy | No tools | Tools and Treasure on |
|---|
Practice it
Start a Rules drill and press Trainer in the top bar. It recommends a move for every decision and marks it on the board. It checks the move with hundreds of live playouts from your exact position, and grades each move you make, so you can see where your play differs from these numbers.
Playing live? The board analyzer takes your board as it is in your game, with your tools, and gives the same advice for that exact position.