What does it really cost to upgrade gear when a failed try can set you back?

Each try has its own chance and its own price, and a failure may drop the item a step or two. The cost of the whole climb is then not the sum of the steps. This entry shows how to compute the true average cost and decide where to put the safe steps.

Why this works

After a setback the player stands lower and must climb again, so the cost of a step includes the cost of the steps it can throw you back to. Those costs feed into each other, which is why they must be worked out together.

When not to use it

Skip it when players can choose to stop, switch to a guaranteed route or pay to avoid the risk, since few will play the average climb. Then price the safe route and look at what players actually pick.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• 39 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "What does it really cost to upgrade gear when a failed try can set you back?" (read_entry rpg-upgrade-attempts-expected-cost-with-setbacks) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP