Minigame: Item Crafting

As the player wins battles, opponents may drop plans for items which may be crafted. Several items in the game may only be obtained through crafting, rather than purchased at shops.

The player can first craft in the quest Helping Hand. After the successful completion of this quest, the player is joined by Kirine Thwaites and may craft items at any time after that.

In Puzzle Quest 2, you can upgrade items using trade materials. However, there is no minigame.

Item Crafting Requirements
To begin with, the player may only craft when at a shop. Each craftable item has a resource requirement to begin crafting. For example, the Point Disruptor requires 4 Polymer, 8 Minerals and 9 Isotopes to craft. Item crafting resource requirements can be checked either in the player's Inventory screen, or the Craft Item screen. A successful crafting consumes the required resources, although a failed crafting does not. In addition, every item has a required number of components that the player must make to successfully craft it.

Gameplay
Item crafting requires two levels of matching. The initial gameboard will be filled with red, green and yellow gems which represent Weapon, Computer and Engine systems, respectively. The player must match colored gems to create components. For example, matching three red gems creates one Engine component. The player must then match the specified number of components to craft the item. Component matches can be made from any component, not just same components (e.g. 2 Weapon components and an Engine component make a match)

Biohazards
As though matching two levels of gems wasn't hard enough, biohazards will occasionally appear on the gameboard. These pieces cannot be moved directly by the player, and while they pose no direct threat, their appearance will eventually clog up the screen and make further matches impossible.

While biohazards cannot be moved directly, they can be moved through the use of gravity and will disappear when matched. Also, matching Five-In-A-Row of any gem will cause all biohazards to disappear.

Bonus Matches
A Four-In-A-Row match of colored gems will create two components of that color. A Five-In-A-Row match will create three components, as well as remove all biohazards from the board. There are no bonus match effects for matching components or biohazards.

Tips

 * Concentrate on creating the component that has the highest requirement.
 * Always look out for ways to use gravity to clear biohazards. In fact, focusing solely on clearing biohazards is the only way to successfully complete the most difficult craftings, and obtain the best items.
 * If you have a Five-In-A-Row match available, save it until the last possible moment, so as to maximize the number of biohazards you will remove.
 * While there will always be gems of all three colors on the board, some items will only require of two of three components. Be aware of your item requirements so that you don't make unnecessary moves.
 * If you craft an item you already have, you will not get a second item. The game will warn you in this situation.

Crafting for Profit
Item crafting can be very profitable. The best item to craft for resale is the Point Disruptor. The Point Disruptor requires 4 Polymer, 8 Minerals and 9 Isotopes to craft. The average selling price of those resources is 920 credits, but a Point Disruptor can be sold for 5,390 credits - a profit of 4,470 for what is a very easy crafting.

You can craft any item for sale, but it makes little sense to craft difficult items, even though they are worth more, as they can take multiple tries to craft successfully.