Sail scoring
From YPPedia
| The values used in this article are for the purposes of demonstrating relative values only. |
| The actual mechanical values behind the puzzle are undisclosed. |
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Basic points
Points in sailing are based on balls cleared. Clearing one ball is worth one point. Solid blocks are worth two points. Balls in a target are worth two points.
Consistently clearing 4's without any bonuses removes balls as fast as they come in, however does NOT give acceptable performance. Basic efficiency is based on each ball having a cost of 2 (each drop having a cost of 4), giving plain 4's an efficiency of 50%, while giving single target clears, without any bonus, a 100% efficiency.
Combo factor
In sails, clearing a combo (2 sets -- two rows, or a row and a column at the same time) is believed to not give any bonus. Sails is strictly about the cascades.
Cascade factor
Cascades in sails are believed to be straight increasing multipliers. The third step in a cascade (triple) is worth 3 times the normal value.
It is unknown if all vegases score the same, or if successive vegases score more.
"Platform Bonus"
Clearing a platform as the first step in a cascade gives a small bonus. The exact amount of this is not known.
Sample effective scores
A pair of fixed spots used with the first piece to create a 4 in a row is worth 2 points for the piece played, and 4 points for the two fixed pieces, giving 6 points for a cost of 4. This is 150% efficiency, and sparkly. It goes without saying that this is not maintainable, but is more of an initial luck factor.
Scoring a simple double into a platform will score 4 for the single, and 8*2 for 4 pieces in a platform, for 20 points earned, and a cost (assuming no waste) of 16 points (8 balls). This is 125% efficiency, but will be hard to maintain.
If only half of the balls that land can be used in a platform, then even with a double, each ball will score 4 (2 for being in a platform, 2 for being doubled), with a cost of 4. This looks like 100% efficiency, but the trigger for the double will NOT score that much. A typical set up will be 2 pairs, with one waste, to set up the platform, and four more pairs to set up the trigger and double. This is 6 drops (12 balls, 24 total cost), scoring 20 points. While this gives an efficiency of less than 100%, this is usually enough for yellow sails (note that this will vary from ocean to ocean).
Cascading a platform to a platform for a double, with the same setup (2 pairs plus one waste per platform, a 5th pair to trigger) will score 8 plus 16 = 24 points, plus a small platform bonus for the first platform (probably 4 points), or 28 points for a cost of 5 drops (20 points), or 140%.
Finally, a plain triple onto a platform, with no platform cascades, will generate 4 + 8 + 24, at a cost of 2 drops to set up the platform, and 6 drops to set up the single and double trigger. This is 8 drops, or a cost of 32, and a score of 36, for an efficiency of 112.5%. Note that this is not as good as the two platform double.
Notice that it is very important to make scores by cascading from platform to platform, or by reducing waste.
Long-term scoring
Sailing does not generate a score on most moves. High end sailors will generate a large scoring move occasionally, with lots of zero scores inbetween. As long as the total of the scores in the scoring frame (the last three minutes) is sufficient, the indicator will stay sparkly.
General comments
Although regarding each ball as a cost of 2 makes the numbers all come out as integers, this is the only case where efficiencies around 100% are sufficient or nearly sufficient to keep a sparkly indicator. Most likely, a better view is to regard each drop as a cost of 3 or 3.5, as then the efficiency percentage for a sparkly indicator is more inline with the percentages needed in other puzzles.
 Duty puzzle scoring
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Important disclaimer: All point values used within these pages reflect relative values and weights as determined by players. No developer has commented on the current accuracy of any of these. Any forum post from developers that gave point scoring information is from pre-release days (pre-Midnight), and potentially has been changed. In particular, sailing (at least) has been known to have had major changes to scoring at least once. Use at your own risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future potential. Scoring may be changed in any update. Star levels do change the challenges that you face, and may change the scoring; the same play at different star levels may score differently. While this is known to be true in bilge, it potentially may be true in any puzzle.
