Cartography/Training

This page was last updated for (v1.2.2).
Cartography


Before Starting Cartography

There are a many bonuses that come from other skills and shop-purchases that can significantly boost Cartography. The base interval for Cartography is 5 seconds which can be reduced with various unlocks shown at the end of this guide. Further, without collecting any of the Cartography XP boosts it is unlikely that you will have sufficient skill to completely unlock the map. It is therefore strongly advised to grab as many of the Survey Interval reduction and XP boosts as possible to minimize the amount of time you spend surveying and also give you the best chance of exploring all tiles on the map.

The   Superior Cartography Skillcape gives -30% Survey Interval which makes Skill XP boosts very valuable if you wish to go for full map mastery since this will reduce the time it takes to reach level 120.

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    Nysa
    , unlocked at
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    Level 45
    , provides upwards of +8% Skill XP and -5% Survey Interval at
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    Mastery Level 60
    .
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    River Crossing
    , unlocked at
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    Level 10
    and requiring
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    Level 15
    , provides -5% Survey Interval and +5% Skill XP.
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    Ocean Drifting
    , unlocked at
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    Level 80
    and requiring
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    Level 70
    and
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    Level 70
    , provides -5% Cartography Interval.

Cartography has 8 Temporary -2% Survey Interval Points of Interest that last for 10 moves. It's important that you know where these are located since they can only be discovered once. The locations can be seen in the image in the second goal section.

You may want to gather the materials required to purchase all Ship Upgrades from the

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Shop

before starting. It is not necessary to do so however it may reduce the amount of times you need to swap obstacles.

Training Cartography

Since Skill XP boosts will change the pathing of this guide, this guide will be using the following to setup. Note this is not the most optimal setup. Check the XP Table and Interval Table below for other boosts.

This gives a total of 26% Skill XP out of the maximum 54% in the Base Game and 57% with  .

Getting Old Spyglass and Cartographer's Enhancement

 
Visual Representation for Section 1, Steps 1-5

An image has been supplied as a visual aid on where to go. The step numbers align with the numbered point on the map.

  1. Follow the Red Path to the Port at (12, 19) and Survey this hex until you are level 10. You will not fully survey the Port yet
    • Make sure to Discover   Old Village at (13, 17)
    • If you Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18), make sure you do not Discover this POI. The temporary -2% Survey Interval Discovery Reward will be used later
  2. Follow the Blue Path until you Discover   Monuments at (6, 11)
    • Digging for Tiny Artefacts at Monuments will allow you to get 8 Golden Leaf which can be upgraded into   Golden Wreath for +3% Skill XP
    • Spending the extra time at Monuments to get 5   Aranite Brush will increase your chances of getting the Old Spyglass in the next step
    • Discovering   The Monolith at (5, 10) can help reduce the map making interval which will be useful when upgrading the Coral Wreckage map, if you go that route
    • At Level 15 you will be able to build
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      River Crossing
      . Levels 20, 35, and 50 unlocks the first 3 Ship Upgrades
  3. If you are not Level 50, get the Shop Purchase in step 4 then return for this step. Follow the Green Path and Discover   Coral Wreckage at (7, 22). You are mainly looking for 1-2 key items
    1. The   Old Spyglass for -10% Survey Interval
    2. If travel costs are an issue, you may also get   Sailor's Compass for -6% Travel Costs
    • If you have the GP to do so, refining the Coral Wreckage map to reduce the Medium Artefact Value will help get the Spyglass faster
    • With a 4.25s upgrade interval, upgrading the map will take 2h 16m (while standing on The Monolith, not including any paper making time) while getting the Spyglass will take on average 1h 38m without upgrading and 35 minutes with upgrading. This means upgrading the map will not save you any time however you may want to consider it as it will benefit you later when you do Archaeology.
    • After obtaining the Old Spyglass, you will want to Discover   The Vibrant Coral Gardens at (6, 22) which rewards the 500   Coral needed for
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      Ocean Drifting
      , which will be built later
  4. Follow the Purple Path which will Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth at (5, 7) and unlock the ability to purchase
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    Cartographer's Enhancement
    for 3,000,000 
  5. Follow the Orange Path towards   The Pirate's Treasure Trails at (10, 6) and Discover this hex. It is important this POI gets discovered before Surveying the entire map.

Fully Surveying all of the Temporary POI Hexes

 
Visual Representation for Section 2, Steps 1-5

An image has been supplied as a visual aid on where to go. The step numbers align with the numbered point on the map.

When surveying the following POIs the goal is to Survey them, not Discover them unless explicitly stated. After you survey POIs a pop-up will ask you to choose between Travel or View Later. It's crucial to select View Later - even for POIs that you intend to discover. Additionally, exercise caution to avoid inadvertently travelling through Hexes that will be discovered in the next step.

  1. Follow the Blue Path and Survey   The Pink Kraken at (4, 16) and   The Western Lighthouse at (1, 18)
    • The Port at (2, 19) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later
  2. Follow the Green Path and Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18),   The Watchful Ship at (14, 20) and   A Sadge Kraken at (12, 21)
    • The Port at (12, 19) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later
  3. The next POIs will be towards the South side of the map along the Purple Path. Survey   The Sea Noodle at (23, 25). You will need to Discover   Fisherman's Enclave at (22, 22) before Surveying the entire map
    • Along the path to Fisherman's Enclave, there is a Port that can be Discovered at (21, 20)
    • At Level 70, you will unlock another Ship Upgrade as well as the Obstacle,
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      Ocean Drifting
      . It is recommended you get both of these if possible.
      • You will need Archaeology at Level 70 for Ocean Drifting. The next step passes by   Secret Mines (21, 15) and   Quarry (20, 13). Along with Coral Wreckage, you can get all of the Rare and lower Artefacts (plus an extra if it's a useful item) at these dig sites. You could also go to   Ancient Market (0, 14) and   Stoneworkers (24, 14) for the   Aranite Trowel and   Aranite Shovel first which would increase Archaeology xp rates at the expense of more Cartography time.
  4. Next up is the Orange Path. You will want to Discover both   Old Mine at (23, 14) and   The Abandoned Vein Mine at (22, 15). These POIs need to be Discovered before Surveying the entire map
  5. Along the Gray Path, Survey   Capital City Lighthouse at (27, 13), and   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9)
    • The Port at (27, 14) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later. You may grab this before heading to The Pushy Sailor

Revealing the full Map

For this step, it's crucial to be adequately prepared. Once initiated, you'll find yourself committed and unable to switch to other activities seamlessly. The Auto Survey action extends beyond your current visibility range, disregarding any enhancements you've uncovered. Therefore, it's essential to carefully consider any ongoing costs, such as those related to the Township, as there will be limited opportunities for earning fresh income during this process. Additionally, attempting to reveal the full map without following the outlined steps is not recommended. You may encounter difficulties fully exploring the map due to levelling requirements.

Moving to   The Edge of Darkness will cost around 50m GP. If you wish to cut this cost down, you can Survey ONE of the following 2 POIs then Survey   The Shimmering Sands Outpost at (18, 15).

  1.   Seashade Village at (7, 20) which is conveniently located above Coral Wreckage
  2.   Rosedale at (27, 18). While this would take a bit longer, it's along the way to   Bandit Hideout which is good if you plan to do some Thieving

When you are ready to get the interval POIs, Discover one of the first 2 POIs for -5% Cartography travel costs, THEN Discover The Shimmering Sands Outpost for -10% Cartography travel costs.

With all of the Temporary -2% Survey Interval POIs fully Surveyed, it's time to Discover all of them without traveling to any unnecessary hexes in between. These boosts will only last for 10 moves and there are 8 POIs (+2 if you chose to decrease travel costs). Even though you have 2 spare moves, it is important you do not waste these. You will need to move once at Level 100 and again after fully Surveying the North East corner. The order for the first 7 POIs is not important however you want to make sure you end on   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9).

Start Auto Surveying at (26, 8). This will require you to Survey (28, 9) and (27, 8) first. To ensure that Auto Survey covers the higher-level hexes at the top of the map and extends the survey beyond your current visibility level, it's crucial not to interrupt the auto-surveying process while it is idling. Occasionally, you will see POI prompts appear and for these you should click "View Later" to avoid moving from this position. At Level 90 you will want to restart the Auto Survey at (28, 12) so the Level 90 Hexes around (30, 16) get Surveyed. Levels 85 and 99 unlock 2 more Ship Upgrades.

Upon reaching

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Level 100

, you want to manually Survey towards the East wall of the map then upwards, leaving the last hex so you can start Auto Surveying without moving. Ideally you want to be active here so you can immediately move when   The Edge of Darkness at (31, 0) is fully surveyed so that you can benefit from this Hex immediately. Moving to (31, 0) will unlock the Shop Purchase,

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Cartographer's Knowledge

for 50,000,000 . Traveling to this hex will also cost up to 50,000,000 .

After moving to The Edge of Darkness, Auto Survey until the remainder of the map starting with the level 100 hexes near to your current position. Depending on how much of the map is already surveyed so far, it is unlikely that you will want to move from Hex (31, 0) because the temporary travel bonuses should still be active, which is greatly reducing your survey interval.

Mastering the Map

With the map fully revealed you will unlock the ability to master all tiles, which allows you to survey every Hex up to level 5, and gain extra XP and bonuses along the way.

 
Cartography Map showing the level requirement for each hex. Credits: @draedon123 on Discord

To reach level 120 you will want to explore areas with higher XP. Hex experience is based on the level of the hex, and the best XP can be found clumped near important POIs.

The provided map can help visualize where the highest XP zones are.

  1. The first location you will want to move to is the snowy area in the bottom middle, around (17, 25) since this is a dense, compact area
    • Upon reaching
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      Level 110
      , the final Ship Upgrade,   Ship Combat Overhaul, can be purchased
  2. The top middle is going to be the second location, around (12, 2) so you can grab the level 80 and 90 hexes to the East and West
  3. The last location will be the center of the map, around (16, 11) and start surveying the higher level hexes in the area, ignoring the level 35 hexes. You may utilize Auto Survey here so that you can idle as this is likely to take a while.

Upon reaching

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Level 120

, you will want to purchase and equip the   Superior Cartography Skillcape then Auto Survey until all 944 hexes have they are fully Mastered.

With the map mastered, you can now explore all of the POIs that you have unlocked. Good luck!

Boosters

Ship Upgrades

Other Shop Purchases

Upgrade Name Level Cost Purchase Requirement X Y Modifiers
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  Cartographer's Enhancement 3,000,000  Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth 5 7 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
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  Cartographer's Knowledge
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Level 100
50,000,000  Discover   The Edge of Darkness 31 0 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
    Travel Token
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Level 80
  100,000 Donate 150 Artefacts to the Museum -10% Cartography travel costs
    Cartographer's Knowledge
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Level 50

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Level 50
  10,000 Donate 75 Artefacts to the Museum When combined with   Old Spyglass
+5 Cartography Sight Range
+4 Cartography Survey Range
-10% Cartography travel costs

XP

The following things can be used to increase the amount of Cartography XP received.

Action Time

This table lists boosts to Survey, Map Upgrade, and Paper Making intervals.


Melvor Idle Skill Guides
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Combat
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Prayer
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Farming
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Township
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Woodcutting
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Fishing
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Firemaking
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Cooking
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Mining
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Smithing
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Thieving
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Fletching
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Crafting
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Runecrafting
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Herblore
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Agility
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Summoning
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Astrology
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Alternative Magic
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Cartography
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Archaeology
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Harvesting