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VOLUME III - Drafting Strategy Architectural Digest Vol. - 3 JUNE ISSUE
CONTENTS
FEAUTRES - Page
The Potential Within
by the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Gems, Gems, Gems
Gem Strategies and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Planning Your House
Estate Layout and Drafting . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Top Drafting Combos
Five Combos You Won't Want to Miss . . . . . 8
Making a Connection
Estate Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Tips and Tricks
Suggestions for Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Word from the Editor
by the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The Potential Within
We all start as an empty floorplan.
To the ambitious young architect, a fresh blueprint represents a world of boundless possibilities. When you are staring at a blank canvas, you have unlimited potential and ideas to explore. But, with an abun-dance of options at your disposal, the architect can also become overwhelmed by the countless choices and decisions that need to be made: Should I draft a Hallway or a Closet? How many bedrooms do I need in my house? Is Passageway really worth two gems?
All these questions can compound, adding layers of complexity and stress to the design process. That's why it's even more important to develop simple and effective strategies that you can employ while drafting your house to ensure a successful project outcome.

In this volume of ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, we aim to provide architects with some of those strategies and even assist them in developing their own!

Gems, Gems, Gems
Every architect needs them.

Although many architects employ different strategies when developing their house designs, most of them agree on one guiding principle:


HAVE GEMS
WHILE DRAFTING

One of the most common ways architects draft them-selves into a corner is by not having the resources they need when opening a new door. If you lack the GEMS to consider all three presented options, you may be forced to draft a room
you do not want. To avoid this predicament, focus on drafting rooms that grant you GEMS and prioritize acquiring GEMS as early in the day as you can. This approach is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for success.
READER SUBMITTED
GEM STRATS
Make sure you check for gems in the room you are in before clicking the door. I do this way too much!
- Alice F.
Think about saving some gems for emer-gencies. I try to only spend them if I really, really need a room!
-Jenn H.
I will never draft PASSAGEWAY on the first five ranks. It's a simple strat that has served me well.
-Kyle P.
If you see GEMS for sale in any of the shops. Buy them out!
-Matthew M.
Don't pass up WINE CELLAR, even if you're not thirsty. There's no such thing as too many GEMS! (I may have a bit of a problem...)
-Craig O.

Planning Your House
Estate Layout and Drafting
When you begin drafting a house, it's important to start each day with a solid foundation:


DRAFT EARLY
RANKS FIRST

A very common mistake beginners make is drafting in a straight line north, and ignoring the many unopened doors they have left behind in the Entrance Hall and rooms of the early ranks. When these architects reach the higher ranks, they quickly discover they do
not have enough keys or gems to continue. Their day usually ends by returning to the lower ranks to draft from the doors they skipped, only to find rooms and items that would have made all the difference if they had only been found earlier in the day.
As the layout to the right demonstrates, even a path of rooms that snakes through the house and does not go in a straight line can also be structurally weak if you are leaving lots of unopened doors on the ranks behind you.

By starting each day on a strong foundation of rooms on the early ranks, you will have a much better chance of finding success when you eventually start heading further into the house.

Top Drafting Combos
Five Combos You Won't Want to Miss!
Another aspect to consider when planning your house is the order in which you draft rooms. For instance, if you draft CLOISTER before TERRACE, you will be down 3 gems. But, if you draft them in the reverse order, CLOISTER would
be free! Identifying a synergistic pair of floorplans is an essential first step. But, determining the opti-mal order for drafting those rooms will provide you with an additional advantage, significantly improving your chances of success.

OTHER
FLOORPLAN COMBOS
A FOYER drafted before GREAT HALL would mean that all of its many doors would be unlocked.
Drafting BUNK ROOM after NURSERY will give you 10 extra steps because it counts as two separate bedroom triggers.
You won't have to backtrack constantly to collect your gold spread from OFFICE, if you draft a CONFERENCE ROOM.
The more items you have, the greater your chances of being able to create a contraption in WORKSHOP.
Making a Connection
Estate Connectivity
Two-pair combos aren't the only form of room synergy. You will find some floorplans only work by drafting other specific rooms! These rooms aren't powerful on their own, but can become very useful
when their connectivity is eventually discovered. The UTILITY CLOSET is a perfect example of this! It does't do anything by itself but it can literally power up (or down) other rooms you have drafted in your house.
• GARAGE - powers garage door and
grants west path access
• DARKROOM- turns lights back on after blowing a fuse
• GYMNASIUM - turns lights off to prevent step loss

OTHER EXAMPLES
of connectivity
One of the more simple examples, HER LADYSHIP'S CHAMBER has synergy with Lady Epsen's other two rooms, her BOUDOIR and her WALK-IN CLOSET.
The BOILER ROOM connects ducts from room to room to run steam-power to specific destinations in the house. LABORATORY, GARAGE, LAUNDRY ROOM, FURNACE and PUMP ROOM all have uses for steam-power.
Speaking of PUMP ROOM, this room controls the water level throughout rooms in the estate and can interact directly with THE POOL, AQUARIUM, GREENHOUSE, KITCHEN, and several other features located outside of the main house.

TIPS & TRICKS
• In the KITCHEN, you can check which course is being
served in the DINING ROOM that day. This will allow
you the opportunity to draft specific rooms that will
make the meal even more delicious!

• Besides counting as two bedrooms, BUNK ROOM also
counts as two rooms! This will increase the amount of
steps granted by MASTER BEDROOM, the amount
of gold spread by the TOMB and the amount of keys
found in a SERVANT'S QUARTERS.

• Each time you solve a puzzle in BILLIARD ROOM
or PARLOR, the difficulty will increase slightly the
next time you draft that room.

• Just because you didn't find any items in a room when
you first explored it, doesn't mean that will be the case
the next time you draft it.
• The day after drafting FREEZER, it enters an automated cooldown refreezing cycle, during which it cannot be drafted for the next 24 hours.

• If you are stuck or don't know what to do in a specific
room, sometimes it is smart to move on. There are multiple
ways to solve many of the challenges you will come across,
and there is a very good chance you will find a piece of
information down the road which may help.

• When in doubt:

DRAFT ROOMS YOU HAVE
NEVER SEEN BEFORE

Even if you do not think the rooms seem very useful,
they may still hold useful clues and information that may
help you on your journey.

WORD FROM THE EDITOR
Although with this volume we have provided our readers
with many potential strategies and tricks to try, we here at ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST hope that aspiring architects know that there truly is no set blueprint for success.

Forging your own path and coming up with your own unique strategies will, in our humble opinion, always provide the best results. Each architect has his own favorite room, each builder his own favorite tool. And thus, each player in turn will develop their own style of play and discover their own secrets and tricks that they can share with the world (or keep to themselves).

Whatever strategy you employ, we wish you best of luck drafting and hope you build the house of your dreams.