Cafe and transformation guide

Nietono

Last updated 3rd May 2017

Who am I?

I'm Nietono, aka OhGodShana (not to be confused with shananyan). I'm one of the more experienced players on fakeSG and I have a reputation for being a walking player guide. I also have a reputation for writing walls of text, but please at least try to read the guide before throwing up your hands and giving up. :sweat_smile:

What is this guide?

The intention of this guide is to explain what the cafe is for, what transformations are, and how transformations work. I will also give advice for choosing which cards to feed to a character.

Cafe basics

The cafe allows a player to feed spare cards to certain characters in order to transform that character into a different version. Each card fed will increase one of the cafe stats (Wisdom/Sensitivity/Personality/Glamour) and lower another. It will also randomly increase or decrease the Like stat. None of these values will go below 0.

When the Like stat reaches 100 the character will transform based on which of the cafe stats is the highest. If all four cafe stats are over 200 then the Wedding Dress transformation will be achieved instead.

Transformable characters

As of writing this the following characters have transformations:

EP0 (i.e. starter characters):
- Sita Vilosa, the mystery girl
  - Wisdom: Dress Sita
  - Sensitivity: Kendo Sita
  - Personality: Swimwear Sita
  - Glamour: Lightseeker Sita
    Note: becomes Crux
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Sita
- Cinia Pacifica, gifted with beauty and intelligence
  - Wisdom: Dress Cinia
  - Sensitivity: Chess Cinia
  - Personality: Swimwear Cinia
  - Glamour: Transfer Student Cinia
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Cinia
- Crux Knight Luthica
  - Wisdom: Dress Luthica
  - Sensitivity: Sports Luthica
  - Personality: Swimwear Luthica
  - Glamour: Blue Reaper Luthica
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Luthica
- Fugitive Iri Flina
  - Wisdom: Dress Iri
  - Sensitivity: Chearleader Iri
  - Personality: Swimwear Iri
  - Glamour: Lovestruck Iri
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Iri
EP1:
- Curious Girl Vernika
  - Wisdom: Dress Vernika
  - Sensitivity: Team Manager Vernika
  - Personality: Swimwear Vernika
  - Glamour: Night Denizen Vernika
    Note: becomes Darklore
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Vernika
EP2:
- Rose Witch Rose
  - Wisdom: Rose Pacifica
    Note: becomes Academy
  - Sensitivity: Blood Witch Rose
  - Personality: Outcast Rose
    Note: becomes Academy
  - Glamour: Picnic Rose
    Note: becomes Academy
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Rose
    Note: becomes Academy, shares name with another transformation
EP3:
- Knight Captain Jaina
  - Wisdom: Holiday Jaina
  - Sensitivity: Talented Jaina
  - Personality: Swimwear Jaina
  - Glamour: Sword Planter Jaina
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Jaina
EP4:
- Alchemist Clarice
  - Wisdom: Street Idol Clarice
  - Sensitivity: Assistant Clarice
  - Personality: Swimwear Clarice
  - Glamour: Dress Clarice
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Clarice
EP6:
- Dean Rianna
  - Wisdom: Dress Rianna
  - Sensitivity: Waitress Rianna
  - Personality: Swimwear Rianna
  - Glamour: Persuasive Rianna
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Rianna
EP7 (i.e. season 2 main characters):
- Crux Knight Rose
  - Wisdom: Dress Rose
  - Sensitivity: Horseback Rose
  - Personality: Pajama Rose
  - Glamour: Gambler Rose
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Rose
    Note: shares name with another transformation
- Shaman Helena K Sink
  - Wisdom: Dress Helena
  - Sensitivity: Flower Arrangement Helena
  - Personality: Pajama Helena
  - Glamour: Nurse Helena
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Helena
- Detective Asmis
  - Wisdom: Dress Asmis
  - Sensitivity: Rinshan Kaihou Asmis
  - Personality: Pajama Asmis
  - Glamour: Aspiring Detective Asmis
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Asmis
- Witch Cadet Linus Falco
  - Wisdom: Dress Linus
  - Sensitivity: Baker Linus
  - Personality: Pajama Linus
  - Glamour: Singer Songwriter Linus
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Linus
EP16:
- Mother Demon
  - Wisdom: Dispatched Teacher Mother Demon
    Note: becomes Vita
  - Sensitivity: Maid Mother Demon
    Note: becomes Academy
  - Personality: Knight Mother Demon
    Note: becomes Crux
  - Glamour: GS Agent Mother Demon
    Note: becomes Darklore
  - All stats over 200: Wedding Dress Mother Demon

The non-Wedding transformations of the EP0 characters are used as materials for the EX2 rare characters (Waiting Sita/Student Council President Cinia/Wandering Luthica/Conflicted Iri). The Sensitivity transformations of the EP0 characters are also used as materials for the EX4 event followers (Badminton Sita/Archery Cinia/Judo Luthica/Ping Pong Iri).

Further details on cafe mechanics

Which cafe stats a card fed to a character changes depends on whether the fed card is a follower or a spell and on whether the id (not to be confused with the size) is even or odd. Followers raise Personality but lower Glamour if the id is odd, or raise Sensitivity but lower Wisdom if the id is even. Spells raise Glamour but lower Personality if the id is odd, or raise Wisdom but lower Sensitivity if the id is even.

You can view which stats a card changes when fed to a character in the "Gift Effect" section of that card's page here:
http://www.swordgirls.org/card
You can also filter cards by gift effect here:
~~http://swogitools-v2.net63.net~~ Edit: swogitools-v2 seems to be having hosting issues

When a card is fed to a character the Like stat randomly either increases by a certain amount or decreases by 1. The cafe stats corresponding to that card increase/decrease by the base stat change for that card and increase/decrease by a further 1 point for every 20 Like that character already has (rounding down). For example a card with a base stat change of 1 would increase/decrease stats by 1 when the current Like is less than 20, and 5 when the current Like is 80 or more.

1pt commons and 3pt uncommons increase Like by 2 when increasing Like. They also have a base stat change of 1 and 3 respectively. Rarer cards generally increase like by more and have a greater base stat change but are not worth the material costs for this purpose, e.g. a 13pt rare increases Like by 5 when increasing Like and has a base stat change of 7.

Event cards have a base stat change of 0 (won't change stats at all until Like is at 20 or above) and don't change Like at all. This makes them useless for most transformations but very helpful for Wedding Dress transformations.

Since increasing one cafe stat also decreases another getting all cafe stats over 200 for Wedding Dress transformations requires first getting two non-opposing cafe stats over 400. This allows those stats to remain over 200 when raising the opposing cafe stat for each.

Choosing which cards to feed

Non-Wedding:
For a non-Wedding transformation the main concern is raising the Like stat as cheaply as possible. 1pt commons are the most efficient choice for this. Use one of the links in the previous section to find a 1pt common that increases the desired cafe stat that you already have the materials to craft a lot of or can farm for reasonably easily. It will take around 200 cards on average to achieve a non-Wedding transformation but this can vary heavily based on luck.

It is generally preferred to choose cards that require 1 each of 3 different accessories rather than 2-3 of the same accessory in order to avoid using too many of a single accessory. However, since Cat Dolls and Books are by far the most widely dropped season 1 accessories you may have enough spare of those compared to other accessories that choosing cards that only use those accessories is viable.

Some example cards:

Latecomer/Saint Sword Girl (+Personality/-Glamour) and Inscribing Magician/Scardel Carmenere (+Sensitivity/-Wisdom) can be farmed entirely from Frontier Dungeon.
Student Council Justice/Book Thief/Magic Stone Found/Witch Blade (+Glamour/-Personality) and Unwilling Sacrifice/Sense of Belonging/Proof of Miracles/Spell Change (+Wisdom/-Sensitivity) can be farmed entirely from Witch's Tower.
Stakeout (+Wisdom/Sensitivity) can be farmed entirely from Dream Island.
Passcode (+Wisdom/Sensitivity) can be farmed entirely from Vita Public School (or Advanced Dungeon if you have the Good Job Stamps already).
EP0 spells and followers only use ore and Cat Dolls/Books.

Wedding Dress
For Wedding Dress transformations the main concern is getting each stat high enough before Like reaches 100, i.e. getting the highest stat changes possible per average Like gained. 3pt uncommons are the best option for this. If Like increases too fast then event cards will be required to continue changing cafe stats without potentially increasing Like.

Use one the links in the previous section to choose a 3pt uncommon for each cafe stat that you either already have lots of materials for or can farm for reasonably easily. If you end up needing to use event cards then the craftable options are:

Pleased to Meet You/Good Job (+Glamour/-Personality)
Thank You (+Wisdom/-Sensitivity)
Game Starter (+Sensitivity/-Wisdom)

Since Game Starter is a lot cheaper than the other options you should leave Sensitivity as the last cafe stat to increase. The only craftable event cards that increase Personality require transformed characters as materials, so are completely unviable. As a result Personality should be the first cafe stat to increase.

Also choose a 1pt common for each cafe stat for cafe stat balancing purposes at the end.

Steps to transform

Non-Wedding
There is nothing complicated to worry about here - just keep feeding your chosen 1pt commons to your character until Like reaches 100.

Wedding Dress
Do the following using your chosen 3pt uncommons if Like is 97 or less or using event cards if Like is 98-99:

Raise Personality to over 407 (this will make future steps easier).
Note: if Like reaches 98-99 during this step you will probably need to start over with a fresh copy of that character. This is however extremely unlikely to happen.
Raise Glamour to over 200. Personality should still be over 200 as well.
Raise Wisdom to over 407 (this will make future steps easier).
Raise Sensitivity to over 200. Wisdom should still be over 200 as well.

If Like is still 79 or less then choose the pair of opposing stats with the highest total and make a note of which of those stats is currently lower. Alternate between feeding your chosen 1pt commons that increase and decrease that stat until like reaches at least 80.

If no cafe stat is over 205 then choose the pair of opposing cafe stats with the highest total and feed an event card that raises the lower of those stats. This should push that cafe stat over 205 without pushing the opposing cafe stat too low (should be 200 at worst). If the opposing cafe stat dropped to exactly 200 (which is highly unlikely) then feed a 3pt uncommon that pushes the previously decreased cafe stat over 205 instead. Note: It's possible that this 3pt uncommon could push Like to 100 and trigger the transformation - it's fine if this happens (the Wedding Dress transformation should still be achieved).

Once all cafe stats are over 200 and at least one cafe stat is over 205 (meaning it can be safely decreased without dropping too low) make a note of which cafe stat is currently the highest. Alternate between feeding your chosen 1pt commons that decrease and increase that cafe stat until Like reaches 100. You should now have your Wedding Dress Transformation.

I hope this guide will help players (if the length of it hasn't driven them away already :sweat_smile: ).

Sasuke

@Nietono here transformation table

Akihito

Well, transformation table at swordgirls.org isn't fully correct. Most of chars have fine descriptions but some lack of extra effects. I would say around 1/5 have some missing descriptions so they are in reality better as stated. swogi had correct effects but it's offline for now :(