The Great Orb Project/Strategies

The Great Orb Project (GOP) is a research project and runecrafting mini-game. It involves two teams traveling to various runecrafting altars and attracting or repelling orbs into the altars. The project is held in the runecrafting guild. To participate in the project, players must have at least level 50 runecrafting and the quest Rune Mysteries. The rewards are tokens, which can be exchanged for the runecrafter's equipments, most talismans, runecrafting teleport-tabs, and either rune essence or pure essence.

Official worlds for competitive games are world 61 (free-to-play) and world 60 (members). There is no official world for cooperative games.

Getting to the RC Guild


The project and mini-game is located in the runecrafting guild, which is inside the purple portal on the first floor of the Wizard's Tower. Players can get to the runecrafting guild in four different ways:
 * Walking, usually from the cabbage farm.
 * Using an amulet of glory to arrive at Draynor Village.
 * Using the fairy ring with the code DIS to arrive behind the Wizard's tower.
 * Using a runecrafting guild teleport tablet to arrive inside the guild. These tablets cost 15 tokens each and are sold by wizard Elriss. (See the section "Rewards" below.)

Basic Gameplay
The objective of the game is to score orbs by attracting or repelling them into the altar. To win an altar, your team must score more orbs than the opposing team. Each altar lasts 2 minutes, and there are 6 altars for free-to-play and 8 altars for members. Adding the time needed for orbs to appear and for players to move from one altar to the next, a full game lasts 15 minutes for free-to-play and 20 minutes for members.

Requirements: Level 50 runecrafting and the quest Rune Mysteries. Furthermore, your team’s color-coded hat uses the helmet slot, one wand uses the weapon slot, and two reserved wands use two inventory slots. Additional inventory slots are needed to hold essences and runes that are rewarded during the game. In general, try to have as many empty inventory slots as possible, and try to carry as little weight as possible since you will be running while playing.

To join a game, please talk to the green wizard Acantha, the yellow wizard Vief, or any blue wizard. A timer will countdown when each team has at least two players, but the timer will disappear when each team no longer has at least two players. The timer will pause when any team outnumbers the other team by two players. A game in progress is supposed to end when any team has less than two players. So, at least four players are needed, and the teams have to be somewhat even.

To leave a game, simply either disconnect internet connection, allow your activity bar to empty, break your wand, or abandon any altar by any means (including teleporting). Anyone who leaves a game that is still in progress cannot join another gop game until up to 10 minutes have passed. This 10 minutes penalty decreases as the game progresses, i.e. 7 minutes penalty for leaving a 3-minutes game.

Basic gameplay consists of exploring the game, just right-click and observe everything you see!

Beginner’s Gameplay
Beginner’s gameplay consists of simple positioning, some mechanics of the game, and techniques associated with those mechanics. The mechanics and techniques learned here will be useful for advance gameplay.

Simple positioning In general, the best positions are the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) adjacent to the altar. You generally should return to these positions when waiting for new orbs to appear, similar to tennis players or ping-pong players who return to the rear-center of their field when waiting for the ball. These positions cover the most squares from inside the altar, here are two positions adjacent to the altar:

Mechanics & Techniques :
 * 1) Each orb responds to one player at a time. If an orb is stuck, then either click on it again or reposition your character. Orbs become stuck when some obstacle is blocking the way, or when a teammate was attracting it. If you are attracting an orb, then your teammates can’t attract it at the same time, which means you should stop attracting if your teammate is in a better position to do it.
 * 2) To reduce harmful misclicks: right-click first, if the right-click was accurate then left-click to select the option you want; if the right-click wasn’t accurate, then right-click somewhere else to cancel. This is especially useful when your screen is moving, or when you want to select walk here but don’t want to accidentally attract nearby orbs.
 * 3) All orbs move at least two squares when attracted, unless the orb is blocked by something. (a) You can attract two orbs simultaneously by switching back and forth between them. (b) You can “tap” an orb by attracting it and immediately stop attracting it. It will move at most two squares. You can stop attracting an orb by giving your character a new command, such as walk here or craft runes.  Tapping at the correct time reduces unnecessary movements.
 * 4) Tapping_an_orb..png Yellow orbs move at most two squares when attracted by green team. Likewise for green orbs with yellow team.
 * 5) All of the above also apply to repelling.
 * 6) Essences can be carried from one altar to the next for more runecrafting experience and, in some cases, more money.
 * 7) Higher runecrafting level means stronger barriers.
 * 8) Higher runecrafting level means guaranteed success when interrupting an opponent with lower runecrafting level.
 * 9) Higher runecrafting level means longer attracting distance (but not repelling distance). The runecrafter’s outfit adds bonuses to this effect.
 * 10) A full activity bar lasts for 2/3 of the circular clock, which is 80 seconds, and the activity bar resets after every altar. Any player whose activity bar is empty will be kicked from the game, receiving zero tokens and a time penalty. The activity bar exists to discourage players from afking a losing game and free riding a winning one.

Advance Gameplay #1
Advance Gameplay #1 First portion of advance gameplay consists of the East-West difference, counting squares on the ground, and memorizing the positions associated with those squares. In graphic settings, you should play in low detail and with resizable screen. The low detail makes the squares on the ground easier to count, and the resizable screen makes your visual field larger. Also, remember that the game discriminates against bad graphic cards and laggy internet connection.

East-West difference : Orbs to the east of your character responds differently than orbs to the west of your character. When counting squares, subtract one square from the orbs to the west of your character; this will make east and west more symmetrical. (North and south are already perfectly symmetrical.) To understand the east-west difference visually, see the delicious gallery below.

Counting squares and memorizing positions. When learning new positions (also called “angles”), try walking instead of running. And then notice your movements; you can reduce unnecessary movements by tapping the orb at the correct time. By the way, it is easier to learn new positions in cooperative games than competitive games.

Advance Gameplay #2
Second portion of advance gameplay consists of anticipating other players’ actions: coordinating with teammates and countering opponents.

Coordinating with teammates, or simply “co-ord” to save a few seconds of typing, involves setting up orbs for your teammates to score, and scoring orbs your teammates have set up for you. It reduces unnecessary movements. To learn the basics, try standing still at one of the four cardinal positions at the air altar and attract only the orbs within your range. Stop attracting an orb when you can’t attract it further, and then watch as your teammate finishes the job. Remember that each orb responds to one player at a time, and so you should release an orb when your teammate is in a better position to attract it, and you should click on the same orb multiple times if you believe it would become stuck. Coordination also involves splitting up and pursuing different orbs, because each orb only responds to one player at a time anyway.

Countering opponents, commonly called “defending,” involves undermining your opponents’ actions. You can do this by creating barriers to block their orbs, and repelling (or attracting) their orbs into worse positions. Remember that higher runecrafting level means guaranteed success when interrupting an opponent with lower runecrafting level, and so one defender can completely neutralize one opponent.

Competitive Games
Official worlds for competitive games are world 61 for free-to-play, and world 60 for members.

The actual competition occurs in the lobby, immediately before the game begins, and after air altar is decided. Because during these first few minutes there are certain things that players can do to significantly affect the outcome of the game. After these first few minutes, real competition is uncommon.

Intentionally stacking teams in the lobby. Rational self-interested players weigh the teams and then try to join the good one. They break their wand when they think the odds are against them, but this sometimes causes the timer to reset, in which case everyone in the lobby is forced to wait up to another 30 seconds. Sometimes unsuspecting newbies join the team they just left, which is usually the losing team. The result is stacked teams, where one team easily defeats the other—no real competition. The same problem also happen in Soul Wars.

Intentionally breaking wands immediately before the game begins. There is no 10 minute penalty for this. It sometimes causes a game to start with less than four players or with uneven teams. Players who call this “glitching” is admitting that it is a bug abuse, although most players don’t report themselves or their friends for abusing this bug.

Intentionally abandoning a losing game. Rational self-interested players abandon the game when they’re expecting to lose. During their 10 minutes penalty, they can teleport to a bank and then fish, cook, alchemize, superheat, chop wood or perform some other activity. It is more efficient overall to spend 10 minutes doing these activities than spending about 13 minutes for 60 tokens (for members: 18 minutes for 80 tokens). But their team now has one less player, and so the game is even more lopsided. The result is that either the game ends early—sometimes as early as air altar—or the game continues with no real competition.

The first and third intentional behaviors are fully rational for self-interested players. These players are in what is called a prisoner’s dilemma, which is a circumstance governed by the Game Theory and it has many moral implications.

Cooperative Games
In cooperative games, each team agrees to share altars. At winning altars, players score orbs to gain essences. At losing altars, players do nothing except fill their activity bar by constantly attracting/repelling an orb, or by creating three barriers minimum. Three barriers are the minimum to not get kicked by the activity bar, unless players create the barriers while their activity bar is already full. Yellow team usually goes first because this policy saves some confusion. (Similar to the policy concerning whether to drive on the left-hand or right-hand side of the road.) There is no official world for cooperative games.

Cooperative games require less effort and skill than competitive games, and for this reason they are sometimes criticized as being unfair to the players who must struggle in competitive games. They are, as Jagex would put it, “against the spirit of the mini-game” because of the fixed outcomes. Cooperative games are also vulnerable to “crashers” who intentionally attempt to win more altars than they had agreed to, although crashers usually fail when their own teammates repel their orbs.

Cooperative games have two formats: the 50-50 format and the 100-0 format.

50-50 format
Each team wins 50% of the altars. The 50-50 format is played in in at least, each has its strengths and weaknesses:


 * Alternating rounds: 1-1. Yellow wins the first altar, green wins the second, yellow wins the third, and so on.
 * Non-alternating rounds: 3-3. Yellow wins the first 3 altars, and then green wins the last 3 altars. (Members have 8 altars, so they play 4-4 instead of 3-3.)

In general, 1-1 has less crashers than 3-3, but green have two altars with the lowest number of essences: mind and earth altars. This unfair distribution of essences encourages selfish players to join yellow, but since the game cannot start unless each team has at least two players, and so selfish players sometimes delay the game for everyone else. It also causes envy.

Also, 1-1 requires more attention than 3-3. It is more difficult to read forums, watch videos, use the bathroom, or do other activity while playing.

100-0 format
One team wins 100% of the altars and the other team wins 0%. After each game, either the players rotate teams, or the players stay on the same teams but the teams rotate wins. Selfish players sometimes join the winning team again, or simply refuse to play when it's their turn to lose.

This format is most efficient with close friends who trust each other, and with 5 rotating players where the winning team has 3 players and losing team has 2. However, the same five players have to spend 75 minutes playing five games before everyone has gained an equal number of tokens (100 minutes for members). A comparison: On the other hand, the 50-50 format is much more convenient and safer: convenient because any number of players is fine, and safer because it requires less trust among the players.
 * 100-0 with five rotating players: free players average 494 tokens per game and members average 632.
 * 50-50 with any number of players: free players average 405 tokens per game and members average 540.

Bonus experience
Crafting runes during the project give double normal experience, and triple normal experience with runecrafting gloves from the mini-game Fist of Gunthix. Essences are given after every altar, depending on both team's scores for the altar. Mining essences at the Wizard Tower's basement and then running back to the runecrafting guild requires about 80 seconds

Exchanging tokens
Tokens are rewarded after each game, which can be exchanged for the runecrafter's equipments, most talismans, runecrafting teleport tablets, and either rune essence or pure essence. To exchange tokens, simply talk to wizard Elriss. The runecrafter's outfit comes in three colors, and all three can be stored in the magic wardrobe of a costume room. The outfit also provides in-game bonuses to runecrafting level: These bonuses increase the distance from which a player can attract an orb, but not the number of runes a player can craft.
 * 1) Talismans. Water and fire talismans are expensive because of summoners. Death and blood talismans are not sold.
 * 2) Teleport tablets for runecrafting. Each tablet teleports you outside its altar, but a talisman or tiara is needed to enter the altar. Runecrafting tablets are untradeable.
 * 3) Essences. All essences exchanged this way are noted. Any essence exchanged on free-to-play worlds automatically become rune essence; and pure essence on members' worlds. Free players can wait until they become members and then exchange their tokens for pure essences, which are worth about 170 coins per token.
 * 4) Runecrafting staff. It can be permanently combined with any talisman, after which it functions like a tiara. It can also distract the eyes in the abyss and allow players safely sneak pass the eyes. The law talisman staff has no combat stats and so it may be taken into Entrana, but the omni-talisman staff does have combat bonuses and cannot be taken into Entrana. To combine an omni-talisman with a runecrafting staff, please speak to wizard Korvak. The staff is untradeable.
 * 5) Runecrafter's outfit. (See below.)
 * Runecrater gloves give +2 bonus.
 * Runecrafter hat give no bonus.
 * Runecrafter robe gives +3 bonus.
 * Runecrafter skirt gives +3 bonus.



Calculating tokens
Minimum tokens per game is 60 for free players and 80 for members; and maximum is 750 for free players and 1000 for members. However, a free-to-play game lasts 15 minutes while a member game lasts 20 minutes. Token schedule: A player must touch an orb at a winning or draw altar to receive tokens for that altar; creating barriers does not count.
 * Entering air altar: 60 tokens for free players and 80 for members.
 * Winning a majority of altars: 90 tokens for free players and 120 for members. (If both teams tie for the majority, then this reward is split evenly.)
 * Winning one altar: 100 tokens.
 * Drawing one altar: 25 tokens.
 * Losing one altar: 0 tokens.