[AVWW1] Chunk level, continent level, spell level

[steelwing]

First, awesome game you've got here.  Wonderfully challenging.  I just picked up the Arcen Bundle from Humble and have had great fun so far.
Now, to my questions...OK, so I understand how continent levels affect monster levels, and I should try to always have at least one spell whose level equals that of the continent tier.  However, is it possible craft spells with a level above that of the continent tier?  I presume yes and I just haven't found suitable ingredients yet.
How do chunk levels relate to any of this?  E.G. if I delve into a deeper dungeon, its chunk level is higher than that of the dungeon above it, which is typically higher than the surface chunk level.  Higher-level chunks, naturally, have higher-order monsters, just as higher-tier continents have higher-order monsters.  So, if I want to have a productive time in those higher-level chunks, should I be pursuing higher-level spells?  I'm still at the very beginning of the game, with my highest spell level being 2.  Haven't gotten out of the Ice Age area yet.

[x4000]

Cheers!  Thanks for the kind words, and welcome.

Chunk level: this is the difficulty of all the monsters in the chunk, plain and simple.  This is "The" level, in essence; it's where the rubber meets the road in terms of practical effects to you.  Everything else is helping to play into this.

Continent level: this is the general difficulty of the continent at this time.  However, some areas are more dangerous than others just inherently (lava flats, deep).  And the deeper you go down into the caves in any level, the higher the chunk levels go there.  So think of continent level as kind of a baseline escalation.

Spell level: This is the progression of your own power, and you want the number as high as you can get it, generally.  It is indeed possible to craft higher than the continent level's current value (IIRC, but grain of salt there as it's been a long while), but to do that you have to journey sufficiently downwards in caverns to get higher-level crafting ingredients, which is the point of the caves being rewarding as you go way down.

[steelwing]

Cheers!  Thanks for the kind words, and welcome.

Chunk level: this is the difficulty of all the monsters in the chunk, plain and simple.  This is "The" level, in essence; it's where the rubber meets the road in terms of practical effects to you.  Everything else is helping to play into this.

OK, so this just reflects how hard the chunk itself is.

Continent level: this is the general difficulty of the continent at this time.  However, some areas are more dangerous than others just inherently (lava flats, deep).  And the deeper you go down into the caves in any level, the higher the chunk levels go there.  So think of continent level as kind of a baseline escalation.

Or ocean shallows? One of those is almost killing me right now.  Owing mostly, I think, to my not having much in the way of spells that are effective against the local creatures.

Spell level: This is the progression of your own power, and you want the number as high as you can get it, generally.  It is indeed possible to craft higher than the continent level's current value (IIRC, but grain of salt there as it's been a long while), but to do that you have to journey sufficiently downwards in caverns to get higher-level crafting ingredients, which is the point of the caves being rewarding as you go way down.

OK, so I just haven't done enough deep dives to get the good spells I actually need.  Given how much the creatures I found in one deep dungeon seemed to hurt me, I think I need to hunt down some good health and attack booster enchants and try again.  I lost a perfectly good character in one of those dungeons...