1. Is it possible to get an unstable encrust with only a single encrust? I ask because I realized that I had never, ever gotten an unstable encrust but I had encrusted hundreds of items. The thing is I almost never use more than one encrust on an item. The other day I put 2 encrusts on a weapon and got my first ever instability. From what I have read about encusting mechanics, the likelyhood of this being the case if instabilities are possible at any number of encrusts is extremely small... 2. Are monsters harder on No Time to Grind? I've been playing on NTTG religiously for awhile, but was strugging with a build and decided to switch it off for a bit. The game is now so pathetically easy that I even wonder if I forget to put it on "Going Rogue" (but, I... don't think I would do that).
1. A single encrust will never generate an instability, as far as I know. To determine if a weapon gets an instability, the game checks the sum total of all of an item's after the last encrust is applied, and rolls against that (presumably out of 100) to determine instability application. The first encrust skips this check. Different encrusts are additive; the same encrust is multiplicative in gain. I forget the specific values, so forgive me if a number is wrong, but... Examples: Iron spike (6 , I think) plus voltaic damage encrust on a weapon (9 ) = 15% chance of adding instability. Iron spike (6 ) + iron spike (6 ) = 36% chance of instability. Iron spike (6 ) + ultimate Rearden crust (40 ) = 46% chance of instability. I find that totals under 15-20% are pretty safe, and usually try to fit 2 low-grade encrusts on an item (meat glaze and the resist-boosting ointments from alchemy). High-value ones like ultimate Rearden are one-offs though, I don't stack them. 2. No stat differences on NTTG other than XP yield, as far as I know.
As for two, NTTG is usually harder because less area means you get fewer items, which doesn't get compensated.
Yup, I'm fully aware of item starvation in NTTG. However, I haven't been playing a melee focused build so that's not much of an issue with my particular character (it's a rogue scientist build with mathemagic and astrology, so very much level-based). It just feels like I'm tanking monster zoos whereas before I'd have to carefully draw out enemies in small numbers. This could be due to the fact that the pace is so much slower, and I'm stuck on lower floors when in NTTG I'd be fighting higher level enemies much sooner...
