This article is about training the Cartography skill. For the skill itself, see Cartography.
This page is up to date (v1.2.2).
Cartography


Before Starting Cartography

There are a few bonuses that come from other skills that can boost Cartography. Due to Cartography's 5s Base Interval, it's advised to grab as many of the Interval and Survey reductions as possible to minimize the amount of time you spend surveying. The   Superior Cartography Skillcape gives -30% Survey Interval which makes Skill XP boosts very valuable as well if you wish to go for full map mastery as well.

  •   Nysa, unlocked at   Level 45, provides upwards of +8% Skill XP and -5% Survey Interval at   Mastery Level 60.
  •   River Crossing, unlocked at   Level 10 and requiring   Level 15, provides -5% Survey Interval and +5% Skill XP.
  •   Ocean Drifting, unlocked at   Level 80 and requiring   Level 70 and   Level 70, provides -5% Cartography Interval.

Cartography has 8 Temporary -2% Survey Interval Points of Interest that last for 10 moves. It's important that you know where these are located since they can only be discovered once. The locations can be seen in (SECOND GOAL).

You may want to gather the materials required to purchase all (SHIP TABLE) Ship Upgrades from the   Shop before starting. It is not necessary to do so however it may reduce the amount of times you need to swap obstacles.

Training Cartography

Since Skill XP boosts will change the pathing of this guide. This guide will be using the following to setup. Note this is not the most optimal setup. Check the (XP TABLE) and (INTERVAL TABLE) below for other boosts.

This gives a total of 26% Skill XP out of the maximum 54% in the Base Game and 57% with  .

Getting the   Old Spyglass and   Cartographer's Enhancement

 
Visual Representation for Steps 1-4

An image has been supplied as a visual aid on where to go.

The amount of survey time you save getting the Captains Logbook is lost to upgrading maps. This guide will likely be changed to remove as much Arch as possible (Just need golden wreath and spyglass)

Follow the Red Diamond Path to the Port at (12, 19) and Survey this hex until you are level 10. You will not fully survey the Port yet. Make sure to Discover   Old Village at (13, 17). If you Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18), make sure you do not Discover this POI. The temporary -2% Survey Interval Discovery Reward will be used later.

Follow the Blue Pentagon Path until you Discover   Monuments at (6, 11). Getting 25   Aranite Sieve from   Old Village should give you more than enough XP to hit   Level 24 which is needed for   Monuments. Digging for Tiny Artefacts at   Monuments will allow you to get 8   Golden Leaf which can be upgraded into   Golden Wreath for +3% Skill XP. Spending the extra time at   Monuments to get 5   Aranite Brush will increase your chances of getting the   Old Spyglass in the next step. At   Level 15 you will be able to build   River Crossing. At levels 20, 35, and 50 you will be able to purchase   Ship Hull Upgrade,   Ship Mast Upgrade, and   Ship Sails Upgrade respectively. If you are not already   Level 50, continue North up the Purple Square Path before continuing.

Follow the Green Star Path and Discover   Coral Wreckage at (7, 22). This will unlock the ability to get   Old Spyglass and thus Archaeology will need to be done. You are mainly looking for 1-2 key items.

  1. The   Old Spyglass from   Coral Wreckage for -10% Survey Interval
  2. If travel costs are an issue, you may also get   Sailor's Compass from Coral Wreckage for -6% Travel Costs

It is recommended to upgrade the starting Coral Wreckage map to Perfect and, if you have the GP to do so, refine it to reduce the Medium Artefact Value to maximize the chance of getting the Old Spyglass. Getting the     Aranite Tool Set will be worth the time investment since   Captains Logbook will require   Level 105 and finding Artefacts rewards more XP than finding nothing.

After obtaining the   Old Spyglass, you will want to Discover   The Vibrant Coral Gardens at (6, 22) which rewards the 500   Coral needed for   Ocean Drifting, which will be built later.

Follow the Purple Square Path which will Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth at (5, 7) and unlock the ability to purchase   Cartographer's Enhancement for 3,000,000 . Upon reaching   Level 60, you will be able to purchase   Ship Anchor Upgrade.

Discovering   The Monolith at (5, 10) can help reduce the map making interval which will be useful soon.   The Treacherous North is located at (4, 9) and rewards 5,000   Redwood Logs and   The Ancient Wreckage is located at (7, 7) and rewards 1,000   Cursed Logs. These can be useful if you do not have 28,000   Redwood Logs for   Ship Rudder Upgrade and   Ship Crow's Nest Upgrade or the 12,000   Cursed Logs for   Ship Keel Upgrade.

Follow the (path) towards   The Pirate's Treasure Trails at (10, 6) and Discover this hex. It is important this POI gets discovered before Surveying the entire map.

Fully Surveying all of the Temporary POI Hexes and Getting to   Level 90 for   Cathedral

 
Visual Representation for Steps 5-10

If you do not wish to train Archaeology, getting to   Level 90 can be skipped, as well as getting   Captains Logbook. Overall, getting   Captains Logbook saves about a day of surveying in Cartography (while spending more time in Archaeology). If you plan to go this route, just get the Temp POIs in this step and avoid going through the   Level 80 area in the third and fourth step. Instead, go through the Desert or Water below this area.

Following the Blue Pentagon Path, Survey   The Pink Kraken at (4, 16) and   The Western Lighthouse at (1, 18). Do not Discover these POIs. There is a Port at (2, 19) which can help reduce the travel costs later.

Next, use the Green Star Path to travel West towards the starting point and Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18),   The Watchful Ship at (14, 20) and   A Sadge Kraken at (12, 21). Do not Discover these POIs. There is a Port at (12, 19) which can help reduce the travel costs later.

Next we will take a small detour for experience and a Port while also heading towards the next Temporary POIs. Follow the (Path) and Survey (7, 9), (8, 10), (9, 9) (10, 9), then   The Bustling Port at (11, 8). This port is good exp and will provide a cheaper return trip. At   Level 70, you will unlock the Shop Purchase   Ship Rudder Upgrade as well as the Agility Obstacle,   Ocean Drifting. It is recommended you grab both of these if possible.

The following hexes will require   Level 80. There are plenty of   Level 65 hexes in the area which you can Survey until   Level 80, a few of which are POIs;   High Lands for 10   Dragon Claw Fragment and 10   Ancient Claw Fragment at (11, 9),   The Molten Peak just to discover another POI for Township tasks at (12, 11),   Bazaar for a port at (15, 11). Afterwards, head towards the   Quarry at (20, 13) while also Surveying (20, 12), (19, 11),   The Perilous Ascent at (19, 10),   Perilous Peaks at (19, 9). This is mostly for experience purposes however if you wish to Discover Perilous Ascent and Perilous Peaks for the Discovery Rewards feel free to do so.

Next up is the Orange Circle Path. You will want to Discover both   Old Mine at (23, 14) and   The Abandoned Vein Mine at (22, 15). These POIs need to be discovered before Surveying the entire map.

Along the Gray Triangle Path there are 2 POIs,   Capital City Lighthouse at (27, 13), and   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9). Do not Discover' these POIs. There is a Port at (27, 14). You may grab this before heading to   The Pushy Sailor which you should be able to reach from (27, 11). There are a group of 8   Level 80 hexes to the East. If you are not   Level 90 yet, Survey these. At   Level 85, you will be able to Purchase   Ship Keel Upgrade.

(This step has been altered from the current Image, needs update) The next POIs will be towards the South side of the map. Along the Purple Square Path to   Fisherman's Enclave at (22, 22), there is a Port at (21, 20). You will need to Discover this POI before Surveying the entire map. Survey   The Sea Noodle at (23, 25). Do not Discover this POI.

The final step will be reaching   Level 90 then Discovering the   Cathedral at (6, 3). There are 16   Level 80 around the   Cathedral worth a Base XP of 988,416. You will want to Discover   Ritual Site at (2, 2) to make leveling Archaeology a bit smoother. Upon reaching   Level 90, Discover   Cathedral at (6, 3).

Leveling Archaeology for   Captains Logbook

TODO:

  1. Get   Shipment Chart from   Secret Mines
  2. Discover   Ancient Forge at (20, 12)
  3. Get     Ancient Tool Set from   Ancient Forge
  4. Get to   Level 105 for   Cathedral (Unsure if a step is needed before this)
  5.   Shipwreck Cove at   Level 110 for   Captains Logbook


Fully Surveying the Map

Moving to   The Edge of Darkness will cost around 50m GP. If you wish to cut this cost down, you can Survey ONE of the following:   Seashade Village at (7, 20),   Willowshire at (25, 7),   Rosedale at (27, 18) and then   The Shimmering Sands Outpost at (18, 15). When you are ready to get the interval POIs, ensure you Discover one of the first ones first, then do   The Shimmering Sands Outpost second since this one gives -10% Cartography travel costs whereas the first ones only give -5% Cartography travel costs.

With all of the Temporary -2% Survey Interval POIs fully Surveyed, it's time to Discover all of them without traveling to any unnecessary hexes in between. These boosts will only last for 10 turns and there are 8 POIs. Even though you have 2 spare moves, it is important you do not waste these. You will need to move once at   Level 100 and again after fully Surveying the North East corner. The order for the first 7 are not important however you want to make sure you end on   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9).

You want to start Auto Surveying at (26, 8). This will require you to Survey (27, 9) and (27, 8) first. At   Level 90 you will want to restart the Auto Survey at (28, 12) so the Level 90 Hexes around (30, 16) get Surveyed. At   Level 99 the second last Ship Upgrade,   Ship Crow's Nest Upgrade, can be purchased.

Upon reaching   Level 100, you want to manually Survey (30, 9) and (31, 8). From here, Auto Survey (31, 7) until the corner hex is Fully Survyed. Ideally you will want to be active when this happens otherwise you will need to move which will result in losing one of the -2% Survey Interval POIs 1 turn sooner. After you fully Survey   The Edge of Darkness at (31, 0), you will want to move there. This will unlock the Shop Purchase,   Cartographer's Knowledge for 50,000,000 . Traveling to this hex will also cost somewhere around 47.5m-52m GP.

To reach level 120 you will have to move 2-3 more times to areas with higher exp. Hex experience is based on the level of the hex, therefore the best exp is in the high level areas.

This map can help visualize where the high exp zones are. The first location you will want to move to is the snowy area in the bottom middle, around (17, 25) since this is a dense, compact area. Upon reaching   Level 110, the final Ship Upgrade,   Ship Combat Overhaul, can be purchased. The top middle is going to be the second location, around (12, 2) so you can grab the level 80 and 90 hexes to the East and West. Upon reaching   Level 120, you will want to purchase and equip the   Superior Cartography Skillcape. If you still have not reached   Level 120 after the first 2 locations, move to the center of the map, around (16, 11) and start surveying the hexes to the East since they are higher level than the ones on the left.


(15, 26) - Bottom spot (15, 11) - Middle spot / (15, 12) / Early Logbook: (17, 10)

Level 10 = 80xp Level 35 = 282xp Level 50 = 404xp Level 65 = 525xp Level 80 = 646xp Level 90 = 727xp Level 100 = 780xp Level 100 = 808xp

TODO:

  1. Finish final section
  2. Fix These: (SHIP TABLE) (XP TABLE) (INTERVAL TABLE) (SECOND GOAL)
  3. Re-route second stage -> Green path first then blue path; This route is faster (Done, needs updated Image)
  4. Is it better to get Spyglass first or the shop purchase? (Spyglass->POI->361,208xp/6h33m) vs (POI->Spyglass->363,599xp/6h38m)

  Level 50, File:(item).png [[]], File:(poi).png Cartography,   Agility, File:(upgrade).svg [[]], File:(constellation).svg [[]],   Mastery,  

Boosters

Ship Upgrades

Other Shop Purchases

Upgrade Name Level Cost Purchase Requirement X Y Modifiers
    Cartographer's Enhancement   Level 0 3,000,000  Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth 5 7 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
    Cartographer's Knowledge   Level 100 50,000,000  Discover   The Edge of Darkness 31 0 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
    Travel Token   Level 80   100,000 Donate 150 Artefacts to the Museum -10% Cartography travel costs

XP

The following things can be used to increase the amount of Cartography XP received.

Action Time

This table lists most sources of boosts to Survey, Map Upgrade, and Paper Making intervals.


Melvor Idle Skill Guides
  Combat
  Woodcutting
  Fishing
  Firemaking
  Cooking
  Mining
  Smithing
  Thieving
  Farming
  Fletching
  Crafting
  Runecrafting
  Herblore
  Agility
  Summoning
  Astrology
  Township
  Alternative Magic
  Cartography
  Archaeology