Special Items
Sister Manson had asked about how to get special items (such as silver hammers that can be used to merge into a golden hammer that you can then use in Guild Construction) and upgrading in general (which is, honestly, a few posts). So in this one I'm going to talk about some items as well as what your every day shopping list might look like and why.
First off, the silver hammers. Generally, you can only get them either from an event reward or by getting it as part of the Daily Top Up (meaning, you'd have to have spent some actual real world money). As an example, the Daily Top Up today gives you 1 silver hammer for acquiring 6 VIP EXP in one day, or by buying the smallest pack of ingots (60), which for me is £0.89. The more you spend, the more you get. You will sometimes receive them in events, but not frequently.
Other items, such as challenge vouchers (used in Trade War / Guild Trade War), signboards (used to attract patients to your Drugstore), silver bracelets and golden bracelets (used as Great Gifts and Magnificent Gifts for feasts) are generally the same -- you get them in events or in Daily Top Up.
You can play this game without spending any money, so don't worry about trying to gain things like this unless *you* want to.
As an aside, the real world money purchases that I find most useful in general (if you ARE going to spend money) are buying the Godly Pack (see Wealth Scroll) as you always get at least one retainer outfit and a good beast, as well as a lot of other rewards and the Privileges Passes (daily gains + the boosts they give).
So...Shopping!
At first, I just bought things in the various Exchange Shops as I needed them, not realising that I really ought to be stockpiling some items either for use in events or for general growth. I'm going to go through each shop and what I'd advise you to buy and why.
From *every* shop that has the unique ledgers, clothing, and jade that you need to upgrade retainers, buy what you can afford but pay attention to the cost! Some shops I always have extra funds (like Conquest) while others I'd rather buy other things (like the Guild or Feast shops)
Conquest Shop
Recommended: wish stones (upgrade those beauty skills!), taming fruit (upgrade those beasts!)
Buy if you can afford it: bank design forms (self explanatory! upgrade that bank!), deluding card (I buy these every day, but now I do it to give them to people who still need the Shaman)
Trade War Shop
Recommended: market design (the higher up you get, the more you will need to not only upgrade your market shops but also your crops on the estate), patient manual (stockpile these for Infirmary events)
Buy if you can afford it: unique ledgers, clothing, jade
Guild Shop
Recommended: market design, nice wine (stockpile these for Restaurant events), beast fruit, jade fragments (you need so many of these to unlock the Beauties of Qinhuai!), any and all cooking ingredients you can afford (cooking the dishes in the restaurant is a small but steady way to increase earnings)
Buy if you can afford it: assist card (trade these with people for estate assists), harvest card (to upgrade earnings, retainers, and beauties via your estate), taming fruit, aptitude pill (S), pathfinder seals, master seals, and retainer cards (these last three will unlock retainers & upgrade them but are expensive, so I put under "if you can afford")
Feast Shop
Recommended: stamina pill (one of the only ways you can get prestige & the only place you can buy it), recruitment card (hire more staff!), prestige note (again, the only way to buy it), aromatic fabric (exchange for beauty attire in Wardrobe! you need 50, so start stockpiling!), sparkling silk (exchange for retainer attire in Wardrobe! Also need 50 each, so start buying now!)
Buy if you can afford it: bank design, aptitude pill, ingredients for cooking
Hunt Shop
Recommended: beast fruit, taming fruit
Buy if you can afford it: unique ledgers, clothing, jade, the tiger
Inn Shop
Recommended: market design, retainer card fragment, pathfinder and master seal fragments
Buy if you can afford it: unique ledgers, clothing, jade