Time Machine



( ⚠️ Spoiler Warning: Please be warned that the following information will most probably spoil most of the current endgame content ⚠️ )

Description
The time machine is the crux of the Prestige Mechanic, being required to gain the Prestige Currency: Time Shards. Using the Time Machine also increases The Devourer's Max level by 10 each time a certain time shard earnings milestone is reached.

The Time Machine is unlocked at Lvl 35.

The first NPC that will appear inside of the Central Chamber is The Keeper.

After him the The Inventor, The Archaeologist, The Dietician, The Architect, The Surgeon, and finally The Stylist can be summoned into the chamber.

With the Time Machine and the new Alien Shops, additional game content can be unlocked such as:


 * 3 new Currencies: Time Shards, Astro Coins and Energy Cubes
 * 3 New Stations: Crashed Saucer, Telepad and Soul Grinder
 * 6 new Legendaries: Robo Chicken, The Cursed, The Colossus, The Infernal, Shield Bot and Soul Stalker
 * 1 new Rune type: Cosmic Runes

How It Works
The Time Machine uses four variables to determine how many time shards you get per prestige :


 * Devourer Level: Every level (After 35) increases the base amount of time shards. This value rises considerably for each increments of 10 levels, growing between 233% and 50%, thus maximizing your level before prestiging is a must.
 * Feats: Every completed feat gives a +10% boost to time shards.
 * Legendaries: Each legendary gives a boost and if you complete a "set" of legendaries you gain an extra boost. The first legendary of each type grants twice as much boost as duplicates, which means it is always better to make new legendaries instead of ones already acquired if possible.
 * Ex: The Lich, Gorgon, and Harpy each give +10% boost each (as first of their kind), and when you have all three you gain an extra +20% boost. For a total +50% boost. The next Lich, Gorgon and Harpy will only give an additional 5% each and no set bonus.
 * The Calculations for time shards seems to be Devourer level base * (100%+Feats bonus) * (100%+Legendaries bonus) * (100%+Other bonus)=Total Shards
 * (Simplified equation with single letter variables) B*(100%+F)*(100%+L)*(100%+O)=T

General Strategy
It is generally in your best interest to maximize your level and feats before each prestige. Keep in mind that one doesn't lose time shards if they are not spent so any unearned time shard is a loss.

In addition, having a large amount of legendaries at the time of the prestige is often recommended to gain ample amount of time shards. The best legendary to mass produce is the Lich due to the ease in farming ice runes through the Peasant. In addition, one of the first bonuses that will be purchased with the Inventor is an increase in taps for the ice chest which facilitates ice rune farming even more. After farming significant amounts of ice runes, it is also possible to have earned enough residual poison runes so that one can spawn one Gorgon, which is literally free time shards. The total amount of ice runes necessary for this farming is 620 x n, n being the amount Liches to span, and granting 5 n % bonus time shards. Note that each time a legendary is merged, its lvl 1 station will be given as a bonus, which can reduce the necessary amount of runes by a substantial amount.

Depending on the amount of poison and blood runes already available from normal play, it is also advisable to spawn some knights and clerics to reach the necessary amount of runes to merge your stations into Gorgons and Harpies. This depends heavily on how motivated the player is since to some, farming 200 poison runes and 100 blood runes (out of the 640 necessary for each) may prove too tedious for the mediocre 5% it will give them. Some could also choose instead to farm 640 extra ice runes instead, the efficiency of doing so depends on available stations, bonuses, resource caps and space, so it will forever remain subjective.

One will want to avoid making legendaries as they can afford them however since they take valuable space in the lair, instead opting to only spawn them right before the prestige.

Detailed breakdown of optimal playthroughs
[This section is under works, feel free to help if you can.]

Below is a table of expected time shards provided by reaching the maximum level and completing max feats possible every prestige : * Note that you could make a Reaper on your first playthrough but the amount of grinding is ungodly and this is believed to be inefficient time use.