Assistant failing to give discount

[danielvictor]

I have the grey-haired assistant with a moustache who gives discounts on purchases of items and artifacts.I clicked on him to buy a guiding skull - cost 4.He should enable me to buy it at a cost of three compasses- which is what I have.But the system keeps saying 'not enough compasses'. I have been clicking on the assistant first,then the interface asks me to choose an item to buy,so when I click on the skull,I should be allowed to buy it at a discount.

[ChiefPointThief]

Im an average player. Am I missing something or is the assistant mentioned above weak? You only get a discount on items but the other assistants grant coins/compasses that you can use as you please.

[Thornvalley]

You need 1 compass to activate the effect too, which may also be a mandatory cost.

[CRMagic]

Im an average player. Am I missing something or is the assistant mentioned above weak? You only get a discount on items but the other assistants grant coins/compasses that you can use as you please.

I find that assistant to be one of the weakest ones, and I'm sure many others do too. That aside, he's definitely not useless, and I used him recently to great effect in a Snake Temple game. Naturally, he's the one I rescued from the track.

[puuro2001]

GOT SAME PROBLEM TODAY , THIS ASSISTANT WON'T TURN. ALSO, I COULDN*T UPGRADE HIM.

[thulcandrian22]

Just played my first real-time game, and took the discount assistant. He worked fine for me...used him at least 4 times, upgraded him, etc. Everything functioned as it should.

As to whether he "worked fine" for winning the game...not so much. I came in last.

[Likewize]

Technically, the action you describe should work. You should be able to purchase the artifact albeit without using its effect since you cannot pay the effects cost.
Unfortunately, the way the game is implemented does not allow you to do this. It behaves similarly with Star Charts when you don't have a coin.

Using Precision Compass while at 0 compasses on a board that only has 4 cost artifacts is also not advisable. Your action will simply be skipped if another 4 cost artifact is revealed, even if you have an instant card in hand that could generate a compass.