For most players, the “One Dollar Short” achievement isn’t something you’ll unlock during a normal playthrough. I created this guide based on Maggy’s, which helped me—but I found it a bit hard to follow at times. This version aims to be clearer and more straightforward, especially for those who just want to get the achievement without too much guesswork.
Before game setup
The only setup you need is to select Level 3 of the first perk before starting (Nepobaby – Start with +20 gold per rank).
Everything else can be left as default—it doesn’t matter and just adds unnecessary variables.
Start the game on Peasant difficulty.
In-game setup
These are “golden enemies” every time your palace strikes and instakills an enemy like this you’ll get 1 gold. You will need to kill 8 enemies to get 8 extra gold until year 10.
Make sure you are playing with auto palace targetting turned off.
Also, during this phase, it’s crucial that you only play cards that do not interact with your gold.
Here’s what to avoid:
- DO NOT pick up any relics that give you gold or re rolls (e.g.Free re rolls, Add Mida’s Touch to all units, etc.)
- DO NOT level up your Palace
- DO NOT throw away cards
- DO NOT re roll cards
- DO NOT use any card that increases or decreases gold (e.g. Mida’s Touch, Vaults, Mortgages, etc.)
Year 10 setup
By end of the year 10 battle you’ll have the magic gold number: 179
In the loot selection screen you need to reroll 5 times spending 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 gold to a total of -150 gold leaving you with the perfect amount of 29 gold.