The critical curves of the q-state Potts model can be determined exactly for regular two-dimensional lattices G that are of the three-terminal type. Jacobsen and Scullard have defined a graph polynomial P_B(q,v) that gives access to the critical manifold for general lattices. It depends on a finite repeating part of the lattice, called the basis B, and its real roots in the temperature variable v = e^K - 1 provide increasingly accurate approximations to the critical manifolds upon increasing the size of B. These authors computed P_B(q,v) for large bases (up to 243 edges), obtaining determinations of the ferromagnetic critical point v_c > 0 for the (4,8^2), kagome, and (3,12^2) lattices to a precision (of the order 10^{-8}) slightly superior to that of the best available Monte Carlo simulations. In this paper we describe a more efficient transfer matrix approach to the computation of P_B(q,v) that relies on a formulation within the periodic Temperley-Lieb algebra. This makes possible computations for substantially larger bases (up to 882 edges), and the precision on v_c is hence taken to the range 10^{-13}. We further show that a large variety of regular lattices can be cast in a form suitable for this approach. This includes all Archimedean lattices, their duals and their medials. For all these lattices we tabulate high-precision estimates of the bond percolation thresholds p_c and Potts critical points v_c. We also trace and discuss the full Potts critical manifold in the (q,v) plane, paying special attention to the antiferromagnetic region v < 0. Finally, we adapt the technique to site percolation as well, and compute the polynomials P_B(p) for certain Archimedean and dual lattices (those having only cubic and quartic vertices), using very large bases (up to 243 vertices). This produces the site percolation thresholds p_c to a precision of the order 10^{-9}.
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