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zenobia42
11-03-14, 12:58 PM
I will begin with a disclaimer: I now have a unicorn. However, I played this game for months before getting it. I started the game when it was so brand new there were only 4 elements, and spent weeks at the old level 30 cap, then weeks at the new level 40 cap, before my luck rolled in. I have no emeralds. I have no additional unicorns. I may have one now but I remember VERY clearly what it was like going for months without. And all the coping mechanisms I came up with to be able to inch forward as fast as I could regardless.

For those of you who think game life must be easier with a ultras, you are correct. It takes SO little effort to get an ultra to level 10, and at that level it makes the income of a typical common-rare-super spread of 10 animals. The income of 10. In one small habitat. It IS worth the long wait.

I can?t even imagine how easy expanding and feeding animals is for those with multiple ultras. I know there are those with multiples out there who complain that they don?t get as much income as we might think, but that is only because, while they lucked / exploited / bought their way to a fleet of yachts as compared to the ultra-less in rowboats, they don?t put the effort in to make the fuel to make their yachts go. But even so, they can just coast and still get ahead. They still have yachts. And no room for complaint about mediocre income if they don?t want to put in the tiny bit of effort required to fuel them, as compared to the effort it takes those with rowboats to move the same distance.

This thread is for those who don?t have yachts yet, but who DO want to put the effort in to row to the finish line. Who want to get a decent income even with the handicap of no unicorn. I managed to get over a million coins per day income and nearly all my expansions pre-unicorn. By intelligently leveling what I did have, and choosing the best habitats to house them. And I wanted to create a thread to share advice and help others in the same boat (lol) at least be able to expand and create enough income to afford to plant grand farm crops. After all you need 10 animals to earn what 1 ultra does. You NEED that room.

I would very much appreciate it if those with a fleet of yachts not come into this thread to spit on the rowboat masses again, and claim they have problems that are anything like the hardship of playing for months with no ultras. Yes, people with yachts have problems, too. People on the Upper East Side with bunch of hired help also have problems. That doesn't mean it is polite or necessary to share their problem of their maid wanting more than minimum wage with someone struggling to put food on the table. If this thread degenerates into another about ?people with yachts have ?problems? too?, it loses it?s usefulness. The purpose of this thread is to help those who are without still get somewhere with the game. I ask that every experienced player entering this thread PLEASE, if you can?t just be HELPFUL, to those for whom this thread is created, please just leave it be.

Anyone entering this thread who is unicorn-less and wants to ask questions / seek advice, please do!

After all that preamble, I will have to start my actual advice in the next post. Again, other players who know what it is to try to get by for months with no unicorn, please add your advice!

zenobia42
11-03-14, 12:58 PM
First of all, level your animals. I can’t stress how important it is that ALL your animals be put to work for you. An animal sitting at level 1, or even 3 or 4, unless it is going to be replaced by something already in the nest/den, is a rowboat without paddles. No, you are not keeping that armordillo #3 forever. But while you have it, get something from it. Feed it.
7 is the magic number for levels. For every animal and every level, I calculated the additional income they generate for that level divided by the cost of leveling them. EVERY animal has a GREAT +income/food spent ratio from level 1 to 7. They all have a drop from 7-8, then pick up again a bit from 8-10. They also mostly have terrible ratios from 10-15, though most rares are good to get to 11 or 12… IF your other animals are already to 7 or higher.
In general, leveling beyond 10 should only be done for battling. You will almost surely need a few level 15’s for the arena. If you have none yet, I recommend your first be the ancient sloth, vinotaur or grassquatch. Why? Because they are super rare but cost HALF as much food to level to 15 as all other super rares.
EXPAND. I spend ALL my coins on food to keep leveling my animals, but when I am close to getting enough bombs for my next expansion, I slow my food spending until I have enough for the next expansion as soon as I am ready bomb-wise, and don’t start spending a lot on food again until I’ve paid the gazillion coins it takes to clear that expansion of all obstacles.
FILL your park. If you are not at your max habitats, and have room, build small nature habitats and fill them with pandas. Replace those pandas as you breed better animals. Replace those small nature habitats as you breed better animals too.
Don’t worry about “wasting” coins on animals and habitats you are not keeping forever. Consider a small nature habitat with a lowly fairy ferret and planther leveled to 7. That costs 1800 coins and 1800 food but earns you 377 coins per hour. As opposed to the 156 coins per hour you’d get if you hadn’t bothered to level them. Leave them there a week and they’ll have earned you over 60,000 coins! Unleveled, they’d only earn 26,000.)
As you get more rares and super-rares, and no room to just add them, ditch your duplicate commons. This kinda goes without saying but I say it anyway. :p
Electric hybrids make more at the same rarity level than dark hybrids which make more than those with neither element. Try to get a lot of these hybrids.
I calculated the value of each type of habitat, big and small. It is WORTH the money to buy habitats that hold more. Every time a habitat fills with income, you are LOSING that income until you collect from it. Large nature, earth and water habitats >>> their small versions. And small dark & electrics > big anything else. Let’s take earth for example. A small earth’s capacity is 2300 coins. That means each of the 2 animals it holds produces on average 1150 coins then stops unless you collect. But in a big earth habitat, each of the 3 animals produces 2500 coins before the habitat fills - that’s TWICE as much!
So for your non-dark&electric creatures, you should have BIG habitats. But for dark and electric, not only do your animals make 5000 & 6500 coins respectively before their habitats fill, but per animal, the small is just as good as the large. This is especially good news considering that the game refuses to allow us enough expansions to get anywhere NEAR 41 large habitats. I have 21 small, 19 big, and 1 grand (the haunted hollow) habitat. I have ZERO fire, nature, earth or water SMALL habitats. ALL my smalls are dark & electric (plus now the one gem). And of my large habitats, most are earth. Fire habitats fills so quickly that you should only have ONE (big) one, for your pyro pony and a couple fire hybrids you just like.
Spread the wealth. Try to put low earners in habitats with big earners so that no habitat fills really quickly while others are still only halfway full. There will always be times you are offline for a while. If you can come back to all your habitats 75% full, you will get a LOT more coins than if half your habitats filled an hour ago and stopped earning, while others are still only 40% full.
FOOD, FOOD, FOOD. Grow, feed, grow, feed. … Power. Pears. Watching TV in the evening? Keep your device in your lap and make power pears every 3-4 minutes. Do that until eight hours before you plan to wake up, at which time you plant mangoes. During the day, plant the fastest crop you can based on how long until the next time you can log in. Short time crops yield LITERALLY 100 times as many food per hour as long-term crops. So plant short crops as often as you can, then long ones based on how long you’ll be offline.
Visit your neighbors. The 1500 coins they each leave you in return by sparkling your habitats (if you are high level) REALLY add up. If you go through all your neighbors (while planting and harvesting power pears!!!), go to community. Sparkle up someone with a few stars and invite them to be your neighbor. In a month you can get hundreds of neighbors this way. And they’ll all want to visit you if you have 4 stars because they trust you will also visit them.
Timing is everything. Have a breeding done and an egg that will be ready to hatch 2 hours after you go to sleep. Spend the 2 gems to hatch it now and have your nest and den working for you overnight. And don’t put a pony and panda in the den at bedtime. They’ll likely be done in 3 hours and the rest of the night hours wasted. Breeding is unpredictable but with a few free gems, you can make the best of your timing.
Speaking of free gems, ALWAYS download the advertised game and play it until the quests about it are done. At the very least, install the game and play it for one minute to earn 30 gems. If possible, keep playing until you’ve earned all 75 total gems you can get from each new game. Those gems will come in extremely handy. Also, try to keep up with the gem trade with reliable neighbors. 3 gems a day is 21 a week!
That’s all I can think of now. I’m sure others will pipe in with good, even better advice. :)

zenobia42
11-03-14, 01:01 PM
I am really hoping that some other folks besides just myself who had to go months with no ultras, or are still in the midst of months with no ultras, will add their advice. Anyone who has been in that (row)boat has something they can share to help others. And those with no unicorn still struggling to keep their head above water post any questions they might have.

And to all, GOOD LUCK getting that unicorn!!!

SANDSCApe
11-04-14, 02:02 AM
I'd like to add a comment on behalf of Vash-Naroom, WHO HAS NO UNICORN. The keeper is a brilliant 9-year-old who knows how to enjoy life and cruise through a game. She has no yacht or rowboat. She's gliding along the great river on a raft.
She is always scolding me about my obsessive play. "You treat the game like a math and research project." Seriously, those were her exact words. But what does she know? She wants to keep animals as babies because they're cute.
So anyway, my comment on behalf of Vash-Naroom is (giggle)... LOL!

sweetypies97
11-04-14, 02:09 AM
I'd like to add a comment on behalf of Vash-Naroom, WHO HAS NO UNICORN. The keeper is a brilliant 9-year-old who knows how to enjoy life and cruise through a game. She has no yacht or rowboat. She's gliding along the great river on a raft.
She is always scolding me about my obsessive play. "You treat the game like a math and research project." Seriously, those were her exact words. But what does she know? She wants to keep animals as babies because they're cute.
So anyway, my comment on behalf of Vash-Naroom is (giggle)... LOL!

Wow, your 9 year old plays? I got an email asking for an explanation about my 14 year old son playing because they thought he was under the age limit (13).

sweetypies97
11-04-14, 02:11 AM
Hey Zen, empty your PM box, I tried to send you a message but it got rejected :)

sweetypies97
11-04-14, 02:13 AM
BTW awesome thread Zen, I need to start using a few of your ideas even though I have a unicorn and emerald. I know I'm not maximising my coin production. My son's account earns more money than mine and he has no ultras.

SANDSCApe
11-04-14, 02:28 AM
I also want to add a bit of advice from Forest Gump, WHO HAS NO UNICORN. You won't find more than a couple non-Dark or non-Electric commons in this forest. Gump's rule is that full album is overrated and commons don't need to be taking up space that can better be utilized by higher earners.
So Gump has thrown out Pony, Rhino, Frostfang, Ferret, Armordillo, Plantlers, Rainguin, and will soon give Turtisle the boot. Those animals were never raised beyond L4 or L5 anyway, so easy come - easy go. Absolutely no hesitation or regret about selling ANY animal whose spot is needed for a better one. Gump's breeding objective is always the super-rare. With all habitats full, the only hatched eggs that are not sold are those rares and supers whose L5 income exceeds one of the common Dark or Electric drones. If it does, then it replaces one of the drones. L7 is for the duplicate rares. L8 or L9 is for duplicate supers. Duplicate in Gump's terms doesn't necessarily mean the same animal; it means any animals with identical elements, rarity and income. E.g., Iciclaw is considered a duplicate of Rockodile. They only LOOK different, and when it comes to income and battle prowess, looks don't matter.
But let me stop here, because one set of scrolls is enough.
By the way, LOL! (Laughter is SO healthy.)

SANDSCApe
11-04-14, 02:42 AM
Wow, your 9 year old plays? I got an email asking for an explanation about my 14 year old son playing because they thought he was under the age limit (13).

Yes, she does, in that happy-go-lucky, on again, off again way of children. Contrary to popular belief, TeamLava's games are NOT meant for children, and the young ones are only allowed to play with parental approval and guidance, according to the Terms of Service. Ultimately, the account is mine anyway, and there's nothing to stop me from putting my iPhone in her hands when I see fit. I'm happy letting her play this game because there is no wall and therefore no in-game communication with other players.

When she comes home from school tomorrow, I may have her read the Zen Scrolls and solicit her pragmatic feedback. That will be fun.

kooky panda
11-04-14, 06:40 AM
Thread has gone off topic with personal attacking .
Closing thread .



For further discussions on this creature please use the main thread.

http://forums.storm8.com/showthread.php?71199-Crystal-Unicorn-(NEW)

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