Is it OK to ask that this be a thread for beginners?

[Mercuriair]

I'm only at level 19!

Currently my queries/understanding so far are as follows ( and I know there's probably the info I want elsewhere on the forum but I'm struggling to find it, even using the search).

I am planning on transferring my large memo of info on my dragons and habitats to a spreadsheet as I see many of you do, makes sense and as someone with ocd and who loves a list this DEFINITELY appeals!

When breeding, if a dragon is eg blue and purple is it suitable for a breed that requests just one of these colours? Ormdoesmit have to be a just purple dragon and a just green dragon eg if told to breed purple and green for a goal? I'm also getting the idea there's no guarantee you'll get the dragon you're trying to breed? Is that right?

Trading - more of an opinion I guess, how do you decide which to trade and which to keep? Which to sell?

Prefer to buy new habitats or upgrade current ones? What are the pros and cons?

Buy or breed (although to be honest I rarely have the money or gold to buy at this stage)?

Why am I getting goals I can't possibly achieve at the level I'm at right now? Plus THERE'S LOADS at any one time! I currently have 21!! Can't remember them all so they were added to the memo.

As I say apologies as I'm sure these answers are in the forum somewhere, but I'm finding a lot of the threads are set at a level for more experienced players to read.

[DeeDe99]

Welcome Mercuriar, my responses are in-line below in red.


I'm only at level 19!

Currently my queries/understanding so far are as follows ( and I know there's probably the info I want elsewhere on the forum but I'm struggling to find it, even using the search). You might find this spreadsheet discussion (http://forums.storm8.com/showthread.php?87991-Keeping-Track-of-Your-Dragons-Spreadsheet-Discussion-Tips-Thread&p=1232021&viewfull=1#post1232021) useful.

I am planning on transferring my large memo of info on my dragons and habitats to a spreadsheet as I see many of you do, makes sense and as someone with ocd and who loves a list this DEFINITELY appeals!

When breeding, if a dragon is eg blue and purple is it suitable for a breed that requests just one of these colours? Ormdoesmit have to be a just purple dragon and a just green dragon eg if told to breed purple and green for a goal? I'm also getting the idea there's no guarantee you'll get the dragon you're trying to breed? Is that right? There is no guarantee you will get the dragon you are trying for. Yes, you can use a blue/green dragon and a green/purple dragon to try to breed a blue/purple dragon, but there will be more possible offspring the more colours/types you have in the "genetic pool" that if you just used a blue dragon and a purple dragon.

Trading - more of an opinion I guess, how do you decide which to trade and which to keep? Which to sell? Trading and selling depends on your objectives. In general, trading hybrid commons gets a small gem of either colour, rares give a small gem of both colours, super rare give large gems. There are variations, but that is a general summary. Plus mystery boxes which can contain gems, scrolls or other materials you need for crafting dragon in the spell shop. I trade if I need the gems, I sell otherwise as I rarely keep duplicates (a few for breeding if I use a higher level in the Arena). I keep 4 or 5 small gems in case they are needed in Dragon Tales events. Otherwise I sell.

Prefer to buy new habitats or upgrade current ones? What are the pros and cons? I tend to buy new ones, but some people sell the old and buy new to recoup the coins (only small amount recouped though, but can be handy for lower level players still building up a bank balance).


Buy or breed (although to be honest I rarely have the money or gold to buy at this stage)? Breeding is the way to go 99% of the time in my personal view, but I will buy particularly hard-to-breed dragons if they are offered on sale (e.g. Prime Eternal, Prime Chroma)or expired dragons I like if offered in a value pack (e.g. I am collecting all the Zodiac and many are expired so I cannot breed them all).

Why am I getting goals I can't possibly achieve at the level I'm at right now? Plus THERE'S LOADS at any one time! I currently have 21!! Can't remember them all so they were added to the memo. I'm level 137 or something and I still have about 40 goals. Personally, I ignore them most of the time, unless they are useful like the boosters or the reward is gold bars. One day I'll have an empty list - don't let it worry you too much is my advice.

As I say apologies as I'm sure these answers are in the forum somewhere, but I'm finding a lot of the threads are set at a level for more experienced players to read.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Jagger517]

Mercuriar: Prefer to buy new habitats or upgrade current ones? What are the pros and cons?

DeeDe99: I tend to buy new ones, but some people sell the old and buy new to recoup the coins (only small amount recouped though, but can be handy for lower level players still building up a bank balance).

My take: I generally prefer to buy the smaller habitat, fill it with dragons, and then upgrade it. That way, the habitat* keeps earning coins the whole time. Whereas, if you only buy the bigger habitat, you can't put on any dragons or earn a single coin on it until it's completely finished being built.

* * * *

As for goals, like Dee said, just ignore 'em unless they either A) will give you gold, or B) coincide with your own personal goals. Otherwise, you'll waste a ton of time and coins buying things you don't yet need.

* * * *

My own advice for new players: fill every spare inch of your island with small green groves (and, when you can afford them, large green groves) covered in Forest dragons. *Only* level up the Forests until they hit level 3, no higher. That only costs 25 food each, and you'll make 200 coins per hour, per dragon. It may not seem like much, but once you start this, you will have no problem affording to expand and clear your island... so that you can build even more green habitats and fill them with even more green dragons! :p

*edit: this used to say "island", but "habitat" is the correct word

[Clark_Wayne]

Welcome Mercuriar, my responses are in-line below in red.



Hope that helps a bit.

i trade only rare and super rare duplicate dragons : you never know what kind of gems you need ;) i sell all the common duplicates

find 3 good golds buddies , save your golds until you can buy treasure dragons on sale .

[DeeDe99]

@Clark - the never knowing what gems you need is precisely why I keep stock on hand at all times of all colours! Dragon Tales can always throw a curved ball if we are not prepared. I sell any duplicate unless I need the gems or to replenish stock. The only large gems I need is one more large Onyx, so the Supers get sold too these days. Rares I will trade for small gems, provided they are not long evolution times, I need the temple time for dragons I am keeping.

@Jagger - by big, I meant the four dragon habitats - no build time. Habitats don't earn anything, only dragons, so I usually try to have vacant slots so I never have dragons sitting on a nest producing nothing while waiting for an upgrade or build.


I don't/didn't follow the "fill with small green groves" approach, but it works for those who like it. You see, Mercuriar, this is where you find individual players have different strategies that suit their particular playing style. We are all different.

One tip I forgot: collect coins as often as you can until about level 130! :)

[roguebee]

Another thread you might find of benefit is http://forums.storm8.com/showthread.php?43317-STARTING-PLAYERS-How-to-get-Rich
At your level, you are past the first few suggestions, but there are a lot of thoughts on maximizing your coin producing efforts. Also, the spreadsheet thread that DeeDee recommended also has a nice series of comments on coin production optimization.

If you have the 2 dragon habitats, upgrade them rather than sell and replace. The dragons continue earning coins while the upgrade is in progress. I would recommend not to buy any additional 2 dragon habitats. Go for the 3 dragon habitats if you have the space. Only caveat is to replace your red habitats with yellow and greens (they hold more coins). You do have to keep one red habitat for your Fire dragon.

As for trading dragons, trade your duplicates that you are not using for coin production. At this stage, doesn't matter whether common, rare, or super rare. The gems are what are important for crafting the gemstone dragons. You'll discover you are probably breeding dragons faster than you can expand and add habitats. They do have to be evolved to level 4 to be traded.

I would recommend breeding dragons at this point in time unless there is something you really really want. It amazing you will be fairly successful in the early days with the way this game is set up.

[DeeDe99]

I should add there are a few specific duplicates I have decided to keep for Arena purposes (over and above any breeding requirements). Crusader is one such. I will now hold on to the level 3 for fighting purposes. I can't get a second Lightning, sadly, but would love a level 3 of him too. The level 3 wins against higher level opponents where my level 12 suffers from the level disparity, seemingly negated for the baby.

[DeeDe99]

I don't think it has been mentioned, but try to breed a Diamond, as soon as possible. It seems it is easier to get earlier, at least that is the anecdotal evidence around the place. You need 4 types in the Den, e.g. Red/green with a yellow/blue or something similar. I got mine with Love (red/white) and Jewelry (yellow/green).

Once you have Diamond, you can breed for Diamond hybrids. Good coin producers.

[Mercuriair]

I'm so grateful for the replies thanks all.

I've traded a few I didn't like as they were ugly (oops!)

I've not sold any as my experience of storm 8 has been selling doesn't get you much reward.

I have the following:

Dragons:

1 forest level 8
2 fire both level 8
1 air level 8

A level 6 which is evolving and I can't remember what it is!

1 fairy level 7
1 honeybee level 6
2 firestorms one level 7 one level 8
1 dame of darkness, 3 colours red white and black, level 6
1 scorpion level 6
1 charm level 5
1 life level 5
1 magic my only purple, level 6

Habitats
1 small green
1 large green

1 purple

2 small red
1 large red

1 small yellow

1 small blue

I have an egg hatching looks like a Titan? And another egg on the way when I can clear the nest.

So...

How do you know which are common/rare etc?

Is it weird having favourites? That I don't want to get rid of?

So the advice is to get rid of duplicates?

I shall go and peruse the forums suggested thanks.

[DeeDe99]

Mecuriair, re "getting rid" of duplicates. Only you can decide what your ultimate game objective is. Many of us aim to collect every dragon - that means if we kept duplicates we would run out of space very fast. We would also need more habitats than we are allowed to have. So keeping only those duplicates that have a use (good in the arena, high coin producer, needed for breeding while the other fights etc) is a strategy we adopt. Other players have different objectives. I remember seeing one island that was virtually 100% diamond hybrids, for example.

No, you don't get much reward for selling a hatchling, but that is still cheaper than feeding and evolving to level 4 in order to trade. Early on, yes, I traded as much as possible to get all the gems and spare gems, but now nothing gets off the nest unless I have a specific purpose for it, including trading. I used to keep track of what I discarded in this manner, but I've become somewhat lazy about that of late - just too many. The higher level you become, the harder it is to breed anything new as you have a lot of the dragons already - enjoy breeding new dragons while you can! LOL

It is not weird having favourites. I have a duplicate Jewelry I can't part with because it is the parent of my Diamond. Do I need two Jewelry Dragons? No. I also keep one of each of the ugly ones (yes, there are some ugly ones) because of my game objective to have one of everything. I hide them down the back corner!

Look at your dragons in the Market (click on the little "i" symbol underneath each dragon) and you will see if they are Common or Rare etc.
29293

Of the dragons you have, breeding Firestorm with Dame of Darkness or Fairy with Charm would give you a shot at Diamond as two examples of the combinations you could use - you have other possibilities.

[Mercuriair]

Thanks so much everyone. I've hit level 20 yay! I'm struggling for space for habitats so will suspend breeding for now. Expansions are quick enough it's getting rid of the plants! Frustrating not being able to move them.

[blackeneddove]

Thanks so much everyone. I've hit level 20 yay! I'm struggling for space for habitats so will suspend breeding for now. Expansions are quick enough it's getting rid of the plants! Frustrating not being able to move them.

Enjoy it while you can! My last expansion took me 3 days. Then clearing the huge tree that covered the entire space was 800,000 coins and it took 24 hours. Sounds like a lot, (and the time it takes IS a lot) but the coins aren't that big of a deal by the time you get to be over level 150. It took me right around a year of playing to hit level 150, but some people get there faster - not really sure how they do that! :D

Good luck getting diamond! They are great fighters in the arena, and produce lots of coins. I hope you can get one early! The sooner the better ;) (easier before level 40)

Have fun & Good luck!

[Mercuriair]

Dame of darkness my favourite so far. I love renaming them too and have Luke leiah and Yoda��

[Kennedward]

I'm only at level 19!

Currently my queries/understanding so far are as follows ( and I know there's probably the info I want elsewhere on the forum but I'm struggling to find it, even using the search).

I am planning on transferring my large memo of info on my dragons and habitats to a spreadsheet as I see many of you do, makes sense and as someone with ocd and who loves a list this DEFINITELY appeals!

When breeding, if a dragon is eg blue and purple is it suitable for a breed that requests just one of these colours? Ormdoesmit have to be a just purple dragon and a just green dragon eg if told to breed purple and green for a goal? I'm also getting the idea there's no guarantee you'll get the dragon you're trying to breed? Is that right?

Trading - more of an opinion I guess, how do you decide which to trade and which to keep? Which to sell?

Prefer to buy new habitats or upgrade current ones? What are the pros and cons?

Buy or breed (although to be honest I rarely have the money or gold to buy at this stage)?

Why am I getting goals I can't possibly achieve at the level I'm at right now? Plus THERE'S LOADS at any one time! I currently have 21!! Can't remember them all so they were added to the memo.

As I say apologies as I'm sure these answers are in the forum somewhere, but I'm finding a lot of the threads are set at a level for more experienced players to read.

As a more experienced player, I suggest you to relax and take your time playing/breeding. Cause once you get many dragons like me, you will find the game a little too restricted in terms of how many land you have, how long it takes to expand just 1 square, what you can buy with coins, and most importantly, how many dragons will be stuck in storage for awhile.

Anyways, I only trade dragons that are duplicates, so I only keep 1 copy of a dragon, no point of keeping many of them when the land given is so scarce.

As for habitats, I would spend coins to buy them when you don't have any gold, no point of getting those that costs gold when you don't have any, plus the fact that those gold costing one only gives you more coins, which you will eventually find useless, all the more reason not to buy those.

And dragons, like me, I'll only breed, never buy with gold. Unless those are only purchasable with gold, then I'll buy them.

[jjblueyes]

Good post Ken. The game is much different after as long as we have been playing huh? Advice to relax is very sound indeed.
Cheers,
Jen



As a more experienced player, I suggest you to relax and take your time playing/breeding. Cause once you get many dragons like me, you will find the game a little too restricted in terms of how many land you have, how long it takes to expand just 1 square, what you can buy with coins, and most importantly, how many dragons will be stuck in storage for awhile.

Anyways, I only trade dragons that are duplicates, so I only keep 1 copy of a dragon, no point of keeping many of them when the land given is so scarce.

As for habitats, I would spend coins to buy them when you don't have any gold, no point of getting those that costs gold when you don't have any, plus the fact that those gold costing one only gives you more coins, which you will eventually find useless, all the more reason not to buy those.

And dragons, like me, I'll only breed, never buy with gold. Unless those are only purchasable with gold, then I'll buy them.

[Kennedward]

Good post Ken. The game is much different after as long as we have been playing huh? Advice to relax is very sound indeed.
Cheers,
Jen

Great to see someone agree with me :D

[ladymakay]

Question about crafting, what's the point of crafting decorations? Are they useful or do you earn points?

[Najchi]

In my opinion, decorations are not worth crafting. I don't have space to put them in, and they don't do anything, just occupy free space where you can put habitats. But that is just how I play this game, some people have a lot decorations on their islands, so if you want to decorate your island, go for it :)

[ladymakay]

Thanks, I don't do decorations either, didn't want to waste materials and space on junk :)

[Kennedward]

In my opinion, decorations are not worth crafting. I don't have space to put them in, and they don't do anything, just occupy free space where you can put habitats. But that is just how I play this game, some people have a lot decorations on their islands, so if you want to decorate your island, go for it :)

Same here

I already lack space to put all my dragons that have been stuck in storage for quite a few years, no point to occupy precious space on my island when I don't even have enough space for habitats and dragons