Big Money

[Renaldo Moon]

Hey Camaro, thanks for the video, it's really helpful.

Could you, per chance, give me a little criticism on this video? I didn't finish the board, but how do you think I did up to the point that I got a game over?



P.S.
My mouse was a little jerky during the game since Camtasia slowed it down a little, hence some slow and choppy mouse movements.

[Grengoddess]

wow amazing job with the reds first level

[camarofire]

Hey Camaro, thanks for the video, it's really helpful.

Could you, per chance, give me a little criticism on this video? I didn't finish the board, but how do you think I did up to the point that I got a game over?

Well, I have only watched once so far, and I think you definitely have the right idea. The only real thing I saw was that you seem to get a little panicy when the columns start to get high. Get very comfortable with that situation, because it will happen to you over and over again and you're better off losing time and figuring a way out completely out of it and getting the board back under control. I know it's hard to always implement a strategy when you're in the heat of it, but here's what I generally aim for in a premium competition:

Level One: Get the first three money bags ASAP. Set up the fourth on top of three coins of the same color sitting directly on top of each, preferably toward the bottom of the screen so I don't risk the money bag hitting the top and disappearing. From that point, I have the freedom to work the biggest combos I can without worrying about that last money bag. If the board starts to get uncontrollable, I can click for that last one and bail out of the level. I am for 30-40k on level one and to finish between 4:00 and 3:30 left on the clock.

Level Two: Repeat the same strategy as level one. Try to finish with more than 2:00 left on the clock and around 65-70k.

Level Three: I start to focus more on making sure the board doesn't reach the top because the columns start moving up more quickly and the combos tend to be harder to set up. Keep in mind though that every combo you set up is worth significantly more than it was in level one, so a group of less coins will actually score you more points. Try to finish with at least 1:00 on the clock and 100k-110k.

Level Four: If I finish level three with significant time on the clock, I will use the same strategy as before, but usually I have a minute to a minute and a half to work levels four and five. Since the multipliers are really starting to add up at this point, I just get the bags as fast as I can unless I see an easy set up handed to me. The potential to set up your board only to run out of time before you get to play out the combos is too high with only a minute left, so I don't think it's worth it at this point.

So, this strategy usually lands me somewhere around 130-150k, given that I don't screw up somewhere along the way and it's not an incredibly hard board. If you can get to this point consistently, you have potential to make a profit in division one.

Really, the only reason for taking all the time in levels one and two is because about 95% of the games I play are premiums, and you don't need such high scores to win (most of the time) because the entries are so limited and price is high. This gives you a higher chance of at least coming up with a decent score, while less of a chance of getting an incredible score.

Now, playing for a tournament like the current $10k is different, the more entries available, of course the higher the scores, so you adjust your game play accordingly. The time frames given above won't land you over 175k like you need to place in the top 5 for the $10k, but it will win you premiums, which is worth more in the long run than any unlimited competition that's been offered so far.

Here's a link to another video I made showing a glitch in the game, but I had a pretty decent level one score... Sorry I still don't know how you guys are putting the video into your posts, so if you want to fix my post again, that'd be great!



Hope this helps... sorry it got so long!

[Renaldo Moon]

The glitch being that you can push two moves before it processes the first one, allowing you to bypass the "1 turn remaining" thing? I've known about that, but I figured it'd be bannable to use. I found that out while playing on my old, laggy computer where I could even fit 5 moves in during that time because it would have brief spikes of lag every 10 seconds or so.

I never tried it on a cash game, I was afraid I'd get banned if it ever got reviewed.

[camarofire]

The glitch being that you can push two moves before it processes the first one, allowing you to bypass the "1 turn remaining" thing? I've known about that, but I figured it'd be bannable to use. I found that out while playing on my old, laggy computer where I could even fit 5 moves in during that time because it would have brief spikes of lag every 10 seconds or so.

I never tried it on a cash game, I was afraid I'd get banned if it ever got reviewed.

Actually, I was not trying to push two moves quickly in this case. I grabbed the last required money bag but was clicking too quickly and hit another group of coins after getting the last bag, but prior to the game registering that I had the fourth bag, so the game ended. The screen shows that I had all four bags, but I still got a game over. i don't know that you can get two moves with the "1 turn remaining" any longer, although you could when I used to play on skilljam's site. Also, on skilljam's site you could grab group of coins as they were falling, if two columns aligned while one was falling, even if it wouldn't align when it was done falling. Some re-programming must have been done at some point.

[Deadreamer]

Camarofire, first of all, thanks for the game tips, and can you pls answer some questions:

1. When I play, i keep getting towers on the margins so i can not get them down and the game ends. Is there a strategy of not getting those?

2. Is your scores (at easy level) always higher than 150k? Or you can lose at... let's say 60k, or even lower scores?

Thx.

[camarofire]

Deadreamer to answer your questions:

1. The best tip I can give you as far as keeping the outside edges from building up to high is to watch how the outermost columns align with the one or two columns next to them. If a move you make further inside the game board is going to "mess up" a move you have available to knock down those outside columns, 99% of the time, I would say don't make that move, no matter how many points it will score. It doesn't do you any good to get a big group worth x number of points, if you then get a "game over" because your outside columns hit the top.

The other thing to keep an eye on is the row of coins that is coming up next. Pay VERY careful attention to it because a lot of times making a small move or even skipping a move until that next row comes up will allow you to either clear a column or two, pulling those outside columns in toward the inside ones and possibly creating additional moves or will give you 3 stacked coins of the same color. The other thing to watch is if you need to make a move BEFORE that next row comes up so that a group of 3 or more will align. Say you have an L shaped move of 3 coins available to you in the bottom row of the outside column and the one next to it, that will drop the outside column down 2 rows and create more moves, but the next coin coming up in that column is another of the same color and will take your L shape and make it a sideways T shape, dropping the outside column down an extra row. In some cases, dropping it down that one extra row can destroy all the set up you've done in making sure those columns don't hit the top.

2. I pretty consistently score over 150k in easy (although that is my least favorite level to play so I pretty much only play ladders/survivals) but I think every legit player still has games that they mess up at or below 60k. The more advanced your strategy becomes and the higher the scores you aim for, the more often 1 move can destroy your entire game. When you are going for a group worth 20k points, you're usually playing on the edge of "game over" the majority of that level. If you make one wrong move, or if the game doesn't cooperate the way you think it will, you can easily end up with every single column touching the top and no way to clear them in 3 moves. I would say I score below 60k maybe once in a 100 games now but I score below 150 maybe 1 in 25 games.

I hope this helps a little. It's kind of hard to explain, so if you have more questions, just let me know.

[Deadreamer]

Well, the strategy of keeping the rows down is clear and i kind of respect it all the time, but still it is not very easy to score big.
Guess it's all about practice. I play for about 2-3 weeks and my best score is 156k. I love this game and hope I will play it better after some time.

Thanks for the tips.

[Raptor]

I just noticed back in Jan. you were telling Johan that you weren't sure if you could still do the 2-moves-in-1 anymore? Do you never try that still? Because I do that ALL the time, probably 1 out of every 4 games. I've done some crazy ones before - all the way across the screen!

[camarofire]

Really? No, I haven't tried it in a really long time.